The Spadgent Posted January 8 Author Posted January 8 15 hours ago, Keeff said: Pleased to hear I've inspired you Johnny .... I can almost hear the screams and I'll be watching to see what you do with it ...... Keith ☺️ Thanks Keith. Really looking forward to it. 😄 1
The Spadgent Posted January 8 Author Posted January 8 Good evening you lot. Looks as though we are getting to the good stuff. 🛸 The sanding is as complete s as it’s going to get. I even dug out my age old Mr Surfacer to fill these gaps. Worked a treat too. And no comments from @CedB please. These are very obviously a collection of Martian thumbs. 😬 Ok, with that done we can move on. more shade time. I started with the tanks. Then moved on quickly to the arms. It’s a nice process, I do my usual ( in the darker spaces ) then blend with an overall blast from below and darker where the section might meet another section. Eg. Close to the main body. Here’s the other side. Looks like dark shadows but trust me it’s paint. You can see it better on the rear of the brain. This was a little bit more involved than usual so decided to stop after one more section. So I made it a biggie. I did a lot of modulation and shading of different surfaces. Quite happy with the gutz! (Eugh) 😀 By the way here’s the victims head post pre shade but sanded and primed. It’s odd. But the locating holes for the Martian don’t match the picture on the box? It’s a lot closer and more over the victim? I quite like it but did a dry fit to test if I was wrong. Looks pretty cool. Excited to get the rest shaded so I can start on the colouring in bit. 😇🥰 Thanks for popping in, hope you’re all having a great week. All comments welcomed. Ack ack!!! Happy modelling chums. Johnny 19 1
Keeff Posted January 9 Posted January 9 8 hours ago, The Spadgent said: These are very obviously a collection of Martian thumbs. 😬 Are you sure ... have they been certified as such? Lovely work on the shading ..... Ack Ack Ack!! Keith ☺️ 4
81-er Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Nice work with the pre-shading, I'm looking forward to the paint now James 1 1 1
The Spadgent Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 On 09/01/2025 at 06:50, giemme said: Top job on the shading, Johnny! Ciao Thanks G! 😺 On 09/01/2025 at 07:41, Keeff said: Are you sure ... have they been certified as such? Lovely work on the shading ..... Ack Ack Ack!! Keith ☺️ At last I think so. 😆. Thanks. 😇 On 09/01/2025 at 10:41, 81-er said: Nice work with the pre-shading, I'm looking forward to the paint now James A little more prep work but almost ready now. 😀 1
The Spadgent Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 Well this is an unexpected treat! A Saturday with no cleaning or chores as such. It’s colder than I can remember outside. -6 last night and -3 now Frosty dog walks aside. What’s a boy to do? 😈 Bench it is then. 🫡 Torso pre shade. Legs. I took a pic half way through to emphasise exactly what I’m doing and why it matters in my opinion. Really pings the victims head. Base black on the iron work. I’ll need to do another gloss black here (and on the gun) then dry brush iron or steel. Hand was a bit splodgy but I’ll fix that with the top white blast. The pipes! And that’s it for the darker shadows. What I want to do next is an overall top down blast of white to give some artificial light from above. Then I can start with the colours. I dry fitted some parts to get the coverage correct. Here we go then. Torso and legs. Arms Head Victim. And finally the tanks. Grasping the nettle and making a choice to chip the lamp post I base coated with Duraluminium. and the base and street base too. And finally the pole. Now I get the irony of priming and painting silver a metal pole but as you can see I wanted a bit of a mottled finish and something for the top paint to adhere to. I set aside tools to let all that dry and to update the thread. Which is where I currently am. Luckily the only black dog in my life at the moment. More later on. Thanks for dropping by and please pop in any comments. Happy modelling chums. Johnny. 16 1
81-er Posted January 11 Posted January 11 The preshading is looking good there, should be good under paint Just a couple of comments about the metal street furniture though. The ironworks tend to be made of a metal with a similar appearance to armour plate, generally a very dark red brown in colour that doesn't really rust a great deal. Especailly the slotted drain cover. The treadplate bit over the top might well have been painted, which could give you a chance to chip it and show some of the natural metal colour underneath. Have a wonder down the street and look at some cast manholes and drainage gullys in the road, and you'll see what I mean. As for the lamp post, that style of post will have been cast iron, which is a dark grey colour out of the mould and definitely not bright and shiney. It also quite likely went through a repaint every few years, meaning you can have several layers of chipping over each other if you wanted, with gnarly texture of painted over chips only making it more authentic (if you want to go that way of course). Bare metal areas would also rust, so you could have some fun there if you wanted too. Stick on some Night Shift videos on YouTube for inspiration. Or completely ignore me and carry on as you are, after all it's your model and you can go wherever you want with it and it'll look great whatever you do with it James 1 1
The Spadgent Posted January 12 Author Posted January 12 10 hours ago, 81-er said: The preshading is looking good there, should be good under paint Just a couple of comments about the metal street furniture though. The ironworks tend to be made of a metal with a similar appearance to armour plate, generally a very dark red brown in colour that doesn't really rust a great deal. Especailly the slotted drain cover. The treadplate bit over the top might well have been painted, which could give you a chance to chip it and show some of the natural metal colour underneath. Have a wonder down the street and look at some cast manholes and drainage gullys in the road, and you'll see what I mean. As for the lamp post, that style of post will have been cast iron, which is a dark grey colour out of the mould and definitely not bright and shiney. It also quite likely went through a repaint every few years, meaning you can have several layers of chipping over each other if you wanted, with gnarly texture of painted over chips only making it more authentic (if you want to go that way of course). Bare metal areas would also rust, so you could have some fun there if you wanted too. Stick on some Night Shift videos on YouTube for inspiration. Or completely ignore me and carry on as you are, after all it's your model and you can go wherever you want with it and it'll look great whatever you do with it James Thanks James. Yes I had thought about this already. On my dog walks I see quite a lot of old worn metal lamp posts with rust patches and even the black painted ones in the graveyard I shared the pictures of earlier are worn an chipped but I know what you mean about the darker iron of the metal. It is quite a dull colour but I didn’t want to go too dark and had plans to add a little rust as I want the street to look a little run down with litter and news paper pages “MARS ATTACKS!” Headlines on scattered front pages. I know some of these are super run down and I’m not going this far but something akin to these. Mostly the second one as I was planning a darker paint job. But you get my drift. As for the drain, I’m right there with you. As mentioned I’ve just painted this totally black and will dry brush with iron. I might add some dirt but no real chipping on those parts. Thanks for the help, it’s great to get constructive feedback before you have done the deed. 👌 Johnny 8
81-er Posted January 12 Posted January 12 I really like the sound of the newspapers Speaking of dogs, they're a large part of the reason lamp posts rust... James 4
AdrianMF Posted January 13 Posted January 13 Nice azimuthal shading! Looking forward to colour, or should I say "COLOR!!" Regards, Adrian 1 1
The Spadgent Posted January 13 Author Posted January 13 On 12/01/2025 at 10:58, 81-er said: I really like the sound of the newspapers Speaking of dogs, they're a large part of the reason lamp posts rust... James I’ll knock something up in photoshop and print it out. Should look ok 🤞 20 hours ago, AdrianMF said: Nice azimuthal shading! Looking forward to colour, or should I say "COLOR!!" Regards, Adrian Thanks Adrian. We have COLOUR! ( How did you do that? ) not much but it’s a start! 💚
The Spadgent Posted January 13 Author Posted January 13 I do my best thinking while walking the dogs and while I was out I took some more pics of the iron work and old lamps as reference. I’m not going as old and gnarly as these but it’s good stuff. I might go black paint after all as I can get some good variation🤔 we’ll see. Some nice iron work grills and covers for the drain. Enough fun in the graveyard! 🧟♂️ let’s get back to the model. I managed to find some great colours for our alien friend. And it’s gone on nicely on these frog legs. And gloves too! The thumbs and trigger finger also got a green blast and glued in place. Last bit for this evening is to chipping fluid coat the bits action will get a little ware. The other metal bits got a blast but I’m not sure how much chipping will actually go on. I also did the tanks. I figured chipping the red paint to this great would look pretty cool. I’m letting all that dry and get some more done tomorrow. Thanks for popping in. See you soon. Happy modelling chums. Johnny 15 1
81-er Posted January 13 Posted January 13 It's looking there, I love the green Some great reference shots as well. Should we be worrying about how much time you're spending in graveyards though? James 2
Keeff Posted January 14 Posted January 14 Superb work on the pre-shading and very effective 👏 The green is well, green and we won't miss our little friend in that colour! 🤣 I like your research for the cast iron but have to ask if we should be worried by the fact that you're lurking in graveyards? Keith ☺️ 2
opus999 Posted January 18 Posted January 18 Just caught up on this... you really sorted out the seams in the brain part nicely. I really like the pre-shading too. this is shaping up to be a fun build. 1
The Spadgent Posted January 19 Author Posted January 19 On 13/01/2025 at 22:23, 81-er said: It's looking there, I love the green Some great reference shots as well. Should we be worrying about how much time you're spending in graveyards though? James Thanks. It’s a great colour. Almost did t use it because it had gone a bit odd in the pot. (A bit like me really) Graveyards are great! 🧟♂️🧟♀️ On 14/01/2025 at 11:53, Quiet Mike said: That green is fabulous Johnny! 💚😆 A. Nugget!!! Of purest. GREEEEEEN! 🦠 On 14/01/2025 at 12:25, Keeff said: Superb work on the pre-shading and very effective 👏 The green is well, green and we won't miss our little friend in that colour! 🤣 I like your research for the cast iron but have to ask if we should be worried by the fact that you're lurking in graveyards? Keith ☺️ Thanks Kieth. I’m beginning to question the graveyards myself now. It’s ok…. I think. 🤔🤣🧛♂️ On 18/01/2025 at 01:16, opus999 said: Just caught up on this... you really sorted out the seams in the brain part nicely. I really like the pre-shading too. this is shaping up to be a fun build. Thanks my dude!! 💪 1
The Spadgent Posted January 19 Author Posted January 19 Good evening you lot. It’s been a sad few days. This wonderful Gent passed away and the world is suddenly a lot less interesting than it was before. The bench time I had planned for Saturday was put to one side while I literally sat down a lot and binged Twin Peaks. Maybe in the spirit of interesting / oddness and art I’ll dedicate this build to Dave. RIP you wonderful soul. While walking the dog. In the cricket grounds, (yes ok next to the graveyard) I got a few more rusty shots. I just need to pick a colour for the post. I do like that up there^^^^ but it might clash with Mr Ack ack. The suit got sprayed. I also added a bit of white and did a bit of highlighting too. The pre shade has really shown through well. 🥰 And on the arms. The highlight has picked up quite subtly too. By the way while I think on it. This paint. Had turned into what can only be described as a snotty blob. The emulsion of snotty blob and clear liquid just wouldn’t … well emulsify. I shook and shook and stirred but nothing. I even added Tamiya thinners but no good. I was just about to give up when I decided to add some of this. a few shakes with the lid on and it was like new? Just thought if anyone else was having the same issue this may help. 🫡 Ok back to the matter at hand. I but some masking fluid chips to start me off. Then sprayed yellow as a base for the red. All that needs to dry now and I really need to vacuum this bad boy. More soon. All comments welcomed. Happy modelling chums. Johnny 12 1
Navy Bird Posted January 19 Posted January 19 I've never used Mr. Color thinner to recover Tamiya paint, but I have used Mr. Color Replenishing Agent. It worked OK. I also used it on Mr. Color that was completely dried up, and it worked miracles. The green is marvelous! Cheers, Bill 1
opus999 Posted January 19 Posted January 19 That green looks perfect. I too have used Mr. levelling thinner to refresh Tamiya paint. It's amazing how that stuff seems to behave with almost everything. 1
Keeff Posted January 19 Posted January 19 Nice work ... loving the colours and full admiration for your skills with the airbrush! Keep up the good ack ack ack work! Keith ☺️ 1
81-er Posted January 20 Posted January 20 That's coming along very nicely, mate, the suit green looks perfect. With the continued talk of graveyards and graveyard-adjacent things, this little ditty came to mind: James 2
giemme Posted January 20 Posted January 20 Masterful paint job so far, Johnny! Pre-shading and highlighting are very effective! Ciao 1
corsaircorp Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Splendid job as udual Spad !! I'm always impressed... But I'm thinking about peoples looking at you taking pictures of sewer man holes and iron works on the street... A bit of Monthy Pythonesque isn't it ?? @Martian will be proud of your rendering of his brother or cousin... Sincerely. CC 3
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