WIP 'Ulla' - The War of The Worlds

[1969]

Bloody hell Brian I turn my back for a day or so, come back and you have created a masterpiece, lovely work mate.

Steve

 

[sarouman]

Hello Brian
I think with this diorama, I see a real situation the Second World War, this work is really from another planet
Excellent

Alexandros
http://alexminiatures.blogspot.com/

 

[megroot]

Hope this is coming to Euro to admire it in reality.

marc

 

[Ferris]

Impressive project, great execution!
I look forward to the machines.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[Dan Morton]

Cool Brian! Bring on the martians!

All the best,
Dan

 

[FigureLover]

Thats awesome, a lot of detail in there that will keep you looking for ages, well weathered also. Cant wait to see the machines.
Ben

 

[smudger1960]

After a busy weekend i finally got back to the workbench,following on from the last post 80% of the exterior work and interior work was complete,what i now wanted to add wer'e some of the smaller details which would compliment the furniture,these wer'e chosen from the verlinden range and represent bottles,cans,plates,books etc,these i would place as required on the diorama to add more realism when its being viewed.
These wer'e all undercoated seperately using GW skiull white acrylic,after 30min drying time i started to paint these with different base coat colours and once these wer'e dry i weathered them with lighter faded colours,the final step in this process was to all the accessories a thin wash of GW sepia,this gives the pieces a nice weathered / dirty look which is what i was looking for,it also helps tone down the brighter colours used in the weathering process.
Some of these accessories wer'e placed seperately and some with the furniture as required.
I added a small wheelbarrow to the exterior street scene from the andrea range also with some accessories,this i will finish painting next time round.

I'm in the process of making some street signs as well,these will be disscussed posibly in my next post.

I always wanted to incorporate some of the features from the musical and this would involve adding the red weed,i thought about the many ways i could replicate this and i finally decided upon liquid plastic which would be coloured with GW blood red,for those of you who have never used liquid plastic i will explain,its used quite alot in converting plastic figures and is used quite widely in aircraft modeling,the way to make it is to take a couple of small bottles of liquid poly from your local model shop and pour this into an empty glass jar,you then add pieces of plastic sprue or plastic card and let it disolve into liquid plastic,you can apply it with a brush or toothpick to any surface and it dries and set off in about 15mins of application,depending on how thick you want it will depend on how much plastic you add,its up to each individuals taste.

This mixture i then added to the scene with an old brush,as in the latest film and the musical the red weed was quite evident and would cover most of the ground and structures once it was released by the martians,i did'nt want to go too mad with this as i still wanted some of the structure to show through,it was difficult reaching the right balance about 50 / 50 but i'm very happy with the way its turned out.

I apologise if there's been a few days break between posts but work commitments are quite heavy so i will keep you posted when i can.

Brian

 

[smudger1960]

The photo's of the red weed will follow shortly

 

[mil-mart]

Brian you've painted the town red, Wow !!! My first reaction was you've covered up the best bits , however after a closer look I'd say you've probably got it just about right. Excellent work now bring on the machine.

Cheers Ken

 

[smudger1960]

Thanks gents for all your kind coments.

Ken - it was a worry having to initiate the red weed but i had to add it as its descibed inthe story,i think i got the balance right,however it be be a matter of taste for each individual.

I started work on one of the machines yesterday,as i stated before my scratcbuilding skills are quite limited,what i wanted was something similar in shape to the fighting machines depicted in the musical from which i could then add my own touches to it,i finally found what i was looking for in size and shape in tesco's while shopping,i purchased one of the Airwick air fresheners which was just the sort of thing i was looking for,this would complete about 60% of the machine,i still need to work on the front of the machines which i'm still working on.

As you can see from the pictures i completely gutted the air freshener so i was left with just the shell,i needed to sand off the airwick logo and the on/off switch until smooth.
I then studied different pictures from the album and started to make the cut-outs 3x in total for each machine which would accomodate the housing's for the tri-pod legs.

I also added plastic strip to the shell which was depicted on the machines on the album which would represent possibly paneling of some sort.

Appologies for the delay in postings,i will keep you updated accordingly as soon as i can.

Brian

 

[gordy]

Now that's cool!

 

[smudger1960]

Following up from the last post i have started to assemble the fighting machine,the main bodywork was created from a air freshener as i described in the previous post,this was detailed with plastric strip and odd pieces of plastic parts from my scrap box.
The tripod legs were assembled from plastic tubing,i wanted to create the effect of hydraulic legs so differentg diameters of tubing was used,the upper leg casings were made from plastic card.
I have started some detailing on the tripod legs and feet which will be finished in another sitting.
I will also start on the front portion of the machine next as well,i have positioned the machine as having crashed through the roof section with the right side of the scene occupied by some figures overloking the fallen machine,i have in mind the figures i want to use and these will be assembled and painted in the next few sittings.

Brian

 

[gordy]

Looking good Nice work on the fighting machine!

 

[mil-mart]

Brian, great work on the machine and who would of thought an Airwick a great conversion and nice work on the legs. following.

Cheers Ken

 

[1969]

Best looking airwick airfreshener I have seen mate !!!

Good to see you back Brian and glad you are over your illness.

Cracking bit of scratch building mate, really looks the part.

Steve

 

[gordy]

Best looking airwick airfreshener I have seen mate !!!

Good to see you back Brian and glad you are over your illness.

Cracking bit of scratch building mate, really looks the part.

Steve

Well said! Thanks for the update Brian

 

[Jamie Stokes]

When Airwick freshers go bad.......

Great use of the product, great painting,

and thanks goodness you have recovered!

welcome back, looking forward to more!

Cheers

 

[megroot]

Nothing to comment.
Just enjoy this SBS.

Marc

 

[housecarl]

Superb piece of scratch Brian.
Carl.

 

[mil-mart]

Brian, good to see you're back, great scratch building and looking forward to seeing it all come together. Will you be adding people to the scene.?

Cheers Ken