new kid on the block!

sir brad! err its by mistake i'm sure! the camera is set at 1024 x 768 and i just up load them at full (its an old camera) and photobucket does the rest!
i was told that you have to reduce the size of each image and all that but up to now that has,nt been a problem.
regarding the pickup, great idea to use an old one, i was looking at boring yellow transits but i much prefer the idea of an old rustbucket helping out a chromed hi tech japanese turbo tuner! might just give it a go...cotton reel for the winch at a guess?
ember, the old boys a classic fan and dislikes the 'new fangled' modern rally stuff, i've just finished the tarpaulin for the 1950 caddy sitting in the back of the lockup!

This layout is amazing some much detail.
Love the bridge with the lock up under it. The speed you put this stuff together is mind blowing.

Keep playing the video, notice different details each time no wonder the driver has a big grin

Please keep the pictures coming .

Chris

been looking at the pickups brad and theres one just like my brothers (an f1 ford 1954 i think) gotta be done i'd say!!!!he's looking for a sign for his door, it'd be ironic that the 1:1 car copies the model version now wouldnt it!!??

now i just love taking fotos of the track, its when you get to see the little hidden stories that you gloss over with the eye but the camera sees much closer, so heres a few more piccies...it also starts to inform how the story can develop into the bits that still need to be finished....who is the race organiser?..is it an official event or some kind of underground street race?...why are there no crash barriers?? where do all these incredibly expensive cars come from? and how do the neighbours take it?? maybe i should get out more!!!!

anyway heres some more pics and again thanks for the nice comments, its really great to recieve and helps my mum understand why i'm playing with toys at 40 years old!!

thanks guys!, mr p (or can i call you rally), obsession is the right word there, at least for me, but then i obsess always when i'm happy and learning.there is something very satisfying in creating spaces and objects (which is why i trained as an architect and now make steel furniture) but that goes to a whole new level when you can design total landscapes, communities, histories and personalities!, its like playing god i suppose.
these days i cant even drive the car without looking at the detailing at the side of the road, or how weeds grow out of rock faces. a trip to the park is made more interesting by being a source of new foliage for the track.
the problem is that there is just too much that can be modeled, what about a city...graffiti, homeless, or an old derelict industrial building broken into by boy racers, the list is endless. i suppose we model things for the same reason that artists paint landscapes or still lifes, it helps us understand the thing we are copying.
i was trying to explain the idea of 'mid-life crisis' to s friend the other day explaining how a colleague had gone out and bought a beautiful classic porsche . obviously we are all jealous, but my take on it seems to be (as i cant afford a real porsche) build a mock up of your own village, buy as many supercars as you want (for less than 30 euros each) and drive them around your village with friends!!! , and then park them infront of your modelled house! works for me!!!

ok pickup recovery trucks!...after deciding i couldn't afford the lovely first gear models on the internet, and while in the garden the other day, tidying up the mess, i found a few broken old toys from the kids, andf being obsessive!, i decided that i would try my hand at building a pickup truck out of a crappy old chinese plastic thing, an old plough and the left overs from making the bridge!

so heres some of the bits that i found

so i did ask my son and he replied, "is ofcourse cos you'll make it cooler" (the perfect thing to say, !!) and so happily diving into the workshop i dismounted everything and started priming in red (the only colour i had in the cupboard)i used my big spray gun and the bits had to be held down to stop them being blasted across the room. i left a bit of the green showing through just to see what would happen. then the underside was sprayed back and with a dirty black finger i edged some of the lines of the cab.
then with an assortment of 2 component glues, started dismantling the plough and gluing on washers and bits of stuff to make it lookk a bit more mechanical.
the bits of bridge were glued onto the top to try and make it look like one of those extending arms. the string was rwound around the barrels and a bit of scratched balsa used for the sides (to make it look like an adapted tipper).
then the detailing was done (lights etc) with acrylic and a few watery washes for grime especially around the back.
the wheels are aged by my son in the sandpit over the last year, i didnt touch them!
the hook is and electric cable fastener and a cable tie! i'll look for a proper small hook next time i'mm out buying nuts and bolts
some leftover balsa made some wooden blocks chucked in the back and some motor wire made the roll of rope that hes got in there too

the local mechanic is a bit of a drunk these days and doesnt have the money for the upkeep of the truck so its getting a bit wrecked, but it'll do for the naughty boy racer when he crashes on that difficult corner (waiting for the postman for boy racer to arrive)


hope you like it its a bit 'mad max' but hey!
see you soon sig

Well. I'm impressed. Particularly with the weathering on the wheels
No, seriously, top notch job. Looks well used. Will look even better with some poor little rich kid's toy attached to the back of it.

Embs

just needed a bit of extra rust and oil, sorry for being so pedantic
now i'm happy!

the tyres are already out in the plaza brad, my kids better look out every time i go into the toy room, i'm on the prowl!!!!

ok .....today i've been finishing the rocks near the picnic and viewing area, i got some glue in a silicone type tube which is far better than the contact adhesive i've been using up to now, it sticks to your fingers forever, and although the kids like daddies 'bogie fingers' my wife wasn't too keen!
so rocks glued, grout placed and painted (while grout still wet, it creates more interesting colours as the grout is black)
more browner p[aint where the mud is, and a very brown paint stipled on the floor areas for grit, then the mud sprinkled on.(by this point the left over polystyrene balls are covered and end up looking like stones or pebbles).all done in one longish process while the glue is still drying!

whats missing now is the grass (which i've mislaid)and needs everything to be dry for the pva and green touchups, which i need daylight for.
the fences were a pain in the neck but the spare tyres came in useful while they were gluing, is sticks from the flower arrangement i found weeks ago, i figured it could look like trunks, and its stronger than balsa, for the car crashes!,
weeds placed in the normal way and those plus the olive grove (which looks dead as a dodo)need some green vitamins, the layout looks like a desert a bit, and not catalunya! however i'm liking the farmlike appearance in contrast to the village and the uphill curves. hope you like it, although it still needs work you get the jist

sig

QUOTE (sig @ 18 Oct 2009, 11:21) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>thanks guys!, mr p (or can i call you rally), obsession is the right word there, at least for me, but then i obsess always when i'm happy and learning.there is something very satisfying in creating spaces and objects (which is why i trained as an architect and now make steel furniture) but that goes to a whole new level when you can design total landscapes, communities, histories and personalities!, its like playing god i suppose.
these days i cant even drive the car without looking at the detailing at the side of the road, or how weeds grow out of rock faces. a trip to the park is made more interesting by being a source of new foliage for the track.
the problem is that there is just too much that can be modeled, what about a city...graffiti, homeless, or an old derelict industrial building broken into by boy racers, the list is endless. i suppose we model things for the same reason that artists paint landscapes or still lifes, it helps us understand the thing we are copying.
i was trying to explain the idea of 'mid-life crisis' to s friend the other day explaining how a colleague had gone out and bought a beautiful classic porsche . obviously we are all jealous, but my take on it seems to be (as i cant afford a real porsche) build a mock up of your own village, buy as many supercars as you want (for less than 30 euros each) and drive them around your village with friends!!! , and then park them infront of your modelled house! works for me!!!


have to agree on all of these observations, and then add this....

If you take the road or the track and see it as a living organism(or life) and the car as a confession chair you have endless opportunities of telling stories.
I would like to see someone including an all burned down area where a forest fire have burned down lots of trees and maybe a building or two.

fantastic work as always.
btw. patches of fur is great for grass as well.

Really wonderful landscape work sig. I think the rustic/rural look and colors you've chosen is the perfect contrast to the village. While they are certainly different, they still compliment one another. It looks to be a very realistic transition from rural/urban to rural/rural (can you tell I made that up? ). Very nice!

Brad

ok Lars you gave me an idea for the tricky inner curve before they go back onto the main road.
a dead tree...but i have to reach across there often for deslots and a standing tree would really get in the way.....so cut it down!

using the grinder (it gives a good burn to the wood like a chain saw) i cut off a length of branch that i had in the garage, chose the rooted part, and cut 3/4 of the way through the branch, . break the reat to give the real looking '"TIMBEEEEERRRRRR" effect and then chop the rest accordingly.
stuck down and weeds planted ."the farmers too busy moaning about the "youth of today" to finish collecting the logs... the tree had to be cut because it was at risk of damaging the bridge if it fell during high winds!