Martian Models


3D Printing, Hobbies, Miniature Painting, Tabletop Games

I’ve recently launched Martian Models, a digital storefront for my original miniatures designs. This is an idea that’s been rattling around in the back of my head for a number of years. Martian Models goes way back to the late 1970s when I began kitbashing models as a kid after learning about how the studio […]

June 9, 2022

New Turret Models


3D Printing, Hobbies, Model Kits, Technology

I’ve been experimenting with modeling and printing a number of turret designs gleaned from various Traveller illustrations over the years as optional components for my starship models. It’s common to see Traveller illustrations that depict ship’s turrets as hemispheres with an oblong weapon battery with three circular weapon ports. I refer to this as the […]

April 9, 2019

Scout Ship: Revision B


3D Printing, Hobbies, Model Kits, Technology

Last autumn, I began work on a revision to the Scout model to bring it closer in line to some of Bryan Gibson’s later works depicting the Scout. Bryan had taken some elements from the 3D model I created and blended them back into an updated design, one of my favorite examples being shown below. […]

March 9, 2019

Naval Fleet Courier


3D Printing, Hobbies, Model Kits, Technology

Taking what I learned from the previous model, I created an updated version of the Type S Scout/Courier model with the aim of improving detail in key areas as well as adding features to improve the “paintability”. It’s also the first time that I attempted to create my own water-slide decals. Background for Traveller Fans […]

October 13, 2018

Scout Ship: from Concept to Model


3D Printing, Hobbies, Model Kits, Technology

This is the first in a series about my process of fabricating a sci-fi starship from original concept art through printing and painting a physical model. Concept Art First, a little background: the model I am creating is a “Type S Scout/Courier” from the Traveller Role Playing Game universe. It’s a design that’s been around since […]

September 28, 2018

TIE Striker 1/144


Hobbies, Model Kits

I wasn’t able to take many in progress photos, but I do have some notes associated with the photos of the finished model. I’m torn on the design of this ship. My initial reaction was that it looks like a potato-bat, but it’s grown on me. From certain angles, like the first image below, it definitely gives […]

August 21, 2018

Millennium Falcon 1/350


Hobbies, Model Kits

This is another model from Bandai’s Resistance Vehicle Set which includes two 1/144 T-70 X-Wings along with this 1/350 Falcon from the Last Jedi. Few parts but great detail. I’m really impressed by the pipes which run from the hull into the maintenance pits. The parts were all very clean except for the radar dish, which […]

August 6, 2018

T-70 X-Wing 1/144, “McQuarrie Concept” Markings


Hobbies, Model Kits

This model is part of a Last Jedi Resistance Vehicles boxed set that includes Poe Dameron’s boosted X-Wing, a Blue Squadron T-70 X-Wing and a 1/350 scale Millenium Falcon. Rather than going for the standard Blue Squadron paint job, I wanted to try to something a little different. I’ve seen a number of people create […]

July 29, 2018

X-Wing 1/144


Hobbies, Model Kits

This is the companion to the previously posted Y-Wing. I started the X-Wing with a base coat of Stynylrez Black Primer followed by a coat of Minitaire Skull White which is the next lightest gray in the Minitaire line from Dusty Ground, which is what I used for the Y-Wing. I used a variety of […]

July 22, 2018

Y-Wing 1/144


Hobbies, Model Kits

This is a 1/144 Y-Wing from Bandai’s Star Wars Episode IV, V and VI vehicle range. It came as part of a boxed set with an X-Wing and Y-Wing. The level of detail is remarkable, especially for a model in this small a scale. The kit parts fit together quite snugly without glue and Bandai […]

July 15, 2018

New General Purpose & Minitaire Paint Racks


Hobbies

With the generous use of my brother’s Glowforge, I was able to fabricate three paint racks for my workspace. Two of them are general purpose racks, designed to hold paint bottles from various manufacturers in an upright position for easy identification. The third rack is designed around holding the full set of Badger Minitaire airbrush […]

July 14, 2018

Paint Rack Concept Revision 4


Hobbies

I went back to the drawing board for another design based on what I learned from revisions 1 through 3. The biggest change is that I’m adding two more shelves and reducing the width from 20″ (50cm) to 16″ (40cm). This will allow me to fit three racks side-by-side in my workspace. Revisions 2 and 3 […]

July 9, 2018

Rogue Squadron Snowspeeder Diorama


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

I finally completed the T-47 Airspeeder model from Star Wars Legion, painted up as one of the iconic Rogue Squadron Snowspeeders from the Battle of Hoth. Since this was a gift for my brother’s birthday, I wanted to create a snow-covered diorama base to show off the speeder. This was my first experience with creating […]

July 8, 2018

Paint Rack v1


Hobbies

This is the laser-cut version of the paint rack concept. The Glowforge cut it perfectly and the parts fit snugly enough to be dry-fit but with enough margin to allow them to be glued easily. It was also surprisingly sturdy and the central spine gave good support with the shelves only flexing minimally when loaded […]

July 5, 2018

Paint Rack Concept


Hobbies, Technology

As my collection of paints has grown I’ve purchased a number of paint rack solutions such as Vallejo’s Front Module Paint Stand and Angel Giraldez’s Custom Paint Rack. They are both well constructed out of laser-cut MDF and relatively inexpensive. However, there are a number of things I don’t like about most of the laser-cut […]

July 4, 2018

Star Wars Legion T-47 Airspeeder


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

While I haven’t gotten into the Star Wars Legion game quite yet, I picked up a model of the T-47 Airspeeder, best known as the iconic Snowspeeder from the Battle of Hoth from Episode IV. This model is from Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars Legion line of miniatures and is scaled for 25mm humans, roughly […]

June 26, 2018

Nemesis Light Strike Vehicle


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

This 15mm scale Nemesis is from Clearhorizon Miniatures. It’s a multi-part resin kit of a stealthy, light armored recon vehicle. The original 3D model sculpt is by Steve “Coolhand” Tyler. The model has an aggressive, “crouched” stance that looks like a cat ready to pounce. It looks like it would be able to handle pretty rough […]

June 10, 2018

Talos Exo Suits – Heavy Weapons Squad


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

This is a pack of Talos heavy armored infantry from White Dragon Miniatures Marine Tactical Unit line. The pack comes with four troopers and one drone. According to the flavor text from White Dragon, two of the troopers are escorts armed with carbines, one being magazine fed and the other belt-fed. One heavy weapon trooper […]

June 2, 2018

Proteus Frontline Battle Mech with Chaingun


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

This is my second Proteus Frontline Battle Mech from White Dragon Miniatures. This model is the chaingun variant and has a more active stance than the cannon version. The mech’s torso is rotated to the left with the chaingun clearly being aimed rather than held at rest. As with my last Proteus model, I added […]

May 19, 2018

Marine Tactical Unit: Fire Team Charlie


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

This is the third set of White Dragon Miniatures depicting Marine Tactical Unit troopers. Fire Team Charlie is a heavy weapons unit equipped with missile launchers called MIPAWs. MAIN INDIVIDUAL PORTABLE ASSAULT WEAPON: Another weapon which can be utilised by the Fireteams is the MIPAW. This is a large shoulder fired weapon able to launch an […]

May 19, 2018

Challenger Hover APC


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

This is one of my first vehicle purchases from Khurasan Miniatures, a Challenger Hover APC. The model is cast from resin and was remarkably clean and required very little patching or trimming of flash. I really like the bulky, utilitarian design of this model and the details such as hull panels, smoke launchers, tow rings […]

March 30, 2018

Armadillo Support Mech


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

Another great model from White Dragon Miniatures, the Armadillo is an “automated pack-mule” robot that acts as a transport and fire support unit attached to a platoon of Marines. The model comes with a large armored shield that attaches to the right side of the mech but is not shown in the photos. The shield […]

March 28, 2018

Decals for Proteus Battle Mech


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

I finally had a chance to apply some water slide decals to the Proteus Battle Mech. Definitely not a level of detail I could have achieved by painting. I’m having some problems with glare on the water slide decal material from certain angles. The model is coated with Testors Dullcote Flat Spray Lacquer but I […]

March 28, 2018

Proteus Frontline Battle Mech with Cannon


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

This is one of the larger models from White Dragon’s line of Marine Tactical Unit 15mm miniatures. There are currently three weapon variants: cannon, chaingun and railgun. The version pictured below is the cannon variant. The model is cast from resin and is very accurate with minimal mold lines and flash. Assembly is a bit […]

March 17, 2018

White Dragon’s Marine Tactical Unit Miniatures


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

I recently discovered the Marine Tactical Unit (MTU) 15mm miniatures line by White Dragon Miniatures. Theses are fantastic sculpts with an incredible amount of detail and really nice designs. The MTU infantry are available as three fire teams, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, each of which contains six troopers, all with different poses. The troopers are […]

March 11, 2018

15mm Sci-Fi Miniatures


Hobbies, Miniature Painting

As a kid, my first encounter with 15mm miniatures was at the local Swap Meet, where a local gaming store, Comic Castle, had a spot where they sold games and miniatures. My first purchase was a set of 15mm adventurers from the Traveller Sci-Fi RPG universe manufactured by Martian Metals. Due to the small scale […]

March 11, 2018

My First Experiment with a Glowforge Laser Cutter


Hobbies

I’ve been experimenting with my brother’s Glowforge laser cutter and this is my first design: a sci-fi themed dice tower cut from 1/8″ (3.17mm) MDF. For those not steeped in RPG or tabletop game culture, a dice tower is a device for preventing rolled dice from scattering all over the place. A dice tower usually […]

March 10, 2018

Thoughts on the Apple Watch


Technology

Once again, Apple surprises us with their entry into wearable technology. There’s been a ton of coverage on what little we know about the Apple Watch and you can’t go wrong reading this overview from Benjamin Clymer of Hodinkee. I’m surprised that they were able to cram so much technology into such a tiny package. I had […]

December 21, 2014

Thoughts on the iWatch


Technology

I’ve been thinking about the rumored iWatch and what the design and user experience might be like. This led me to create a concept based on what I’d like to see in the device. This concept is influenced by the sleek design of the Nike+ FuelBand. This type of band could provide space for the battery […]

September 5, 2014