The Continuing Adventures of Stuff Happening in Space!

I have not been idle since last I posted. Initially, I had planned just to do the walkways and some walls for decoration, but with the rapturous response I received for the floors, and the suggestion that I continue to ever greater heights of having no room left in my house, I was driven to make some more walls. First, I added a few more walls similar to the first: a few pipes, some computer access points, even a rack of guns! Then it came to me that I was missing out on one of the big things of sci-fi background scenery: huge pipes filling a whole wall for no readily apparent reason. Needless to say, I at once addressed this problem by hunting out some pipes and whatnot that I have had sitting about for years. Everyone loves ridiculously large pipes decorating their spaceships. All I need to do now is to add some weird bits that vent steam whenever the enemy gain a hit on the friendly vessel. Poor design skills, engineers! Poor design! :-D The camera has gone somewhere, Lord knows where, and so I can thereby explain the poor quality of these pictures. If I acquire a time machine or rediscover the camera shortly, then I'll be able to fix that problem and improve these pics! ;-) Anyway, folks, here's what I have been up to. Yup, it's Lego again, people!

Crates and Earthworks

I mentioned Terrain For Hippos the other day, and today and yesterday I have been making a few crates. Here's TFH's original article. I haven't quite followed the original design, as I just don't trust myself to make straight lines, so I've got yet another thing to add to the list of things Lego is great for! I'm very happy with how they've turned out. I recall an idea, though not its originator, I'm sorry to say, for making crates or barrels appear more numerous than they are. The idea was to get a block of polystyrene, arrange crates and barrels at the edges and on the top, then make a spot of tarpaulin over the bits that are the block of polystyrene. I've also started work on a 2' long piece that will be a defensive earthwork when I'm done with it. Lots of drying now! On a less wargamery note, there was a wild rabbit down by the bird table yesterday morning. I managed to get a picture of him through the window, but didn't dare open it as the noise would have scared the poor wee lad. Or lady - I've no idea.

Laser Destroyer

I have been dodging doing more work on my friend's tanks for one simple reason - trying to replicate that Leopard-esque turret which creates a shell-trap beneath the turret and deflects projectiles upwards (which is so distinctive of the Space Marine Predator, and which is used in the inspiration) is bloody daunting! I have a plan. I am just very wary of putting it into action. So instead here is something I decided to do as an excuse for not having worked on the turrets! I have vast swathes of things in "Bitz Boxes" as GW put it. In fact, I recently reorganised my smallest "Bitz", and they take up a couple of shelves of space on a bookcase now. Among this detritus was a spare hull, which has been sitting around for so long that half of its has the OOP IG wheels, and the other half was assembled when they had become OOP. As well as the hull, which I had recently added some Lego strengthening to, I had a gun made from a lengthened Russ barrel. I cut off a load of Russ muzzles years ago for my Basilisks, and this is one of those stubby middle bits, with some plasticard added to it.

Having got the fragments together I cut myself a 50mm wide strip of 0.5mm plasticard (to be trimmed as appropriate) and gathered unto myself my angled Lego bricks. As usual, a picture tells a thousand words. I have done quite a bit of detailing, and will try to finish it off tonight. My sleeping is still all over the show. I managed two hours last night, and then six this afternoon. I know it's bizarre: there's no need to tell me! I'm a little disappointed that my rear windscreen wiper broke - not the blade, but the actual blade-holding thingamajig. Now if one tries to activate it, the remnant screw twists forlornly and pathetically. I've taken it along to the garage, and they hope to have the replacement bit by tomorrow. From the factory, as they don't carry it themselves: which sounds alarming expensive! Anyway, enjoy some pictures.

Pair of tanks: III

No hobby mojo for a few days, as these long-winded rambling posts probably revealed. But it's returned. I've done a fair bit of work tonight on those two tanks. I knocked up the drivers' hatches, then decided to make some louvred engines. Unusually for me, having done a spot of work, I decided it wasn't up to scratch, and replaced it. The individual slats (or is it panels?) of the whole clearly touched one another, and I wanted a slight gap between each. So I set to and made another couple of louvres, and am quite pleased with them now. The yellow and blue boxes you can see in the pictures below, which form the framework for the engine access hatch, are the predictable Lego pieces. They are some smallish windows. I cut some bits off them, then gave them some plasticard cladding. Everything used was 0.5mm or 0.25mm for the top bits. I added some handles to the engines, and then decided to knock up a ladder so chaps can access the ol' tank-a-ma-jig. The problem with these tiny drillbits is their fragility, so I have been unable to complete one ladder, and have not even begun the other. The incomplete one will, I hope resemble battle-damage. Enjoy the pics, folks!

Gaudete! Two tanks on the production line!

Mum's kindly provided me with her unused -900 EeePC, so I am now back.
I have not been idle in my enforced absence. I have been working on designs for a pair of count-as-Russ for a mate in distant foreign parts. The brief was to produce something similar to the very fine Bearcat of Leonas. I am constrained by having no wheels, but my mate intends to source some and some tracks, so that's no bother. Here's the progress so far. I carved some sides out of 2mm plasticard, rounded some corners, and secured some of the old Russ track-guards to them, and glued some Lego in the middle for bracing and as a guide for later construction. I then set to work on the top parts. I bore in mind a few things here. My vehicle width would be constrained by Lego sizes. 6 blocks' width translates to c.47.5mm, so I cut my 0.5mm plasticard to a width of 48mm. I'd planned out the engine deck and driver/hull-gunner's positions already, and I knew I would tailor the angles to available Lego pieces.

This means that I can make two vehicles quickly to pretty much the same plan. I also wanted to use two spare Space Marine Predator turret rings (one has vanished in the last two days, so needs to be unearthed). I've not finally decided on the shape of the turrets, but I have settled on the size of the rings that will connect them to the hull. All this uniformity and the accompanying photos also gives my mate the option of recreating this design himself, should he decide to expand his fleet of AFVs some day. As The Beatles probably sang, "All you need is Lego!" And plasticard. And glue. And knives, files, er. On to the pictures.

Good News!

I managed to get onto the downstairs PC. This won't survive me getting a job. I'll have to save up for some shiny keyboard-laden thingy then. For now, though, all is passable. Right, I promised you photographs, and those you shall have! The super-fuel-a-ma-jig is almost complete. That brings to mind that I don't have a name for it. Well, Imperial vehicles are usually named after Greco-Roman mythological (e.g. Medua) and historical (e.g. Crassus) sources, so I suppose I shall have to think of something in that line. That said, I welcome suggestions! Anyway, onto the real tofu (I'll keep making that joke until someone kills me) of this post.

I applied some plasticard to the sides to represent armour plating, and riveted the whole kit and caboodle. Lots and lots of rivets adorn this beauty. I fastened up the back, which was a bit sloppy. It looks a bit better now, although somewhat Orky. The wee grey hinges on the side hatches come from a Baneblade, I think. The Red Bull can was a bit narrow for the body of the vehicle, so I added some strips of plasticard until it sat snugly, then superglued it in place. Fitting the plasticard cover onto the can was such a bother that I almost gave up and decided to go with a bit of drainpipe I had sitting in a drawer. What? Doesn't everyone keep some drainpipe in a drawer for making toys? In the end, with the help of some superglue gel and a fair old whack of Greenstuff, I managed to secure the thing in place. I have just realised that I will need to perforate the can somewhere out of wight, lest the coming winter make it contract and go all nasty. I shall try to avoid poking battle damage into visible bits, because I intend to give it a special rule that will see it explode in Apocalypse battles like one of those superheavies that goes critical - Warhound Titans, perhaps.

I took some strips of foil (drinking nice whiskey is its own reward, but it offers some incidental benefits to the modeller), and some car body repair mesh, gluing them to the can in semblance of securing strips, and then applied some more rivets.I went looking in a drawer in another room, and found a lot more Lego, which is handy! I then glued several more heads/wheels into place. I took one of those Lego computer screen bricks, chopped half of it away, and coated the remnants in plasticard, giving me something to attach a Heavy Flamer to for the gunner. It did occur to me to wonder whether it was a good idea to have a lot of fuel and a fiery weapon in the same place, until I recalled that the Imperium, if ever it heard of Health & Safety, is surely far beyond it now. I strongly suspect it's heretical, so fiery weapons near fuel dumps might even be a Munitorum requirement! Then I glued in place grab handles for the hatches, and I added a little armoured viewport for the driver, and realised I had left the vehicle shockingly undergunned for a super. It was never my intention to make this a death-spitting demon of battle, but a single weapon seemed a little underwhelming. One Heavy Bolter later and she's as well-armed as a Chimaera. That will do!

What remains is to find a handle-a-ma-jig for the pintle-Heavy Bolter, then get to work making sure the tracks look delightful.Here are the pics, folks. Fingers crossed my next post will see her complete.

Basilisk batteries and Lego

Yes, batteries of Basilisks: six of the fellas in various stages of completion are on the bench at the minute. Come to think of it, there are 3 outside, so I could sell the lot as a complete Apocalypse formation at the end of all this work. The look is somewhat inspired by the German WWII Elefant (see below, sourced hence). I have previously espoused the benefits of Lego, and today is yet another opportunity to use my oratorical, rhetorical and declamatory skills in favour of it: it's great! Ages ago I knocked up parts for loads of Bassies, but got distracted by other things, and depressed, so the parts remained just that. Lately I've been getting back into the groove, and Lego has proved a godsend. Do I want an angled front? Lego can provide it (see pic 1). Is 0.5mm plasticard great for cutting to the right size but not quite strong enough on its own? Lego can help (pic 2). Do I want some additional internal structures to strengthen my build? Lego can help (pic 3)! Then I boxed in the rest of that vehicle, added a spare Baneblade exhaust (pic 4), and added a spare Baneblade Heavy Bolter to the front (pic 5).

But Lego isn't just handy for that sort of thing. I had three roofs and sides for Basilisk fighting compartments, cut long ago. I wanted a regular look to their angled side, and structural stability. Yet again, Lego helped out (pics 6&7). There was a slight case of overhanging fighting compartments, but when you consider that I accidentally made the hull widths 5 Lego blocks across and not 6, and that the roofs and sides predated any intention to use Lego, it isn't so bad. In fact, I rather like how it turned out. The guns (Russ muzzles, plasticard tube, some plumbing thingy as the base) were superglued to 0.5mm plasticard which was superglued to Lego blocks. Two of these were glued to the turret roof, and the third was glued to the floor and uses an angled block to suggest that the gun is inclined to fire at range (pic 8). Lego is more adaptable than this. Anyone experienced with it will realise that you could use the stuff to have guns aiming up or down. Pics 9 and 99 show the battery together, prior to the backs being closed in.

Sorry again for the delay in getting these things up. I was working on 'em the whole time I was watching stuff. I don't know about you, but having something distracting on really helps the work fly by! I'm going to head upstairs now and see whether I can find the Basilisk bits I made for the second company of them. I don't know that I made so many of the extra pieces, but the guns exist! Enjoy these pics, dear reader.