Fishy trees

Diorama accessories in any modelling scale are a must, but in 1/6 scale there are few and those are expensive, but there are alternatives to those manufactured for the scale.

Remember my fish tank cavern walls?

Well, I have once again dived into the murky waters of the fish-keeping world... and found tree trunks!

Cast in resin the tree trunks are hollow and well detailed, although swarming with pin holes.  Since the cast bark texture is very coarse (realistically so) these are nearly all unnoticeable.

I shall repaint them and add the likes of moss and other plant growth on them, but for £2.99 each I really can't complain.

They work well with 1/6 figures as smallish fallen logs... perfect for rural, forest or jungle dioramas/photo set-ups.

I shall be diving back into the fish tank soon to see what else I can find...

From junk...

You know how it is... you're feeling below par, feeling sorry for yourself and just lying down hoping to sleep the sickness off... lying there staring into space wishing the churning in your guts would stop... I was like that on Thursday evening, just lying on my bed staring into space and my eyes lighted on an old air freshener like one of these:

With the label peeled off you are left with three or four leaf-shaped holes.
So what? you may ask... well, the model maker in me saw something else...

I added a couple of knobs I was sent by my mate Bob Aucutt and instant retro style radio.

All I need to do is paint it a nice bakelite tortoise shell pattern, add some screening material behind the cut-outs, paint the knobs and add a frequency dial and hey presto nice little diorama accessory :)

Always pays to look at something you would normally discard with a fresh perspective... sometimes junk is junk, but other times...

More head painting

The title of this post is a little misleading as this time I was asked to paint eyes.

My previous Tom Baker head repaint was well received but I was asked to redo the eyes as I made them look a bit bloodshot...

Hmm...may have a point... so anyway, I repainted the eyes and took the opportunity to lighten the skin a shade too as there seemed to be some damage in the form of white crusts in a few places.

Might need to add a bit more colour before I post it back, but it looks better already.

The same chap also asked me to repaint his Clara Oswald figure's eyes.
The original head has rather khaki brown eyes whereas Jenna Coleman has very warm dark amber eyes.  So, out with the Tamiya clear orange and a couple of coats later they were looking lovely, even if I do say so myself.

Makes a world of difference.