Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[arbit]

That's some sharp painting CrossAir!

[505thAirborne]

So I can now add this to my project list ( I ordered six altogether). I've started to work on one and now I'm wondering what color spray paints should I use? Not really sure what shades of blue & grey they used, looks like bluish-grey to me but I could be wrong. Instructions are in solid Japanese, so any thoughts would be great! 

 

[arbit]

1 hour ago, 505thAirborne said:

So I can now add this to my project list ( I ordered six altogether). I've started to work on one and now I'm wondering what color spray paints should I use? Not really sure what shades of blue & grey they used, looks like bluish-grey to me but I could be wrong. Instructions are in solid Japanese, so any thoughts would be great! 

This thing is MADE for real world schemes. I am so excited to see what people come up with.  

[derex3592]

no idea honestly, but...I'd love to see some shots of the sprue trees and what you've done so far, I've got the DX on order, but the model guy in me really wants to build this, as I've not actually ever done a Hasagawa Macross kit...

 

[arbit]

1 minute ago, derex3592 said:

no idea honestly, but...I'd love to see some shots of the sprue trees and what you've done so far, I've got the DX on order, but the model guy in me really wants to build this, as I've not actually ever done a Hasagawa Macross kit...

 

Good luck. As models go, Hasegawa are... "different".

[MechTech]

Thanks Kylwell, I'll remember that about the decals.

Your paint and decals look great CrossAir! Nice n clean build and finiish!

"Who let the dogs out..." OK, I did. It took me a good couple of hours to clean them up and make all the parts fit right. It took a lot of glue to soften and fill in the gaps. Then a little putty still yet. The model has the gimmick of containing missiles to fit into a few of the slots in each pod. I took one pod and made the missiles out of white and original maroon styrene. Then added a hinge so it can open up to reveal them as they have in some original box photos. Nearly done with the construction part of this build. - MT

[arbit]

46 minutes ago, MechTech said:

Then added a hinge so it can open up to reveal them as they have in some original box photos.

Is that thing in the anime?

What hinges are you using. Looks nice.

[505thAirborne]

19 hours ago, arbit said:

This thing is MADE for real world schemes. I am so excited to see what people come up with.  

For sure! I was looking up some Tamiya colors last night and found shades of grey and a dark blue-grey that should work wonders for this kit! 

19 hours ago, derex3592 said:

no idea honestly, but...I'd love to see some shots of the sprue trees and what you've done so far, I've got the DX on order, but the model guy in me really wants to build this, as I've not actually ever done a Hasagawa Macross kit...

 

Right now the 31A is semi-assembled & being held together by tape & gravity. LOL  The most insane thing to assemble was the pilot, otherwise your quality Hasegawa kit. 

[electric indigo]

What's big, bad, and green?

[arbit]

1 hour ago, electric indigo said:

What's big, bad, and green?

Don't know, but the green looks great.

Is that a pre- or post-shade?

I'm practicing pre-shading for my Valk. This is a gray primer base, and Tamiya white. What do you suggest?

Edited February 20, 2018 by arbit

[edstuff]

Working on a custom king shark

[electric indigo]

1 hour ago, arbit said:

 

I'm practicing pre-shading for my Valk. This is a gray primer base, and Tamiya white. What do you suggest?

I primed the whole parts with a dark base color and highlighted the individuals surfaces, but for starters it might be easier to spray thin lines of black or dark grey just along the panel lines (this doesn't need to be very exact) and then cover the whole part with the final color, letting the shaded lines shine through.

[MechTech]

That is a nice shade of green Electric Indigo! The shading looks great.

Edstuff, I was thinking of Sharknado when I saw your post. Hulk survived everything but the Sharnado! Seriously though, good combination.

Arbit, I don't have their name, but you can email sales@houseworksltd.com or http://www.houseworksltd.com/ for part #1122. Their phone is 770-448-6596, hopefully their info is still good. They may only do wholesale through a local dealer. They are micro hinges for doll houses. They are only 8mm wide. If you can find a place that sells doll house goods, you want to look them up. They have micro insulated wire and all sorts of good stuff like micro LEDs and stuff too.

And to answer your other question, this is the Tequila Gunner from Dougram. My son and I have been watching the show. It was the second biggest show after Gundam in the early 80's. Getting their with the build portion, nearly done. I got "lazy" on this one and used pre-wired lights similar to what you see in craft stores made of the wires with SM LEDs in a string. Folded, they fit right into the headlights looking like bulbs. I ended up resoldering them anyhow, so not much effort saved anyhow. Time for marking and decals... - MT

[arbit]

1 hour ago, MechTech said:

And to answer your other question, this is the Tequila Gunner from Dougram.

Ahhh, Dougram. Makes sense now. I thought it was some Robotech alternate universe thing.

I have these 1-3mm Aber hinges for the canopy (theoretically). They are so small they are impossible to glue without mussing up the hinge.

[edstuff]

14 hours ago, MechTech said:

Edstuff, I was thinking of Sharknado when I saw your post. Hulk survived everything but the Sharnado! Seriously though, good combination.

ha ha ha ha

I get that a lot actually. I decided to make one hand a fist and only one open hand. That is because it will be used for another project.

Your work looks amazing btw. All you guys's work looks amazing. Been so long since I built a model kit I'm sure I'd struggle and get frustrated. Then toss it in a closet and forget about it.

[electric indigo]

I love this beast

[Hiryu]

On 2/19/2018 at 11:22 AM, 505thAirborne said:

For sure! I was looking up some Tamiya colors last night and found shades of grey and a dark blue-grey that should work wonders for this kit! 

Right now the 31A is semi-assembled & being held together by tape & gravity. LOL  The most insane thing to assemble was the pilot, otherwise your quality Hasegawa kit. 

Absolutely gorgeous. Just got mine in the mail as well. Who says you need forward swept wings to be more "heroic"? Kairos is definitely my favorite Delta design. I'll probably turn mine into a red Miriya-ish variant.

[arbit]

On 2/20/2018 at 9:53 PM, arbit said:

I'm practicing pre-shading for my Valk. This is a gray primer base, and Tamiya white. What do you suggest?

 

On 2/20/2018 at 11:33 PM, electric indigo said:

for starters it might be easier to spray thin lines of black or dark grey just along the panel lines (this doesn't need to be very exact) and then cover the whole part with the final color, letting the shaded lines shine through.

Hi Electric Indigo, I found that its very hard to build up the white paint on the practice spoon, on top of the primer and black.

Do I add the white with many light coats in one session, or over multiple sessions and let it dry between?

[electric indigo]

For a flat finish, you can build up several passes in one session. I mostly aim for a semi-gloss finish, since it produces nice highlights to emphasize the features of a design like an airplane, but also on Gundams. Here I put on pretty wet coatings, and let the paint dry in between. With white, it's mostly 3 or 4 sessions.

[505thAirborne]

On 2/22/2018 at 11:30 AM, Hiryu said:

Absolutely gorgeous. Just got mine in the mail as well. Who says you need forward swept wings to be more "heroic"? Kairos is definitely my favorite Delta design. I'll probably turn mine into a red Miriya-ish variant.

Agreed!

While I like the swept-back wing of the 31, the wing design of the VF-31A is just spot on and is officially part of my Top Five  Valkyrie list! 

If you do a Miria type paint scheme with yours, I'll definitely be looking forward to that! 

[derex3592]

Well... time to get back to it, pull out the resin making tools,  put the big boy pants back on and have a go at  building the Captains 1:72 Cat's Eye. Anyone here whose built one know which parts I'm supposed to bake in the oven??? Instructions don't specify. I picked up these odd little French high altitude pilots a while back, and I thought they looked kinda Macrossy... 

Edited February 26, 2018 by derex3592

[arbit]

Awesome idea Derex. Looking forward to your detailed WIP as you go. 

[MechTech]

That is going to be a Cool build Derex - Yeah Baby! I should insert some sort of cooking  / baking pun in here, but I can't serve one up!

OK, something new for most of us including me. I hate how paint comes off of metal parts easier than plastic after painting. I researched what gunsmiths do to create a durable finish and came up with Birchwood and Casey "Aluminum Black." It actually is an acid that etches and discolors the aluminum (they have it for brass too). It is only a minor etchant so you don't lose any detail. The fluid is clear blue - it is NOT a paint (see puddles in tray photo).

So I wouldn't contaminate the bottle contents and save fluid, I used a dropper to soak cotton swabs and "paint" it on over the tray. For best results, THOROUGHLY clean your parts of all gunk and oxidation, then either soak your parts or QUICKLY coat them uniformly. Casually painting it on a little at a time starts to wash off old reacted areas. Its double trouble - poison and corrosive so wear proper protection and ventilate. Rinse the parts off in water when the acid is done reacting and let it air dry. When its wet it can still scrape off fairly easily. It took a little practice, but I love the finish. The finish is absolutely MATT BLACK! The good news is it can be buffed to add a sheen to it if needed after it dries.

I spent all of Saturday soaking the decals for 30min each (they are 34 years old) so decaling went slowly even after letting them soak in advance. Kylwell was right about the decals being tough. Mr. Mark Softer under the decal and then generously over it after swabbing it down made them stick like glue without bubbles underneath. Then I cemented the sandbags together. The results are below. No paint and no clear coats on yet, hopefully that's this week. - MT

[arbit]

5 minutes ago, MechTech said:

I researched what gunsmiths do to create a durable finish and came up with Birchwood and Casey "Aluminum Black."

Good idea for photo etch parts. But can you paint over it another metallic color, for example?

[arbit]

Let me introduce my new best friend: the enameled wire stripper.  As you guys know who work with this stuff, enameled magnet wire needs to be stripped. It can become really tedious when you have 40 or 50 wires in a project that you have to file down from both ends for soldering.  I actually have several projects I never finished because I hate this step so much.  But this stripper is fantastic. It is a bit pricey, but I can confirm that with a bit of practice, you can have dozens of wires prepped in a matter of seconds. Works for 0.3mm wires and above.

[Kylwell]

2 hours ago, arbit said:

Let me introduce my new best friend: the enameled wire stripper.  As you guys know who work with this stuff, enameled magnet wire needs to be stripped. It can become really tedious when you have 40 or 50 wires in a project that you have to file down from both ends for soldering.  I actually have several projects I never finished because I hate this step so much.  But this stripper is fantastic. It is a bit pricey, but I can confirm that with a bit of practice, you can have dozens of wires prepped in a matter of seconds. Works for 0.3mm wires and above.

So like this one? https://www.ebay.com/i/331610469604?chn=ps

 

[arbit]

15 minutes ago, Kylwell said:

So like this one? https://www.ebay.com/i/331610469604?chn=ps

Yes, but be sure you get the correct voltage. I don't know if they are dual voltage or not.

[MechTech]

Yeah, you can paint over it no problem. Its not paint, so no matter what you do, the finish won't come of using paint chemicals. I cleaned it with lacquer thinner afterward!

That is a cool tool! It takes forever with an Xacto knife scraping it. Some of the other wires just melt away with the heat of the solder like my current light job. That was nice! - MT

[big F]

Looks like a great tool, did you read the instructions posted on some of the ebay auctions, they look like they got put through google translate twice.

[electric indigo]

Hamma time!

[arbit]

On 2/24/2018 at 9:23 PM, electric indigo said:

For a flat finish, you can build up several passes in one session. I mostly aim for a semi-gloss finish, since it produces nice highlights to emphasize the features of a design like an airplane, but also on Gundams. Here I put on pretty wet coatings, and let the paint dry in between. With white, it's mostly 3 or 4 sessions.

Thanks Electric Indigo. That really helped me to differentiate the two styles. I think I've been doing a mix of the two and screwing things up

I went with a flat finish, because I am not good at the wet coats. This is as far as I will go, so I don't lose my panel lines.

Edited March 1, 2018 by arbit

[Hiryu]

Anyone else attempt the hasegawa vf31-j/c kits? Between matching the blue paint, the masking hell and rage inducing decals around the cockpit area, this is probably the most challenging kit I've tried. That said, my range of experience isn't too broad. Mostly Hase valks. I am enjoying it though and learning a lot from the experience.

Oh, and thank you Tamiya for the curved surface masking tape.

Edited March 1, 2018 by Hiryu

[derex3592]

@Arbit - those wings look great! 

@Hiryu -- looking great so far!  I desperately need some of that Tamiya curved surface tape!  Can you post a pic of it?! 

[Hiryu]

35 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

@Arbit - those wings look great! 

@Hiryu -- looking great so far!  I desperately need some of that Tamiya curved surface tape!  Can you post a pic of it?! 

Sure. Here are some pics I found on the web. It has a stretchy, plasticy feel to it. It will allow you to make some pretty tight curves depending on which size tape you use. The adhesion is really good. The paint lines look really sharp after removing the tape. No issues with seepage.

 

Edited March 1, 2018 by Hiryu

[arbit]

39 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

@Arbit - those wings look great! 

@Hiryu -- looking great so far!  I desperately need some of that Tamiya curved surface tape!  Can you post a pic of it?! 

Do What do you guys think, should I go more white the white, or just gloss coat it as is?