Thursday 4 October 2012

Quickly! Get to the Chopper!

Hi, All!

Looking rather nice, if I say so myself...

I am pleased to report this week that work is going well on the British Hydrothermicopters. The first one is almost finished - although cockpit detailing may prove to be a little fiddly...

The two flyers, sans-rotor blades, during early stages of painting. Metalwork is painted black, highlighted silver, then ink-stained.

Engine details... Gold paint will be added next to highlight the brass parts.

Since my last post, I've been concentrating mainly on the first Hydrothermicopter. I'm considering whether to duplicate it, or make the second a slightly different configuration. Time, experimentation, inspiration and alcohol will tell...

Lightning Cannon - almost finished. Guitar strings are added as conduits.

Cockpit details are painted in at this stage. More will be added and painted as the model progresses.

More guitar strings are added to complete the finished engine.

I decided on yellow for the first flyer. I may do the same for the second, although I'm undecided. I've already got red, green and blue vehicles in my British force - and black seems too sinister for Her Majesty's Imperial Air Corps... I'll give this a little more thought...

Upholstered chairs, ready for the crew...

For the next stage of detailing, I have constructed some simple upholstered chairs from plastic and greenstuff. These will be painted and glued in, whereupon the crew will be added and controls will be built in around them. I expect this to take a little time...

Rivet Count:  246! (For the yellow 'un, anyhow...)

Flunks... Almost a happy family.

Work has also continued on the female Flunk and her calf...

Most of the detailing on the cow flunk is done. A blanket and straps will be sculpted soon, before adding a howdah and warriors...

Calf - almost painted. Ain't he cute?

I will soon be able to add the howdahs to the bull and cow, along with baggage for the calf to bear. Then it will finally be time to work on the warriors of the Wutha F'Kahwi...

Just as a rather fun aside, I thought I ought not waste the trunks I cut from the toy elephants that became the above Flunks... Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

Scagworms! Disgusting!

Scagworms! Not a pleasant thing to blunder across in the untamed depths of the Lost Continent... These took only minutes to complete. I simply glued the trunks to washers, tetured the bases, painted the trunks and finally coated them with water effect for a nice slimy finish. I think they're sufficiently horrible...

Scagworm attack... There is no known medication...

And that's it for another post, folks. Next up: more on the Hydrothermicopters and Flunks... Soon to be followed by Lancers, Warriors of the Wutha F'Kahwi and God-knows-what-else!

Keep watching, folks!

All the Best!

17 comments:

  1. More fine work Joe. Impressive as always. The copters are looking splendid.

    The more you make, the more consternation I have in making a start, as I'm so far behind your efforts, I fear I could never catch up!

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    1. Thanks, Scott...

      It's not an arms race. Honestly... Really...

      Well, alright then. It IS an arms race...

      What if I promise to build stuff really slowly?

      Delete
  2. I think that your second flyer should be the same color (yellow) whether it is the same design or a different one. The air corps would have a "standard look" to it after all.


    -- Jeff

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Jeff -

      Did I mention that yellow is a pain in the arse to work with?

      Sigh...

      Delete
  3. Wow, those choppers are superb. Great idea with the trunk-worms, too.

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    1. Thank you, Mr Monkeylite!

      I'm very pleased with the choppers so far - still a bit to do but good so far...

      Glad you like the worms. They were an off-the-cuff kind of thing but they came out surprisingly well.

      Delete
  4. The transformation is superb and a brave man for going with the yellow! As for the scagworms - wonderfully disgusting!

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    1. Thank you as always, Michael. Yellow just isn't my colour, but I'll soldier on...

      Scagworms... Yup! What can I say? They are gross. So I love 'em!

      Delete
  5. Colonel, the'copters are super super nice. Your reward for all of the rivet-work is that they look great painted-up...congratulations! And the seats should look at home bolted into to the cockpit.

    The Flunks are funky!

    And the Worms look to be singing and dancing: definitely happy before a noon meal!

    Really fine modeling, Sir; and a lot of viewing entertainment for me. Thanks.

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    1. Thanks, Jay. I'm planning to get onto the seats and crew in the next couple of days - pretty confident of a good result.

      The Flunks - I have a soft spot for them. I really must knuckle down and build the howdahs...

      Scagworm Happy Meals? What a concept! Do they come with a toy?

      Only too pleased to entertain...

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  6. Splendid work, sir. All of it is a delight, and the scagworms are inspired!

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    1. Why thank you, Mr A J, Sir!

      I have to confess, I am now filled with a desire to find toy elephants and cut off their trunks - wasteful, one might suggest, but one's lost continent can never have too many Scagworms!

      Delete
    2. Go to "Toy Stores" and "Dollar-type Stores". They usually have lots of cheap plastic animals . . . and thus you can get lots of inexpensive Scagworm sources. And they are a wonderfully awful conception, sir . . . I love it.


      -- Jeff

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    3. Thanks, Jeff.

      My local crap-shop is sadly elephant free, but I will soldier on...

      Glad you like 'em! Funny how something so simple can be such a success.

      Delete
  7. Great flying machines, Colonel! And I really like the yellow paintjob - a bit like traditional Gipsy Moth trainer yellow.

    Am I the only one who finds the scagworms kind of ... how shall I put it discretely? ... disturbing???

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  8. Black stripes on the yellow might look good, as they do look a bit wasp-like.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Arteis - how are your Frenchies coming on?

      The scagworms are delightfully disturbing, aren't they...

      I thought about stripes, etc. Maybe for the Mk II...

      Delete