I've been bad this time around, and have a few more kits to add to the stash. First up is a sort of grail kit. I thought this was long out of production, but found that Cellar Cast still has it available. The kit is Dracula and Lucy from Coppola's film Dracula. Just looking at the box gave an indicationOf how terrific the kit will look -
There are no directions but the kit comes with a number of color images to show you how it goes together. The parts are pretty self intuitive anyway, so the build should be no problem.
I didn't count them out but there are probably 10-12 parts. There are no bubbles, But the resin does have a slight odor to it (tho not 1/2 as bad as some of the SE Asia kits). The are very thin seam lines which should give me no troubles to get rid of. Here are the parts -
Next up isn't a kit but finished pieces from Toby Wayne Studios. I first found this guy on You Tube where he demonstrates his sculpting, painting and other hobby skills. He also has a SITE where you can buy a few of his pieces. Most of them are in the horror or gore genre. I picked up an magnetic alien head - needed for my studio's magnetic white board, and a little guy named Eddie. Also included was a pretty neat note from the sculptor complete with "blood spatter." :)
Yes, I know Eddie looks like something else. :-P And I'm thinking of changing the color of the water to try and make it look - not so much like what it does. Haha
Next are supplies to finish my Krampus mini from HobbyLinc. It's styrene roof material as well as styrene clapboard siding. I also picked up a set of chimneys to complete the look. More on that coming soon -
Finally, to add to my classic monster collection I picked up the Phantom of the Opera from Saul Alvarez on the Figures Group on Facebook. Saul is just the producer, and Mark Van Tine was the sculptor. The kit, once purchased the kit came very quickly, in a well packed box. The kit is the bust (with an excellent likeness) and a few pieces for a wall base.
Looks like I'll have enough work to do to get me thru the winter ... until the next offering comes. ;) Haha Thanks for looking.
This time around I went back to one a NASA's mystery craft. From Fantastic Plastic's site:
The FDL-6C SOMV (Sub Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle)
is one of several designs to emerge from the AFFDL (Air Force
Flight Dynamics Laboratory) during the 1960’s. The FDL concepts
developed to explore the characteristics of spacecraft during
hypersonic re-entry. The FDL-6 shape was one of the shapes
explored by the Lockheed Corporation.
It is rumored that, in the 1970s, the shape was explored again and
the vehicle was sized to 33 feet long to fit in the cargo bay of
the US Space Shuttle. This would allow it to be launched from
orbit for a return flight to the United States. Whether this
actually ever happened or not is not known. The vehicle was to
have an all metal TPS (Thermal Protection System) consisting of
overlapping Columbium (Niobium) and Hastelloy “shingles” as opposed
to the more fragile ceramic tiles seen on the US Space Shuttle.
It would likely have needed some kind of active cooling for the
leading edges and nose similar to that designed for the McDonnell FDL-7.
Having a 'time flies' moment, the kit was released in 2009, and is not currently in FPs catalog of available kits. But I would keep constant vigil of their Store, as retired kits are brought back for limited runs all the time.
The kit is 23 pieces expertly casted by BLAP Models. There was no resin odor, no bubbles, and the pour plugs were very easy to remove.
It looked like a super simple build until I read the part where I had to cut the canopy from the fuselage. Uh oh. I took my time and was pleasantly surprised how it turned out. It was then that I noticed a separate canopy in the bag of parts! Doh, I thought I had to use the cut out part! I used a PE type super thin saw from Hasagawa (I think).
And finally open -
Since the canopy opening is super small I thought it would be a good time to practice hyper painting the cockpit area. After all if I screwed it up almost nothing will be seen.
In the end I think it turned out pretty good. It's a shame it won't be seen.
Here we are where the craft is mostly complete and primed white. I should have mentioned that FP gives you 2 choices for the build. It can either be white in a NASA scheme, or black with a USAF scheme. As you see by the paint - I went for NASA.
Here's a view from the bottom. One thing to note is the build was going along very nicely and I was cleaning of of the small wheels. POP! It flew and was promptly eaten by the carpet monster. Despite tearing the area apart it's still missing. In the end I took a piece a styrene and fashioned another wheel. The other thing you'll notice is that the front had wheels while the rear had skids.
With the white primer most of the painting was done. All I really had to do was paint the bottom and the edges along the top to be black. The thruster rockets were done with Vallejo Metallics Steel. As a little side bar, I think the Vallejo Metallics are every bit as good as Alclad, and the over the top vote for me is that they are acrylics.
I added some MIG black pigment to dirty (and dull) the inside of the thrusters. I also had some Gundam markers and used them for "painting" the attitude adjustment rockets.
The last step was to gloss the top of the ship and then apply the decals. Being it was a "concept craft" there was no weathering. I was still mad about the missing wheel, but I think it turned out ok.
Thanks for looking.
Another box arrived yesterday. This time from GreenStuff World from Spain. It's mostly for miniatures, but as I build in 1:72, It's close enuff for me to pick up a few things.
Left to right the two rollers are for making imprints. One is for imprinting bricks, and the other for cobblestones. Right next to it are 3 stampers that will give me 3 types of leaves. The gray for maple, the green for Oak and the blue gives me a compound leaf. I got the larger compound leaf thinking I can use it fir my dinosaur dios.
The bags contain some stainless BBs for paint bottles. Anyone who uses Vallejo paint know that some of the paint is thicker and harder to mix than others. This will really come in handy.
The roundish looking thing, with the key is a "corrugator" That tool will either give me corrugated tin roofs or when the foil is cut in thin strips will give me the Mediterranean style ceramic tile roof.
Finally, in the package that is reflecting too much light is called a Roll Maker. Taking a small roll of clay and will make hoses for any sci-fi (or not) craft. Turning the top part will also create the effect of tentacles for your latest sci-fi creation.
Thanks for looking.
Having gone a little crazy with a few Fantastic Plastic sale buys (info on these coming soon), I've been taking it a little easy lately. But this one popped up on Facebook from the mind of Moon Devil Studio's, John Dennett.
Here we have Pumpkin Puss. As mentioned it's an original kit that seems to be a cross between a pumpkin, alien and evil monster -
You can see an evil face has emerged from the pumpkin just as he rises up on it's tentacle limbs.
The kit stands about 6 inches tall and is flawlessly cast in odorless orange resin. There are no bubbles, and any seam that was present has been completely removed by John.
Seeming I got the first cast, as written as he autographed the bottom of the base. Nice!
This is a perfect little addition to any Halloween fans. I'm looking fwd to painting it soon.
