Hi, how are you all going?
I have been thinking for a while about starting a new topic and if so what would I call it now I know.it will be called the- Big Adventure.
But first I will repost some earlier photos to get the idea going.
(https://images52.fotki.com/v1639/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2545-vi.jpg).
(https://images43.fotki.com/v1218/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2682-vi.jpg).
Now moving forward hopefully full of imagination, mistakes, fake finishes but at the end a small build close to my original idear.
(https://images108.fotki.com/v1279/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2770-vi.jpg).
The dog has seen something through the jungle that is blocking the boat and it does not like it.
cheers, Tim ,Kim
I like your little boat but the third photo didn't show up. My computer says it didn't upload properly or something. -- Russ
Hi Russ.
I will do it again.
(https://images54.fotki.com/v1224/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2770-vi.jpg)
Rather then a mature fisherman, the figure in the boat should be a kid dressed as a pirate. Gives the viewer a much larger imaginative venue to stimulate then what you have now.
Aaaaaaaahhh: mature dreamer.
yes, you have it mature adventure no kids just a dog with a great smell and hearing who likes companionship.
The trouble with large scale figures you really don't have a lot to choose from what I have been aiming for is a retired male Australian who knows his way around Bali and the back islands of South East Asia buys a traditional vessel and takes off with his dog. The figure I am using has been butchered and filled and the silly cap has been changed to a nice shade hat the dog is an old buy but does the job well
This is all possible to a very small degree most of the black blocks are off limits the governments don't want you there and the locals want you as a meal ticket, when I think about this is the same in the back blocks of Africa, Central America and Asia -shame really.
So I really hope you enjoy the build I certainly do.
Cheers
i just realised that most of the world is not happy with the west and don't want us there.
No wonder: Even the west is not happy with the west! -- Russ
Back then in past everything was better:
Go West... Live is peaceful there...
But to come back to the essential: your boat is a great piece of art !
You treated the wood perfectly: it is just the right color and weathering.
Kim I'm liking the mystery as much as the modeling. Both are fun.
You are weaving a curious story while the dog is coming right to the point :)
(https://images34.fotki.com/v1212/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2802-vi.jpg?1561438653).
(https://images108.fotki.com/v360/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2860-vi.jpg).
(https://images43.fotki.com/v1326/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2866-vi.jpg?1561438676).
(https://images12.fotki.com/v1667/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2872-vi.jpg?1561438700).
(https://images54.fotki.com/v556/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2873-vi.jpg?1561438737).
(https://images34.fotki.com/v1212/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2885-vi.jpg?1561438758).
text to follow
Hi all.
I am having trouble with my picture loader so the 2 part post to make sure it is all posted and nothing is missing .
For a while now I have been one of the top posters and lately the top poster, not the most popular that goes to Chuck. I usually go along with a bit of reaction no worries, but the trouble is that I really like modelling and making things up, so here we go again.
The first 2 pictures are of the sale of the boat -paper, wood, markers, wire and string. I wanted the sail to be really thin so if I used paint and water it would have warped, the spirit based markers work really well[they will fade over time].
The last 4 photos are of the boat nearly finished going off to the adventure,.It is perhaps the most hand made item that I have made in a while I have not used any commercial castings just basic tools and basic materials just like the craftsmen of Asia.
The next bit is going to be hard I have the idea if it is going to work but at least I have a nice boat.
Hi Bill and Shitao how are you doing?
Cheers Kim
Looks good! The sail is interesting and unusual.
Kim, your stuff has character and charisma. It's art. The only reactions I have to it are positive. The boat has inspired me to fool around with something similar one of these days. Let's see what the next phase of the project will be. -- Russ
Kim, it's always great to admire your creative work!
Hi Ray, Russ and Frithjof.
cheers .
Ray the sail design is a Chinese Junk design, really every batton that goes across the sail should a trimming rope but it usually gets really messy.
Hello Kim, the sail is a typical Chinese junk sail, only the slats are too huge for me that have not used bamboo tube?
Hi all.
After careful planning, I have decided that a Flat bottom swamp boat with a Mud motor is what I am looking for so here it is.I try hard with motors but really I struggle it is definitely a work in progress, I just lose interest. And of course, there are new crew members to go with the swamp boat.
cheers Kim.
(https://images49.fotki.com/v22/photos/3/1816483/16154498/TheNash-vi.png).
(https://images43.fotki.com/v329/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2910-vi.jpg).
(https://images14.fotki.com/v1315/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2912-vi.jpg).
If you change your mind again, you can always fill it with water, put it in the freezer, and use it as a tray to make ice cubes. -- ssuR
P.S.: Your other boat inspired me to draw this thing and it was so difficult it took days! Click on the image to see it much larger.
Hi Russ that is really close to my original hull design I bet it was a whole lot easier to do it this way than my method, ice cubes yes as long as there is a profit in them.
My outboard has gone back to the workshop for some adjustment pity there was not a casting of a 3 horsepower Honda engine they are definitely the small engine of choice around the World.
My big adventure nuts you say all I do is make boats and butcher plastic figures so her is a bit of a drawing of the big event -work it out.
(https://images46.fotki.com/v678/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2916-vi.jpg)
cheers
Nice job on the swamp boat. Reminds me of an "adventure" my brother and I had when we were teens...
There was a filthy old pond on land that used to be a dairy farm near us. It was surrounded by trees, trash, and junk. We tried fishing in it, without success. Then we found a large, shallow box that had wooden sides and a sheet metal bottom. I think it had been used for mixing concrete.
We dragged it into the water and discovered that we could actually stand in it and float around. We found an old shovel too, and used it for an oar. The problem was, there were several small holes in the sheet metal, so our "boat" would gradually fill with water. We kept having to row it to shore and dump it out.
Inevitably, the time came when we didn't make it back to shore in time, and sank. I shudder to think of the diseases we were probably exposed to in that grimy water, but somehow we survived with no harm done. However, our dad was not very happy about it all.
Hi Ray.
nice image you should model it on a large scale it would look great.
I had a similar adventure when I was 3 years old I was sent to live with my grandparents in far north tropical Australia visually it is all stunning except.this was 1956 to 1957
My grandfather worked at the local coal-powered gas works which were located in a less desirable part of town a swamp actually and the company house was on the edge of the swamp interesting in its own way.
In this environment were 4 features that I still remember.
To get coal to the gasworks they constructed an earth embankment for a railway line on either side of the embankment were long rows of coconut palms. Every 2 or 3 days old coal fired railway engine would trundle along to deliver coal to the gas works. There in the extreme heat stokers would feed the gas works with coal swearing at the heat and coal dust.
But.
During the second world war, this part of Australia was being threatened with an invasion so to deprive the invaders any useful infrastructure mining equipment and oil processing equipment was sunk in the swamp the environment was littered with these bits and pieces with just parts of their structures being visible .the water was a swamp colour with the shimmering film of tar from the gas works and a course the place was crawling with those sort of creatures that are part of a nightmare heaps of snakes and crocodiles are the most vivid.
A big adventure for a 3-year-old with on friends.
Anyway, Russ with your boat do the keel, stern and gunnels then figure out a way to make it in a solid 3 D form.
Cheers
With ref to your boat motor - The one I have seen was in an aircraft Museum under a American Fighter aircraft of the Vietnam era
from what I can remember it was a Moped / or lambretta (if thats how you spell it) engine with half its cowl missing bolted to a British Myford lathe gearbox the prop shaft tube was only about 1 1/2 inch Dia I think yours looks a bit on the heavy side
1/35th kits of mopeds are still about I think Diopark still do some and I have seen others but they seem to come and go
the Verlinden 1/35th kit of the San Pan is still about Second hand but some people are asking stupid prices it was an early resin kit and not good.
Barney
Found amongst MY old files /scrap books an ODD BOD loco All you copyright people (I could find better words to describe them but Im in a nice mood) can go away or dig an hole as I actually OWN the photo can not remember were I acquired it and I don't no much about it
I should be the one to moan have seen it on the internet recently !! on the back it has LEN - 1957
Barney
Would make a nice Swamp Rat loco
Hi Barney,
Great set of pictures Thailand is still full of these styles of boats and mud hopping motors, doing ridiculous speeds and carrying up to 10 passengers. The motors were always a creative use of available machinery but Hondas have taken over.
During the Vietnam War, the CIA documented the shape and construction methods of coastal small boats of Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia very useful if you want to model this era, wooden pegs were very popular fasteners.I accessed these books from Sydney's Maritime museum's library.
cheers
This is really good Kim! Great modeling and imagination. I think those are two of the best things to accomplish.
cheers, Chuck.
I looked around and knew that I had some old photocopies [very dark] of the CIA textbook and here are some reproductions. The last image is of a boat based on these drawings that i built maybe 15 years aho[HO scale]
cheers.
(https://images34.fotki.com/v1605/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2918-vi.jpg).
(https://images54.fotki.com/v627/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2919-vi.jpg).
(https://images54.fotki.com/v627/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2920-vi.jpg).
(https://images53.fotki.com/v1495/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2922-vi.jpg)..
(https://images45.fotki.com/v1636/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2930-vi.jpg).
(https://images49.fotki.com/v22/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2933-vi.jpg).
QuoteFound amongst MY old files /scrap books an ODD BOD loco
Experimental Nattrass locomotive (putting a Cadillac car to more civilised use) on trial at Campbell's Sawmills Ltd, Karapoti, Upper Hutt, New Zealand. Nattrass never managed to convince anyone to buy this locomotive, but his subsequent ventures into improving Fordson tractors were moderately successful.
Another photo of the trial, if it works, both by someone called H.R. Maybury.
Hi Krusty how are you doing
Moving along I have added a roof to the swamp boat-paper and styrene.I like the effect that is on top of the roof I first started with a camouflage pattern but did not really like it fiddled around and this came out of the fiddle. Base colour then an acrylic matt fixative let dry but not too long and an acrylic topcoat let dry again not too long.Wet the top coat and rub you will find that the fixer will act as a sort of wet medium between the base and top coat producing a nice random effect .
cheers.
(https://images40.fotki.com/v26/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2939-vi.jpg).
(https://images51.fotki.com/v733/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2953-vi.jpg).
(https://images54.fotki.com/v101/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_2966-vi.jpg).
Now you've added a parasail ;D
Hi Lawton.
No, it is a canopy.
cheers
You call it a canopy, Lawton calls it a parasail but, on a car, they call it a spoiler. This is all very confusing to someone like me with a simple mind. -- Russ
Russ, I thought a spoiler was thing that gave away the ending of a mystery movie. Kim is taking great pains to avoid letting his mystery out of the bag. :)
Once the scow gets up to speed it will glide just like the Flying Nun did on the TV show.
The flying nun was my next door neighbor from the first grade until I graduated from high school. Yes, Sally Field. And despite her nice looks and popularity she was never the slightest bit stuck up. -- Russ
That's cool, Russ!
Hi all.
Here we go again this time the big adventure in a shoebox, yes it also has become the shoe box challenge at least the diorama but it will be interesting if I can also fit in lights we will see.Another bit of the puzzle has been added to the background primer only.
cheers, Kim.
(https://images41.fotki.com/v868/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3506-vi.jpg).
(https://images108.fotki.com/v1221/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3526-vi.jpg).
If you use a real shoe box that a pair of combat boots came in there would be more space.
Let's see what you come up with this time. Should be interesting. -- Russ
No Lawton you are not allowed to cheat -no big boxes!
Shoe boxes only size maximum -300 mm long[12 inches]
width -190 mm [7.5 inches]
height-111 mm[5 inches]
and yes you can use the lid if there is a use.
cheers,
(https://images51.fotki.com/v1654/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3537-vi.jpg?1564313726).
Hi
The Big Adventure in a shoebox soon will take a recognizable shape.
At the moment I am just building it and is a bit raw at the end I will blend it all together.
I feel it is something new from me especially with the backdrop which is paper.
cheers.
(https://images41.fotki.com/v826/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3541-vi.jpg).
(https://images14.fotki.com/v1315/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3543-vi.jpg).
Hi Kim
Looking good! Please continue to show your progress step by step!
Hi all.
here we go the start of my swamp, I just paint it on I like resins but I just don't like the method maybe I will use a thin veneer we will see. The overall scene is smaller now I usually make things too big then trim later when the overall composition becomes clearer.
cheers.
(https://images49.fotki.com/v292/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3581-vi.jpg).
(https://images45.fotki.com/v1636/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3587-vi.jpg).
I feel covered by mold and fungus just from looking at it .... -- Russ
yes, 1/32 scale mosquitoes coming.
The edges of the cycle diorama backdrop need to be straightened up you can see the front edges are flaring out.
The big adventure in a shoebox?
The scene is of a retired gentleman sick of his family and western society in general who takes off in his mud boat. Through the swamp an old searchlight tower of a sunken battleship slowly becomes clear.m\Many years in a very humid environment has attached the tower and its paint scheme -looks really deserted but sinister in a near green environment -but no there is still a light on .
cheers Kim
Are you sure that that isn't the observation platform from a submerged UFO hiding from the black helicopters from area 51?
I'm pretty sure you're onto something important, Lawton. If Kim denies it, then he'd be all but admitting he's part of a space alien conspiracy! (My, oh, my! What's a forum administrator to do?) -- Russ
yep
(https://images46.fotki.com/v274/photos/3/1816483/16154498/254318764_337348850509414400_n-vi.jpg)
yep moving along.
work in progress these scenes are a combination of paint and found scenic materials. I have reworked the water to try and make it more like wet paper with a mixture of water and spirit-based paints added,
cheers.
(https://images51.fotki.com/v731/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3602-vi.jpg?1565137020).
(https://images41.fotki.com/v1670/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3599-vi.jpg?1565137035).
Very interesting project Kim... enjoying seeing this story come together. Makes me think of Tony Joe White's song Polk Salad Annie...
The foreground really brings the background to life. Nice work. -- Russ
Hello Kim, I enjoy tracking the progress.
Looking good. I can easily imagine trying to row through that muck and getting algae draped over the oar.
Hi all.
Moving along painting and assembling some of the pieces-The Big Adventure in a shoebox.
Cheers, Kim.
(https://images44.fotki.com/v1405/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3623-vi.jpg).
(https://images52.fotki.com/v1211/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3627-vi.jpg).
(https://images49.fotki.com/v292/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3645-vi.jpg)
Good stuff, Kim!
You really brought that searchlight thing to life. -- Russ
I can almost feel the heat and bugs.
There's a story just lurking under the surface.
Great space.
Regards
Marty
Cheers everybody.
Looking at this image there is one main element at the moment that is bugging me that is the canopy on the boat -its too big and stops your view a barrier this and a few other things need to be fixed.
work in progress.
cheers Kim
I like it the way it is. If you got rid of the canopy you would bring out the search light tower to the foreground or in your face too much. As it is, you must look through and beyond the canopy to discover hidden treasures.
Hi true today I have got rid of the canopy today and the point that you have made is true-but.
it is too high and the right-hand foreground needs attention.
Funny small changes can make or break a small diorama-like this but the upside is that they are really easy to change and put back together.
cheers, Kim.
I have lowered the canopy to my eye the portion has been improved but still keeping the feeling of depth in small space cheers.
(https://images44.fotki.com/v1409/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3659-vi.jpg)
Yes, that helps and the height looks more appropriate. -- Russ
Looks better but need dog. :)
Bill
Hi all how are you all going?
These are the final pieces of The Big Adventure I could fiddle around forever but I want to move on, this has been a great adventure for me in modeling so.
The next project for me is a rebuild of my traveling display -South Creek. South Creek and I are going on a big adventure of our own early next year and I am dying to try out some new ideas .
cheers, Kim.
(https://images49.fotki.com/v22/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3671-vi.jpg).
(https://images45.fotki.com/v1200/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3679-vi.jpg).
(https://images54.fotki.com/v1224/photos/3/1816483/16154498/DSC_3690-vi.jpg).
Good composition and artistry. Satisfactory. -- Russ
I still think a kid in a pirate costume would be better.
Very nice!