Saturday 18 January 2014

'nids part 121 - PROJECT Y Scratchbuilt Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad pt4.

2 fers already! Well, what do you make of my Sphincter? I'm really surprised I was able to recreate the one from the top of my Bastion. It's really easy to achieve this, score three lines and then poke with a soft tipped bullet shaped sculpting tool. The outer ring was a clay sausage that was then embossed with a wooden coffee stirrer that had been but through a hole punch to make a C shape. With hindsight I just realised I have a hole punch with a variety of sizes that would have been much easier to create the tool but it still worked.


And the whole pad. When this dried the foamboard started to warp so I will have to weight this down when the next set of clay goes on. There will be even more used and most likely make the whole base much damper.


I started some of my shield wall tests. Quick frames of sprue, I'd be happier if they were curved but they tend to snap so I'll dry run the process. I know the plan was melt plastic but I tried these ideas first, although these pics are before the attmepts dried. PVA on cling film - didn't work, not strong enough and looks rubbish.


PVA on tissue. It's actually OK, not ideal but if everything else fails I may consider it. The end result isn't very durable but it might look all right after painting. The red thread is to add some 3D veins inside the membrane.


Cling film and Vernidas Gloss Varnish. I really thought this would set rock hard but it hasn't. It's just like cling film stuck on plastic sprue, which to be fair is what the PVA and cling film looks like. so another fail.


I've some other ideas to try. Transparent silicon sealant, molten plastic cutlery, blown molten CDs, maybe even molten pop bottle plastic. Oh the fun of melting stuff.

So probably another hour or hour and a half on this. Losing track of time now, sorry.


And here's your second update and the lengths I've had to go to to ensure the pad doesn't warp. There's even a CD under the pad to hold it in a convex position to counteract the concave nature of the centre warp. 


Next up stretched muscle fibres along the six 'webs' but I'll leave it a few days to dry thoroughly before I mess about with it again. I've also got to ensure the tower slots don't get any clay on by sculpting around the areas they sit - very fussy.

Tyranid Capillary Towers part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. part 9. |
part 10. | part 11. | 

Tyranid Skyshield Landing Pad part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4. | part 5. | part 6. | part 7. | part 8. |

5 comments:

  1. Been watching the whole series, wanted to say I like the stuff you are doing, and appreciate you taking the time to make posts about it.

    Inspires me to work on my nid terrain and make more posts.

    thanks again, and can't wait to see it finished.

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    1. Well it's coming along really well, thanks for your continued interest, glad it's inspiring you to make more than just the standard Imperial fair.

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  2. Have you experimented with shrink wrap? (cling wrap may be the same?) In any case if you have a heat gun or a very hot blow dryer you may be able to get that stretched flesh look by going around a thin post like brass rod. Add a vein or two. Go around and add a vein again. Then use the heat gun to make it contract on itself? May be worth a try. Makeing it hardend however I'm not sure how to approach besides useing a thick gloss varnish. In any case you are quite inspiring!

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    Replies
    1. My brother used shrink wrap on a model glider he once made. I hadn't thought about it, thanks for the suggestion. In truth, I've used some clear plastic that was surrounding my son's birthday cake! The very same as in most clear plastic windows on food packaging. I'm going to cut it to shape, glue it on and then make flesh strands and musculature like all the other bits. It's a compromise but it's achievable and still a challenge. Momentum is extremely important in this, I can't afford to slow down, I'll probably stop. I need to get all this done for March and then I can focus on my Dark Angels and project X...

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    2. Well necessity is the mother of invention. I'm sure you will figgure it out a good place to buy shrink wrap is office stores or just ordering a 5" roll online if you wanted to revisit. Hmm...project "x"...interesting

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