My other work from third year is a 1/24 scale British Army Challenger 2 tank. This had a soft chemiwood core, and was plated with lasercut acrylic. The turret was made entirely out of brown chemiwood and not plated, in fact the turret ended up being in around 11 pieces due to the sloped armour and sharp angles on it. Details were added using 3d printed wheels and gun barrel, and styrene was used for the majority of the other detailing. The tracks were lasercut and glued together, then moulded and cast out of fast cast resin, finally being heat-bent around the wheels.

This project was a massive jump in terms of complexity from my work in second year, the Viking Longship. There were a few reasons I chose to do a small scale replica of the Challenger. The first reason was that I had the chance to do work experience through the Uni at Shepperton Studios in the summer between second and third years. This showed me how hard model makers worked, creating very complex models in a really short space of time, under a lot of pressure. In order to be able to do model making as a career I wanted to really push myself out of my comfort zone and create a complex model that was accurate to plans and drawings. Another reason I chose to make this model was because I enjoy looking at models that museums tend to have in them, models that depict medieval castles all the way up to a Royal Navy aircraft carrier that was in the Imperial War Museum. Because of this I began to think of a subject I could make a model of that would fit in to the context of a museum model. This, coupled with my interest in all things military (I'm a bloke!), led me down the path to choose the Challenger. The context was a museum exibit about the famous 'Desert Rats' tank division of the British Army that came to fame in WW2, and continues as a fighting force to this day. I envisioned models and pictures of the different vehicles and comflicts the Desert Rats had been involved in, with the Challenger being to the specification of the specific tanks they used in the Iraq war in 2003. Note this is not celebrating the Iraq war or condoning it, rather celebrating the long and illustrious history of the 7th Armoured Brigade (formally Division).

Anyway enough waffling, here are some pictures of it:

My final year project was a 1/50 scale Vulcan bomber, the 1952 prototype version. This is made from purple/brown chemiwood, mostly hand shaping it. However the mill has been used to create the engine intakes. Lastly transfers were used for detail before a coat of laquer added.

The scale results in the model having a 60cm wingspan and being about 60cm long. I chose to make this model because after the challenge of making the Challenger 2 tank, I wanted to make something that was still complex but had larger surfaces so prove that I could make something accurate and symmetrical.

Pre-Uni Work

   






















A selection of some minatures I've painted in the years before Uni.