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War of the Worlds Alien


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While I build a lot of aircraft kits, my favorite builds are figure kits. Recently Pegasus Hobbies released a 1:8 scale alien from the remake of War of the Worlds.

WoWAlienBoxtop.jpg

I bought it the other day and since I haven't worked on a figure for a while I couldn't wait to get started. The instructions say that the kit is made out of Vinyl and plastic. I am not sure what type of Vinyl that they used but I am not really digging it. The arms/legs feel like hard plastic but the body and head feel like the material that the 1:72 wargame figures are made out of. At first I super glued the three main arms/legs to the body but it did not hold. After that I used epoxy and it seems to be OK now.

I have already seen a few build-ups on line and it is a nice kit the way it is sculpted but it will take up a lot of precious shelf space. Here is a picture of it with a 1:72 F-16 to give you an idea of the size:

WoWAlien4774.jpg

I have decided to cut the base to approximately this size:

WoWAlien4779.jpg

I will also modify the alien to a more upright stance similar to the movie when they were moving down the hallway in the basement.

I used a piece of Balsa Foam to make a wall for the left side of the basement dio. On the inside I carved it to look like some of the plaster had fallen away from the bricks as in the movie. For the outside I only carved bricks to give the backside of the base a more finished look. I sealed the Balsa foam with Durhams water putty and I am not to happy with that. It tended to bead up instead of filling in the cracks. I the future I will go back to using resin. I think it will look OK after I paint it.

WoWAlien4780.jpg

WoWAlien4783.jpg

In the movie most of the inner walls are made from wooden slats. I bought a few different sizes fo balsa wood to make the back wall of the dio.

WoWAlien4784.jpg

Tomorrow I will start cutting the base and chopping the figure. I am not sure how I am going to strengthen the back leg. It is very thin and this kit is not hollow so it is heavy. If I don't strengthen the leg, I know it will sag. I am thinking that I will have to cut a channel in the leg and put some wire then putty over. Not looking forward to that.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.

Els

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This looks like it will be quite the diorama when it's done. The job you did on the walls looks excellent so far. The base they included captures the movie perfectly.

I look forward to seeing how this diorama progresses.

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Thanks Steve.

I made some progress on the base today. I chopped the plastic base that comes with the kit to size.

WowAlien4786.jpg

I also built the back wall. I started by making a frame out of Balsa wood.

WowAlien4789.jpg

I checked it with the alien to make sure the size was right.

WowAlien4794.jpg

Then I started adding the slats and drywall from more balsa wood. They are a little out of scale but I didn't want to spend all day building this wall.

WowAlien4798.jpg

And this is what it looks like.

WowAlien4800.jpg

I will finish painting and adding washes later after I modify the alien.

After I used the Durhams water putty to cover the Balsa foam I spread the leftover around the inside of the plastic mixing cup and left it to dry.

WowAlien4809.jpg

Now all I have to do is squeeze the sides of the cup and I have a good supply of broken plaster for the base.

WowAlien4811.jpg

Next I will start chopping and reshaping the Alien. I am not really looking forward to that.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.

Els

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MarkW and Holmes

Thanks for your comments.

When I painted the bricks I used my airbrush and started with a light color and randomly sprayed a few bricks. Then I darkened the color and sprayed a few more bricks. I just kept on darkening and spraying random bricks until they were all painted. Then I put a few washes over it to tie it together.

I chopped the alien apart and reshaped him to fit on my base. I will spray some primer tomorrow and see how much my sculpting sucked.

WowAlien4816.jpg

WowAlien4815.jpg

WowAlien4821.jpg

I also did a little more work on the base. I glued some roots from the weed patch I call a yard and put down some fine ballast. I am hoping that after I airbrush it with some red it will look like the stuff that was growing around the basement in the movie. I think it is pretty close to being finished. Maybe a few more washes and stains.

WowAlien4823.jpg

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.

Els

Edited by Els
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Thank you Holmes.

I airbrushed some red on the Alien fungus or whatever it is.

WowAlien4827.jpg

This is what the back of the base looks like. I need to darken up the wood on the outside a bit, it looks to clean.

WowAlien4828.jpg

Here is the alien with some primer. Most of the areas that I changed look pretty good, just a little sanding to blend a couple of areas will be needed. I need to tweek the left arm/hand a bit to fit on the base better.

WowAlien4831.jpg

WowAlien4834.jpg

Here is my dilema. I am not happy with the way the alien looks in the diorama. When viewing the diorama it is at a weird angle. The alien doesn't look very menacing either. I should have cut the base differently, more like this. That way I could have had the alien on two limbs with the third reaching out towards the viewer.

Wowdiagram.jpg

The problem is the raised War of the Worlds logo. The way I have it now forces the viewer to look from an akward angle along the left side wall. The base was too narrow to cut at the proper angle and keep the logo. I don't see a way to fix the bottom of the base and still use the logo.

Whats the old saying "Prior Planning Prevents Pi$$ Poor Performance"?

I will have to ponder this for a while. I am leaning towards painting the figure the way it is, finishing the diorama and calling it a lesson learned.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.

Els

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I see what you mean by the logo. Without the logo, he is creepily creeping along a wall, like he is about to pounce. With the logo, he is walking into the wall.

Keep the base as is, it looks fantastic. I'd alter his body one more time--you have the upright stance, now turn his pose so he is walking along the wall. Swing his but/rear leg in, and alter the head pose/left arm so he is sneaky sneaking along the wall. Maybe leave his head tilted a bit towards the wall, as if he is sneaking up on something just around the break in the wall.

Or, you could leave it as is--he already looks to be creeping up on the break in the wall, so if the viewer looks at the logo head on, he is about to pounce on something just to the viewer's right, beyond the wall.

Edited by MarkW
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MarkW thanks for your response.

I like your idea of moving the rear end of the alien around. I will probably do that. I think that I am going to chop the logo out of the floor and center it a bit better. I really hate to do that though, filling it back in and making the revised logo look like it is part of the floor will suck.

No guts no glory right...

MarkW, I have a question that you might be able to help me out with. I checked out your website and you have some cool gundam kits. A few years ago I saw a picture of a Gundam partially frozen into an iceberg in the ocean and I have always wanted to build a diorama of that. My problem is that I don't want it to be to big and I don't really know anything about the size of the Gundam kits. If I wanted the Gundam to be about 4 or 5 inches tall what is the closest scale to that? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Els

Edited by Els
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The logo has been chopped out of the floor.

WowAlien4840.jpg

After that I filled the hole with some Bass wood and epoxied around the edges to seal the openings.

WowAlien4842.jpg

Once that was dry I slathered on some Durhams putty to level it out.

WowAlien4844.jpg

This is what it looks like now. I covered the area where the logo was with some more fine ballast and roots. Then painted it to look like the alien fungus.

WowAlien4853.jpg

I cut out each individual letter from the logo and am thinking about adding them to the base in a haphazard fashion to resemble basement debree.

WowAlien4855.jpg

The alien is down to 2 limbs again so I am holding him to give an idea of what the base looks like now viewed from the new angle.

WowAlien4858.jpg

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.

Els

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I like it.

If it were my diorama, I'd do without the letters entirely.

Just an observation, I like the red fungus, but where it climbs the walls the red overspray almost looks like grafitti. Maybe thin out the red bands a bit?

Great work so far. I really liked this movie regardless of the trashing in got by the critics. To tell you the truth it scared the poop out of me!

Keep going!

Cheers

Zoomer

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I'm really digging this! Chopping out the letters, and looking at the first few pictures I thought, "oh boy...", but seeing it all back together this looks great!

On the Gundam question, the scale you want if the 1/144 scale. If you want to use the Gundam, RX-78-2, then either the HGUC or RG ones are what you are looking for. Be warned, there are probably a dozen different variations on the original Gundam in that scale.

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MarkW,

Thanks for the compliment and the Gundam info. My LHS has a pretty big Gundam section so I may cruise over there this weekend and have a look at the 1:144 kits. Even though this is not a Gundam, it is what I will try to do (Its the second one down).

http://www.worth1000.com/contests/10586/ar...cal-anomalies-8

Zoomer,

Thanks for your input. I think you are right about the red border looking like graphitti. I have decided to overspray it with a darker red and have added some fungi tendrils spreading out. I liked the movie too. I just took it on its own and tried not to compare it to the original.

I like having the War of the Worlds logo on the base but it is just to big so I am going to leave it off. I have been thinking about adding it to the bricks on the back side of the diorama. Other than that, I think that I am done with the base.

Here is what it looks like now. I have changed the Alien and reputtied its arm.

WowAlien4904.jpg

WowAlien4902.jpg

WowAlien4908.jpg

It has been a while since I built a Vinyl kit and the primer that I put on is sticky. I know that you cannot use enamle primer on Vinyl but I thought that I had used Tamiya primer in the past and it was OK. Not! I will have to strip it off and find another primer.

My next update will be with a painted alien. I saw some pictures on the web of a red and black version of the alien that I like. I may go with that instead of the blue and cream color. Not sure yet though, I think with the fungus it would be to much red.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.

Els

Edited by Els
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I am calling this one Done!

I changed the paint scheme a little but I think it is still in the spirit of the movie.

WowAlien4931.jpg

WowAlien4921.jpg

I decided to add the logo to the back wall. The big brick area needed something to break it up.

WowAlien4922.jpg

WowAlien4928.jpg

Thanks for looking and let me know what you think.

Els

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  • 6 months later...

Els,

I thought you might like to know that one of MY nephews has seen this and has used your idea for an alien for a school project.

He is using paper mache to make it look like your Alien...and has given him an idea for a small diorama too..He is only 8 years old and has now

pestered his dad to make him a small wooden base to place his Alien.. :yahoo:

Fame at last Els... :worship::worship:

THANKS for the INSPIRATION for a little boy ! :salute:

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Holmes

Thats awesome.

He must be very creative and skilled to make it out of paper mache. I hope that you can post some pictures of it when it is done. I would really like to see it, and I bet others would too.

Els

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