[Finished] The First Martian Tripod

Well it's been a long time between updates, pretty inexcusable but a combinations of things has prevented me from having much hobby time. Hopefully this has all changed, I finally managed to find a decent job lately so I should have the funds to start expanding this project into the areas that I want to.

Anyway enough of the excuses, time for some pictures.

First up we have a shot of the first Martian walking machine to emerge from the cylinders on Horsell Common.

The first Martian walking machine emerges from it's cylinder.

The first Martian walking machine passes by on it's way towards London.

The Martian tripod was painted with a combination of Games Workshop and Vallejo Model Colour over a base coat of GW Chaos Black spray. Base courtesy of an old CD, covered with GW sand and static grass with the odd dot of Woodland Scenics clump foliage.

And just because I haven't had any updates posted on the site for over a year some bonus pictures, it's all been covered in previous updates but the landship is a converted Pendraken British WW1 Mark V and the ruins are Games Workshop Epic 40,000 ruins.

HMLS Defence confronts the Martian Tripod.

Baccus 6mm Colonials support the Pendraken 10mm Mark V. The two scales match up quite well here and I'm hoping to plunder the Pendraken range for more Landships in the future.

The 2nd Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment supports HMLS Defence.

[W.I.P] Martian Tripods.

Welcome back,
                                well after a long absence they are finally back. After a long delay, a lot of pondering and much worrying I finally plucked up the courage to do something with my three Martian tripods, I wasn’t that keen on the idea of drilling into these fragile resin models but I decided that the only way that I could reasonably support them was to drill some holes and mount them on brass rod.So on my way back home the other day I popped into Model Active at Durham and bought a couple of lengths of brass rod. Cue more worrying and thinking and well mainly procrastination if I’m completely honest and it’s taken me a further week to get to this stage.

I began by using my pin vice drill to drill some little holes in the underside of the tripods, a brief test fit and it was obvious 

that the hole was about 0.5mm too small, fortunately I had a larger drill bit that unfortunately wouldn’t fit in my drill, so I had to gently turn it in my hands. I was kind of glad about this as the soft resin was easily drilled and I felt that I had much more control this way. I made the hole in the bottom of the tripod quite shallow and added a blob of greenstuff to the top of the brass rod to secure it in the hole. The brass rod was attached to the base (an old unwanted CD) with more greenstuff, as were the legs. The base was covered with sand and pieces of cork to break up the flat surface. 

Since I'd feared moving on from the previous stage for so long I decided that whilst I had the opportunity I would basecoat them straight away, once that was done I couldn't resist splashing a little paint around (no pictures of them at the moment but an update soon hopefully.

Haarken

[NEWS] 15mm.co.uk release 6mm Martians.

More exciting news, 
                                   15mm specialists 15mm.co.uk have released two 6mm Martians sculpted by Nick Kondratov, they are described as one piece miniatures and 4mm tall, there are currently two individual miniatures, a Martian and a Martian with a heat ray. At £0.20 each they seemed a little expensive but they are only a fraction more expensive per miniature than Baccus infantry (which come in at £0.17 each) and with so few suitable miniatures in this scale they look to be a real bargain.

I'm definitely looking at a few of these as pilots for my Martian tripods.

 

Both miniatures are available HERE.

Haarken

[W.I.P] Martian Tripods.

Welcome back,

                                   well it was almost inevitable that I would post another tripod related update today and well here I am (So much for slow and steady). I just couldn't resist having a crack at putting one together if I only so I could get a better impression of their size. I have to say that after one false start where I'd picked up two right legs rather than a left and a right, it went together really easily, I used a combination of green stuff and super glue to hold the legs in place . I'm still mulling mounting it on a metal rod to attach it to it's base as it's rather delicate, I figure I can probably disguise it as a tree or piece of terrain but I think it would lose the effect of the open space under the legs. Much pondering will commence shortly. Anyway more pictures.

Martian Tripod & Baccus 6mm Colonials

Martian Tripod & Baccus 6mm Colonials

Martian Tripod & Baccus 6mm Colonials

 

Size Shot

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Haarken

[PROJECT NEWS] The Fighting Machines Emerge.

Welcome back,

                                    Well the Martian tripods have arrived and let me tell you I am incredibly happy with them, whilst they are not exactly what I was looking for and they're probably not most people's cup of tea, I think that they are simply fantastic and that they will be a brilliant addition to my project.

Tripod

Slight and spindly really doesn't go far enough to describe how very fragile and delicate these little beauties are, cast in resin and reinforced with tiny steel rods for support, they are the most fragile models I've ever handled, still can't let a little fear get in the way, they're just models at the end of the day and they just one purpose. Wargaming.

Tripod

There were a few bits of flash to clear up, but nothing too difficult and nothing unexpected, still dry fitting them at the moment, seeing how they fit together and trying to work out if I need to add some extra support (I'd rather not have to but it might be necessary to mount them on a rod through the body and let that take all the weight).

Tripods Legs with Baccus 6mm Colonial Infantry for Scale.

I'll be progressing with these very slowly, I really want to take my time and get them done to a good standard so it might be a while between updates on these, I will of course be updating other bits of my project along the way.

Thanks for reading.
Haarken 

[PROJECT NEWS] Martians On The Way!

“As Mars approached opposition, Lavelle of Java set the wires of the astronomical exchange palpitating with the amazing intelligence of a huge outbreak of incandescent gas upon the planet. It had occurred towards midnight of the twelfth; and the spectroscope, to which he had at once resorted, indicated a mass of flaming gas, chiefly hydrogen, moving with an enormous velocity towards this earth. This jet of fire had become invisible about a quarter past twelve. He compared it to a colossal puff of flame suddenly and violently squirted out of the planet, "as flaming gases rushed out of a gun." 

 

A singularly appropriate phrase it proved. Yet the next day there was nothing of this in the papers except a little note in the Daily Telegraph, and the world went in ignorance of one of the gravest dangers that ever threatened the human race. I might not have heard of the eruption at all had I not met Ogilvy, the well-known astronomer, at Ottershaw. He was immensely excited at the news, and in the excess of his feelings invited me up to take a turn with him that night in a scrutiny of the red planet.” - H.G. Wells

Welcome back,

                                   Just a short update with some news and a particularily pertinent quote from as I'm sure you'll all recognise H.G. Well's “War of the Worlds”. The update is due to the fact that my Martian tripods are almost here (the post man left a note to say they wouldnt fit through the letter box. Unfortunately my next day off is Friday so won't be able to collect it and take pictures of them until Friday. Understandably I'm excited and couldn't wait until Friday to post an update.

Haarken