Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

olsbooks

Members
  • Posts

    987
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Previous Fields

  • Scale I Build
    1/25

Profile Information

  • Full Name
    jc

Recent Profile Visitors

5,897 profile views

olsbooks's Achievements

MCM Ohana

MCM Ohana (6/6)

  1. For the record, this was done in roughly 1:73 scale. It measures roughly 14x14. The semi is another project thats been underway for years with the hood, sleeper, cab interior, and engine ready. As for the huletts, that scale is to be determined. Those things are huge and want to build 4 of them. Thank you for the kind words. Peace
  2. You nailed these most recent pix. Have you ever considered compiling this into a picture story book? Not suggesting what you have built or written is a children's book but all the makings of an adult orientated thomas the tank engine so to speak are in place. A hitchcock like suspense story is begging to make itself seen and heard in my opinion.
  3. Like Anglia, it has been a while since I checked in on this project. WOW! You are proving the old proverb practice makes perfect. Not as if I'm an expert and certainly wasn't asked, but it seems to me is as if some sort of hurdle was overcome a year or so ago and the quality/realism jumped exponentially. Keep it up! It is truly a pleasure to watch this world appear out of thin air. Peace
  4. Oh to be a bear, hang out the "do not disturb" sign, and rest peacefully all winter! While imitating my hero's demeanor, appearance, and odor are easy enough, not much else comes easy. And so it becomes a matter of finding a relatively non-destructive way to maintain sanity. In boredom (desperation?), I began dabbling in "foreign" substances like balsa, foam, paper, and cardboard in addition to styrene. Seeking "easy" topics to begin with and inspiration, I happened across an old "coffee table" type book filled with B&W railroad photos from the late 1950's. O. Winston Link was a true master! One thing led to another and the results follow. I'm not (nor do I have any intentions of becoming) a model railroader but picked up some rail in various scales and whipped up the following. All of these I consider "warm ups" for a long time goal of construction of an ore dock featuring Hulett unloaders. We shall see. Hopefully, the format for the pix is acceptable. It saves a lot of space without the loss of privacy and annoyance associated with photo hosting sites. They are created it as a .doc, converted to pdf, then converted to .jpg. Hope all are well. Peace.
  5. This will likely be the last post for a while and wanted to let those interested see the projects to be tackled over winter. I like to do things in 3's and now have them far enough along to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Bits and pieces have been shared under other posts/threads recently. This is an effort to mop up those loose ends and summarize before hibernating and (likely) off the grid for the next several months. Apologies are offered for any redundancy. “Sod Buster” is a box build Roden kit. The plow is scratch built/freelance. For the prairie grass I started out using paint brush bristles (the blueish ones) but am now using wig hair from a cheap Halloween costume. It is “planted” using Modge Podge. Once dry, diluted Modge Podge and a medicine dropper are used to flood the “ground” which gives it more adhesion and stiffness. Once completely dry, the grass is “mowed” at random with scissors and a beard trimmer. You should be able to tell some that has been mowed in the pic and some that hasn't. Once fully “planted”, a thin airbrush coating of a few earth tones and flat clear will be applied to add variety and tone things down. It's a cheap, forgiving, and easy alternative to static grass in my less than humble opinion. Placing the "stubble" between and behind the moldboards will be the biggest challenge. “The Chase” will be the Revell PT boat kit set in rough seas at speed with the bow crashing down deep into a wave with resulting spray. The base water shape was made using a product called Fast Mache' mixed to the consistency of thick oatmeal and allowed to dry for several days. The bow spray (the clear you will see) is from a Wendy's salad container. A separate thread was started on how I do use these containers and make the water/bow roll waves cheap, forgiving, and easy. “Night Moves” will be the most elaborate using a 90% scratch built 1/16 Chevy Bison that has some serious flaws and suffered damage due to numerous moves and reworks over the years. It remains my personal favorite. The background photo (which is not my work but not copyrighted either and therefore I'm unable to credit the photographer with surety or properly) is mounted on foam board and sprayed with flat clear to kill the gloss. The Huelett unloaders in the photo, to put in some perspective, are roughly 1/100 scale. A steel truss bridge is being constructed as you can tell. Between the truck and the photo backdrop, the other side of the bridge will be built in roughly 1/25 scale. The bridge cross beams/latticework will transition from 1/25 to 1/16 to force perspective by means of tapering each piece. The “focal point and horizon lines” are actuality about 12” behind the backdrop and a few inches above the base. Imagine a slice of pizza with the crust and the “point” cut off. That's what you will see once done. As info, I impose a limit of 12” height and depth (and 24” width) on all builds. The bridge cross beams, therefore, will have to be “dissected” meaning lots of cantilever type construction. The bridge will be either painted red oxide or alpine green in color and weathered heavily to tone it down as much as possible. The goal is to have no single subject dominate the entire project but instead all 3 suffice. There will be no “top” or “sides” to box everything in/aid in construction. Any shadows on the backdrop would “expose” the photo for what it is and destroy realism. To further prevent shadows between the foreground subjects and the backdrop, plans are to install (and conceal) subtle lighting in the vertical and horizontal beams of the back side of the bridge. The truck's headlights and tail lamps are bulbs (not LED's). Long ago, holes were drilled for fiber optics in the roof clearance lights though not applied. Whether anything on the truck will illuminated remains undecided. Direct lighting is one of those things that does provide a great deal of “wow” yet seldom comes across as realistic in a model or photographs of models in my opinion. So, until next time, Peace.
  6. That's the plan. I picked up a 2 foot long "full wig" from the dollar store today in the Halloween costumes section. It is MUCH easier to cut than a paint brush and have enough to cover 20 acres. Its going to take some practice to get ta technique down for to reduce stray strands. On the plus side, using the wig hair, my beard trimmer seems up to the the task of clean up duty. Having found a "dirty blonde" colored wig, painting becomes less vital and mix up the hairs. It works works well for dry prairie grass "as is". Hopefully the airbrush and acrylics will work to handle highlights. Ideally the goal is to have it look like the grass is swaying in a breeze. It's still early in the game on this one but holds potential. If a good way to affix it straight can be found, perhaps the beard trimmer can become the lawn mower to create shorter grasses. Peace
  7. Those are incredible! Thanks for sharing.
  8. David, Have you or anyone ever had much luck using photographs as a backdrop when it has to be so close to the primary subject and cannot be curved? The idea of using the night shot below would be nice and have the truck passing thru a truss bridge. Me wonders if the ironwork of the bridge would aid in the transition and hide some of the damage to the truck. Eyes would be drawn to the bridge work first. Your dark red shot as i called it at Hooper provided the inspiration as it leaves much to the imagination and keeps me from rivet counting....though on an open girder bridge i guess that's not quite true.,
  9. Great ideas. Very inspiring.
  10. Old paint brush used for grass. With halloween, plans are to try a cheap costume wig next....or offer to sweep the floor at the barber shop. Wood glue used to hold in place. Peace.
  11. Thank you. If Yordan did the landscaping and you did the lighting and photography....
  12. This is a 1/16 I've been piddling on for years. It's been banged up pretty bad over several cross country moves but remains a personal favorite. Other than tires and wheels and the air cleaner, its scratch built. Anyway, I limit myself to no more than 12"x24" for size. That's what the "road" is. Want more to provide a setting but with so little space have not been able to come up with the right thing. Suggestions welcome.
  13. Thank you for the kind words.
  14. One of these days I'm going to have dig deep and go to static grass...or figure out a way to develop something suitable. Instead of static, I wonder if magnetism might work. Remember the kids toy where you drag a magnetic pen over clear plastic to create a fuzzy face? Wooly booby or something like that was the name if memory serves.
×
×
  • Create New...