The Energon Pub

by **donny1975** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:29 pm

Autobot Genocide wrote:Beepin hell donny!

That's damn fine work went into this project well done mate

Thanks AG much appreciated! To show my appreciation here is some more work on the diorama

LOL.

I got the base color coat applied to the mountain (caution wet paint!)...I have some grey and black that I am going to sponge on to the base color to break it up and add some depth and character to the rock face.

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News Credits: 15 · by **galvatron00** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:24 pm

donny1975 wrote:
Autobot Genocide wrote:Beepin hell donny!

That's damn fine work went into this project well done mate

Thanks AG much appreciated! To show my appreciation here is some more work on the diorama LOL.

I got the base color coat applied to the mountain (caution wet paint!)...I have some grey and black that I am going to sponge on to the base color to break it up and add some depth and character to the rock face.

Continues to impress!! Am I the only one hoping for some stop motion after all is said and done?!

by **donny1975** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 8:23 pm

I have never done stop motion before but not opposed to try it sometime...thanks for the encouragement I really appreciate it. I have some more pics to upload...tomorrow if I can.

News Credits: 15 · by **galvatron00** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 7:05 am

donny1975 wrote:I have never done stop motion before but not opposed to try it sometime...thanks for the encouragement I really appreciate it. I have some more pics to upload...tomorrow if I can.

Well it IS time consuming, but you've already put so much time into this so what's MORE LOL

by **donny1975** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:45 pm

Added some gray paint to the mountains, next some light brown/tan will be added to cut the red a bit.

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News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:53 pm

looking good!

Is there a face carved in the rocks?
1st photo, upper right corner. looks like an Easter Island kinda face.
Am I just seeing things, or was that intentional?

by **donny1975** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 7:24 pm

Cobotron wrote:looking good!

Is there a face carved in the rocks?
1st photo, upper right corner. looks like an Easter Island kinda face.
Am I just seeing things, or was that intentional?

Haha! No I see it too! It is not on purpose..."You give me gum gum...dumb dumb"

by **donny1975** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 2:33 pm

Well I got some more painting and detail work done; such as the sand/rocks at the base of the mountain.

I put two layers of foam atop the tail of the Ark, but I am not sure how much higher I will go...the diorama is already 3ish feet tall at the mountain...what do you all think?

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by **KnightAero** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 7:43 am

If your looking at going "real real" and doing photos with it.. Then you might consider going green screen or something so you could edit it out and make the mountains taller (in photoshop). Otherwise another thought would be to add a printed out background of some sort as a "finishing height" but would need to have a foam or cardboard backing...

However,

Making it "peak" to some degree would be a really nice finish to this... And then it would not need all the backdrop parts which might not look good "in person."

News Credits: 1 · by **leakin' lubricant** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:33 am

Donny, you are killing it mate! That rockface looks superb, especially in contrast with the super sleek lines of the Ark.

by **donny1975** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:53 am

Thanks LL! Glad you are liking it! I'm getting excited for finishing it and getting my pretend on! LOL

by **donny1975** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 7:17 pm

KnightAero wrote:If your looking at going "real real" and doing photos with it.. Then you might consider going green screen or something so you could edit it out and make the mountains taller (in photoshop). Otherwise another thought would be to add a printed out background of some sort as a "finishing height" but would need to have a foam or cardboard backing...

However,

Making it "peak" to some degree would be a really nice finish to this... And then it would not need all the backdrop parts which might not look good "in person."

After more consideration I have to say I agree, I need to get some more height on it and bring it to a taper. It will look better but not looking forward to more foam work UGH...

Thanks for the input KA!

by **donny1975** » Wed Apr 08, 2015 7:40 pm

Got the ground detailing finished -- it's a few layers of sand held down with modge podge and a layer of diorama gravel held down with some spray adhesive and finally a coat of clear matte sealer. I also put some "greens" in a few of the crags of the mount face...I am not sure about those we'll see if they grow on me or not...

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News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Wed Apr 08, 2015 8:52 pm

I just can't believe how "rich" you were able to make it look. The little bits of grass are icing on the cake! How close to completion would you say you are?

by **donny1975** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 6:29 am

Shaj - I think I am fairly close I also did some more foam work last night as well for the top portion of the mountmountain side. Need to finish that, paint it, affix it and some minor detail work (which takes the longest). So another couple weeks if I keep havi g free time.

by **donny1975** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 5:15 pm

Ok so I haven't had the time I wanted to work on the project, but I did get some stuff done yesterday and today...

Firstly, I decided to use canned foam or as Dupont calls it "Great Stuff" to finish off the top of the mountain and give it more height and more finished look. I tried carving more levels out of the styrofoam but that was getting tedious and and it was not looking good :-(

. At any rate, I still need to finish carving some detail in the foam and correct the "swiss cheese" look that the bubbles in the setting foam create...BUT I am liking the outcome so far.

I was actually contemplating doing this for the entire mountain but it would have been uber expensive...

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And because I am getting close to finishing the mountain itself, I decided to get started on the medical/repair bed for the autobots...

I made a prototype out of legos so I had a model to work from when I started working with the styrene. I will also be incorporating some of the legos into the work for the mecahnics.

I wanted to make it expandable so that it could accomodate figures like Prime or Blaster(Transister).

The lego prototype is a 'lil coffin shaped (creepy) so I am gonna square that off in the end result.

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The final model will have 2 articulating arms, and a post with some lights to illuminate the bed, I'll probably power it with a 9v battery.

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by **donny1975** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 4:26 pm

Found some time this weekend to get some work done on the diorama.

I finished sculpting the top part of the mountain, coated it with white primer, and started putting the base color on...

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I also did the wiring and solder work for the repair bed overhead lights. I repurposed a lot more Legos in this model than the Teletraan 1 model, but they are helpful

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News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:09 pm

All I can think to say is...

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:17 pm

Strange. I don't know what that is Cobs, but I feel the same way :lol:

by **donny1975** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:08 pm

Cobotron wrote:All I can think to say is...

Ummm...hmmm...thanks Cobs! LOL

by **donny1975** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:09 pm

shajaki wrote:Strange. I don't know what that is Cobs, but I feel the same way

I concur with the not knowing that that is...

but it looks cool.

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:11 pm

I couldn't express myself through words. So I used dance to conjure magic in an effort to convey my emotions.
It's how I do.

I call this peace, Earth, Wind, and Fire.

by **donny1975** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:22 pm

Cobotron wrote:I couldn't express myself through words. So I used dance to conjure magic in an effort to convey my emotions.
It's how I do.

I call this peace, Earth, Wind, and Fire.

I think it's great.

"...peace, Earth, Wind, and Fire..." reminds me of...