Kevin's War of the Worlds Martian Eye

 Hi,

Here is my scratchbuild of the camera eye from the 1953 War of the Worlds movie.

Keep watching the skies

Kevin

UK

Terranova47's War of the Worlds Steam Ram

Hello Woodsy

As a kid I was taken to three science fiction movies back in the early 50's.

Forbidden Planet

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

War of the Worlds

With Dan Dare in comics I was firmly on track to enjoy science fiction, whether in book form or movies.

I remember being told that War of the Worlds was a book and the story was British rather than the US setting of the movie. 

I read the Classics Illustrated comic version before the actual book and for me the sequence of the HMS Thunder Child ramming a tripod was the highlight.

I recently read a Graphic Novel version of the book by Chris Mould which was interesting but didn't mention HMS Thunder Child. 

Shortly afterwards I found the bottom of a ship's hull in my parts bin from when I kit bashed a trawler into a coastal tanker waterline model. 

That prompted me to research what a Royal Navy Ram looked like and instead found an image of a US Navy one.

 Using scraps and bits again from my parts bin I created the steam ram seen here, about to commence sea trials with an Admiral aboard.

Hope you like it.

Terranova47

USA

Knock it Off Batman!

hi Woodsy

check out this short of a CT Toys Batman. This figure is a knock off, I know everyone loves a knock off on this blog 😀

https://youtube.com/shorts/lhqBdtbz-BE?si=Bisp7krfz6GH8qTi

What do you think?

Regards MJ

Knock off Base!!

Improper Salute? Put that WAAF on a Charge!

Hello Moonbasers,

do you like Gashapon figures?

Those carefully detailed Japanese figures come inside plastic balls and can build up to quite impressive sizes. They need to fit inside a 50mm ball and I've been toying with the idea of turning some of my puppet film work into collectable figures.

On a Monday night, I go to a local group "Sketch Club" held by a retired Art School tutor. I often draw pictures of toys, but I also work on clay sculptures.

I decided to make a figurine of the central character in my film, as a combination of

"sweater girl" and Spitfire pilot! I've already made a 1/2 scale head with flying gear, so I shrunk it down to 1/5 scale and sculpted a clay body to go with it.

Then life got in the way and the clay figure stood on my 3D scanning stage for weeks. The other day, I decided to look at the scans and discovered I hadn't done any final scans at all!

So with a quick session, I managed to get my figure into the computer and printed out on my 3D printer. The 50mm gashapon size,

is a perfect fit for the Trumpeter 1/25 scale Spitfire kit I'll be using for my VFX.

Last night I was watching the movie Shamrock Spitfire for reference and inspiration. I noticed the RAF salute with the thumb facing downwards, whereas my sculpt is American style.

Luckily I can modify the clay arm, rescan it and print out a King's regulations version!

I'm just having too much fun! For the first time in my life, I'm enjoying the journey as much as the destination.

Happy toy hunting Moonbasers! 

Looey

Oz

Bill Ev's Matchbox Bantam Karrier Restoration

I decided to restore my Matchbox 2 Ton Coca Cola Bantam Karrier No 37.

Again, Plastikote did an almost exact match for the yellow paint colour. But it was a bugger to get an absolutely even coverage, as the toy is so small.

Again my trusty laser printer created the transfers which were glazed with some more Johnsons Klear. Although they were very fiddly to get straight and in the exact place the old ones were.

Here is the end result from toybox chipped to back on the display shelf.

Hope you like it.

Bill Everett

Wales

Bill Ev's Corgi Cadillac Ambulance Restoration

Sometime around 1966, I bought a Corgi Cadillac Ambulance.  As a little kid, I was attracted to the flashing light on the roof, and didn't consider the colour scheme.  By 1967, I had decided that I really did not like the Red and White livery and did something about it with a newly acquired can of white spray paint.

Sometime later, I discovered how to mask painted areas and added some nifty orange stripes and shapes.  By 1969/1970, I had tired of most of my toy cars, so into the toy box it was consigned.

Now, nearly 60 years have passed since I parted with my pocket money to buy the ambulance.  When I discovered it alongside the SHADO Interceptor, James Bond DB5 and the Thrushbuster, it was clearly another candidate for restoration.  To begin with, I resisted the temptation to jazz it up like the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Ectomobile.  But I did research up if it was sold in a different livery.  I quite liked the White and Light Blue scheme, so I pressed ahead with that.  To begin with, it had a good soaking in a cellulose paint thinners, and after 24 hours all the paint had gone.

Next, it was sprayed white with a cadmium white colour spray paint.

The last process was somewhat fiddly masking off the areas to be pained blue and silver.  But the job was completed without much fuss, and it was on to putting the water slide transfer's on. These were incredibly fiddly, and it took a bit of positioning to get them close to right.

And then I attempted to lacquer it. God knows what was in the Plastikote clear lacquer, as it turned everything to crazy paving and dissolved the printing on both the transfer's and the number plates which Terranova had kindly sent from America to me, to complete the project!

I was gutted...

But, I'd spent some money to complete this damn thing. So back into the cellulose thinners it went, to repeat the whole process from scratch. However, I was not prepared to spend even more money on correcting this mistake. So I designed my own Red Cross bonnet transfer, and replicated the lettering to print both on my own water slide paper.

There was no way, that I was risking spraying clear lacquer again, [even a different brand] so I turned to my vintage supply of trusty Johnson's Klear.  Many people think this is floor polish, but its actually a water based acrylic varnish, which once dry can only be removed with ammonia! It also dries to a completely brushless shiny finish.

After an overnight stay in the warm conditions of my studio, and I finally had the completed upper chassis.  This was then bolted to the cleaned lower wheelbase, and the final work started on the battery case.  The original had long gone, so I sourced one off eBay.

And now, the end result, joining its siblings in the display case, with a replicated Terranova number plate.

And yes, I do have a Dinky FAB1 - I'll need to get some replacement parts for this, including Parker, who has gone AWOL since 1966. A restoration of this will be following.

And a question for the readers.  What brand/exact colour will be needed to accurately repaint FAB1? - I heard that the colour is called "Shocking Pink", but locating it is proving to be difficult.  Can the readers help and advise?

Paul V's SpaceX Junkyard Ten Years On

Ten years ago my friend Paul Vreede found some rather sorry looking SpaceX custom wrecks.

You can re-read the full story here, of how Paul found them and what glories emerged from the salvage!

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2015/05/back-on-track-by-paul-vreede.html

In summary, pictures tell the story really well too.

Before ....

And after! 

The restored Apollo Tracker!

And a custom 'Surveyor' Project SWORD Moon Crawler ( blogged recently, which Paul kindly gave to me).

I'm sure you'll agree Paul did a sterling job fixing up those original junkers. 

Paul still has a few Crawler parts spare if anyone would like to have a go at making one. Just email me.

Ed's New Moonscape Diorama Project

Woodsy,

I started this new diorama base project back in May and this is as far as I've gotten.

Except for the cheap framing, I already had the other materials on hand and decided they needed to be put to use. It's 48" x 38.5" and consists of two sheets of Masonite, glued and tacked onto a frame of fake wood (don't know what they call it but it's a plastic-like material), over which 1" sheets of Styrofoam are glued.

The crater rim is sheets of 1" Styrofoam cut and glued to the board. To finish this, I'll need to carve the foam to its final shape, cover everything with plaster (or similar), and then paint.

Here's the kicker: I can't do all that carving, plastering, and painting in the house, so it'll need to be done outside but it's gotten warm out there (we're looking at 112°F/44°C out on the patio). Plus, I have other things going on in my life.

Hopefully I can re-engage this project this coming Autumn.

The first two photos show the work in progress. The third photo was taken a few days ago after pulling out some of my SpaceX Moonbase HQ's to visualize what a set-up would look like.

See what you think.

From Vegas MoonBase

Ed

The Few Go Camping!

They say the longest journey starts with a single step, and my puppet film project has it's first completed filming miniature!

While researching RAF airfields, I came across a photo in the Imperial War Museum archives.

It was a civilian caravan that had been painted in camouflage and was being used as a Dispersal shack by Hurricane Fighter pilots.

It seemed odd and yet perfect, so I researched more deeply. I shared that information with my co-worker and fact checker, intending to get an approval before I built it Old School style using cardboard and a steel ruler. Taking a break from building a 1/3 scale Spitfire cockpit, he drew up and laser-cut a 1/12 scale prototype kit from MDF before I knew it!

Perfectly following my specifications, it eased my workload, but still allowed me a bit of Old School cutting joy on the window frames!

Then I airbrushed the camouflage and got into detailing and weathering. Because my film will be shot in 4K resolution, I've had to be very subtle with these effects. My old chemical film resolution techniques are too coarse for today's technology. What the eye sees, the camera now sees...

The old motto "You'll never see it" no longer holds true.

The 1940s style cartoon is a story point, where the established pilots make fun of our heroine because of her short stature.

The Squadron crest is a Hedgehog and the Latin motto roughly translates as "Beware the pricks" something she is acutely aware of!

Oh, Derek Meddings! The life you made me follow!

Looey

Oz Base

Ed's Hangar Background

Woodsy,

Here's a few shots showing how I did the hangar background for my air field diorama board.

I took photos of several different types of hangars while attending air shows at Nellis AFB (I'm only showing one here though).

Any distractions - like modern era halogen lights - were Photoshopped out, the photos printed on heavy cardstock, then mounted to foamcore.

I attached a flap at the back with about 2" sticking below the bottom of the foamcore which allowed me to insert the photo between the back of the diorama base and the larger backdrop.

This prevents the photo from just flopping over as well as allowing me to place it anywhere I like. So far, it's worked pretty good.

The in-progress photos were taken on my older 20" x 8ft shelf runway where I used Woodland Scenics 'Top Coat - Concrete' as the color for my ramp (the area in front of the hangars).

It is more of a tan color but did the job for me at the time. You'll notice however that the photo of the actual hangar shows a more realistic light gray forward of the doors, and this is how the new board is painted.

From Vegas Air Field

Ed

MJ's Star Trek Lego Short

https://youtube.com/shorts/GYNjkTUYdoY?si=k7ISm6EIv79dWZG9

in space no one can hear you scream when you stand on a lego brick!

Enjoy!

Marky Bats

Southcoast Base

Readers' Andersons: 2. Rob's MSV 2.0: Mars Scout Vehicle

Woodsy,

Here is my reimagining of the Captain Scarlet MSV kit by Imai. I call it “MSV 2.0: Mars Scout Vehicle.”

I tried to make the vehicle look like the cousin of the great Zero-X, assigned to scouting missions on Mars.

Fandersons may find it sacrilegious, but I hope some of you “get it.”

Rob C

USA