Animation Table: Animation Disk finally installed!!!!

  I finally saved enough freelance money to get myself a high quality animation disk for the old table. Will I ever use it? I hope so. It's really nice. In fact, it's literally the nicest one available online. It has a tempered glass center, real brass fittings and everything else is very clean black plexiglass. We bought both sets of pegs, so we can go either standard Disney paper or the other layout. I really do intend to screw around with some light animation. I've been wanting to get back into it for years. 

My god, it really makes this table look good!

PBY: Wheels!!

  So I've added some of the docking equipment to the PBY. The post by the turret is a retractable docking thing apparently. The white hatch on the side is the door for the anchor! I LOVE this plane!!
I also added the white stripe behind the cockpit because all the photos of PBYs I've seen have shown this plate of metal sticking out from the hull slightly. Reinforcment? Does it help subdue vibration from the propellers? The props are about right there pretty close to the hull, so it must have something to do with that. I've also finally figured out the turret, which will not only be perfectly level, but will also rotate freely!!

   Most importantly, I found the PERFECT sized wheels at Colonial Photo and Hobby. They fit the wheel wells perfectly, have the right style of tire tred and wheel hub and they're real rubber! Only $7 and it saves me from having to sculpt them from scratch!

1:18 PBY Restarted!!!!!

Well, when last I posted anything about this, it was March of 2015. I had just finished the scratch-built machine guns..... Then I finished my office and spent just about a whole year doing ZBrush stuff. 

At work, one of my coworkers gave me a blank notebook. I decided to write down all my 'To do Projects' lists. Stigymoloch print was first, then the Kazon Ogla Ship and now the PBY. It's great having everything in order. It allows me to knock these out one by one and MOST IMPORTANTLY, not to interrupt what I'm working on with new projects. New projects just get written down at the end of the list. 

So lets talk about the PBY. The first image is me just pulling her out of storage and slapping her together. That's why all the dust. It shocked me how big she is. We measured her wingspan at almost 6 feet (70.75")!!!! I didn't believe it until I pulled the wing off, stood it upright and indeed it was taller than me! 

The second image is the entire hull sanded. This gives me a clean surface with texture so any additions have something to grab on to. It will also help the primer paint go on strong. 

The third image is the hull with the windows, rear turret blisters, and wheel wells cut out. It already looks so much better with windows!! I'm getting more comfortable with this project the more time I spend with it. This seemed really overwhelming at first. That's why I only modified the cockpit and built the turret last year. These were little individual pieces I could put my energy into without having to worry about accurate pontoons or landing gears or rivets or panel lines. 

Kazon Raider: Finished!

 All finished! It's nice having a quick project! The Aztecking came out great!! Now I know how to do it if I ever make my own ship design.I was going to weather the panels with pastels, BUT I threw out the decals when I first got the model. Without decals, I just don't care about refining and finishing something that can't ever be really finished. 

Rocks!!

Finally! I can post something about work! They asked me if I can sculpt rock work so I decided to be proactive and do a couple rock work samples for them. It's been a fun challenge and much faster and satisfying than digital sculpting. This cliff face only took me 2.5 hours from start to finish!

Kazon Rainder: Almost Done!

The Kazon ship is going very fast now that the slow painful aztecing is done! Tomorrow I'll paint and glue the last few pieces on and then it's just decals and weathering with pastels. 

I CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT PROJECT!!!! Tee Hee!

Kazon Raider: Aztecing

Here's my best attempt at custom aztecing. I've chosen a color that's a little too red and a second color that's just barely more green/gold than the base color. Blue Artist tape actually works really well for masking everything off. I've simply primered all the pieces with Rust-o-leum gray primer and sprayed a base color. That's it! No other prep needed. Now I'm just blue masking tape everything and cutting shapes out of places!