Thursday 13 July 2017

Alien Escape at Madame Tussaud's

In my former existence as Video Editor at Stuff.tv, I would be invited to attend/film a great many events - a fair number of these weren't relevant to the magazine or website, so it would either be a jolly, or we usually wouldn't even go.

When I received the email about Alien Escape, however, I jumped at the chance. Who cares if they're covering it at my (now) old job...? You might have noticed a bit of Alien coverage here at MiniModelPaint.com over the years. I'm a tad obsessed.

Alien Escape is a micro interactive installation, contained within the classic Madame Tussaud's attraction, and puts you in the universe of xenomorphs onboard the USSC Covenant.

After a photo op with Walter - one of the more lifelike waxworks I've seen at Tussaud's (android irony withstanding) - you're led through a series of spaceship corridors, encountering eggs, facehuggers, dead crewmembers and just enough shock-scares to get you through to safety.



If there's a criticism, it's that it's too short and too fast - I found that there wasn't anywhere near enough time to look at the exquisite modelling work that has gone into the installation. Just look at this:


In my mind, that's living the dream - getting paid to build full-size monster models full-time. Nice that some of us can do it part time - even if it's mostly to a smaller scale...


Alien Escape is open from July 15 at Madame Tussaud's, and is included in the price of entry to the whole attraction.



Disclaimer: I didn't get paid to write this, but I did drink a lot of their booze...

Sunday 9 July 2017

End of an era; gateway to the future

So it finally happened.


After nearly ten years in the most slowly-progressing McJob ever, the company decided that there actually wasn't anywhere for me to go, career-wise, so they made my post redundant.

No doubt it'll be refilled in a few months' time by a cheaper junior with a completely different title, and slightly tweaked job spec, but put a fork in me, I'm done!

But it's not doom and gloom in any way. It means I'm now able to offer my video services on a freelance basis; I can spend more time with my kids, and I can spend some proper time with this here hobby.

I've been progressing slowly on the Gremlin - it's been 2 steps forwars, 1 back a lot of the time. This weekend I repaired the wrist and arm breaks that happened (thanks go to the dog), but in doing so, I broke the join on one of the ears.

I'm going to have to build a simple jig to hold the Gremlin in various positions - without resting his weight on anything but his feet.

Next on the to-do list is reshaping and fitting the mohawk spines to the head and down his back. They're an awful fit, so I have some filling and blending work to sort there, too.

Then it's just a case of finishing the paint. Match up the torso and the head for contrast and tonality, fix the chips that happened wheb he fell, and get the details dotted in.

But can I do this before the kids finish school for the summer? Here's hoping. My poor client must be fuming by now... sorry chap.