Tintin Project - the Vehicles

[strobez]

Thanks for jazzing up the threw with some great pics, Nils.

At the moment I have plans for both the Supermarine Spitfire and DH Mosquito

I'm aiming to have some sort of "meaningful" representation from each of the albums. My overall Tintin master plan looks more or less like this:

1   Tintin in the Land of the Soviets   - Soviet Monoplane (Polikarpov I-1)
2   Tintin in the Congo - Yellow Model T
3   Tintin in America - Checker Taxi (scratch?)
4   Cigars of the Pharaoh - Puss Moth, Hawker Hart/Demon and the red Alfa Romeo (done!)
5   The Blue Lotus - Two-seat Kawawaski Ki-10 (in progress) and IJA Armoured Car (in progress)
6   The Broken Ear   - Green Ford cabriolet and Basil Bazaroff's Junkers Ju 52
7   The Black Island - Red/White DHC Chipmunk (done!) and Yellow DH Tiger Moth
8   King Ottokar's Sceptre - Bordurian Messershmitt Bf109 and Gillet Motorcycle (done!) and Yellow Opel Olympia
9   The Crab with the Golden Claws - Yellow Bellanca Pacemaker
10   The Shooting Star - Yellow Arado Ar 196
11   The Secret of the Unicorn - Unknown!
12   Red Rackham's Treasure -Shark Submarine (done!)
13   The Seven Crystal Balls - Black Opel Olympia
14   Prisoners of the Sun -Unknown!
15   Land of Black Gold - Khemedi Supermarine Spitfire and red Willis Jeep (done!)
16   Destination Moon - Blue Willis Jeep (done!) and XFLR Test Rocket
17   Explorers on the Moon - Blue Moon Tank
18   The Calculus Affair - Bell 47-D and Beechcraft Bonaza
19   The Red Sea Sharks - Khemedi DHC Mosquito and Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk
20   Tintin in Tibet - Air India DC-3
21   The Castafiore Emerald - Peugeot 403 Taxi   
22   Flight 714 to Sydney - Carreidas 160 (in progress)
23   Tintin and the Picaros   San Theodoran Land Rover (in progress) and (maybe) Mil Mi-1M
24   Tintin and Alph-Art - Unknown!

There's obviously a lot of work between here and there... but that's the guiding plan (such as it is). There's still a few holes, and other things that could be on the list, but we'll see how far I get.

[NARSES2]

Lovely work sir 

[strobez]

Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in! (Great quote from a great movie... anyone know it?)

Anyway, I finished off the Tintin Armoured car:



and here's a look at the underside... for those of you who are into that sort of thing (and you know who you are).


All-in-all, I'm pretty happy for a 100% scratchbuild - even the wheels are modified resin casts off an Academy 1/72 MiG-21. My ONE regret is that I screwed up the rivets. When I first poked the holes, the little ridge of plastic that was pushed up created a very nice rivet effect. However, I accidentally poked too hard and pushed in the front plate in the process. So I had to fix that with some more putty and glued and in the process of sanding I managed to take off several of the rivet heads. So I decided to err on the side of uniformity and sanded all the rest down too (except the doors). Sigh... the holes just aren't the same... oh, well.

Of course when I put it up on the Tintin shelf, next to the two Jeeps, the Alfa and the Motorcycle... I noticed that the Alfa Romeo seemed a bit empty by comparison.  And since, I had some angel clay kicking around... I started crafting up a diorama-ette of Tintin racing up the mountain path.  Once the clay is completely dry and shrinks to it's final size, I'll see what happens when I paint it. 

[PR19_Kit]

Is that barbed wire around the trestle you've built there? If so where did it come from please as I'm looking for some for another modelling project, not Whiff related.

[strobez]

It's not ACTUAL barbed wire... but it is wire.



I actually picked up that spool at a "flower arranging" crafty store.  It's not branded, so I have no idea what actual size/make it is, but it's just a thin silver wire which looked like it might come in handy.  To make it as "barbed" as possible, I just wrapped and twisted it a bunch of times to give it some texture and then I spooled it up again to give it that "just unrolled" look and the worked it around the trestle.

Given that I've been on the receiving end of several recent generous donations sent by post, I'd be happy to unspool a length and send some to you. The spool is actually pretty heavy, so I'd just wrap it and tape it for you.

[Spey_Phantom]

i like how those cars came out, very nice work 

[zenrat]

Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in! (Great quote from a great movie... anyone know it?)

It's one of the Godfathers.  2?
Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt) quotes it a lot in The Sopranos.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks for the info on the barbed wire Greg, and for the offer to shop some here.

I'm building an N gauge model railway layout that needs some barbed wire, but it's a size smaller than your Tintin models, 1/148 to be precise, so your stuff will be too large I think, but you've given me some ideas, thanks again. 

[strobez]

Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in! (Great quote from a great movie... anyone know it?)

It's one of the Godfathers.  2?
Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt) quotes it a lot in The Sopranos.

Nope.  Not quite... but close.

[zenrat]

Hmmm, yeah.  3.
D'oh!

[Old Wombat]

Hmmm, yeah.  3.
D'oh!

But who said it?

I cheated, so I'm out of the game.

[zenrat]

Al Pacino.

[strobez]

ANNNNNYway...

Just a very quick update.  I finished the base for the Alfa... and just as I did, some bright spark on a Tintin forum I frequent pointed out that the Alfa depicted in the comics only has one exhaust pipe...

D'oh!

So I pulled off the left side one, filled the holes and gave it a quick coat of red paint.  Not a bad fix... and I have to admit, I kinda like the asymmetrical look of it.

[zenrat]

Hey, you started it.

I do like your little bases.  I might have to investigate doing likewise.  I have a large collection of empty fish oil capsule tubs I can use the lids off.

[strobez]

The bases are quite fun actually.  I've taken to scrounging through the recycling bag looking for interesting lids... you can only use so many Pringles tops before... well, before you start looking for something else.

The two bases that use angel clay (Red Jeep and Alfa) started as Pringles lids, but because it shrinks when it dries, I've resorted to wrapping a band of styrene around the base once it's formed.  The black lid I initially used for the Red Jeep got repurposed for the Armoured Car.

The Blue Jeep base is actually a stamp pad that I picked up on purpose.  I tore off the sponge, washed out the ink and used it.  I also kept the sponge, 'cause you never know when a bit of green sponge will come in handy...