Work in Progress

The Queen-Empress Victoria

Posted by Howlin on 17 Sep 2021, 04:06

Coming along nicely!

Do you make any textures like the roof bricks? or are those refab sheets? The hobby shop I use does not have any brick looking pieces, just roofing and siding like material.

Also, what is that grey puddy you use? I have used milliput and I like it but its expensive and looking for other options too...

Any tips for bending the plastic? do you heat it in like a plug in tea kettle to boil?
I really need to get more dynamic bends.

thanks for the updates
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Howlin  United States of America
 
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 17 Sep 2021, 12:26

Howlin wrote:Coming along nicely!

Thank you. I'm quite pleased with it.

Howlin wrote:Do you make any textures like the roof bricks? or are those refab sheets? The hobby shop I use does not have any brick looking pieces, just roofing and siding like material.

They are all pre-fab sheets - life is too short to make my own textured styrene. I use a combination of sheets - either from Slaters, [url]https://slatersplastikard.com/[/url] an English firm, generally available from model shops and definitely available online. I used their sheets to make the bases for the musketeer models.
I also use Evergreen because that is also generally available in the UK from the model shops I frequent.
I chose a mix of scale sidings for this project, specifically because I could use them in different areas (which i haven't really done) but also because I can then rotate them through 90 degrees and use them as flooring/decking.
The roof texture on the Addams spire - and on the bay windows is actually a 4mm scale (OO gauge or 1/72-1/76th scale) brick sheet.
Actual roofing sheets are available, but this is sufficient as asphalt shingles lie pretty flat.

Howlin wrote:Also, what is that grey puddy you use? I have used milliput and I like it but its expensive and looking for other options too...

That one is actually an old and in not very good condition putty I found in a drawer. I think it might be Squadron Green, or something like that. I immediately went out and bought some new Revell modellers filler, which is a tan colour.
Other than that I use ordinary Miliput (not the fine white stuff, no need), principally because I have used Miliput for since I was a teenager, and the local hardware store round the corner stocks it.
I tend to not use Greenstuff as a filler, as it's tricky to use in that role. However GW's Liquid Greenstuff is very good for filling figures and the like because you can brush it into places and smooth it into textures with a brush.

Howlin wrote:Any tips for bending the plastic? do you heat it in like a plug in tea kettle to boil?
I really need to get more dynamic bends.

It depends on what it is.
Normally I don't use heat. I could, but I'm just too lazy to traipse up and down the stairs from the attic to the kitchen and back.
In physics the term 'plastic' describes the ability of a material to bend or deform. Obviously styrene has plastic qualities, but surprisingly so does wood and ice, among others. Wood, responds to heat and/or moisture - or both in the form of steam, it can be bent, (Iron age british wheelwrights used to make the rims for chariot wheels out of one piece of steam bent ash - as opposed to six or eight cut and shaped sections - that is is pretty hi-tech) but so can ice - glaciers are a good example how they bend to fit the shape of the rock beneath them.
Styrene can be manipulated quite easily by pressure, just gently pushing it far enough that it deforms into the new shape.
So generally I work with thinner, more flexible sheets - the base of the cylindrical tower was thin styrene - paper thickness - rolled around a form (20mm internal diameter PVC pipe) several times and glued, in effect I laminated it.
This made a thicker walled cylinder, to which I added the siding. That was quite thick but I scored each of the gaps between the 'boards'. In itself this causes the sheet to curve, but it also makes it easier to bend around the cylinder.
Strips of styrene can be bent into curves by holding one end between finger and thumb of the left hand and drawing it through, pulling it back over the thumb. Do this several times and the strip takes a natural curve of its own, which can then be coaxed tighter and glued into place.
Masking/painter's tape and small clamps are your friends.
As I have said Tamiya Thin is my glue of choice, it glues quickly and doesn't mark the surface too much if you go outside of the 'lines'.

Howlin wrote:thanks for the updates

You're welcome, I wasn't sure how this one would go down. The ME and musketeers stuff using different type of polystyrene foam was very different and - for me - pushing the envelope. As far as I am concerned, this is much more mundane. I am just glad that you're enjoying it.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by Howlin on 17 Sep 2021, 20:19

Yeah it definitely is too short to get all the creative things we want done.

I am amazed at how many hours I put into a simple build, and they aren't even painted yet.
A work like this takes a lot of planing, cutting n trimming.

I use evergreen and whatever scraps I have. Evergreen feels less dense (so i wonder if it will go brittle quicker?), but cuts and carves so nicely, and glues so fast.

I like milliput for its rigidity and carvability once hardened, but filling in gaps its not as fun for. I should try some thing else. In the USA its about 12$ a bar. I put some around the edges of a Minoan/ Phoenician trade ship I made, and well... I almost popped it apart and to smooth it had more of a curved edge, but it worked.



Ok, so you bend stuff the way I do it seems. I normally just rub it with my fingers or run some warm water in the facuet for a couple mins, then carefully bend supporting all the stress points, then try to cool it. It gets to a basic a shape like that then has to be forced more with gluing and clamping.... Which is how all the pieces of the hull to the "leviathan" were done. Painters tape I had not thought about and will use that, thanks!



Great detailed response, yeah I like this project, its inspiring to do one of those Indian Elephant chariots
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Howlin  United States of America
 
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 17 Sep 2021, 20:44

Howlin wrote:Yeah it definitely is too short to get all the creative things we want done.

Amen!

Howlin wrote:I am amazed at how many hours I put into a simple build, and they aren't even painted yet.
A work like this takes a lot of planing, cutting n trimming
.

I surprised myself when I realised how much time I had put into projects this year - and how many pictures I had taken. It's like I said - a cricket score. Just a few hours here and there an it soon adds up.

Howlin wrote:I use evergreen and whatever scraps I have. Evergreen feels less dense (so i wonder if it will go brittle quicker?), but cuts and carves so nicely, and glues so fast.

I cannot disagree with you on that.

Howlin wrote:I like milliput for its rigidity and carvability once hardened, but filling in gaps its not as fun for. I should try some thing else. In the USA its about 12$ a bar. I put some around the edges of a Minoan/ Phoenician trade ship I made, and well... I almost popped it apart and to smooth it had more of a curved edge, but it worked./quote]
Wow! :shock: That is about three times what it costs here in the UK! Just a quick thought, but are you aware that Miliput can be smoothed with a wet finger? Dip your finger tip in water - or a modelling tool - and you can smooth it almost to a polished finish. (I say "dip in water", what I really mean is "lick your finger tip", I have been doing it for decades and never taken any harm from it. But the finish almost doesn't need sanding.)

Howlin wrote:Ok, so you bend stuff the way I do it seems. I normally just rub it with my fingers or run some warm water in the facuet for a couple mins, then carefully bend supporting all the stress points, then try to cool it. It gets to a basic a shape like that then has to be forced more with gluing and clamping.... Which is how all the pieces of the hull to the "leviathan" were done. Painters tape I had not thought about and will use that, thanks!

I shall go back and look at Leviathan again.

Howlin wrote:Great detailed response, yeah I like this project, its inspiring to do one of those Indian Elephant chariots

My pleasure.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by Howlin on 17 Sep 2021, 20:52

Its hard to gauge how much time is in some things, It can be a tedious process of visualizing, crafting, gluing, waiting, repeat. Wait for nice day to do parts outside etc..



Might just be old milliput, I hear the fresher the better. It soothed nicely, but seemed like it took too much pressure to take a rolled coil that I had and place it in the gap, I might have used too much still.... I wear gloves with stuff like this and its not the easiest to mold with gloves on too.
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Howlin  United States of America
 
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Posted by Howlin on 27 Feb 2022, 10:49

I know life sometimes intervenes and projects go to the side, I too took a long break, but I am wondering how this project is going. Best regards...
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Howlin  United States of America
 
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 27 Feb 2022, 12:06

Howlin wrote:I know life sometimes intervenes and projects go to the side, I too took a long break, but I am wondering how this project is going. Best regards...


Ah, yes. Thanks for asking.
I was looking at this the other day. I had my brother up to stay for Christmas which brought a halt to all work, and then ...

Then I started on a new secret project.

I cannot say much about it - it is after all SECRET, but it is a big project, which is time specific, and it involved a lot of rooting around trying to find the component parts, and now it's down to the actual doing of it. This is a project I have been planning for some years, all I needed was the push to start it and it happened. I am taking pictures as I go, so when I can reveal it, I will.

All of that means sadly that QEV will have to wait a little longer.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by Howlin on 27 Feb 2022, 22:32

thanks for replying, no worries will be nice to have more to look forward to!
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Howlin  United States of America
 
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Posted by Cryns on 01 Mar 2022, 16:37

Great stuff Mr. Pickstock, I love it very much what you make and how you make it.
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Cryns  Netherlands

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Posted by MABO on 05 Mar 2022, 06:19

steve_pickstock wrote:Then I started on a new secret project.

I cannot say much about it - it is after all SECRET, but it is a big project, which is time specific, and it involved a lot of rooting around trying to find the component parts, and now it's down to the actual doing of it. This is a project I have been planning for some years, all I needed was the push to start it and it happened. I am taking pictures as I go, so when I can reveal it, I will.


Looks promissing, hab´ving in mind your famous musketeers-project. I hardly can wait to see. ;-)
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MABO  Europe
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