The Blue Lotus (Wolseley Armoured Car)

Martin Oostrom
All scratch? What is the plane for?

Greg Baker
The armoured car will be all scratch (basically it's just a box on wheels... albeit a small and slightly complicated box). The plane is a separate project to build the Ki-10 that (arguably) also appears in the Tintin Adventure, the Blue Lotus.

Spanjaard
i am in 🙂

Marcel Klemmer
I am in.too 🙂

Dave Flitton
Can't help but watch this!

Thomas Bischoff
some serious work is done here! I will follow for sure 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks. It's coming right along. The front end will be a bit trickier I think. I'm also trying to figure out what wheels to use.

Choppa Nutta
very cool 🙂

Uwe Kaeding
Looking good Greg - and good tip about the Ki-10. Just had a look in the book and the shape looks about right!

Greg Baker
Thanks Uwe. I uploaded the pic that I'm using as inspiration for the Ki-10 to a separate album. It's the cover to le petit vingtième (No. 20, May 1933). According to the Blue Rider Tintin modelling book, they look more like Hawker Harts, but I imagine that the Ki-10 is more accurate and that's enough wiggle room for me. 🙂

Greg Baker
All the parts are now scratchbuilt and in place... one to the putty and sanding!

Spanjaard
looking pretty good already. very nice scratchbuild 🙂

Spanjaard
you are not the only Tintin builder now... have a look at DH Puss Moth | Album by Uwe Kaeding (1:72)

Martin Oostrom
There are more people with this idea: SCM Search: tintin

Greg Baker
Now, admittedly, most of the projects on that list are mine (well, ideas stage anyway). Still, I've haunted lots of Uwe's and Mike Grants builds. Those guys know what they're doing!

Greg Baker
Alright... so this one is now done! I'm pretty happy since it was a 100% scratch build... even the wheels are modified resin casts off an Academy 1/72 MiG-21. My ONE regret is that I screwed up the rivets. When I first poked the holes, the little ridge of plastic that was pushed up created a very nice rivet effect. However, I accidentally poked too hard and pushed in the front plate in the process. So I had to fix that with some more putty and glued and in the process of sanding I managed to take off several of the rivet heads. So I decided to err on the side of uniformity and sanded all the rest down too (except the doors). Sigh... the holes just aren't the same... oh, well.

Spanjaard
i think you should be proud of it 🙂

Thomas Bischoff
I agree with Spanjaard - beautifully scratchbuilt!

Miro Herold
somewhat newly! Japs are there still too few.

Greg Baker
Looks like you've built some great ones Miro. I'm also working on a Ki-10... so that's one more!

Greg Baker
So… I had a bit of a shelf disaster. Long story short, a glass shelf in my Tintin cabinet got knocked loose and crushed some of the models sitting on the shelf below. Some can be repaired, and some… well, let's just say I get to try again. Since I've spent some time learning Blender and doing some 3D modeling, I thought I'd try my hand at designing a 3D print file from scratch… and the nice sharp edges of this armoured car were a great way to start.

Unfortunately, my printer leaves a bit to be desired in terms of quality. So, there's still plenty of putty and sanding to do, but hopefully this new project will turn out even better.

Greg Baker
Oh, and if anyone else wants to give this one a print, I uploaded my files here - thingiverse.com/thing:5941022

Spanjaard
really sorry about the disaster. on the other hand, that 3D model looks quite good

Greg Baker
Yeah... I had to observe a moment of silence when it happened. The only model that was truly destroyed beyond repair was my Ki-10 Perry. Luckily I have another kit in my stash for that one. My Tiger Moth was also damaged. It might have been repaired, but a) the ease at which I could replace the Airfix kit and b) the joy of building that kit means I'll likely re-do that one too.

Spanjaard
black Island Tiger Moth? i hope you can make that again, it is a beautiful one. and the Ki-10 too 🙁

Greg Baker
I like the TIger Moth and the Airfix kit is a dream... so it's pretty high on my list. I've also learned a lot since I built the Ki-10 the first time, so I'll probably find some easier solutions this time around.

Nils Steyaert
following 🙂

Pietro De Angelis
Very nice!

Alex K
Really sorry for the disaster - but glad you are back!

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! Stay tuned... more to come~

Finn
Well done, will follow to the finish

Greg Baker
Thanks Finn. Got the car mostly done. Now I'm working on the bicycle! I was able to piece the original back together, but I'm still having fun with this new version… even if I feel a bit guilty for some reason. 😉

Thomas Bischoff
Your scratchwork on the Original keeps well up with the 3D printed one 👍
Sorry for the disaster but you turned it into a Phoenix story!

Michael Jonker
Love it. My child self was (is?) A Tintin fan.

Alec K
Here you are, designing and printing in 3D AND scratchbuilding, all at the same time. Impressive work 👍 sorry to hear about the shelf mishap 🙁

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I still love scratchbuilding, but doing the 3D modelling and printing is also fun. My next project, the Udet-12 Flamingo is another one where I'm going to 3D print a model that I previously scratchbuilt too. Stay tuned~

Nils Steyaert
as always, a work of art, greg 👍

Greg Baker
Took a bit of fiddly work, which was held up by other projects, but I finally got this one (re) done!

Spanjaard
Great job Greg

Alec K
Looks awesome 👍

Neuling
Cute. 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Michael Jonker
Love it! Makes me want to read Tintin again.

Greg Baker
Me too! 🙂

I'm going back and making some improvements to my Tintin projects, so there's plenty more to come.

Greg Baker
In case anyone is interested, I uploaded my 3D files for the armoured car to cults3d.com (cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/armoured-car). There's a small fee to download, but it gets even smaller if you visit my blog and find the 50% off coupon code. 🙂