Today I want to talk about Dune......or something kinda related to it anyway. Read on if you want to know more,
Out of all of the interesting and varied characters in the 1984 movie, the Navigator was by far the creepiest, Baron Harkonnen being a close 2nd. The gigantic, demonic looking tadpole, being ferried around by a sizable entourage of what looked a lot like Syndicate cosplayers, was the first eldritch type horror I'd ever come across. Needless to say, it left a lasting impression.
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| Like Daleks, the only thing standing in the way of the Navigators path to total, inter-galactic dominion are stairs. |
It was fairly cheap, but I wasn't in a rush for it so I asked my friend Axiom if he could hold it for me until BOYL, which he was kind enough to do. After I returned home to sunny Bangkok with it I stuck it on the shelf in amongst my other pending projects, then quickly forgotten about. But a few weeks ago I got the urge to have a go at modifying him. Read on if you want to know more,
For RT purposes I felt like it was 80% of the way there already. The face just needed to look a bit more menacing and the carriage to be weathered up some. So once I pulled the fish tank off and cleaned up the face with some kitchen degreaser I set to work. First painting the face black and wiping the excess off with a tissue. Then I painted the whole carriage black and added some gubbins and a door to it.
After that was done I painted up the carriage in red, quite roughly, and then proceeded to weather the hell out of it.
And after all that here's the finished product, pictured at the beach, while chasing down the other nefarious inhabitants that holiday here.
Looks like something you'd want to run away from? I think so.
Cheers :)
What an exceptionally good idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil, I surprise myself sometimes too :)
DeleteYou took that face from looking like a was of chewed him into something really scary looking!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the original was almost doll like wasn't it. Now it looks like he's possessed by a daemon :D
DeleteCheers Andrew :)
Very cool. The original Dune had a real impact on me as well as a kid.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much that was great in that movie, it was proper Sci-Fi. It's a shame it didn't do so well at the box office though. IIRC they didn't really make Sci-Fi movies adapted from novels after that. I'm probably wrong, but that's what it felt like at the time.
DeleteAnyway, glad you my conversion Riot :)
WoooooW! Looking awesome!
ReplyDeleteCheers Michal :)
DeleteLooks like a really weird Beholder in a Jar
ReplyDeleteAlso from the 1984 Diune - design of Sardaukars was also cool/scary as a heavy armored guys clad in frieproof (fireman like) suit with a visor and using laser weapons storming Atreides palace en masse at night
Beholder in a jar.....yes, it does look alot like one doesn't it :)
DeleteIt had a great soundtrack as well, that added to the scary/impending doom feel of some of those scenes as well.
Cheers Ranalcus :)
WIKI says you are correct Stu :)
ReplyDeleteIf you want an odd suggestion to make your Navigator look more like it's in fluid . . . can you make that tank fluid tight? There's this incredible article about a fellow who built a model of a hypothetical sunken Akagi. He submerged it in dish detergent. Dish detergent doesn't mold and keeps more or less forever. (Could be that nearly any liquid soap would work.) You'd want to make sure it wouldn't dissolve the paint or plastic, but the Akagi fellow has had his model a good while and hasn't reported any trouble. I'll find the link, if you like. (It's an epically great model.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway . . .
Fan-frigging-tastic! Best use of a Head of Boe ever.
Great idea Composer, my son actually asked me if I was going to make it look like it was in fluid too. There were a few reasons why I didn't do it;
Delete1. Painting an imaginary "water level" about 3/4 of the way up the tank only looks good when viewed from one angle.
2. Pouring resin in looks good, but unless I could get rid of all the bubbles it'd be a failure. It'd add a significant amount of weight to it as well.
3. Whatever medium I chose to immerse the face in might adversely effect it.
At this stage I can't be bothered pulling it apart again, but I agree that the coloured liquid effect would look ace. If it's not too much bother I'd love to see what that Akagi guy did though. Sounds interesting.
Glad you liked my improved version of the Dr Who toy.
Cheers Composer :)
There's a long discussion of how he did it on Mostly Military Modeling, but the art seems to have disappeared.
Deletehttp://s15.zetaboards.com/Mainly_Military/topic/7803353/1/
There are pictures on other boards of the finished product, but not of the in progress model that I can find.
http://ww2live.com/en/content/world-war-2-wreck-akagi-probably-greatest-small-model-you-have-ever-seen
It's really a quite incredible model. In posts from a year back the builder stated that the fluid, a sort of cheap bubble bath he'd purchased at a poundland type store, had gone cloudy, but the model itself was okay after several years in the material. That might be less of an issue with the navigator, since you don't need to see him clearly and he's larger, the details aren't nearly as fine, and he's a lot closer to the glass. (The Akagi is a heavily detailed but modestly sized plastic ship in a large aquarium.) Anyway . . . I'm trying to find the in-progress shots. It's a build you'd love, I suspect. Just on principal. (Whacky, creative, and very well executed.)
Thanks for finding out about that for me Composer. I'll dig a bit deeper to find more pics on it. As for this build, I don't think I'll pull it apart to carry out this technique. There's too much work involved to seal it up so that the liquid stays inside....it's not a tank per say, more like a windscreen. But I'll keep in mind for the future for sure.
DeleteThanks once again :)
Wow! You took that model way past 11! It was pretty cool before, it is most excellent now.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sean, I think he looks a hell of a lot more gnarly than the original too.
DeleteCheers :)
I'm having nightmares tonight... which is of course a compliment! I'm stunned by the freakish overall aspect and how you solved it all. Congrats, it's amazing :O
ReplyDeleteMy creation gave you nightmares? Awesome! :D
DeleteI'm pretty happy with how it turned out too Suber. Should make for a pretty fun game with this thing rolling around the tabletop.
Cheers mate :)
Ok, what is the toy's actual name? I must have one. I cannot imagine upgrading it as cool as yours, but a navigator tank is a must have when you have ships!
ReplyDeleteIt's called "The face of Boe". I can't wait to see what you do with it and how you use it in game Major. Thanks for the praise man, it was relatively quick project to knock out, but the results were just as good as some of my other creations, so that made me happy.
DeleteCheers Major :)
Grrr...
DeleteEvery single one in the US was $75 or above. I grabbed one from the UK for about $25, but delivery will take up to a month.
Oh Christ! Maybe my post drove up the price? Hahaha :D
DeleteSeriously though, you should have held out for a bit. I think I got mine for about $10-$15?
It's hard to tell what a realistic price is of some things though isn't it, especially if it's something you've never been interested in before. I've looked at buying other toys to convert up, without a clue as to their real worth.
Anyway, you got it, that's great. Are you gunna convert it up? I'd love to see what you do with it.
Cheers mate :)
Well, since the Shelley has a Warp Drive chamber, I think her rival needs one as well. And having a big freakazoid/mutant/demon running it provides the most potential for chaos and mayhem.
Delete:)
That is fantastic work. Very creative indeed. Well done mate.
ReplyDeleteI could see a Navigator just screaming to get out of this toy when I first laid eyes on it :)
DeleteCheers Jeg :)
He's come out looking great! I did muse over the toy while it was in my possession, and it's full of potential. Adding elements like the door has really helped to scale it. Plus it gives a useful access point for his daily grey matter massage! Great work and fun to boot.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the door could be an access port for maintenance or even for a driver? Maybe it's not a living head at all, maybe it's something like the wizard of oz? The possibilities :)
DeleteI only really added the door, and other things, down the centre to cover up the seam line. But it paid off in the end, aesthetically.
Glad you like him and thanks again for being post office in the UK. Much appreciated :)
I like the texture you've painted onto the flat surfaces to move it away from looking like a toy. Top stuff.
ReplyDeleteThat rusting effect was a recipe handed onto me from Curtis. It's pretty easy and it does look the business doesn't it.
DeleteThanks Curis :)
Crazy work :) I love :)
ReplyDeleteCrazy is as crazy does.
DeleteThanks Nico :)
This is the most badass project I have seen in a long time. Like you, that Navigator made a huge impression on me when I was a kid. This is a brilliant fulfillment of all that mystery.
ReplyDelete(In Toronto, the old streetcars resemble the Navigator's train, especially on certain rainy afternoons... so I think about that scene all the time even to this day).
That's a vivid image you've described there Matthew. It's funny how some images stay burned into our minds for so long isn't it. Actually, there's quite a lot of the original Dune that still floats around in my head. I won't lie though, the movie has dated poorly, but the imagery to this day, is still fantastic.
DeleteI'm chuffed that you like what I did to the Dr Who toy. It was begging to be desecrated now wasn't it :)
Cheers mate.