1/72 Hasegawa VF-1 + Booster step-by-step...

[Urzu7]

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.

hi,

Nice work, mr Cheng,

I have some questions:

1.-an oil wash over the decals directly? without a layer of clear gloss?. Can I use water colors for the washing?

So let this be a lesson to all ya, don't leave anything with a liquid mask on while you take a year break!

2.- How many days do you recommend to leave a liquid mask in the canopy?

thanks

[PetarB]

Larger images please! The detail shines on the ones you took close up.

Thanks for posting this WIP. It's extremely inspirational to us all.

[Dante74]

Amazing work once again and I second HWR MKII's remark about getting the launch vehicle, I'd love to see you do your magic on that.

Now, where's my jaw, I know I dropped it here somewhere?

[wm cheng]

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

[Urzu7]

Great, thank you very much wm cheng .

I'll try with the oil paints.

regards

[wm cheng]

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.

[wm cheng]

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.

[Dante74]

I have a noob question.

If I wanted to use that Tamiya weathering stuff on a toy, would I need to spray a clearcoat over it to protect it?

[Noyhauser]

I have a noob question.

If I wanted to use that Tamiya weathering stuff on a toy, would I need to spray a clearcoat over it to protect it?

No and yes. By itself, it comes off with water, but I don't know how good the contrast would look with just the regular toy paintjob underneath.

[big F]

No and yes. By itself, it comes off with water, but I don't know how good the contrast would look with just the regular toy paintjob underneath.

I just tried it on a Cybertronian Jetfire and it works well. It does need to be rubbed in slightly but I tend to do this anyhow so NP. Im sure for general play use it would eventually come off. so I would suggest a coating of Future or a Proper mat Varnish.

Edited July 19, 2007 by big F

[Dante74]

So if I applied the weathering stuff and only occasionally handled it to transform it, lets say twice a year, i'd be fine? Up to now, I used a gundam marker and smeared it a bit, but it doesn't look good enough.

[Valkyrie addict]

Wow, Master Cheng

when I grow up I want to be like you...

[PetarB]

Okay, so that final shot, with the other Valk and it's fast pac boosters, those two together look amazing. Simply amazing.

Very very inspiring work.

Having said this, Im going to have to put mine on hold for a bit, since there is a more personal project I simply must finish before 'rewarding' myself by moving on to other things. Stay tuned.

And WMCheng, thank you so much for all your effort in recording this extraordinary build-up. We are lucky to have people like you on this forum.

[big F]

So if I applied the weathering stuff and only occasionally handled it to transform it, lets say twice a year, i'd be fine? Up to now, I used a gundam marker and smeared it a bit, but it doesn't look good enough.

Well the bit of Tamiya Rust I ( same as WM) put on using the blusher stick Tamiya supply with the set, It has stayed on real well even though I have deliberately rubbed it and didnt really bother to put it on that well in the first place. I havve not even bothered to Future it so its all "Ou Naturel". It stays in the knooks and crannies well and just makes it look a bit dirty and used. When I finish it thats the sort of look im going for. This after all a good sculpt toy of a robot that fights other robots and flies around at mach 5 or whatever. Worn out and abused it should be, not showroom fresh.

[HWR MKII]

I just saw the post you had on throubles with the liquid mask. The bottle of it i have says to not leave it on longer than 5 days. I guess because of the problem you just witnessed.

I tried it and left some mask on something for a month. Same thing happened as yours. BUT i noticed the ammonia smell from when i put it on new. So off to soak in windex for a day. Sure enough the windex softened it enough to get it off quite easily. So if you have any other projects like this just dunk it in windex. Word of caution though. Windex will eliminate almost every acrylic paint. I have seen dried tamiya run like a wet watercolor painting from it. BE CAREFUL!

[wm cheng]

I just saw the post you had on throubles with the liquid mask. The bottle of it i have says to not leave it on longer than 5 days. I guess because of the problem you just witnessed.

I tried it and left some mask on something for a month. Same thing happened as yours. BUT i noticed the ammonia smell from when i put it on new. So off to soak in windex for a day. Sure enough the windex softened it enough to get it off quite easily. So if you have any other projects like this just dunk it in windex. Word of caution though. Windex will eliminate almost every acrylic paint. I have seen dried tamiya run like a wet watercolor painting from it. BE CAREFUL!

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).

[Sdf-1]

I just saw the post you had on throubles with the liquid mask. The bottle of it i have says to not leave it on longer than 5 days. I guess because of the problem you just witnessed.

How about applying a new coat of masking liquid and peeling it off and repeating as necessary. Might work. Didn't read if it was tried though... Tape could do the trick as well.

One of the most beautiful models I have ever seen.

[Jeremy007]

hey!

i know im a bit late but i just came across this thread.

Fantastic job!! it took me a while to pick my jaw up off the floor...this model is worthy of Hobby Japan.

[shinagami]

fantastic job WM Cheng, i'm new to this forum...and been drooling ever since i started browsing this thread. to anyone in this forum...does anybody knows where can i get this booster kit? i know it has stopped production, but if theres anyone out there who wanted to sell their's or happens to have extra stocks....i'm begging u to sell it to me...huhuhuhu

[PetarB]

I suggest you pre-order on the link below, the only place to now sell them.

http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/index.cfm?f...;Product_ID=622

Get one if you can! I've only seen a couple of build ups of this but they all look great.

You can see mine here...

http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=25896

Good luck!