A TALE OF FOUR CUPS

 I have returned from my latest adventure, yesterday and this morning was catching up and commenting on your blogs, I've gone with commenting on your latest post, as some of you have been very busy while I've been away ! LOL I did enjoy reading the rest of your posts while I was away, helped feel I was still in the hobby, while doing something else.

So where have I been for the last three weeks, Florida, it's my wife and children's favourite place to go, this time we added some new excursions as well. We landed in Miami, and visited the Miami Zoo, I have to say it is a well laid out zoo, with plenty of room for the animals in their enclosures, and where the cup on the left came from. pictures below are from the internet as my photo's won't load !

We then travelled up to Orlando, and went to Universal studios, both the original two parks and the new epic one, my children really enjoyed all the rides, my wife and I sat watching them enjoy themselves, it was more comfortable for me this time, as we upgraded my wheelchair to an electric one, which means my family no longer has to push me round, or I don't need to strain my back and neck trying to move myself ! LOL This year we went to the Universal Halloween Horror Night, for the first time, my wife and son got the lanyards to keep the scare actors away, so they weren't allowed to walk next to my daughter and me, we also visited many of the horror houses, we planned 3, Hellraiser, Stranger Things, and Ozzy Osbournes, we then also did Invasion: Alien Abduction, and Cybergoria, we had wanted to go to Sinners as well, but the queues got too long, so we left it at the 5. This is where the second cup came from, and the T-shirt below. the picture is from the internet as my photo's wont load ! LOL

We then moved over to Disney World for two weeks, this is where the third cup came from. We visited all four parks multiple times, and did a Mickey's not so scary Halloween, and two Christmas themed nights as well, most of the visit was watching my children smile, but I did visit Galaxy's Edge and got a load more reference pictures unfortunately they wont load so here are a couple from the internet.

While at Disney we also went to Medieval Times which is a Joust show and dinner banquet, which my children love going to, and where the fourth cup came from ( this ones glass, and thankfully survived the journey home ! LOL)

We had a great time, and I loved seeing my family enjoy themselves, I did manage to find some bits for my Wargaming while over there as well, firstly some vehicles for Zombie wargames, will need some weathering, but other than that, good to go.

Managed to get a Razor Crest in Mission Fleet scale, once filled and painted will add to my Star Wars fleet.

The last bit I got is a Christmas ornament, which will help when I get round to updating my Pallitoy Millennium Falcon, but that will be a while off ! LOL This one lights up, and has many phrases from the scene it's based on, you can also get Luke as well, and the two interact with each other, I went with the one.

Great to be back, and now back to work ! LOL So until next time, stay safe, and have fun 

Cheers Dave

LET'S SPLIT

 Today I need to show how splitting your time, can make a lot of progress but also not get a lot finished ! LOL So first a quick easy one, the B-Wing that Squirrel sent over, this was literally a simple put together, due to it's chrome look, so you can't even do any edge scraping on it to blend joins.

Next I have made a little progress on the Lambda class Shuttle, the painting is slow, due to the weight I can only do about 5 minutes before needing to put it down, and leave it for another day ! LOL

This one I started back when I was working on all the other Battlestar Galactica models, but I have a feeling this one is going to take a long time, the top and bottom detail are good, but the sides are totally lacking, so it's going to take a while to add it in, I've already opened up the the centre supports, and made it into more like the original.

Next is another Squirrel model, the Independence day Exoskeleton, you may remember I painted one of these some time ago

So I thought why not change this one and have the suit open, with the alien on show instead, already got the head opened up as shown below.

Another Squirrel kit I started is a 1/6 scale vinyl kit of Luke Skywalker, started on the base colors, but decided the belt needs some more detail to match the movie, so started adding them.

The last Squirrel kit I've started is the Diorama on Dagobah, now I could have just put it together and painted it, which I started to do with the characters, but the scene didn't feel right to me.

So I've now started changing the structure itself to tie in with the reference on the outside.

I've also changed the interior at the rear to give an impression of multiple areas, but I think I'm going to add some LED lights so cant go much further until I get and fit them on the rear section. I will also need to change the rock and stump as they are in the wrong places, and will probably change Yoda to standing next to the stove which I need to create.

Last up today, I have started the entire Zombicide box Army of the Dead, but I will probably start concentrating on them in small groups from here on.

Now before I go I need to let you know I will be away from the computer for the next three weeks, as I'm off on another adventure, of the nice kind, so I will have to catch up with comments, and your blogs when I get back, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers dave

BOYZ, BOYZ, BOYZ !

 No I'm not trying to relieve the 80's with bad pop songs, but finishing my sons Ork Killteam. Today is the turn of the Boyz, which make up the bulk of the squad, the first set are the special weapons crew, from left to right we have the Comms Boy, Burna Boy, and Rokkit Boy

The next three are the assault team, with a Breacha Boy, and two boys with pistol and axe.

The last three are obviously trained in sneaking up and silent work with all the knives they have.

Here is a group shot of the whole squad with their base of operations.

I very much doubt that this is the last Ork I will do for my son, but it is the end for now, and the end of my submissions for Orktober, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

I NEED MY GOOGLE SEARCH REVOKED !

 As you may have seen over the years with my Star Wars project, most of it is cannon, occasionally expanded universe, and occasionally bits I find that fit the aesthetics, like one of the land speeders I did over the summer, and small craft I did a few Christmas's ago. Today's piece comes from a Google search I did when looking for all the different speeders on Tatooine, there are a few I still need to find or make, this one actually comes from 

Tatooine Dune Speeder was a painting that appeared in the 2003 MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts. The image used for the painting came from the art book From Pencil to Pixel: The Art of Star Wars Galaxies. The painting was one of nine paintings given out randomly to players of the game for the game's first anniversary of release in the United States and Europe. The painting was later added to the "rare loot system" in Hotfix 17.10 on October 7, 2010. The system allowed players to loot rare items from any enemy in the game. The vehicle depicted in the painting bears similarities to the T-47 airspeeder. The player could use the painting in their house as decoration.

I started with a 1:52 T-47 airspeeder made by Revell, as the basis, then used plasticard, parts from other models, and some greenstuff to come up with this.

Now it's not 100% accurate to the sketch, but close enough for me. Painting wise I went for some desert colors, with a red stripe, then well weathered, there is an alien pilot which I made but you can only see glimpses of him.

While I did the Dune speeder I also painted up the new Legion T-47 I got for my birthday, I've gone with a color scheme matching the reference from the Empire Strikes Back, I'm going to add it to my slowly growing Hoth bits, as I already have a Revell 1:52 T-47 with a Tatooine colored base, now the Revell kit is actually not much smaller than the Legion one, a few millimetres narrower on the width, and about a centimeter shorter on length, so close enough. I've also managed to paint up Poggle the lesser, and Sun Fac the two Geonosian characters I also got for my Birthday.

Tried to match the reference as close as possible, without going overboard, used a lot of washes and glazes to get all the different colors in, plus base layers and highlights of paint. These were effectively a test for when I eventually get round to doing squads of Geonosians.

From Star Wars to Trekking now, I've had a play with some of the vinyl kits that Squirrel sent over, seeing how well I can do on larger scale models, if you've ever painted  large scale models you'll know it is very different to our normal wargaming painting. I'm pretty pleased with the test results, as my daughter accuses Odo of watching her round the room ! LOL

I think that's enough for today, as I need to get back on with some Ork's and a box of zombies are groaning my name ! LOL So until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave