wm cheng

Why can't we just all band together and not buy anything at all, until the format wars are over. Its not like its food or essentials, we've been pretty happy with SD for the last few years, I bet if this happens, they'd wake up pretty darn quick! Ultimately, its us who buys the stuff even with this dual format stupidity that fuels this war (I have both a Beta & Laserdisc player in my basement! - but I've learnt my lesson, I'm not getting anything else until they settle this!)

Looking good DM2!! Just a hint, maybe next time you could vary your oil wash so that its not all black, have some lighter greys for the panels and revits that don't get accessed a lot, and save the black for the moveable surfaces such as slats, flaps, ankle circles or vents (this makes them stand out more) while knocking back some of the other surface details so it gives depth.

Hi all, Just wanted to add my 2 cents to the HDTV end of things. I went shopping with my father-in-law last week for an HDTV and did a lot of research and comparison viewing. I don't understand why LCD is so popular? - the Plasmas just blows them away in every way. All this talk of 120hz overscanning to resolve fast moving images... on Plasmas, the fast moving images displays perfectly well, no tearing or anything unlike LCDs which really appears to visually "pixelate" or break up the resolution when objects move fast or even a moderate pan. The plasmas displayed amazing gradients with no or very little contouring visible to the naked eye. I found the images so much more natural instead of the overly vivid look of LCDs (yes even after fiddling them off of torch mode). Some of the LCDs looked smooth, but then upon closer examination, its like they put a smooth filter over eveyone's faces?! Funny, my father-in-law is no techie, but he immediately saw the difference between Plasma and LCD, all the while the salepeople were trying to get us to buy LCD? Why is everyone so in love with LCD? I was all set on getting a LCD (thinking that it must be the better technology, everyone is going towards it, Sony doesn't even make Plasmas anymore) HDTV this holiday season until I saw the Plasmas, now I'm totally sold on them - the picture quality is just head and shoulders above the LCD technology (I just don't get the debate?) Additionally, if you're looking at any SD sources or SD DVD picture, the Plasmas just displays and scales them so much nicer than any LCD we've seen. The Sony XBR2,3,4s were the only LCDs that upscaled SD sources to a somewhat acceptible image quality (most LCDs don't upscale SD images very well), until we saw the plasmas (granted we only looked at the Pioneer and Panasonics) - they made SD DVDs look fantastic (which for the first few years there are going to be a lot of SD sources and I can't give up my huge DVD collection quite yet). Lastly, I read everywhere that 1080p was a waste for anything less than 50" - that is simply not true. You can definitely see the difference, even from 12-15ft back. Anything that has text like CNN or newscast resolves so much sharper, credit rolls read well, and computer generated movies, and anime with lines read so much sharper. Movement seemed much sharper too (decernable so unlike sets we were told that were 120hz next to 60hz sets, we didn't see any difference there). Also when displaying SD resolution sources, the 1080p seemed to be able to handle that much better too (it may be the processor though) - we compared the 42" Panasonic PX75 (720p) side by side with a PZ700 (1080p) with a Pioneer Elite 4280HD (720p) and the PZ700 won out every time (even with squint test) and was much cheaper than the Pioneer. Good luck to all shopping in the market, I know I will be looking for deals on the Panasonic PZ700 - it just blew me away.

Holy Crap! Great find David! Now I know how they made the Yamato crew figures! There is no way I can ever paint them?! I couldn't even believe that the plastic could flow into such small spaces. Whats really interesting is the multi-colour parts where different plastics are all injected into the same sprue and creates a multi-coloured part that is integral through the plastic and not just a surface paint. The technology is really impressive. It makes Yamato (toys) look almost archaic. Wow!

Thanks, yes, I use Windex to clean my brushes and rinse out my airbrush - its a lot cheaper than the thinner. I wouldn't of been able to soak the mesh since I painted the engine details behind the mesh in Tamiya paints - I did try painting the mask with Windex, but it didn't do much good - like you said, you have to soak it. Live and learn, now I know for next time (don't take such a long break! ah! I wish).

Hey Drunken Master, The real trick about the Alclad stuff is that they have to go onto an absolutely smooth finish - the styrene plastic is great, but make sure you've filled all your seams perfectly, since the stuff is so thin, it will show any imperfections. I would also recommend getting the Alclad primer too, its fantastic, pre-thinned, and I only use it on areas that I will be applying the metalizer too. It will show any imperfections in the seams right away before you use the metalizer. Yes, its a bit more expensive, but it goes a long way (as long as you don't spill any ) And it has advantages over other products such as that you don't need to buff it in the end to get the metal finish (but of course you can too to get a different sheen) and the best part, you don't need to seal it, a lot of other metallizers require a sealant - otherwise it comes off in your hands, but the sealant/clearcoat dulls the metal finish. I would keep all the metalizer parts away from the clear coats and glue them on at the end when you are finished, this way, they stay nice and metal-like! Regarding the mesh, cool mod, but you should really use a much finer mesh for the model, you're only getting a few holes in each slot. If you went through the trouble of cutting out the slots, go through the trouble of going to a hobby store, and getting a piece of mesh that is in scale with the model. I've included a shot of the mesh I got for the Booster, its really fine, and you get two pieces for $7, but you'll probably only use like half of one piece for all four areas of slots. I think its made for car modeling, but it will look much closer in scale for your slots. Also you can use a flat file to smooth out the flat openings between the drill points as I've done on the booster there to the right. Good luck! Looking great so far!

Thanks HWR MKII! I'll keep it in mind whenever I get around to my Star Wars stuff! (I hope soon). Glad to see another dad being able to continue his modeling hobby - haven't quite figured out the free time thing yet, but dads like you give me inspiration that someday it may return! David, do get the Chronicles book (especially now that its back in print I think) - its by far the best SW book! Highly recommended. Its even better than Sculpting the Galaxy (both of which I have), but between the two, you've got everything published outside of people's own shots at the traveling exhibition of the movie prop (Chronicles is better).

Fantastic! Really well done HWR MKII!! I loved your paint chips, especially the ones that have the lighter ring of white around them - they look really like the grey coat has worn down to the metal. How did you do those? Did you just paint on top by brush? If so, couldn't you tell it was painted on top since there is the slight thickness to the paint as its applied over the basecoat (in real life I mean - they look fantastic in the pictures, but I find photos can hide a host of sins) I'd love to see your Falcon too - I can't wait to start on that, but I just don't see when I'm ever going to find the time. Did you light that as well? I got the photo-etched landing baffles too. How did you light the Y-Wing, is the battery inside the model? How do you access it once it runs out? What about the switch? Thanks for sharing! Wm

Hmm, another layer of dullcoat after the chipping eh? Doesn't the dullcoat well... dull the silver of the chipping? Do you paint the chipping on top - or do you scrap away the paint to reveal the silver beneath?

WoW! I love the Y-Wing! That looks fantastic! I love the details - please post pictures when you're done (or at least let me know) I'd love to see what you do with it. Its looking great so far, really nice kit. I was toying with getting it, but I already have the 1/48 SMT Y-Wing resin (back when there was nothing else available). But now seeing your pictures - I'm temped again... but I also have the FM Falcon, which will take forever if I ever get around to it?! Its so much fun to weather Star Wars rebel fighters! Its where I learned all my techniques on - just don't build anything else right after one - they all appear so trashed!

YES, this was the original dropy problem I have too - I bugs me! I guess I was just spoiled by the tightness of my other 1/48s

Here are some initial shots at a higher resolution - I just threw a grey card behind it on my work bench (so the lighting isn't great - and its only my Nikon990). When we get a sunny day, I'll take it out to get some proper photos of it, probably with the Launch Rail whenever I get that built. Oh, yeah... I glued in all the clear pieces. They were painted with Tamiya Clear Red and Blue while still on the sprue (since the sprue connection points are all hidden when they are glued onto the Valkyrie. Funny, the wing root lights didn't fit as flush as some of the other Valkyries I've had, maybe the molding has deteriorated slightly (this is one of the later kits that combine all 3 versions, VF-1S/A/J). I back the lights with the Tamiya silver chrome marker, so that from the front you see a nice reflective backing behind/under the clear red or blue (plus it hides the glue mark beneath. I used this stuff called "World's Best Canopy Glue" - its basically a kind of white glue that dries cristal clear and somewhat elasticy - I bought it years ago, and its lasted me - good stuff. I use this to glue all my clear parts. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out now. I love the non-canon colour scheme (I'm a canon guy - but the white was pretty boring - although Brett did an amazing job on it!) - which is based on my colour scheme for the other super Valkyrie's fast packs. It was intended to sit on the same shelf with the other Valks, so the Booster will be at home right there! Thanks for joining in... I'm so glad to finish this finally! It was so sad sitting on my bench for so long - I hope I get some more time soon to start and finish the Captn' amazing Launch Rail to properly display this bird. Come on! I want to see more Boosters out there.

Yay! I got to sneak a few hours last night to finish off this puppy! I save my graphite (from the bottom of mechanical pencil sharpener) and its useful to add little streaks here and there. I has have what is called a rub stick or paper blender used in sketching, basically a rolled up paper stick with shaved ends that I use to apply the graphite and literally draw on the streaks where I think they would occur. I can also do a little heavier post shading on panels that would have to be accessed often that accumulates dirt from crew hands too. It's always useful refer to real-world aircraft photos and references for weathering. Note that I start on the bottom surfaces first (although they would receive less weathering than top surfaces - they are less visible) because I always need to warm up to the technique (I always tend to start too dark) and when I get better and more confident, I move up to the more visible parts of the model. The last time I was at a hobby shop, I picked up this Tamiya Weathering kit, its basically a compact make-up kit that allows you to rub pigment in the form of "foundation" cakes. It even comes with a spongy applicator, and its really easy to apply - and really easy to over-do it! Luckily it seems to come off with a little water and some rubbing. In fact I keep a kneadable eraser handy (you can get them from art supply stores) - they're great because you can shape them into anything you need to lift up excess graphite or this tamiya weathering stuff. The goal is to do a general weathering and spot up some areas of heavy movement on the Valkyrie so that it becomes less of a stark white contrast against the darker grey boosters and overall tie both pieces together (and experiment with using the Tamiya Weathering Kit.

Thanks so much for the Kudos! HWR MKII & Dante74 - I have the launch rail, gorgeous sculpt by the Captn' (which will definitely be the next thing I work on - when I can sneak some time in next) but the launch vehicle was just too expensive for me to justify its purchase. No offense to John's amazing work and effort, but I personally didn't like his interpretation of the line art (its just me!), I thought it was just a tad too tall, I would of preferred the vehicle to have been lower and wider - it would have been too much work to modify it to my liking. Plus it would have been $600 worth of resin if I added it all up - that was just too rich for this new father. I still hope to have a vehicle someday, maybe a scratchbuild. Urzu7 - 1. Yes, I did the oil wash directly over the decals - but I wouldn't recommend it. Its because I've done this so often now that I'm beginning to skip some steps (just waiting/asking for something bad to happen!) I would always recommend (even to myself if I had more time - you can tell that my time is so precious now that I'm putting the model at risk to finish it!) sealing in the decals with a clear-coat before doing anything on top of them. If the oil wash didn't work, you could always remove all of it with a paper towel damp with some low-odour varsol and the decals underneath should be still protected by the clear-coat (as long as your clear coat doesn't dissolve with varsol - which ModelMaster Arcyl doesn't) I don't know how watercolours will react to the decals or the clear-coat on the painted surfaces - my guess is that it would bead up into little drops - like water on plastic. I use thinned down oils since it flows nicely on glossy surfaces (never do an oil wash over a flat/matte finish - you'll never get the excess off) Oils are cheap, just get a tube of white, black and brown - don't spend more than $3-4 dollars each - it will last you years! You can mix any shade of grey, rust or white you need. 2. I just don't recommend leaving liquid mask on for years at a time, I usually leave it on anywhere from a day to a few weeks. As soon as the mask feels like dried rubber cement (which I secretly guess is the same stuff but cheaper!) you're ready to paint over it - and as with all masking, remove the masking as soon as your process allows you. You don't want any kind of adhesive to have to sit on your model or paint finish any longer than it has to. It gets quite dry in Canada over the winter, and my model bench is in the basement right beside the furnace, so I'm sure any moisture in the mask was sucked out over the winter! Thanks, Wm

Hey DM2, try Alclad Metalizers - I used to use Tamiya colours on my Valkryies too, but I found the metal particles in the paint to be too big for the scale, it looked rough. But then I was told to try Alclad (http://www.alclad2.com/lacquer_colors.html) and I have never looked back - the stuff is amazing! It really makes your parts look like metal. Its airbrush only though.

Lastly how could I not try and put the Valkyrie into the Booster pack?!! and off course zoom it around the room! I'm pretty disappointed with the photos, there are so many subtle details in the paint finish that doesn't seem to show through, I may shot it again with a DSLR or post larger pictures. I think a lot of detail was lost when I reduced the photos to something that I can post here easily. Well, it looks like I need to get cracking on the launch rail / stand next - there is really no way to display this bird without the stand, I don't want it to rest on the engine bells or risk breaking off those little fins at the end each of the engine bells (plus its so back heavy - the almost solid resin Boosters do weight).

OK, finally buffed the canopy back up, and applied the black canopy frame decals (this is such a life saver from Hasegawa! - I hated painting canopy frames always!). Unfortunately all the photos make the plane look new and the black stripes so stark - I may try some shots with my DSLR next time. I'm just glad I gotten to the point where I could take all the masking off. I was a little afraid to find out what I had beneath! I was able to glue the head, laser antennas, and the gunpod on finally. All thats left are the clear parts such as the wing root lights, nav lights on the wingtips, nosecone blisters and the leg chin lights. Also I want to go over the weathering a bit more and apply some dry pastel and graphite to the bird - smiliar techniques that I learnt to do from my VF-0S thread, but just not as heavy, such as light hydraulic staining from the flaps and vented areas. I got that "makeup compact" weathering set from Tamiya that I may try out on this plane if I get the nerve.

Now the part of the day I've been looking forward to (literally for a year!) - taking off the masked bits, the tamiya tape from the engine nozzles which were sprayed with a combination of Aclad2 metalizer gunmetal and burnt metal and the canopy liquid mask. Again, the same problems I had with the liquid mask drying up on those 3-slotted vents on the Booster body had occured here on the canopy as well. The mask had dried up to the point where it wasn't coming off easily and started to break off in flakes - what should of been a 5 minute job ended up taking hours and leaving scratches and debris all over the canopy. Once I removed all the remaining bits of masking, I had to carefully re-polish the canopy with Tamiya Fine Rubbing Compound to get the sheen back to the canopy (the Future coating was damaged by the liquid mask either drying up or the rough process of removal). So let this be a lesson to all ya, don't leave anything with a liquid mask on while you take a year break!

I allowed an hour or so for it to semi-dry and I wiped the excess off with a paper towel - careful to leave as much of the oil wash inside the panel lines as possible. After the excess oil was removed, I airbrushed a very light thin coat of white over the front leading edges of the black stripes of the decals to lighten them up and blend them into the paint finish, this reduced the stark contrast between the black and the white portions of the plane and weathers them a bit so they appear a bit faded towards the front of the aircraft. Once I was satisfied, I clearcoated the entire plane and protected the decals with a nice even spray of ModelMaster Acryl semi-gloss clear coat. This ties together the sheen of the decals to match the sheen of the paint and further makes them look painted on.

After the decals had fully dried, I decided to do an oil wash over them to tie in the panel line details over the decals - this is an essential step to make the decals look painted on, part of the model instead of laid over top of your paint. I used white over the dark or black stripes and a medium grey over the lighter areas of the decal such as the UN SPACY lettering or the yellow stripes.

Come on! lets see more finished Boosters! Well, I got one of the bestest birthday presents of all this past weekend, my wife took care of our baby and gave me almost 6 whole hours of uninterrupted modeling time!! Woohoo! I finished decaling the Valkyrie! Man, that's a lot of tiny little stenciling, but I love it. I didn't apply decals in the tail area since it will slide into the Booster and be hidden from view almost all the time (except on the rare occasions that I would separate the Valkyrie from the Booster). I varied my painting of the Valk this time, I introduced as many grey/non-white elements to the white Valk to make it a little more interesting, the most notable difference is in the leading slats to the wings where I painted them silver (I quite like the look although not canon to artwork), I also painted the area behind the folding wings in a grey and light grey stripes by the top of the air intakes. The plane is actually more weathered and the shading is a little more pronounced in person, the photos tend to "white-wash" the plane out and make it a little newer than it actually appears. I have my older VF-1A there for reference to decal placement and comparison (hard to believe that was the first Vf-1 I've ever built!).

Oh, the yellow is metallic gold foil - thats a little better, but nah, I'll still pass - pretty unimaginative, plus that script fonts has gotta go! I doubt it will be molded in those metallic colours though (if it is, it would be impossible to get rid of the seam lines!).

OK, I couldn't resist to take more pictures of it! (I've been waiting to see the engine bells on for months!) Plus now I test fitted the Valkyrie on as well - again its not all the way in, but it gives the idea! In the second last shot (when the lighting is just right!) you can actually see into the 3 grilled meshed slot and see some of the engine compartment details! YAY!! Now I've got to finish the Valkyrie decalling... (so close... ) p.s. is there some way to add attachments more than one at a time?

I basically repeated the procedure for the upper bells now. I thought I'd do the lower ones first - to get the hang of things and in case something went wrong, its in a less noticeable part of the model. The trick is to constantly eye down the back of the booster to make sure that the engine bells are evenly spaced and the glue doesn't cure while anyone bell is skewed since there aren't really any registration notches or marks and you can really glue the bells in whatever position you like. I personally like them splayed out. Its good that the mounting point is so far deep into the booster, cuz I used a lot of epoxy to get these babies in place! I do love the way they look - the flat booster finish is a good contrast to the metallic finish of the engine bells and the bluish faint panels on the bells ties quite nicely to the boosters. I don't think I'm going to weather the engine bells with a burnt edge since I don't think they are reusable - but I'll may change my mind when the entire thing is done. Right now, they only have a dark oil wash on them. Having all four bells glued on does make the whole thing really back heavy - and I want to handle them with care. You shouldn't let it sit on the table since those four resin tabs on the end of the bells could bend or worst snap off over time. I guess my next build will be the launch rail - otherwise there really isn't a way to support and display this bird properly.

Snuck in a few hours on the long Canada Day weekend! One of the most anticipated steps - I get to finally mount the engine bells onto the Boosters. My only concern here is that they are pretty big resin bells and weigh a quite a bit. They mount via a ball-like joint on the boosters, and the actual glue contact point isn't that large - I'm afraid they are kind of like levers which can translate into a pretty large amount of force at the glue contact point. Luckily upon test fitting, the actual glue contact points are pretty well hidden within the recess of the booster housing - the plus is that we can put a huge goop of glue here without having to worry about what it would look like - the con is that all of those amazing details John had sculpted is pretty much hidden once the bells go on. I've decided to use 5 minute epoxy here and thought I should reinforce the connection by pinning it with a metal paper clip. I chose a pin-vise bit that was the size of the paper clip and found a relatively thick gauge paper clip what was serrated (otherwise I would rough up the metal with a coarse sandpaper) anything to give more tooth for the glue to hold onto - otherwise the smooth metal would just slid out of the epoxy once it cured. I drilled both sides in the centre, then did a test fit and angled the engine bells so they splayed outwards like the line art - the paper clips also bent to the right angle and will help hold the bells at the right angle for the glue to cure. I also took coarse sand paper and roughed up the engine balls so that there would be more tooth there for the glue to grab hold of too. I folded a paper towel inbetween the bells to keep them separated at the angle I wanted - test fit the whole arrangement with the upper bells (since they can be swiveled out much farther than the lower ones - the lower ones are trapped by the depth of the mounting socket so they can't be splayed too far without rubbing the outside edges of the lower half of the booster). Once I found that happy medium, I slathered on the 5 minute epoxy and glued the bells and literally held the bells and boosters in place in my hands for 5 minutes.