1/72 Resin Launch Arm kit w/ Max VF-1A Super

[wm cheng]

So correcting the signal was a little more involved than I thought. First I filled in the hole I drilled in the base with crazy glue. I let that set before I drill a new hole in the location appropriate to swinging the arm around 180 degrees. Then I detached the signal arm from the signal assembly - carefully... but I still broke the attachment elbow, so pieces in the back of the signal assembly and two of the signal paddles before I was able to extract the signal I scraped away some paint to where the elbow will attach to the signal (since I wanted the crazy glue to attach to the resin and not the paint). I also changed the location of the antenna to the lower signal paddle (as shown in the lineart). I then stuck a piece of gak from one of those Wave Option parts on the back of the connection elbow to hide the piece that broke off.

[wm cheng]

YAY! decal time... I have a huge collection of leftover decals from old kits spanning 20 yrs from when I was a kid. I even knew enough to save the decals to the kits I built when I was too young to paint and apply decals! Anal eh?! But Macross has a certain sensibility that I wanted to maintain - I didn't want it too look to military, but it needs a certain air of japanimation too. I thought this was a great opportunity to use my old leftover bits from my other Hasegawa kits and these great Wave Option decal sets I ordered from HLJ a few years ago. I highly recommend them - two are Macross Option decals, and two are just Misc. Option decals (more Gundam like).

http://www.hlj.com/hljlist2/?Maker1=WAV&Ma...eCode=Sci&Dis=2

They contain fantastic stenciling and various sci-fi like warnings "Zero Gravity" and graphics. I've dry fitted some of the hydraulic actuators in some of the photos - I love how the Tamiya marker chrome makes it look like real metal especially contrasted next to a flat grey finished hydraulic cylinder. The key to some of the graphic stenciling (IMHO) is to position them next to something, some kind of feature on the arm - so that they are pointing to, or warning some aspect of the machinery. It lends a air of credibility to the what's being applied. The semi-gloss clear coat allows the decals to lay flat against the surfaces without the silvering that can appear on dark backgrounds. When I seal everything in with a flat finish clear coat, it will blend the decals into the finish of the arm more. THen I will dry brush and airbrush a lighter grey over them to tie them into the arm at the end.

[Spatula]

Those pics are of pure unadulterated awesomeness. Damn, now I want to break out my Super Ostrich kit.

[qrest fourstar]

Man I havent been sent an e-mail in over a week telling me there had been another posting! damn 4 pages have gone by and look at the progress! wow!

[MechTech]

So like, where is the ARMD-1? This looks real enough; like you stole it off the ARMD-1! Next thing you know a bunch of giant space aliens are gonna show up wanting a fight...lol!

[wm cheng]

I sprayed the entire thing down with a clear coat of Model Master Acryl flat finish to seal in the decals (helps blend the decals in with the same finish as the paint) and the oil wash. Plus dry brushing works best on flat finishes. You'll also notice that the flat finish lightens the entire arm up quite a bit.

[wm cheng]

On to a favourite part of mine which I rarely get to do on a Macross model - dry brushing. It is usually a technique quite common in tank modelling. Together with the oil wash which picks out the low lying recessed details, the dry brushing will pick out the opposite highpoints in the molding - it will look like worn metal when its done. I usually find a flat edged brush that is fairly stiff (I used an old watercolour brush with synthetic bristles) - this is the only use for this brush because the process is fairly rough on the brush and will ruin it for other use. It can be done with white (which I did for the fast packs on the Super Valkyrie) or I'm using Sky Grey in this instance.

You dip the brush into the paint, then take it out and using a paper towel, remove most of all the paint off the brush. Then take a scrap piece and start to work the brush around all the raised edges of the model - what little paint is left on the brush (the brush should be dry to the touch - hence the name dry brushing) should catch on the raised bits of detail. You will need to go over areas a few times to build up a lightening of the edges. It works best around the edges of panels and any highpoints in the molding. I would do this first with the grey, then I do it again with a bit of silver, but only hitting certain areas, so that certain edges gives a glint of silver as thought the paint has scrapped off. If done subtly it should give the impression that there's metal underneath the paint (hard to capture on the picture).

[wm cheng]

Not to forget, I added the four little hydraulic actuators underneath the claw fingers. I painted a portion of them with the Tamiya chrome marker (I don't know about the Gundam markers - I haven't tried them yet) and the rest with Neutral Grey so that they would stand out against the dark grey fingers. I also had to trim a bit of them off on the rear arms since the epoxy from glueing the magnets got into the way a little - but when you flip it over, you can't tell. Just a hint of metal mechanism - very cool.

[wm cheng]

Oh, at this point, I masked the big yellow and black warning area - and sprayed. I actually took off that little detail in the lower centre with he red dot on it, since it interfered with the masking - and added it back in after I removed the masking. I would suggest leaving off until the yellow and black stripes are done next time.

I then went around the edges of the warning area with a thin light spray of dark grey to dirty it up a bit (it was too bright, clean and new) and work it into the arm so that it didn't stand out too much. I also dry brushed a little sky grey around the edges to show this area was worn as well.

[wm cheng]

Final shot of the night for now...

I added the hydraulic actuator/cylinder between the wrist and claw portion - again I used the Tamiya marker for the actuator and Neutra Grey for the cylinder. I crazy glued it in. I left the main large hydraulic actuator/cylinder between the wrist and arm off for now - I need to let the Silver Tamiya marker dry first.

Its pretty close to finishing, I just need to add all those hoses and wires to connect up the arm and the signal piece as well. Lastly, I'll finish the base, but that will be in the end. Enjoy...

[Viceland]

On to a favourite part of mine which I rarely get to do on a Macross model - dry brushing.  It is usually a technique quite common in tank modelling.  Together with the oil wash which picks out the low lying recessed details, the dry brushing will pick out the opposite highpoints in the molding - it will look like worn metal when its done.  I usually find a flat edged brush that is fairly stiff (I used an old watercolour brush with synthetic bristles) - this is the only use for this brush because the process is fairly rough on the brush and will ruin it for other use.  It can be done with white (which I did for the fast packs on the Super Valkyrie) or I'm using Sky Grey in this instance.

You say this technique is rough on the brush, how so? What's the brush stroke like? is it dabbing the edges, straight on, bending the bristles?

Maybe a "brush in action" picture? a small mpeg movie? or better yet, come to my house and show me?

[Grayson72]

Hey WM looks really great, the shaded black and yellow part looks really good. One suggestion, on the silver hydralic arms, they are a bit too clean, on construction equipment they'll be very slightly streaked with brownish fluid, especially closer to the edges.

[Major Johnathan]

Excellent job WM , I've enjoyed reading the whole review. I'd like to see how the base comes out too.

I hope you'll post more 'how to builds', you'd think we were reading right out of Fine Scale Modeler, only more detailed.

[Myersjessee]

man....unreal...as always!

[MechTech]

Yeah, Major Jonathan is right. It is like Fine Scale Modeler only better. Maybe that's one reason I didn't renew my subscription yet.

[wm cheng]

Viceland - Its really hard to discribe the brush motion (a video would be so much easier) but its something that is best achieved through practice. Its best done on dark surfaces (shows up better) that have a flat finish to them. You "work"/rub and scrape what little paint there is on the brush into the raised details. Keep in mind to wipe almost all the paint off the brush so that its dry (hence the term Dry Brushing) so the brush is merely "stained" with paint. Because you are "working" the paint in which involves some perpendicular dabing and rubbing, you will ruin the shape of the bristles - so don't use an expensive sable hair brush. I just ruined one brush and keep using it for dry brushing from then on - I prefer a flat edged brush as shown in the photo. Good luck... its something that is best experienced than discribing - its actually quite easy once you get the hang of it. Hope it helps a little...

Grayson72 - Yep, thanks for the heads up, I am going to do a dirty brown wash to simulate some hydraulic oil staining later on - one step at a time...

Thanks, if only FSM would pay me or if I could make a real living from doing this - BUT also get to keep my creations!

Didn't get much time today, just put it together with the baseplate and finally got to assemble the wrist/arm main hydraulic actuator in place. Here are a few shots with the arms in place. The red stripes on the yellow signal paddles were just done with a ruler and a red fine tipped sharpie laundry marker. I need to repair and paint the Valkyrie engine housing that got damaged while being removed to gain access to place the magnets in the fast packs. Then I need to concentrate on the base plate itself - mostly a paint job with a few extra optional parts to add on. Then lastly, add the extra wiring and hoses to both the arms.

Please... Gundamhead, Jesse or Anasazi - consider making some small decals for the signal arm - white lettering and graphics to fill those triangular paddles and the top and bottom of the signal...

[neptunesurvey]

I love the work wm cheng. I'm looking forward to when my kit arrives. One question, where do you find the magnets? Hobby Lobby, Michal's, etc?

[Rodavan]

Amazing work as always Master Cheng

[Sar]

Viceland - Its really hard to discribe the brush motion (a video would be so much easier) but its something that is best achieved through practice.  Its best done on dark surfaces (shows up better) that have a flat finish to them.  You "work"/rub and scrape what little paint there is on the brush into the raised details.

344890[/snapback]

I think the best way to describe drybrushing is as a collection of all the things you should never do to a brush, all done at the same time. ;-)

Imagine the bristles of a brush as if they were made out of tinfoil strips - once they're creased there's no making them straight again. Normally you want strokes with the bristles trailing behind the brush so the 'tinfoil' bristles don't get creased... if you push the bristles, they'll bend and fold and eventually splay and lose their point. Drybrushing is all the motions that would bend or fold the bristles, 'cause you're intentionally trying to push them sideways into the thing you're drybrushing.

If you've ever painted miniature figures you'll know you can highlight raised edges easily by running the side of the brush along the raised edge/corner - drybrushing is like that, only in bulk. And careless. ;-)

[Myersjessee]

Decals are a good idea. (I always love decals) Unfortunatly, I don't have the equipment to print white decals, nor a 10th of Anasazi's skill. He might be willing to do some decals, but we'd need a confirmed order. How many people would want them? (assuming they will be like $8 ...I don't know real costs...Im just guessing) I would guess if we could get about 30 preorders Devin would be willing to do some up.

[buglips]

Mr. Cheng... you are a true craftsman! I've been tuning in to your step-by-steps daily and I'm hooked.

I can honestly say this is the best instruction I've ever read, and it's FREE!

You could show the Kalmbach crowd a thing or two about how it's done, seriously.

If memory serves, you can submit articles of your kits and keep the kits. They have some photography rules, but that's it.

At the very least, you might consider contributing to one of their "how to build sci-fi models" books so they might actually be worth the cover price.

Anyway, maybe you might check in on their submission guidelines. If anyone deserves to make money doing what they love, your articles here clearly demonstrate that you're one of them!

[MechTech]

Myersjessee, you can get white decal paper (MicroMart.com) which of course won't work for all things, but with a sharp pair of scissors and some time...

Edited November 15, 2005 by MechTech

[Viceland]

I can honestly say this is the best instruction I've ever read, and it's FREE!

344997[/snapback]

FREE??? Hello!?!? You mean you haven't paid your dues to WM Chen for the priviledge of viewing his threads??!?!??? Shame on you!! You did suggest he should get paid for his contributions to the craft, so pony-up!

Oh, and Welcome to MW!!

[Grayson72]

Yeah we all pay access fees, how'd you slip by?

[Zinjo]

Thanks, if only FSM would pay me or if I could make a real living from doing this - BUT also get to keep my creations!

344890[/snapback]

I'd have to check but FSM used to pay for reader submissions (somewhere in the $50.00 range way back when) that they published, especially for step by step articles.

Considering they are one of the few modelling magazines open minded enough to publish SciFi and Anime subjects.

Gallery photos are never paid for.

I missed your step by step on the 1/72 VF-2SS and I'd love to see it, now that I've bought the kit...

BTW here are the Guidelines:

http://www.finescale.com/fsm/objects/pdf/m...issionguide.pdf

The contacts page:

http://www.finescale.com/fsm/default.aspx?c=a&id=1388

** Seriously dude, your work is on par with all the modellers who I've seen published. You and several others who've posted here...

Edited November 16, 2005 by Zinjo

[wm cheng]

Thanks everybody! Donations gladly accepted even a subscription to Fine Scale Modeller (they're quite expensive up in Canada). I might think about turning this thread into a article... we'll see if I get work shortly after or decide to finish up the Booster!

I don't believe my VF-2SS build-up is around anymore - it was on the old boards and it went away with them . It was really one of my first forays back into modelling - so you didn't miss much, it was way over post-shaded and wasn't really well detailed. Plus I didn't really post too much step-by-step back then, mostly some progress shots and final model shots when I discovered this site.

Well, I spent most of the time repairing the damage I did to the Valkyrie fast packs trying to remove the engines to get inside the top of the fast packs to mount the rare earth magnets. I managed to glue all the pieces back together and used a lot of Tamiya putty to restore the round shapes to the engine housing (luckily the engine bells just popped off and was spared the destruction).

Here are some shots after I re-attached the engines back onto the fast packs. I updated the engines a little with some Alclad metalizer steel and jet exhaust highlights. I hadn't discovered Alclad metalizer paints when I first built this Valkyrie, so the engines were originally painted in Tamiya Metallic Grey with black burnt weathering. (I think they look better now - must resist going back to my old models and trying to improve them... too many un-built ones to go...)

[wm cheng]

I started to work on the resin base as well. I gave the main hanger doors a coat of Alclad metalizer Steel while the exterior of the ARMD was given a coat of 1:3 Medium Blue mixed with Skey Grey. I notice that in the animation cells, there was a distinctive blue hue to the the exterior.

I then also started playing around with the extra pieces that Gundamhead provided to detail up the exterior of the ARMD. I decided that I would probably want to paint these pieces differently, so I would keep them separate and attach them in the end when I'm weathering.

Here's a shot of the base as it stands now. I used the cheap regular masking tape for the darker grey areas - and a combination of either not waiting long enough, or cheap tape and the lighter grey dusting of highlights - when I peeled the tape back, it removed a few chunks of the blue/grey surface Argh. I'll probably mask that area off and spray another shade of grey on it to hide it.

[wm cheng]

I should add the yellow and black warning stripes next.

[MechTech]

Alright, I'm dizzy and my neck is sore, but looks great! By the way, you should submit some articles to FSM. "Mounting Models on Magnets" could actually get you some money. Get paid for your hobby! Spouses seem more appreciative if you actually have fun and make some extra cash on the side with your hobby.

[fernarias]

Wow, this is awesome. This whole setup screams LEDs.

I love the work wm cheng. I'm looking forward to when my kit arrives. One question, where do you find the magnets? Hobby Lobby, Michal's, etc?

As for the magnets, I think everyone here gets them here:

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/

They have a huge supply and you can get magnets to fit the arms exaclty without showing.

F.

Edited November 16, 2005 by fernarias

[wm cheng]

Alright, I'm dizzy and my neck is sore, but looks great!  By the way, you should submit some articles to FSM.  "Mounting Models on Magnets" could actually get you some money.  Get paid for your hobby!   Spouses seem more appreciative if you actually have fun and make some extra cash on the side with your hobby.

345341[/snapback]

Haha spoken like a married man! so true...

Man, fernarias - I wish I knew about this site beforehand... they have some really great shapes for this project. Well, I got mine at Lee Valley Tools up here in Canada - they sell great esoteric hardware in Toronto, highly recommend those who live here to pay them a visit, they have a great catalog too. Unfortunately, Lee Valley doesn't have all these shapes - I will try them next time I need something.

Nothing much to show, just masking for the yellow warning area and letting the yellow paint dry before doing the black stripes. Hopefully there will be something to show later on tonight.

[neptunesurvey]

Thanks fernarias.

[nightmareB4macross]

Alright, I'm dizzy and my neck is sore, but looks great!  By the way, you should submit some articles to FSM.  "Mounting Models on Magnets" could actually get you some money.  Get paid for your hobby!   Spouses seem more appreciative if you actually have fun and make some extra cash on the side with your hobby.

345341[/snapback]

I couldn't agree more.

[MechTech]

Thanks fernarias. I might be able to use this next time around on some of my projects.

[wm cheng]

Well... here's some shots of the masking involved with the yellow and black warning stripes. Nice of Gundamhead to etch in the diagonal lines to follow.