Sunday 29 May 2016

London MCM and big Darth Vader update.

Lets start by talking about the London MCM that was held the weekend of 27-29/05/16.
I have to say that it was a very mixed bag for me. I had a good time, maybe not a great time but differently a good time. I didn't leave till after 4:00 pm and normally i would of left by 1:00 pm. And there was a lot to see, I think there was more than last year. That is a good thing as it shows that the Con is growing. Down side to that is that MCM are still not using the space to their full advantage. I mean they have Halls that are practically empty and they do with them. There was a food hall that was empty and the hall where we queued was empty. With a little more thinking then the ExCel main corridor was not be constantly pack and if they moved the Japanese food stalls in to that food hall then That would free up so much space on the show floor. Also matters were not helped by the fact that the ExCel Center closed off half the Center so people could not spread out along the main corridor or leave through the back entrance. It just comes down to the fact that the way the MCM lays out it's floor plan just need changing. It hasn't really changed in years and if you have been reading this blog then you will have noticed that I have said the same thing about every MCM Expo... 
We can only live in hope that one day they will learn.
But it was not all doom and gloom. The con has grown and that is always good and there were a lot of things to see and the outside stage was playing live music that was very cool. I didn't much chance to listen to a lot but what i heard was good. So i hope that is kept up for the next con. 
I picked up two anime box-sets Rage of Bahamut Genesis and Durarara X2 Sho. Not much i know but i have to try to save for the Star Wars Celebration convention in July and that is the weekend before the London Film and Comic Con... Two cons a week apart July is not going to be kind to my wallet.....

Speaking of Star Wars Celebration, I have been working on my Darth Vader Armour and things are looking good. I have till the end of June to get things finished..... So four weeks.... This is crunch time...
I started with test fitting the metal rods on the Chest box and I am very happy with the results.



Once this is painted it going to look great. A lot of work has gone in to the face mask I had to do  a lot of work around the eye sockets. I pretty much re-sculpted the eyes I didn't want to do this but I should of realized  once I started work on the helmet that this was going to be needed to be done. 





With this done I moved on to priming everything so I can start painting. This means I am nearly at the home stretch. not much left the end is in sight. It has been a long road but almost there.



 




 

I ran out of primer so I will have to get more and by this coming weekend i hope to have everything primed and any sanding that needs doing will be done so I can then paint everything black and I need to think about the kind of grey I want the chest armour to be. So many different types. Guess i will be taking a lot more trips to Halfords.
And with that i this post comes to an end i will post an update in a week or two with the progress I have made.  



Sunday 15 May 2016

Vaders gloves and May 4th sales

Star Wars Celebration Europe is now less that two months away and i still have a lot to do. The Vader Helmet is ready for final sanding and painting. I am on holiday at the end of the month and so the plan is to get pretty much 90% done and then that will leave me a month left to finish it off. I was hoping to have more done by now but work has kept me very busy lately. and with the MCM Expo on the 28th of May my free time is getting short. i need to double my efforts. Now I know I have said that before.... Ok I keep saying it.... But now it's pretty much crunch time and if I want this ready I will have to put the work in. Also it became clear that i needed to upgrade my gloves. With there not being much time left I finally ordered Some Ep IV A New Hope gloves. These should be with me by mid-June.

As mentioned above work has kept me busy but I did make some time to see Captain America Civil War. Which was an awesome movie and is in my top 5 Marvel movies.
And then there was May the 4th. A lot of places had Star Wars sales. The Forbidden Planet had a big sale and i picked up a Super7 Shadow Trooper Super Shogun Jumbo. It was a huge saving so i had to pick it up. So now i have a two foot tall rocket firing fist black Stormtrooper. 


And from the Disney Store i picked up a Darth Maul and a Boba Fett Tsum Tsum... I will admit i have no idea what a Tsum Tsum is. But they are cute.


Anyway this is a quick update. I will hopefully be posting again when i'm on holiday and once the MCM Expo is over.