Saturday, September 6, 2008

To the Mandatorium!


It may be unnecessary, but I figure I should post a mandatory update, just to keep up some approximation of schedule.


Thought I'd give you an update of where I stand. School's back in session, and while I'm not explicitly "busy," I don't have all the free time in the world.
However, between Soulcalibur IV, Disgaea 3, and intermittent panic attacks related to papers due in a Medieval Philosophy course, I've found some time to build a few little models to help come down off of the excessive labor of the Angel build.



That's not to say I think Auron is small or that Ham Headz are easy (they're surprisingly time consuming, actually). From left to right are: the first of four Windwaker Links, which I've been wanting to build for a while, just because they look fun when completed (I'm sure I screwed up the face, because looks like a bobble-head), the first of four Ghostbusters Ham Headz (was watching the movies the other night, thought it was funny that I could actually come up with a 'papercraft for any occasion.' By the way, if anyone can explain how to position the arms and whatnot, I can't seem to wrap my head around turning a cone into an elbow), Billybob's excellent Futurama Crack Vending Machine and Suicide Booth, and last, but certainly not least, Ninjatoes' Auron, one I've been wanting to make for quite some time.



I've got a stack of models ready to build, I'll probably complete one or two before I get back into designing anything new. In the pile are: an Okami model, in sort of an artistic pose, not the game version I've already made, the other three Windwaker Links, the other three Ghostbusters Ham Headz and Billybob's Staypuft Marshmallow Man, Ninjatoes' Rikku (to go along with Auron, also I just discovered he's done an FFX-2 Yuna, which I'll have to add to the stack), Billybob's Bebop, which I've really been wanting to build since I first saw it, but have been putting off for easier models, and finally, three smaller scale Mandragora. Went through and laid out the Mandragora at one-third scale (about 25cm tall) and applied the textures for all three game versions (the Lycopodium required some extra stuff for the flower on top, but they're all basically the same model). Would you believe that little cardstock expanding file in the background cost $10? You'd think I'd know better than to buy anything from the school bookstore...anyway. I'm still undecided how I'm going to go about tackling the stack, but I'll try to get back to something FFXI related as soon as I can.

You may have noticed the dramatic increase in picture quality. I was down in League City in July for my niece's birthday and my mom gave me her camera, because it had stopped functioning properly. Some clever maintenance (I basically just ripped off a panel that was keeping a switch from tripping properly) and I've got a free 5mp camera. Good times.
I've also been thinking, since watching that time-lapse video of the Howl's Moving Castle construction, if anyone would be interested in seeing something like that with an FFXI model. It's pretty self-centered an unnecessary, but if anyone would like to see such a thing, I'd be willing to experiment with it.


Also, it may be a little late, but I wanted to thank two readers for emailing me links to the FFXII Fran .pdo. If anyone's still looking for it, it can be found here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/127430063/StephsFran.pdo.html

It's unlocked, so you can resize at will. Also if anyone knows how to get ahold of this Steph character, I'd love to know if he ripped the model from something or made it from scratch (mostly I want to know if I can get a Balthier for the other side of my TV).

I'll be posting shortly after this with a big list of models I've been thinking about, and I'll let you decide with a simple vote.
As always, I'm open for suggestions, and really, you can post them anywhere, the comments end up in my inbox no matter which thread they're posted in. So feel free to ask for something, and I'll give it my best shot.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the Fran .pdo. :) I've had .jpegs of the parts for awhile now but haven't attempted to build her yet because I didn't want to screw it up and waste ink and paper. This should help a lot. I hope you manage to get in touch with the creator too. I would kill for a Balthier papercraft. It's sad that no one has made one yet. As for the other models you mentioned, I vote for the Moogle hat, the mandragora lanern, and even though it would be uber complicated most likely, the Cait Sith.

Anonymous said...

I believe he ripped but isn't doing any more. there is a program out to rip models from the game cd and see them in a model viewer i'll email it to you balthier would be awsome

Anonymous said...

thanks but i don't know anything about papercraft making. a model viewer wouldn't be of much use to me. :(

Mr. K said...

She was talking to me, and has already gotten me set up with all the info necessary. I've got massive amounts of school work to take care of, but Vivi and I are gonna start working on getting some models out soon (post to follow some time in the next week or so).