C-3PO (1/12 scale model)

I was born in 1971 yet I somehow didn't get to see Star Wars during its first release in 1977, but I collected the trading cards, comic books, and a handful of action figures; having only cursory knowledge of the story didn't matter to me: I was entranced by that universe and I still am to this day.

The first two action figures I got were R2-D2 and C-3PO. I absolutely love their designs and when I saw an in-box review of the new Bandai 1/12 scale Threepio snap kit a few months ago (and saw how super shiny the gold was!) I knew I had to build one myself as one of the many scale model projects assigned to the Small Pond Shipyard.

At first I thought I should keep him shiny to show off the amazing reflectivity, but thinking back to some of the first images I saw of him (and the first time we meet him in the movie), he was already kind of tarnished...and by the time he meets Luke on Tattooine, he's dusty, banged up, and he's been fitted with a restraining bolt. That's the Threepio that made such an impact on me as a kid, so that's the Threepio I wanted to recreate with this kit.

Around the time of the movie's release, when my friends were collecting toys and cards, one of my friends built the MPC model of C-3PO and I was at his house as he was putting the finishing touches on his back panel –the first time I ever noticed it. Much like my fascination with a certain hospital model and seeing my cousin build car models (recounted here), my friend's Threepio model apparently left a lasting impression on me and has now taken physical form.

This kit comes with options for non-movable arms (with shiny gold pistons) and movable ones (with dull, gold-ish, not-very-shiny pistons). I knew I'd probably want to pose him for various photo shoots in the future, so I went with the movable arms. There was also an alternate chest piece (allowing for the restraining bolt to be snapped on) and an alternate face plate (with a dent). You can also use an alternate eye that replicates the dangling one pulled out by Salacious Crumb in Return of the Jedi (too undignified for my taste).

I put him together in a few hours about a month ago and put his completion on hold until I could devote the proper amount of time the weathering would take (just a few more hours' work, as it turned out).

I began the weathering with a generous covering of Burnt Umber water mixable oil paint (the kind I use for my paintings) applied with a brush, and then wiped it off with a tissue and my fingertips. I did this twice (not bothering to let the first pass dry) to make sure all the nice grooves were filled in for better definition.

I felt he needed some desert dust so I looked for some chalk pastels but decided to try an experiment: corn starch. I don't know where the notion came from, but it worked okay, considering. I applied that with a brush, too, and blew and brushed the excess away several times until I got the desired effect (mostly a slight dulling of the shine in certain places).

The oil leaks on his chest fascinated me as a kid (I kind of felt sad for him because it looked like he was "bleeding" oil...and it added to the realism of a broken robot). This feature also left a lasting impression on me, so I pulled out some reference images from my copious collection of Star Wars books and tried to recreate the leaks as best I could using black acrylic. While I was at it, I smeared some of that paint into various grooves for more grime effects (whereas most people *scrape away* the carbon scoring off their droids).

One last dusting of corn starch and I felt satisfied with him.

Axel Foley's Chevy Nova (1/25 scale model)

Multiple tributes, here. I remember first seeing Beverly Hills Cop on video at my friend Chris K's house, 'cause his family had a VCR and we'd watch tons of movies (and record music videos) together. The summer of 1984 was a special time for us (having created a strong bond in school since Grade 6 a few years before), going on biking adventures around the 'burbs and into the city, etc., and home video played an important role from then until I moved to the opposite end of Scarborough just before we started high school. We liked the movie a lot, both of us fans of Eddie Murphy from his Saturday Night Live days. I don't think I'd seen the movie since then (it would have been 1985, probably summer, since the movie came out in late 1984) and I became curious to see if it still held up. It did. It does. I found Murphy as charming as ever and the comedy (and even the action) holds up very well and its very re-watchable and very entertaining. Beverly Hi...

Small Pond Arts Puppet Wagon (1/24 scale model)

I dreamed up the Small Pond Shipyard for my fanciful scratch-built sci-fi airship creations (which still only exist in sketch/Photoshop mock-up form (and boxes in my closet) for now), but more and more ideas kept coming ( this wind turbine , for example, will be part of a rather elaborate diorama I'll be working on this winter). But the Puppet Wagon was a sleeper surprise, to be sure. [Really, though, I don't know why I was so eager to build this right away since I was planning to slowly develop my modelling skills with simpler builds first and the work my way up to more complicated projects.] Not all parts were used/needed. Most of these ideas have come from watching modelling videos online, and when I saw a review of this sweet little Japanese "Ramen Shop" food truck by Aoshima (right-side drive!), my brain started making jokes about customizing it to the weird food truck ideas I'd been posting on Facebook. But the more I thought about what the co...

City of Angels

17" x 11", watercolour and digital, 1999 Ah, City of Angels . I thought I was getting cool film noir but got a cheesy musical instead (Google it if you must). Still, it was fun to make the poster and associated images, mostly because the research consisted of watching real films noir and buying a great book on movie posters of the genre. I made tons of sketches and a few digital mock-ups. For the final poster above, I made three separate watercolour paintings (one of the couple and one each of the two black and white heads) and composited them in Photoshop, where I also added the text. In true movie poster fashion, I wanted the actors names to be the top two names, but I lost that battle and had to use the characters' names instead. It looks fine, but it implies that "Kingsley and Stone" are the lead actors in the show. Oh, well...it's only community theatre... By making the "angel" above half black and white and half colour, th...

The Naked Silo

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