I had my old computer set up at my new workbench with internet access and wanted to be able to share files between both my main computer and model bench computer.
This would allow me to do research, write notes and find reference material on either machine, save it and access it no matter what machine I was working on. Helpful if I am picking out reference images on my main machine in the evening, I can use them on my model bench when I come to make the model. This would be a very handy tool for me.
However, I found it a bit overwhelming. Have never networked computers before and had issues with permissions. So my first attempt I had to give up on. However, after a little more research I managed to share specific folders rather than actual drives. This solves my problem so now I have a working shared network. This should help me out a bunch! Look forward to making to most of that.
Secondly, today I got back to working on my Dad's Birthday Present. Not sure when I'll be able to give it to him. His birthday is in June and I'm unsure if the lockdown will be lifted by then. Oh well, I'll give it to him once we are 'released'. Either way, thought it about time I put some more work into it.
Today I painted some more animals to go on the model. A couple of sheep and a lamb. I show a picture of them and, as requested, I put a ruler beside them so you can see just how small they are, Less than 1cm high, so they are quite difficult to paint.
Next, I wanted some other animals to populate the model. Just little details that people would need to look for in order to find. I found a supplier that created smaller animals so I decided on an owl, a hare, a rabbit and a squirrel and as you can see, they are even smaller than the sheep. Yikes!
My eyes struggled a little to paint these little critters, should have got out my magnifying glass but didn't think about it until I was finished. However, the next creatures were even smaller! Luckily, they didn't take much painting. However, my macro lens on my camera still struggled to capture them, here is my attempt at a couple of butterflies.
Once my animals were painted, it was time to put it all together. First of all was the actual Landrover, the star of the scene. Positioning it was tricky, I didn't have much room to play with. Considering the whole model will be encased in a glass dome, the vehicle HAD to fit inside it while still being on the road I built. To start, I used a tacky glue to position the vehicle, this way I could make adjustments to it's final position before the glue dried all while the glue remained tacky enough to hold it in place. Then, once happy, I just firmed it up with a smidge of superglue.
The postbox and postman had 'pegs' that could hold the item firmly into the model. So once I knew where I wanted them, I just made a small hole with a cocktail stick and pushed the peg in with a coating of superglue, made slight adjustments and let dry.
So far, It's looking good. Next up, the horse, the hare and the owl. I just love how the horse turned out. Very detailed and hope it will be an eye draw. The hare was sat just outside of it's burrow behind the horse, while the owl was sleeping in the tree, waiting for night time. I think placing it there was a good idea, makes the viewer look hard for little details they may have missed on the first viewing.
Then I added the family of sheep, grazing on the lavender and long grass. I found a bunch of model tomato plants but they also act as berry bushes so added one for another splash of colour and somewhere for my Cabbage green butterfly to rest on. The red Admiral, as you'll see if you look closely, is resting on the style. Hopefully my camera managed to pick it up.
Here is another detail shot of the postie. I think he's great.
Finally, a couple of overall shots, so you get an idea of how the model will look overall.
As you can see, the overall model is about 13 cm tall, so it isn't very big at all. It has been a real challenge to work on and still has some things left to do.
The base, for one needs a final spray coat. You may have noticed a grey splodge on it. This is where the plaster cracked and needed filling. The base is spotty and needs to have a final coat of paint before it's completed. I am hoping to put in one last item of detail but we'll see how that goes before I say what it is.
As you can see, it is almost done. Stay tuned to see the next step.
