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Thursday, 28 June 2012

Splatter & Dodge - Primer coats applied! (batch 2)

The bodies have been given a coat of spray primer, which has been left to settle over night.

There are some molded rods around the lamps, which need to be removed, which i have done with a file and craft knife, after 20 mins filing, the front of the bodies are now smoothed out.

The next step will be to dull down the chassis for each engine, i think Humbrol's 'Acrylic' Matt Black will do nicely for this job. As the next phase of the project will be to color the rods and weather them.



Before Primer was applied, i had to remove the steps from the body sides and fill in the gaps where the original Diesel face had been, this was done using very thin plastikard sheet, cut into the shape of Diesels face, then glued over the hole.






After Primer coat has been applied, this is how they looked before any further work was carried out.







Filing down here and there, the rods needed to moved as the models used in the film, didn't have any rods connected to the lamps!







Current looks with their faces, this is currently how they look now, before any further work is carried out on them.







Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Splatter & Dodge - Conversion begins!

Yesterday saw the beginning of the Splatter and Dodge OO conversions, The chosen donor models, are a pair of Bachmann 'Thomas' Diesels, with the correct chassis and body shapes. Presently, the faces and eyes have been removed, and the chassis carefully removed from the body shell, there are four screws holding the model into place, two under the bonnet and two under the cab.

I have set the chassis to one side, whilst the bodies are being prepared for a primer undercoat.


Photos batch 1:









More to come as they progress. :)

You can check the progress also via our Facebook and Forum links!

Monday, 25 June 2012

Splatter & Dodge - OO Projects!

The long awaited OO/HO projects of Splatter and Dodge begin tomorrow, both characters are being made using the Bachmann 'Thomas' Devious Diesel locomotives and will use the Hornby 'Arry and Bert faces (which are actually Splatter and Dodge's faces anyway).
Bachmann's Diesel is a perfect donor for them, simple and easy to render, they will both be made to look just like the Magic Railroad movie models.



They are both good looking models, and sadly, there are no 'ready to run' models of these pair of forgotten engines, they were turned into 'Arry and Bert after featuring in the Magic Railroad film in 2000 when the Thomas the Tank Engine TV Series returned for a Sixth Series in 2002.

Whilst they aren't classified as the most intelligent of characters, they are a comical pair, and it's a real shame that they have gone unnoticed for so long since the movie.


The paints for them have been retained from a local retailer, so it's just the wait for them to arrive now, which should hopefully be by tomorrow or Wednesday for certain! :)

Sunday, 24 June 2012

Proposed Tidmouth Sheds board!

Currently i am looking at building a shed scene for background use within the series, the sheds have been built using a Vollmer kit i bought from Europe, and has been rendered into the Tidmouth Sheds as seen in Series One.




The turntable i am either looking to use a Bachmann Motorized version or a Dapol plastic kit.

It's still in the planning at current, but new pics will emerge in time as it progress's. :)

RSFS Episode 5 - in the works!

Since the release of RSFS Episode 4, it has received a lot of positive feedback from it's viewers, despite parties of certain unwanted 'Thomas Fan Forums' also adding to the list of naive and aggressive people.

The next installment is based on another Annual story, that may already have been done in a similar format, but, who cares, not one person owns any sorts of rights as to who can and cannot produce whatever media. And there are bound to be similarities, but, you'd have to be blind not to see them, unless of course you are someone who doesn't understand this and will say whatever you think is right to prove you are right, but hey, it's not my problem at the end of the day, it's Thomas the Tank Engine, the show that no matter how unique you make it sound in your own writing, is still the same to everyone else. :)


Here is a preview clip from Episode 5.


Sunday, 17 June 2012

Railway Stories from Sodor Episode 4 - Released!

Railway Stories from Sodor - Episode 4, is now live!

It has taken two months to film and fix, but i am happy to say that even though it may seem like a short Episode, it was worth the time taken to do.






Feel free to leave any feedback and help us improve the episodes! :)

Saturday, 16 June 2012

Episode 4's Production - 50% Complete!

Railway Stories from Sodor - Episode 4, is making a lot of good progress with editing, it has taken 2 months to get filmed after a long delay with Gordon's motor burning out, but finally, the footage has been filmed and currently is now in the editing stage with the voice clips and narration.

A couple teaser pics shown here, are what to expect from it when it finally get's published. :)





We will post more updates as they come!

Sunday, 10 June 2012

Bachmann to continue despite Mattel Take-over!

It has recently been heard that Bachmann will continue its range of Thomas & Friends products for the foreseeable future, despite Mattel taking over the brand from HIT Entertainment.

We are very grateful to TheTopHatts, who gave us the heads up recently via the Roll Along Blog.
http://rollalongthomas.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/exclusive-bachmann-committed-to-thomas.html



Bachmann also had this to note, to give all Thomas fans a greater piece of mind. :)


Not only will Bachmann Trains continue to manufacture Thomas and Friends products in 2013 and the foreseeable future, we will continue to add exciting new products every year.

We are so glad you all appreciate our products' quality, and we are very thankful for your support.



Original credit also goes out to SI3DFilms

Episode 4 nearing completion!

Railway Stories from Sodor episode 4 is almost ready, despite the rubbish weather that has recently been had, filming has been going well from start to finish.

Estimated release date will be somewhere around 16th June, if not sooner!

Monday, 4 June 2012

Railway Stories from Sodor - Episode 4 Continues!

Greetings one and all.

First i must apologize for the lack of updates to the blog, things have been rather busy lately with my personal life, but i am happy to say that Gordon has now been fixed, and filming of Episode 4 'Gordon & The Trucks' can now resume work.

So, although i have had some rather nasty remarks made regarding episode 4 being delayed, and the fact that i have made some slight changes as a whole, for better running and improvement of detail, i will say this.

If one cannot simply understand that changes are made for a reason, whether it's simply because one wants to advance his skills and abilities to satisfy himself, a not others, that is no reason to start slagging others off. If people won't accept these changes hat have been made, en i am afraid these so called 'people' are not worth the time.

 I say this because of some recent messages made by Tuckinator15 on YouTube and Skype, regarding my decisions to change my layouts look and appearance, an frankly, i am disgusted with the way he has worded things.

So i urge people with layouts, that if you want to make changes, make them for yourself and for your own pleasure, not for the ones who like Tuckinator, think it's funny to slander people for doing what we think is right for us!