MAN THAT'S A BIG DOOR

 One of the main features of the Rancor pit, has to be the door that separates the two areas. It is so thick that I decided to make it differently to normal, and started with a piece of insulation foam cut to the right size. Then I added a skin of thin plasticard each side to give the smooth texture required. For the details I needed multiple levels in areas, so the bottom detail was made with 2 layers of 0.5 mm, where as the uprights were made with 1 mm card. To get the large rivet heads that were sunk in, I drilled holes then filled with greenstuff, and made an edge recess so as to define the two sections.

I included the recess in the wall that Luke tries to hide in.

Below are some more scenic pictures with models to show the scale of everything.

Below are the two different doors that give access to the corridor.

And just for fun one of the keepers finding the Rancor's latest deposit, in the movie Luke actually has to run right past a huge pile of dung to get to the corridor door.

That's all for this post, don't know what I'll do next, so will be a surprise for all, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

THIS ONES FOR YOU !

 While I was building Jabba's throne room, several other bloggers were mentioning other rooms in his palace, and wondering if I would be tackling those as well, for once I can't blame Roger, but Ivor, Dai, and Jeff instead. Now saying that this would be like pouring petrol on a fire would probably be an understatement ! LOL

So which of these areas to do first, well I've gone with the Rancor pit, as it directly effects the throne room. It's been carve out of the heavy duty insulation foam, which gives a great rock texture.

So far I've been working on the area the victims are dropped into, and have got the basic wall structure done, and the textured rock faces. I used the colour of the foam, as the base colour, so only had to do a wet brush of brown, and a dry brush of bone to get the areas painted

I've also got a sliding shutter done for the trap door entrance, and included a skull that I found was sitting in one of the fissures of the rocks.

I'm currently working on the big door and the Rancor enclosure, and I hope to get everything finished before the end of the challenge.

One of the things I did get to do on the bad week was catch up on some watching of series, and got through three seasons of Mayans, it's a spin off series from Sons of Anarchy, which is all about outlaw bikers or the 1% and covers some very topical agendas that was going on in the US at the time.

I also sat through two seasons of Scream Queens, now I started to watch it as it starred the excellent Jamie Lee Curtis, but I found it was a poor rip off  of many of the 80's style slasher movies, and the main difference was in the originals there were characters you wanted to see survive, the main characters in this series are so obnoxious I found myself actually hoping the killer would knock them off sooner rather than later, but they have so far managed to avoid that for two series. So why am I sharing this, because I thought I would save anyone who hasn't seen it the time of sitting through it ! LOL

That's all for this post so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

THE WEEK THAT WASN'T !

 Since finishing Jabba's palace, my health decided to give me a real beating, but not to let it win I decided to finish a model that would still count for the Season of Scenery but has been sat around for far too long.

I actually started painting it earlier in the year for one of Ann's challenges, until I ran out of paint half way through, I had ordered the paints straight away but took over a month to arrive, and by then I was working away on lots of Star Wars stuff for other challenges.

Of all the models I've ever bought from Forgeworld, this was the worst in quality, as ever panel was bent or twisted and had to be straightened with heat before putting together. The model design itself I thought was brilliant and turned the ugly duckling that is the Storm Raven, into the super sleek and aggressive looking Storm Eagle. Normally I have thee legs retracted and mount the flyer on a flying stand, but for once I thought it would be cool to have the legs out so I can use my landing platform. Painting wise I've stuck with my normal colour scheme for my Space Marine chapter.

I've kept with Iain's advice and made it look individual with chipping and named the craft in a similar fashion to pilots during WW2. I've also added heat bloom on all the engines. Normally I put the chapter symbol on the tail fin, but as these were aa lot smaller, and not very flat I went with the symbol on the side doors, and sculpted the hawk and moon before painting.

Hoping this week my health levels back out and can get back on with creating some scenery from scratch, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave 

STRIKE UP THE BAND

 Yes I have indeed finished Jabba's throne room ! Felt like I'd never see the end of this project at some points, but got there in the end.

Above are a couple of shots of the whole set up with all the sections sat in place.

Last time I mentioned there were a few details needed around Jabba's dais the first one was this weird vent on the wall at the back, after watching the scene for far too many times I spotted this bit, and thought I better add it for completeness.

Another piece I needed was Jabba's frog snack bowl, to make this I made a template out of greenstuff and plastic rod, then took a instant mould of it, I also made a frog to fit in the bowl, then I poured some translucent green resin into the bowl with the frog in it. once I fitted the securing ring and painted that bit. I coated the resin bowl with gloss varnish to give it a suitable shine.

The last bit needed was the gargoyles on the front of the dais I made one from greenstuff, then took an instant mould and pressed out the rest.

Above are a couple more scenic shots with figures in place, including one of the creatures I made for Monster May(hem) this year.

Don't know what I'll work on next, so it will be a surprise for you and me alike ! LOL So until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave 

ALMOST THERE !

 Since the last post I managed to finish some of the bits needed for the throne room.

First up was the tables and bits to decorate around the alcoves, now in the film they have seats and cushions in this area, I've left them out so you can fit models in there, as seen in the above pictures.

I've also made the two control panels that fit to the wall next to the entrance way, I've used yellow acetate for the lit sections so if at a later date I want to add in some lighting I can, I also did this with the tables above.

I've also done the floor in the centre of all the sections and Rancor cover, I used fine ballast on the floor, and the pit cover was made from a piece of plasticard which I etched the panel lines in, after several failed attempts at making the holes in the panels, I decided to paint them on instead, this means it's actually a flat surface that the models sit on easily as seen above.

All I've got left to do now is some details around Jabba's dais and then I should be finished on this piece. So until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave 

CHALLENGE HALF WAY POINT

 Technically that was 4 days ago, but I'm running a little late due to the workload I've currently been working through. So below is a list of this years participants and what they're currently up to :

fantoricalwargaming Simon has already completed some 15 mm terrain, and is working on some more, and also some 11 mm terrain for Epic

lostdamnedstunted Dai has already done a tank ( don't forget vehicles count) and has just completed a converted statue for his Genestealer cult.

wargaminggirl Tamsin, has been building a lot of jungles, and when I say a lot, I mean a lot ! Also check out her experiments with making her own clump foliage, a very cost effective way, that she has already worked out the best sponge and types of paint needed for you.

rantingsfromunderthewargamestable Roger has scratchbuilt a mighty fine altar/shrine, he's hoping to find time to do some more before the end of the challenge.

angrypiper Keith has narrowed down the bits he'd like to get done over the challenge, and he's chose some very versatile terrain.

pmpainting Matt has been working on a multitude of different projects, some scratchbuilt, others are improved MDF terrain where he has detailed it up, so it no longer looks like an MDF kit.

azazelx Azazel has been getting through a lot of tanks in different scales, and making the most of the vehicle inclussion.

twitchybristles Mick has said he want's to take part, and is thinking of painting up his WTW toxic pool for the challenge.

saturdaymornings13 Ivor has taken an MDF kit and turned it into a stellar piece of work.

Now the next three all have their own special section, as not only are they making and painting scenery, they all have 1:1 scale projects on the go as well :

justneedsvarnish John has been making some truly great scratchbuilt scenery, but he is also been working on some 1:1 scale masonry although I still think the brush he's using is too big ! LOL

imperialrebelork Luke is working on some very nice looking wild west buildings, some are resin, some 3D printed and some are MDF, should make for a great town. On top of all that, he's building a hobby shed, this project is truly something to be seen, as he's doing this mostly with free materials, he calls it rustic, but I think it has a unique charm all of it's own.

markamorin Mark, is working on a load of Aztec scenery, but also building a new garage, with a second floor entertaining space, it's progressing at a great pace.

This last blog I want to highlight, hasn't entered but I wanted to mention his brilliant wild west buildings he's making from scratch, and also they are in 54 mm so twice the challenge, and that's zabadakszombieworld

If I've missed anybody of this list, please comment below, and I will make sure to amend it.

This last week I have hit a bit of a brickwall with my build, and only managed to achieve the set of wind chimes that are seen in the movie.

Hopefully when I clear all these orders I can finish the last few hurdles and get Jabba's throne room finished.

As a break from scenery I wanted to paint something completely different, and dug out my orc warboss, now when I got him I had every intention of doing a snakebite army with squigoths and cyboars, but that idea died a long time ago, and as I'm not a fan of painting green I used this as an exercise in pushing myself, I've used purple for shading and orange for highlights, with 3 different shades of green inbetween, I've kept it pretty clan neutral.

I have no real use for this model so will probably just gift it to somebody who will get some use out of it.

That's all for this post, so until next time, stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave