Types of models (part 2)

Andrea 90mm metal Templar Knight painted as a Hospitaler. The base is scratch built out of plaster and weathered appropriately for a desert  scene.

My brother-in-law rang one day and said "What's a Mylodon?' They had been to the Mylodon Cave in South America and thought he'd catch me out but he was wrong! The said beast is known from only one fossil in that particular cave and I had a picture of it , alongside its better known relative ,the Megatherium or Giant Ground Sloth. This  model is made from Das Pronto , my favourite air drying clay.

 Red Dragon Tower-- a model made  for a niece's wedding. I had made a dragon diorama for my oldest  niece as a wedding gift and this was the second , my sister's older girl. The tower  is urethane foam covered in Das which was scribed , painted and weathered in acrylics. Over a wire armature , bulked with aluminium foil, Das was added until Dragon was achieved. The wing membranes were tissue paper soaked in white glue stretched over  the thin 'fingers' of the wing. This is an in-progress stage with the dragon being test fitted.

 Not a model this time but a drawing in coloured pencil , for my daughter, of one of her favourite characters, Tank Girl. It is a copy of a very small photo and I didn't know what I was actually depicting until the whole thing was completed. I can remember  saying to myself ,'So that's  what that thing was ,it looked like a blue blob, now it's a compass.

This was my first really ambitious Warhammer dioramic build and it got slightly out of hand.I had modified   an Ork Painboy to activate a lever  which lead to various machines also connected to other thinga-me -whatsits etc etc.The central large figure was  a combination of  a  Lord of the Rings Cave Troll and the famous  war boss Ghazghull Thraka and he is demanding 'Powa to da Ork!' Many wires connect the various sub-machines (all made from thin lead solder) but it would have been a good idea to have painted them first!

 

 

 

 

 

Types of models (part 1)

My modelling interests are varied.  I like a challenge.  These first few posts will cover the variety of things I make.

This is a Vietnam War M728 engineering vehicle - a conversion involving scratch building from an Academy 1:35 M60.  I followed the build in a Fine Scale Modeler magazine circa 1994 (sometime).

It was my first major armour conversion at that level.

This was my entry in a conversion competition at the newly formed Cairns Games Workshop store (if you click the link, you'll see more of my models on the lower left of the photos)

This is a Salamander Captain with obvious Tyranid war experience.   The banner and base are scratch built.

This is the Reek Arena Battle Beast from Star Wars.  I built it from a drawing.  I'll be talking about it soon.

Arado AR 194A-Italeri 1:48, an out of the box build of this common German floatplane.  I've always liked them and have them in three different scales (but haven't built them all yet).

This was a Christmas present for my wife, the lady in the picture is not my wife, but she wanted a photo with the spider, so what can you do?  That however, is me.

The spider is a female Mopsus mormon - a common large jumping spider of the tropics.  They are not really that large, I did upscale it somewhat.  I think the scale is 80:1.  I built it out of urethane foam, fibreglass, plywood, balsa and daspronto clay.  I have to date completed four oversized spiders.  I like spiders and have always taught children to respect them.  We keep large golden orb spiders (Nephilas) around the house (outside) to keep down the March Flies, which we catch for them, so they are very fat spiders.

 

 

 

 

Introduction

I am 62.  I have been a teacher, photographer, tshirt designer and printer, then back to teacher again.  I am now retired and have rediscovered model making.  I have always been interested in art and illustration particularly fantasy and monsters.

I live in Tropical North Queensland (Australia) and due to the weather conditions, (high humidity, high rainfall, ideal mould growing environment) some of the techniques and materials I use I've developed specifically to cope with our climate.

I started with 1:72 aircraft, moved into tanks, then started to convert things.  When the tanks started growing spider legs, I realised my calling and jumped head first into monster making.  I'd like this to be a record of the pieces I've made as well as current projects.

Most of my larger projects have been documented photographically throughout their build and on this blog I will be showing the process from design sketches to finished piece.

I prefer to scratch build using strong soldered wire armatures, bulked with aluminium foil and covered with either sculpey type materials or epoxy putties.  Certain projects have pushed me to learn casting and moulding techniques, which although tricky in the climate have worked well enough to open my horizons.

The above model shows the degree of detail and basic scale I work in.  It is 18 inches wide, no 28mm midget this.

There are not many other modellers in my area and I have realised that although I am not computer proficient, this medium may be a way of linking with others.