tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78874322029041763052024-03-13T17:39:08.156-05:00The Inner GeekIt's good to be the Geek...The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-78860403830372890092014-10-12T11:34:00.003-05:002014-10-12T11:34:46.705-05:00A Short Post About Inked Adventures Printable Dungeon Tiles<br />
I love them. Is that short enough? Yes? Well, too bad. I plan to ramble a bit further, though the good news is there will be a few poorly staged pictures to go along with the poorly written bits.<br />
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First off, per the <a href="http://inkedadventures.com/main/" target="_blank">Inked Adventures</a> website;<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">"<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Inked Adventures produce accessories for tabletop roleplaying games. Our popular printable PDF dungeon tiles and cut-up sections can be found on </span><b><u><a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3261/Inked-Adventures" target="_blank">RPGDriveThru</a></u></b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> and </span><b><u><a href="http://paizo.com/companies/inkedAdventures" target="_blank">Paizo</a></u></b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">. </span></span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">May your dungeons be beautiful!"</i><div>
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The first set I grabbed was the "<i><a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/114474/Inked-Adventures-Hand-Drawn-Large-Geomorph-Tiles-25-28-30mm-scale?manufacturers_id=3261" target="_blank">Hand Drawn Large Geomorph Tiles</a></i>". These tiles are, as the name suggests, hand drawn. They have a lot of character and I've always been a sucker for geomorphic tiles because I like anything that minimizes the ability for me to place it down wrong.</div>
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These tiles are ten inches square and printed on two sheets of paper each.</div>
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You then cut them out and glue the two pieces together to make one ten by ten inch tile. Easy enough with the right tools!</div>
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But what do you print them on? Cardstock is one choice, but I felt it may still suffer more damage, dog-ears, and tearing than I'd like. So I decided to print on regular paper then affix the tiles to foam-core or foam-card if that's what they call it near you. My local Hobby Lobby sells 30x40" sheets of Foam-core which, math demands, divides up into twelve 10x10" squares.</div>
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If you want to get a really clean cut on your foam-core, I can't recommend <a href="http://www.logangraphic.com/products/foamwerks-tools/" target="_blank">FoamWerks Tools</a> enough. You can get pretty fancy, but they have a straighedge and a cutter that slots onto it to make the straightest, cleanest foam cuts you'll get without using a light saber or something similar.</div>
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The next step involves glue. I tried at first to use a product called Mod Podge but the moisture content was a little high so there was some minor warping after the paper was glued to the foam-core and dried. So I found this stuff...</div>
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It's a good idea to read the warnings on the label as this is a serious adhesive product. I'd recommend spraying outside and into a box or other container as shown below.</div>
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Yes, it's indoors for the photo-op. I like to keep my bad lighting consistent for photos! Still, you can see the two halves of the tile cut out and placed into the box. A quick spray with the adhesive and they will be good and tacky. For a short time you can place and remove them, but after they have been adhered for a while, they are good and stuck on.</div>
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Here is a shot of the first half placed on the foam-core. Note that one half has a bit of extra material. This is so you can glue the two halves together even if you are not attaching them to anything. I could cut it off for this method, but chose to leave it on.</div>
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I like to line up the edge closest to myself then work my way forward. It helps me keep the tile straight as it goes down on the foam-core.</div>
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After the first half is down, I rotate the tile 180 degrees and place the other half on using the same method.</div>
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Close counts, so I'd not get to fidgety and stress about perfection. These are hand drawn, remember, so computer precision was never the goal. Character is the goal, and the tiles have tons of it.</div>
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Here are a couple tiles together to show how they fit.</div>
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Is the cavern just inside this dungeon filled with Kobolds? Maybe a troll? Who knows, but the neighborhood is nice! The set is 64 tiles, with mirror images included for a total of 128 tiles of dungeon. Each tile being two pages means printing it all out can get ink/toner heavy, but you can always print them out as you need them as opposed to every tile at once. Or, if you work in IT, you can send a couple hundred pages of "test prints" through a repaired printer... or so I hear.</div>
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Inked Adventures also makes a series of <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/83216/Inked-Adventures-Modular-Dungeon-CutUp-Sections-Basic-Pack?manufacturers_id=3261" target="_blank">Modular Dungeon Cut-Up Sections</a> that are in color and offer a ton of options for building a dungeon out of tiles. I use a similar method to mount these to foam-core, but I use black foam-core as I feel it looks a bit fancier that way.</div>
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The Modular Tiles have several inter-related products that are all compatible. There are also several free sample sets if you dig around a bit. They are all pretty and make me want to play HeroQuest something fierce!</div>
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As an aside, the Large Geomorph tiles inspired me to make some tiles of my own to playtest a Sci-Fi-Dungeon Crawl-RPG-Boardgame I've been working on. With just nine double sided tiles I can create a LOT of maps...</div>
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Thanks for having a look. It was fun hopping back on the ole' blog for a morning. Maybe it will inspire me to blog more than once a year... maybe...</div>
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The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-249726677177296642013-11-27T07:00:00.000-06:002013-11-27T07:00:07.892-06:00Olde World Miniatures (Kickstarter Loot!)<br />
I arrived home this past Saturday to find a lovely box from Olde World Miniatures on my porch. Hooray for Kickstarter's that actually produce rewards!<br />
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I didn't go too far in on this one, but there were a couple minis that just looked like they'd be fun to paint and too nice to miss out on.<br />
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Here is what I got...<br />
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A box!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Olde%20World%20Miniatures/OWM_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Olde%20World%20Miniatures/OWM_1.jpg" width="381" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They include a copy of the same classy sticker as on the box inside the box</td></tr>
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First up was the mini that originally suckered me in, Lilly, the Huntress...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elf chick with a bow... not feeding any stereotypes here!</td></tr>
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Next up, is a mini that I just found too interesting to skip, Inin the Wonderer...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awesome Ronin looking dude!</td></tr>
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And last we a have what I think looks like a goblin with a Napoleon complex, the Free Trade Company Field Marshal...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There is a lot going on here...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hat that really sold me on this guy...</td></tr>
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I know it's hard to tell just what you are looking at when a mini is pieces, so jump over to the <a href="http://www.oldeworldminiatures.com/" target="_blank">Olde World Miniatures</a> website and you can see what these minis look like all put together...<br />
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But how is the quality? Well, to be honest, I'd forgot these were going to be resin minis till I opened the package! How is the resin? It's good! It's not as clean as <a href="http://www.axfaction.com/" target="_blank">Ax Faction</a> or <a href="http://kingdomdeath.com/" target="_blank">Kingdom Death</a> resin, but also not as expensive. There are a couple mold lines that will take a bit of cleaning, but nothing unreasonable. I'd say they compare well with minis in their price range.<br />
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I'm on a bit of a plastic kit kick right now, but these look like they will be a lot of fun to paint up when I get to them!<br />
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Thanks for stopping by, comments are always welcome.<br />
<br />The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-89829120237933687662013-11-23T21:07:00.002-06:002013-11-23T21:46:18.900-06:00Yamato 2199 Cosmo Fleet Set 1<br />
I've just about finished the three 1/1000 scale ships that come with the Yamato 2199 Cosmo Fleet 1 box set. There are a couple of details I plan to hit later, but I'm saving them until I have several ready to do all at once. The windows on the ships bridges, for example will be done with a mix of Future and Tamiya Clear Green acrylic, but I'm going to wait until I have several ships ready for that step. The stands are also going to be done in either a very gloss, or all matte coat. Currently they are a little jumbled as I used them to hold the ships whilst spraying them with gloss, then matte coating.<br />
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These ships are a fairly small scale, 1/1000. For the first three I decided to go with a no paint option, but I did do some panel lining and applied decals. Here are the results...<br />
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The first ship, the Destroyer, Yukikaze...<br />
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This is a small ship. A very small ship. But that didn't keep Bandai from putting a lot of detail into it. Nearly invisible in the picture above are two little cigar shaped bits that hang from the bottom of the ship. Here are a couple shots of those while I was working on them...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The grid is 1 inch...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Total length of all four parts on each, about 1/2"!</td></tr>
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The next ship in the fleet is the Cruiser, Murasame...<br />
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And the last 1/1000 ship that comes in this box, the Battleship, Kirishima...<br />
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Finally, a group shot...</div>
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All in all these were very enjoyable ships to assemble. Some of the parts are tiny and prone to diving for the carpet when not held firmly, but that's the price of detail I suppose. As I mentioned above, there is no paint on these at this time. The panel lining was done using a method of mixing enamel paint with lighter fluid... sounds odd, eh? The details are explained better on <a href="http://majorwilliams.blogspot.com/2012/05/gundam-building-101-panel-line-washes.html" target="_blank">Major Williams Gundam Blog</a> than I could ever communicate. That site has a lot of other useful how-to's as well and is worth a look. The decals I used are of the three ships named, but the kit comes with many alternate names (in Japanese so I can't read them!) and ship numbers. To get a good finish on the decals, I first used the airbrush to spray the assembled kits with straight Future Floor Polish, then applied the decals. The high gloss surface prevents the 'silvering' that often makes decals look... well, like decals. After panel lines and decals, I mixed some Tamiya Flat Base (part# X-21) with Future to apply a matte coat. A good guide to this can be found on the <a href="http://fichtenfoo.net/blog/clear-coats-with-future-floor-acrylic/" target="_blank">Fichtenfoo website</a> (along with a metric ass-ton of other awesome/useful stuff).</div>
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I wanted to see how these came out with minimal to no painting and, because of Bandai's full color parts, I think they came out great! The flat coat helps to take the plastic 'shine' off and give them a more finished look. The panel lines add a bit of depth and detail. And the decals round out the visual package. So what's next? Well, for my next Yamato kit(s) I think I want to try some<a href="http://majorwilliams.blogspot.com/2010/10/gundam-building-101-pre-shading.html" target="_blank"> pre-shading</a>. It will be a challenge at this scale and my current airbrush skill level but you never get better if you don't stretch!</div>
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I also mentioned in a previous post that Bandai has kept with the tradition of including a small bonus kit of some sort with each model (though this only seems to happen in the good guy ship kits). Here is a quick shot of two of the bonus ships, one from the Cosmo Fleet 1 set and one from the Yamato kit.</div>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/YAMATO_2199_B_SCALE_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/YAMATO_2199_B_SCALE_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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They seem a little pastel, but that is actually the colors they were in the story. I've painted the white lines on the landing deck and that is all. I used a marker for the panel lines and then just hit them with Testors Dullcote. <br />
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As for the next kit to work on? Well thanks to John at <a href="http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index.cfm" target="_blank">Starship Modeler</a>, I have quite a selection to chose my next Yamato 2199 project from!</div>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/YAMATO_2199_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/YAMATO_2199_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I can't recommend that store enough for model spaceships. They stock a lot of kits and upgrade parts for kits. The shipping is reasonable and fast too. Plus, he threw in a little pin with my latest order... I'm a sucker for little extras.</div>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Starship_Modeler_Pin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Starship_Modeler_Pin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Thanks for stopping by and taking a look, I'm off to fiddle with plastic kits for a bit!</div>
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The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-73125625375934508972013-11-14T20:11:00.000-06:002013-11-14T20:11:41.882-06:00I Liked Anime Before It Was Cool...<br />
I liked anime before it was cool. In fact, I don't even think it was called anime yet. I would come home from school so anxious to see the next episode of Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato in Japan) that I'm sure my parents thought I had a disorder of some sort. I really felt like I was on that trip to Iscandar to save the Earth and if I missed the show, they might not make it. It was a great show and I've read that it was the first serial animated show, meaning that you watched them in a certain order to get the story. It was so different and so serious compared to most after school cartoons, and I couldn't get enough.<br />
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Fast forward about thirty years, almost forty since the original aired in Japan, and we are gifted the series, "Yamato 2199" by those wonderful animators in Japan. I've just finished watching the entire 26 episodes and it is AWESOME. The story is the same as the original, though they've changed a few things up a bit; added a character or two, plot tweaks, science tweaks... but overall it's the same story, just updated and slathered in awesome-sauce. I also feel like having the original story to follow forced them to avoid some of the pitfalls that turn me off of most anime. For instance, the ships are piloted completely by adults. There is no special gifted fourteen year old who happens into a weapon of war and is preternaturally an expert at using it. That's anime code for realism, ha!<br />
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Needless to say, being the geek I am, I had to find some way to enjoy hobby stuffs whilst paying tribute to this beautiful blast from my past. Enter, the Bandai Yamato 2199 series of 1/1000 model kits.<br />
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There have been Yamato kits since the 1970's in all sorts of scales. Over the course of my life I've owned and lost, broke, or otherwise stopped owning a half dozen at least. However the new series is, so far, a more focused effort on the part of Bandai. The kits are all 1/1000 scale. Not huge, but they are doing a better job than ever sticking to scale, and these are all new tooling using the latest magic that they do to create plastic kits. And when it comes to Bandai plastic kits, it is magic. Being a 'not huge' scale, they also give you multiple ships when the ships are smaller. And, they've returned to an old tradition of putting a small non-scale ship in the boxes as a bonus. Nice!<br />
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So if you've read this far, you deserve some pictures... if you just skipped to here go back and read the wordy bits, we'll wait for you...<br />
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Quick, before they get back, let's go!<br />
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Presenting the United Nations Cosmo Navy Combined Cosmo Fleet Set 1.<br />
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This box set comes with three ships that are featured in Episode 1 at the Battle of Pluto. I'll not get my geek all over you by naming them, but basically it's a battleship, a cruiser, and a destroyer class ship.<br />
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Inside are lots of sprues full of bits. All modeled in color so you can get away with minimal or no painting and still have a decent looking model.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kits include waterslide decals... they even sneak decals for other ships in to encourage collecting them all</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This bag includes the sprue of the non-scale bonus ship, a Triple Deck Aircraft Carrier!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And a couple shots of the instructions. They are in Japanese, but all parts are numbered and the pictures explain things more than adequately.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_7.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front Cover</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Yamato_2199/Combined_Cosmo_Fleet_1/C_FLEET1_8.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rear Cover</td></tr>
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I'm super excited about this kit. I have a couple more coming the next few weeks, including the Yamato! Although I consider myself an 'Inner' Geek, these are the kind of thing I'd like to do up nice and put on display. That way when people ask me about them, I can tell them the whole story about the time I set sail through space to the planet Iscandar to save the human race.<br />
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If you've never seen the series, I'd recommend it. You'll have to read the 2199 version as it is subtitled only right now. There are talks of it coming over as Star Blazers 2199 though, so a dubbed version may be available in a few years. One problem with the current version is it is available only in Japan and the prices are... um... insane? We're talking close to $600 for six Blu-rays. And the DVD version is harder to find and really not any cheaper. There are other ways to watch a bit of it though. Keeping in mind that I'll buy it as soon as it's released over here (so the price is within reason) I'd offer <a href="http://kissanime.com/G/50338?l=http%3a%2f%2fkissanime.com%2fG%2f50338%3fl%3dhttp%253a%252f%252fkissanime.com%252fAnime%252fSpace-Battleship-Yamato-2199" target="_blank">this link</a> as a good place to start if you'd like to check the series out.<br />
<br />The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-63595108742882909122013-11-11T19:48:00.000-06:002013-11-14T10:10:12.291-06:00Smartmax Mauser Earth Unboxing<br />
So, eventually I'll have to stop unboxing stuff and actually work on something. But not yet...<br />
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Today I'm sharing the goodies I got from <a href="http://www.smartmaxstore.com/" target="_blank">SmartMax</a>. I saw their photos of the 1/35 scale Mauser Earth Tacbots some time ago on their Facebook page. I really liked the retro steambot sort of aesthetic so when I found myself with a bit of money in the Paypal account, I decided to grab them.<br />
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While on the site to grab the Tacbots, I stumbled on another robot along the same lines. "<a href="http://www.smartmaxstore.com/streetbot-willy.htm" target="_blank">Streetbot Willy</a>"... just the name is cool, but the mini is pretty cool looking too! So, he had to come home with the others. I keep thinking there is an awesome Weird War I diorama in this bunch somewhere.<br />
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What's an unboxing without a box...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/65918b20-c56a-407a-9167-d7fa42fe6df9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/65918b20-c56a-407a-9167-d7fa42fe6df9.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turns out I live in Etats Unis and Tacbots are born in France...</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_15.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In the top of the box is a card which touts their 5eu worldwide shipping. Of course, if you have the card, you probably already know about the shipping...<br />
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First up is "Buster". He's from Canada, eh! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_4.jpg" width="351" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Canada assumption is based on the maple leaf...</td></tr>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The cast looks really clean and there are no defects that I can find. Mold lines are so hard to find I'm wondering how much of this might be cast in a single part mold then pulled out complete. Whatever they are doing, it works.<br />
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The other two Tacbots share a common physiology with only the weapons being different. For the next two Tacbots I'll just show the items unique to the bot... and the base. They also share a common base, but it is a nice base. In fact, the high quality overall remains throughout all the kits.<br />
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"Harpo" is next with a shotgun type weapon...<br />
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_3.jpg" width="386" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then we have "Chuck" with dual pistols completing the Tacbot triad...<br />
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_5.jpg" width="346" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_9.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Tacbots are part of the Mauser Earth "Atlantic Union" so I think continuing off the maple leaf motif of buster and making the other two bots from the US and UK might be a nice running theme. As you can see from the pictures of the part above, there is a lot of freedom for posing as the arms and legs are basically just ball joints throughout.<br />
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The last item in the box is Streetbot Willy! It's fun just saying his name. I imagine him to be the civilian bot refitted for violent shenanigans. While he is all different parts from the Tacbots, he still manages to maintain the same retro vibe.<br />
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_2.jpg" width="337" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Mauser%20Earth/SM_6.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Willy-bits, including the one damaged bit in the whole box.</td></tr>
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Willy's parts are all excellently cast, like the Tacbots. Willy does have the one damaged part in the whole shipment. You can see where I've drawn a black arrow between the two parts of the arm that are no longer connected. Since this is obviously a weak point, I'll reinforce it with a pin.<br />
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Overall I'm pretty happy with these guys. As I mentioned, I think they'd make a great diorama... maybe striking heroic poses while some soldiers are taking cover behind them? I can't imagine 1/35 scale soldiers will be hard to find... I'm looking at you Tamyia.<br />
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Thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions or comments... well, leave a comment.<br />
<br />The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-17763287738685616612013-11-04T21:08:00.002-06:002013-11-04T21:09:09.411-06:00Kingdom Death Minis UnboxingI've been eying the <a href="http://kingdomdeath.com/" target="_blank">Kingdom Death</a> minis for a long time. I'm really (really) bummed that I wasn't able to get in on the Kingdom Death: Monster Kickstarter last year. I've sold a few items on eBay recently and had a Paypal balance so I figured now was as good a time as any to grab a couple minis.<br />
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There is a problem though, the Kingdom Death store is perpetually sold out... of most things. But, Cool Mini or Not has an online store and they stock Kingdom Death minis! They are also sold out of most things, but I did find a couple minis I wanted to check out. So, point-click-ship and here they are!<br />
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As a quick aside, the Kingdom Death web store has restocked some items and released some new minis. Most of the new stuff is, you guessed it, sold out. I missed out on one mini because I didn't see the email notification until five hours after it was sent. But when I got up at five a.m. as I must do for my job, I saw the email and went straight to my computer! I got some more minis that I'd liked the look of, and a couple of the new minis too. I assume they'll ship eventually but I've had no shipping notification yet. Honestly, I can't believe the guy who runs Kingdom Death, Adam Poots, has time to release anything new whilst orchestrating the Kickstarter fulfillment.<br />
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On to the unboxing!<br />
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The items shipped in a nondescript box that you really don't need a picture of.. just imagine brown, plain, and a lot of right angles.<br />
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Inside that box, though, was the goodies.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/BoxContents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/BoxContents.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The stuff in the box of boxes</td></tr>
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Art cards are always a nice touch.<a href="http://www.axfaction.com/" target="_blank"> Ax Faction</a> is really good about handing out the art with the minis as well. I'll post some of my recent acquisitions from them in a post in the near future.<br />
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The first mini is the White Speaker. I don't pretend to be an expert on the fluff of Kingdom Death, but I think they have magic powers... probably in their boobs. They're practically bursting with magic...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/WhiteSpeakerBox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/WhiteSpeakerBox.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Box Interior</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/WhiteSpeakerParts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/WhiteSpeakerParts.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tiny parts!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/WhiteSpeakerParts2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/WhiteSpeakerParts2.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of the main dish</td></tr>
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The White Speaker looks like a fabulous sculpt and good quality too. I can't find any real issues with it. Like all minis it will need some clean up of flash and mold lines, but these are minimal.<br />
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The second mini is the Great Game Hunter Pinup. She's like the regular Great Game Hunter, only with slightly less clothes. She's not naked, but she's not dressed like any of the hunters I've seen around here.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Box contents</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/GreatGameHunterParts2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Kingdom%20Death/GreatGameHunterParts2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Less tiny parts, yea!</td></tr>
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Another great sculpt with no flaws I can find. Less parts will make this mini the easier of these two to get to work on. There is also a naked slave to hold the Hunters crossbow, a nice touch.<br />
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These are great minis and I'm glad I took the plunge and ordered a few more while they were in stock. The quality really is phenomenal. Kingdom Death is now up there with Ax Faction for my resin mini purveyors of choice. And who knows, maybe I'll put some paint on these one day? If I get that brave I'll be sure to share the train wreck with you here on the blog.<br />
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Thanks for stopping by!The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-63458109211871649652013-10-26T15:05:00.001-05:002013-10-26T15:06:47.578-05:00I'm Back!I'm back. I started a Wordpress site for a while, but I just am too ingrained with the use of blogger for posting blogs. It was a fun learning experience, but I've decided this blog is going to be The Inner Geek blog of choice moving forward.<br />
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Am I still a bit off on GW? Yes, yes I am. But, I've found the "Oldhammer" movement and my Rogue Trader era minis are getting some love again. I may even try to find some local who'll play me a game of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle! I've also got some Warmaster and some Epic scale 40k things around here that will get some love in the future.<br />
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Currently, I've got two big projects going. One is literally 'going'...<br />
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The first is a project to redo and finish my three beloved Nick Bibby Dragon Ogres. I never liked the later Dragon Ogres, but these are just dreamy... or nightmarey... whatever.<br />
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Here's a peak...<br />
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Dragon%20Ogres/IMG_3566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Dragon%20Ogres/IMG_3566.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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My other project 'going' is my Reaver Titan. It doesn't get any time on a gaming table and it's time that someone who could enjoy it had it. With this in mind <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/121202308246?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649" target="_blank">I've placed it up for auction on eBay</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Reaver%20Titan%20Finished/LonelyReaver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Reaver%20Titan%20Finished/LonelyReaver.jpg" width="338" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red;">You will be missed...</span></div>
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There is really not much more to report. I'll get some updates up on the Dragon Ogres as they progress. One will remain stock, the other two will be converted... one heavily. It should be fun!</div>
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The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-2355374361809741562012-12-19T21:36:00.000-06:002012-12-19T21:36:23.631-06:00Dreadball Unboxing!So, I finally have something worth posting on my blog again! And, it helps that I have the time to post this evening as well.<br />
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It's going to be videos. Yes, the dulcet tones of my rambling, straight to your ear holes. Enjoy!<br />
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Part 1</div>
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Part 2</div>
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Part 3</div>
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Overall I'm very happy with the contents of the game thus far. In the bang for your buck category, it really is something. While uploading the videos I started trimming the Orx figures. They are hit and miss with the mold lines. Two had very prominent mold lines, two had very minimal mold lines. Great figures all in all. I'm looking forward to many, many days of assembly. Then maybe some painting. Then, heaven forbid, some playing!<br />
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Thanks for stopping by!The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-1372468683355469662012-08-21T21:49:00.001-05:002012-08-21T21:49:33.893-05:00DreamForge-Games Leviathan Kickstarter I guess you could call this my quarterly update. Ha!<br />
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If you've been in this hobby for a while, and you like big stompy things, you've almost certainly come across DreamForge-Games Leviathan Crusader model.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0r1KygZbs_dcHhzFJd17Lyh4FXvLFr2k-Cgk-v_Z5NW70r0Opc12aAajQ1kVTwda99o65XcOi4jZ8jhf4QwmXUUocJUROhjoXwZlhcMXyp8XBP7Upg6qNkIVMxPsigYwJpNCJKvbMniQ/s1600/LC1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0r1KygZbs_dcHhzFJd17Lyh4FXvLFr2k-Cgk-v_Z5NW70r0Opc12aAajQ1kVTwda99o65XcOi4jZ8jhf4QwmXUUocJUROhjoXwZlhcMXyp8XBP7Upg6qNkIVMxPsigYwJpNCJKvbMniQ/s320/LC1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This model is a monster of resin coolness that really is hard not to love. However, being made of resin and the cost associated with lower production runs has traditionally made these expensive for us, the consumer, and hard to keep in stock for DreamForge-Games.<br />
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So DreamForge-Games founder Mark Mondragon has begun a Kickstarter campaign that, if funded, will see these produced as plastic kits. <i>Real plastic kits</i>, not resin/plastic hybrid or some such. However, the Crusader is just the tip of the iceberg. This will open the door to further plastic kits. In fact, the Mortis version has been announced as a "stretch goal" (a goal beyond the initial funding goal).
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OOGWmWb3p37Hd_PjCVpIdeW4KdJS3VsY8fblOegZI-4kFdejH0bhy49H05DwF0wNQm04CiVv8crqgWIPbceErT1h5OePGq5Qmid5NjIPRJogTWqtkcxtUCPn3qkAUyUMi2rLM6Up7F0/s1600/LeviathanBox1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OOGWmWb3p37Hd_PjCVpIdeW4KdJS3VsY8fblOegZI-4kFdejH0bhy49H05DwF0wNQm04CiVv8crqgWIPbceErT1h5OePGq5Qmid5NjIPRJogTWqtkcxtUCPn3qkAUyUMi2rLM6Up7F0/s320/LeviathanBox1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
The engineering that is going into this project is unbelievable. With the resin kits, you can swap arms with ease. The same will be true of the plastic version. Future arm upgrades will be easy to swap in or out...
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NeOvDf6aSS8xY7ZZeTQmETzrcArOwcbnPTA6SQh8kKRc7mFvVUcvF_fziyk9Ec8-J9Ycm9YDmvsKq44H7H2e4ql16xM08PDAUDCcDApZehwN7W8QxAnGNdqS6Dz_UYpc40dFScNvIDk/s1600/CrusaderArmSwap.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NeOvDf6aSS8xY7ZZeTQmETzrcArOwcbnPTA6SQh8kKRc7mFvVUcvF_fziyk9Ec8-J9Ycm9YDmvsKq44H7H2e4ql16xM08PDAUDCcDApZehwN7W8QxAnGNdqS6Dz_UYpc40dFScNvIDk/s320/CrusaderArmSwap.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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These are going to be some pretty amazing kits. If I sound bias or this sounds like a plug, it is! I'm in for a couple of these kits so I'd really like to see it get funded! Not to mention some of the stretch goals would be nice to reach for extra goodies.
All the details are on the kickstarter page along with alternative options for backing the project that will net you some cool sci-fi infantry minis if they catch your eye. So go check it out and see if you don't find yourself wanting a <i>Titan Class</i> model, in easy to work with plastic, at a great price (you can get 4 of these in plastic for the price of 1 in resin!!). Click the banner below and see if this is a project you can back. If you like what you see, spread the word! (if you don't like it, spread the word anyway, you're a weirdo and your normal friends will appreciate the heads-up)<br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreamforge-games/something-wicked-this-way-comes-crusader-plastic-m" target="_blank">
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If you have already participated in the DreamForge-Games Kickstarter and you're thinking, "I like Kickstarting stuff, I wonder what else I could help back?" You may also want to take a look at the RPG/Tabletop mashup, <i>Wreck Age</i> being developed by Hyacinth Games. Some cool ideas and Brian from <i>A Gentleman's Ones</i> is involved somehow, so it has to be good. Remember, the link below is for <b>after</b> you back the Leviathan Kickstarter<br />
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The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-14857801208872381982012-05-17T12:42:00.000-05:002012-05-17T12:44:17.512-05:00The Inner Geek state of the Union AddressFirst update of the new year, and only in May! Sad.<br />
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So what have I been up to? I've been going to school, working, and enjoying the family life with my wife and kids. Hasn't left a lot of free time to be honest. My school schedule is picking up signficantly till this coming December (CCNA here I come), so I'll probably have even less time till then. Damn education. But, it's what's best for my family and myself and I'm happy.<br />
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So now you know what I've been up to, but why am I writing a post now? Well, what time I have had has been spent introspectively (don't get to use that word often). I've decided that I'm really just about finished with Games Workshop. It's been a great ride the last (shudder) 24 years or so, but I'm not getting out of the hobby what I used to. Maybe the mood will hit me again in the future, but for now it's not there.<br />
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I think part of my problem is the fact that I try to build and paint as though I'm going to play the game... and lets face it, I'm not. So, I speed through stuff in a hurry to finish so that I can be ready for a game I'm not really that interested in playing. I think I'd be just as happy to drink a beer and watch someone else play... though that may just be because of the beer?<br />
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So will I dissappear in a poof of ninja smoke? I rather thought I already had? No, I'll always hobby in some way. When I have time again I imagine I'll work on one off type models. I have some lovely resin monstrocities I'd like to build around here... and a couple I'd like to see gone (more on that in a bit). I've recently been enamoured with my first (hobby) love, giant robots. As a kid I probably built about a million robot model kits. Now that I'm a big kid, I think it would be nice to do some and finish them nicely with paint and all that fancy stuff I neglected as a child.<br />
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What will happen to my blog? I'm not sure? Maybe it will be overhauled into a different themed blog? Maybe I'll move to a new blog? I haven't really thought that far ahead. It will definitely stay up in some form because I need the blog roll to check on all my friends... though I guess RSS feeds would accomplish the same thing.<br />
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In the meantime, I'll be letting some stuff go. Not all my GW stuff, but some of it. I've already put the <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/120914715866?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1361" target="_blank">WarHound1</a> and <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/120914718350?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1361" target="_blank">Warhound2</a> on ebay, as well the <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/120914699472?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1361" target="_blank">Macharius Vulcan</a>. More will go up soon(ish), maybe even the Reaver Titan. And yes, this paragraph is a shameless plug for my ebay auctions. Spread the word!<br />
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So, I'll be around. I'm always available by email if anyone needs me. I encourage all my fellow bloggers to keep posting good blogs, I'll be lurking... *POOF! ninja smoke*<br />
<br />The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-37733201298214492802011-12-12T10:07:00.000-06:002011-12-12T10:07:01.004-06:00Need Some WHFB Empire Advice<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMptj9lTCjm0luS7PFmkPam1td56l2BHpulh82frid7coOo3FJmXggxpTR35KtITf-yPc-3KsLDDoO3UbT2Mmyiyu25F1tSksWt0LOwxGS6wRFUjzfTk_18ohE6bH3m2V-2rvIbOo4pR2c/s1600/Empire+Art2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px; height:" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMptj9lTCjm0luS7PFmkPam1td56l2BHpulh82frid7coOo3FJmXggxpTR35KtITf-yPc-3KsLDDoO3UbT2Mmyiyu25F1tSksWt0LOwxGS6wRFUjzfTk_18ohE6bH3m2V-2rvIbOo4pR2c/s320/Empire+Art2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685273167222074818" /></a><br />I'd like to get something out of the way right off the top. I'm not asking for advice because I'm too lazy to research, I've done that. It's more a matter of incompetence.<br /><br />On to the blog...<br /><br />Being a well rounded Geek I dabble in a wide variety of Geeky things. One thing I've always wanted is an Empire army for fantasy. While I technically have one, it is mostly in boxes... packed safely in bigger boxes. Having some precious free time recently I decided to take an inventory and see if I had enough Empire junk to make an army. When I was done I looked at the list and realized, I have no idea what it takes to have a decent Empire army? So, I would like to show to you the Grand List of Empire minis and solicit advice as to the following; is there enough for an army here, how should I build some troops (still on sprues you know), and what will popular in 13<sup>th</sup> edition as that is how long it would take me to get this all together.<br /><br />On to the list!<br /><br />2x General/Standard sprues<br />4x wizards (two boxes)<br />1x Empire Champ w/mace<br />1x Empire Captain w/sword & shield<br />1x Freelance Knight on foot & mounted (from Mordheim but cool looking)<br />1x Warrior Priest w/2 hammers<br />1x Warrior Priest w/hammer & Shield<br />2x Champion w/pistol & hammer<br />1x Marius Leitdorf<br />1x Kurt Helborg<br />1x Pirate Ogre (I was going to use him as "filler" in a state troops unit or a pirate themed free company unit)<br />24x Knights<br />25x Pistoliers/Outriders (still on sprue can go either way)<br />40x Militia/free company<br />40x Flagellants (20 assembled)<br />87x State Troops (37 assembled with swords, the rest on sprues)<br />60x Handgunners/Crossbowmen (20 partly assembled as handgunners)<br />20x Greatswords (10 finished)<br />1x Cannon/Mortar sprue<br />2x Hellgun/Rocket sprues<br /><br />I also have some old loose metal minis from long ago...<br /><br />12x metal Flagellants<br />3x metal Engineers w/repeater musket (outrider equivalent)<br />2x metal Pistoliers<br />5x metal knights of the white wolf (two missing legs, all missing horses)<br />1x metal volley gun with crew<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDIvkGhEApX8ywWwVYptgrbsXR9iqgsb-nYBOfpelNcpKurP4Rvh5ahCNnCw7JcJozhyphenhyphenzzHxSxXOyUzcvoYnVnu9b12K-YqMJJxTZWL20bpfolQpyKanJpqhlHQqREZmM0bNUBUKjLLkWP/s1600/Empire3.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDIvkGhEApX8ywWwVYptgrbsXR9iqgsb-nYBOfpelNcpKurP4Rvh5ahCNnCw7JcJozhyphenhyphenzzHxSxXOyUzcvoYnVnu9b12K-YqMJJxTZWL20bpfolQpyKanJpqhlHQqREZmM0bNUBUKjLLkWP/s320/Empire3.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685272327238588002" /></a><br /><center><i><blue>Behold the Empire in all its glory...</blue></i></center><br />I know it is a lot of stuff, I just don't know if it can be carved down to a decent Empire army? For State Troops, Sword, Halberd, shield? The interwebs can't seem to decide. HandGunners or crossbowmen, what are the cool kids doing? Pistoliers or OutRiders, they both look cool but which typically sucks less?<br /><br />So, if you have any knowledge of Fantasy or Empire, I'd love to get your thoughts. If you don't but you have a friend who does, send'em over!<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-58950600644220245492011-11-10T09:23:00.003-06:002011-11-10T09:59:28.405-06:00So, What Ever Happened to The Inner Geek?Blogs come and go. This one hasn't gone, but it is on pause. Here is to the whys..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/question-mark.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 375px; height: 375px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/question-mark.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />It's hard to say where I lost my GW Hobby oomph exactly. I know I had it before Games Day in Chicago. I got to meet some awesome bloggers there and hang out with all the coolest folks. Really, I think that was the high point and the Games Day was just kind of going on at the same time. Whatever the reason, interest waned. I started thinking about other things I could do with my time, and going back to school seemed a likely candidate.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/graduation_hat.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 345px; height: 484px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/graduation_hat.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I signed up for a couple of classes at the local College and away I went. Between school, working full time (until recently), and family, I've had very little time for distraction (and that tiny bit has been squandered on Battle Field3).<br /><br />I've tried to keep up with at least a few blogs and comment now and again. I really do enjoy the antics of my fellow bloggers. I just haven't felt too bloggy myself of late. Maybe this post will break the ice? I was recently laid off work so you'd think I'd have more time, but seeking work and a newly expanded honey-do list has left me about the same amount of free time as before! Even as I write this I'm looking at a pile of stuff I need to mail off to people (Drax I need your address again).<br /><br />I have been looking longingly at the Scratch Built Titan and thinking I need to put some detail on it. Not to mention some other projects I'd like to find a little time to mess with. When I do, I'll be sure to share it here on the rusty old blog. While the lack of hobby time has me looking longingly at some projects, it has me feeling like letting some of them go. I have too many armies, too many minis, and not enough time. Maybe there is some ebay in my future? Some of these thoughts, no doubt, come from the fact that I recently reorganized the closet where the game stuff lives. Holy crap you can accumulate a lot of stuff over twenty years in a hobby!<br /><br />Anyway, I pegged out the ramble-meter some time ago, so I'm going to close for now. There will be more posts, there will be more hobby, but it may be slow. So be patient... or go away. Till next time!<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-89319991206259189762011-08-20T12:01:00.002-05:002011-08-20T12:01:02.214-05:00Painting Across the Pond Inner Geek Edition Pt III
<br />I don't have much money, but if I did, I'd spend it buying some time. Since I can't buy time, this will be a post short on words.
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<br /><a href="http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Drax</a> and I engaged in a project some time back. The idea was to each send the other a mini to paint then send back. Basically painting a mini for each other. I sent him an Ogryn, as I'd never seen him paint one and I have a cruel streak. He sent me a ForgeWorld Cadian IG Colonel!
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<br />Here are the results...
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2526.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2526.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2528.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2528.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2527.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2527.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />Not being one to leave well enough alone, I decided to fabricate a little extra work for myself. He is painting a rather larger model for me after all.
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<br />I decided that every great commander needs that certain special someone in their life. For this commander, that person is his personal body guard Major Payne. Being a trusted member of the Colonels inner circle, he has access to exotic weapons like his antique las pistol. I meticulously cut, greenstuffed, and stretched my modeling abilities to give this guy a bigger chest and beef him up a bit. After all my trouble I noticed that there is a plastic Catachan torso with flak armor available. It's technically better than what I made, but mine has that home made look... kinda like your kids macaroni art. Anyway, here is the Major.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2532.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2532.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2530.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2530.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2531.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2531.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />And finally a group shot. I think this photo, even with the flash on, most closely represents the colors of the models.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2524.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/IMG_2524.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
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<br />While taking these photos it occurred to me that I forgot to paint the bodyguards las pistol... or maybe it's just really dark... no I forgot. Anyway, I'll leave this for Drax. That way he can say he worked on the pair too! Now, to say that these look a hundred times better in person would be an exaggeration. But two to three times better would be accurate. I've purposely given the bodyguard a pretty generic load out so he can be used a sergeant if preferred. I hope Drax enjoys them and they bring him lots of luck on the table.
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<br />That's all for now folks. Be sure to check out the <a href="http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Admiral Drax blog</a>
<br /> as he should be posting his edition of Painting Across the Pond about the same time this one hits the blog rolls!
<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-90708412964797716172011-07-26T08:05:00.003-05:002011-07-26T14:26:46.299-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 10 (Build Complete... ish)Finally! The building of the Titan is complete! This blog will conclude the build process of the Scratch Built Titan Project. There is still more to to with detailing and such, but this is the point at which you can call this build done.<br /><br />If you've been following along, you know the work that's been put in, but not the cost. I'm going to lay that out for you briefly, then on to the pics!<br /><br />3 x sheets of matte board on sale at $4.00 each<br />1 x bottle of Gorilla brand Superglue at $5.00 each<br />3 x Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue at $2.77 each<br />3 x Excel #11 exacto blades package of five at $1.99 each<br />1 x package of assorted rubber bands at $0.99 each<br />1 x Krylon Easy-Tack adhesive spray at $7.59 each<br />1 x brass rod at approximately $2.00 each<br />1 x package of six ping pong balls at $1.99 each<br />1 x Gorilla Glue at $7.00 each<br />2 x pvc pipe pieces from DIY store at approximately $1.75 each<br />Several sheets of printing paper (if you have a printer, you likely have this already)<br />Several recycled Cereal Boxes at $0.00 each<br /><br />So the entire project up to this point has cost about $54.35 US. Getting to this point should not require a top hat... Decorating and details will cost additional. But, as I've mentioned before, the point of this part of the project is to show what you can build for the bare minimum. Will it look better after detailing... yep. But I think it already looks pretty cool as it is! On to the pics!<br /><br />First is a shot with some IG and a Leman Russ for scale...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />A shot of the side...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The rear angle...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull8.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The other side...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Here is a picture showing the Titan broken down into its parts...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Strangely, I also noticed there is a baby in the gun???<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull10.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />A couple more pictures for scale purposes. A shot with the Reaver Titan...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />And a shot with Godzilla... why not...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBFull4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>I don't think the Godzilla is 28mm Heroic scale, but he's still cool...</i></center><br /><br />A quick note on the building materials. I'm very happy with how the matte board is holding up. It wasn't the easiest to cut, but it is very solid. As an example; I'd been trying to ignore the fact that the front balcony was slightly crooked. I couldn't take it anymore and decided to remove and straighten it. It took some serious doing to get that one piece to come lose. It is now replaced in a straighter position since these pics and I'm quite happy with it. There is, in fact, only one place that I think is a little weak which brings me to the next paragraph...<br /><br />While the Titan is perfectly fine the way it is, I'm going to put it on a base due to the nature of how the lower toes are attached and their inherent weakness. The base will be just big enough to set the feet on with a small 'bridge' in the middle to prevent the legs from trying to splay at the hips. This is a lesson I learned with the Reaver. This Titan stands very well on it's own and this will simply be an insurance policy against toe breakage in the future.<br /><br />One last note. In the title it says, "Complete... ish". The <i>ish</i> is because there are more weapons available in the plans. There is a large chain sword type of close combat weapon, and a giant belt fed cannon. I will likely build these in the future, but they aren't coming anytime particularly soon.<br /><br />I hope you've enjoyed watching this project move forward, I know I've enjoyed working on it. While it's probably a project for an advanced modeler, the great thing is you can always try again if you mess up a part. So even a novice can make this work if they have a bit of patience!<br /><br />Comments, questions, and witty insults are welcome as always!<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-87431698091353157372011-07-22T12:34:00.004-05:002011-07-22T12:37:43.585-05:00Forge World Has a Chick on a Dragon!On a freakin dragon!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/elspethvdrak3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/elspethvdrak3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />It's a little known fact that the Inner Geek has an Empire army for Fantasy Battle. Mostly in boxes. But man, this is a super cool mini. I wonder if it will be in Chicago next week? I wonder what time I'll have to line up outside to get to the Forge World booth in time to buy anything?<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-34147898097888749662011-07-20T08:05:00.001-05:002011-07-20T08:05:01.126-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 9 (Legs Assembly)This week brings us to the legs. Getting this titan to stand on it's own two feet takes some doing.<br /><br />In the interest of making the pose... er... interesting, I played around with the legs a good amount before gluing anything. Because of the way the legs go together I realized that you can adjust them from the hips to the knees and if the hips and knees still line up, you're set. In the picture below you can see that the hips are level with each other and the part that will attach to the lower leg are both on the same plane but the legs are angled differently...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>There are some random pieces holding the parts in position by resting the knee caps on them...</i></center><br /><br />Confident that I had two legs in slightly different positions, but still able to line up, I moved on to another area that needed some help.<br /><br />The lower legs are modified from the original plans and this causes the 'shin' to be very thin where it comes down between the front toes. To correct this I glued brass rods inside the shins running from the thin points to the top. When I say glued I mean I tacked them on with superglue then drenched them in regular tacky glue for a solid hold...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />There was some fun times gluing the legs to the hips. The trick there is to set the legs on the ball joint ankles, but don't glue them down. Once they were firmly attached to the hips using Gorilla Glue, patience, and prayers then you can glue the ankles at their ball joints. I didn't get any pics of this, because it would just look like the pictures at the end of this blog but with various items propping things up.<br /><br />At this point I realized that the ankles were going to be a weak point. While securely attached, they had a lot of 'flex' to them. So I made some homemade braces. First I cut some strips out of matte board...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Then, for the sake of speed, I superglued them into shape...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Then I trimmed them to fit between the inner shin piece and the actual foot. Once installed, I slopped a good bit of glue around them to secure them and help hold them together. Below you can see a couple of them in place...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />This only left the toes to add! The lower toes were simply glued on using tacky glue, then reinforced with more tacky glue. Here you can see them added...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs9.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />This brings us to the final leg piece, the upper toe thingies. These I tacked on with super glue, then I used an old brush and a q-tip to apply glue to the areas where the pieces made contact... which weren't always large areas. I'm happy to report they feel reasonably solid though! Here are a couple shots of the legs in all their glory...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs8.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>The tiny object at his feet is an Imperial Guardsman...</i></center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBLegs7.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />So what's left? Not much really. There is finishing the fist by way of gluing the fingers on. Finishing the weapon arm and... that's about it. Next post on this project should see a completed titan ready to be detailed. I'll also try to put together a materials list and prices to show about how much this project costs. I'm doing this before detailing because the point is to show what you can do with a minimum expenditure and any detailing would be to the builders taste, budget, and discretion. Some folks have asked and I'll be putting up pics with more objects to demonstrate scale, including the Reaver. I may even make you suffer through some Inner Geek fiction and write some fluff about this titan... lucky you!<br /><br />As always, thanks for stopping by. I know you have a choice of rambling blogs, and we appreciate you choosing <i>The Inner Geek</i> blog!<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-62922837298325400212011-07-14T08:05:00.002-05:002011-07-14T08:05:00.492-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 8 (The Weight of the World)It's on your shoulders! Well, ok, maybe not the weight of the world... but the weight of a 40k Cathedral.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/atlas7201.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/atlas7201.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Work continues on the Titan. I've had to move around and work different parts at different times, but I'm going to try to keep blog posts focused on one area at a time. This week that area is the shoulders.<br /><br />Not a lot of pictures this week. The shoulder amounted a lot of pieces that really didn't do much interesting until they started coming together. I would like to make mention of materials in this post though. I've been using a lot of "cereal box" cardboard for parts. It's lighter and easier to work than the matte board but sacrifices strength. I was concerned at first about obtaining this material as you usually have to invest in cereal to get it. However, I spread the word with my family and friends that I was looking for that type of material and it started flowing in. But I also wanted to note that it's not just <i>cereal</i> boxes. For example, this...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />While odd shaped you can still find enough flat spots that are clear of glue or creases to make all of these...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>These are each two parts put together, top and bottom.</i></center><br /><br />My point is, don't get caught up in names, ie; "cereal box", there may be other sources of the same material. Also, just because you don't see a lot of potential in a material doesn't mean that it isn't there.<br /><br />Here is a quick mock up of how the roof line of one shoulder goes together...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The instructions assume you are building the "Crusader" titan then adding the "Blockhead" bits so they put the large center spire on first then add the smaller spires. Since I'm moving straight to the "Blockhead" design I found it easier to glue the small spires onto the larger one, then add the whole fixture to the Titans shoulder.<br /><br />Here is a picture of one shoulder completed...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />And a shot of the entire upper body so far...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBShoulder3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />That's all I have to show this post. There is a lot more work done though, and the end of the actual build is coming soon. There will be a ton of detailing to do as well as other loose ends to tie up along the way though.<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by. I will add in parting that it may be time to start thinking of names for this Titan. I think Ferrus Pontifex <i>"The Iron Priest"</i> has a ring to it! Feel free to drop a comment if you have any thoughts on suitable titan names.<br /><br />Oh yes! And google+... anyone up for starting a geeky circle of friends? As a geek I felt it my duty to get in on the ground floor of what ever the hell it is.<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-52742894896503758622011-07-07T08:45:00.000-05:002011-07-07T08:45:00.385-05:00Break Time Cometh!So I've droned on between the lines for a couple months about how I could really use a break/vacation. Just a couple days to get away. I finally decided to pull the trigger and make a decision. The Inner Geek will be attending Games Day 2011 in Chicago!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6fd2ArRciuFpBVda1JixGHFjLnt21iDvgfFmnj_GUu6SC68NPedT9BeGP9zp9Vy4h8n9JWfGSfZ6NhNiAwprqAFzj1GXYs1cwoTS2el0SkXy6bHJTkudUSx2HofSQbQaKWPUZ7o9W6C2/s1600/GD2011.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6fd2ArRciuFpBVda1JixGHFjLnt21iDvgfFmnj_GUu6SC68NPedT9BeGP9zp9Vy4h8n9JWfGSfZ6NhNiAwprqAFzj1GXYs1cwoTS2el0SkXy6bHJTkudUSx2HofSQbQaKWPUZ7o9W6C2/s320/GD2011.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626600056491184994" /></a><br /><br />Why Games Day? Well, despite my ire with GW's recent corporate activities I'm still a fan of the hobby. I'd like to go once before they run the company completely into the ground... joke... sort of. Also, I've never been to Chicago or even Illinois for that matter, so it sounds like an adventure. I'm all about adventure as long as it's reasonably safe and free of any real danger. On top of all that I think it might be fun to meet other bloggers or even blog readers who may be attending.<br /><br />Thus, I'll be flying to O'Hare early Friday morning the 29<sup>th</sup> of July. Enjoying the scenery Friday day, some cold adult beverages Friday night, Games Day Saturday Day, some cold adult beverages Saturday night, and flying out Sunday around noon. I'll also try to mix in some Chicago style pizza at some point.<br /><br />I'll be there, will you be there? As I mentioned above, I'd really like to get a chance to meet some of the folks I know only from their blogs. If you're reading this and you plan to be there, drop me a comment. Maybe we could enjoy a cold refreshing adult beverage (that's beer if you haven't picked up on it yet). If you see me at Games Day, stop and say hi. You'll know me because I'll be dressed as an albino polar bear wearing a space suit and scuba gear. Or I'll have a t-shirt on that says who I am. I'll decide which one morning of.<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-16949418870887718542011-07-04T14:37:00.004-05:002011-07-04T15:00:03.961-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 7 (A Big Hand for the Titan, Ladies and Gentlemen)As work continues on the shoulders. I wanted to get an arm done to get some confidence up about my magnetized shoulders working. So I printed out the plans for the hands and got to cutting and gluing.<br /><br />Here is a shot of the hand parts laid out. I've gone and glued one piece before photographing again... it may become my signature...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHand3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHand3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The finger tips were difficult to cut, fold, and glue. They are a pretty complex shape. I've done most of the arm in lighter "cereal box" cardboard to save weight.<br /><br />Here is a shot with everything assembled except the fingers and thumb...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHand4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHand4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I put a lot of thought into how I might dry fit the fingers. I don't have any blu-tac handy but my wife does have some scrap booking supplies. So I scavenged some sort of little double sticky tape picture attachment thingies and decided to give them a shot.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHand1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHand1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>How do you feel about Chaos Titans Mr. Scratch Built?</i></center><br /><br />The sticky stuff was not as sticky as I would have liked and the fingers fell off/apart several times before I could get the above shot. So, I may be looking for something more like blu-tac after all. The cereal box material is paying off in the weight department. This arm weighs in at only 3.1oz including the upper arm with magnets (I finally found my scale)!<br /><br />Finish the shoulders, one to three more weapon arms, and then it will be time to start decorating this beast with all sorts of bits. Well... not <i>all</i> sorts.<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next time!<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-67884890470613318872011-06-30T08:05:00.000-05:002011-06-30T08:05:00.755-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 6 (Titans are Disarming)As I began work on the shoulders of the Titan, it occurred to me that being able to remove the arms would serve a couple of purposes. First, any dis-assembly should improve transport-ability. Second, there are a total of Four weapon arms on offer from the plans I'm working off, so being able to swap arms down the road may be cool as well. But how to accomplish such a feat of <i>mag</i>ic? With <i>mag</i>nets!<br /><br />I've had some decent size rare earth magnets left over from another project and by sheer luck, I had just the right amount (after one broke in half). Most of this process will be explained in the following pictures. A couple of bits O'knowledge for reference; the shoulder is a large octagon. The arm bit is intended to be glued straight to the bottom of this octagon. The upper arm is different for guns vs fist. Only the upper arm for guns is shown in the pictures. Ok, lets go!<br /><br />The plan is to put to magnets in each shoulder that will be mirrored in the removable upper arm pieces. After some measuring I found that these magnets can be placed about 1" apart and still fit nicely. I cut some pieces of scrap matte board to 1" to help line up the magnets while they are glued...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Here are the magnets lined up on the shoulder piece. You may notice they are not lined up with the geometry of the shoulder octagon. This is because I don't want the eventual pose to be arms straight at sides. Hopefully this slight angle will allow the arm to have a slight outward twist. How do I keep the magnets in place? With more magnets on the outside (not pictured)!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The next step is to liberally coat the whole inside of the piece with a mess of glue. I make sure to get a lot in the joins of the inside of the shoulder too, for extra strength...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag8.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />After a few hours it dries strong and clear...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The great thing about this is, I used this first shoulder to line up the magnets in the upper arm, then used that arm to line up the magnets in the other shoulder, then used a shoulder to line up the magnet in the other upper arm.<br /><br />Here is a shot of a shoulder and upper arm magnetized and in position...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBArmMag5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />One last thing worth mentioning. I had intended to set the magnets so that both in the shoulder were the same polarity up then both magnets in the upper arms have the opposite polarity up. I messed this up on the first shoulder and one magnet is "north" up and the other is "south" up. However, I decided that this was a happy mistake. My plan for arm removal is to twist the arms moving the magnets away from each other laterally. The poles being opposite doesn't change the holding power but does mean that if I twist too far they will repel instead of locking back together with the arm backwards. Does any of that make sense in words?<br /><br />As of now I have the shoulders and upper arms magnetized and assembled. There are several more pieces to do on the shoulders so there will be a proper shoulder update later. I may decide to build an arm first to test the magnet strength... not that I can do much about it if it's too weak. Also, leg assembly has begun, or at least leg sub-assembly. I'll have to post an update on that soon too. It starts to look Titan-y when you start putting legs together!<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment, question, or haiku.<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-21196640769411289502011-06-26T09:00:00.004-05:002011-06-26T09:00:00.226-05:00HiTech Miniatures Product Review "Six Nil Six Factor"This is a quick(ish) product review I did for a miniature from <a href="http://hitechminiatures.com/#">HiTech Miniatures</a> out of Poland. The miniature is their <a href="http://hitechminiatures.com/null/product/info/52">28mm ArchFather Six Nil Six Factor</a>. The bulk of the review is a video review as I'm still trying to get better at using my camera. It's really not the camera that needs much improvement though, it's me! You can see some detailed pics of the mini on the HiTech website I've linked to above. You all have the <a href="http://ttfix.blogspot.com/">Table Top Fix</a> blog to blame for this review. That blog catches just about every mini from every company known to man and shares it with the blogosphere. After the video I'll post some thoughts, some of which aren't included in the video.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/Six_Nil_Six_FACTOR_color_1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Various/Six_Nil_Six_FACTOR_color_1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><br /><center><iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OMYp_KdC8tA?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen=""></iframe></center><br /><br />Pros:<br />Fast shipping from Europe, less than a week!<br />Quality sculpt<br />They included metal pins needed to complete mini<br />The subject is appealing and reasonably original (my opinion)<br /><br />Cons:<br />The checkout process on their website is not user friendly<br />A few more pin holes than I'd like to see for the price<br /><br />Overall, I'd say that if you see something on the HiTech website you really like, give them a shot. Just understand that you may be filling a couple pin holes when you get the mini. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.<br /><br />Back to work on the <a href="http://www.theinnergeek.net/search/label/Scratch%20Build%20Titan">Scratch Build Titan</a>. The shoulders are in the works right now.<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-34858821312373562542011-06-23T07:45:00.001-05:002011-06-23T07:45:01.008-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 5 (That's Church)Part five of the Scratch Built Titan project brings us to the body of the titan. The body, in this case, being a church. Need help bringing the faith of the Imperium to a backwater planet? Drop a walking church on'em!<br /><br />There was the printing, the sticking, the cutting, and the pasting. But when it was all done we end up with a collection of parts assembled as shown below...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>You may note that there are two pieces in the upper left corner already assembled with a "roof" between them... I got a little ahead of the camera...</i></Center><br /><br />The different colored bits you see are made from cereal box material. It's a little thinner and easier to work with than the matte board so it's a great choice for the really fiddly tower bits. After some sub-assembly we end up with a group of three main pieces. The church itself on the top of the body of the titan in the middle of the shot below, the front balcony in the left of the shot, and the rear chapel & balcony on the right...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The above pieces then go together to form the overall structure of the titans body/church. This is not an exact science and much referring to the instructions and a finished example over at <a href="http://www.tanksandtrolls.co.uk/40KChaplain%20titan.htm">Tanks and Trolls</a> was needed before I felt confident enough to glue the pieces together. This step also includes the addition of the head. I'm really not sure it was necessary to add the head at this time, but I went along with the instructions and did so. There is not much in the way of pose-ability with the head, so I don't feel like waiting for the final pose (as I do with man sized minis) would have changed the head's final position. Here are some assorted shots of the titan from the hips up so far...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChruch1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChruch1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBChurch2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I'm not sure why I didn't take any shots of the titan from the rear? Maybe the head seemed too pretty? Anyway, that's the progress so far. As I'm building this I'm really tempted to go ahead and assemble the legs. The left to right should balance themselves out reasonably well and I now have pretty much all the front to back assembly done. Which balances itself out nicely as you can see from the shots above, a little front heavy, but only slightly. Details and decoration may change the balance a little, but I can't imagine it will change drastically from where it is now. Besides all that I'm excited to see the legs under this thing!<br /><br />Please feel free to leave a comment if you like. I'm happy to answer questions, ignore complaints, and hear your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by!<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-47673764565353821952011-06-18T11:00:00.000-05:002011-06-18T11:00:03.829-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 4 (Waist not, transport not)In the comments of my last blog entry, Mordian 7<sup>th</sup> of <i><a href="http://mordian7th.blogspot.com/">Mordian 7<sup>th</sup></a></i> fame suggested an awesome idea. So awesome in fact, that for the next week he shall be known as Mordian 7<sup>th</sup> the freaking genius. I've even added a holiday to my Imperial Calendar in the left sidebar in his honor. The suggestion was in regards to a way to make it so that the Scratch Built Titan would be able to be separated at the waist.<br /><br />The items needed for this bit of the project were picked up at my local DIY store for about $3.50 US. They consist of a piece of pvc pipe and some sort of fitting I found that slips over it nicely. And of course the parts of the titan to be modified...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The first job was to carefully trace the holes that would need to be cut in the titan using the actual pvc pieces as a guide. Then of course, cutting those holes out. This one was a pain as it is two parts glued together, so three layers of matte board to go through...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Next I inserted the female part of this joint into it's titan piece and traced a line around where the cut needs to be for it to be flush. I've raised it up a bit so you can see the line in this pic...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Once that was cut, I placed the male part of the joint inside and traced around the edge where it needed to be cut off. I then subtracted just a bit for good measure and cut it to length. The results can be seen below...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Being extra careful and using Gorilla Glue (hence the <i>extra</i> caution) I glued each piece into its respective titan part...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Then I realized I needed some way to keep the waist from spinning around, which would cause imbalance I theorize. To do this was a little extra work, but I think it was worth it in the end.<br /><br />I got a spare piece of the pvc pipe I bought and cut a small section out of it...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip8.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Then I cut a corresponding section out of the male part attached to the titan piece. You can see the beginning of this in the photo above. I cut vertical lines in the piece over and over until it was easy to snap the thin pieces off and clean it up with a hobby knife. This leaves a bit that will fit like this...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBhip10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBhip10.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Next I cut an access hole in the top of the body. This will be covered by the Church part of the titan so no worries about the hole...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip9.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />After roughing up the surfaces to be glued, I put the two titan parts in the position I wanted them to "lock" into. I glued the piece in place with Gorilla Glue using the access hole and a small clamp (sorry I didn't get a pic of that) to hold the piece while it dried. Resulting in a waist that no longer spins!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip7.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Here is a finished shot. It's straighter than it looks, but there is some sort of optical illusion going on in this pic...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHip3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Remember, this whole idea was sparked by a comment on my last blog. Your fellow bloggers can, and will, often think of things that you never considered. We are our best source of ideas for each other to tap.<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave comments, criticisms, and witticisms in the comments area. Especially if you have any awesome ideas, I love to steal those!<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-60533623340584399512011-06-15T07:50:00.002-05:002011-06-15T07:50:00.453-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 3 (It takes hard work to get a head)I've decided to head for the... um... head for the next part of the scratch built titan project. No, not the restroom/water closet, the actual head. Bear with me, the blog gets better though the jokes stay bad.<br /><br />The head of the <i>BlockHead</i> titan, which is the one I'm working from, is a nice conglomeration of fiddly bits. Once built, the fiddly bits go together to make bigger fiddly bits before finally being assembled into a head of sorts. But on to some pictures, I'll add more wordy bits at the end.<br /><br />Here is a shot of the sub-assemblies...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBH2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBH2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Since some areas will be particularly hard to access once assembled, I went ahead and sprayed some black primer on them. I made sure to mask areas that I wasn't ready to have paint on yet...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHead1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBHead1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />A little glue and patience and we have a completed head (minus detailing)!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBH4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBH4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>An ancient Space Marine has volunteered for scale showing duty</i></center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBH3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/SBH3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Some items of note...<br /><br />1) I've decided that the pieces will never be perfect. While the plans are awesome, they do not take into account the thickness of the material so you will never have perfect pieces.<br /><br />2) Number one above doesn't really matter. In the big picture with detailing and paint, the imperfections will be less noticeable. I've looked online at a lot of scratch built items and I've noticed that if you look long enough you start to see the little imperfections in them all.<br /><br />3) Klaus over at <a href="http://fischers-design-shop.blogspot.com/">DEI GRECI</a> is the exception to rule number two.<br /><br />4) While not completely necessary, a coat of slightly watered down pva glue (white glue) brushed on seals the surface nicely, hides some surface flaws after priming, and is too easy a step not to do.<br /><br />5) If you get Gorilla Glue on your skin after it becomes tacky, you must submerge the affected area in warm soapy water or acetone for about five full minutes. No amount of scrubbing will substitute.<br /><br />Now, for all you folks who actually made it this far, I have one more head conversion to share with you. I present a peek into the Inner Geek's real world. Think of it as a reward... or possibly a punishment. I give you... <i>The Hair Cut</i>...<br /><br><br /><br><br /><br><br />Here we have a common variety Hairy Geek...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/Haircut1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/Haircut1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>Yes, hide your wives and daughters...</i></center><br /><br><br /><br><br /><br><br />Next we come to the awkward "Mohawk" phase...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/Haircut2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/Haircut2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>The Mrs Geek really digs mohawks...</i></center><br /><br><br /><br><br /><br><br />And finally we come to the full on summer do!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/Haircut3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Websites/Haircut3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>I've never had a shaved head before!</i></center><br /><br />A big thank you to my awesome wife for the haircut!<br /><br />Why? I guess curiosity overcame vanity?<br /><br />Comments and pointing and laughing are welcome... as always.The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7887432202904176305.post-58377500097848947632011-06-02T07:30:00.000-05:002011-06-02T07:30:00.614-05:00Scratch Built Titan Pt. 2 (Legs and Hips)While I've not updated on the scratch built titan, it isn't from lack of work. It is, however, very slow going. That's a lot of matte board to cut and paste! I know it won't look like it, but the update today is actually many (many) hours of work. Let's get on with it, but first a look at a mock up of a shin and toes... basically everything below the knee...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Legs3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Legs3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Getting there took a ton of cutting out and building toes though...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Toes1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Toes1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><center><i>Sixteen pieces to make eight toes in total...</i></center><br /><br />Next is a shot of the toes all assembled and the feet with their ping-pong ball joints. The small circles are homemade washers as I could find no one that sells a washer with a 1" inside diameter...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Feet1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Feet1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The more middle-y bits, from bottom to top; feet, shin armor, inner shin, lower knee, middle knee, knee cap, and upper knee...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Legs4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Legs4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />A quick look at the upper leg and hip area. From the bottom up we have; thigh, ping-pong ball hip joint parts, hip to body connector (yes out of order for visibility sake), hips, and body base...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Legs2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Legs2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Finally we have a group shot of all the parts up to this point...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Legs1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px;" src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r5/bkito/Scratchbuild%20Titan/Legs1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />There are some parts that have a definite placement and others that can be adjusted to pose/balance. I'll glue the pieces with no adjustability next, but the final leg assembly will probably have to wait till near the end to ensure proper positioning and balance.<br /><br />Things I've learned so far;<br /><br />Ping-pong balls come in two sizes 38mm and 40mm. (I used 38mm)<br />You can cut a ping-ball in half, but it isn't necessarily easy.<br />Paper can/will dull an exacto blade faster than you ever imagined.<br />The legs of this model will use more than 6 exacto blades and 5 oz of Tacky Glue.<br />I'm a ninja at cutting a straight line with a hobby knife. No really, I am.<br />The legs and hips have used about 1.5 sheets of 32x40" matte board.<br /><br />That's going to wrap up Pt. 2 of the Scratch Built Titan project. Work continues and is fun enough to keep me chugging away. However, if you want to watch another scratch built project come to life, I'd recommend checking out Admiral Drax's <i><a href="http://admiraldrax.blogspot.com/2011/05/265-taking-stock-and-new-projects.html">"decidedly blocky 'landing craft'-type assault vehicle"</a></i>. Must be something in the air making folks want to scratchbuild... or something missing from our wallets!<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by. Comments and witticisms are welcome as always!<br /><br>The Inner Geekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12794001001232191042noreply@blogger.com