Sunday, November 26, 2017

What's New

If there is one thing you can always count on me for is to not be focused on any one project or thing, and thus this update.


As I mentioned in one of the October posts I was thinking about trying to make a t-shirt on one of the zombies from TWD - and this particular guy looked like a 70's punk.


Originally I thought about a Sex Pistols shirt but decided on a Clash shirt instead as I'm a much bigger fan of them :)


I found an image I liked and shrunk it down to fit on the model.


But I'd forgotten that I needed to reverse the image for it to work properly with the Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium, so I had to make another one.


Through some sort of witchcraft and wizardry that is way beyond my understanding, when you wipe off the paper with some water and a sponge it leaves the image on the figure.


Crazy! But it opens up a ton of new possibilities. Still not happy with the skin tones of the zombies - I tried to start with a normal skin tone and work up to the "undead". Fail. So frustrating.


I got to spend two days down at UC with Jakob for parents weekend two weeks ago after not seeing him for over three months, so that was fun. This is his design classroom.


His desk - organization, meh. Apparently not a priority in the entire DAAP department :)


He spends most of his time in the art department despite having an apartment as a freshman because his roommate is awful - which I can verify lol. But we did watch the first 4 episodes of Stranger Things at his apartment, which was a-may-zing!!


Back home, I had such a successful go at my first attempt using the Photo Mod Podge I thought "why not put some graffiti on one of my 4ground dumpsters".


Like most of these small 4Ground kits it went together super quick.


They even have the wheel details.


I found some graffiti images online that were all together in one photo - I think they are from some kind of Japanese Anime show. I just shrunk down to size and printed them out.


I cut some out and I applied the Mod Podge and put them on the dumpster.


So here is one huge tip I can give anyone else trying this - you have to make sure not to leave any white when cutting out your images. You can see what a train wreck I ended up with above.


Pro tip number two - I was so excited by the success of the shirt transfer that I forgot that I was going to need to apply water to the sponge to get the transfers off the garbage bin.


As you all know, 4Ground kits are mdf. And as I'm sure you all know as well, mdf doesn't take to water at all. So train wreck part duex! I had the start of some peeling in places and a bit of warping.


I ending up painting around the graffiti to cover up the white parts and then added a bunch of weathering effect. Thankfully I think I saved the model, but a lot of good lessens learned!


Last week I took Therese to see Casablanca on the big screen for the 75th anniversary of its release. I absolutely love this movie and Bogart in particular. Of my top 5 favorite movies, 3 are from him. Way back I put my small homage to Casablanca in my first Pulp Alley game by making a "Rick CafĂ© Americana" sign for a building Ricks


It was great to see it on the big screen! Fathom Events are doing these types of showings (classic movies) once a month or so, looking forward to seeing the line-up for next year.


Back at the desk, I completed a few more bits and bobs for scatter terrain from TT Combat and the terrain set from Mantic Games.


This one is my favorite, as I used a piece of an actual garbage bag to put in between the two boxes and it looks the business.


Backpack objectives.


As we are in the middle of fall here, I had to take a photo of the gallop track at the farm - the burning bushes looked amazing!


Two years ago I helped put all these in, there has to be hundreds!


And finally a shout out to blog follower Tristan - these are some photos of his old west models he's been working on that he sent me.


I've been in email contact with Tristan for quite a while now. He reached out to me asking questions and advice on the 4Ground kits, which honestly is extremely humbling because there are a ton of much better terrain makers and artists out there!


Anyway, he's knocked it out of the park with these models, the weathering and additions make all the difference. I especially love the church! You can see what an improvement the shingles make on these kits. Now I want to purchase the old west church lol!

Jakob will be coming home for the holidays soon, so hopefully I can drag him up to the studio to try out The Walking Dead or roll some dice with any of the other hundred games I have up there - fingers crossed.

As always, thanks for looking!
Ivor

14 comments:

  1. "If there is one thing you can always count on me for is to not be focused on any one project or thing" - Me too, Ivor LOL :-) Wonderful posting, and I especially liked all the pros & cons about using diy decals. Great stuff :-)

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    1. No focus is pretty much standard operating procedure around here! The Mod Podge Photo is a great little trick, just make sure to use it on plastics or resin items and you will be good :)

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  2. As I also love the Clash Ivor I'll forgive you on the Sex Pistols & may I say the way you did the T-shirt was ingenious, the dumpster for something that went so wrong turn out very well, loving all the bits & bobs as well.

    Tristan's work is fab & would like to see more if it was ok for you to put up a link to his blog, the old west is a love of mine & is something I hope to get around to at some point in my hobby, The Good The Bad & the Ugly now there's a movie I'd like to do a take on, must stay focused. :)

    Hopefully you get to roll some dice with your lad & post an AAR, but I can't leave without saying how amazing the track looks lovely photos :)

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    1. Thanks Frank! I definitely think I'll be using the shirt transfer application a bit more in the future here.
      I don't think Tristan has set up a blog as of yet, though I could be wrong - maybe he'll chime in.
      Fingers crossed I can get him up to the studio, I mentioned The Walking Dead game and he didn't say "no", so I think that will at least give me a 50/50 shot :)

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  3. The mod podge thing seems like a pretty good idea that I might have to try. You could try using some matt varnish (type depends on the paint on the model) but this should allow you to put the transfers on.

    Oddly I watched Casablanca last week without knowing about the anniversary, it is still a fantastic film. I have used to use Mick's Café Anglaise, as a bit of a homage, in a number of games over the years. It kind of breeds atmosphere.

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    1. Definitely recommend giving the Mod Podge a go - just make sure you get the Photo bottle :)
      That's brilliant about your own homage - I always thought it would be fun to try to game Rick's early days of gun running!

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  4. Very nice work on the punk and the terrain Ivor - cracking stuff. :)

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    1. Much appreciated! Definitely excited by the possibilities of expanding the shirt idea :)

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  5. Great job - I need to get myself some of that paper.

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    1. Thanks Mike! Actually it's not any special paper, just regular printer paper and the Mod Podge Photo Transfer applied to it :)

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  6. Well Ivor ... I think the decals came out looking great. And you've done some beautiful work with your 4Ground buildings so should be a natural choice for advice :-)

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    1. Thanks Jay, much appreciated and way too kind!! Super happy with the shirt decals :)

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  7. Hi guys,
    Can't say how proud I am to see my work pictured here !!!
    Unfortunately I have no blog, I barely can find some time for painting, building and playing.... But I 'll keep sending picture to Ivor ! The church could be usefull in TWD too, you'll have to reach season 5 to figure out why ;)

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    1. Hey Tristan! Like I said in my email, this hobby is a great little community with some really incredible people, so it's great we can inspire each other :)
      And if I can manage a blog, you certainly can too! You should definitely look into it.

      *I'm almost caught up with TWD, finished the first few episodes of season 8 yesterday, so agree that the church will have to be purchased in the near future!*

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