Jasonc

Just bare fingers. I keep a paper towel and water so it doesn't dry on your fingers. I guess you can use something if you have an applicator. Me, I dont, so it's just my fingers.

Yes, it's that one. I'm sure you can use others, but this one dries really hard, and sands down into a really fine grain, so it blends in nicely. I've used everything from Testors, Squadron, and Tamiya, but this one is, by far, my favorite. As for application of it, I simply apply a thin layer that I massage into the part. Because it's porous, I want to make sure it gets in there really well. Right after, I apply a thicker coat because all putty shrinks when it dries, and I want to make sure it covers everything. Then give it a day or so to dry, then sand down to the original part. Once you get it done, I wash it with soap and cold water, and check for errors or missed spots. After all that, just prime and paint. Here's two more examples. One in front was with putty and primer, then a Matt coat. The one in back was 5 coats of primer, sanding, and then Matt coat. They look the same to me, and feel the same.

OK, here's a comparison of the arms. One was puttied once, then sanded, the other was painted with heavy primer a couple times and sanded each time, then it was painted once with grey primer, lightly sanded, then painted again. Both were then matt coated after their paint jobs were sufficiaently covered. To be honest, the feel and look of both of them is the exact same. The major difference is the amount of time involved. Painting/drying/painting several times takes forever. while puttying/drying/dutifully sanding is really only a fraction of that time. The arm with the extra sensor coming off of it was the putty one. I'm quite happy with the end result of both, and will more than likely switch to just puttying the entire part. Both are really smooth and you can't tell they're WSF parts unless you look on the inside really close, and even then, it's hard. Really happy with the finish.

Hey all, it's been awhile, so I thought I'd fill you all in on what's been going on. As of now, we have a few guests we are currently speaking with, and we have one that we should be announcing very soon. Please stay tuned for the announcements as they come in. We are also in the process of looking for volunteers to assist with certain areas of the convention. Every volunteer will get some of the free merch we will be giving out, and registration for the day is free. If you're interested, please send me a pm, and I will keep you updated and answer any questions you have. Once the form is up I can fill you in on that. We are also looking for an A/V person, so if you have experience in this field, are reliable, and are familiar with general audio/video equipment, we are looking for you. It is a paid position, and pay can be discussed to those that are interested. Please send me a PM. Thanks all. Last, but not least, we have a new flyer. Hope you guys enjoy!

So, last night, I used some putty on the arm parts, as those are going to be a grey color, and the primer Tamiya has in grey, while a nice grey (more on the warmer grey side and very fine), doesn't fill in the spongy texture too well. I am using the Mr. Putty on these parts, and I put a layer of it on last night. I should be able to sand later today, and then put a layer of the primer on today, then see the results. For the nose thrusts, I ordered that in FUD, and it only requires little and light sanding. I've already sanded the bulk of it, but need to sand the hard to reach places now. Then I'll re-primer, and I'll need to recast, as it's a brittle material. I'll color cast it in black, or a dark grey, and then I can do all the drilling and pin inserts I need to do. I know it sounds like a ton of work for simpler stuff, but I get involved sometimes, LOL. The wing definitely needs that shielding on the face of it and the extra long flap. I may use styrene for the flap, and figure something out for the wing lead.

What white did you settle on? I'm thinking of just keeping the Testors Fine surface primer as the main color. I haven't matched it to the unassembled valk yet, so if it doesn't match well, finding the right color, or simply going airbrush and mixing might be my other option.

I am truly happy that it got to you in great condition, and that you're happy with it. TBH, I always, have a worry that they aren't going to be up to par with what people expect, thus, the aspect of trying to be a perfectionist. The fact that you like it gives me a big reassurance that it was a good job. for display, you usually have a great eye for how you like to display all items. Whatever you decide to do with it, I'm sure it's going to look great with the rest of the M+ display. I can't wait to see it.

I may have to try this sometime. I have a few bottles of Future floor polish. I'm hoping to have a picture of the finished rear leg brackets today. They are looking quite good, and with a light 400, then 800 grit sanding, they feel like toy pieces. I wish I would've had this method down better when working with the drone wing in WSF resin. I know it's going to be a pain with the leg boosters and those parts, but I will try the floor polish with one, and fine surface primer for the other, and see what works best for small parts. I may also try another method of using Mr. Putty on the entire part, rubbing in in very well, or even diluting it, then letting it dry and sanding from that. I know that would fill in instantly with the pores, but not sure of the clean up and how difficult that would be. I think one great benefit of that method, is that the paint would adhere very well to the putty. I'm waiting on my last parts to complete at Shapeways, and for some reason, this order is taking way too long. It's still not done on the printing process, so either there was a problem, or they messed up and forgot my parts. Either way, time will tell.

That's great to hear. Hopefully shipping was nice to it and treated it well. If there are any issues, let me know. I have a few extra parts in case of strange circumstances. I have 3 more going out tomorrow. I will be sending notifications out to those of you who's are about to be shipped. As I'm at work, I can't remember exactly who they belong to, but we're on the other side of the half way mark.

They're all being finished one at a time now. Yours is being worked on now and almost finished.

Nah, I have enough projects for awhile.

Right now, I'm priming the hell out of the white calf backings that hold the leg armor. To get rid of the spongy look and feel of the material, I use Testors super fine white surface primer (lacquer). I put about 3-4 coats, and lay it on heavy, as a good portion of it will be sanded. After it all dries, the I use a 400 grit sandpaper, and lightly sand it all down to get a uniform, smooth surface. The end result is no sponge look. If you have grey parts, use a grey primer, but lay it on heavy. That's the trick. I'm working on parts in between waiting on other parts to dry for the drone.

Those pics look glorious. Nicely done. Very nicely done.

The head looks very Gundam like, but it looks so badass. I want this as well, LOL.

Looks great. Mine are on the way, well, at least most of it. I'll be ordering the rest on Wednesday. I PMed you about the wings, but I might as well ask it here... Will you be adding the larger wings with it, or at least an attachment that can be added to them? If not, that's OK. I know you get busy. I'm really excited about getting this kit. I was thinking of designing this myself, but I'm glad you stepped up.

Yours is up now, so I'm finishing the final touches and assembling the parts. This week, my friend, if not next 2 days.

OK, update time. I FINISHED ALL RECAST FOR THE WINGS!!! These were very difficult due to the design and it being one piece, but in making them like that, they are quite solid and look great. I have put out several sets already to some of you, and the process continues. I have one I hope to be able to finish up today at some point, and ship out tomorrow. Then, off to the next. For those of you who have ordered unpainted kits, your kits are mostly ready, and I will be sending those out this week as well. If you have a combo of unpainted and painted, it's in queue like the rest of them. The next couple sets, I'm hoping, will be sent out fairly quick, as I've already started on painting and cleaning up the wings. I'm still recasting the clear parts, as the resin takes literally a couple days to cure enough so that it doesn't warp. Other than that, I'm more than half way done with those. In conclusion, stuff is going out, and parts are looking good. The light at the end of the tunnel is definitely getting brighter.

I love hearing myself talk on this (j/k). I noticed a mistake or two I made, but hopefully it wasn't a deal breaker. In any case, interesting getting POV from different shades of the spectrum. Quite interesting.

This looks like a fun build.

For me, I know there will be a time when I look at what I have, and say "K, I'm done." I know many say that doesn't happen to them, but for me, it has with everything I've gotten into. I guess as long as I have other stuff I can sell to keep this going, I will. I'm at a point now where the toys themselves are great, but I don't need them all, nor did I ever want them all. Even with the books, I have a lot, so aside from mostly pretty pictures, I don't need them, except for reference stuff. For posters, I have a lot of those, and I think those are what I really like getting, along with various oddities (if you consider rare and obscure resin kits as part of that). I'm having fun building Macross kits, so I'm happy doing that, and I think at some point soon, that may be what I do with the rest of my fandom, along with still keeping up with series and information. I'll never completely leave the fandom and the hobby. This is my one true tie to my childhood, and I did leave it all for many years after I got out of high school, so I know what it's like not being tied to your youth. I don't want that to happen again. I'm in my early 40s, so at this point, if I haven't left yet, no need to exit now.

These really take me back to when I first started with all of the customizing after my days as a youngster. Nevertheless, they look great. I kinda wish I could work on one, but alas, I've sold all of my 1/55s off. I now have a ton of unassembled Yamato kits, but those require a different type of work. I'll live my 1/55 customization through you. I remember making the feet be able to vector thrust, the legs rotate out, and so on. Those were the days of our innovation, LOL. Great work.

They are listed in order of payment. I can message you your number when I get home from work. I'm on the 4th now.

I'm glad they got to you in great condition. Again, any issues, let me know. Thanks. As I said, I get a little fixated on making them look as good as possible. I know that's great for everyone here, but it's part of why some of these have taken forever. I'm still working on the clear parts and those are steady in being done. The latest wing will probably be the last recast, because I have enough to go through more than half of the orders with what I have currently. I made sure the new wing was going to be an exceptionally smooth recast, and with that, I also painted and prepped this one myself. The prototype part is perfect. I'll be making the parts until the mold wears out, so at the end of this, there might be a couple more orders, with the exception of keeping a couple extra parts around for any mishaps from you guys. Today I pour the new wing mold base. Tomorrow the "lid" of the box.

Yeah, just sent 3 out today, the next 2 are for another order, and those are just a matter of waiting for some paint to set before I box those. AS A REMINDER: I'm doing this, because I want those of you who ordered these painted to know that these are still not sturdy like a toy. They have some gimmicks to them that are cool for certain display purposes, but they are not meant to be played around like a toy, and will probably wear down paint if moved around too much. For those that ordered them painted, the kit will come with 4 parts (not including decals). The wing and and hook are going to be separate, as well as the camera housing. These will still require you to fit the pieces in and glue them down. If I completely assemble the item, it will be a bit bulky, and would be more prone to breakage in shipping. Because of this, I will provide quick instruction if needed. It should be pretty easy to figure out, but you'll need to fit the wing latch on the wing, then you can glue the wing onto the main body. Please make sure you test fit the pieces first. If the wing is a bit tight, you can ease this by lightly sanding the front of the wing. The resin will let it bend a little, too, so make sure not over sand it, as it'll leave a gap. Once those two pieces are secure, dry, and how you like them, you can then put on the camera housing (cockpit looking piece. If the piece doesn't quite fit into the wing hole where it is supposed to anchor, you can use an exacto knife to trim the camera housing section that fits into the wing. Again, it is resin, so be very careful not to damage it. If you need to sand any of the parts the housing will fit in, the camera piece on the main body that it sits on can be sanded down and/or thinned, as it won't be seen. Also, if there is a bit of a gap between the camera and the housing, it may be due to the camera part itself hitting the clear parts. You can even sand that down, as it's not too visible under the clear parts. Understanding that these are resin parts is a must. some parts may be prone to change in very hot climate conditions, and so, if you have and parts that have warped, you can fix them by getting a bowl of ice water, then while you faucet is running really hot water, put the warped piece in it, while lightly massaging the piece to the place it's supposed to be. Once it's in the correct spot, put it in the ice water. It'll stiffen up real quick. This is mainly for those that have the standard resin wings, and not the task 2 wings. The task 2 wings are really solid, and should be just fine, but if not, same rules. The wings will look like they're broken on the bottom. I did this because painting them and putting all this stuff together, along with shipping meant having to make the wing where it would fit onto the main body that is already attached. The engine housing portion has a really good lock down on the wing, so once it's in there where it should be, the front wing area that was supposed to anchor to the main body can just be glued and have zero negative effects. If you want to put on the decals, they may not stick all that well, being that the kits come in matte coat. As many of you are modelers, you know how to fix that, but if not, I suggest looking on youtube on putting on decals. If you have issues with any of the decals, I can send out more, but if you want to avoid paying for shipping, just be careful. If you need to do any touch up painting, I used Tamiya TS-8 Orange paint. For the black, it's just Tamiya matte black. For those that chose unpainted kits, I hope to see what you used, and your finished kits. As I have mentioned before, because I'm painting a lot of these, time is not on my side to do them perfectly. I do try, but with assembly line painting, it can be a bit of a stretch to detail them up like I'd want to do mine. I know some of you have sent me messaged about that, and I do try to make them all look as beautiful as possible. If anyone gets their kit and has any issues with it, just send me a pm. And by issues, I mean broken parts, decals that don't work properly, that sort of stuff that I can resolve. Thanks, and hope this helps. OK, now, I'm back to making more.

5 are now done. 3 of them are for one order, but the other two are for the next. As I'm going in order of when they were received, I'm just going down the list and getting them done, and notifying everyone when they're ready. Yours is a custom paint, so I made all the major parts that are ready to go. At this point, I'm just working on the small parts for yours (clear parts, engine, etc.) I'm hoping yours can go out this week as well. other than that, not much to tell. All of them are on final stages now, and should be going out one order at a time now.