Bluestone 42 - part 2

In the meantime I cut the jersey barrier from the polyurethane foam (leftover piece of insulation from somewhere).

With the scalpel I cut all the indentations and some chippings. Surface was brush-painted with Surfacer 500.

One of the lads was supposed to carry the shield. Bin lid would be a perfect for the purpose, but where to get 1/20 scale bin lid? I created a master for moulding out of the PET bottle cap and two rings of styrene...

...Then heated a sheet of ring binder cover over a candle and pulled it over the master. Worked OK at the 3rd try.

Quick spray with the primer to see if all is good.

I thought that it would be nice to have the zinc galvanized surface. I used variety of mixes of AK True Metal Silver, Aluminium and Gun Metal to recreate specs of zinc coating.

Just a little of buffing to get the slight sheen of the surface. It turned out nicely with different shines depending on the viewing anlge. Matte primer woked well as well allowing for not too deep of a shine.

Jersey barrier was sprayed with few shades of grey and then weathered with selection of diluted oils to get the different stains and weathering streaks.

Thin stips of aluminium foil (I sacrificed myself for this project with a generous serving of garlic chips) glued together with CA were used to create the net. Metal foils is nice and stiff, but allows for easy forming to required shape.

Bluestone 42 - part 1

This was a diorama that was sitting on my bench for over a year. The idea was born after watching British sitcom 'Bluestone 42', which was about a bomb disposal squad based in Afghanistan. 

My favourite characters are two Scottish gits Mac & Rocket. Always up to no good, and the most diorama worthy were their gladiator fights in episode 5 of the 3rd season.

I started with printing the skeletons scaled to the approximate heights in 1/20 scale, and rigged a simple copper wire frames for the figures.

Main non-movable parts (long bones, pelvis, skull and chest were sculpted from Magic Sculp. 

Once the initial frame was set, I could realistically pose my figures, as the body joints were in the right places. Then I added knees, elbows and other joints to set the poses.

 Next to sculpt were headsm hands and feet. Tools of trade are visible on the photo. I use dental tools to work the Magic Sculpt while it's still workable. Then, once set I use file, pointy scalpel and steel wool to sculp the details.

 The figures are almost 'engineered' rather than sculpted, with layers of clothing being added on top of the basic body shape..

To make the figures less boring - one is wearing a T-shirt and the other UBACS shirt. Shoe laces were made from the elastic rigging thread fixed with superglue.

Another Falklands diorama

Recently I came up with an idea for a Falklands War themed diorama. No figures, just a lot of hardware. For this I would need a heap of FN rifles.
Initial thought was to make the master from bits of plasticard, but then someone mentioned 3D printing service Shapeways. This would be a perfect excuse to try to use contemporary technology with potential use for future project.
I settled with 1:20 scale (I like metric scales...) which will allow for a bit more detail than typical 1:35th.

The rifle was modelled in CAD together with sprues, so it will be ready for casting straight out of the box:

Model was exported to STL format, and uploaded directly to Shapeways. This service allows for immediate feedback, depending on the material chosen. One or two minor tweaks were required, and the order was sent for processing.

About a week later a bix cardboard box landed at my doorstep. Inside - a very carefully packed my miniature FN FAL. I'm really impressed with the print quality.

Now I need to get some silicone, and resin.