Fallout: Heading East

[Wyrmalla]

Ah, I don't dip anything (which seems like such an odd way of doing things), I just apply a thin-ish layer of ink over each respective colour. I guess the camera just picks up the shine a bit, as they look normal to the eye.

The Floater's still needing to be touched up, I've just distracted myself with another project at the moment unfortunately. It'll need a tongue added and some gums about the teeth. Though I'm building a little building to go along with a radio tower that I ordered from Fenris Games, so that's going to each into my time this week (I still can't decide if I want to keep it modular as it is right now, or just glue it altogether and make my life so much easier. Hell if its all one piece at least then I can give the thing a roof ...not that those are used in games generally, but they look nice). I'll post my progress tomorrow after my club, and well if I pick up anything interesting there (its the monthly trading night) I may post that too. The big thing I'm looking for is armatures right now. Not so much to use as actual armatures for sculpting (I have plenty of WGF models for that at the moment), but because they'd make good mannequins for some interior decorating. So yeah, well we'll see what happens. Toodles.

[Wyrmalla]

Hey actually, youknow how I like posting WIP shots of everything? Yeah well here's a picture of the radio building as it is currently.



I'd originally planned to use those tiles as a basis for a military/industrial complex tileset that I could cast up, but I at this second I can't be bothered with that hassle. So I've used what bits I have made as a basis for a small building. I just need to copy them over and add a bit of variation really. What's planned is an 8x2 building with an entrance based on one of those doors that collapse into the ground and in one of the rear corners for there to be an access hatch (youknow like the one in the back of Smith Casey's Garage). The rest of the space would then be filled with junk like those filing cabinets I made. However, the stumbling block at the moment is trying to decide whether I want the whole thing to be modular, or to just glue everything to a base. I'd prefer the former, but the later just makes everything infintely easier to handle (that and I can stick it all on a base and tart it up a little).

So, that's what I put together yesterday instead of finishing the Floater. You can see why its taking me forever to make a dent in my "to do" pile. That building's hopefully going to go along with a Radio tower looking something like the pic below (which I'll need more dishes and cabling for than I have to hand right now) and a set of mesh fencing that I've been sitting on since forever (as in longer than that shack collection I have).

[Constable Bertrand]

  did you draw that?

[Wyrmalla]

Hah, no, that's official concept art for Fallout 3 by one of my favourite artists, the late Adam Adamowicz.

Nah, I haven't drawn anything properly for years. I was involved as a concept artist with a wargaming project (yup, typically a post-apocalyptic one) that fell through (not least because I wound up running the whole creative side of things) what, three years ago, and since then I've not really had the will to doodle much anymore.

I used to sketch out a picture before I involved myself with some sculpting. This first image was for an Imperial Guard army which I never made in large enough numbers to play with (as well that's the issue with sculpting every damn model in an mechanised infantry force), whilst the second three are some of the first sketches I did for the project I was working on (the last one, well an iteration of it, even made it to the 3D modelling stage before the whole thing tanked, which was kind of cool).






Eugh, I'm shuddering looking at the scraps in my Deviantart profile. Eww, eww, eww.

[Constable Bertrand]

Not bad at all, your pretty good at drawing! Thanks for sharing! I like to see peoples sketches.

[Constable Bertrand]

Hey wyrmalla, how do war games factory Russians compare with DUST infantry? I'm considering a box rather than the SSU starter but am worried they are too small.

Could you be so kind as taking a photo of one of one and a infantry (German or allied)

Cheers
Matt

[Wyrmalla]

They WGF models are about half a head smaller in height, but I they're proportions are more realistic than the Dust models, so they look a bit weedy in comparison. I mean you could get away with using them as Chinese soldiers as on average for the period East Asian troops were smaller than their European counterparts.



I bought a few bits and bobs last night. Most of it was just bits for conversions (I must've picked up about eighty AKs and M16 variants, and about the same number of Secrets of the Third Reich loose heads), but I did find the odd miniature. A pity that I couldn't find the armatures or satellite dishes that were set aside for me (everything managed to get a bit mixed up during transport and I didn't have the time to search through everything), but I suppose there's always next time, and I already have enough crap to paint right now anyway. Right, pics.

The Ghoul with No Name (Artizan Bandito I think, it was out of the blister when I bought it).



I seen this model wearing a poncho, then found a zombie head amongst the West Wind lot I bought, and well it just had to happen. XD

And mien Floater.



Good or bad? I donno, what'd you think? The thing is with basing models from assets from the original games is that the actual in game models are pretty small. That and they're like twenty years old, so they could do with updating a little. Hopefully my interpretation is decent enough (hell the hardest part was sticking together the skeleton made from cocktail sticks. Those things just didn't agree with my glue for some reason).

Ah, and the toilet I bought form Dr H over on Dakka Dakka. I don't know if anyone else makes 50's toilets that coincidently look like the ones from Fallout 3, so I thought I'd mention it (he hasn't gotten back to me on the matter, but Ainsty Castings was interested in buying up the molds for their own use too).

In other news I've decided to expand the radio shack from a 2x4 layout, to a 3x4 one (with the floor being made from an edging of grated tiles, with concrete in the centre). It means more work, but meh, something to do I suppose. Pity my order from Fenris is taking way longer than it should to show up (tomorrow will make it a week, where most orders turn up within 1-3 days), so I'll start getting concerned if it hasn't appeared then.

[Wyrmalla]

Here's something which I went a bit starry eyed over when one of my friends found it for sale at the club yesterday. Its a Corgi Heinkel Kabine bubble car which is just so cool. Just a pity there was only one available (it was in a box full of old Batman cars for some reason), but I'll be on the lookout for some more next time stuff's for sale at my club again (or I could just pick one up off of Ebay, they seem to go for a couple of pound each, mine was for free though, as I'd already given the seller loads of cash previously).

Anyway, I'm blithering, have a shot of Bubba and his ride.



The car was originally orange, but I thought it would look much nicer in a kind of IKEA style Lime Green/White scheme. ^^

[Gargobot]

Cool sketches, no need to feel embarrassed.
That floater is a little larger than I imagined them, but spot on otherwise. A really nice job, sculpting and painting!

[Constable Bertrand]

Thanks thats perfect! So they are a little smaller. I thought they may be, but they arn't as bad as I feared Thanks for taking the pic!

That is spot on, you are getting good with 'wrecking' vehicles. The yellowed glass looks particularly perfect. Id imagine a bubble car would run perspex windows rather than glass to reduce weight, which would obviously age... Just like yours!

cheers
Matt

[Messyart]

What a beautiful floater! 

& the bubble car looks adorably busted C:

[DELTADOG]

I agree, the floater came out really cool! The Car is good too, but imo too european styled for the American 50s Setting of FO

[Wyrmalla]

@ Gargobot

Only now do I find a screenshot of a Floater next to a human. Yeah I'd say I should've aimed at a 30mm base model instead of a 40mm one, but I suppose I can get away with saying that its just a larger Floater (though I don't think we're in "Evolved Floater" territory just yet). I guess if I make any more then this one can be the pack leader or something.



@ Constable Bertrand

If you want to use them I'd suggest just sticking them on a piece of thick-ish plasticard so they're brought up a little. That's the pity with Dust, everything they make is just out of scale with 28mm, so if you want to use other company's lines you need to use 30mm-ish models and 1/35th vehicles, which still winds up with things looking a bit out of whack, but somewhat better. Throw them on 30mm bases rather than 25mm (my Dust models have been rebased on 30mm's without a lip) and you'll cause yourself less hassle with rules lawyers. =P

Hah! Okay I did yellow them up quite a bit (I mean they were pretty clear before I got at them), but the actual plastic on the model's that old that it'd already done most of that job already. XD

@ Messyart

Hey he just washed it this morning. I mean he used the same cloth he uses to clean his gun ...and shoes, but still, show me a swankier car outside of Shady Sands! ...Uh yeah, right. I wish the wheels were plastic or rubber as they would look better if they were flat. Unfortunately I couldn't be bothered sanding the things flat and greenstuffing them, so they'll have to do (I donno I guess they're made out of lead and asbestos or something).

Damn, and maybe I should put some paint onto those other two mutated beasties of yours I have. I'd completely forgotten I had bits and bobs of half painted crap about my desk behind the radio shack. Hmn, now how to put them together? A doggy and a regular one (in a similar pink to the Floater) perhaps?

@DELTADOG

Oh yeah that car really is too European, but I'm sticking with it as its from an appropriate period and quirky enough. As ever its actually finding applicable American cars in the right scale which is the problem, so I do try and have a wee bit of leeway when buying vehicles. I guess someone imported a German car or something (which of course would make them a dissident and presumably they spent their last hours before the Great War in a detention camp).

Blah, blah, today's turnout.

EM4 Miniatures Scavenger (I mean its either EM4 or Copplestone. Uh does Copplestone sell EM4? Ack, whatever she was out of her blister so I'm just going by memory here and I can't be bothered trawling either site to find her. Look yourself you lazy gits, this description's already too long).



I had a go at giving her a Wattz 1000 Laser Pistol, but even before making it I already realised that I was making it too stubby. ...But I was painting Blondie at the time and wasn't caring much. Call it the Wattz 800 or something, again I shouldn't sculpt things from memory as I have a habit of screwing up the details. . Whatever, the base model's quite nice actually with all the wee bits and bobs. I'm erring towards more of a character based game than one at a squad level based on experience from games I've played, so models like this are really what I'm aiming at right now (well I'm actually trying to sculpt these models as much as possible, but every so often there's a model like this which is just the style I'm looking for).

Ah and damn Clint's head is bloody massive! The things you don't realise until you actually look at the model. Oh, and that is actually an unofficial Good the Bad and the Ugly model, not just some cowboy that coincidently looked like Blondie like I first thought (he was out of his sprue and without a head when I found him, but trawling Artizan's site threw up the set). Whatever, he'll definitely be seeing plenty of use in my future games, I love that model.

Progress on the Radio shack has also moved forward a little. As of the moment I've put together about two thirds of the pieces for it, I just need to connect them together into portions for painting, then once that is done glue everything into a single piece and touch that up a bit. The difficult parts like the floor hatch haven't been worked on though, as well that particular piece involves more work than the standardised other tiles, so I've been leaving that till last. Its the goal to have that finished soon so I can finish up all of the interior and work out what the hell's happening about the outside (I'm thinking some sort of concrete walls with a girder framework so it doesn't look too boring), as the actual tower I ordered should be turning up soon. Heh, a lot of work seems to be going into something which really was just a silly little flight of fancy, but well the same could be said of this whole affair with Fallout models (I originally started with this over making a few generic shacks for a futuristic/zombie table, uh which is why some of the older terrain has weird graffiti on it).

[Constable Bertrand]

Nice calico on the scavenger! Yours turned out better than mine and the grass/sticks on the base is beaut. Well done.

All my dust is based on 25mm washers rather than 30mm dustbin lids.. raising the WF a little in height should be straight forward. At least I will get some dynamic realistic poses

Cheers
Matt

[Wyrmalla]

@ Constable Bertrand

That "grass" is the bristles from an old paint brush. I have a few which were used for dry brushing which are caked in paint, but seem to work well as a kind of sparse long grass.  ^^'

Progress report. =P

Well the radio building has about 2/3rds of its interior finished, its really just finishing the hatch and door now (which I think is what I said I had still to do in the last update, but I've been fiddly about with other things). I've planned out the exterior walls a bit and right now am just working towards having the inside built up. I'll paint it in four parts then glue it all together and stick it on a base.

Here's the current planned layout.The empty panel by Bubba's where the door will go and the blank piece with the rectangle of plasticard in it is the hatch tile. Ah, and the glue cap's representing a second pillar (I ran out of balsa wood earlier when I took this picture and had to go out and buy some more). Those techy pieces aren't glued down, and probably never will be, but they're just to show that I don't intend to have the whole thing empty in actual games (I'll see about painting up some bits and bobs like those once everything's done).



The big cylinder tank sitting on the left of this shot is going to sit along side the building as a bit of tat. Oi, what's up with tat? The techy bits are from Secrets of the Third Reich and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (though I need to make my own consoles and tape machines at some point, as those ones are a bit 60's style rather than retro sci fi).

My order from Fenris turned up today too. Most of the bits I bought are bits of street furniture which will be worked on much later presumably if I ever get around to making a pre-war town (ie manhole covers for roads and side walks, fire hydrants, and dust bins), but it also included the communications tower that the building's actually connected to.



The kit didn't come with any instructions, but I guess I managed to put it together decent enough (with the typical left over pieces I don't have a clue go where). That's just the base frame of the tower without all the doodas attached (some of which are seen on the table to the left) as its easier to paint the thing like that then attach everything else. I haven't done much as far as meddling with the kit, bar adding a little barrel to the base and a sniper's nest (midway up its length, you can see the Service rifle). I don't know if I want to do more with this before I paint it, I mean if I had more than one I'd like to turn one into a massive Raider nest thing covered in gore and banners, but as I'm trying to keep this thing generic that's not really an option (the sniper's nest is kind of applicable post to the wasteland and civilised settings, whereas having a big banner could muddle things a little), but suggestions are welcome. Ooh, actually looking at the concept art posted earlier in this thread I'm having some ideas (for one the base needs to be raised up, but I also need to add those tall aerials to the edges of the tower's rims as it'll really improve the silhouette that and silly bits like tesla coils or the like would make the thing look less like something you'd see in the real world).

So tonight's aims are to work on the building and the tower some more. I don't know which will be finished first, but they both should have some steady progress. As can seen in the background of the pictures I have some crates and a market table being painted as well (I posted unpainted shots of them a bit ago), though really all that's left with the crates is to add some logos. Well, there's your lot as far as pics go for today. Off with ye. =P