Do you think he'll notice ... ? - Results!

Well the results of the Forum of Doom Diorama of Doom 2009 competition (snappy title!) are now in!

And guess what?

Bob and Dave have managed to snaffle themselves SECOND Prize!
(or as I like to think of it Alternate First!)

Yay! now I'm "An Award Winning Painter!"

Thanks to all those on the FOD that organised and judged the competition... I'll be back next year... in fact I already have all the mini's and the diorama sketched out...

Do you think he'll notice..? FINAL PICTURES

Forum of Doom

Diorama of Doom IV - 2009

Brandlin's Entry (c) 2009

"Do you think he'll notice..?"

Click the pic for a much bigger view.

Click the pic for a much bigger view

Our scene here shows Bob and Dave from Bob and Dave line Marking Limited, discussing the latest cock-up of the younger partner Dave and wondering just how long it might be before the 'copter pilot notices the newly applied yellow line over the nose of his prized flying machine.

Luck it seems, is on Bob and Dave's side for a while as Squadron Leader Gaffer seems to be somewhat distracted at the moment. Having paid his £10 he is idling away a relaxing few minutes with his cup of char while watching an employee of the Megan Fox hand car wash emporium going about her business!

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Finally!

After several tens of hours of work, trial and tribulation, many packages arriving in the Royal Mail (when it was still moving) placing several hundred glass beads with tweezers, cleaning, recleaning and cleaning my airbrush again and again, cutting and applying tiny decals, painting and repainting, falling down stairs and rebuilding the copter, then lighting and relighting the diorama, and finally taking pics and putting them together in piantshop - I AM FINISHED.

This has been a labour of love and hate. There have been times when this diorama was close to going out of the window and times when I've looked it and thought "wow thats better than I could have expected. Its also the first time I've done a diorama, and the first painting competition I have entered!

The large 100mm Base is from Fenris games as is the barricade which is laser cut acrylic painted and then with home made decals applied.

The raised pavement is green-stuff and plasticard, with the copter undercarriage fashioned from pasticard and paper clips, the line painting machne is made from wheels from a 1/72 WW2 german Kettenkrad kit from Hasengawa with the body made from plasticard and the handle from a bent paperclip.


Bob and Dave are Scifi Customs Inspectors from Heresy Miniatures.  Squadron Leader Gaffer is the Grymn Pilot from Hasslefree Miniatures, and his vehicle is the soon to be released Grymn attack craft from the same company. My version is turned into a copter with the addition of lift fans from Evil Mushroom Games.


The car wash girl is a simple conversion of Summer the Cheerleader again from Hasslefree Miniatures. Her pom poms cut down and smoothed to resemble big sponges and her left arm cut off and repositioned with pins and greenstuff above her head.


The bucket comes from a Tamiya 1/48 WW2 diorama pack and the decals were home-made using paper from Antenociti's Workshop. Paints from Foundry and varnish from Testors. Finally tiny tiny glass beads from Blockhead Stamps in America - yes i had to import them as this was the only place I could find multiple sizes under 2mm diameter.


Right I think thats all of the name checks for companies. I should especially mention Kev and Sally White from Hasslefree Games who provided the Attack flyer and Grymn Pilot to me ahead of their formal release as i am such a nice guy (and good at begging) so i could get this diorama finished in time. Thanks guys - you're the best!


The soap was by far the hardest element of this diorama as I had to figure out how to do it from scratch. A lot of people on the FoD, and on CMoN and TMP have offered some elements of advice, THANK YOU all for putting up with what might have seemed silly questions at the time. Subsequently a few people asked for the steps on how I did the soap, so here is the method I developed. 

After a lot of tests it became quite simple:

1. Watered down PVA glue applied in small patches
2. 2mm glass beads applied sparingly with tweezers in small clumps or 'smears'
3. 1mm glass beads applied around the edge of the 2mm beads
4. 0.5mm beads applied more generously arounf the 1mm beads. Allow to dry.
5. Wash with watered down white ink (with a tiny tiny amount of blue to give that daylight sparkle!) with future floor polish mixed in. This makes the wash draw deeply into the areas around the bubbles making the bubbles themselves translucent but the suds around them seem more opaque.
6. seal with PVA.
7. Gloss Varnish
8. Matt varnish the whole diorama
9. Re-gloss varnish the bubbles with 2 further coats to make sure it 'gleams'.

Simple!

The area of the copter which is covered in Soap is deliberately lighter than the rest of the grubby vehicle to try and show that its getting cleaner. The copter was airbushed with Foundry grey/blue shades and then washed in black and brown ink to grubby it up a bit. The ink wash was simply not applied over the area to be soapy.

Anyway judging starts on 1st November ...wish me luck!

Do you think he'll notice..? XI

Well, I FINALLY finished my first competition entry. This is my submission for the Forum of Doom Diorama of Doom entry.

Now the competition rules state that I can't put up final pictures of the model but teaser pictures are encouraged... so here's a collage of bits and pieces from the full model.

Vote Brandlin - X

I have been careful not to include elements of the diorama that give away the 'story' or the 'joke'. So i hope this will still be a surprise of sorts when it is shown on the Forum of Doom.

There are some fabulous painters on the FoD and some of them are waaaaaayyy out of my league, however the DoD is judged by the owners of Hasslefree Miniatures, Heresy Miniatures, Black Scorpion Miniatures and Eolith Miniatures not just on painting but on the dioramam composition, and how it tells a story. So I am hopeful of not coming last!

Do you think he'll notice ... ? X

SOAP!

Having ruined the painting of the copter for my diorama I've taken a break from that and I've been playing about with the soap effect I need to complete my Diorama of Doom entry. I've tried half a dozen different methods, some very unsuccessful. Photographs of the best two are below. Click on the pictures for a bigger image which better shows the detail.

These samples are VERY difficult to photograph well as the light bounces off both the white of the ink and the shiny bubbles as well as the glossy sheen of the PVA seal over the top leading to overexposure. I'll get better photographs on the finished diorama when I get diffused light through my light tent.


The right hand side of the sample shows a test 'pool' of soapy water, and the 'strokes' on the left show how this soap might be washed onto a surface.


I prefer the second as it has a murky quality with more depth than the first. The sample is not as bright white as it appears in the picture. Its a little cartoony, as the bubbles to scale would be up to 4" diameter, but I think it's clear what is being represented and its not grotesquely caricatured.

It's made by coating the area to be soapy with PVA glue, then strategically placing tiny glass micro beads (used like glitter in card making) one at a time with tweezers. The location of the beads is not something to do randomly - I start with the 2mm beads placing just a few in small groups, then build up round them with the 1mm beads and then finally a scattering of the 0.5mm beads leaving plenty of clear bubble-free space in the centre of the big pools of soapy water.

Then once dry I mix white Daler Rowney Ink with water in 10:1 ratio. I'm not sure what base the ink has, but it doesn't fully mix with the water leaving the slightly oily separation effect you see. This is then flooded on and allowed to settle around the beads. Once dry a final coat of PVA is applied to seal the whole thing.

I think this has worked pretty well, and am looking forwards to applying the effect... wish me luck!

Do you think he'll notice ... ? IX

DISASTER !!!

I got my airbrush running and undercoated and then painted the urban/snowy waste camouflage pattern that I've previously used on my vehicles, and I blocked in black the areas of the vehicle that needed to be painted differently.

All was going well, and then it came to washing the vehicle to highlight the panels and such like. Now i used to do this by thinning GW ink a lot and then running it through my airbrush and letting it dry.

SO I loaded up my airbrush with GW wash (Devlan Mud mixed with Badab Black) spray it and then the phone rings. When I get back I have this...





I think I forgot to thin the wash!!! And clearly the wash settles and dries very differently to the old inks. It has completely obliterated the camouflage pattern!

Doh!!

I don't want to try and strip this so i'm going to try and re-paint over it... wish me luck... and the clock is ticking!

On a better note, these arrived in the post today!


So I now have everything i need to complete this project (except the time and enthusiasm...sigh!)

Do you think he'll notice ... ? VIII

Meet the GAFFER... Grymn Pilot of the VTOL craft parked in front of Bob and Dave in my Diorama of Doom entry.

As can be seen from his helmet and shoulder stripes The GAFFER (Grymn Air Force FlyER) is a member of Red Squadron - and that colouring will be evident on the flyer itself. The flight suit webbing and life-vest are painted to match my other painted Grymn.

We see him here relaxing with a strong brew and watching something closely, somewhat distracted from the antics of Bob and Dave...


I'd drooled over this figure ever since Kev White of Hasslefree Miniatures had show it on his WIP web site over 6 months ago. He was kind enough to send me a master copy of the figure, and the detail on it is incredible. The front of the life vest (i assume thats what it is?) is amazingly detailed and a real challenge to paint accurately. The figure is just 23.5mm to the top of his helmet. I hope Kev thinks I have done this justice!

In addition I've also completed the base. Well, I say 'completed' what I mean is painted, there is still a lotto be done to this the figures need to be mounted and then I have a LOT of detailing to do...

There are 12 separate colours used on this base, not including any i mixed myself. Trying to get the stippled grey of the tarmac surface was a bit of trial and error, hope it works. Tarmac is not black!

Do you think he'll notice ...? VII

Meet Bob and Dave ...

Two of the principle characters from my Diorama of Doom IV WIP.

This is Bob, the older supervisor of the 'crew' complete with polystyrene cup of tea and a nonchalant 'seen it all' world-weary look, surveying the latest mishap of his more junior colleague Dave. He thought he'd seen it all, he keeps his tea hot and his gloves clean as he tries to keep his young enthusiastic, energetic staff out of trouble. He ignores the health and safety regulations and refuses to wear his hi-vis jacket.


And this is Young Dave, otherwise known as "Dave down the pub", the guy who waxes lyrical on all manner of subjects but has no common sense. Nothing is EVER Dave's fault! He wears his high vis jacket with pride as Bob told him it was a chick magnet but he's cut the sleeves off his company coverall to avoid looking like a gimp in a suit (like Bob).


In the Diorama Dave and Bob are discussing Dave's latest 'incident' and surveying the consequences.

It is Dave questioning his boss Bob with the line after which this diorama is named. "Do you think he'll notice?"

Great Heresy sculpts and highly recommended. a joy to paint. The high vis jacket is a challenge - its actually painted with fluorescent yellow paint and shaded with GW Thakka Green wash. I'm not entirely sure it works, but it is bright!

I still have a few details to paint - Bob's hair, Dave's wrist strap and both their ear pieces. Plus a bit of touch up here and there. Better pictures will be taken when they are complete.

Do you think he'll notice VI

A little progress. Composition finalised, slotta-tabs removed and figures pinned temporarily in place. Road barrier completed and undercarriage design finalised.

However I had a real light bulb moment and have ordered an additional figure from Hasslefree... no i wont tell you which one, you'll ahve to wait for the finished piece.

Do you think he'll notice V

Look what arrived at the weekend!

The Grymn Air Force FlyER (or GAFFER as I am calling him) is the soon to be released Grymn Pilot figure from Hasslefree miniatures. My enormous thanks to Sally, Kev and Kate of Hasslefree for sending me this present ahead of its release date.

It is also the last remaining figure I needed for my 2009 Diorama of Doom entry. Now i have no excuse not to finish this project ahead of the 31st October Deadline.

Now i'm not normally a starwars fan, but I can't help looking at this figures flight suit and thinking - Ooh! that would look smart in orange!

Do you think he'll notice - IV

Here the base has been filled and sanded. I use apoxy sculpt putty for my main filler (that's the blue stuff) which has a texture somewhat like green stuff and roughly the same hardness as plastic-card so they sand similarly. I then use squadron green filler for a much smoother finish and to fill smaller gaps/holes. I also find that the difference in colour is very helpful when sanding as you can see where dips and hollows are.


In the above picture you can also see the holes in the base where the legs of the copter undercarriage go though the skids and into the base. This was the best way I could think of for making the copter secure on the base but it is fiddly to construct.


I need to turn the copter a little to its left. The skids need to extend over the edge of the pavement a little more for composition reasons, and I'm also not happy that the skids follow the lines of the pavement - it looks too contrived - so I'll have to drill another pair of leg holes and fill the existing ones.

Do you think he'll notice? - III

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted progress on my Diorama of Doom entry. You might think looking at these pictures that very little has changed, but dont be fooled, an awful lot of planning and intellectual consideration has gone into this stage (or in the words of my wife "are you giving that another coat of looking at?").


I've had to put it on a slightly larger base (100mm rather than the 80mm initially planned). I was reluctant to do this as I wanted a very tight composition but I simply can't fit everything onto the smaller size.

I've built a slightly raised raised area on which the copter sits, and this will finally represent a road edge complete with kerb drain and slight road camber.


As before the headless Grymn figure behind the 'copter is a proxy for a Hasslefree Grymn Pilot which I am waiting (almost patiently) for them to release. There is also some space at the front of the diorama for a mystery item which I wont reveal until the final competition pictures are released.


I have begun the process of sculpting the undercarriage and skids - neither of which are glued in place yet. I have also slung a weapon under the nose of the copter. I was going to add some small stub wings to the nose of the machine, but they will interfere with something I have planned for the painting so reluctantly I have discarded the idea.



Next steps:

Cover the base in putty and sculpt the kerb edge, drain and road surface.
Fiddle about with the position of the copter skids.
Complete the sculpting of the undercarriage

Do you think he'll notice? - II

This is a better picture of my Diorama of Doom IV entry with my digital camera rather than my phone. I'm also playing around with different composition and layout on the base. As the title suggests its important that something is out of sight of one of the miniatures!


A couple of people asked me how the lift fans were made.

I was going to make them by cutting the centres out of two 30mm lipped bases and glueing them back to back, then adding overlapping triangles of thin plasticard in the centre. I mentioned this on the Forum of Doom a while ago, and my mate Inso pointed me at these Evil Mushroom Games products. It looks like Evil Mushroom games had exactly the same idea as me and are casting and selling them, so I bought 4 from them.

Having got them though I'm a bit disappointed. There are plenty of surface defects and bubbles in them - you'll see I had to fill the surface with squadron green putty and sand it back - twice. I hope to disguise any other defects with the paint. Fingers crossed!

I may have been better making my own lift fans after-all.

Do you think he'll notice?

I spent a couple of hours this morning starting on composition and conversion of my idea for the Diorama of Doom competition being run by the Forum of Doom.

The title of the piece will be "Do you think he'll notice?" and I'm showing some of the modeling and conversion steps.

Apologies for the worse than usual pictures, I don't have my camera at the moment so am taking these pictures with my phone - hardly ideal! It seems to suffer particularly on the glare on the white plastic.




Sharp eyed readers amongst you will notice that there is a headless grymn in the final picture; he's just standing-in for the Grymn Pilot figure not yet released by Hasslefree games. (Fingers crossed!)


There is another major element of the diorama that will sit in the foreground but i need to scratch build it. No, I wont tell you what it is, that would spoil the surprise...

Next job is to sort out the Landing gear as the 'copter is sat on its underbelly at the moment.

Diorama of Doom IV

It's been a long time since I added anything to this blog; Partly because I've not done much modelling, painting or gaming this year. I was made redundant in October 08 and am still unemployed so my efforts are elsewhere.

However in a bid to save my sanity I am going to try and post more often and dedicate some time to my hobbies.

I wont promise more posts, or that i'll actually find my paintbrushes, but the intention is there. To motivate me I have decided to enter the Diorama of Doom IV (DoD IV) modelling and painting competition run on the Forum of Doom (FoD) by the combined companies of Heresy, Hasslefree, Black Scorpion and Eolith Miniatures (nee Spyglass).

It'll come as no surprise to readers of the FoD that my entry has a somewhat Grymn bent. Competition rules preclude me from posting finished pictures, but require me to post pictures of the starting figures and encourage posting of pictures showing conversion and modelling undertaken.

My starting figures are -

• The pre-production Grymn attack craft that Hasslefree kindly sent me prior to release.
• Heresy's HSF 004 - Adams
• Heresy's HSF 008 - Inspector #1 Bob Jones
• Hasslefree's Grymn Pilot WIP.
  

For extra brownie points the rules state that resin scenery can be used but they'd prefer it to be from one of their friends/partner companies Antenociti's Workshop, or Fenris Games. So i'll point out that the attack craft was originally designed and cast by Jed @ Antenociti's and the base featured in the picture below is an 80mm lipped base from Fenris.


I also need one of the Grymn pilot figures that Kev White from Hasslefree has as a WIP... so i am crossing my fingers that it'll be on general release in time for me to include it in my diorama.

Don't let me down Kev!!!