Nautilus and the giant Squid

[Lothar]

9 minutes ago, DocRob said:

 It's so refreshing not to care about RLM's and resembling historic pics in a build and let your mind wander with an obscure subject. I even started to think about bashing some airplane and tank kits for some Steam Punk builds.

Cheers Rob

Concur with the RLM's. I've seen some excellent "steam punk" builds at SMW in Telford, some of the got a well deserved gold and "best of show" if I remember correctly. So go for it, there's so much room for phantasy with these builds.

Lothar

[Buckeye82]

Fantastic work!

Mike

[Bomber_County]

Stunning Rob, I agree going freestyle is goooooooddddddd.............

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, Buckeye82 said:

Fantastic work

Thanks Mike

37 minutes ago, Bomber_County said:

Stunning Rob, I agree going freestyle is goooooooddddddd.............

Thank you Phil, you are right, I love to reproduce materials in modelling, specially metals. It needs some testing, but it is very rewarding, specially with no painting manual to follow.

Cheers Rob 

[GazzaS]

I really love how that looks after the pigments, Rob!

[npb748r]

this is really inspiring - I fancy doing something different and this might be it - thank you !

[DocRob]

10 hours ago, GazzaS said:

I really love how that looks after the pigments, Rob!

Thanks Gaz, I enjoy working with pigments more and more, it's messy and there is a lot to be learned. The downside is, you can't really seal pigments without completely altering what you achieved before. There is also a big difference in the quality of pigments. The ones mainly used here were blue and green from MIg, where the blue powder was of much finer grain an was much more efficient and gave a more intense Colour saturation.
My general experience with pigments is, as finer the grain is, the better they are to work with. There are some very coarse grained pigments out there and you cannot rub them in, they don't adhere.
When the squid is finished and the PE is attached, I will try my luck and work with coarse green pigments and some fixer, to replicate algae in some places.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, npb748r said:

this is really inspiring - I fancy doing something different and this might be it - thank you !

I'm very honored, I can highly recommend the kit, it has nice detail and it's trouble-freeness makes it easy to let your imagination wander.
There is other stuff out there, if you fancy resin and large scale. I have stashed some kits of Industria Mechanika, for future projects, which are also great.

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

12 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Thanks Gaz, I enjoy working with pigments more and more, it's messy and there is a lot to be learned. The downside is, you can't really seal pigments without completely altering what you achieved before. There is also a big difference in the quality of pigments. The ones mainly used here were blue and green from MIg, where the blue powder was of much finer grain an was much more efficient and gave a more intense Colour saturation.
My general experience with pigments is, as finer the grain is, the better they are to work with. There are some very coarse grained pigments out there and you cannot rub them in, they don't adhere.
When the squid is finished and the PE is attached, I will try my luck and work with coarse green pigments and some fixer, to replicate algae in some places.

Cheers Rob

Yes, I've yet to master pigments, though I generally work in shades of dust.  I've not found the application for bold colors, yet.  I know only once certainty in pigments is that you can;t seal them, because the white disappears.

[DocRob]

1 minute ago, GazzaS said:

Yes, I've yet to master pigments, though I generally work in shades of dust.  I've not found the application for bold colors, yet.  I know only once certainty in pigments is that you can;t seal them, because the white disappears.

That is only the downside of the medal, one true benefit in pigments, is like on the Nautilus, that you can control the effect of dullness and shine with pigments. The Bronze has a shiny finish and with the partly application of pigments you are able to leave the shine in wanted places and dull down other areas. This is hard to achieve with other techniques, especially with an airbrush.
If you ever watched closely at a copper surface wich is partly covered in patina, you know what I mean.

Cheers Rob 

[DocRob]

Did the squid today. It has to be a real menacing beast and I went for a purple, red, pale yellow scheme, as a contrast to the greenish sub. The body was primed and I started with the darkest purple shadows and three different red tones. Then pale yellow was used for the inside of the tentacles and then the lightest red again to blend the insides in. All the suction spots where brush painted with Inktensity yellow wich is translucent.
For the eye I tried something different. First I rubbed in Uschis chrome pigments, then painted the huge pupil with translucent black Inktensity color. Then I mixed Inktensity yellow and green and let it work like a wash in the corners of the eye. 
Ready is the badass squid, at least for today, maybe I have some more ideas to make him mean.

Cheers Rob

[GusMac]

The squid looks amazing. Really life-like and threatening.

[DocRob]

Thanks Gus, I was afraid, that it will eat my airbrush, was close shave .

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Nearly there now. Today I airbrushed the base with dark bluish and greenish Colours and screwed it for security reasons to the squid. The painting of squid and sea ground was completely made with Colours from Scale75 which have an excellent range of strange Colours ideal for such a case. I used their acrylics from the Fantasy Games series and the fabulous Inktensity Colours. When I bought these, I had no idea, for what they are good, but they creep into my builds and figure painting more and more. They are translucent and shiny and are perfect to pick out details, like the eye of the squid. Shiny leather is another possibility. First a base coat and then some Inktensity yellow or brown, magic.
The plate is sprayed in Copper , then pigmented and afterwards I used True Metal waxes, first bronze for the letters and then brass for the borders. I will rearrange the look of the pigments slightly after evrything is dried.

Cheers Rob

 

[harv]

Came out beautifully!.....harv 

[DocRob]

Thanks Harv, I'm pleased by the outcome until now, like the tonal balance of the whole thing. It's always difficult to envision this on freestyle projects. But that's where the fun and possible fail lay in.

Cheers Rob

[GusMac]

Wonderful finish Rob. It really looks the part and will be a nice, unusual display.

Never heard of the Scale 75 stuff but given your work here they definitely look worth a look.

[DocRob]

13 hours ago, GusMac said:

Wonderful finish Rob. It really looks the part and will be a nice, unusual display.

Never heard of the Scale 75 stuff but given your work here they definitely look worth a look.

Muchas Gracias Gus, Scale75 is a Spanish company, which I knew long before I went to Spain, because I liked their core business, white metal figures in, you wouldn't have guessed, 75mm scale. I have some of them and busts in other scales too. They expanded into more scales and paints over the years and I use their normal range of acrylics for figure painting mainly, because the paints dry dead flat and they cover exceptionally well. The downside is, they are really hard to shake through and to thin properly.
The here used more fantasy orientated range is not completely flat (how would a dead flat surface on underwater squid skin look ), sprays better through the airbrush and has really unusual and appealing Colours, with a special mention of the metallics, which are extremly fine pigmented for brushable paints.

Cheers Rob 

[DocRob]

The Nautilus is done. Today I added all the PE parts which where burnished before, instead of painting. The etched parts fitted very well and the attachment of the cables are well thought through. The whole kit is excellent designed and relatively robust, even with the etch. 
I had tons of fun with this project, only a vague idea of the finished thing in my mind, when I started. It all developed while building, something you don't have too often with scale modelling. 
I can recommend the Nautilus kit highly for quality and for giving you the possibility for creativity.

Cheers Rob

[GusMac]

Lovely Rob. The bow rigging looks very neat. 

Thanks very much for the info about Scale 75. I've been able to find quite a few UK stockists, mainly in the wargaming shops, so I may try a few.

[DocRob]

Thanks Gus, I wish, PE-rigging would be so easy with other kits. There are tiny slots moulded into the plastic and you only have to insert the etched part with a drop of CA. Definitely a good idea for prefab British flat wire rigging on WW1 planes.

Cheers Rob

 

[Martinnfb]

Thant's amazing Rob ! Beautifully detailed trip down the memory lane , thank you for sharing 

Cheers

Martin

[Vandy1 VX-4]

Your Squid and rock bottom color are spot on.

[GazzaS]

Rob,

   I absolutely love it!  The squid is just awesome!  Well...it's a fantastic build all round.  The squid's mouth, is both terrifying and realistic looking at the same time.

 

Congrats on a job well done!

[DocRob]

8 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

Thant's amazing Rob ! Beautifully detailed trip down the memory lane , thank you for sharing 

 

5 hours ago, Vandy1 VX-4 said:

Your Squid and rock bottom color are spot on.

 

2 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Rob,

   I absolutely love it!  The squid is just awesome!  Well...it's a fantastic build all round.  The squid's mouth, is both terrifying and realistic looking at the same time.

Muchas Gracias Senhores, your positive feedback honors me.

@Martin, it definitely is a trip way back, when books where not digital and a film was made in technicolor and best watched at a huge screen in a cinema, popcorn in hand. I actually read a Jules Verne book last year on my Kindle .

@Vandy, I had a more or less fixed vision of the Nautilus with bronze and copper tones a s primary Colours, well aged with patina, because I have another huge steam punk dio in mind as a future project which includes a small submarine, but in 1/32 scale.
The Colours of the squid and the bottom where not set at the beginning. Two factors were the main driver here, first, tonal balance, the red and purple of the squid is binding the bronze greenish Nautilus to the dull black-blue-base.
The second factor is my palette of Scale 75 Colours, with this kind of project, I love to sit in front of my Colour chart and let my eyes be hooked, by what I think should look right.

@Gaz, I guess captain Nemo had the same thoughts about the beak and was not anymore sure if commanding a sub is such a good idea . I finished this build without getting nightmares, creature wise and kit wise.

Cheers Rob