This week I was supposed to be bringing you a review of the re-release of Games Workshop's classic boardgame, Space Hulk. I know, I was excited too. Then Real Life decided to dump literally every single illness on me this week - from splitting headaches to the compulsion to sleep for 22 hours a day, now through to a cold that has included nose bleeds. Nice, huh?
So no Space Hulk review this week, in fact not a lot of anything to report - luckily though I'd managed to get a fair way through my newest Hidden Blade prop replica from Ammnra Creations before I was struck down with man-flu last weekend.
As a re-cap for anyone unfamiliar with Ammnra's work, he is a very talented designer and Cosplayer by the name of Chris Myles from the US (I forget where exactly, it's a big place and I'm still ill...), who sells prop replica kits through a 3D printing website, www.shapeways.com. The company uses an SLS (selective-laser sintering) printing process whereby a super-fine nylon powder is laser-formed one tiny layer at a time to create 3D objects that can be painted and finished like any other plastic model kit. When you have a spare minute check out Shapeway's website and have a search for Ammnra's store, it's an amazing process.
One word of warning, 3D printing is still a relatively niche market for the general public and can be a pricey hobby to start up. You have been warned...
On to the kit itself, this is the second Assassin's Creed 3 hidden blade kit I've purchased, the first being (briefly) documented in a previous blog post. I won't get into the construction and assembly of the finished prop now as the photos are pre-varnish and not ready to be assembled, but here's what I have so far...
The kit in it's closed state. For anyone interested the base colours for the entire project are very simple; Plati-kote's Flat Black as a base coat, Silver for a covering colour and Brass for the gold elements. The variations in silver are achieved through Games Workshop's Devlan Mud and Badab Black ink washes applied in various quantities.
The base tier and slide: both painted in Flat Black, then over-brushed with silver. A few ink washes later and some Silver dry-brushing and edge highlights, we have this. A close up of the "dream-catcher" detail at the back end, the different silver tones achieved through varying the number of ink washes used.
Here we have the assembled dry run, the top picture showing the sliding tier extended but with the knife blade retracted, the second with the blade deployed and showing off the swivel mechanism for the knife handle. Nifty huh?
Some glam shots of the dry-assembled pieces in the closed position. Note the silver ribbing in the bottom photo - to achieve this result the handle was painted Flat Black then heavily dry-brushed in Silver. The grooves between the ridges were then re-painted Flat Black by hand to give a clean look. weathering was added using some brown acrylic paint I had lying around.
And a final couple of shots of the Hidden Blade fully extended. Please note that this prop is entirely made of plastic and completely incapable of causing harm. The knife blade is blunt and will bend and snap before causing injury, safety first people. As a reference, the kit is just over 10" long when closed and around 21.5" when fully extended.
So that's it for today, I'm off back to bed to sleep off the last of this man-flu. Stay tuned for more Things Falling Out of My Head as an when I feel a bit better.
Until next time.
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