slow but steady

Work on Project H and Project V continues. 

I have been working concurrently with both Project V and H, for the most part working from the ground up. 

 Project V is mostly an "assemble" job with the exception of the custom work being done to the torso to add a cockpit and lighting.  I've gotten the torso hollowed out and the battery compartment drilled out as well.  When I made the compartment for Malekith, I went through all the trouble to put a custom hinge on it and everything. When Tarl painted it.. he just ripped that off and used magnets.  DUH!?!?  why didn't I think of that?   So, what I will do for both V and H will be to mount cover plates using magnets.  The switch for V will be hidden in the SRM launcher tube.  

For project H, the switch will be in the greeblies on the back. 

Since all the custom work for both of these is in the torso, I've been working on the assemblies from the hip down.  Granted, Proj. H is *all* custom, but you get the idea. 

For V.. I splayed the hips a little, which has the effect of also slightly tilting the torso plane.  When I put the torso on, that twist should add to the dynamic pose and give it a good action feel.  The paint scheme for V is a mostly-black with red highlights scheme for HWSNBN's merc unit.  I hate black.  Black is such a challenging color to weather nicely.  I'm building it with a battered-and-used look that feels appropriate for a Merc unit that lives off salvage and luck.  The black paint is put over a previous-owner's gray colorscheme, and that is showing through the chips and scratches and scrapes with some going all the way down to the core armor.  The fun part of black is that the usual weathering techniques of oil leaks, carbon scoring, smudging and shading doesn't show against the dark color.  So I'll have to use dirt and off-shading to try to give it a heavily beaten look. 

Below is the way I have it looking so far. Before I hit it with the next wave of shading, I'll give it a pass with matte varnish, to dull down the shiney, and hopefully that'll help with the aging techniques.

The torso work for the V is coming along.  I've managed to hollow it out and get the battery compartment ready.  The batteries will go under the right arm with the switch hidden as mentioned above.  I still need to get the head ready, but the cockpit will be built into a tub fastened to the head canopy.

As for Project H, his chosen scheme is a base of Red, with Gold and Black accents.    I'm also going with the Mercenary Mech beaten and weather-worn look for the Mech, and will work in some heavier damage to the hatchet and lower legs.  The red can take the shading better and I can use different tones for various panels, etc., while the damage on the legs makes sense; the Hatchet man’s notoriously lightly armored legs are well known as primary targets during combat, and any mech that is built for closing to melee range is going to bear the scars of kicks being delivered in desperate retribution.

This is the base color tone.. there is still a huge amount of detailing for the panels and joints to do.  This is also my first attempt at using pigments and I'm very not happy with it.  I'll be practicing a bit more on some other equipment and then touching up on it.  I have a feeling that I'll be needing pigments for the Victor build as well.

For the most part, the parts for H go together well.  I pinned the ankles and got a decently dynamic pose going, incorporated with the upper body holding the hatchet raised high and the left hand pointing for a shot from the ML.  The one thing I don't like about this mech is the lack of pose ability to the cockpit.  Then again, most Mech’s don't have a variable cockpit and that's one of the nice things about the Victor.  It really is amazing what just that little turn of the head can do to communicate intent and action.  That, however, is all  part of the mech design.. not unlike the Hunchback or the Warhammer.  The cockpit is locked and there really isn't a way to design a "pose" into it otherwise. 

However, it is hollowed and ready, with the overhead light fixed in place. 

The more I do this one, I'm finding little things that would help for future designs.  It seems that when doing the Victor, Mr. Fusco used some very thin panel overlays rather than scribing in panel lines.  Well that's gorram intelligent. Simple, more blocky parts make for easier building and designs, but sadly, that is exactly why Mr. F passed on this one.. : )  "all those damned curves!"  hehe.