Thursday, January 6, 2011

Getting Grounded

Time to show the start of the structural functioning base for the Eldar Vampire Raider. 
Particle board cut to the size of a large blast marker (5" across) and 9/16" copper tube 5 minute apovied to it and reenforced with Apoxie sculpt.  I will be sculpting a "narrative" item to the base - leaning toward Dead greater demon to cover the entirity of the copper tube.



Well my computer is having fun with trying to upload pics again so maybe tomorrow I will get more posted.

Later...

Eldar Vampire Raider, the New Year

Well moving on I will continue to get you caught up on the progress.  I have cut a few of the panels for the "skin" of the fuselage and aplied them over the plastic "ribs." 




I also Found some 1/2" clear acrylic rod at a local plastics fabricator to use as a stem of my flying base.  I also located 9/16" copper tube to act as an "anchor" location in the center of the raider and the base.  The trick here was to "dry fit" (no glue) the assemblies together and place other components atop the model to try and establish the "Center of gravity." I gingerly tried to balance the model on one finger and found the "rough" center of gravity.  This is where I placed the copper tube.





After hours of consideration I also decided to abandon the traditional "box" style forward sections of the under wing portions of the engines.  I will be installing a more "organic" looking portion as you can see in the rough outlins of the skeleton framework I have added.



Eldar = organic, flowing, elegant
Tau = Techno, Manga, Mecha etc.
Empire = WWII meets Early Industrial era 

Without having dedicated sculptors early eldar vehicles by Jes Goodwyn present the Eldar lines in great effect but the kit bashing/scratch building to construct the masters for the Vampire family does not really stay in that family when you look under the models.

I think of all the eldar models the Phoenix bomber gives me the most "Eldar vibe" I liken to true Mech-Organic, thus the decision to stremline the engines.

Until later, go see Tron, cool techno eye candy and great sound and musical score too.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Back From the Void

Well I'm back and ready to fill you in on how much I haven't accomplished over the holidays.  Don't lose heart though here is what is going on. 

I have been using cardboard backing from comic book shipments at my local comic ship to use as templates to get the shapes I need to cut plastic and eliminate waste as it the plastic sheet is not cheap.

You can see the rare earth magnet added to hold the nose on and the recessed area on the "spine" of the fuselage I am going to have to solve.  I will over size the peices of plasticard I cut to allow for error rather than cut to small and waste plastic.

Vampire Raider Scratchbuild / Kitbash continued...
There is the rough sub assemblies joined,  Now for more structural ribbing to be added to give a firm footing for all those plastic pannels that will make up the skin of the Vampire.

I have actually progressed further and will share photos tomorrow.