Working hurricane lantern, Mark II, using battery-operated tealights

'Tis the season, and those little battery-operated tealights are in stores. They're available (at higher prices) year 'round at Michael's, but the Christmas season brings them to more stores, and at lower prices.

I decided to replace the hurricane lantern on the Titan Quest weapons cart. I was never happy with the first version. Thought it was a little crude. The lantern was cannibalized from one of those battery-operated tealights that use a round, CR-2032 battery.

It's intended to be rustic, so I hid it in a wooden tub. From what I can see. the circuit board is necessary to make the light flicker. Otherwise, the bulb can be directly wired to the battery and it will work, but you 'd lose the on/off switch feature. So, this project retained the flickering light and the on/off switch, but disguised the entire battery casing into a period-appropriate setting.

The skeleton is 4.75" tall. The lamp itself is a bit under 1", so this design can easily be adapted for MEGOs, 1:12 scale figures, dollhouses and even 1:6 scale figures.

Tutorial below:

Titan Quest Weapons Cart project (continued)

Some photos of the wagon in-progress. Serious hobbyists who build high-end wagon kits will recognize the proper, functional running gear, which was not originally included in the $2 kit. I carved it from 1/4" square wood dowels and disposable wooden chopsticks.

More realistic blueprints downloaded from the Internet :

Further along in the build, the little Rement Pose Skeleton tries out the driver's seat for size. You'll notice the compound lever for the brake. Since the simple brake lever is in the middle of the wagon, there had to be a logical way for the cart driver to pull it from the front seat. I'm not a mechanical engineer, I had to think very hard about this and built a mock up first to make sure it worked.

And, here's the Skeleton Warriors weapons cart at completion:

I did a few modifications and replacements. Instead of a canvas cover, I used a sheet of suede, intentionally cut roughly around the edges. The wagon had gained a lantern, because it doesn't make sense to be driving around in the dark. The lantern lights up, courtesy of the CR-2032 battery and round battery casing hidden underneath the wooden tub in the front of the wagon.

It's not an exact replica of the Titan Quest cart, but one can easily see the heavy influence that the game had on the final version of the $1.99 model.


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Titan Quest Weapons Cart project

I have to admit it, I'm addicted to the videogame, Titan Quest. I found it at the Goodwill, where PC games are $1.99 (with no tax). I let it sit for several months on the shelf. But once I installed it on my PC, I was hooked.

It's a very long game. I loved the scenery, and thought about tying Titan Quest to Skeleton Warriors. The Skeletons are planning an invasion anyway, so they'd need to haul supplies, and the merchant weapons carts in the game gave me an inspiration.

Weapons merchant in Greece:

Weapons merchant in Egypt:

If you'll notice, the merchant in Greece inexplicably has an awful lot of fresh produce for sale, but no spears. The merchant in Egypt sensibly has spears, but has everything loaded on a less-stable 2 wheel cart.

These days, wooden wagon kits are hard to come by. It's not like the 70's, where one could get 1:16 scale kits by Allwood and Craft Master. I remember those kits.

On the low, low end of modern wagon kits is the Covered Wagon kit by Darice, which can be bought for only $1.99 (in 2015 dollars, not 1971 dollars). It's not a great kit, or even a good kit, but for the price of 2 candy bars, it at least provides a few useful parts and a framework to start. I knew I'd be making a lot of modifications, and wanted to do this old-school style, with as many functional components as possible. I had a book on Conestoga Wagons transferred from the San Carlos library so I could better understand the steering and undercarriage components.

Here's what you get in the bag. The wagon bed itself is about 6" long, but too narrow to be truly useful, so I cut my own wagon bed from plywood. The wheels could be used, but they needed hubs. The original axles were useless... fixed rectangular blocks of wood (with no steering) where you were expected to attach the wheels using a metal nail. Just... no.

Luckily, craft stores sell bags of wooden discs, so I bought a bag. It's much easier to use pre-punched discs than to cut and sand them by hand. And, I ended up using a lot of these wooden discs for this project.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Instamorph Moldable Plastic

I recently bought a bag of InstaMorph Moldable Plastic, and spent some time with it.

You dunk the stuff in hot water and pull it out and mold it with your hands. It hardens after 2-3 minutes at room temperature. If you still need to work on it some more, dunk it in hot water again.

I decided that wanted to make some Spartan spears for some skeletons, in their size. The shafts are made from wood, with real leather wrapped around it. For the spear heads, I used InstaMorph.

It doesn't hold detail as well as Sculpey, but it has a HUGE advantage over wood, styrene, ABS plastic, putty, Sculpey, etc... it's almost unbreakable. The fragile part of a spear head where the spear head meets the socket is actually very strong and isn't going to snap off. The sockets can be made hollow to slip over the wooden spear shafts (like real life). Bows can be made completely functional, and can shoot arrows a few feet. There is a slight flex to InstaMorph, which can be tapped as an advantage. The texture of the weaponry is a little rough. Don't expect the elegance of Valyrian steel swords for the Lannisters using InstaMorph. The results are more akin to the rough ironwork made by a field blacksmith.

Examples of weaponry made with InstaMorph:

Functional bow and arrows made from InstaMorph:

To dye the stuff, I used chalk pastels. Basically, I shave off some powder from a chalk pastel stick and knead it into the plastic while it's warm. The color possibilities are endless, since a huge set of chalk pastels (36 colors) can be bought at Michael's for $4.99. Since the colors become part of the plastic, there is no paint rubbing off. The colors are permanent.

The moldability of InstaMorph varies based on the water temperature you use. If the water is at a rolling boil, then InstaMorph becomes VERY moldable... my preferred temperature to knead in colored pastel powders. At the "barely boiling" water temperature, you can put a bend on an already-molded piece, or flatten a tip. I'd say that the greatest risk for burns is from the boiling water, not the InstaMorph itself. I use tongs to pull it out of the hot water, then pat-dry it and it's reasonably safe to mold by hand. I wouldn't recommend it for children under 12.

It gets better... InstaMorph BINDS TO PVC! So, whatever soft PVC heads you have... you can add hair, moustaches, beards, horns, etc. and the stuff will bind itself to the heads, or hands or boots, etc. It could possibly be used to repair body and joint cracks.It doesn't stick to all types of plastic, so you'd need to experiment and find out what it does/does not bind to.

In the hands of skilled sculptor, an endless array of plastic action figure accessories can be made. It's not quite like having your own home plastic injection molding machine or vacuform kit, but it succeeds in placing some awesome plastic molding capabilities in the hands of your average kitchen hobbyist.

Monster Scenes "The Deadly Chronicles" by Milto Polykrates

This really has to be SEEN to be believed! Milto Polykrates, in Austria, has created the most amazing Web comic story featuring the Aurora/Moebius "Monster Scenes" model kits. The kits were built up, beautifully painted AND placed in multiple diorama sets, skillfully lit and photographed to tell a story (including added word balloons). After a while, you forget they're model kits and start thinking they are posable action figures.

Link:
The Deadly Chronicles

Bookmark this link! You'll want to go back there again and again. For some reason, "The Deadly Chronicles" does not show up when you search for websites on "Monster Scenes" so a lot of people who are interested in this sort of thing will miss it.

First off, Milto is a very talented modeller. The painting and the detailing of the kits is impressive. Second, he's a kit customizer. Third, he's a scratch builder, Fourth, he's fantastic at making landscapes. Fifth, he's a great photographer. He's got easily hundreds of dollars invested in the kits and materials to build these dioramas, let alone the lighting and camera equipment.

I kept wondering how he was able to change Dr. Deadly's hand positions constantly. I thought he used multiple model kits of the same figure, but eventually I found out that he used magnets to hold the arms on, so he could swap different arms in and out.

The "Monster Scenes" kits were augmented with the use of "Graveyard Scenes" resin kits, as well as the hilarious body modification of the 1:8 scale Nosferatu model kit by Monarch Models. He solved the problem of "how to integrate a 1:8 scale figure into a 1:13 scale world" by modifying and shortening Nosferatu's torso and completely replacing the original legs with short, stubby legs handmade from (I think) epoxy putty.

All of these are astonishingly beautiful. Don't miss the "Behind the Scenes" photos. If you'd ever wondered how to make playsets or dioramas, those photos are a revelation.

"Monster Scenes" book. Buy this! It's a fun read!

Star Wars "The Force Awakens" Target 6 Pack

I shop at Target a lot. I have a house to run, natch. So, while I'm buying cat litter and cleaning supplies, I usually stop at the toy aisle to see what's up and get some ideas. Since I do work in an irregular scale for miniatures/toys/action figures (1:15), I seldom buy mass-market toys. I'm usually just getting ideas and inspiration, and to see what's the latest and greatest.

Target carries this exclusive 6 pack of "Star Wars" figures. They're 12" tall and the whole box goes for the low, low price of $49.99. That's about 8 bucks per figure.

I really have to say that this is the STUPIDEST toy concept ever. 12" tall action figures with maybe 5 points of articulation. Back in my day, Gi Joe was 12" tall and he had clothing and oodles of accessories. Gi Joe was articulated as well as an artist's mannequin, although some modern toy companies have upped the articulation ante considerably, especially in 1:6 scale.

So these things are like the original 70's Kenner line of "Star Wars" figures (which were 3.75" tall) but blown up to 12", with no increase in posability. They don't even have movable elbows or knees, ferchrissakes. 12" figures that can't sit down or be minimally posed are pretty pathetic. All they can do is goose-step.

The new Darth Vader wannabe, Kylo Ren, has molded plastic robes and what is known as the "T crotch". It looks incredibly stupid in this scale. Any figure wearing floor-length robes NEEDS to have cloth robes, not the molded plastic T crotch with hard plastic molded robes.

A quick look at the girl toys aisle shows that Barbie, Monster High and Bratz feature dolls with actual cloth clothing. I suppose that action figure collectors (mostly dudes) bristle at the question, "action figure or doll?" and many consider any figure that wears cloth clothing to be a "doll". They avoid "dolls" or "doll-like" action figures. So, toy companies follow suit and now everything in the action figure aisle, no matter what the scale, has molded, painted plastic clothing. Sometimes even with wrinkles and seams sculpted in to emulate what real cloth looks like, all while avoiding the use of real cloth. This is just absurd.

Halloween Rat Skeleton and Skeleton Warriors!

(originally written on Oct 26, 2015)

Happy Halloween! This Halloween season brought Rat Skeletons to the stores. They're by "Crazy Bonez" and the price ranges from $4.99 to $12.99, depending on where you shop- it's all the same Rat.

Here's a few shots of a work-in-progress. The Rats are perfectly-sized mounts for Skeleton Warriors, since there is a lack of properly-scaled horse skeletons (believe me, I searched for horse skeletons). I was at the library yesterday doing research on how saddles are made. I intend to do this completely old-school, making a saddle the same way that real-life horse saddles are made. You can see the wooden framework in the pictures. Eventually it will be covered with leather with functional reins, belt buckles and stirrups.

(Originally updated Oct 31, 2015)

Here's the progress on the Rat Skeleton saddle. It's 75% done. Just a few details left to add, like ties and a saddle blanket. And there's the bridles still to-do.

The saddle is leather on a wood frame. A week ago, I didn't know anything about saddles and how they're made. After a trip to the library, and a LOT of Internet searches and YouTube videos, I understand now how splendidly designed a Western saddle really is. And I gained a new vocabulary. So this is also an educational opportunity, as well as a "develop some new hobby skills" project.

(originally updated Nov 9, 2015)

The skeleton is the basic October Toys "Bone Titan Skeleton", with Testor's Create FX Acrylic Stain to bring out the details. The Rat Skeleton was also detailed in the same way. Afterwards, they were covered in a matte acrylic clearcoat.

The saddle is handmade by me. It took a little over a week to make it, authentic old style, with a wood frame (saddle tree) and covered with very thin leather. I didn't know anything about horse saddlery or tack, so I had to learn how to do this by reading books at the library, Internet searches and Youtube videos. Not bad for a first attempt!

A Rat skeleton and a Horse skeleton are very different, so I had to make some adaptations to the saddle to make it work.

I liked the way the harsh late-Fall sun came through my window, so I photographed this with natural lighting. The backdrop was a storm graphic mooched from the Internet (shhhh!) taped onto foam board.

At the risk of totally shattering the illusion, here's the actual photo shoot setup:

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October Toys Skeleton Warriors

OMG, these things are the GREATEST modern action figures ever! What are they? They're part of a relaunch of the "Skeleton Warriors" action figure line. They're scaled smaller than the original 1990's era toy line by Playmates, with the articulation cranked way up to 26 points of articulation.

October Toys original intent was to make these as "Titan Skeletons", meaning that they'd tower over the puny humans at 1:18 scale. A 6 foot tall human being would be represented in 1:18 as a 4" tall figure. These guys, at 4.75" tall (as measured with a caliper) are intended to be 7 feet, 2 inches.

However, I don't work in 1:18 scale. My preferred scale is 1:14 to 1:15- something that was established in the late 1960's with the Jungle Book jiggler line (more on that later). By recalculating these skeletons at 1:15 scale, they're "normal sized beings" at 5 feet, 11 inches.

The link below is very handy:

Scale Conversion Calculator

First order of business is to do a paint wash on the skeletons. They're molded in a single color straight-outta-the factory. But, there's a whole lot of hidden detail that comes out when you apply a paint wash. You can use diluted acrylic black paint, but Testor's had just recently marketed an acrylic stain. The one on the left was left as-is straight from the factory baggie. The one on the right was treated with Testor's with a final clear coat of Krylon's low odor clear (acrylic) finish. See the diff.

It doesn't even take a lot of talent to do this. Just shake the bottle, open the bottle, use any paintbrush and glob the paint wash on. Wait a few minutes and use a rag to wipe off the excess wash. The paint wash will stay in the recessed details of the figure. Spray or brush on the clear coat. Done!

Half unpainted, half-painted skeleton:

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Skeleton Warriors and Monster Scenes Model Kits

I don't know if anyone else remembers Aurora's "Monster Scenes" model kits. You had to be around in (koff!) 1971 to have remembered them. I remember when my Dad bought us the model kits. At the time, we were a little to young to use model paints, so we just built them and left them unpainted.

The line ended less than a year after launch due to protests. Seems that some parents and do-gooders thought that the model kits encouraged sadism and were "psychologically damaging" to the kids of the time. Mind you, those children are now between 50 and 55 years old now.

The kits were reissued in 2008, which was over 35 years after they disappeared from the market. So, some of us had to wait a long long time to relive our childhoods.

Anyway, a retro toy forum (Mego Museum) was discussing the kits, so I cracked open mine (2008 reissue). The kits just happens to be scaled correctly for Skeleton Warriors. The figures in the "Monster Scenes" line are 1:13, or 5.25"-5.5". So I tested one of the October Toys Skeleton Warriors on the platform of "The Pendulum" for a fit, and it turns out, the fit is *perfect*! Other torture-chamber-ish kits in the line include "The Hanging Cage" and "The Pain Parlor".

If you're looking for diorama fodder for Skeleton Warriors, you can get some with "Monster Scenes". I also found out that the 2008-era reissues had been discontinued, but there's still stock floating around on ebay and some online hobby shops at somewhat reasonable prices. So, if you like this sort of thing, this is the time to hunt for the Monster Scenes kits before they disappear for another 35 years!

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