So, this past weekend was a weird one that just led to me trying something I never thought about doing or ever attempted before. It all started with me first tooling around trying an AT-AT pilot but that not working out. So instead I started fooling around with a Tie Pilot. I got this far
Tie pilot wip and Mac by
JetpackBluesI posted this WIP up on Instagram and one of my friends said it looked like a cross between Star Wars and Mad Max. Then he suggested I do a series of those figures. I liked the idea, but knowing of the awesome stuff Sillof does I assumed he must have gotten around to that mashup and upon visiting his site found that he indeed covered this concept... and recently at that. So I figured screw it. I'm not going to work the same concept. A few words with friends on it and they told me I should do it anyway, just do it 1:18 scale. Its not like I'd do the same thing. So I decided I would only consider it if I find a suitable vehicle. Yes, they actually have a 1:18 scale Interceptor from the movies but I'm not spending upwards of 200 dollars. So I went to my local shop and low and behold I found I cool die cast challenger for 23 bucks. I bought it. Here she is modeled by Evil Ash
Tie pilot wip and Mac by
JetpackBluesIve never worked with vehicles and I certainly never worked with metal so I knew I was in for a puzzle. But I picked up some enamel paints came home and scratched my head. I wanted it to be "Mad Max'y" which means it would need a super charger. So I went to my hobby guy and picked up some dinky plastic kit that had parts for me to build one. That was the easiest part. I now realized I had to cut a hole in the hood for it to fit. The die cast metal hood... and I don't have tools to cut through metal. So I MacGyver'd up my poor little Dremel in a rather unsafe way, put on homemade body armor and went at it. An hour later I was still alive and I had my hole.
Tie pilot wip and Mac by
JetpackBluesSo now I had the base down as best I could get it. Now I had to paint it. I sanded her down and primed her and attempted to lay down a silver undercoat with Model Masters enamel paint. It went on essentially transparent. Ok, maybe it just needs another coat. Three coats later and the door I was trying to paint was still primer colored, just shinier. So I had to sand it down again. This time I attempted to paint the silver undercoat with just a regular Testors silver. It went on with no issue. So I went about painting the whole cars undercoat with this paint. Now for the black. I figured surely the metallic black Model Masters would cover over... it didn't. It essentially went on transparent, again. So, I pulled out my flat black model masters. Surely this will coat. Surely it didn't. I don't know if I got a bunch of bad paints but I find it hard to believe all the paints I just bought that day were bad. Regardless I broke out the regular Testors black paints and had no issue. Then came weathering, another thing I've never tried on any scale larger than a 1:18 scale stormtrooper helmet. I went about this the way I go about everything (much the same way I went about this entire car), making up crap as I go along. I know there are a million tutorials on weathering and one day I will probably look at one but this day was not the day.
So, I got the car the way I want, still pending some work, but basically I like it. Then I start wondering about the figures. Should I do a Star Wars/ Mad Max mashup or just do Mad Max? I decided not to mash up, but I'm still not sure if I'm going to do movie Max or not. I feel like since the car is not accurate I shouldn't. So, for now at least, its gonna be Miffed Mac until I figure things out
Tie pilot wip and Mac by
JetpackBlues
Tie pilot wip and Mac by
JetpackBlues, on Flickr
Tie pilot wip and Mac by
JetpackBluesAnd a close up of the weathering
Tie pilot wip and Mac by
JetpackBlues
