The Dark Side

Two sides of the same coin. Darth Vador

Return of the Jedi

The Repaired Styrene Structure

The structure measures 13 by 20 scale feet in 1/87 scale. I used board & batten sheet for the structure and added a stone foundation using some sort of stone sheet. I cannot say I remember the source for the stone sheet

I gave the foundation a black wash to make them stand out, and I reattached the stairs and readjusted the stove pipe with a drop or two of super-glue. The stairs were created with what looks like several layers of styrene strips.

I still haven’t come-up with an idea as to the purpose of the structure. Any ideas? What sort of business resides here?

This looks like this might be my last post for this year and although I would have liked to been more productive I have been more productive this year with my scratch builds than any other.

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Satisfaction Scale: 3 out 5.

Building with Styrene & My First Styrene Structure

I just found an arrticle entitled "Styrene and building your own buildings". It is a bit dated, the first post was back in 2013, however the thread provides some good advice on building your first stucture out of styrene.

This HO guage structure is one of my first attempts at using polystyrene for modeling. I would say this structure was built at least twenty-five years ago. It is freelance design and is made almost entirely from plastic sheet. I used cardstock for the roof and black constrution paper for the roof. It looks like it needs some repairs.

You Can Still Find Rocs on Margrave

“I had been sent to Margrave, a world in the first stages of colonization. I was twenty minutes out of Triangle Lake and on my way to the Wiggly River logging region flying at an attitude of thousand feet. It seems the equipment needed some adjustments. The system had been harvesting trees that were too young and I was sent to investigate and to make changes to the program settings.

I was in the back seat of my transport when the roc swept down on me, wrapped ten huge talons around my transport and swallowed it. Everything went black and the transport flew blithely on, ignoring the roc. The ride became turbulent when the roc tried to fly away and couldn’t.

I tried the radio and got nothing. Either it couldn’t reach out beyond all that meat around me, or my antennas had been broken off while making the way down the rocs gullet. As the roc settled down on a ledge, there didn’t seem to be anything I could do. I knew that the power would last for some time as long as I used it sparingly and I had an emergency food maker and other supplies, so I just hunkered down and waited for the roc to decompose. It took six months for enough of the roc to decompose to allow me to squeeze out between a couple of the rocs ribs.”

Safe at any Speed, Tales of Known Space, Larry Niven

Three for Tomorrow

Front cover art. 2019 edition can be found on Amazon

“Take a fast trip to three far-out worlds of the imagination. A world in which the credit card is king, and dept has enslaved all humanity. I world where a giant data bank controls the lives of every man and woman. And a world where land, air, and water have reached the final level of pollution.”

These scenarios seem to be written today. However, the following three authors: Silverberg, Zelazny, and Bush have proven to be quick prophetic. Their three short stories: “How Was it When the Past Went Away”, “The Eve of RUMOKO”, and “We All Die Naked” were written in 1969.

My Greeble Collection

I recently found this small plastic box and thought it might make organizing some small parts a sinch. THe box opens from both sides and has pretty good snaps on both sides.

The only small parts that needed organization at the time, were my collection of greeble.

Although you will find some kit parts the majority of my greeble consists of small bits of plastic; these are left over from projects. These small slivers of plastic might come in handy when I am looking for some way to add additional details to a project. Squares, rectanlges and other shapes can either be found or fashioned from these leftovers.

Corrugated Supply Shed Complete

I started this project on the October 18. It has taken sometime to complete. In completing this structure I realized that the corregated material does not hold paint all that well and I was forced to reapply the basecoat and subsequent dry brushing and weathering. I had other problems that hopefully can be hidden by carefull placement of the structure and by adding some scale greenery.

I used cardstock for the subwalls and covered these with metal corregated material. The loading dock was created from a couple pieces of scribed board from my junk bin. The foundation was created using two pieces of formcore that were glued together painted and dry-brushed. The three detail pieces (two skids and detail piece found inside the shed) are metal castings from my collection of the same.

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The update:

Satisfaction Scale: 2.5 out 5.

Updated on: 12/24/21 @ 3:03 PM (Details in the second paragraph).

The Ewoks Homes in the Trees

Ewoks were introduced in Star Wars VI, in the return of the Jedi. “Ewoks lived high among the trees of the forest moon of Endor. They lived in villages built between closely spaced trees. The basic design of a tree village consisted of thatched-roof huts built on primary limbs."

"These huts were high enough above the ground to be out of reach of predators. Suspended bridges connected the gaps between trees, adjoining distant huts. Knotted rope ladders allowed access up or down.”

Star Wars Fandom Ewoks

Screenshots are from Star Wars VI

Melanie's House a Sculpture in 1/35

Marcel Ackle is always cooking something new up. This article frm 2015, features the work he did while creating his Melanie's House. The process and the outcome are simply amazing.

Articles Pertaining to Creating Trees for your Layout and Dioramas

Below you find a small list of articles I have read about creating trees for your modeling needs.

Pine trees for your layout, Chris MC Chesney, Detailing Tips and Techniques from Model Railroader, 1993, page 29.

Creating realistic conifers, Laszlo Dora, Detailing Tips and Techniques from Model Railroader, 1993, pages 30-32.

Using weeds for woods, Lou Sassi, Detailing Tips and Techniques from Model Railroader, 1993, page 33.

Chapter 2: Tips for texture and trees, Dave Frary and Bob Hayden, 303 Tips for Detailing Model Railroad Scenery and Structures, Kalmbach Books, 1995; pages 21-26

Chapter 6, Tress, stumps, weeds, and vines, Dave Frary, How to build Model Railroad Scenery, 2nd Edition, 1991, pages 53-70

Africa’s Primeval Forests

“Africa is called the Dark Continent for one reason only: the vast equatorial rain forests of its central region. This is the drainage basin of the Congo River, one-tenth of the continent is given over to it—a million and half square miles of silent, damp, dark forest, a single uniform geographical feature nearly the size of the continental United States.

This primeval forest has stood, unchanged, for more than sixty million years. Enormous trees with trunks up to forty feet in diameter rise two-hundred feet overhead, where they spread their dense leafy canopy, blotting out the sky and perpetually dripping water to the ground below.”

Congo, Michael Crichton, 1980

Greebles

"Greebles is a fine detailing added to the surface of a larger object that makes it appear more complex and visually interesting".

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Greebles: How Tiny Details Make a Huge Star Wars Universe

Screenshots are from the Star Wars Triology

The Dagobah Swamp World

"Dagobah was the world that Luke Skywalker visited with his quest to find Yoda, the Jedi Master in Star Wars V. Dagobah is a swamp-covered planet characterized by its bog-like conditions and fetid wetlands; the murky and humid quagmire was undeveloped, with no signs of technology. Although it lacked a civilization, the planet teemed with life of common reptilian and amphibious creatures. "

Yoda'a home on Dagobah

Yoda. All images are from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Truly Inspirational Rust and Decay

The work of Eddie Putera is truly inspiring, he makes incredibly detailed scale models and miniature scenes, often depicting rusting and decaying things. Although you will be able to view a few of his creations on his Instagram page you will need an Instagram account to take in all of his published work.

The Millennium Falcon and Star Wars Trilogy

I have posted other images of the Millennium Falcon and perhaps I have even uploaded this very screenshot. I have always been fascinated by the imaginary space craft and especially the, Millennium Falcon.

The Star Wars Trilogy is a collection of four disks. It includes that first three episodes of Star Wars, including: Star Wars IV, A New Hope, Star Wars V, the Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars VI, Return of the Jedi. These iconic movies were produced from 1977 through 1983.

Although it has been awhile, I have seen all three of the original episodes, and more recently the prequels, and the sequels. The four-disk set also comes with a bonus disk of materials, which I look forward to browsing through.