Final Piece - Chris Hudson

For my final piece I wanted to create a piece like Hudsons. I decided to have a Scammell Crusader, used to tow the Gallopers, sat in a rally field with a painted backdrop of the fairground.

I started off with the base board. The relief is made using plaster of Paris cloth and a cardboard base, this is then painted in gloss brown and static grass was then applied to the board. The backdrop is painted in watercolour on watercolour paper. The painting is made up from lots of reference images and drawn with careful thought of how to integrate it into the base and deal with the paper curving round the scene

At the time of starting the build the laser cutter was broke so I couldn't make the cab. I therefore started on the canopy and chassis. During storage they were however damaged

I also made a start on the generators

With the laser cutter up and running I built the cab salvaged what I could of the body and completed the generators.

The process of constructing the cab in detail

the process begins by creating the drawings for the laser cutter to cut. This is done by either measuring and drawing up blueprints of the cab or using blue prints available online, the latter was used in this project. These sketches are scanned into a computer, scaled up and then drawn round to create a .dxf file.

The laser cutter then cuts the drawings out of the necessary materials, in the case of the Scammell this was mount board, cereal card and acrylic. This ends up in a giant jigsaw much like a model airfix kit

The cab is then built up, in this photo a batch of Scania 143 cabs are being built up, the batch production speeds up the process

In this photo of a built up Volvo F12 cab the use of cereal card is evident

In certain cases it isn't possible to plan the space in which paneling fits and therefore it has to be scratch built later as shown with the rear paneling here which was modeled in Styrene sheet

After copious amounts of glue and sanding the finished cab is ready to paint.

The vehicle being modeled is then painted up, in the case of the Scammell the paint work is very simple. Taking the Volvo F12 as an example again the artwork is much more complex, the designs are made up from photos of the original vehicle and the processes shown in developing the skid artwork. This is then printed onto decal paper which makes water slide decals which are cut out and applied to the model after a base coat colour is applied 

Then I restarted the canopy, the canopy is made from strips of plastuct, a plastic bar which is attached via a solvent which melts/fuses the plastic together much like metal welding

Resin Casting Wheels

The casting process begins by creating an RTV silicone mould of the original wheels

The resin is then mixed, it is made up of two parts which are mixed equally by weight. There is now about 3 minutes till the resin begins to solidify

The resin is poured into the mould, in this case a simple one part mould, and left for about half an hour to set

Once solid the resin wheels can be popped out of the mould and then the centre is drilled out to allow the axle to be threaded through

Painting begins, a red primer is used to allow the paint to adhere better and due to the red colour a red primer is used to give the best finished colour.

Top coats

The detailing process then began, features such as break way chains, bags of coal, spare wheels and coils of wire were added to create interest for the viewer. all the small details are hand made, bags of coal are made of paper stuffed with tissue, a spare resin wheel was added, general weathering of the engines in the generator and a coil of wire that would run from the generator to the ride.

The wooden roof added using coffee stirrers 

I wanted the scene to have lots of interest so set it at a wet rally and added in wheel marks using brown acrylic and PVA