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tekering

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  1. tekering
    So, any self-respecting modeler should have a selection of these in their arsenal: They're extremely useful for reinforcing tenuous or fragile connection points on thin parts, like the Gnerl's distinctive airbrakes. I start by drilling a 0.8mm hole into the base of each airbrake... ...and corresponding holes into the engine housings, just below where the rocket boosters will attach. Metal wires of matching thickness are carefully fitted into the holes, so they'll protrude between the fuselage and the boosters. Once the holes are lined up and the airbrakes are connected, the angle of attachment can be adjusted as the glue dries. With metal wires reinforcing the structural integrity of the attachment points, I don't need to worry about accidentally snapping one of the airbrakes off... ...at least, not as much as I would have to otherwise.
  2. tekering
    Oh, and speaking of the shoulder... I gave some serious thought to what markings might make sense there, based on the hypothetical purpose they'd serve in fighter mode... ...and I figured the yellow arrows might indicate alignment points -- magnetic locks, for instance -- which could've been used during assembly, or by maintenance personnel to confirm the individual parts were lining up properly during transformation. I added an identical pair of decals to the fuselage of my Hasegawa kit, for the sake of consistency.
  3. tekering
    In Japan, packaging greatly impacts the value of an item on the secondary market... regardless of what it is.
  4. tekering
    You obviously don't recall the film. There's no Rebellion, no Empire, and no peace treaty mentioned... although, to be fair, there's no backstory to contradict your version of events, either. In fact, there's no backstory at all, which was my biggest problem with The Force Awakens. How is it that the state-sponsored Resistance was such a pitiful little band of guerrilla fighters, while the mysterious First Order had greater resources than the Empire had? Well, Johnson did nothing to expand on Abrams' non-existent backstory either, so you haven't missed anything. In fact, Johnson threw out anything that referenced the Republic at all, leaving the First Order as the de facto government... but even that's assuming facts not in evidence. Say what you will about the prequels; at least they had a clearly-established setting, and the politics made sense. Lucas may not know anything about acting or dialogue, but at least he cared about worldbuilding. The sequel trilogy, however, has no internal logic or consistency, 'cause nobody put as much thought into it as we have. It's like listening to the Beatles play a Japanese pop song. It sounds great, but there's no emotional resonance because they don't understand what they're singing.
  5. tekering
    Terrific idea for a stand, and beautifully weathered. Inspiring work.
  6. tekering
    Great photography, and fantastic color choices!
  7. tekering
    Fantastic! I'm always jealous of you Americans at this time of the year.
  8. tekering
    Well, that Disney exec sure screwed up big time there...! Of all the new vehicles introduced in the film, only three got produced as toys (four, if you count the "new" A-Wing)... and of the hundreds of new characters, aliens/creatures, and First Order soldier variants featured in the film, only nine got unique action figures (twelve, if you count droids). That's a paltry sum for most toy lines; it's an absolute travesty for a billion-dollar hit like The Last Jedi. Hell, even the financial disaster Solo had more characters produced as figures!
  9. tekering
    Fantastic work, @jvmacross! I love your miniature Halloween Town. @Mog, how the hell do you carve pumpkins like that?
  10. tekering
    Minus all those cobalt blue panels Revell added, of course.
  11. tekering
    Well, they're slowly-but-surely filling out the Endgame team...
  12. tekering
    It's great stuff, and it's helped me out a great deal on this build. As it stretches, however, it's less likely to adhere to the surface as well as conventional masking tape, so I recommend using both in tandem. I apply the special vinyl stuff first, where the curves are sharpest, and then cover it with regular masking tape as much as possible. This will help hold the white tape in place, and ensure a good seal when painting over it. For straight lines, conventional masking tape is sufficient. On the left, you can see that I started by spraying another layer of the primary color (green) over the masking, which will help seal the edges and prevent color bleeding when the next color is applied. This prevents any paint from seeping under the tape. A couple light base coats of black surfacer followed. Patience is key here; if you attempt complete coverage with a single coat, you might lay down too much paint and get it under the masking. Again, to avoid color bleeding, spray at a safe distance from the surface, and give the paint a chance to dry before spraying the next pass. I then laid down another layer of masking tape, using the sculpted rivets as a guide to determine where the hypothetical panel separation might be. A thin coat of slate grey was applied to the exposed upper portion of the hull. Once that had dried, I removed the top layer of masking tape, exposing the rest of the hull portion I wanted to paint. I then masked over the upper portion I'd already painted, carefully following the panel line I'd created with the previous mask, and repeated the process for the center portion. After that section had dried, the process was repeated once again for the lower portion of the hull. The result is three different sections with subtly different shading and coverage, giving the impression of separate parts that had been welded together. Not at all, man. I want these threads to benefit everybody, so I've put a lot of time and effort into sharing my techniques and making suggestions to my fellow model makers. The more we learn from each other, the better we all become... and the more awesome resin kits get built and displayed.
  13. tekering
    I was showing my work to one of the junior members of our local modeling group, and he asked a question that surprised me. He wanted to know how I managed to draw such clean and straight lines on spherical surfaces, like the Gnerl booster rockets. I felt a little condescending, demonstrating what I thought was an obvious technique, but the approach apparently hadn't occurred to him... ...so perhaps an amateur reading this may also find it enlightening. Hold your marker steady, and rotate the circular piece in a slow, steady fashion, so that the felt tip makes contact at an equal height around the circumference of the piece. It's best to go lightly, and make several passes to ensure the ink is evenly distributed, resulting in a clean line of consistent thickness. My apologies to those of you who find this blindingly obvious. Let's check the ol' parts bin, shall we? One of these should do nicely. It's difficult to photograph, but it definitely catches the light like glass now.
  14. tekering
    Thanks for the encouragement, guys! The pilot's mounted in the cockpit, now and forever. Note his right hand over the throttle... ...while his left hand grips the control stick, thumb resting just under the trigger. The trigger activates the triple-barreled nose gun, mounted just under the camera eye on the front of the craft; since the cockpit canopy is heavily-armored and completely opaque, this is the only source of vision for the pilot inside. Having simply matched the flat blue color of the lens as depicted in the animation, I'm now wondering if I should find an actual camera lens to mount in there instead... Wouldn't that look cool? My top coat does most of the work. I love that commercial!
  15. tekering
    Your commitment to quality is unparalleled! I tried 2000-grit sandpaper, buffing, and polishing compound, but that's as clear as I could get it. Oh, I love that. I'm still not completely satisfied with the hair, but I'm very pleased with how Quamzin's eyes turned out... ...and the cut-joints I added to the thighs (in combination with the ball-jointed knees) allow for some more dynamic standing poses.
  16. tekering
    Another minor modification I made to the kit was to articulate the biceps, which both increases range of motion and enhances the figure aesthetically. Compare the animation model sheets to Yamato's figures, and you'll see one significant problem is the shape of the biceps on the toys. What is fat and round in the line art -- suggesting an armored joint -- becomes a poorly-proportioned flat cylinder instead. My earlier photo shows the stock biceps on the resin kit weren't a whole lot better. So, I started by cutting the part into separate pieces... ...and then hollowing them out so that I could fit a joint inside. Properly painted and installed between the arm and the shoulder, it now looks more accurate and increases articulation.
  17. tekering
    What's with the funky color scheme?
  18. tekering
    Japanese pro tip: Safely removes Tamiya panel-line accent colors and Gundam marker ink without damaging enamel or lacquer-based paints.
  19. tekering
    Ah, that explains the lack of yellow highlights. I stand corrected. Close, but his apparently didn't have the yellow stripes on the canards...
  20. tekering
    Surprise! Yamato produced transformable toys of both those variants over a decade ago.
  21. tekering
    I just scored this mirror-backed glass showcase for only 7000 yen! I love virgin shelves. So much exciting potential.
  22. tekering
    Disney seems to have run out way back in 2007, when this was first slated for release. It's been in development hell for the last 12 years!
  23. tekering
    El Camino was one of the best films he ever made. It's just a shame he didn't live long enough to bask in the accolades.
  24. tekering
    It's about time I updated this thread, too... As you can see, the surface has required a lot of cleanup work. After a lot of putty, sanding, and rescribing panel lines, I've been selectively masking off and painting the fuselage panel-by-panel, as I did the canopy cover... ...and the underside as well, following the inscribed panel lines. Before final assembly, however, all the interior detailing has to be completed, including the pilot's seat... ...which, despite all the work I've put into mixing colors, masking, dry-brushed surface texturing, and panel-lining, will be totally concealed by the pilot figure anyway. You, who are reading this thread, will be the only ones to really appreciate all this wasted effort. This missile housing will also be only partially visible once it's installed in the underside, so I've taken a very high-contrast approach to painting it. With much of the black base coat still visible in the deep recesses, and very silvery-grey highlights drybrushed over the raised surfaces, the sculpted detail will stand out even in shadow. I've done my best to match the color of the missiles to the animation, even though they look considerably different... ...but that's because Moscato's sculpt was based more on the line art than the animation. Again, the details won't be particularly visible once they're mounted anyway. I've applied the same high-contrast look to the cockpit greeblies, drybrushing light colors over a black base to ensure maximum visibility. I imagine these Gnerls were treated much like kamikaze fighters, cheaply-manufactured and expendable, so I want it to have a somewhat dirty, poorly-maintained look... After all, Zentradi mecha were designed for functionality, not comfort, and their culture was not known for high standards of maintenance.
  25. tekering
    This is fabulous, clean work, and it really makes me wish Aoshima had given these kits proper cockpits. The panel-lining is sublime.
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