The Evolution of Big Mike

Harte Haziran 04, 2022

Hi All!

Big Mike! What a pleasant beast!

Today's modelling silliness is concerned largely with making a cheap plastic dinosaur look like, well... not a cheap plastic dinosaur. Hmmm...

Details are gradually added and the harness is aligned to the gun carriage.

I introduced Big Mike as the sturdy beast responsible for bringing the mighty Faraday Galvanic Field Gun to bear upon fuzzy wuzzies, huns, sneaky cossacks and all who oppose Her Majesty. Since then, he's gained a bit of character.

Machine parts and more straps are added.

The first thing to do was add a harness with which to pull the gun carriage. This was constructed from styrene rod, bits of jewelery chain, wire, and green stuff. Buckles were sculpted into the straps.

Equipped but unpainted, Big Mike is lined up against the gun carriage.

Following the harness, I decided I wanted Big Mike to carry a few spare machine parts too. These were constructed from bits, glued into place and 'strapped' in with greenstuff and wire buckles.

Ink washes go on and machine parts are ready to be painted.

Now came the painting! I approached Big Mike with my favoured inking technique. (See 'Working With Inks... Link )This is fairly quick and very effective - particularly for reptiles!

The finished paint job.

Get on my Groovy Train!

During this session, I also modified the gun carriage slightly. My intention is that a second carriage will be pulled behind the first, bearing a generator for the gun. This is building on a suggestion from Argsilverson, a colleague on the Lead Adventure Forum Link who thought a generator would be needed and offered some good ideas. I decided a train, rather than a separate vehicle, would be fun.