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Peter, nice video.....the mine looks great!  Like the way you used a smaller gauge track and train to simulate the martian ore cars.

 

just a heads up,to those who bought the Mantic Martian figures posted above.  The come unpainted.....they are not like the pics on the website.  This doesnt really bother me, since I like to customize but it may be a determining factor for others

 

-Pete 

Really was not overly enthused about the online models depicting the Martian War Machine.  I always was a fan of the War Machine depicted in Classic Comics posted above.

so today I thought I'd try my hand at sculpting one. Now be kind, this is the first sculpting of any kind I have ever tried......comments and helpful advice are appreciated.

of course this is a roughed out version and still needs smoothing and painting.

BTW is the color of the War Machine in the comic illustration gold or silver.  I am leaning toward painting him gold and placing it in my lake vignette posted above.

-Pete.    More pics to follow as I progress.

 

Last edited by BFI66

---------------Final Progress-----------

 

Did my final tweaking, scraping, repaint, etc on the sculpt last night. Redid the tentacles because they were not long enough originally, and added two antennas as in the comic book.  Decided to keep the gold paint job instead of silver.  Its a Martian Command and Control Unit after all! Sprayed a bit of dullcoate here and there to take off some of the shine and drybrushed a bit of silver to give it a battle-worn look.  Decided to position it at the Trainyard/Roundhouse instead of the lake, since the lake was a smaller area and started to look too busy.

Whew, I'm done.......fun project but time consuming!

 

Hope you like the finished vignette!

 

-Pete

 

 

 

Last edited by BFI66

Very nice, Keiith!  Graphics are perfect! You should work for a FX movie company! Must confess I stole your UFO flying saucer decal and used it on my repainted alien smoking boxcar.  I will post a pic when I finish installing a white strobe light overtop the alien in the doorway of the smoking car.

Keep the pics coming! 

-Pete

Thanks Charlie.....I did post a video under the pic......just click on it and it should take you to my photobucket account where you can see it......if you can't view it, please let me  know.  Actually the overhead light is a fast flashing cool white bulb from Evans Lighting Design.

thanks,

Pete

Last edited by BFI66

Kieth, that's great. Those are the best custom alien I've seen. All the alien recovery, area 51 trains are great. And I have one planed, not built, but then I thought we need an Alien Train. Something for the Martian's drive. I'm trying to work on, as I am physically able to, just such an engine. Don't know about the train yet, although one of the two will include some type of weapon car, lazer cannon, rail gun or some fantasy stuff. Ive canabalised the sound and lights guts from a haloween lazer gun. Combined with a Lionel jet snow blower, for frame and shack in rear, smoke??. The engine, well......... think F-3 way way back into the future. I'll post some pics when the shell is further along.

Originally Posted by Charlie Howard:

Kieth, that's great. Those are the best custom alien I've seen. All the alien recovery, area 51 trains are great. And I have one planed, not built, but then I thought we need an Alien Train. Something for the Martian's drive. I'm trying to work on, as I am physically able to, just such an engine. Don't know about the train yet, although one of the two will include some type of weapon car, lazer cannon, rail gun or some fantasy stuff. Ive canabalised the sound and lights guts from a haloween lazer gun. Combined with a Lionel jet snow blower, for frame and shack in rear, smoke??. The engine, well......... think F-3 way way back into the future. I'll post some pics when the shell is further along.

Thanks Charlie!

I can't wait to see pics of what you come up with.  Your ideas sound great.

My previous planned loco called for weapons, but after switching to the Bullet I haven't come up with a setup that I like.  So mine will be weaponless for the time being.  At least until something comes to me.

Did some work on my UFO Recovery Consist today.

Decided to redo my UFO Recovery flat car to look like this:

 

 

Added some led lights to the Alien Suspension Car

 

 

Added LED light to my Alpha Centauri Saucer

 

 

Added the US Army Radioactive Waste Car....cooler than the Lionel Alien Radioactive waste car(IMHO)

 

 

Finally added a fast blinking red danger light to my RS3

..............RS3 Under Attack!

 

 

Hope you enjoy the pics!

 

-Pete

 

Last edited by BFI66

Terry, nice to hear you were inspired to mod up your alien boxcar! Looking forward to seeing your progress.  As the rest of the posters to this thread, i enjoy this bit of whimsy which translates into a fun visual for the visitors to my layout, who primarily see the trains at first then eventually see the alien invasion vignettes throughout my layout.  Once they notice that, I usually  trot out my UFO Recovery consist with all the sound effects......a crowd pleaser for sure!

 

-Pete

Last edited by BFI66

What a great idea! I'd been looking for ages for a way to deal with trains going between the different worlds on my layout. A few stargates would fit the bill. Being a big fan of those series, I'm not sure why I never thought of that.  How did you make that one? Scratch built, resin kit, 3D printer?  I just found some design files on thingiverse - I may have just found the next project for my 3D printer. I even see ideas on how to animate it (make it dial)!

 

Cheers,

Jim

Jim, that was cut using a laser cutter for wood. I had a greyscale image that was used to define different heights for the laser; there's a couple levels there, between the inner ring with the glyphs and the outer ring with the chevrons. Just a scrap piece of poplar. Meant to file out the chevrons and paint the whole thing but school intervened. The base is made of some scrap Scenic Express rough stone panels, with some basswood for the decking.

 A Stargate 

But I wonder how long till a stray Murphy valves handle falls in there

 

 

Not exactly aliens and outer space, but here is a doozie.

A Sci fi horror & occult, western type thingy.

 

 At the end of Stephen King's The Dark Tower III: the Waste Lands, & at the beginning of DT IV: Wizard & Glass, The Last Gun Slinger(Roland) & the Ka-tet group he's with, encounter "Blaine" who is an insane monorail trains computer.

  The Blaine train kills everything in the city with gas as they board, and says it will derail ahead killing all its passengers. Unless...... ahhh forget it, you can read.  

Originally Posted by Slugger:

Jim, that was cut using a laser cutter for wood. I had a greyscale image that was used to define different heights for the laser; there's a couple levels there, between the inner ring with the glyphs and the outer ring with the chevrons. Just a scrap piece of poplar. Meant to file out the chevrons and paint the whole thing but school intervened. The base is made of some scrap Scenic Express rough stone panels, with some basswood for the decking.

Looks great, can't wait to see it when you get it finished.  I wouldn't have thought of using the laser cutter.  That's likely to get you cleaner surface detail than the 3D printer. I thought of building one of those after I did the printer but it never bubbled to the top of the to-do list.. 

 

I know what you mean about things intervening.   With First Lego League Robotics season kicking off soon, I probably won't be doing a lot with my trains for a few months. This will be a winter project.

 

Jim

Here is my Toy Rail Area 51.If you have played the ol' Arcade game, you will remember that the aliens are trying to take over Area 51.In doing so they are turning Humans into Zombies.The Feds thought they had it under control until the so-called little green men became Big Green men..Made the Buck rogers rocket out of a Child's Stomp toy.It is the hit of the layout as every one wants to launch the rocket.It's foam and will launch across the room..The Military train is a repainted Crayola Train.

All for fun.

Rusty

 

 

 

Cool. I liked "Area 51".

 

I had that big Apollo rocket. You cant forget that sticker.

   Is that the Lionel one?

  I had so many space toys from gifts I confuse what's what, unless its still around. I do remember I didn't use it much as the ladder cars and trucks I had didn't reach high enough. Except for Tonka's & Buddy L's.  Too big.    

Thanks Keith,The rocket was originally a  stomp toy that we painted.Just ran the tube thru the layout and mounted the Air "bag" on front of the layout .It looks huge here due to the camera angle but will give ya the idea.It is actually just the right size for young and old to push.Easy and fun .Unlike some of the electric deals,this one works every time.

Rusty

 

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