Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => VSF Adventures => Topic started by: Admiral Benbow on 03 October 2009, 06:26:32 PM
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Finished my VSF harbour crane, so here's the first picture; will ad some more soon, and as usual a "how to build", if you like ...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_7_16_57.jpg)
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wow :-*
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Christ! That's awesome! :o
Is it a converted model, or built from scratch?
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A piece de resistance on any gaming table.
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I admire you and hate you in equal measure. :o That is just fantastic.
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WOW :o
A fantastic piece of scenery here...
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Incredible! :o
Looking forward to finding out more!
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Some more pics and details, fresh from the camera. It started with two cheap kits, lots of parts added, 200+ rivets punched and placed, then finished with airbrush and oils. I documented the building process as usual :D and will show you later.
Have fun!
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_14_28_0.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_14_28_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_14_29_2.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_14_29_3.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_14_29_4.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_16_51_0.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_16_51_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_16_51_2.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_16_51_3.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_03_10_09_8_16_52_4.jpg)
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superairfixagilisticexpialidocious!!!!! lol
Rudi
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"....a "how to build", if you like ..."
we like! 8) 8) 8)
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superairfixagilisticexpialidocious!!!!! lol
Well said! Outstanding work. :-* :-*
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The modelling is superb.
The paintwork is sublime.
Top-notch.
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This is beautiful! Great build and great paintjob! I see parts to the 1829 Stephenson's Rocket kit by minicraft. I recently picked one up and trying to figure out something for it. Thanks for the inspiration!
first post in almost two years, wow! lol
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By Jove, the lad´s got it! ;) lol
Stunned, speechless, etc. pp. et al. You´ve certainly excelled yourself with this one.
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outstanding in all aspects :)
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That's amazing. 8)
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As Mr Punch would say "thats the way to do it!"
Faultless, beautiful piece.
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Admiral...
You never fail to amaze.
Awesome!
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HOLLY STEAM!
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Oh wow! Oh art! Crafty devil you!
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Beautiful, absolutely beautiful :o :o :o :-*
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Top Shelf Admiral! Please go ahead with the tutorial!
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:-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
And did I mention :-*
Stunning work there :o
cheers
James
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One becomes lost for words when you see your work...so lets just say :o
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AWESOME!!!! :)
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Bloody hell! :o
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Superlatives and expletives have already been showered upon this wonderous creation. Let us simply ask, when? When do we get to see a game played with it? :o
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I wonder why "Crisis" in Antwerp has not been advertised yet, if I may blurt it out... ;)
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Simply stunning :o
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Outstanding.
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Wow, what a beaut! :-*
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Perfect VSF "look" :-* Outstanding modelling 8) I'm in awe :o
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Wow, simply stunning, everything about it is superb. ;D
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Absolute amazing madness :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
In answer to your question YES we would like to see the WIP.
So get on with posting it and no teasing us, for about year, like you did with Lord Kelvin’s contraption. ;)
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So, here we go - I hope you don't need to wait too long since starting this topic.
For our Tsingtao game presented at TACTICA early this year we showed the large cruiser "Lusenbrink" along a harbour quai, and although looking nice as it were, I had the impression that a larger harbour crane would improve the scene. But where to start from? I wanted to realize a typical crane design, deeply weathered and looking typically steamaged and VSF-like, so the two main components needed to be rivets (lots of -) and steam-generating machinery. I remembered a scene showing such cranes in that marvelous book "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", and discovered it directly at the start of chapter 1:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_25_54_3.jpg)
That was a real nice inspiration, and I went looking for some cheap plastic kits to get the construction started. Not too long ago I had bought the Dapol "Dockside Crane" quite cheaply at a show, and had a Dapol "Stephenson's Rocket" around my stocks, both in british 00-scale, which looks good enough this time for 28-mil figs.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_25_54_2.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_25_54_1.jpg)
The Dapol kits are ok, if a bit dated today. I don't know how many other companies have released those throughout the past years, I guess Airfix will have done them, might be Minicraft, but the steel moulds are old now and the kits show it. Especially the crane must have the most flash, miscast parts and sunken injection holes I've ever encountered. I built up the main components like cabin, crane arm and main moving construction and tried to fill in most holes with punched out plasticsheet discs. Other much used parts from my parts boxes were railroad accessories like those fence sprues and a set of beams and bolt plates from Vollmer. Last ones had the benefit to have a "Made in Germany" prominently cast on the main sprue, which came into use later ...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_24_32_4.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_24_32_3.jpg)
For making rivets I used my trusty punch-and-die-set and hammered out 200+ rivets in two diameters mainly. The blue thing on the left of the photo shows an old rubber mould with a cut out center, I use to punch the rivets directly into this hole to avoid loosing them on my table or clogging the channel under the punch-and-die-set. Then started detailing and fixing of all those tiny rivets using a thin and fluid plastic cement.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_24_32_2.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_24_32_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_24_32_0.jpg)
Next pics will show you more of the used materials like Evergreen plastic strips and some of my spare parts and scratch boxes. Not that interesting, but I know there are many among us who like to see their fellow's environments and working places, so why not showing it.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_23_02_4.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_23_02_3.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_23_02_2.jpg)
The base for the crane should resemble some worn-out concrete and imbedded rails, so I used a piece of Forex (kind of expanded polystyrene) and engraved the pattern and grooves with a scraper, some cutting and milling tools in my power drill and smoothed it out a bit with steel wool. Rails came from the Vollmer beam set.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_23_02_1.jpg)
I wanted to show the crane's moving machine as kind of old-fashioned belt-driven apparatus, so some parts from a AT-AT kit, some disks and wheels and a lot of fiddling later I got this fairly good looking construction:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_23_02_0.jpg)
After getting all the main sub-constructions together and adding fence parts, bits and pieces, the thing looked quite like I had imagined:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_21_20_3.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_21_20_2.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_21_20_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_21_20_0.jpg)
Next picture shows the decorated name plate with "Germania" on it, name of the Germania-brewery in Tsingtao, brewing Tsingtao-beer still today and selling it worldwide. The "Germania"-letters were sliced off the Vollmer sprue and glued onto the plate, rest of the decorations are cut-offs from some fence parts.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_19_40_4.jpg)
Main block of outside machinery was provided as very nice resin block from Pardulon, even if it was not glued in the correct upright position as planned by the designer ... sorry, Jens ;)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_19_40_3.jpg)
After finishing construction the main components were fixed to some painting stands and undercoated with light grey spray primer (in the garage). Then everything was airbrushed a medium light sand tone with Vallejo's Model Air colour, followed by a light sand highlight inside all flat surfaces and a dark rusty tone (mahagony) on all machinery and some of the deeper recesses. After a day drying time I finished the basic painting with two coats of Erdal Glänzer (aka Future Floor Polish) to seal all surfaces for things to come.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_19_40_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_17_54_4.jpg)
A heavy oil-wash was mixed up from black and burnt umber oil paints, diluted with turpentine to a fluid consistence, and brushed over all painted surfaces with a large flat brush. The wash was left alone for a couple of minutes to give the turps some time to evaporate, then all surfaces were carefully wiped down with kitchen paper, foam pieces and Q-tips. When using this method of weathering, you'll get nice dirty surfaces and good contrasts between colours. Avoid anything fluffy or dusty when wiping the dark colour away as all small particles will stick to the oils. I let this dry for a week, you could pass your finger over the surfaces and no colour will be left. But when using a flat brush moisted with a bit of turps, you will be able to lift any dark coloured spots again and a very controlled and detailed highlighting approach is possible.
I ended up with some left over parts for my spare boxes, among them the two gentlemen from the Stephenson's Rocket and it's large water barrel. First I thought about throwing the figs into the bin as they are quite ugly cast with lots of flash and have awkward poses. But then, looking at the barrel, I suddenly had a nice idea: Why not built a little monument for our Tsingtao brewery, showing the founders Gottfried Landmann and Ludwig Kell dancing on top of a barrel, so happy about their great overseas success? As it should resemble a copper statue, final verdigris weathering was applied.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_17_54_3.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_17_54_2.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_17_54_0.jpg)
So, that's it. I hope you had fun looking at the pics, and as usual, if you want to know anything else about this thing, just let me know!
:)
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It is bloody good, Benbow. Also very inspirational *and* instructive how you could could merge inspiration and crafty use of plastic models into one.
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Jawdropping. o_o
I liked your Tactica Table this year a lot, but this is a superb addition.
Perfect Eyecandy. Thanks for that.
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Fantastic work :o :o : :-*you have got the period look nailed!!!just the right proportion of victiorian ornamentation to heavy machinary.Also that's one heck of a spare parts collection :o
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Cracking to see the progress shots, they always give projects more of a feel of 'realism', if that makes sense. (Love the bits boxes you have :D )
cheers
James
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Gheeeeee.... bits box!
I own the Rocket kit too, and my use of her bits is a little bit - uh - different.
Nice job with the dancers on the barrel : lol lol lol
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I love seeing pictures of people's bits boxes. :)
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*faint*
We are not worthy.
Totally lovely piece, and superb workmanship.
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Completely amazing! I am very impressed.
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This is such an outstanding and lovely piece of purest steampunk and still so believably real - I love it!
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That is just stunning work! :-* I look forward to the WIP update on how you built it! :D Would love to see
some photographs with 28mm miniatures so I can see the size of it... it looks to be huge!
Darkoath
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Beautiful. Just beautiful. And I love the statue! That's pure genius!
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Amazing work Benbow. Made all the better by the excellent paint job. Like everyomne else has said .... lots of :-* :-* :-* ..... and even more :-* :-* :-*
The crane would look great alongside Malamute's London dockside warehouses ;)
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Your painting skills match your scratch building skills, stunning :-* :-* :-*
The bits box is amazing as well. :o :o
Do you ever built a kit straight out of a box or do you just buy kits to put in your bits box?
The statue is a great little piece. Love the weathering on the bronze. :-* :-* :-*
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I look forward to the WIP update on how you built it!
??? What do you mean? I thought this published already ... ???
Would love to see some photographs with 28mm miniatures so I can see the size of it... it looks to be huge!
Please have a look here:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_19_40_1.jpg)
If you know the size of a helping hand, does it look huge?
Do you ever built a kit straight out of a box or do you just buy kits to put in your bits box?
Not that often ... lol
Through the years I surely have bought more kits for using their parts than to finish them, that's true. But most of the kits have been bought very cheaply at shows, fleamarkets or when shops closed down. And - the parts boxes were filled for the last 30+ years ...
Thanks all for your nice comments! Next project will be less ambitious, just painting some single minis for small vignettes ...
;)
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Admiral, I salute you Sir, you are a genius :)
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No mortal man can scratchbuild to that standard............ me thinks dark powers are at work....
AWESOME work. I am totally blown away by your technical skills.
Regards
PM
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Really great conversion, and really great paint job :-*
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No mortal man can scratchbuild to that standard............ me thinks dark powers are at work....
You got that right. An anagram of 'Admiral Benbow' is 'mindblower a.b.a.' What a.b.a is is an enigma within a riddle, which is of course of satans little ways of making things mysterious.
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:-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
I love it...unbelievable detail...You sir, are a GOD among your peers!!!
o_o o_o o_o o_o o_o
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A . B .A. = Always Beyond Amazing.
Well this be part of a game at Crisis at all?. I will be going this year and I will make sure I come and say hello.
Paul
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'mindblower a.b.a.' :o
As we say in Germany: "I break together ..." lol lol lol
Yes, the crane will be part of our slightly revamped game "Welcome to Tsingtao" at Crisis in Antwerp on 7th November. If you would like to have a look, you can find the game info flyer here:
http://www.ths-wargames.de/material/tsingtau/flyerengl.pdf (http://www.ths-wargames.de/material/tsingtau/flyerengl.pdf)
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I've linked to this on my blog. I hope you don't mind. Beautiful work and very inspiring.
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That is quite AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
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(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_04_10_09_5_19_40_4.jpg)
Main block of outside machinery was provided as very nice resin block from Pardulon, even if it was not glued in the correct upright position as planned by the designer ... sorry, Jens ;)
No need to apologize :) This must be one of the best uses for the steam engine I've seen so far.
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:o
I´m stunned!