Work in Progress

Gettin’ Caught by My Neighbors

Posted by sberry on 16 May 2020, 16:31

A few days ago, my neighbors caught me while I was outside, dusting my planetary station with icing sugar and taking pictures. I guess this is the kind of situation that ONLY modeling and diorama enthusiasts are getting into.
The station is about 1/1000 scale, I’d say. It is a rather plain affair, actually it is only a sort of accessory model for a larger project (which will, of course, be presented here in due time). The station itself looks like this:

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Not very exciting, but I intend to use it for some sinister photo manipulation like this:

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(Background photo is Miers Valley (c) Pierre Roudier, cc-by-2.0)
And finally, after further digital mumbo-jumbo, the result will be something of this kind:

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These are only preliminary versions, but I think the direction of the project is clear: It is about “Roman History”, once again (see also here, here, here and here), but it’s definitely not the history stuff you’d find in schoolbooks…
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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 16 May 2020, 22:14

And when the neighbors caught you, what did they say?
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Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
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Posted by Wiking on 16 May 2020, 23:08

Bluefalchion wrote:
... what did they say?

For the neighbors is the situation that sberry put some wrapping material on the wrong side into earth, prepared on paper without any logic. And on top he powder it with icing sugar!
(Well done sberry, that are promising pic`s. :thumbup: )

They shake one`s heads in astonishment. I think.
Is that the result of a too long lockdown?
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Wiking  Germany
 
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Posted by sberry on 17 May 2020, 14:12

Bluefalchion wrote:And when the neighbors caught you, what did they say?

The neighbors stayed quite relaxed and only said something like “Oh, I see” after hearing my explanation.
For me, it was a premiere: I have often done some work steps outside, for instance everything that involves lots of spraying with solvent-based color. But it was the first time ever that people wanted to know what the heck I was doing there.


Wiking wrote:They shake one`s heads in astonishment. I think.
Is that the result of a too long lockdown?

Do you mean the head shaking or my bizarre project? – The latter is definitely older than the corona virus, so I can't blame it on the lockdown…
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sberry  Germany
 
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Posted by Peter on 18 May 2020, 20:49

Now I'm waiting for those space Romans! :-D
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by sberry on 20 May 2020, 06:56

Peter wrote:Now I'm waiting for those space Romans! :-D


The Space Romans themselves will follow tomorrow (at least I hope so); here is some of their gear:

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It is a “Jagdluther” or “Heavy Panzer Walker IV” from the Dust universe.
Again, just a preliminary picture, but it gives you an idea:

Image
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Posted by Graeme on 20 May 2020, 15:42

Bluefalchion wrote:And when the neighbors caught you, what did they say?


"Did You eat ALL of the chocolates?" :mrgreen:

The packaging works very well for sci fi buildings. and the metalwork on the walker is very impressive. The HUD screenshot is cool.

Looking forward to more adventures of the Roman (Intergalactic) Empire.
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Posted by sberry on 20 May 2020, 16:54

Graeme wrote:"Did You eat ALL of the chocolates?" :mrgreen:


Yes, the chocolates. Perhaps the most challenging part of this project: To find the optimum packaging, I had to eat really lots of them. A tough job, but somebody had to do it!
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Posted by sberry on 22 May 2020, 09:21

My Romans in Outer Space project of 2016/2017 was great fun, both the diorama and the movie. Thus, the whole thing called for a sequel, but of course with different figures in a different scene, in order to get not boring. Looking for suitable figures for the new Space Romans, I came across the AVP Weyland-Yutani Commandos by Prodos Games. They are in 32 mm scale, but I thought Why not? This will be my first dio in that scale, having worked so far only with 1/72 figures.
So here they come as WIP, painting is far from being finished:

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The centurion is by Reaper – Chronoscope Bones Nova Corp. Sgt.
And since there will be lots of alien goo and other highly suspicious substances in the scene, I thought it would be a good idea to have some specialists, too, and recruited two Hazmat figures from HF Minis – Modern Adventures.
All figures have been romanized by an added gladius from Victrix – Early Imperial Roman Legionaries Attacking; the centurion’s crest is from that set, too. I also wanted to give at least some figures a scutum from the same source, but I found none of the poses really usable for that. Therefore, no shields.
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Posted by Susofrick on 22 May 2020, 09:23

Prince August's Mithril range is in 32mm so I am familiar with the scale. Not too small and not too big, quite nice scale and nice figures from you!
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Posted by MABO on 24 May 2020, 07:17

Wonderful pictures. You create a great illusion!
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Posted by sberry on 25 May 2020, 09:16

MABO wrote:You create a great illusion!


Thanks! Usually, I build the diorama, then take the pictures, and then, using some supernumerary photos, I may finally make a movie. This time, it’s different; the whole project is planned as a movie right from the start. I know I can’t compete with Hollywood, but I’m trying to do my best to create some nice illusions!
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Posted by MABO on 25 May 2020, 20:42

Seems to be very promising. I will wait and see.
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Posted by sberry on 26 May 2020, 08:34

As already said, I wanted to create a scene that is different from what I did before, so I decided that this time it will be an indoor-scenario, taking place in a sort of abandoned space station.
Therefore, I started to build this hexagonal structure; it is called The Hexagon:

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Three of the walls are fixed for stability; the other three can be removed for taking pictures. But of course it cannot be so neat and tidy, there has to be derelict equipment, sci-fi gear, strange machines etc. inside. Here is some of the stuff to be placed inside The Hexagon:

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And The Hexagon has a movable door that can open and close, which will give rise to some veeery dynamic and dramatic effects in the yet-to-come movie:

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(Sorry for the picture out of focus).
But then I realized that this door must lead to somewhere, there has to be some exterior room next to The Hexagon. So I hastily created another structure, which is a long tunnel and is officially called The Tunnel:

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At this time I began to be really concerned that the project is getting out of hands somehow.

And actually it got worse: After I had obtained all the figures and accessories and started work on The Hexagon and The Tunnel, I remembered that there were those two Space Battles sets by Dark Dream Studios in 1/72 scale. Now I couldn’t ignore them, but I couldn’t integrate them in a reasonable way in the existing 32 mm scale scenario either.

So I decided to build two separate and independent dioramas, which finally – i.e. in the movie – have to be integrated into the story. These are the Mystery Island and Planet of Deserts scenes which I have already finished last year.

The latest twist of the story of this project was then that I felt I would need some exterior shots of the abandoned space station, too. The result is what you see in the first post of this thread.
And now the *only* steps that remain are to paint and assemble this huge heap of extraterrestrial crap somehow…
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Posted by Kekso on 26 May 2020, 09:35

This is so cool :thumbup:
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Posted by MABO on 27 May 2020, 05:40

Amazing and I am really looking forward to see the next steps.
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Posted by Wiking on 27 May 2020, 06:20

A good step for mankind. :thumbup:
Sci fi is rare here.
My both Dio are still in progress. That means I do noting on it in the past several weeks. :oops:

Yes 1/32 is simply room consuming in the vitrine.
A big reason why I choose 1/72 for so many projects I want to do.
But Sci fi give the great option to mix scales (In a size we, our education will accept because we know only us, the size of things, human, animals, plants of the pale blue dot.) like I will try.

Sberry press on!
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Posted by Susofrick on 27 May 2020, 14:35

Yes, we need some SCi-Fi in the hobby too! Read a lot when I was a teenager.
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Posted by sberry on 29 May 2020, 08:10

Thank you for all the encouraging comments!

We need more sci-fi in our hobby – I’ll second that, absolutely!

And the problem of storage, especially when working in a larger scale … oh yes, I am definitely running out of space to store all my stuff. I think I will keep The Hexagon when the project is finished, but The Tunnel is designed as a sort of “disposable diorama” right from the start. It is essentially made from Styrofoam and will go right to the recycling bin after I took all photos I need.
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Posted by Susofrick on 29 May 2020, 15:06

Now when your neighbours have seen what you do you can draw them into the hobby! They don't have to do much, just lent you space for your stuff!
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