Airbrushed Xbox Controller (Matrix Edition)

Finished my weekend project! I finally got a compressor for my airbrush (which before that I was using off a tire emergency air tank.), so I've been getting a lot of stuff airbrushed. This was pretty simple, used some cut out stencils to create the code, and ordered the buttons, joysticks, etc. off ebay from a custom gaming site. The stencils were a bit time consuming, but I think they turned out nicely. I did some slight fading from dark to light with some of it to give it some texture, and then clear-coated the whole thing to protect the paint job. Anyways, enjoy, and feel free to comment if you like my work!

From the Painting Table: Imperial Fist Draigo

Hello. :) Time for another quick update on the happenings. This ones a couple weeks old, but figured you guys would like pictures of it. Draigo is a great model to begin with, but I really didn't like the mono-chrome silver look he normally has. So, in the Imperial Fist fashion, I painted him up all yellow and fancy. :) Did some minor conversions, mostly just kept the stock model and stuck him on a fancy base. He took 3rd in the local painting competition as well, which was nice. Aiming for first next time! Anyways, enjoy!

Back with More Art!

So, been busy at college for the last couple weeks, but I managed to finish a couple of projects before the end of summer. The first is a set of wire butterflies that I entered into the Samaritan Employee Art show, and took 1st place with! :) The second I will post at a later date. Pictures first, then description:

So, here it is! This one took me quite some time, probably a couple weeks (probably not as long as the portal gun, but close). I went and picked up a book on butterfly species for this one, so they're all based on actual species (you could probably even identify them!) I made sure to include some of the markings and coloration of the originals as best I could, but added a bit of metallic flair to each. It was fun doing lots of different designs, which was something I haven't had to do with my art yet, so it was a good experience, and turned out well. Anyways, here's some close ups of the rest, and hope you stop by the blog again!

Portal Gun is Done!

Finally finished the portal gun. :) Took me probably 40+ hours, but I really like how it turned out. Starting with the barrel, it started as cut PVC Pipes. I then filled the area between the two pvc pieces with foam pieces and bondo, then sanded the crap out of the thing. The shells were a bit more intensive, starting with gluing layers of pink foam together. I carved the rough shape with a hack saw, cleaned it up with a kitchen knife, and then sanded it to the curved shape you see. A layer of gesso, then a layer of bondo, filling the pock marks with spackle, and a final paint layer later, and the shell looks how it is now, and is a great deal more durable then the foam itself. The claws are thin plastic bolted together, and there are some other oddball parts that add the detail to the gun. I also added LEDs into the gun, both orange and blue, so the whole thing lights up. Anyways, here's some pictures, enjoy! If you've got any questions about the process, feel free to leave a comment.

Blue!

New Computer Parts!

So, more stuff going on over here. Taking a quick break from the Portal Gun project I've been working on for a couple weeks now, I managed to find some time to install the new heatsink into my computer. Don't know if it's big enough, but any bigger and it wouldn't fit in the case. Speaking of cases, hopefully going to start on the Jurassic Park case mod I've been designing for a couple months. I've been collecting components, and will begin the case within a week or so. Anyways, here's some pictures of the new heatsink as well as pictures of my current case for those that haven't seen it yet. Enjoy!

The new Heatsink. P lease ignore the messy cables, it was my first attempt at wire sleaving

Neo, in all his glory.

Portal Gun WIP

Sorry for the long hiatus, I've been busy finishing a new project. One of my friends decided to go as Chell to Kumori con this next week, and I've been scrambling to get the portal gun done she commissioned. I've gotten pretty far in the short amount of time I've been working on it, and it's looking really good. I'll be sure to post lots of finished product pictures when I'm done, and I'll update with pictures of the cosplayer for the full effect!

From the Painting Table: Tactical Squad and some Artwork

Finally finished the first half of the tactical squad (Minus basing, of course). They turned out nicely, I think. Very clean, and I'm really happy with how the scripture on their shoulder pads and purity seals looks. For these, I tried painting a lot quicker then I normally would. I had them finished within a week (from base coat to finished paint job)

The process for these is fairly straightforward: Basecoat Averland Sunset (did this with an airbrush, made the whole thing a lot faster), wash with Seraphim Sepia, layer Yriel yellow, layer Flash Gitz yellow, then hightlight with a 50/50 mix of the Flash Gitz and Skull White. Then, fill in details. Anyways, enjoy!

I also recently started a new art project. I plan on doing a large butterfly collection (done with metalwork) in a shadowbox I found upstairs. There will probably be about 20 butterflies, all different, by the time I'm done. I finished the first yesterday. Enjoy!

From the Painting Table: Vanguard Vets, Captain and Tactical Squad WIP

So, been a while since I've posted any 40k stuff, so here's a large update on what I've been doing. So, the first thing I've finished in a while has been my squad of Vanguard Vets. Been working on them for quite some time, and finally put the finishing touches on them. They've been reposed, added bits, and yes, the sergeant has terminator lightning claws. :)

Some other stuff I've been working on include the captain for my army (reposed, added tons of bits, and fully magnatized) and a combat squad, which is just about finished. 

As usual, thanks for reading, and comments are greatly appreciated. :)

An Experiment in Sewing

Having never sewed anything but a few patches, this was an interesting project. Not entirely difficult, but it was sure tedious. I decided to sew this in preparation for the new 40k 6th edition rulebook, which I decided to fork over the $75 for when it came out. I went to the craft store, not knowing what I was doing, and picked out what I thought would be a pretty straightforward pattern and some nice looking fabric.

I got home, was shown how to use the showing machine, and got to work. Not 10 minutes into the project, I realized how darned confusing this pattern was, and had to spend the next hour deciphering it's odd wording and illustrations. However, after much confusion and determination, I was able to finish the thing, and added some of my own flair to it as well. So, here you have it: a one of a kind Imperium messenger bag:

Return of the Blog

Well, it's been quite a bit of time since the last post. Between moving out of the dorms, finishing finals of my Freshman year in college, and getting a bone graft on my broken leg, it's been a bit crazy. But on a good note, it's summer, which means projects galore! Some projects I plan on working on / finishing this summer include: A sewing project (just about complete), finishing my Imperial Fist army, building a portal gun prop for a friend, starting a Jurassic Park computer case mod, and some assorted art projects. I haven't got pictures of the sewing project yet, so to start things off, I'll go into a little bit about the blimp we built about a couple months back.

The blimp started as Ben Narin's idea, and he approached me asking for some help with the frame and envelopes. Having a little experience with RC helicopters and having built a couple of balsa wood airplanes as a kid, I agreed to help, and began design on a balsa wood frame.

We decided to go with just a single envelope (the balloon that holds the blimp up), so the frame was designed around that. Using some basic hard-balsa wood, I designed a frame around the two circuit boards we used (one was an OSU designed board, called a Tek-pet, which had usb outputs and a motor controller, the other board was an Xbee, a serial communications board).

Surprisingly enough, for gluing balsa wood, Elmers glue seems to work the best. Watered down a bit so that it soaks into the wood, it kept the frame together really well. For the propellers, I mounted them on some small pager motors, zip tied to the ends of a long abs tube. To allow the propellers to rotate, I attached a LEGO gear in the middle of the rod, put the corresponding gear on a micro-servo, and mounted the whole apparatus to the frame. Though simple, this seemed to work well for our purposes.

So, with the frame done, and Ben and Marshal (the other person working on the project) having finished their programming, it was time to test. We ended up adding a second envelope to carry the weight of the frame and board. After some initial hiccups, such as removing weight from the frame and changing some minor programming errors, we were able to get the thing in the air and fly around the room.

So, after tweaking a few things, Ben informed me that the blimp was to be entered into a freshman design competition (which I had no knolege of in the beginning), and that we could win some cool prizes. I was all for it, so we entered it. We ended up taking home about $500 in prizes, including an xbox and a high-end robotics kit.

All in all, it was a rewarding build. I look forward to working with Ben in the future.

From the Painting Table: Imperial Fist Captain, Terminators, and Assault Marines

I also paint and play Warhammer 40k. I started with an imperial guard army, simply because I liked all the tanks, and recently moved to playing Imperial Fist Space Marines, which is also the first army I've been using Citidel paints on. Anyways, here's what I've been working on as of late:

 This one is the first time I've played with the new Citidel base coats. I really like the stuff, it goes on nice, and makes the subsequent layers really easy to lay on. Started with a white base coat, based Averland Sunset, washed with Gryphonne Sepia, did 2 layers of Golden Yellow, and finished with a layer of Sunburst Yellow.  Still a WIP, obviously, but it's turning out pretty good.

An here's his accompanying squad (Minus the commander, still working on him.)

Painted these a little while ago, using a different hard lining technique, which made the Armour look really chunky. Starting with White, I used 2 layers of Golden Yellow, 2 layers of Sunburst yellow, then inked with a Scorched Brown. I kind of like it, but not as much as the technique I used on the assault marine. :)

Finally, my captain. He was painted similar to the terminators above, except I tried inking with a black instead. It turned out pretty sharp, which is nice. 

Anyways, as always, comments and critiques welcome. Enjoy!

Welcome to the club

     This is the first of hopefully many blog posts. Welcome to the place where idle musings and random projects reside. For starters, I am a simple college student, no one important by any means. Most of my skills are self taught, or learned through experience, so most likely my techniques will be either strange or genius.

     Feel free to leave as many or as little comments as you like, and critique if you wish. However, anyone who is clearly being a troll will be asked to leave. The point of all this is simply to document some of the things I do as to inspire others to to try them, and to post observations or ideas for others to discuss or ponder on. If you don't like it, don't read it. :)

So, to start off, here's some of my older artwork and sculptures to scroll through, just to kick things off.