Andy Moore

Interesting solution. I'll have to try this with my Mars. The resin I'm using has a recommended operating temp of 20-25 degrees and the room the printer is in falls way below that in winter. Andy

Thanks for all the comments everyone Actually, it wasn't that difficult, just time consuming. It was all straight lines, so just a case of adjusting the tape until it looked about right. The wings were easy since the stripes were 10mm wide and I was using 10mm Tamiya tape. Cheers Bruce. Yes, I added glaze medium and the paint is very easy to work with after that. Very similar to using oils, but the paint dries faster so it can be over-coated sooner, and it's less delicate once dry. Andy

Sopwith Pup "Gnome" Wingnut Wings 1/32 This is WnW's Gnome engined version of the Sopwith Pup, and it's the first kit of theirs that I've built and way out of my comfort zone, being an AFV and Sci-Fi modeller generally. The kit went together without any real issues, although handling it become more difficult as the build went on and a few repairs were needed along the way. The single biggest job was the masking for the stripes, although I simplified it as much as possible by breaking the painting down into stages, rather than trying to mask and spray the whole thing in one go. I wasn't looking forward to the rigging due to my zero experience with it, but it went reasonably well once I got the hang of it. Thanks for looking Andy

Thanks guys, I think the only danger I might pose with a 3D printer is if I accidentally overrun the world with an army of mouse droids, in which case we might all have to run for the hills . Hope you get one Stephen. You definitely won't regret it. Andy

Cheers Will, they look equally good from the back. I think that works on the spine. Makes it look like boney protrusions coming through the skin - also, I've only just noticed how the purple wash on the hands and face ties in with the base tiles . Andy

EL-5A Mouse Droid 1/12 3D Print I've recently bought a 3D printer (Elegoo Mars Pro), and have been slowly finding my feet with that and Fusion 360. I wanted something fairly simple as an initial print, and there's very little that's simpler than Nigel. He objected to a digital doppelganger though, so this initial print has become EL-5A who's now betrothed to Nigel in some kind of weird mouse droid arranged marriage. The print came out fairly well, although there are some things I need to tweak, both with the printing and with the original file. The upper body was done at 0.05mm layer hight, while everything else was done at 0.025mm, and there's a marked difference as you'd expect, so I'll be trying the body again at the higher rez. The one thing I wasn't sure would come out okay was the top greebles. I didn't know if my design would be beyond the printer's capabilities. As it turned out, they printed fine and are the bits of this model I'm most pleased with. They certainly showed just what the printer is capable of. She's not as heavily weathered as Nigel, which seemed only fair, and she's had the white stripes to reference her name and her status as the future bride of Nigel. Since I'd got the basic file for the body, I also printed up two more without the side panel details, so I could make up the Mouse train that was originaly envisaged for ANH, but never used on screen due to the unpredictability and general uselessness of all Mouse Droids. EL-5A, being an all-round better class of rodent, can handle them easily. Thanks for looking Andy

Really nice Will. I like the way you've added a lot of perceived detail to what are fairly simple sculpts - the bloody hand and mouth, the speckling on the back - any chance of a rear shot to show that speckling better? The bases are fantastic too - I really thought you'd cut out a print and stuck it to the tops at first. One question though; what are the, err... clumps of 'soil'? Do these boys still need to be house trained? Andy

Well, we knew it would be coming after appearing on the boxtop of the flatbed wagon, but Miniart have finally confirmed a new tool Austin AC with interior Andy

Fantastic work Will. I'm surprised just how much detail they managed to pack into these little sculpts, like the teeny tiny shovel on the track sponson. Andy

I hadn't seen those. Just had a look on ebay and found deck parts for both the Meng and Suyata kits. I may well have to pick up one of the kits now along with the deck. The Suyata version is also available with a port scene, although I've no idea where it's supposed to be. I want a model of the multi-deck pagoda bus though Andy

You can actually get a set of figures (from some obscure film) for this from Tori Factory And, bizarrely, it's not the only cartoon Titanic available. There's another coming from Suyata (with added seals!) Andy

Nice work Will. I really like the schemes on these. The curved red section at the front makes a great contrast to the angular design of the Tiger Sharks That's the main reason I've cut down on using them. You can get much cleaner results with acrylics, especially at small scales. Andy

There's a nice Indian from Thunder Models. I've not built it, but in general their kits are very good OOB (reviewed on Britmodeller here) Das Werk have re-boxed the Dragon Kettenkrad, if you want to class it as a bike There's also a Triumph announced by H3 Models. I don't know anything about the company, or what the nature of the kit is (resin? injection?), but it might be interesting Andy

Thanks for the comments everyone Thanks Gorby. It may go on a scenic base at some point, if I find the time. I've got a figure for it too which I need to get painted. Andy

Case VAI Tractor Thunder Models 1/35 I've had this little Case tractor sitting on the shelf, built up and in primer, for a couple of years, but I've never seemed to find the time to get it finished. I've currently got a short gap between bigger projects, so I thought it was high time I got it out of the box and done. Another reason for the long delay in getting it done was that I wasn't sure what to do with it. I'd originally primed it in rust with the view to finishing it as rusted out wreck, but when it came to it I decided to go for a heavily worn but still working machine finished in the original Case orangey red, albeit with a heavy dose of chipping. The kit itself is very nice, with some lovely detailing. Some of the parts, such as the steering linkage, are a little fragile but everything goes together very easily. The only additions are a bit of wiring on the engine. As well as the original Thunder release, the kit's now been re-boxed by Airfix. (for the observant out there, yes, I did put one of the rear tyres on backwards) Thanks for looking Andy