Adobe Shanty Shack

I made this model as a suppliment to a business presentation at uni on wind power for poor dwellings.

First I made a mockup with cardboard and then cut each wall out of cream high density foam. 

PVA glue was dabbed on the corners and then I cut up a bamboo skewer into short lengths and used it to pin the walls together.
 The laboursome process of making the roof from cardboard was next, there were some small bits left on top but I think it gives it a nice ramshackle texture. The 2 halves are stuck to two foam bars.

 There is a smaller corrugated piece for the SODIS unit (solar water purification).
The base is 3/4" MDF with a chamfer disc sanded in and coated in sandwust.

I dry-brushed some burnt sienna onto the roof to make it look thoroughly rusted.

The walls were coated with a paste of plaster, sawdust and water, this helps to give the walls texture and fill in the corner and base gaps.

 The wispy grass is hemp fibre glued to a hole drilled in the base.

 I chopped up a coffee stir stick (invaluable modelling material) and used it to make a frame for the window.

 The model of our windbelt. Made from black and yellow card coated in plenty of superglue.

 The finished shack on display.

Miniature Roadside

This was made for my friend's futuristic design project around his clay megacities rickshaw.

First I found some 1/4" MDF and cut a rectangle for the base and a triangle for the pavement.

To add the effect of kerb stones I scored the triangular piece along the top and at regular intervals on the edge. Then I glued to two pieces together.

As the base was going to get coated I randomly drilled holes into to so that the road surface mix would have something to grip to.

The road surface and soil were made from a mixture of;

Paint (black/brown)

Plaster of Paris

Acrylic Sealant

Water

Wood glue

In a thick paste texture.

After this was applied modelling grass was pushed into the soil surface.

The tree was formed out of strands of 1mm aluminium wire which were bent in half and twisted together.

In hindsight I should have made the strands longer to get a fuller canopy. 

To start of all the strands are twisted together, then 4 or 5 strands are bent out and twisted to form a branch,  then 2 or 3 strands are bent off into twigs.

Once I had finished twisting the tree was coated in the same mixture as the ground and it was sprinkled with  modelling tree foliage. This was all slapped on as we had 5 minutes to get out of the room before it was locked.

Ebony & Ivory -Devil May Cry Pistols

Ebony and Ivory

These 2 are a piece made as a favour for a friend of a friend as part of a cosplay costume. I had a really tight budget of just £10 for the two so unfortunately I knew they would not end up looking 100% authentic but I gave it my best shot in the time I had.

Unfortunately I could not find any toy Colt 1911s within the budget so I had to make do with a couple of Berettas, which in hindsight I regret doing as they took a lot of work to convert to look near  a 1911 which then had to be modified again and in fact probably cost more to make than if I had gone for a desert eagle or colt at over twice the price.

First step was to reduce the size of the trigger guards and straighten them out, I did this by heating a knife and pushing it into the plastic to deform it.

 Here trigger guards have already been melted and also the handles have been build up using paper mache then sanding it down, Ivory also has  some cardboard templates stuck to it.

The handle needing more work.

 Smooth!

Then the slides were cut off and the cuts sanded.

 My friend gave them a coat of black paint each.

 He also found some wood which I promptly marked out and cut to size as the middle of a 1911 slide sandwich.

 The 'bread' being 2 strips of MDF cut and sanded, also with a black base coat.

Dimples were dremeled into the magazine release buttons.
 The customer wanted Ivory's handle brown so it got a quick coat.

Both slides assembled and sprayed, still in need of smoothing.

The slide's grooves were cut using the fibreglass disc on my dremel copy.

I engraved them with a dremel.

The slide and magazine releases got a lick of brass paint.

The fore ends were made by gluing some 1/8" MDF together.

Ivory's was then sprayed and glued on there.

I also drilled some holes in the handle to add the screws which hold the slide on.

Here I cut out the barrel porting parts of the slide and glued them on.
Also the grooves of the fore end were marked out.

SPRAYED!!

I cut out the magazine extensions out a plank from a builders pallet.

Screwed on to one side only so that the gun can be dismantled.

I hot glued on the slide locks.

Ivory compared to the Beretta base gun, what a long way we've come!

Engraved and brass painted.

Ivory's hammer cut from an old pizza shop sign, this stuff is really hard to cut and dense.

I was going to add screws to the fore end but it would mean cutting through them all and as I was already low on time so I chose to use a wood drill to just touch the surface which gave the desired effect. Then a grinding bit in the dremel cut in the groove.

Ebony with the hammer glued on and painted.

Insides with the wooden block to which the slide is attached.

The vertical grooves cut into the slides and the triggers were melted and sanded into shape. By this time I was out of time.

Barrel added at the ejection port, unfortunately the photos are too dark..

The photos varnished onto the handles.

Finished!!!

Ebony and Ivory together in perfect harmony.

£5 over budget but all in all after 2 days I am happy with them and hopefully the customer was too.