AES
Established Member
No excuses here, but a combination of factors kept me out of the shop until I ended up doing a rushed Xmas job for a 2 year old lad.
Things learnt:
1. Do NOT do the pix at 3 o'clock in the morning without a tripod and while the varnish is a still a bit tacky, especially not on the morning when it's GOT to get to the post by midday to assure it arrives on time!
2. "Shop bought" wheels are NOT necessarily round, NOR are their axle holes necessarily exactly in the centre!
3. When using "normal building pine-ish off cuts timber" it MUST be fully sanded down until all end grain marks have completely disappeared - artists acrylics do NOT cover well enough to hide any even very slight defects, especially not when thinned enough for air brushing!
4. Having some sort of plan before you start off is a MUST - even the back of an envelope sketch is better than nothing, but of course, ideally a plan from a recognised source. I had nothing except "something in mind" plus a set of - wobbly - wheels, so made a false start which ended up being scrapped half way through. I'm still not entirely happy with the proportions now, but I guess it's somewhere near the mark (no feed back from the customer yet).
Here it is (I hope you - and he - likes it). It's my first go at a "proper" (i.e. model-like) toy, rather than simple pull-alongs for toddlers:
That's it.
Happy Christmas and a "Good Slide" into 2017 everyone. Sorry to have been more absent than present on this section for the past few months.
AES
Things learnt:
1. Do NOT do the pix at 3 o'clock in the morning without a tripod and while the varnish is a still a bit tacky, especially not on the morning when it's GOT to get to the post by midday to assure it arrives on time!
2. "Shop bought" wheels are NOT necessarily round, NOR are their axle holes necessarily exactly in the centre!
3. When using "normal building pine-ish off cuts timber" it MUST be fully sanded down until all end grain marks have completely disappeared - artists acrylics do NOT cover well enough to hide any even very slight defects, especially not when thinned enough for air brushing!
4. Having some sort of plan before you start off is a MUST - even the back of an envelope sketch is better than nothing, but of course, ideally a plan from a recognised source. I had nothing except "something in mind" plus a set of - wobbly - wheels, so made a false start which ended up being scrapped half way through. I'm still not entirely happy with the proportions now, but I guess it's somewhere near the mark (no feed back from the customer yet).
Here it is (I hope you - and he - likes it). It's my first go at a "proper" (i.e. model-like) toy, rather than simple pull-alongs for toddlers:
That's it.
Happy Christmas and a "Good Slide" into 2017 everyone. Sorry to have been more absent than present on this section for the past few months.
AES
