Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Death Race
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
Labels: inspiration, model car, Science Fiction
posted by Ian at 10:44 AM
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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Baikonur and St. Petersburg
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: inspiration, photo, pictures, reference, Russia
posted by Ian at 11:02 AM
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Sunday, April 27, 2008
More rat rod reference
Kustom Kulture.
Jake's Chop Shop.
Rumblers Hot rod hooligans.
100 percent kulture.
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration
posted by Ian at 9:17 PM
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Monday, April 21, 2008
Alternate Soviet navy
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: inspiration, Russia, ship
posted by Ian at 11:54 AM
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Friday, April 18, 2008
Rebel Rodz
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
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration, rat rod
posted by Ian at 5:45 PM
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Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Aetheric Mechanics
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.
Labels: inspiration, pictures, Science Fiction
posted by Ian at 12:09 PM
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Friday, April 11, 2008
Soyuz on the train
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: diorama, inspiration, pictures, reference, rocket, Russia, Space
posted by Ian at 8:40 AM
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Monday, April 07, 2008
Rebuilding a Sherman tank
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: inspiration, pictures, reference, Tank, World War 2
posted by Ian at 10:29 AM
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Thursday, March 13, 2008
Autorama
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration, model car, pictures
posted by Ian at 12:46 PM
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Saturday, February 09, 2008
Russian soldiers in Chechnya
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: inspiration, pictures, reference, Russia
posted by Ian at 11:08 AM
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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
St. Petersburg reconstruction
Wikipedia history of St. Petersburg/Leningrad
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: inspiration, reference, Russia, World War 2
posted by Ian at 10:44 AM
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Friday, January 18, 2008
Library of Congress photo collection on Flickr
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: inspiration, pictures, reference
posted by Ian at 3:11 PM
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008
American weapons in the Soviet army
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: inspiration, reference, Russia, World War 2
posted by Ian at 2:43 PM
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Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Down on the Street
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: inspiration, model car, reference
posted by Ian at 7:08 PM
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GAZ 51 hot rod
Model Wheels do a GAZ 51 in 1:72nd, if you want to emulate the project.
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration, Russia
posted by Ian at 12:49 PM
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Monday, November 05, 2007
Mk 1 Zephyr Zodiac reference pictures
Zephyr Zodiac and Consul Convention 1999.
Image from the Cotswold Classic Car Club
A V8 Mk1
No Zephyrs here, but some quite mad Capris and Cortinas.
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Labels: Ford, inspiration, reference
posted by Ian at 10:00 AM
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Coop goes to the So-Cal Speed Shop
Technorati tag: Hot Rod
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration, pictures, reference
posted by Ian at 9:29 AM
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Volksrods
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Volkswagen
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration, reference
posted by Ian at 10:41 AM
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Monday, September 03, 2007
Reader's Rides
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Hot Rod
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration, pictures, reference
posted by Ian at 8:39 PM
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Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Russian photo reference
World War 2 Photos by Dmitri Bal'termants
Military Aircraft Show in Monino. Moscow
Abandoned Trains of the Soviet Era
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Russia
Labels: inspiration, reference, Russia
posted by Ian at 10:09 AM
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Friday, June 22, 2007
A tank from a lake
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Russia, Reference
Labels: diorama, inspiration, Military, pictures, reference, Russia, World War 2
posted by Ian at 11:01 AM
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Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Japanese Kei cars
Jalopnik drove a trio of kei cars belonging to an American fan, then took anexample of Mazda's first ever four wheeled vehicle to a dealer so they could compare it to the manufacturer's current models.
If you want to model these cute little things, then Arii's Owner's Club range has a number of them, and the three wheeled delivery trucks and other classic Japanese vehicles of the 60s and 70s that you keep seeing in Kung Fu movies.
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Model Car, Japan
Labels: inspiration, Japan, model car, reference
posted by Ian at 12:14 AM
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Friday, June 08, 2007
Bizarre Russian tanks
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Tank, Russia
Labels: inspiration, Military, Russia, Tank
posted by Ian at 3:16 PM
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Monday, June 04, 2007
Mad Russian trucks
A scrap yard of mad looking trucks and amphibians.
A part tracked ambulance.
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Photo Reference
Labels: inspiration, photo, Russia
posted by Ian at 2:05 PM
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Friday, May 25, 2007
Ekranoplan
Revell released a model of the A90 ekranoplan.
Remote control WIG effect models.
Alternate history ekranoplan.
An ekranoplan blog.
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Ekranoplan
Labels: inspiration, reference, Russia
posted by Ian at 10:32 AM
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Sunday, May 20, 2007
A bundle of reference links
Fetch!
The Russian dog anti tank mine.
Captured
In the dynamic flow of a battlefield equipment can get lost or captured. A quick trip through captured and repurposed weaponry-
The world of captured planes
Captured Planes
Captured Allied planes (Warning- cheesey beyond belief music, which is a shame because there are some very useful images here.)
A collection of pieces about captured B-17s
Fleet Air Arm planes captured by the Axis
A gallery of tanks captured by the Germans
Modelling a captured Russian KV-2
Israel made good use of captured T54s and T55s and various other vehicles.
Russian tank museum, including many captured tanks.
Captured First World War tanks.
Ships captured by the German Navy.
Test Beds
I've just been to the Museum of Science and Industry and checked out the aviation hall. Interesting stuff-
Avro Lancasters were used as flying test beds for jet engines. Video of the tests is online here.
The Avro 707 isn't quite a flying wing, but I have a soft spot for the delta wing planes such as this and the Vulcan.
A picture of the Hafner Rotachute (more) hiding away in the corner of a painting has given me ideas for another novel way to land assault troops. The Germans used similar devices for spotting from U-Boats.
But the most affecting plane in the whole display is still the tiny Yokosuka OHKA, a suicide jet that was pretty much a desperate last gasp from the Japanese.
Wing and a Prayer
The Me-163 'Komet' was quite an astounding beast. I alluded to a similar plane when the Wasp squadron visited Dreamland (Chapter Three, blink and you miss it). Flight Journal has a long interview with one of the Komet's chief test pilots.
It also has to be remembered that the Germans weren't the only ones experimenting with new and unusual aeroplane designs. The Allies' first jet plane was the Gloster Whittle, a pre-cursor to the Meteor and test bed for jet engines.
The 'Hiller-copter' and Landgraf H-2 were early twin bladed helicopter designs.
America experimented with flying wings in designs such as the XP-56 and XB-35, which I've mentioned many times before, but there were also experiments with gliders along the same lines.
The Brits also experimented with flying wings, as well as canard and tandem wing designs.
Even the Swedes got in on the act with the Saab 21A.
And also- Engines of the Red Army
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Reference
Labels: inspiration, Military, pictures, reference, Russia, World War 2
posted by Ian at 12:45 PM
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Friday, May 11, 2007
Donut Derelicts
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Hot Rod
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration, photo
posted by Ian at 9:32 AM
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Wednesday, May 09, 2007
More belly tank inspiration
An extract from a history of belly tank racers. This disagrees with the video on one small detail. It says the first tanks used were from Mustangs, before moving onto Lightnings, whilst the video says they went straight to Lightnings.
The Monster Garage TV show made a belly tank racer from an F4 Phantom tank.
It should be possible to find a belly tank from the spares box if you've built enough Second World War era fighters, though it will probably be in a non-traditional scale for car modelling. A 1:48th speedster could be tended to by remodelled air crew, but a 1:72nd one would be tiny- though I guess that makes it more of a challenge.
Update There are belly tank racer models available. This online magazine (pdf) has a feature on one modeller's attempts and the three resulting models.
For more inspiration-
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Belly Tank Racer, Hot Rod
Labels: Hot Rod, inspiration
posted by Ian at 4:17 PM
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Thursday, April 26, 2007
CODE Guardian
Take the sort of robots and sci-fi subjects available through Hobbylink Japan, kitbash them with second world war era tank and plane parts then set them against some period tanks or ships. To give an idea of the size of the robot you'd really need to do it in a scale such as 1:144, or even smaller. Revell does a 1:200 oil rig, the destruction of which would be an opening scene from the giant robot movie. Mirage does a Polish harbour diorama in 1:400 or the Clyde, circa 1940 in the same scale. In larger scales 1:144 is well supplied. Here's Hannants' list, and that of interesting looking Japanese garage kit company Kami de Koro Koro.
I'm going to be on the lookout for giant robot kits now.
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Robot, Diorama
Labels: diorama, inspiration, robot
posted by Ian at 11:46 AM
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