Mental Block

[Vermin King]

It's been a while, but I'm a little short on motivation these days. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

When I get into one of those funks I do a couple easy projects and then move to something a tad more difficult. The orchid, bonsai and Beatle bus haven't really succeeded in getting me out of the log jam. Mickey is sitting there 1/3 done. Dave's two BSG models are printed and not really going anywhere.

So building has stalled. How about design? I think I could finish Washington's Coach in a couple nights. Dang close to having the Citizens Security Bank done. Started the Osgood Mansion (the first Presidential Palace). Or I could finish Ronin for the Hoard. Eh.

What do you all do when you get into a little funk? Or am I the only one?

[berneart76]

I work on textures a lot, model refinement, get my cameras and get outside and look for inspiration, new textures, etc

[mproteau (Paper Realms)]

Sometimes cleaning up my workspace helps clear my headspace. Other times, letting my robocutter do some minis let’s me feel a little accomplishment. Sometimes (like this month) I just have to walk away and try to come back refreshed.

[Punkrabbitt]

I'm having a similar problem. I sleeping about 16 hours a day. I am painting some miniatures for a game on the 28th, and it is a struggle to sit down and do it. I can't even blame World of Warcraft lol!

[Vermin King]

Apr 18, 2018 16:27:12 GMT -9 berneart76 said:

I work on textures a lot, model refinement, get my cameras and get outside and look for inspiration, new textures, etc

Funny you should mention that. They closed our post office, so to mail my taxes yesterday, I had to go downtown (Independence). On the way back I stopped at the Truman Home and took some photos that would be hard to get once the trees and bushes leaf out

[Vermin King]

Apr 18, 2018 16:59:11 GMT -9 mproteau (Paper Realms) said:

Sometimes cleaning up my workspace helps clear my headspace. Other times, letting my robocutter do some minis let’s me feel a little accomplishment. Sometimes (like this month) I just have to walk away and try to come back refreshed.

I spent several hours tonight watching old Killjoys episodes and organizing my hard drive

[lightning]

I take a break. Do something else I like and usually after some time I cannot wait to get back to paper modelling!

[Vermin King]

I also played with some files last night. I might do a little Gary Pilsworth model, since I haven't done one in ages. I'm looking at the XF-85. Odd. One page. Or his 1860 Remington pistol. Or his Elf Tower. Or his Yellow Submarine. Aargh!

I also did some mods on some of AirDave's Koolwheelz.

And I pulled up the Washington Carriage and still can't decide which illustration or painting to model it after.

And Pastor Mike had questions on the Samurai Joes, and I got to thinking about doing a Treasure Ship, takarabune, with the Seven Gods of Fortune. I have several on my hard drive and each has elements I don't like. I like the Canon one, but it is only the front half, and has a rooster head instead of a dragon. Another has just the keelboard extension going up. The Niku-Mansei one has beef-headed gods (since they are a beef supply company). I really think I might look at this tonight. Take elements of several and come up with something that I'd be happy with.

Another thing I noticed last night was all the Smurf stuff I have on my computer. I haven't built any of it. Maybe I'll do a Smurf village for Papercuts this year instead of Martha meeting George in front of the Presidential Palace.

Okay, I need to just settle on something and build it, then maybe I can come back and finish some of the models that are in various stages of completion...

[Vermin King]

I didn't mean to put a damper on things...





Remember the Narnia ship? I wonder, as long as I am mixing and matching, if the dragon head from that ship can be made to work...

[Punkrabbitt]

I was afraid *I* put a damper on things...

[Vermin King]

Heck, no! Been dealing with this poison ivy for a month. Not sleeping well ... no blankets, to help keep the inflammation down. Only recently got rid of the raw meat look that I was rocking for weeks. So, isolation. Back to the inflammation deal, I can't even relax in a hot bath. Cold showers or cool baths.

Yes, I am a touch crabby

[Vermin King]

Wow, tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the Red Baron's final mission, being shot down by the Australians. Rather than doing another triplane, I think I might do Dave's Red Baron show rod. Not an easy build, but shouldn't be too hard

[Vermin King]

I'm way too obsessive compulsive. with the HBO free weekend, and after being disappointed by three movies last night, I decided to just watch Harry Potter without commercial interruption. And that reminded me of the 1/160 Hagrid's hut model, which I thought I might enlarge. I also wanted to see what I might do at a larger scale, so I checked movie stills. They changed it multiple times. crud. So here we have another instance where I have to decide which version to do. Back to the Red Baron...

EDIT--


The one closest to the model


The way I remember it most


I should have posted the link to the 1/160 scale model, www.mascal.it/paper2_e.html

[Vermin King]

Hey, let's throw another project on the heap.

Not sure how it came up in a search for video game papercraft, but a teacher had a very poorly hand-textured pueblo project, and I immediately thought of the Toposolitario I-Kubes, www.toposolitario.com/workshop/ikube.html

Not that I have a need for pueblos, but it reminded me of Arid/Desert Planet buildings or adobe old west buildings.

The teacher had boxes that were slightly longer than the I-Kubes, some that were narrower, and some that were shorter. But with the three units, stacked in a few combinations, it didn't look bad ( I just wish he/she would have done digital texturing instead of looking like it was done with crayons)

I don't know if I can squeeze any extra length on the I-Kubes, but a narrow version and short version would be easy enough.

I've always liked Tommygun's textures on his sci fi and hex buildings. I did a variation of it for my Mos Eisley diorama. I think I might have to give this a go

[Vermin King]

Which Hagrid's Hut?

In studio, Abbots Langley, Glencoe, and which movie?

That model is close to the versions used in the first two movies. In the third movie, they decided to make changes to the hut and they had a studio version, an exterior version done in England with a giant blue screen behind it, and then another in Glencoe, Scotland for panorama shots. Between movies, it was dismantled, and then rebuilt for the next filming, and not to the same blueprints. Ach.





Ever played one of those Spot the Difference games as a kid? I used to be good at those, which is probably why all these changes drive me up a wall.

Other than being the wrong scale, there are some differences between the model and the screen captures from the first two movies. For now I think I will just bring that model up to scale and fix the errors I've spotted (footings, chimney, windows, etc.). Later version two-room hut may or may not get done some time. We'll see.

[cowboyleland]

Apr 20, 2018 8:22:49 GMT -9 Vermin King said:

Red Baron's final mission, being shot down by the Australians.

I would just like to point out that the RAF credits one of their own for this feat, a Canadian named Capt. Roy Brown. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Brown_%28RAF_officer%29#Fighting_The_Red_Baron

Growing up "just down the road", we learned this as school children.

I find the reasoning behind the later revision to the Australians pretty convincing.

[Vermin King]

I find it interesting that two different Aussies possibly had an angle on the plane, and supposedly they and their unit debated who really had the honor for a long time.

But the military wanted to expand military aircraft (wisely so), so they stuck to the Brown story, to gain support. I have seen a couple TV documentaries (questionable science, but no more questionable than the internet). At least it was the Commonwealth, right?

[Vermin King]

Well, the first step was to get this to fit on Letter, repositioning parts and enlarging to fit.



Then I blew it up an extra 50%





At this point, it is scaled to be about 25mm, so it needs to be a bit larger. It also needs footings. The chimney needs to look like ANY of the huts' chimneys, so the inner chimney part will become unnecessary. Texture is wrong on the walls and roof and steps and door posts. But hey, it is six-sided and the roof angles are approximately correct ... enough not to alter them.

But it's now up to where I can get started. Since there are no rear views of the first version of the hut, I need to figure out the interior views as to which are from the first two movies so I can guess at possible window treatments on the back walls

IF (and that is a big if) I ever do the other version, both rooms are octagonal. Since the walls slope in towards the top, the connector piece will require some thought.

[Vermin King]

Before I enlarge this, I wanted to work on the texturing. The mascal model has the front door totally out of proportion and laid out unlike the partial views on the net. I find it interesting that the texture on the little bit of the front door wall that is visible is much more rectangular than the rest of the building. Still have to work on that and the door posts, but I think I am making progress.



Most of the textures so far are from or modded from this



Combined three images to get the front door wall



And now I have to transfer the post textures to the posts on page 2. But page 1 parts are done. Ready to be enlarged

If you look at the model above, you will see that the designer chose to have the chimney slanted like the walls. I am going to have a chimney closer to the 'real' thing. Straight up and down going into the wall. From the various views, the chimney is similar to the chimneys on later versions, so I am going to make the chimney mostly like this first hut, but with hints of all the later versions (including stealing the capstone from a later version, since there are no aerial views of the hut from the first two movies.

I don't have enough views of the little outbuilding to really develop the textures, so I think I am going to use what I can, filling in the gaps with textures from the hut

berneart76's comment about designing around the interior, makes me think that is why they decided to go with a double hut. Hagrid needed a place to sleep. You actually see many glimpses of the interior in the scene where Norbert the dragon hatches. I sure didn't see a bed in there, though this hut may have Tardis tendencies. Interior views do seem to be a touch larger than the exterior. When the dragon hatches, there seem to be three vertical slit windows near Harry, but I just don't know where that would manifest on the exterior, so I guess I will ignore it

[cowboyleland]

Why did you do your textures before enlarging? I would have thought things would look more crisp if the textures were laid in to the final size pieces.

[Vermin King]

Well, only looking at bumping it up another 10%, but the first thing I needed to do is work on the geometry, matching it to the screen shot geometry. Easiest done with screen shot textures. There will be less fuzziness by working in png.

I probably should have waited

[Vermin King]

Oo, I need to get back to this. I worked on figuring out the dimensions for a t-16 skyhopper for May 4, but decided to do a toy instead, the Ewok from Mercci at Nice Paper Toys



Since my last post, I also did the Venus Fly Trap for shep, cardboard-warriors.proboards.com/thread/8991/plants-shep

I also did more work on the Washington Coach, but that has become a starting from scratch project.

I think Hagrid's Hut needs to be the priority right now, though

[Vermin King]

Surprise! There are two versions of the chimney placement in the 1st and second movie huts. But the face of the chimney visible from the front remains the same, just at a different angle. That makes things a little easier, in a way. At first, I just wanted to make the available model look more like the hut in the movie. So I will place the chimney where the original designer placed it. And make it straight up and down like the movies. Once I have the dimensions worked out, I will design a cut-out in the wall to accept the chimney. I didn't realize how much there was still left to do on this

[Vermin King]

As a reminder, I'm trying to turn this



into



Lots of retexture work and fixing some geometry

As far as the geometry part, I'm down to the two columns on either side of the door, which were too narrow due to the too-wide door. Then I need to make the corner footings. I might make a large footing for the chimney. On the only image I found where you can almost see the base of the chimney, there is a whole bunch of junk piled next to it. My gut tells me that there should be one, rather than having the chimney sitting on the ground. In the more recent movies, it is on a footing, so that's what I think I'll do.

Here's where I am at






Darnit ... Looking at the two images, I see that I need to make a change to the top step. On the original model, it isn't as wide as the two columns. I don't think I want the columns only halfway sitting on the slab that is the top step

And I think I would be happier with this if the smaller outbuilding's door was recessed...

[Vermin King]

For the hut footings, I was planning on making six rather bland hex boxes. The chimney base will be modified from one of these- wider and a lot longer, but with the slopes being the same as the corner footings. Shouldn't be a difficult process, but I tried to squeeze a 4-hour trip into my crowded work day. Due to a collection of frustrations, it became six hours, and then did the mad scramble to try to pick up the pieces of my work day. On the bright side, all of the headaches were handled and I was able to complete my medium and high priority work projects.

But I'm beat. Rather than risk screwing something up, I'm putting it away until tomorrow night. But I didn't want to forget my thought process. The design of the footings will determine the redesign on the steps. I do hope to have a much better model on the back end. Even so, I have to give credit to the folks at mascal.it. If they hadn't done their model, I wouldn't have tried to do the repaint, and then the fixing of the geometry

EDIT-- change of plan ... it is easier to add width and length to octagon boxes than hex boxes. Yeah, I couldn't completely ignore it tonight

[Vermin King]

Well, E2 and E3, the columns, are not as straightforward as I was hoping. The sloping walls again. Only, for some reason the top and bottom caps are also skewed. That makes no sense to me, so redesigning from scratch. The trick is matching the goal photo to the model. After I do those, I'll work on the chimney base, then redesign the steps to match the whole thing. Wanting this to be wrapped up, I think I will bypass the recessed door on the smaller outbuilding, maybe.

Of course, when I get these items fixed, I'll probably change my mind on the outbuilding door...

EDIT--

Gonna have to check my work tomorrow night. I made the columns slant the wrong way, until I caught the problem and fixed it.

Then made the chimney base, and realized I made the bottom the correct width, not the top. Fixed that.

Still have to double check the steps for height and make the top step fit the area between the columns, but I've messed up and corrected enough for one night.

[Vermin King]

All done except the steps and a couple standees. The more I look at it, the more I think a total redesign is in order.

But ... I need to make Mom another plant for Mother's Day

Yep, the stairs will be different. In the movies, the steps are slabs that sit on the stringers. doing the slabs as fold-overs, to give a little thickness, to glue onto the stringers makes sense. that allows for the landing in front of the door to be larger, too

[Vermin King]

Mom's planter is done!

[mproteau (Paper Realms)]

Hey that's nice! Where'd that one come from?

[Vermin King]

It's from Canon, cp.c-ij.com/en/categories/CAT-ST01-0113/index.html

If I'd allowed myself more time, I'd have replaced the cactus with the columnar cactus from that page, probably without the flower

I really need to get back to the Red Baron show car. It's sat on my model table too long.

Then I think I will build the Hagrid Hut as is, and after seeing how it sits, I'll design the steps. I tried to find a photo that I thought I'd saved of one of the more recent huts, but I can't find it. Somewhat looking down at Dumbledore, but showing the top two steps well. Other views give the shapes of the slabs, but I was hoping to get the texture. I think I might add some of the clutter as standees, too