Round Four Report from Rob Jedi - Part 2

Rob Jedi continues:

Conversion

Well, when you look at my model, you'll have a hard time spotting it. What I had decided early on was that the model sitting on its base the way it had been designed lacked dynamics. So playing with the hovercraft on top of its base, I decided it would look pretty cool if it was thanging it sideways mid-turn (hovercraft drift like nothing else).

So I drilled a hole through the centre of the hovercraft and through the base at its join point. I then put in a 1.5mm brass rod and glued it into the base. I then put the hovercraft on top, and then bent it into the direction that I liked. Now I used some epoxy putty to resculpt up the top of the base to fill the new gap, doing my best to continue the design of the base and avoid a seam. I also pushed the hovercraft down onto the putty, so that it fit perfectly to the underside.

The next bit of modelling happened during a session of casting up some Hirst Arts bricks (damn, I'm hooked - check Voidgamers for my Mordor style tower). I had some extra plaster left over from a cast, and I thought hey, I'll try using it to make waves, so I covered the top of a wooden base that I had decided to use to mount the hovercraft. I grabbed the flying base and jammed it into the wet plaster in a appropriate direction, then started sculpting rough wave shapes using my plaster stirring stick and wax carver. I sprayed the plaster with water to keep it wet, and added more plaster and worked it till it all looked cool. I really hoped this looked alright when I painted it.

The next day when it had dried, it separated from the wood base and broke in one spot. Damn. I glued it back on with PVA and did my best to cover the break. I also figured it would be a good idea to paint a thin coat of PVA over all of the plaster, so it wouldn't soak up the paint too much (and should make the surface stronger).