I really look forward to these updates.

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This is turning out great! Amazing stuff!

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so, at the end of the day, I have this -- (also, i promised the fam that if i could play in the garage today, i'd stay out of it the rest of the weekend ... so this is probably it for the weekend... )

A shot of the installed flight platform, and how i use the guns as a way to keep the flight decks in upright position:


a shot of the flight deck up, with an early preview of the working upper deck:


a pic of the facade in progress, showing the flight deck up and some gunner stations


a quick shot of the front facade with the new face piece:


photo with the landing pad in place (and the false doors):


I had screwed the hinge to the landing pad through the side of the shelf -- rather than try to cut off the protruding screw, i just used some tech detail to cover it up - in this case, it's some manga stuff that bbts had clearanced for cheap once upon a time -- highly recommend that, if bbts does it again -


a 'through-way' shot of both flight decks up


a flight deck put together, with gun stations and center station


a flight deck showing the missile launching station


and finally, a fuller shot of one of the side facades:

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Sweet, love that ramp and the flight/landing decks!

Seriously dude I've been following your progression and it's amazing, i've been working on a cobra island dio for sometime now and had to stop due to lack of motivation, but you have sparked the fire once more.

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thanks for the kind comments everyone --

i took a quick break from mowing the lawn to fix a slight issue that's been bugging me -- there was an ugly gap in one of the tech pieces, and i realized it would be a good place for a 'lever' - so i used one of the handles from the spring-loaded tech details to make one -- thoughts?


the real reason i posted today was to get an opinion from you folks: i started working on the castle exterior, and i realized there were quite a few windows in the pieces -- some of them are large enough to fit figures into, but some of them are so small, they wouldn't allow for a figure to go behind (without cutting each window out of the inner wall) or, if i did put a figure in there, i'd be hosed if they dropped a weapon, popped an o-ring, etc., So here's my question: Would it be better to just put some black paper behind these non-accessible windows (easy) or take the time to create dio scenes behind each window (time/resource consuming) ?

thoughts?

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This is epic.

You could try printing out some sort of scenery. It won't look as detailed as a small scene but would be infinitely easier and look better than black paper.

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I think you could do both. Put the mini-dio set ups where they make sense and then black out or, like diosoth suggests, use print outs (vehicle back drop packaging? comic art?) as filler where it makes sense.

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you could put something reflective behind those windows. So it isn't just plain black, but you won't have to make scenes either.

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Tiny beaded curtains

i'm gonna bead your tiny curtains, if you know what i'm sayin' ... and i think you do...

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Quick Update today while the kids were occupied with a movie --

I recently scored some Prince of Persia gates from Spectre -- I figured they would be a good way to close off the top level.

my green paint doesn't match perfectly, but after drybrushing (down the road), i don't think it will be that noticible.

I was able to keep the door mechanism working by altering the upper castle floor (on the right wing) and pulling in the left wing a little.

this also allowed me to keep the spiral staircase on the outside.

i had to notch both castle wings to accomodate the gates, it is a passable fit, and the bottom of the wall will be covered by other things

I also drilled & screwed the top pieces to the top shelf, to keep them from falling off & hurting someone -- this is taller than everyone in my house.
the screw heads will be painted to match the bases.

now to start finishing the outer facade

thanks for looking, open to any suggestions/critiques!

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Really dig the incorporation of the PoP gates - what brand/color of paint did you use for those?

Coming along nicely!

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Incredible work! I'd buy one lol!

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thanks fellas!

chief, this is the stuff i'm using -- i wish i would have had it from the beginning!

good coverage, nicely textured, and on sale cheap @ menards ... wish I had bought 6 cans!



'forest green'

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