Mongrel in miniature land

Maximillian
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Maximillian » Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:03 am

The dragon is many, many hours of going back over the body scales with various shades of blue. I wanted the shoulders up along the neck to be perfect and I just about got it. The model got parked for six months on it's side and acquired a layer of dust. I ended up leaving some of it on there since these things are rotting ancients of a sort, not sure if that worked in my favor or not.

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Wheels
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Wheels » Mon Aug 20, 2018 12:46 pm

So, I'm not sure how much of this carries over but Mongrel seems like a good place to start for advice.

I originally took up Gundam plastic model building as something I could do at work to make sure I don't fall asleep in avail or listening to old veterans drone on forever (some stereotypes are true). As I find myself assembling a Perfect Grade at home and considering purchasing an airbrush and buying specific chemical solutions to make waterslides look better, I guess I need to accept I have fully fallen into the Gunpla hole.

But anyway, I've been experimenting lately with accenting in different ways. Mostly with Gundam Markers, but I'm quickly seeing how limited they can be, and not really suited to things like weathering metal or whatnot. My ultimate goal is a diarama based on a specific scene, to be entitled "and now... HEAT END": (apparently I can't timestamp, so go to 0:49)


Now, obviously a lot of the detail will be with painting and that's just practice. (Something like doing everything in black primer, then airbrushing a white primer from above on the God Gundam before repainting so it looks like it's highlighted by the explosion, I figure).

What I'm not sure about though is modeling the exploding thing above it. in my head, I'm thinking "well, take the pieces of the victim's machine and strategically place them in a physical representation of fire and smoke, so it looks like it's expanding from within." And then I realize that I have no idea what I model explosions out from, even if I don't care about making sure it's LED lit internally. And for the bubbles on the blistering armor... heat torching polystyrene seems to not really let me deform it, so I'm not sure what to sculpt them with.

This might be slightly outside of your area of expertise as it's a bit larger scale than miniatures, but I figure that some of what you know might carry over!
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Mongrel
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Mongrel » Mon Aug 20, 2018 1:48 pm

One of the more popular forms of modelling explosions is to take the thick foam modelling flock for trees, shape an explosion with it, and then paint it black/grey/red/orange/yellow/white as needed. You can reinforce it internally or build it on a wireframe, and you can stick bits on to represent whatever's bein' blowed up real good.

These are the only examples I can find at the moment, but I know there's been some better examples (i.e. more painting and debris) put up on the lead adventures boards. I'll see if I can dig some more pics up.

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This second one incorporates an LED "tea light"

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This one is crap, but shows more clearly the type of flock I'm talking about; the spongy stuff.

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Büge
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Büge » Mon Aug 20, 2018 3:15 pm

Mongrel wrote:One of the more popular forms of modelling explosions is to take the thick foam modelling flock for trees, shape an explosion with it, and then paint it black/grey/red/orange/yellow/white as needed. You can reinforce it internally or build it on a wireframe, and you can stick bits on to represent whatever's bein' blowed up real good.


You can also use cotton, which fluffs up nicely and glows a lot better with LEDs inside. You might have seen this guy's work, which also incorporates fiber optic "sparks".
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Mongrel
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Mongrel » Mon Aug 20, 2018 3:38 pm

Cotton definitely provides a better effect, I'm just not sure of its suitability for an explosion effect which must also hide support for a large model Gundam in parts. It's possible that Defen can use several layers with a lit cotton effect as the outermost layer, but I don't know ambitious he wants to get
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Maximillian
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Maximillian » Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:18 pm

For the erupting god finger and/or final heat end, if you want to go all out, there's an LED kit for the MG God Gundam. And if you want added heroic detail then you can order Domon's face.

Also for that move, since it's a concentrated blast on a single point, burn and smoke lines away from a single point (the hand) will add a lot of detail. This will require an airbrush and someone who knows what they're doing with it.

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Wheels
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Wheels » Mon Aug 20, 2018 9:13 pm

Mongrel wrote:Cotton definitely provides a better effect, I'm just not sure of its suitability for an explosion effect which must also hide support for a large model Gundam in parts. It's possible that Defen can use several layers with a lit cotton effect as the outermost layer, but I don't know ambitious he wants to get

Thanks for the feedback, that gives me something to think about and start experimenting with. To be honest, I just started model buidling period like a month ago and I'm only barely stepping my toes into painting, much less detail painting. So I've got things to do first before I start working on anything that is going to win gunpla contests :V

madmaxjr wrote:Also for that move, since it's a concentrated blast on a single point, burn and smoke lines away from a single point (the hand) will add a lot of detail. This will require an airbrush and someone who knows what they're doing with it.

Good point! I was going to buy an airbrush and start fucking with it! But someone at work pointed out today that I would need like, a hood for an airbrush and I'm not sure how that would work in my room at the moment. It's not exactly well ventilated to start with.

Any idea for how to deform plastic effectively?
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Mongrel
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Mongrel » Mon Aug 20, 2018 10:02 pm

Got a friend who's been airbrushing Gundam kits for years. I'll see what he has to say.
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Mongrel
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Mongrel » Mon Aug 20, 2018 10:11 pm

Well, that was quick.

He says you absolutely need a spray hood and some sort of ventilation. He also wears a mask (and I would add that if you wear glasses make sure to cover over them).

The main thing you'll be dealing with is the atomized paint droplets which are light enough to be suspended in air. You need something to suck those away so they don't get everywhere (and stay out of your lungs). Not that acrylic is toxic, but the additives for airbrushing aren't all that good for you you still don't want to be inhaling paint of any sort. Also, as mentioned, the stuff will just go everywhere if it's not vented, so you'll ruin most paintjobs and have a big mess that way.

You can buy a ready-made hood, but even a cardboard box with a back tapering to a computer fan (and a filter of some sort to catch the paint, obviously) will do. Here's one example of a DIY spray hood he shared:

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Maximillian
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Maximillian » Tue Aug 21, 2018 12:24 am

I have no idea if these are worth the money, but I've had friends swear by them, so long as you have a window to put the vent in. The filter (Blue piece) catches most of it.

Also, for learning to airbrush, Get a piece of flat scrap material (like cardboard) and experiment. Brief burst. Slow sweep motion, tilting the head at an angle so you get sort of a cone-spray across part of the material, etc. With the airbrush I personally feel you learn more by trying it out. Thing was a godsend for base coating a ton of 40k Eldar.

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Mongrel
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Mongrel » Tue Aug 21, 2018 1:25 am

The wonders of Zenithal Priming sadly still wait for the day I have enough space to actually set up a proper, permanent airbrush station.
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Büge
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Büge » Tue Aug 21, 2018 12:39 pm

I have an airbrush. I just wish I could take a class or something to learn how to use it. I'm not much for home experimentation.
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Mongrel
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Mongrel » Tue Aug 21, 2018 2:02 pm

Here was the other explosion I was thinking of:

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Tutorial thread with details on how to make a flock-based explosion : http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=22356.0

(the thread doesn't have the finished picture above at the end, because it was part of our regular "build something" forum contests which don't have finished pictures in the in progress thread).
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beatbandito
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby beatbandito » Thu Jul 23, 2020 9:20 pm

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Mongrel
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Mongrel » Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:42 am

Was about to berate you because they're not red.

Noticed the lettering.

Ork Trojan Testudo. Fuckin' love it.
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Maximillian
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Maximillian » Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:57 pm

I 3d printed a neat little prop. It's meant to hold a paint pot so it doesn't tip over.

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François
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby François » Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:58 am

I want to have a climactic duel against my lifelong nemesis on top of it.

Maximillian
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Maximillian » Wed Sep 09, 2020 4:11 pm

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One of my better ones. "The Butcher" from Kingdom Death

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Mongrel
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Mongrel » Wed Sep 09, 2020 4:28 pm

Oh, I like the belt skin; that turned out well! The cloak seems nice and colourful from what I can see too.
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Maximillian
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Re: Mongrel in miniature land

Postby Maximillian » Wed Sep 09, 2020 4:39 pm

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And the Survivors that have to fight the Butcher. You tend to hope by that part of the game you have more than a waist cloth, a lantern, and a sharp stone.

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