Posts tagged with "space-pirates"

Black Star Base

The Black Star Maquette I made has been sitting around for a few years in my workspace but there wasn’t a good way to display it. It needed a proper base.

I started by using a clear acrylic Christmas ornament half-dome as a mold. Using baby oil as a mold release, I coated the inside with about a quarter-inch layer of polymer clay (Super Sculpey). Then I packed it with aluminum foil and added a top layer of clay. I took it out of the mold and sculpted the craters and added texture. I used a little lava rock to put gouges into the surface.

After baking the clay, I sprayed it with black primer and then dry-brushed several shades of redish-brown acrylic paint, going from dark to light.

The hardest part was finding a way to straightly attach the acrylic rod that holds the ship. I don’t have a drill press and my hand-drilled hole was a bit crooked. So I made the hole bigger, giving it some wiggle room, and built a jig out of Lego to hold it in place while I epoxied it.

I really like how it turned out.

Black Star Maquette

While working on Space Pirates, I came across a challenge trying to draw the main ship, the Black Star, from different angles, so I decided to build a quick maquette of it. I sculpted it from Super Scupley and cured it in the oven. Then I scribed panel lines, drilled rivet holes, and glued on some washers for portholes. I primed and shaded it, then did the final paint and weathering. It’s very rough but I like how it turned out.

King Neptune

King Neptune is another character I’m developing for my Space Pirates story. He’s the stern but fair king of Neptune, and he won’t suffer pirates in his kingdom! He’s also inspired by John Roderick’s reign as King Neptune at last year’s Seattle Seafair.