Bandai 1/12 Speederbike & Scout trooper

[kiwibelg]

Hi guys,
This is my first post of anything in more than a year plus  my second attempt at weathering anything vehicle like.
I started assembling the figure which can easily be manipulated into pretty much any pose.I intend to get the vehicle totally complete before I continue with him. I'm not sure in  which pose I will place him in, my inclination is to place him in a riding position so the scene has that hovering/action feel to it.
The scout trooper has a few joins and body pieces that look toy like, these areas will be bulked up with filling for a more realistic look.








Next up was laying down the basic colours of the bike... firstly a primer coat on  everything followed by the bikes body which was airbrushed in aluminium. Once everything was dry I used various coats of hairspray to protect the aluminium before starting on the colours i wanted the bike to be in. Sorry no pictures of the aluminium look but i was working quite fast at the time!!





I went about airbrushing  darker areas to places followed by some highlights and washes before starting on chipping with a soft brush, scouring sponge and toothpick.













I used some dry brushing and some artistic pencils of different colours to weather the motor/jet lines etc. These will still need some extra weathering with pigments etc.
The handlebars and footing areas have been added but still need to be weathered to bring everything in uniform.
This is pretty much where i am at at this moment:



This Bandai kit is really quite something, pretty much everything that is attatched to the sprue is almost non visible once it is snapped in to place. And best of all, no glue!
Most of this kit was air brushed on the sprue except the larger bulkier parts which I found easier to air brush seperately.
Anyways, I have enjoyed building this snap together kit and trying my hand at some techniques that i am not so familiar with especially as my main focus is figure painting.
But heck, anything that brings me back to my childhood days playing with the toy version and pretending  to  fly around Endor in my living room isn't a bad thing!!
Thanks for looking in, feels good to be back on the bench and my second home here on MSC!!
Cheers guys,
Shay

[joelsmith]

Looking really good. Can't wait to see more.

[deafpanzer]

FREAKING TOO COOL! Dig the dents and scratches on the speeder bike!

[dierk]

I'd call that a successful re-entry into the modelling universe!

[bish]

That's some real nice work. I have been put off the Bandai kits because of that toy look, so nice to see it can be sorted.

[Leon]

Ditto what Dierk said Shay! Speeder bike and figure look good.

[k1w1]

I really like the scratches and marks on the bike.

Great job on the Endor forest base. Trees look so real !

[adt70hk]

Now that's what i call as successful return! Well done!!

[jpc1968]

Marvelous

[jpc1968]

Glad to see you back, now finish that Yoda

[kiwibelg]

Jan 23, 2017 11:20:38 GMT -5 jpc1968 said:

Glad to see you back, now finish that Yoda

Hahaha...yeah I hear you!! Yoda has been giving me some bad looks since I turned him into a shelf queen

Thanks for looking in fella's!! The diorama base has been started, still have  to gather a few bits and pieces from mother nature before i can continue with the  groundwork. Will post some pictures up tomorrow 

[kiwibelg]

I have been plugging along with the base over the past few  days.
Originally I had a bigger and more rectangular one in my mind but opted out of it due to the amount of work I would need to do on the vegetation.
As I can't sculpt at the moment (work accident/stitches on my right  index finger) I tried to scavenge a broken tree twig or branch to use in the scene, everything is quite damp here in Belgium so I didn't have much luck.
A trip to the local pet store for dog food and I came across a bird perch used for parrots, and some coloured decorative  driftwood...the things you can find when you aren't even on the look out!!
The base has been filled up with a chunk of dense foam and two wooden blocks have been placed, one in the back left which holds the tree stump in place and the second in the middle which will be used to fix the bike in place.


General mock up :




Not realising that the metal bolt went ALL the way through the perch I had some Dremel and hacksaw work to get through
I added some extra holes to the tree and made a hollow area at the top.









I have been experimenting with a mix of dark tea and loose tobacco to place on the base, no pics but hopefully it will look realistic enough to pass off as forest litter!!

Cheers,
Shay

[adt70hk]

Hi Shay

Looking a very nice start on the base, although if I'm honest the radiator is winning so far on the 'realism' front!! 

Andrew

[Leon]

Nice start on the base Shay!

[jpc1968]

Looking good. I see what you mean about the arms looking "toyish" If you figure out a way to fix the issue please share it.

[dierk]

Sorry to hear about your finger - sue for compensation?
Yes, I've heard that Belgium is the damp patch of Europe
Base is starting to come along nicely!

[k1w1]

Like your tree roots. Tea ground cover. I have used the contents of dried tea bags. Green tea and  herbal teas  have very different leaf to normal dark tea. I like the green tea bag leaf best but also found a mixture looks good.

[deafpanzer]

Great start on the base!!! I am holding back my Duvel until you finish this.

[kiwibelg]

Hey All,

Thanks for the comments guys and Kiwi for the tea tip 

A little more work done on the base over the past week, would of liked to have had more done but back at work now after 5 weeks!!

I added a mix of some decorative sand and PVA glue to the ground area, allowing to dry before proceeding with a black primer and a mist coat of light grey:





Next up was alot of drybrushing of the tree and trunk areas.
In hindsight I should of first sculpted the roots of the tree to blend more naturally together with the trunk, unfortunately the dodgy finger prohibited me from doing this.
The not so pleasant part was up next with layers of finely shredded (dry)  leaves from my garden, loose tobacco (roll your own), brown tea, dark tea and some lineseed from a local pet store all held down with PVA glue.
I gradually built up the groundwork in layers allowing the glue to dry slightly.







Once the area was dense enough I used  PVA glue and dark tea leaves on certain areas to achieve a more damp forest bed look.
The vine areas were built up with a product from Mini Natur (Buchenlaub Sommer) and to add contrast, loose leaves that I had laying arounf from a Joe Fix tree.
I'm planning on adding  moss to certain areas of the dio, along with a few mushrooms and vaious sized ferns to bring everything together.




Here's a close up of the groundwork:




Cheers,
Shay

[Leon]

Ground work looks fantastic Shay!
Guess i should start saving up my loose tobacco for future use.

[deafpanzer]

WOW!!! You truly nailed with the diorama ground!!! Can't wait to see your next update with plants...

[dierk]

Excellent! And inspiring.

[adt70hk]

Looking very nice indeed. Thanks for all the ideas too.

Andrew

[bish]

Stunning work on that base, really nice.

[John Everett]

Excellent base. It's nice enough you could post it without the bike or rider.

[k1w1]

Nice job on the ground work Shay. Looks pretty good. My attempts at this have never been great.

[Wes]

Just found this build Shay. Looking good brother. Love the ground work.

[panzerjager2]

That's pretty darn cool

[kiwibelg]

Feb 14, 2017 19:07:39 GMT -5 John Everett said:

Excellent base. It's nice enough you could post it without the bike or rider.

Thank you for your compliment John, my girlfriend even liked it which is unusual for her (Beethoven also had his critics) 

The ferns from Mig arrived yesterday after a two week wait so I hope to get these down on the groundwork this weekend!

Thanks to everyone for their kind words an apologies for the late reply!!

Enjoy the weekend guys!!

Cheers, Shay

[kaytermarram]

Neat looking thingie! Some suggestions: Aren´t there any stencelling on the bike? I have never noticed them, but I think, some warning signs or markings could come out cool. And so for some package on the bike! I would love to see some equipment like backpacks or a weapon holster for some kind of rifle. Something like this. And the base? Cool, but please more veggies, please! And some dirt on the biker!!

Frank