Monster and Defender

[MechTech]

That's a roger on the foot art. It would look great. This a years old BAD photo of the 1/100 one I scratchbuilt (it's packed away still). Over the left leg "whistle" you can see the "Shamu" logo. A better decal on your foot would look awesome! You can't build something as big as that and leave it "plain" looking.

I saw an awesome one years ago in "Little Tokyo, L.A." that was airbrushed with a mean tempered parrot face on it. Sounds funky in type: looked awesome in person! - MT

Edited July 9, 2006 by MechTech

[HWR MKII]

Basic assembly is done. I just have the fine details to do and clean up and its done. Heres a couple pics of mama protecting her baby. In the pic where it says SCARY on the wall that is my TV. Big isnt it

That looks good Mech. Is it the IMAI 1/200 scale one? The one in the pics here is the ARII 1/160.

Edited July 9, 2006 by HWR MKII

[mslz22]

From the painting of the 1/160 do you have any tips about the lighter green color, was it custom mixed or a straight FS color?

thanks

mike

[HWR MKII]

Its a pollyS railroad color i have. I can post the name tomorrow since im heading to bed now. A good copy color would be Tamiya XF-60 dark yellow with a bit of dark green added to green it up a bit. Since the scale is larger i may just paint the yellowish parts straight dark yellow and postshade with some darker green. Did you notice i started to add the 3 rings on each gun barrel too.

I had to go to the ER last night because of that. One of the strips i was gluing on to make the ring sprang back and spattered Crazy glue into my eye. They found 2 dots of glue on my cornea. My eye will be ok it just hurt like crazy. Remember guys the dremel tool isnt the only reason to wear safety goggles while building models.

I should have the final little details done tomorrow. This is the last time you will see the monster whle until it is fully painted and weathered.

[mslz22]

Its a pollyS railroad color i have. I can post the name tomorrow since im heading to bed now. A good copy color would be Tamiya XF-60 dark yellow with a bit of dark green added to green it up a bit. Since the scale is larger i may just paint the yellowish parts straight dark yellow and postshade with some darker green. Did you notice i started to add the 3 rings on each gun barrel too.

I had to go to the ER last night because of that. One of the strips i was gluing on to make the ring sprang back and spattered Crazy glue into my eye. They found 2 dots of glue on my cornea. My eye will be ok  it just hurt like crazy. Remember guys the dremel tool isnt the only reason to wear safety goggles while building models.

I should have the final little details done tomorrow. This is the last time you will see the monster whle until it is fully painted and weathered.

414731[/snapback]

Yeah, i have to admit the rings look nice, I know in some versions they are there for sure as raised rings, and in other pics i thought that they were painted on, be seeing them on makes it look reallly cool. Of course i do not cast the cannons and strips that thin would be very hard to cast, so i will likely mention it in the intructions that people may want to add them. I also am going to try pactra tape on mine, it will be a bit raised, and since the tape will already be black you could add them after painting the cannons then flat coat the whole thing.....

thanks again

mike

[mslz22]

Oh, sorry about the trip to the ER, I've been there a few times for modeling related stuff...mostly exacto cuts .....

[Less than Super Ostrich]

looks real nice, shawn. that was quick!

[THOR]

It would be cool if we could unite 3 of these built monsters and a host of battroids to recreate the "Daeadelus Attack" in 1/72nd say for wonderfest next year...

I'd have to rent a van and drive up but it would be soooo kick-arse.

-THOR

[HWR MKII]

Good lord 3 of them. Actually if Mike has reject castings he wouldnt mind selling at a reduced cost i wouldnt mind doing a Macross 0 version of it too

[jadefalconguard]

Frack....it's already assembled AND has taken his place in the sofa Awesome work HWR....you're a Monster

Edit : and go ahead with the nice young lady on the foot.....

Edited July 10, 2006 by jadefalconguard

[jardann]

Yeah, this baby is looking awesome!! It isn't even painted in these pics and it looks more "alive" to me than the older kits.

I say go with the custom art on the foot Shawn. That'll be a great touch! (sorry about the eye, glad everything will be OK)

[mslz22]

Good lord 3 of them. Actually if Mike has reject castings he wouldnt mind selling at a reduced cost i wouldnt mind doing a Macross 0 version of it too

414828[/snapback]

I'm sure by the end of the run i will have enough rejects for a full kit

[HWR MKII]

Ok everyone the colors for this will be Olive drab for the overall body color. WEYERHAUSER GREEN for the yellow/green areas, this is a PollyS railroad acrylic color. And finally Panzer Schwarzgrau for the arm and leg joint pieces. I know the joints are the yellow green color in the animation but i like how it looks on the 1/160 and it will look good on this. Ill cover smaller colors and bits as they come up. Before painting though i have to detail the cockpit hump and finish the rings on the other 2 barrels. I may just add details to the hump and not change the shape.

[IAD]

Wow, that's quite a... Well... Monster.

Looking great so far!

[Mad Scientist] I wonder... Servos... Sequencer... Gyroscopes... RC-HWR..? [/Mad Scientist]

~Luke

[jadefalconguard]

You wouldn't dare

[MechTech]

HWR, I'm glad your your eye feels better. I feel your pain, litterally. I did the same thing once and it seemed to take forever for the stinging to go away.

The monster I built in the photo is a scratchbuilt 1/100 (styrene and Milliput) monster with one of those cheap re-released Spartans at it's side. It's so heavy it is about 3/4 of an inch lower than the Spartan. I went with the TV version paint scheme. I almost put the smoke grenades on there like they show in the one TV episode, but I thought "just one more thing to break off." Have you really chosen which of the two versions to go with - movie or TV?

If you want to go with a Daedalus attack, you really only need two monsters...

Two can only fit side by side anyhow, trust me. I hope all works out with the paint! - MT

Edited July 10, 2006 by MechTech

[HWR MKII]

Luke if this were 1/35 scale and lighter i would try to RC it.

Mech that is really good for a scratchbuild, Im going to give DYRL? a watch tomorrow and see which overall scheme ill go for. The monster isnt seen much in the movie. Either way it will have some good weathering similar to the launch vehicle. If i could get another monster and at least 6 tomahawks that would make an awesome display for a wonderfest. You could scratch build the 1/72 carrier opening for it. Well its bedtime. Not much done tonight im a little worn out from changing shifts. I hope to have it primed at least tomorrow. I finished the gun rings and cockpit tonight. Theres a couple small details i want to add from line art. other than that its ready for some paint and weathering this weekend.

How many of you are waiting for me to do this so you can see where the pitfalls and trouble areas are? Also i wouldnt worry about a mold release agent on this since Mike has said in the past that he uses baby/talcum powder for that. This explains the nice smell of the resin.

[Robert S the 2nd]

I am watching to see of course but I also still have to finish unpacking the model room!

Don't see many pitfalls at all. I like the missle covers and am going to use them (hope that you don't mind). I may try to give them a little bit od a bowl shape though. More like the covers on a nuc sub but we will see. Also going to do the 3 rings on each gun. Was planing that anyway with paint but I like the look of yours with the thin styrene.

Paint scheme is going to be a Navy low vis style complete with corosion cotrol patchwork painting and all.

I really just want to see what else you do to it

Thanks for building it so quick

[HWR MKII]

Feel free to use whatever ideas i think of. If it makes it simpler for everyone else so much the better.

[MechTech]

HWR, I'd consider doing the Daedalus doorway if you guys were dead serious. Not to be a killjoy, but my current project is in that "dragging" stage where it seems to be taking forever. My "Macross allowance" (yeah, it's in our budget) is dragging too.

[HWR MKII]

Base paint is done. I just have to go over it with a brush tomorrow and sharpen up some areas. This is 3 and 3/4 bottles of tamiya Olive drab. I didnt use the molded eye pieces and glue them on. Instead i applied a thin layer of liquid mask on them and applied them over a white background before i sprayed the OD. Once the OD was dry i removed the eye piece and rolled away the excess liquid mask. Presto instant painted on eye art. Tomorrow i will finish the smaller details and then get started on the post shading.

BTW after a coat of primer and a layer of paint the hip joints are very tight. With the kit being quite well balanced it will stand fine on its own once painted.

[007-vf1]

3 and 3/4 freaking bottles...!!! ??

[neptunesurvey]

I see you have Tigers in Combat 1 and 2 on the shelf. Two excellent books to have.

[THOR]

great googly moogly!

[jadefalconguard]

Me like a lot very nice "little thingy"

[electric indigo]

HWR MK II = faster-than-light modeling

Admit it, you ARE Martin Bower

-i-

[ChaosWarrior]

Looking very good so far

ChaosWarrior

[HWR MKII]

well it will be a while before ifinish it now. I got a short notice deployment 2 day ago and im now in bulgaria. i wont be on very often for about 3 weeks.

[HWR MKII]

Still alive and kicking. just over a week till i get back.

[Guest Bromgrev]

Stop kicking those nice Bulgarians.

[HWR MKII]

Well my time here is almost over and i will be back to my wife and my monster(that doesnt sound right). I may have something to show on saturday night.

[MechTech]

Don't worry, we know what you mean.

[HWR MKII]

Well postshading, clearcoating and decals are done but my compressors thermal trip has kicked from the constant running so i will be a bit before i can do the paint fading. Hopefully i should be able to finish this in a couple hours.

[HWR MKII]

Here she is. Aside from some small details like flowing a darker wash into some of the panel lines she is done. This is a hard kit to take clear pics of since there are so many parts closer to the camera than others. Sorry for the blurry ones. My camera wanted to focus on whatever was closest to it. I will try to get some better ones later.

My one and only complaint on this kit was the fact that it is not possible to show the internals behind the dozer spade, without leaving it off completely. The position the legs have to be at to keep the model stable and the fact they are at the full standing height wont allow it to be posed "accurately" to have it open. I wasnt about to hack the leg struts apart to make it crouch like the line art and Macross Zero show it when it deploys the spade. I fiddled with possibilities on it for a few hours and couldnt come up with a way that was acceptable. Other than that Mike has done an amazing job on this kit, it is well worth the time effort and money.

The overall finish i was going for was a more realistic and toned down texture to the colors with a little inspiration from the dark and moody look of the MK1 Monster seen in Macross zero.

Mike if you have enough reject castings about lets make a deal, i need a 1/72 scale MK1 monster now. Just to make the destroid collection complete.

[mslz22]

WOW, looks really awesome, great work. You will have another for the MK1, by the end of the run i will get you one from the 2nds pile...... To address the engine detail/hindge/ deployment....well I uhhhhhh, I was not able to make the full deploy for a couple of reasons, the formost was the balance of the kit, those legs are pretty much where they need to be , and i did make one tiny mistake when i made the hindge, i planned it out without the rear facing leg armor on over the struts....i will cover a fix for this eventually but my guess is that for most people who want to display it to show off the engine detail, the solution will be a few magnets so they can pop off the rear hatch.....