Scale

On the modelling table- Post Apocalypse Pony

2008-06-30T16:11:00.005+01:00

I mentioned my plans to make a bunch of cars inspired by Mad Max, Car Wars and the upcoming Death Race remake, so here's the first. This is the Post Apocalypse Pony, a 1980s Ford Mustang that's seen better days and has been kitted out to survive on the grim highways of the future.

It started out as a Monogram Snap-Fix kit. I haven't made many modifications to the body or interior, just added a cache of weapons and equipment. Only after finishing the weathering did I think that it should have had some battle scars or dents. Oh well, the driver's just very good at avoiding things but crap at cleaning his vehicle.

Interior-

The tub was painted Tamiya Buff with detailing picked out in silver and flat black. The seats are Games Workshop Snakebite Leather. The dash is flat black with white and silver detailing. The passenger seat has been sacrificed to make space for supplies and weapons, all of which came from an old Airfix multipose set of US Marines. There's a knife on the back of the driver's seat, a pistol in a holster on the doorb and the submachine gun propped up on the back seat as well as binoculars, a water bottle, ammunition clips and an entrenching tool. Before fitting the tub into the body I may add a few more bits and pieces because I don't think it's cluttered enough. The interior was given a wash of Games Workshop Badab Black to pick out details.

Body-

I've made no changes to the shape of the body. The bonnet has been painted a nice dark blue, a Games Workshop foundation colour but I forget its name, and the trim is flat black. There were no instructions on the colour of the lights in the rear clusters so I made that up. Rust was added in various spots and then I experimented with a wash to weather it. The thinners I've been using for quite a while was so full of paint that it was no longer any use for cleaning brushes. But it did provide a nice grotty green was for the car. I pooled it on the roof and let it run down the body naturally, pooling wherever it was stopped. It looks a lot like the sort of algae you often find growing on cars in scrapyards, as if the vehicle's been discovered in a barn and pressed into service.

Chassis-

Annoyingly the photos I took of the underside of the car are all out of focus. I'll get some more before I put it all together. The chassis was painted flat black and a sump guard was made out of a piece of plastic card. Then the whole thing was liberally brushed over with rust and a few silver spots picked out where stones have caught it.

The wheels were painted flat black and then the ribs were picked out with silver.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Arii in the UK

2008-06-12T19:32:00.003+01:00

Last year I drew up a list of things I wanted modelling wise. On that list was being able to get Arii's 1:32nd Collector's Club cars through a British supplier. Well, last night I found a listing for them at the Modelsforsale site. Which ones to buy?

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Death Race

2008-06-03T10:44:00.002+01:00

They're remaking Death Race 2000, now simply Death Race, with Jason Statham taking the role of Frankenstein. This may just be another example of the film industry running out of ideas, but at least the cars they've built for this version look suitably hardcore.

I've been collecting 1:32nd scale car kits for a while with the intention of creating a set of vehicles something like the ones made for Death Race. I think it's time to start work on a few of them so they'll be done by the time the film comes out.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

The 1.3 million pound Titanic model

2008-05-27T11:31:00.002+01:00

Fine Art Models have taken the original plans and construction notes from Harland & Wolff to produce the most authentic model of the Titanic yet. The 1:48th scale model will set you back £1.3million, though there are cheaper 1:192 scale versions being done as a limited edition.

Fine Art Models own page on the Titanic model.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Citroens on the streets of Oslo

2008-05-09T09:28:00.002+01:00

Lots of pictures of old Citroens roaming around Norway.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Toys!

2008-05-08T08:54:00.003+01:00

Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles recently held a show of work inspired by old school toys and featuring forty customised Hot Wheels vans to celebrate the brand's fortieth birthday. A lot of the art can be seen here.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Alternative doll houses

2008-05-07T11:30:00.002+01:00

From BoingBoing come two ideas for making doll houses different- Faery style, using scraps from house and garden, and New York inspired.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Baikonur and St. Petersburg

2008-05-07T11:02:00.002+01:00

English Russia keeps delivering the goods with cool photo collections. The Baikonur space launch facilities in Kazakhstan, as photographed by a visitor and the darker side of St. Petersburg.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

The animals went in two by two

2008-05-07T10:50:00.004+01:00

Via Scaleworld, Minicraft Models have released a model of Noah's Ark in "cubit scale"- 1/350th in new money. There's no word on whether there are dinosaurs on board as the Creationists would have us believe.

The model is available from Hannants for £51.99.

Technorati tag: Scale Models, Noah's Ark

Russian Aviation Museum

2008-04-30T10:50:00.002+01:00

A few pictures of Soviet aircraft parked up in a Kiev aircraft museum.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

More rat rod reference

2008-04-27T21:17:00.002+01:00

The hot rods of Dearborn.

Kustom Kulture.

Jake's Chop Shop.

Rumblers Hot rod hooligans.

100 percent kulture.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Mini Moscow

2008-04-23T11:56:00.001+01:00

Moscow Town Hall holds architectural models of the city which look impressive in this set of photos.

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Alternate Soviet navy

2008-04-21T11:54:00.002+01:00

English Russia has photos of planned Soviet helicopter and aircraft carriers that never made it beyond the planning- and display model- stage.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Rebel Rodz

2008-04-18T17:45:00.002+01:00

I've found a local newsagent with a great selection of magazines that I've not seen anywhere else. I may have to visit once a month to pick up new reads.

This month's mag was Rebel Rodz, dedicated to old school rodz, bikes and tattoos. A great source of inspiration.

Sites mentioned in the mag include-

Chopper Festival.

Festivale de la Gente.

Ink-n-Iron.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Model maths and scale jumping

2008-04-16T10:04:00.002+01:00

Available from The Modeler's Weapons Shop as a download for $3.99 is the Guide to Model Math and Scale Jumping.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Aetheric Mechanics

2008-04-15T12:09:00.001+01:00

SCUD, originally uploaded by warrenellis.

WArren Ellis has posted a set of reference images used in his upcoming Aetheric Mechanics graphic novel. They loo like prime materials for Luft '46 subjects.

Soyuz on the train

2008-04-11T08:40:00.002+01:00

io9 has pictures of a Soyuz rocket being hauled across the desert to its launch site by a diesel train. It might be hard to scale match a model of the rocket (or even find one, I couldn't get a match for "Soyuz" at Hannants) and a Russian train, but think of the diorama possibilities.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Rebuilding a Sherman tank

2008-04-07T10:29:00.002+01:00

Jalopnik has pictures of one man's project to rebuild a Sherman tank

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Russian WW2 memories

2008-04-03T16:56:00.002+01:00

A collection of personal photographs from a Russian soldier's collection.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Papercraft Coke machine

2008-03-30T11:21:00.003+01:00

I don't know what scale this would be when printed out, but here's a papercraft Coke vending machine.

via BoingBoing

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Autorama

2008-03-13T12:46:00.001Z

Jalopnik have been to the Detroit Autorama, and have a lot of posts crammed full of inspiration for car modellers.

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Airfix 2008

2008-03-10T20:41:00.003Z

Agapemodels drew my attention to the 2008 Airfix catalogue, and I just had to go out and buy it. There are quite a few releases lined up that I'm interested in. I'll have to shy away from the really big stuff, like the 1:24th Mosquito or 1:48th TSR2 (I've got the 1:72nd version and it's staying in storage until I've a far bigger workspace and somewhere to store it) and go for smaller items like the 1:76th Land Rover. In fact, I think a selection of Land Rover related products on Spinneyworld might be in order.

Technorati tag: Scale Models, Airfix

Little cities

2008-03-09T21:24:00.003Z

Tinselman has a fascinating piece about miniature cities. I'd love to do a huge model of a section of a city, but I'd want to make it imaginary because I'd be putting lots of fantastical and bizarre scenes into it.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

Yippee Kay Aye Modelmaker

2008-03-09T20:44:00.002Z

It seems I may have been wrong in my last post when I lamented the death of miniatures effects in movies. According to Jeremy Parnell's friend, who's a model and prop maker, there was a lot of work for him on the last Die Hard.

A lot of our stuff is in the trailer: the car jumping into a helicopter, the plane sequence, the freeway chase, the semi truck explosions, the elevator sequence, and more.

Technorati tag: Scale Models

The HBO Intro model

2008-03-09T13:17:00.003Z

A "making of" documentary from 1982 about the intro to programmes on the HBO channel. The model produced for the shot was thirty feet long and took three months to construct. Miniature effects are used less and less in film making as digital tools become more powerful. In one way, which I appreciate as someone who wants to make films, this is good because it makes production of spectacular effects cheaper. In another it's a shame because the level of craftsmanship in these models is incredible.

via Drawn

Technorati tag: Scale Models