Whats Lying on your Workbench MKIII

[big F]

Nice models. I like the Ferrari version, means it can crash & burn faster

Nah it means that it's made of plastic is bright red, really loud and has really shitty gas mileage

Edited March 13, 2011 by big F

[ahiachris]

Nah it means that it's made of plastic is bright red, really loud and has really shitty gas mileage

And it burns very easily. I'd personally inspected three burnt out ferrari for the past three years

[VF-19]

Sounds like a 6000 SUX.

Working on a Golden Hawks Sabre. And it's not going to be painted (except for a few small areas). I'm using a gold rub paste I found at the local craft store that's a match for the paint used on the real plane. Looks much better than Tamiya's gold leaf.

[VF-19]

A test I did with a sacrifice Sabre. The left wing has the gold rub, and the right wing was airbrushed with Tamiya gold leaf. I think the gold rub looks much better, but the plastic must be as smooth and as perfrect as possible. Much of the scratches are quite visible.

[electric indigo]

^That's a nice gold you got there. Can you share the brand name of the product?

The best and most economic solution for me so far was Duplicolor spraycan gold.

[VF-19]

It's called Treasure Gold, made by Plaid. The colour is called 3010 Classic Gold. I was watching a friend of mine using it to put a gold sheen on some crafts, and a light went off in my head. I found it at Michael's.

With this stuff, surface prep is key, as any blemish will show up very easily. The scratches you see in the picture above isn't the rub, it's the plastic.

EDIT:

Also, not sure how durable this stuff is, so if you need to paint another colour on this stuff, you may want to seal it with a topcoat first.

Edited March 13, 2011 by VF-19

[Urashiman]

That is a really cool gold color, I'd have to check if this is available in germany

Progress on my VF-0S goes well, faster then I thought.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Urashiman

[THOR]

on my workbench..

[Shaorin]

i've pretty much finished a restoration project on my 1985 BANDAI High Complete Model VF-1J

that i hadn't been counting on doing when i bought it, but became increasingly obvious in it's necessity

the more that i've handled the model since receiving it.

one thing i HAD been planning ever since i payed the seller for my HCM, however,

was to paint the little DYRL Lynn Minmay figure included with the model.

my large stock of old late '80s/early 90's TAMIYA COLOUR and TESTORS MODEL MASTER plastic modeling pigments

left over from my ex-father's binge of military aircraft and land vehicle modeling, and inherited by me

about fifteen years ago, is getting MUCH too old now, and simply WOULD NOT DO

for a rare and expensive vintage MACROSS item, IMHO, so i invested in some brand new TAMIYA in the shades i needed

for Minmay, as well as a handful of tones that i figure i often use, and a complete set of translucents

for wingtip beacon lights and the like;

these are some of the first TAMIYAs i have ever bought, and their coverage and hold are superb. i plan on rounding out

my small collection of fresh, 21st century pigments with a few more of my common-use tones, mostly blue shades.

i don't do a whole lot of plastic modeling anymore, but at least now i'm on my way to being well prepared for the future.

here's the Minmay figure, before and after painting;

now, regarding the HCM Valk itself;

the entire model was, straight out of the box, moderately loose in the joints, with VERY loose wing joints.

that, for me at least, SIMPLY WOULD NOT DO for a $150.00 toy-like model, no matter how vintage,

so i dismantled the entire model, and went throughout, cutting tiny strips if electrician's tape,

and wrapping it on the peg/pegs of nearly every joint area, from the landing gear doors, to the gear themselves.

from the arm and leg joints to the folding tail fin joints. i also firmed up all the screw holes

with LOCTITE "TITE-N" screw tightener;

the ultimate result was WELL WORTH the hassle, as i've now an HCM Valk that is literally TIGHT AS A DRUM.

no S&%t, this baby is a ROCK, with tight, positive, smooth joint action. it's beautiful, really.

in the end, i'm contemplating detailing up this HCM some, maybe some of the fine details such as those

wing and tail fin beacon lights. i don't want to veer too far away from it's out-of-box appearance,

but i figure it should have painted detail roughly equal to my Yammie 1/60v.II, at least.

we'll see...

Edited March 17, 2011 by Shaorin

[505thAirborne]

Such a classic VF-1 Shaorin, glad you got all the parts & joints tightened up nicely. Minmay looks great and ready to put on a show! TAMIYA paint is the only stuff I use and swear by!!

[Shaorin]

Such a classic VF-1 Shaorin, glad you got all the parts & joints tightened up nicely. Minmay looks great and ready to put on a show! TAMIYA paint is the only stuff I use and swear by!!

i can see why; it dries fast, wears hard, and looks great! water soluble, too!!

VERY nice features in a plastic modeling pigment, especially after making do for so long

with some pretty rancid oddball brands, such as BATTLETECH "RAL PARTHA" colors

and GAMES WORKSHOP "CITADEL COLOUR"

if i ever run afoul of any of that crap again, it'll be FAR too soon!!

Edited March 18, 2011 by Shaorin

[electric indigo]

I made a new heat pressed canopy for my Sylpheed, looks a thousand times better than the resin one. Now I need to update the cockpit details.

[PetarB]

That looks fantastic Roman - a massive improvement. You might be interested to know that I just got delivery of the Platz FERN II over the weekend. I can't make up my mind whether to do that next, or something else, it's a really crazy cool looking aircraft.

[electric indigo]

If you have the Sylpheed, you should try it yourself - I just filled the resin canopy with polyester putty and pulled the clear sheet from a blister pack over it.

Here's some motivational material from my Fand/Fern II which is still in it's uncompleted state:

I duplicated the cockpit pod to have the option to hollow it out and build some kind of interior and a new canopy, but the pod is so narrow that you can barely fit a 1/100 pilot into it

Notify me if you need any reference material for the Fern.

[PetarB]

I wouldn't mind having a go at the white version of the Fern II, which to be honest I have not seen that much detail about except 1 photo somewhere. Looks like you are close to completing yours, apart from that troublesome cockpit.

[valhary]

i love yukikaze designs

[Jefuemon]

Slowly taking shape

Just a reminder to everyone: I'd say about 80% of Japan is doing business as usual now. If you ever wanted to come and visit, please do! Kansai area and south, plus Hokkaido would still love to have tourists come.

How Japan is effected.

[electric indigo]

I wouldn't mind having a go at the white version of the Fern II, which to be honest I have not seen that much detail about except 1 photo somewhere.

I posted the pics I have in the Yukikaze thread here.

[TSP]

I've been forceing myself into building something from my backlog but ended up toying with a YF-29 kit. Have to admit that this is a really great kit engineering wise. Except for a few places like the canopy and nose cone dividing line, this kit looks great OOB, even if it's only snap fitted. I still don't like it's design, but I'm working on this point.

@Petar congratulations for placing first in the SSM Starfighter competition. The WIP stages of your Homeworld cannon fodder were already awesome and it definitely deserved the 1st place.

[Urashiman]

Hehe, did the preshading and coloring works on my VF-0S today. Needed to sand alot on that one. But looks awesome now

[THOR]

awesome job Jefuemon!

[Jefuemon]

Oh Rick, you're such a dirty boy! (have to say that in the original dub Minmay voice)

But you clean up real nice

Pro Modeler's Wash. Buy it, use it, love it.

Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, I'll be posting the finished product.

[505thAirborne]

That is one sweet Valk Jefuemon, attention to detail and Hikaru look amazing! Looking forward to the finished product.

Edited March 26, 2011 by 505thAirborne

[Urashiman]

Didn't use the waterdecals this time. I learned from the YF-19 and the VF-1S. Airbrushed everything

[505thAirborne]

Didn't use the waterdecals this time. I learned from the YF-19 and the VF-1S. Airbrushed everything

Lookin good Urashiman, I did the same with all my Mac Zero kits too! Will your kit be landing gear up or down?

[Urashiman]

Lookin good Urashiman, I did the same with all my Mac Zero kits too! Will your kit be landing gear up or down?

Landing gear will be out, but it isn't glued to the plane yet. Need to wash the whole thing thou. (old school style with thinned oil color). I'll post pics when it is done

[Shaorin]

DAMMIT, just cant seem to help myself! i'm a natural-born tweaker!

i was planning to keep my HCM pretty much original,

finished with the provided decals and nothing else,

but now i've found myself tweaking it with a combination

of decals from my 1/60v.II and my old 1/72 VF-11B hip-shatterer,

and painting in the beacon lights on the wings, tail fins and MAIN LANDING GEAR doors;

i pretty much replaced the original nose-module UN-SPACY kites with those

from the 1/60v.II sheet out of necessity, as the leg swingbars were always catching

on them and messing them up. these new decals, however, do not get in the way

of the transformation at all.

yes, they ARE a mite oversized, but it doesn't bother me at all.

in sum, i think she's about as finished now as she's ever going to get.

i now have a very rugged and detailed HCM that looks perfectly at home

alongside my matching 1/60v.II, and plays every bit as well in it's own unique way

as the 21st century YAMATO offering does...

also, a completely unrelated project on the fire;

i've been a TREKKIE since i first watched STAR TREK; THE NEXT GENERATION with my mother

during it's first U.S. TV broadcast run, from the 1987 pilot ep. "ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT"

onward.

not long after, we bought our first VHS copies of the STAR TREK films, from 1979's

STAR TREK; THE MOTION PICTURE to 1986's STAR TREK IV; THE VOYAGE HOME,

and that's how i experienced the TREK films for the first time in my life,

at around eight years of age or so.

i saw STAR TREK III; THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, and i INSTANTLY developed

a geek-hard-on for the "U.S.S. EXCELSIOR" registry no. "NX-2000" testbed for the

experimental new "TRANSWARP" warp drive system, that was stationed at earth spacedock

during the events of the movie.

anyway, i pined for a toy or model of that starship for a good long while,

until, around 1993-ish, when my father found a copy of the 1991 AMT-ERTL

1/1000 EXCELSIOR model kit and bought it for me.

i had precisely ZERO experience as a plastic modeler,

so my father attempted to work on the model, while teaching me along the way.

it was to be my model, so my father, rather stupidly, took instruction from me

on exactly what colors to paint it.

for whatever reason, i had had it in my mind, rather firmly, that the starship

was supposed to have an overall DARK GREY tone about it, and, despite the fact

that my father repeatedly attempted to convince me otherwise, i had insisted

on that strangely presumed color scheme, and he gave in to it.

the result was a TERRIBLE looking paint scheme on an otherwise beautiful(IMO)

starship.

now, if that wasn't bad enough as was, my father let ME, an 11/12 year old

with almost NO modeling skill ASSEMBLE a glue and paint model kit ALONE, BY MYSELF.

OH GOD, the "finished" result was predictably horrid.

a tragic waste of a 20 dollar model of a gorgeous sci-fi space vehicle.

ANYWAY, fast-forward 17 years, and here i am, with significantly improved

modeling skills, stopping by my local HOBBY TOWN USA to pick up some more

TAMIYA COLORs, and i happen across this brand new, late-2010 reissue

of the 1994 "STAR TREK; GENERATIONS" 1/1000 model of the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-B

variant/refit of the old EXCELSIOR AMT-ERTL kit.

it was but $30.00, when existing unbuilt copies of the old EXCELSIOR kit frequent EBAY

for $50/over $100.00, so i saw my opportunity to give my beloved starship of my childhood

another shot, and repent for my childhood sins, and attempt the model one more time!!

as you can see, i fairly know what i'm doing now, and i have the basic work already done.

i've TONS of detail work to do yet, however, and much of it will have to wait until

i hit HOBBY TOWN USA again to pick up some TAMIYA MASKING TAPE.

also, i have a source here for custom U.S.S. EXCELSIOR waterslides

that i intend to take advantage of, and make my model a refit

of the EXCELSIOR herself, remodelled to the design standards established

by the ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-B back in 1994;

http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index.cfm/product/1028/uss-excelsior-nx-and-ncc-2000-decals.cfm

i've a HELL of a project ahead of me, wish me luck!!

EDIT; i just realized that that custom decal sheet actually has pretty much every detail marking

that i would otherwise have to hand paint!

i think i'll wimp out and hold off on my MASKING TAPE stratagem,

and just buy myself this decal set and use it for all the detail work!

after all, i'm not all that hot of a model painter, even after all these years,

and many, MANY crappy GUNDAM kits, and even a handful of MACROSS ones under my belt.

i'd just like this model to at least look somewhat professional, if possible,

and i see this decal sheet as the best way to be going about achieving that.

i know i'll be needing to seal the decals in with a lacquer,

so what would best work; DULL or GLOSS? i'm leaning towards a GLOSS myself...

Edited April 2, 2011 by Shaorin

[Urashiman]

Have fun customizing stuff. Nice Enterprise B btw

My VF-0S is finished. Need to check what to build next. (VF-1A/J/S, VF-19A, VF-22S, VE-1 Elintseeker, SV-51y w/TB, VF-0A/S w/Ghost, SV-51y Nora, or 1/48 YF-19)

[derex3592]

Finished my 1:5000 Salan Scout Ship. My first resin kit. (well, 1 piece) but whatever!. I think it turned out great! Scratch built my own stand from an old 1:170 Valk kit i never finished and a piece of sprue.

Edited April 2, 2011 by derex3592

[Shaorin]

great work, both of you!!

i recognize the base of that stand you made

from the old 1/170 ARII HEAVY WEAPON/DUAL SPECIAL

SUPER/STRIKE VF-1 BATTROID kits, of which i once had a copy of the VF-1D version.

i had done a MOST HIDEOUS job on it at the time, FYI, nevermind.

actually, i'm quite surprised that that little base, coupled with a relatively thin parts-frame shaft,

is enough to support that heavy chunk of solid resin, suspended so high above.

i sure hope that that shaft doesn't warp and bend...

Edited April 3, 2011 by Shaorin

[505thAirborne]

Now that is one sweet VF-0S, looks amazing!!

[Alex]

Turning this old junker into an MP Orguss. I put this here as there are a couple Orguss model kits going into this guy.

Got a Nikick for 2100 yen the other day which might just end up getting the masterpiece treatment also.

BTW, anyone have ideas for the holes in the forearms. They need to be there for transformation but can't quite figure out a good way to fill them without partsforming.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Alex

[Flakpanzer]

Bandai VF-25 and Wave Tomahawk.

Regards,

Flak

[VF-18S Hornet]

ARGH!! Disaster stuck...

In my stupid attempts to accelerate the drying process, I placed the kit a little to close to my lights and it deformed the canopy (beyond re-shaping it back). I can't believe how stupid I was!! I've got too much invested in this bird at this point.

I called the store where I purchased the kit from, but they say that they have no way of contacting Academy to obtain a replacement part. I remember back in the day (20yrs ago) when I had a 1/32 Tamiya F-14 and I was able to purchase just the canopy tree again from the distributor (Borgfield Toys in Toronto, Canada). But it seems I may be out of luck this time around. So any one here with a suggestion on an avenue to pursue? I'd hate to purchase another kit just for the canopy (and I don't assume anyone here on these boards have a spare one - its not like its an option part?!) but you never know? I'm going to try the Academy web site. DAMN!!

I did that to my 1/100 VF-19S Blazer wing tryring to dry the paint on the joint so I could stop the wing from going down in Battroid mode. Took my eyes off it and the lamp arm moved down closer to it and warped the plastic, stuck with a one wing model kit.

[David Hingtgen]

I've used that exact decal sheet on an Excelsior Refit---they're very thin and "stretchy" as decals go, but didn't seem especially fragile. I didn't need blue paint for anywhere but the clear parts for "warp glow" and the edges of the pylons. And yes, by the end, half the ship is covered in decal film. But that's not much different from the current trend of using decals for an aztec pattern, where like 90% of the ship is decaled. (they exist for that kit, if you feel like it)

Mine's flat-coated. I would never gloss a Trek ship, unless the gloss itself was applied in an aztec pattern and it was the ST:TMP version of 1701. (since that's how it was)