The Voodoo Tomato

1914 Stutz Racer

2012-01-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I finished up the radiator, floor boards and added the seats. I aged the drivers seat through to the springs. These were originally plastic seats, I covered them with a wet paper towel, painted them and pulled and ripped back the cover to expose the stuffing and springs.

The original radiator grill was cut out and replaced with a metallic menu cover sample I found. I knew I kept that for a reason. I will finish this up with brakes and stirring rods, a gas cap and an old # 7 on the side of the tank. Then it is off to the structure it will be sitting in. Maybe a barn or old garage. I am open to suggestions.

I have mounted the motor to the chassis as well as the gas tank and small trunk. I added a firewall which did not come with the model and I built a dash from wood.

Ok...I was not uber happy with the spark plug wires to start with, but when I went to scratchbuild the magneto, those wires were now out of the question. I went for a smaller gauge wire that better suited the scale and I really think they work a lot better. Added magneto , fan, and belt. Now to go to work on the chassis. I will weather the engine more later.

Finished spark plug wires and added fan and pulley brackets. These were not part of the kit so I built them from styrene and odd parts from other models.

As if I did not have enough going on I started a Stutz racer I had laying around. A very basic model, so I will need to add some details as best I can. I have started with the engine which is the soul of this model. I rusted the t heads and drilled out holes and scratchbuilt spark plugs and wires. Still needs a lot more. Still doing research.

The Village Well

2012-01-15T18:51:00.000-08:00

Here is the final product.

The Castle

2012-01-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

I have let the plaster set up and harden overnight and carefully removed the plaster plate. From here I can reproduce as many plates as needed. Now to cut out the select sizes lay in the windows

Here I have poured the plaster into the silicone mold. I do not use hydocal...way too weak for a mold this large. There are so many plasters you can use, but strength should be a factor when choosing one.

The silicone mold is now finished and I have a final mold to make large plaster wall castings.

This is the resin master once pulled from the clay mold. I had to clean it up a little where I did not put down enough mold release. I will glue this down to the table, frame it up much like I did around the clay for the resin mold and pour the Smooth-On silicone.

Here the resin hardening. Once cured, I can remove the resign master.

After framing, I sprayed the clay with Smooth-on mold release(very Important) if you do not use the mold release ..good luck get the resin separated from the clay...then mixed the Smooth-on resin and poured over the clay.

Now that the push mold was complete, I framed the clay for a resin pour to make a master. The clay would not hold up to repeat plaster pours. A resin master would allow me to make a silicone mold like the clay mold, but it would hold up to repeat usage.

Completing this one slab took over an hour and more then one sitting.

Out in my driveway, I gathered various flat stones that scaled correctly and began to push them into my clay . I did this twice, as I did not like the result of the look the first time. I took my time and slowley pushed them in the way they might have been stacked.

The stone work would be the dominate feature in this structure. There is a couple ways I could do this. Carving every stone was not going to be an option, but it could be done. I needed to make a mold ...a large one considering the amount of stone work that I needed. Aftrer researching stone work and various mold techniques, I decide on a push mold rather then carving a master.

I used sculpey clay and rolled it out to about 1/4" thick . Having it perfect was not important as the walls I was modeling were old and worn.

I have to work on multiple projects to fight being bored with one. All modelers know, if you get bored with your project, it is the death of quality. While thinking the large diorama through, I realized I would have to have some design to the diorama as a whole. The layout would need a focus point. I thought about a church, and I will have that, but I want something bigger...a castle. so know to do some research.

Obviously, if you have looked at the barn and the house, I want the layout to be based on an imaginary European village. I will pull the influences from actual architecture and villages in and around France.

After researching about 100 different castles, I choose to base mine on the Reinhardstein in Belgium. It had the close to everything I wanted without being too perfect or too in ruins.

Farm House

2011-12-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

This farmhouse will go with the old French barn. I decide a couple years ago to put them all together into a larger diorama. I roof is done just like the barn.. Thin strips of balsa wood scratched with an xacto to make the wood grain and then glued down to the base roof. This is the most realistic effect I have found for wood shingles.

The styrofoam is cut to size and and covered with flex paste for a plaster effect. I changed this later but will show later in the blog. I am also not happy with the floor boards and will redo them later should I decide to have an interior scene.

Whippet Tank

2011-05-27T13:57:00.001-07:00

Some shots of a WW1 British Whippet tank small diorama I finished for a local hobby club project. I still need to place wooden details along the side of the tank.

More Tractor Dioramas

2009-05-12T17:36:00.000-07:00

John Deere 420 1/16th Scale

2009-03-12T11:39:00.001-07:00

An almost complete diorama of a John Deere 420 tractor left abandoned in the woods. I still need bolts in the seat, a label on the can and maybe some nails holding the toolbox together

Old French Barn

2009-01-26T18:41:00.001-08:00

1/35 scale French farm diorama with scratchbuilt barn. Tractor is from Universal Hobbies and figure is MK35 I think. I enjoyed this very much. Looking to get more detail out of future builds. I just started experimenting with the photoetch process and think that is the way to go to make detailed small parts. I hope to make more kits soon. I am very intrigued by the european architecture and especially enjoy Normandy architecture. I am almost finished the farm house that goes with this barn. Sorry, I don't have the build photos on this, But I will do it from now on.