Attempts at Sculpting - Part 4

A while back I sculpted this fellow, a three legged alien that was a cross between a snail, a crab, and a tortoise - none of which was the plan initially.

I'd posted this on a couple of forums and got some surprisingly positive feedback. I even discussed how to get this manufactured. Unfortunately, due to my lack of experience, I had created a figure that would be difficult to cast without costing a fortune and having several small fiddly pieces. I had also painted the figure meaning that the molding process would cause a reaction with the paint.

Even though this figure was never going to progress, I was still getting positive comments, and also there were people posting questions on what had happened. One was asking "who sculpted the moulting crab alien?". The thread on TMP contained images of hermit crab like aliens that were a lot better than what I had envisioned, sooooo.....

I got the green stuff out and started another figure. It's still very rough, has no arms of yet, the "feet" need sorted, and the face needs tidied. I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile getting the body cast and then adding the arms/claws, so any and all comments are appreciated (even if it's to say "that's rubbish").

Starship Crew, Pilots and Spacers

Trading and intersteller commerce brings many ships crews to Forsey and to Eastway City Spaceport. The crew of the free-trader Sanchuniathon, who recently arrived on planet on one of their heavy cruiser's CLBs (Cargo Landing Boat), have found themselves trapped in Eastway City due to the trade embargo currently being enforced by Federal forces to try and halt the arming of the Eastway Militia by the DPRG and ROSK alliance.

Although they have a uniform look in the colour of their gear, it can be seen that a huge variety of equipment is used by this crew. This is typical of most independant free-trader crew members, whereas crews from the large corporate ships have more uniform gear.

The figures are a selection of spacesuited figures that I've either picked up resently or were hanging around the collection for many years. I wanted them to look like a crew that was aiming for some uniformity but who had many different additions to their collective gear over the years. From left to right these are: Khurasan's Jaka Walsh, a Traveller/Rafm female from the Space Vixens set, a pilot from 15mm.co.uk's Starfighter crew, a Traveller figure from Rafm's Crewmen set, an old out-of-production figure from Hobby Products, another Traveller figure in padded armour from Rafm, and the other pilot from 15mm.co.uk. I know there are other figures out there, especially some great ones from Ground Zero, but I already had all these.

Mecha using Gundam Gashapons (Collectable Figures)

My last two posts were of Gundam gashapon miniatures, japanese collectible figures based on the Gundam anime series', that I had repainted as a 15mm mecha and a cargo lifter. I've now got a few of these minis in the pianting queue and thought I'd do a work in progress. So here's the collection of unpainted figures so far...

The one at the back left has been started, as has the one at the right, but the others are straight out of the box, and as you can see are possible usable as they are.

The Gundam on the right was the latest to arrive and like the rest cost between £2 and £4, so really cheap for what you get. This is top of the painting list. I've already base coated the main body as you can see. The figure comes apart and can be posed as you like. Here it is broken down so you can see the componant parts.

As you can see, there is plenty of scope for conversion with these, and with a little work I'm sure you could mix and match the parts. Here's another broken down ready for painting.

I'll post more pics of the works in progress as I continue. Next step is to undercoat these in black. While that's drying I'll be finishing of a selection of Spacesuited crew and pilots from various manufacturers.

Eastway City Spaceport - Heavy Loader

Eastway City Spaceport may not be the busiest port on Forsey, and it certainly isn't the most high-tech or modern, but it still boasts a unique mix of the old and the new, from interplanetary transports, cargo haulers, service droids, to aliens from around the galaxy.

The UBX-4593 "Ball" is just one of the cargo movers that can be seen in and around the spaceport. These heavy lifters can either be manned, remotely controled, or have AI Droid intelligence systems fitted. They are capable of working both in planetary atmospheres or in zero gravity.

Some models have also been armed, either with dual lasers or with heavy bolters. Though slow, the heavy armour of the Ball was designed to be able to withstand great pressure and is therefore a difficult target to damage, making this vehicle a favourite of some rebel or bandit groups.

 The Ball is a soft plastic Gundam Gashapon (Collectable Figure) that I picked up for less than £2 from eBay. I've tried to make the base look like a spaceport surface rather than the textured bases I usually put on the figures. The other minis are from Khurasan, Ground Zero or from the old Traveller range.

Federal "Alexander" Class Mecha - A Gundam for 15mm

The "Alexander" Class Mecha is one of the latest high tech, one man human-form armoured vehicles available to the Federal Army. This heavily armed and armoured walker is not only able to easily travel across the roughest terrain but is also capable of limited flight. It has fully internalised power and life support systems so is also capable of operating underwater and outside of planetary atmospheres.

It is only when this vehicle is viewed alongside other components of the Federal Army that it's size becomes obvious...

This miniature was an unbelievably cheap eBay purchase - a Gundam Gashapon.

Gashapons are basically plastic collectable miniatures that are sold in sealed packets with a random figure in each pack. This one came from Singapore and cost less than £3 inc postage. The miniature came prepainted with a minimum of build required and looked like this before I took a paintbrush to it...

The Federal Grizzly - Dinky Stalwart Conversions Part 1

A while ago I did some conversion work on an old toy Stalwart from Dinky. It was a battered old toy truck that I had sitting in a box in the garage. I think it had been repainted a few times while I was young, and it may even have sat in the back garden of my parents house for a while. Anyway, it was pretty shabby, so it would have been no loss if I had ruined the vehicle.

Luckily the conversion worked out pretty good as you can see from the next photos, and as I was really happy with the end result I decided to build another.

There were a couple of failed eBay bids before I won another Stalwart. They seemed to have become a bit more popular suddenly. I received my new truck and then started the conversion... and that's as far as I got. I didn't want to do the exact same model again, but what to do?

I went through a few options in my head - an anti-aircraft version, or an engineering/recovery version? I decided on a communications and command version but just couldn't get the pieces to make this work. I think I would have had to do a much bigger conversion for what I wanted to achieve.
Then last week I picked up some plastic Gundam figures off an eBay seller from Singapore. One came with some weapon options, one of which looked good on my Stalwart.

The vehicle has now been base-coated and after some washes and highlighting, it'll be highlighted, weathered and based. Then I'll post some more pictures.
Last night I decided to put the painting aside on this and have a think about how this vehicle would look if I could rebuild it from scratch. I just wish i had the skills to either build this as a physical model or as a 3D render, but a flat design is the best I can manage at the moment.

I also spotted this while doing a bit of internet google research. I think I'll have to try a conversion to this, or something similar, at some point...

Next on the list is this lot....



Are these the droids you're looking for - Part 2

Fyoder has a growing population of robots, droids, automatons and other artificial lifeforms. While a lot of those are military, many more are worker droids, whether there to service incoming freighters and transports, or to keep the streets clean in places such as Eastway City. Below is another selection of the droids that you could encounter on Forsey.

The Droids in the pictures are;
Top picture from left to right - A space janitor from Khurasan for scale, an epic scale droid from Games Workshop, Khurasan's Duke painted as a worker bot rather than as the bounty hunter's companion, another epic scale droid from Games Workshop, and a cleaner droid from Hobby Products.
Bottom picture from left to right - A security droid from Hobby Products, another epic scale droid from Games Workshop, a 28mm droid from GW/Citadel's Paranoia range, and the space janitor from Khurasan for scale again.
I wasn't happy with the photo of the Paranoia droid so here's some individual shots...

Next up I'm going to finish my second Federal Grizzly. These are made using old old Dinky Stalwarts with the new model having an added weapon from a soft plastic Gundam model.