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If you are willing to put in the work, you can mount magnets on opposite sides. To relieve warping you might need a very strong pair at the warped point.

That is really strange. I thought all the Bandai kits come together smooth as butter. What caused the warping? Personally I don't like gluing hulls with electronics in case I need to get at them in the future.

Lightly sanding the gloss coat with a high grit will not damage the decal (4000-5000 grit). But you need a thick gloss coat to do that, and know when to stop. Sand gently and smoothly just to get the rough texture out. In your case, ONLY sand the part that is rough. Then gloss the sanded area, then gloss the entire part again to bring it all together. But if your problem started with the base coat, you will need a different process after sanding smooth (Mask off the decal, lightly spray highly diluted base coat color to repair damage, then gloss again.)

What kind of top coat did you use? You may be able to lightly sand till smooth with 4000 grit, then gloss it again with a wet coat. It will turn out fine, unless there was something wrong with your base coat.

Google search reveals, "Blowin' In The Wind" (by Bob Dylan) Tell me, how many times must the cannonballs fly Before they're forever banned

Lookin goooooood! The only smoke needed would be very selective spots for exhaust, battle damage, laser strikes, leaks, etc. But otherwise you are DONE.

Wm cheng. Those photos are a thing of beauty. Brought a tear to my eye

Photogirl, This is what I did with her a few years ago. Horrible model, but one of my favorite results. I would redo it if someone can find a better sculpt with a hollow interior. Then I gave her a new base. Still needs some oils and weathering and scratch details on the base. Maybe your builds will inspire me to get on that. (The Prometheus is down because it is magnetized and I am a very un-careful photographer.)

Cooool! Someone should build that and magnetize the little Enterprises to dock in it.

Now that would be a sight to see! And I'm not even a Trekkie.

Derex, Coming along nicely. As you said, I've also dusted the base coat after panel lining, to bring things together. Looking at your pictures, the top half of the Star Destroyer looks perfect. But on the bottom half of the hull, I can see your white paint streaks. I think you went a bit heavy there, you need to dust more lightly in the final coat, as per whatever method you used for the top. (But doesn't really matter in this case because no one will ever see the bottom.)

Derex, I see your paint lines as well. Keep going. You need to dilute the white a lot and continue with the airbrush till you work it all in (as long as you are patient you wont lose the benefit of your preshade).

Looks great mechtech. Nice to see your reference photo finally.

Nice. I'm not a fan of Transformers models, but I like your oil work. I assume that the ones with more weathering were done later, as you learned your skills? The weathering on the first white one and Optimus is wonderful.

Thanks for sharing the pics. I knew the close ups would be great. You have a very soft touch with the weathering, but it really brings out the overall feel. (Even more pics would be welcome )

Photogirl. Welcome to MW. Your SDF-1 looks AWESOME. We need more photos and closeups from all sides. I love your weathering with different shades. What is your painting method and art background?

Looking forward to the video of that! Looks like fun. Well, it would help if we don't repost pictures unless it is required. I have a Hase Storm mode staring at me from my own pile. But lighting it up with fiber looks like it will be such a pain that I am putting it off. Mad respect for jumping back in with FIVE Yamato builds!???!?? derex, at least now you have some lighting experience. Yamato needs the love. That sucks. What was the problem?

And those might be the best builds of all. Don't ever throw them away.

Ha ha . There is nothing wrong with that. I've heard a lot of skilled modelers don't prime, even with airbrush. You can airbrush a thin layer of paint first as the primer, and build up slowly to thicker coats. Someone correct me if there are other ways. Whether you prime or not has more to do with knowing your paint and knowing your surface. Some surfaces just don't take paint well without primer. And some paints start to crack or have other strange effects without primer. Your temperature and humidity can also have an effect on priming or not. You also need a really clean surface. If you are not sure, test on a few pieces. For example, in high humidty hot conditions, Krylon/Rustoleum rattle can did not adhere well to Bandai plastic without primer. With primer, it was perfect.

Great work peter! I wonder how the old Bandai 1/72 compares to the Hase? I've never built a Bandai valk, excpet for the transforming type.

Great work peter. And some really nice camera work. Your close ups look fantastice. Very nice finish. I like the tone of your US Navy Blue on the fast packs. Were they over a gray primer?

Hi CorssAir, I like how smooth and clean your paint always looks. What's your process?

Cool! We are also proud of you. I didn't know there was an Asimov project in the works. It seems they just do I Robot over and over. Foundation has a good set-up. I hope it comes out well. I'm often disappointed with classic sci-fi novel treatments on television. For example some recent Arthur C. Clark works. They go for the purely philosophical angle, which I don't think is accurate to the originals. Sure, Arthur Clark was a poet, but he was a poet in the sense of the grandeur of the scale and issues, but they usually had a solid narrative basis of adventure and mystery and wonder to keep the plot going forward.

indigo. Can you elaborate? He would have to lay on the white very lightly and build it up to not lose the pre-shades in the panels. He could also go in now and darken major panel lines and a selection of minor panel lines, before hitting the white. If he were to panel wash, would it be a gray or light gray, not black. But at this scale, need to be careful that the wash doesnt darken the panels at all. I would be afraid to cover the whole thing with wash and wipe it off.

Good work on that VF-4. You nailed the classic scheme. I think you put on just enough white over that black without going too far.