Fun with leather

I recently had the Redman Toys "Good Cowboy" (The Man With No Name) delivered and while this is an excellent figure the pleather saddlebags and pseudo suede gunbelt and holster.
The gunbelt could be improved but I will have a go at weathering it first, but the saddlebags are terrible. 
They are a thin fabric material covered with an even thinner skin of PVC 'leather'... which flakes off as soon as you look at it too hard.  I decided to have a go at making a replacement.

I ordered some thin dark leather from the internet and once it arrived I traced the original on the reverse twice to have a front and back to the saddlebags.  I used fabric contact glue to fix these parts together.  I need to stitch the edges for a more professional look but they are okay at the moment.

For the bags I just traced around the new leather piece and then glued these to both ends.  These will also need to have stitches around the edge.
The flaps were made in the same way with fastening straps cut from thin strips of the leather.  I used the buckles from the original bags.

To make the thing look worn and used I scuffed it up with my sanding block.  Once the stitches are in I will weather it with powders and filters for that dusty look.

This is the part as it stands at the moment...
Technically it should be in two halves joined in the middle, but I'm happy with the way it looks.

I filled the bags with car tyre balancing weights... it needs to hang properly and it can only do that with some weight to it.

Oscilloscope

As well as the computers and larger pieces of tech I have also been building a desktop oscilloscope.  This was made from scratch with the odd spare item used as dressing... and a piece or two from Bob Aucutt (thanks, Bob).

At the weekend I started to paint the model, and adding some wear and tear to show it had been roughly handled.

This has two LEDs, one for the screen (yet to be made) and one for the power light.

The detail work will bring it to life...as well as the lights.

Retro Computers - Part 5

Made a lot of progress over the weekend... I was able to paint the two tape drive cabinets and get them to a point where they are now roughly 95% complete.

First I painted them a nice shade of Rust-Oleum light blue, masking off the tape drive sections...

Once they had dried I then added chrome foil and fixed the clear plastic tape covers in place.

Here is a figure to show their size...

I still have the back to paint, add a wash to the grille on the lower front, and add some text here and there (model number, branding, etc)
Nearly there... then I can concentrate on the mainframe unit... which still has a roof and some details to be added.

Retro Computers Part 4

Well, with the nice weather, after work yesterday I decided to prime the two main computer cabinets... and ran out of primer.  Still, at least I got the fronts done.  I'll get more primer soon to finish them off...

This is one of them with the clear panel just resting in place over the tape drive

The colour of the cabinets will be Coral Blue... this lovely Tamiya spray paint.

Corridor

While I wait for better weather to start painting my 1/6 computers I got on with my biggest diorama set to date - a generic SF corridor.  It's fairly simple but allows the figures to be photographed without going into close-up all the time.

It's made from 5mm and 10mm Foamex PVC board, the material used for sign making.  It's very light and easy to cut with a craft knife.

The fans are simply plastic fan covers from a PC spares shop on eBay.
I painted the model in a mix of grey acrylic car primer and copper acrylic spray paint to create a metallic greyish colour base coat... which will be weathered and marked up.

This is the basic floor part.

And with some weathering and lining added...

The walls were also base-coated, but these need more detail added, such as lighting and other greebles...

Looks good with Daleks...

Desk

I've been building some smaller desktop items for my tracking centre photo-set and realised there was nothing for them to sit on... so decided to build a desk/table for them.
Normally I would draw something like this out with sizes, etc... but for whatever reason I didn't this time and winged it.  Everything is eyeballed, but luckily all true and square.

Since the photos were taken I have added a third leg at the front point and raised the feet some 4mm, as well as detailing and tidying up the edges.

I then tried out the equipment for size... and was surprised it was working!

The wires under the oscilloscope will lead into a disguised battery box.

The following show a figure to see how it works for scale... and again it works surprisingly well!
(The chair is a Chinese 'tulip' design bought cheaply from eBay... I may replace it with a more utilitarian design more suited to the setting... this looks a bit of place for a set up in an old lighthouse).

Now I just need to finish the equipment off and complete the table and that's a few more items off the to do list.

Knobs!

One of the things I've not been happy about with my computer builds so far is the lack of any scale knobs and switches.  Cockpit details are available from a US manufacturer (for RC model aircraft) but the postage rates from the US are silly to say the least.

Riding to my rescue was all around good guy Bob Aucutt from America - Bob specialises in 1/6 scale character figures from classic TV and films, using a highly skilled seamstress and utilising 3D printing and resin casting to achieve the costumes and props that he needs.  He very kindly offered me some resin castings of his 1/6 scale knobs and switches... and I have been having fun with them.

This first device is a communications set up in typical 1970s Doctor Who style - an ex-army wireless set with some random gadgets attached.  One of Bob's dial-knobs is attached to the front centre, while a strange trefoil piece is higher up - I may use as that attachment as a power cord plug.

 This oscilloscope unit has another dial-knob attached.  I will add smaller buttons of my own to dress it up a bit.

In the following photos I have added dial-knobs, other strange knobs and paddle switches.  Once painted up this computer should look nicely detailed.

Bob has also hinted that he may let me have toggle switches - to be honest these are a holy grail as no retro equipment can do without these switches.  They are iconic... sort of.

Kitbashing gadgets

With the larger computer equipment either nearing the end of construction or waiting for decent weather to be painted I decided to do some kitbashing.

As these are intended for a 1970s style Doctor Who photostory I thought what better than a typical Fourth Doctor device tinkered together to thwart the menace, or to at least confuse them a little.  To that end I dug out an old small scale Bandai Gundam kit that I knew had some interesting-looking parts in it... and came up with this.  Needs a box unit to sit on but looks okay at the moment.

This is made from landing feet, a small cog piece, landing legs and a gun turret from the mecha kit and an old Dragon Thompson SMG drum magazine.
When painted this will be mostly brass and dull steel.

Next up is a general piece of tracking room equipment.  It serves no purpose other than to look busy and visually interesting - much like most Doctor Who tech of the day.
This was made from an old broken Tommy Gunn field radio, a scratchbuilt speaker, a loop antenna from something or other and some detailing.  Still need knobs on the main body of the unit.

As it will be from a military source it will be dark green.

There also needs to be cabling and a power cord for this unit, as well as a microphone as I suddenly have the urge to have it as a communications unit... well it was a radio set originally.