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Post by captkaruthors on Jan 29, 2015 16:01:48 GMT
That pose inspired by Max shooting is awesome. Totally FN awesome. I wish I had that level of patience.
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Post by wargamer43210 on Jan 29, 2015 16:44:06 GMT
Thanks bud! It was a fun pose to pull together. I need to catch a work break so I can troll the DVD for more inspiration!  |
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Post by soulsamurai on Feb 1, 2015 9:02:33 GMT
Hi everyone! I managed to tack together another pose... still need to finish up the green stuff work on it and smooth/fix a few joints. This one I modeled directly from a screenshot so I thought I would post up the source material for comparison. I think I got pretty close to it but any C&Cs are always welcome! I'd say you nailed it! Looks great as usual. I see what you mean about there not being as much room to play around with in Gerwalk mode, and even more so in Fighter mode. The only thing I can think of is to have the Gerwalk aiming in different directions, and flipping the fighter upside down to show it in the middle of an ariel maneuver. Actually, I vaguely remember a scene from the start of the show where Rick catches Minmay mid-air, perhaps you could try to replicate that? You can get really tiny human figures from places like this: www.microformmodels.com/catpages/17.html (I think that's the link for 1:240 scale, so the closest to what RRT uses, but you should probably double-check). |
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 1, 2015 19:08:27 GMT
Thanks mate! Great thought about the Rick/Minmay sequence... I'll have to grab the dvds and scan through them! That sequence may be in the second or third episode. I'm just starting to play around with the destroids too. The Spartan looks promising.
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 2, 2015 14:21:44 GMT
Finally found the animation sequence where the not fighter/not gerwalk pose made an appearance. It was a Max sequence... big surprise as a lot of the dogfight animation revolved around Max. This was from the movie "Macross: Do You Remember Love".  and here's a mock up.   This isn't that hard of a conversion to throw together as you can use most of the pieces directly from the Fighter and Gerwalk kits. The only tedious part is that you need to add a small leg extension before you pin the Gerwalk legs to the fighter body.  The one on the bottom is for a leg close to the body while the top one is to extend the legs length down and away a little. The indenture on the bottom leg is where the Gerwalk leg will 'slot' into it. After things cured I also added a metal pin through the green stuff into the fighter cavity being careful to not drill all the way through the fighter. This shot ended up being out of focus but I wanted to give everyone an idea of how long the foot pins are that I am using. Since the legs are hollow I prefer a long pin that spans the leg cavity and touches the top wall of the plastic. I also prefer to fill the leg that will be pinned with greenstuff to add some structural integrity to it as well.  And while it looks like the weekend progress was light I spent a little time fixing a second Scout Pod. (I really don't know how you guys are getting the double antenna and the paper thin sensor off the sprue intact! Here's a WIP of my replacement antenna for Scout pod #2.  And here's a sneak peek at a piece of another weekend project I started to play around with!  At the moment there are a lot of things at various stages of completion that I hope to finish up for pics soon. Cheers! |
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 3, 2015 14:43:02 GMT
Hello everyone! Usually I picture things near or at completion... well I thought I'd go a different way with this project. While I was waiting rather impatiently for green stuff (GS) to cure it hit me that I needed a distraction. For no good reason whatsoever, I decided it would be cool to do a vignette. (You really have to give it to the French for providing cool words to describe things.) First up is the rough base layout. Nothing is attached and it's possible that a bigger or smaller base may be used for the final piece.  Second thing today is what will ultimately be a mecha hand. It's going to take 4 separate sessions to finish it cause I'm really into layering GS!  Session 1 was the biggest. I mixed up some GS, made a sausage and wrapped it completely around the barrel. Next I used a flat tool to shape it into a continuous 'ring' of GS and cut away any extra from the ring to leave it roughly the right size for the hand. It was set aside for ~15-20 minutes to let the GS really stick to the plastic and start to firm up. The rest of step 1 was shaping the fingers with the business end of an Xacto knife. It's easiest for me to get the fingers roughly the same size by very gently making a line that splits the entire hand in half and then splitting these halves in half again to get 4 fingers ~ the same size. This is slow and tedious work. The GS in the thumb area was cut away as I wanted to add the thumb later. Session 2 was short and sweet. After everything cured for a few hours, a tiny bit of GS was added to the back of the hand area and shaped to make the armour. Sorry I missed that angle in the pics, I'll add it next time. Session 3 added the thumb. A more experienced sculptor could have done the hand/thumb in one go but I've found that if I work on all sides of a piece, more often than not I manage to ruin some of the detail with my chubby fingers. In the long run it's just easier for me to let things cure and do some extra steps. Session 4 (tonight) will add some fine details to the back of the hand. There again this could have most likely been done earlier but layering works best for me and as a rule of thumb, unless you're trying something new... go with what you know! A few notes on GS... > When you're working with it you have to get a feel for the sweet spot. If the GS is too soft it's easy to deform so you have to set it aside and let it firm up more... however, if it firms up too much then you can't get it to stick or hold the shape you want! It's one of those things that comes with practice and time. > GS is only really sticky for a short time after it's mixed so if you need it added on to something then you need to get it pressed against it pretty quick. > GS does not stick to plastic well... at all. After it fully cures it can pop off pretty easy. I usually head this off at the pass by doing the GS work I need to do, letting it cure and then carefully popping it off myself so that I can reattach it with a tiny amount of Superglue. If you're a hobby nut like me, the best thing you can do is surf the net for articles and then dig in. You can learn a lot through trail and error.  Next up we have the second hand. I just started this last night so it is still pretty raw.  At the moment this is just the fingers part of the hand. Next I will add the armoured back and thumb. With the way this hand is shaped I'll be doing these in one step... I hope! When finished I want this hand to be open with the fingers curled just a little. For me it's always easier to sculpt against a firm surface so I grabbed some Sprue out of the trash and used it for a work area. Since GS doesn't stick well to plastic it will be easy enough to pop this baby off when I'm ready! I thought about doing the hand over a wire armature by roughing out the shape and then layering the detail onto it but thought going the sprue route might be easier... we'll see how it turns out! Last up is a WIP pair of legs. Earlier I posted a pic of these in various pieces. After figuring out the final shape/position of these I pinned them and filled any gaps with GS.  Sigh... these things take so long and I get so excited to see the final piece that it's almost torture waiting on parts to dry and for work days to pass. Tonight I hope to make some progress with the hands and maybe get the legs attached to the waist. I can promise that there will be a lot more to come as this project rolls toward completion! Cheers!  |
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 4, 2015 14:00:50 GMT
Project update! Finished adding the small vent to the back of hand #1  and cut the spure down to an angle and added the thumb/back hand armour for hand #2  The only thing left to do with the hands is to use a needle file to clean up the shape and to add a vent to the back of hand#2! Also got the legs pinned in place for a dry run but had to break one of the feet off and redo the GS work to get a different angle on the final piece.  Finally... carefully cut the head laser mount away from the back of the head and glued it back in place to get the final laser position.  |
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 5, 2015 13:39:50 GMT
Finally getting to the point where things are taking shape. Although there is still a long way to go!   As for the missing arm... It's waiting on the hand to cure after the last detail was added.  |
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Post by Komikino on Feb 6, 2015 7:11:43 GMT
That Spartan is looking pretty kick-ass! I want to post pics of my Spartans!
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 6, 2015 15:58:04 GMT
That Spartan is looking pretty kick-ass! I want to post pics of my Spartans! Thanks! Can't wait to see your stuff posted up! |
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 9, 2015 13:56:39 GMT
Taking a cue from the Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" I redirected the scope and scale of the Spartan Vignette. The whole project was inspired by the amazing artwork of Dan Dussault that was used in the rulebook. The complete picture here is from his Deviant Art page where you can find some inspirational work!  And here is the latest WIP.  I should have kept the source material closer as I managed to blow the angles on the hands and head lasers! Yikes! I may have another go at the hands before it's all done but we'll see. The left hand looks really fuzzy from where I have to alter it heavily after it came off the sprue. I managed to get the fingers too long and the shape was way off from what I wanted. And some additional angles.    Spartan #2 is less dramatic as it's cobbled together from test pieces. I decided to upgrade the hands by modeling one to be pointing while the other is balled into a fist. (There is a little detail work to do on the fist so it has an unnatural look in the photos.)   After a little detail work these one should be ready to walk off the assembly line and head over to paint! And here are both of them next to one out of the box for comparison.  Happy Monday everyone! |
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Post by Thorfinn on Feb 9, 2015 14:35:12 GMT
Pure Awesomeness. I really like the choice to rebase it on the standard base so you can actually use it. Have got to get some of those.
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 9, 2015 14:45:23 GMT
Pure Awesomeness. I really like the choice to rebase it on the standard base so you can actually use it. Have got to get some of those. Thanks mate! I did really really want to play with it after spending so much time putting it together. |
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Post by Sundowner on Feb 9, 2015 20:26:45 GMT
Pure Awesomeness. I really like the choice to rebase it on the standard base so you can actually use it. Have got to get some of those. Thanks mate! I did really really want to play with it after spending so much time putting it together. 'Im sure it would intimidate the Zent commander! I think the smaller base suits it better. I'm not sure of how well ABS plastic softens, but for the foot crushing the body, if there was a way to soften and press the foot into the plastic a little it would give it more of the crushed under Spartan weight look. But it looks awesome all the same. |
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Post by TheNuttyBuckeye on Feb 26, 2015 2:48:36 GMT
Wow! These conversions are absolutely amazing! Nicely done! I love how you're using scenes from the show and the rules as inspiration for your gorgeous models! Very nicely done Wargamer!!!
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Post by wargamer43210 on Feb 27, 2015 22:03:00 GMT
Thanks! I'm anxious to get back to work on these but the job really gets in the way this time of year. Hopefully I'll make some progress over the next week! |
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Post by TheNuttyBuckeye on Mar 1, 2015 0:56:31 GMT
PMed you Wargamer.
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Post by bythtron on Mar 22, 2015 2:03:30 GMT
These conversions are great. I enjoying looking at the pictures the poses really catch the feel of the show. What about having one of the UEDF Mecha using a battered Zentraedi battlepods leg as a sword.
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exef
New Member
Posts: 3 
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Post by exef on Sept 18, 2015 23:34:15 GMT
any new update about these convertioons? I want to see them painted!
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Post by zino117 on Sept 19, 2015 23:44:25 GMT
man post in FB man you have epic work of art !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! man if i money now i would pay good money for type of professional work
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Post by daredevil22r on Oct 5, 2015 18:46:21 GMT
That is sweet. You're an Inspiration. Gonna have to do something about my bix. All I did was primer the figures. Haven't even started to put 90% together.
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Post by wargamer43210 on Oct 16, 2015 3:41:22 GMT
Thanks everyone! I'm hoping to get back to work on everything soon. At the moment there are a lot of white Mechs silently mocking me from a WIP shelf.  |
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