Today’s excellent wallpaper was created by Alice Adrenochrome. A lovely composition that teases a subject that 3A fans will be very familiar with. It depicts 3A’s Oyaloper standing over the 7 bones of fallen Tomorrow Kings. So far, 3A has released three of the seven 7 bones: Wasabi, Kyoku and Queeny. Not much has been revealed of the remaining four other than a peak we got back in January of the back of the poster that will come with Queeny. Check it.
A nice round of applause for Alice for contributing this weeks wallpaper. Please check out his Facebook and Flikr pages to see more of his awesome photos.
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See ya next week!
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If you’d like to contribute to Wednesday’s Wallpaper of the Week and have your name go down in history as someone who’s image is a wallpaper on a website (which is also awesome) drop us a line at radtoyreview@gmail.com with your idea and/or image sample.
Paul kicks out another Workshop jam! Today he’s actually fulfilling a special tutorial request made by RtR reader Gwen. We were asked if we could shed some light on how to make a modern crossbow. I responded by saying that I’d do my best. It turns out my best is asking Paul!
once again with absolute flying colors..
Enjoy!
– Knives
CROSSBOW
About a week ago I was asked if I could “figure out a way to make a crossbow”. I wasn’t sure whether I would make a good job of one; but I saw it as a challenge and went for it. I scribbled down some notes below to describe how I did it.
To start the project I needed to research crossbows. I printed out a few pictures of some from a web search and pulled out my stock of Evergreen Scale Models strip styrene. I then did a sketch of the crossbow bearing in mind the strip styrene I had. To help move things along, I pulled a M4 shoulder stock out my ‘bits box’ to work into the design. You could probably cut one off of any old 1/6 rifle you have lying around. The sketch was done to the same size as the crossbow which will help in cutting the styrene exactly to size.
On to the making! In previous articles I have mentioned the materials, tools and paints I use. Here are those tools again, if only to show the saw that was really useful in making this model. Also I want to be sure to mention the glue again, which is a thin super glue that can be obtained from Games Workshop vendors. The great thing about it is, it comes with a little brush inside which gives you loads of control.
The picture below shows the crossbow with the parts labelled. The notes below explain how the parts went together.
Part [a] is a piece of 6mm by 6mm square hollow section styrene. The rear of which has been cut at an angle. After about 20mm, the front top of the section is completely cut away to take two pieces of styrene (parts [b]) that will form the channel for the bolt fletching.
Parts [b] are two pieces of 6mm by 2.5mm solid styrene, spaced slightly apart and glued to part [a]. The gap between parts [a] and [b] are filled with super glue by simply painting into the gap several times until it was filled.
Part [c] is also a piece of 6mm by 2.5mm solid styrene glued centrally along the bottom of part [a]. I used the handy modelling saw to cut the trigger guard out from the rear of this piece.
Part [d] is another piece of 6mm by 2.5mm solid styrene. A piece of 3mm semi circular styrene is glue to the back of this piece to shape it to be more like a hand stock.
Part [e] is the M4 shoulder stock.
Part [f] is a piece of 5mm tube which fitted perfectly into the shoulder stock and part [a].
Part [g] is a piece of 3mm by 2mm solid styrene.
Part [h] is a piece of 5mm tube styrene. I made a sight line from some heat stretched sprue from a plastic kit (see pictures below).
Part [i] is cut from of 6mm by 2.5mm solid styrene then shaped with a scalpel and sand paper until it looks like a trigger.
Part [j] the bowstave, limb or prod (it seems to have several names) is made from 1mm sheet styrene. To get the shape right I folder paper in half and then in half again. I then drew a slanted line from 4mm to 6mm. The centre of the bowstave would cover the end of parts [a] and [b] glued together. I also cut a slot for the bolt fletching to go through. PLEASE NOTE: If I were to attempt this crossbow again I would use slightly thicker styrene sheets for two reasons 1.it snapped under tension whilst the base coat of paint dried, being under tension may have caused this and 2 although the bowstave had a very realistic bow to it, it seemed to straighten out after a while (still not too shabby looking). I did try to improve the bow and also make a repair by gluing two strips of 1mm styrene onto the front. I think it gave it some cosmetic interest as well as served it’s repair purpose rather well.
Part [k] is a 5mm tube styrene cut in half.
Part [l] is some type of man made fibre cord I found in the bits box. Keep in mind that if you use thread for modelling projects you can usually see lots of fine loose threads that do not look very realistic. Choose wisely.
Part [m] the string is again a piece of cord, from a camera I believe.
Parts [n] are two pieces of copper wire cut and then slotted through two holes drilled in part [a].
Part [o] is a piece of 3mm by 2mm solid styrene.
Part [p] the bolt shaft, is a piece of copper rod. The ‘pointy’ end is filed and then finished of with fine sandpaper.
Part [q] the fletching is made from paper. Paper was folded in half and then in half again. A single feather half was cut to make four. These were then glued to the shaft and then painted with super glue to give them a little more thickness/strength.
Part [r] is just a thin collar cut from a cotton bud tube. Super glue is then painted onto the end of the bolt to give a better shape.
To paint the crossbow, I first washed it in soapy water to get rid of dust and grease marks. Then I base coated it with Humbrol matte light olive aerosol paint. Similarly, the bolt was sprayed with a matte black Humbrol aerosol paint.
After leaving the pieces out over night to dry, the crossbow was further painted with some Citadel acrylic paints and MIG weathering pigments. First it was given a wash of Camo Green mixed with Chaos Black. When dry, I dry brushed with Camo Green mixed with Skull White. General wear and tear marks were made with a sponge, putting specks onto the crossbow using Dark Flesh, Chaos Black and Blazing Orange. A wash of MIG old rust was applied liberally to nooks and crannies. While drying I blending it onto flat areas with a cotton bud. The sight line in part [h] was painted with Blood Red. The crossbow string was painted with Chaos Black and then dry brushed with grey made from mixing Chaos Black and Skull White.
The taping on the hand stock is just some linen wrapped around it and painted with a wash of Camo Green, dried and then glued in place.
The black bolt was dry brushed with the afore mentioned grey made from Chaos Black and Skull White. The fletching was painted with Dark Angels Green, and then dry brushed with the same colour mixed with Skull White. Stripes were added with Blood Red. A simple. useful trick here is to just hold a brush in place while rotating the bolt.
And FINALLY.. the pointy end was then dry brushed with Boltgun Metal.
We hope you enjoyed the latest Workshop. Big thanks to Paul for once again putting this together for us.
We’d love to hear from you and check out what kind of customs you’re working on! Send us a shot of your latest custom work with a brief description to radtoyreview@gmail.com.
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Neil (soulburn3d) has been doing high resolution/quality shots of 3A bots for a few years now. He has a knack for capturing many of the fine subtle qualities that permeate the large majority of 3A’s offerings. Clean and crisp, no nonsense. He was kind enough to send us a few images from his latest mini-bertie shoot for this week’s wallpaper.
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Soulburn3d 1024x768
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iPhone Wallpaper
Soulburn3d iPhone
See ya next week!
Let us know how we’re doing! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay updated!
If you’d like to contribute to Wednesday’s Wallpaper of the Week and have your name go down in history as someone who’s image is a wallpaper on a (awesome) website drop us a line at radtoyreview@gmail.com with your idea and/or image sample.
Today is a special day for me because today my wife has taken over and written her first toy review! Not only did she do the write-up, but she shot all the photos as well. I’ll add a few of my own thoughts here and there as well to spice things up, but the majority of the following is all her!
Also at the end of this review is Rad Toy Review’s very first unboxing YouTube video! We’re still working out the kinks but it’s a good start and we’re excited to see where it takes us!
– Knives
INTRO
Hi all! Knives’ wife (sometimes called The Red Lady) here. I didn’t think it was possible for toys to take over any more of husband’s life until this website came along. To my chagrin, it immediately proved my theory wrong. I mean, really, who writes over 4,000 words about a toy? I don’t think he ever even wrote that much for school assignments! I feel if I have any hope of spending time with him ever again, I’m going to have to get involved with this toy business occasionally. So here I am! He’s asked me to share my perspective for this review, as a non-collector and “outsider” of sorts. While I won’t pretend to understand his relentless drive to collect toys and subsequent obsession with them, as a creative type, I do think some look pretty cool, so I’ll do my best to be fair and not let my personal feelings of abandonment color my words 😉 On to Mr. Square Bomb!
PACKAGING
The box he comes in is…well, it’s a box. Garden variety corrugated cardboard, white on the outside, brown on the inside. Other than the (comparatively rather large) threeA logo, the artwork is all black, white and orange. It’s simple, but kind of a neat look. I don’t really get the word bubble on the side, though. I guess it’s supposed to be what the square thinks, but it’s way too serious to come out of that goofy face.
K – The only thing I’d like to add about the packaging is actually about the brown shipping box it comes in. On the side clearly reads the words “SQUARE BOMB”. Yes, 3A has sent us all bombs in the mail. Prominently labeled as such. I wonder how many (if any) of these were held up in customs because of it.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
Just the toy. Unless you’re super creative, and then I guess you could maybe do something with the plastic shell pieces?
THE BREAKDOWN
I’m going to ‘fess up here and admit that while I regularly give Knives a hard time about his “Ash” obsession, I actually really like some of Ashley Wood’s art (I could happily live without the scantily clad women with weird looking feet) and think a lot of his toys are pretty neat looking. The squares are definitely my favorite. Simple, but they have personality and are pretty cute. And before you go thinking I’m all girly and I just like cutesy things, know this – when the zombie apocalypse comes, I’m the one in this household that knows how to handle a weapon.
Ahem. Now that we have that cleared right up…
This square is a little different than the others, mostly because he’s carrying a giant bomb on his noggin. I’m not sure how he intends to use it, given that he lacks arms, but it’s there. His face is a little different than the other squares too. He still has that bucktooth thing going on, but his lip is far less curled out. I know he’s supposed to be the “crazy” one, on account of the word “unstable” printed on his face in giant block letters (subtle, no?), but he actually looks a little less crazy than the normal squares because of the lip. He’s also got one pretty sweet eyebrow over his left eye. He seems very sneaky to me!
I’m really impressed with how much articulation he has for a toy with so few appendages. Knives tells me it’s about the same as the other squares, but I guess this is the first time I really played with one. You can twist the base that the legs attach to all the way around, rotate and twist the top of the legs around a ball joint and even twist his feet back and forth a bit. Unfortunately, with so many options and his top-heavy nature, it was a little difficult to get him to actually stand up while photographing.
One of the things I think is so cool about these toys is the interesting paint jobs. The weathering and detail are (normally) great. This guy looks like he’s had dirty water running down him along with the normal weathering detail on the edges. There’s also some reddish splatter in there that breaks things up nicely.
Given that I’m usually such a fan of the paint though, I’ve gotta say I think they really phoned it in on the bomb. It’s a random assortment of red, brown and silver splatters that don’t make any sense to me, and are applied in a really lazy manner. There’s about four smudge marks around the main body of the bomb, with each color right on top of the other in the exact same spot, and anywhere with a dip is completely free of paint.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall I like this little guy. He’s got personality. It was pretty easy to come up with a little back story for him while taking pictures. If you don’t look too close, the paint job looks nice. The only other issue I had with him is that it’s pretty unclear how the bomb is attached. The belly of the bomb just kinda squares out, sitting flush to the top of his head. I feel like this was a missed opportunity for cool detail that would sell the whole bomb thing a little better.
Well, thanks for sticking around long enough to read the thoughts of the uninitiated! It’s been fun. I’m sure I’ll start to miss Knives again soon and have to come back for another!
K – Personally, I wasn’t too excited about square bomb when I ordered him. I ordered him based on the single fact that I love the MK1 Square. It’s a 3A/Ashley Wood classic. I was intrigued by the new face but the bomb didn’t look very “realized” in the teaser shots. I had my hand firmly on the trap door when he arrived only to be surprised by his “personality”. The new face won me over right away. Also, as my wife mentioned, the paint and weathering is well done. Perhaps just as important, not OVER done. There’s a good balance of dirty and clean and some nice attention to details around the edges and corners of the square’s body. It’s not the best I’ve seen 3A do, but it’s pretty darn good. I’ll agree with my wife that the bomb did lack some of the finer paint details of the square, but it didn’t bother me as much as it did her.
I think the thing I like about this guy the most is that he’s a one-off. One character with a unique face and a singular idea behind him. That could all change tomorrow and 3A could release a dozen different colorways of the bomb toting psycho, but for now he’s unique and I love that.
I do wish the bomb had some straps around it, or maybe some hoses running from it into the square’s body to make it a little more cohesive. This is 3A. They do straps and belts and hoses and bags like it’s their job.. because IT IS their job! It just looks like it’s stuck on with no basis of how or why. Some simple accessory connecting the two would have gone a long way I think.
Other than that I’d like to echo my wife’s feelings and say that overall I like this little guy. Thanks sweetie for putting this all together for me! You’re the best!
Pros:
wonderful new “troubled/sneaky” face
nice overall paint application
A unique character based off one of 3A’s most classic (and one of my favorite) toy designs
Cons:
The general execution of the bomb, from the way it’s painted to the way it’s attached looks less than inspired
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