Saturday 28 February 2015

Cherno Alpha

"That tank, last of the T-90s, Cherno Alpha. First generation Mark 1. Heaviest, oldest Jaeger in the service. But make no mistake Mr. Becket, its a brutal war machine. And those two, Sasha and Aleksis Kaidanovsky."

"Yeah, I've heard of them, perimiter patrol, siberian wall." 

"On their watch it stayed unbreached for six years. Six. years."

***

 photo Team Russia_zpsxqyi0muc.jpg

Hey Internet,

As some of you might have noticed, I am a real sucker for modelling things that I see in films or games or books. Never has this been more so than with Cherno Alpha from Pacific Rim.

I can very clearly remember sitting in the cinema and letting out an audible "gwwah!" as Idris Elba's character introduces the machine.

My Cherno is a fairly simple re-paint of a Japanese Gashapon ("collectable candy toy") that I picked up on Ebay for a few quid.

The detail is pretty good, considering that it was never designed to be a display piece. My only major criticism would be that it was made out of some kind of god-awful rubbery substance that flaked off when it was filed, which made taking off the mold lines a right old pain.

 photo ChernoCherno2_zps4dd7pcaf.jpg
The only photo I took of the figure before painting. It's being held by a 7" action figure, for gauging scale.
I went for 'washed out green colour' to better match the figure to some of the fantastic concept art - and to tie it in with my other 6mm Soviet Armour.

 photo Cherno_Alpha_Concept_01_zpsfpqnnwwp.png
Concept Art.
 photo pacific_rim_cherno_alpha_by_flyyz-d6k0lbe_zpsdvdpxoih.jpg
Concept Art.
A few of the details have been brought up with a nice contrasting red, but fewer than I would have liked. Ideally he'd have some red lines on the head and arms, like he does in the film, but freehand really isn't my thing, and I was too happy with how the figure turned out to risk ruining it with wiggly lines all over the place.

 photo 0c06d7d8-aefa-4b4e-a661-830ccc3f037f_zpseblj6src.jpg


In the end it took far longer than I had expected to get this one painted up. Although it was mostly a single colour, the edge highlights still took ages simply due to the seer size of the piece.

Like him?

MM.

***


The Lead Tally - 2015

Acquired: +12       Painted: +2          Total: -10

Friday 27 February 2015

"I have been, and always shall be, your friend."

Just heard the sad new that Leonard Nimoy has died.

As one of the most iconic actors in science fiction, it felt only right to take a moment to mark his passing.

"Live long and prosper."

MM.

 photo 320x240_zps3jabunes.jpg

Monday 23 February 2015

LAF Post: 28mm Japanese Schoolgirls?

Hey Internet,

I posted on the Lead Adventure Forum, and thought I'd copy it on the blog too on the off chance that more of you might see it...
Hey LAF,
I'm looking for a figure to help battle some evil robot-monsters bent on destroying Japan. 
Never been all too keen on the whole anime 'Japanese Schoolgirl' thing personally, and to be honest always thought their was something a little bit weird about it, yet for this project I find myself in need of a 'Japanese Schoolgirl' style figure for the sake of fulfilling a stereotype.  
I know that Hasslefree do one, but I was wondering if anyone could direct me to any others?  
cheers,
MM.

***


The Lead Tally - 2015

Acquired: +10       Painted: +2          Total: -8

Monday 9 February 2015

Cherno Alpha ²

Hey Internet,

When the post arrived this morning my Cherno Alpha ownership doubled.

 photo ChernoCherno_zpsubbpv7sg.jpg


Will give him a new lick of paint at some point soon. Most excited. Just wanted to share.

MM.