Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[nightmareB4macross]

Yay!!!

Swing plates.

Matched up the connections from the hips to the FLIRs. 

I know this build is 40 years late, but there is just so much enjoyment to be had when customizing the 1/55.

 

 

[pengbuzz]

9 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Yay!!!

Swing plates.

Matched up the connections from the hips to the FLIRs. 

I know this build is 40 years late, but there is just so much enjoyment to be had when customizing the 1/55.

 

 

A build like this is never late, my friend!

On that note, let me introduce you to a material that has been invaluable to me in my kitbashing and customizing efforts:

https://www.amazon.com/Devcon-22045-Plastic-Welder-Dev-Tube/dp/B003NUGL9S?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1VXXWE5IFXYV3

Unlike the plastic weld solvent adhesive you're using, this is a two-part adhesive that sets in 4 minutes, cures in 15 and reaches full strength in 24 hours. It holds 3500 pounds, can bond metal, plastic and just about anything else, and is strong enough and durable enough to make parts from (I have done this with countless projects). It can be sanded, shaped, filed, ground down, drilled, tapped, primed and painted with no issues and can fill in imperfections and repair cracks/ broken/ shattered parts.

I can personally vouch for this material and have used it on the following projects:

     

 

And these are just the highlights!

If you get a chance, try it out for your project: I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Edited January 20 by pengbuzz

[nightmareB4macross]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

A build like this is never late, my friend!

On that note, let me introduce you to a material that has been invaluable to me in my kitbashing and customizing efforts:

https://www.amazon.com/Devcon-22045-Plastic-Welder-Dev-Tube/dp/B003NUGL9S?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1VXXWE5IFXYV3

Unlike the plastic weld solvent adhesive you're using, this is a two-part adhesive that sets in 4 minutes, cures in 15 and reaches full strength in 24 hours. It holds 3500 pounds, can bond metal, plastic and just about anything else, and is strong enough and durable enough to make parts from (I have done this with countless projects). It can be sanded, shaped, filed, ground down, drilled, tapped, primed and painted with no issues and can fill in imperfections and repair cracks/ broken/ shattered parts.

I can personally vouch for this material and have used it on the following projects:

     

 

And these are just the highlights!

If you get a chance, try it out for your project: I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Thanks for the recommendation. It is a strong binder and can be used to recreate parts, but I usually reserve it for items that require more tensile strength. Plastic Weld and styrene ahas been doing the trick for years. Dries quick and strong, of course not like epoxy, but enough to get the job done and last for years. I have several projects that still hold up very well.

Love your work.

[pengbuzz]

8 minutes ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Thanks for the recommendation. It is a strong binder and can be used to recreate parts, but I usually reserve it for items that require more tensile strength. Plastic Weld and styrene ahas been doing the trick for years. Dries quick and strong, of course not like epoxy, but enough to get the job done and last for years. I have several projects that still hold up very well.

Love your work.

Thanks; I didn't realize you already had experience with the stuff!

[pengbuzz]

Okay...had to do some rework on the helmeted head, and the helmet popped off. While I was warming the glue gun up to conduct repairs, I thought it might be nice to take some rare (in this case) comparison pics:

Apparently, I did a better job on Peter's face than I first thought!

[Thom]

56 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Okay...had to do some rework on the helmeted head, and the helmet popped off. While I was warming the glue gun up to conduct repairs, I thought it might be nice to take some rare (in this case) comparison pics:

Apparently, I did a better job on Peter's face than I first thought!

It's usually the case where we end up being our own worse critics. 

[derex3592]

This mornings exercise was my 1st ever attempt to “scrape“ or remove the center seam line on an aircraft canopy. Thanks to Bob at Genesis Models YouTube channel for giving a great tutorial on how to do it and giving me confidence to take a #11 scalpel blade 🔪 to the clear plastic. Not for the faint of heart! Turned out good though. I've started paying for Eduard masks for these 1/72 kits as I love how easy it makes things masking the cockpit! F-18F is getting close to having some primer go down! 😁 

[Chas]

Nice job on that canopy! No hint of the seam line to be seen. Those masks look like they will do an A1 job.

Started the next build this weekend and it's not from a 40 or 50 year old animal series 😱😜.

Gonna do a dio with this one flying through an an asteroid field.

Basic build is done (OOB). And I decided to use some Tamiya white rattlecan primer I had lying around. It went on a little thicker in places than I'm use to with the Mr. Surfacer And my airbrush, but that was mostly on the bottom, which won't be too visible in the set-up I have planned - so not too worried 'bout it.

Now the question is what colour to use for the preshade? I would usually go with something dark like Panzer Grey, but was thinking maybe a brown might be good to warm up the tone a little.

Never done a Millennium Falcon before, so what do you folks think?

I've already mixed up my own base colour for her. It's about 6-7ml of white with 4-5 drops each of light grey and wooden deck tan (all tamiya).

Also wondering if it might be an idea to skip the presiding at this scale (1:144) as it may spoil the scale effect .

[Big s]

5 hours ago, Chas said:

Nice job on that canopy! No hint of the seam line to be seen. Those masks look like they will do an A1 job.

Started the next build this weekend and it's not from a 40 or 50 year old animal series 😱😜.

Gonna do a dio with this one flying through an an asteroid field.

Basic build is done (OOB). And I decided to use some Tamiya white rattlecan primer I had lying around. It went on a little thicker in places than I'm use to with the Mr. Surfacer And my airbrush, but that was mostly on the bottom, which won't be too visible in the set-up I have planned - so not too worried 'bout it.

Now the question is what colour to use for the preshade? I would usually go with something dark like Panzer Grey, but was thinking maybe a brown might be good to warm up the tone a little.

Never done a Millennium Falcon before, so what do you folks think?

I've already mixed up my own base colour for her. It's about 6-7ml of white with 4-5 drops each of light grey and wooden deck tan (all tamiya).

Also wondering if it might be an idea to skip the presiding at this scale (1:144) as it may spoil the scale effect .

I think the brown would actually look great since it’s gonna be almost white. The black would be a bit dark and kinda gives a more obvious “I preshaded it” kinda look, where the warmer brown could  give it a more subtle yet still noticeable look 

[Chas]

After doing some quick and dirty tests, I wound up going with olive green (RAL 6003) for the curious.

There's just a hint of it on the upper hull. The lower hull is a bit more noticeable however.

[derex3592]

Having built THREE Falcons, well two kits, the FM 1/72, FM 1/144 and heavily modding and painting/weathering the giant plastic toy one that was for all intents and purposes 1/48 scale for a client some years ago, I approve of this paint job so far! I definitely became a Falcon colors expert back then! 

The Brad got some detail painting done today and some itty bitty tools put on while I watched some NFL playoffs!  

Edited January 22 by derex3592

[Chas]

Very smooth paint application. Planing on doing any chipping?

[derex3592]

I'm gonna attempt to do some very light silver chipping on some of the hard edges, but I'm not good at it. Pics I've seen on-line the Brads don't look to heavily weathered other than paint fade from the heat and being in the desert for a number of years. Nothing like WWII armor would be anyways. 

[nightmareB4macross]

10 hours ago, Chas said:

Nice job on that canopy! No hint of the seam line to be seen. Those masks look like they will do an A1 job.

Started the next build this weekend and it's not from a 40 or 50 year old animal series 😱😜.

Gonna do a dio with this one flying through an an asteroid field.

Basic build is done (OOB). And I decided to use some Tamiya white rattlecan primer I had lying around. It went on a little thicker in places than I'm use to with the Mr. Surfacer And my airbrush, but that was mostly on the bottom, which won't be too visible in the set-up I have planned - so not too worried 'bout it.

Now the question is what colour to use for the preshade? I would usually go with something dark like Panzer Grey, but was thinking maybe a brown might be good to warm up the tone a little.

Never done a Millennium Falcon before, so what do you folks think?

I've already mixed up my own base colour for her. It's about 6-7ml of white with 4-5 drops each of light grey and wooden deck tan (all tamiya).

Also wondering if it might be an idea to skip the presiding at this scale (1:144) as it may spoil the scale effect .

WOW. The detail is very prevalent for 1:144. The primer lost no details, or at least from what I can see here.

Can’t wait to see the full asteroid diorama.

[nightmareB4macross]

Pistons are a go! I have a few details to create inside this cavity. 

And yes. They actually work.

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, derex3592 said:

I'm gonna attempt to do some very light silver chipping on some of the hard edges, but I'm not good at it. Pics I've seen on-line the Brads don't look to heavily weathered other than paint fade from the heat and being in the desert for a number of years. Nothing like WWII armor would be anyways. 

You could try a silver colored pencil for that; it's worked for me in the past.

[arbit]

Hi guys,

This is a WIP for your feedback.  

I've been stuck on it for a long time, but started to make progress by working section by section, and not worrying about parts I wasn't happy with.  After a lot of procrastination, I think it's finally headed in the right direction.  

Could you guys give me some feedback on the body proportions (for example head size).  

Please also comment on the facial features (I can elongate or widen any features).

Please go into any detail that might help improve the overall look.

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz WOW! I finally made the papers (hopefully for something good, it's kinda hard to read). Your vignette looks AWWWWESOME! I don't know what you were worried about. The first head TOTALLY looks like Peter Weller! Like "Honey, I Shrunk Peter Weller" and he's wearing robot action figure clothes now! That is definitely worthy of a model show! You even got props from WM Cheng on it who worked the movie!!!👍😎

@nightmareB4macross Your Valk modifications make it look WAAaaaaaay better! It's hard to get that Chunky Monkey look out of that design, but you're making work out great!

@derex3592 That Bradley is looking sharp! It's too bad it needs to be weathered for realism to cover up that clean finish!

@arbit Great sculpt as always! I can't speak to proportions, but the only two things that stood out (because you asked us to look) were the belt buckle, the belt pockets(?) and the chest piece.

1). The belt buckle looks like it's a triangle pointed to the upper left hand side, vs a box as you've shown.

2). I'm not sure how big the print is intended to be, but it looks like the belt pockets, almost look like fanny packs on the side could be softened on the corners.

3). The chest piece has vents on it around the edges on the left side. It looks like you have them cut into the front of the sculpt vs on the beveled edges. The far right hand of the chest piece has an indented circle on it. It looks like you made it spherical and protruding.

I hope that helps. I only found those points because you asked😁 Again, great work as always! - MT

 

 

[pengbuzz]

Sorry I haven't posted much in the way of thanks folks; been a bit busy for me as of late! So, let's take care of that now:

On 1/14/2024 at 2:37 PM, Chas said:

@pengbuzz Murphy looks really good👍. Sweet little dio display too, really sets off the build well and is very evocative of the film. Perfect way to display a character build!

Thanks! It's been a dream for some time to do this one, and it finally came true! The diorama was just the icing on the cake, but it really helped to "sell" the figure!

 

On 1/19/2024 at 9:15 AM, derex3592 said:

@pengbuzz man that's lookin GREAT!!! LOVING all the trash and newspapers and stuff! 

Thanks derex! I wanted to make this a "slice of the movie" and get that gritty "Old Detroit" feel to the scene!

 

On 1/19/2024 at 10:40 AM, Thom said:

He looks phenomenal @pengbuzz! Truly an awesome job, from Murphy himself all the way to the newspapers and posters. 

And now, it looks like I have to build a Star Trek model...😄

Yup!  And you have to name the ship "U.S.S. Murphy"!!

 

On 1/19/2024 at 12:13 PM, Big s said:

Definitely a cool project 

Thanks! It definitely was a blast to work on!

 

On 1/19/2024 at 6:11 PM, nightmareB4macross said:

That is really coming out great. All the additional details you’ve put place helps to bring RoboCop to life. 

Fantastic!

Thank you! It became a game of "what else can I put in there to sell this scene?"

 

On 1/19/2024 at 8:06 PM, wm cheng said:

@pengbuzz the real foil looks amazing!  I love the subtle blue highlights you have in the silver.  It looks great!  I worked on the remake and this version just rocks so much harder!

Thank you sir; that's high praise coming from you!!

 

On 1/21/2024 at 9:27 AM, Thom said:

It's usually the case where we end up being our own worse critics. 

Yeah, and I tend to go a hundred times harder on myself than anything else.

 

3 hours ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz WOW! I finally made the papers (hopefully for something good, it's kinda hard to read). Your vignette looks AWWWWESOME! I don't know what you were worried about. The first head TOTALLY looks like Peter Weller! Like "Honey, I Shrunk Peter Weller" and he's wearing robot action figure clothes now! That is definitely worthy of a model show! You even got props from WM Cheng on it who worked the movie!!!👍

ROFL!! Thanks MT!! I was worried that it wasn't looking like Mr. Weller compared to his photos in and out of makeup. But in comparison to the original face (that I literally made a mold of to cast the unhelmeted version), it looked a lot better. I ended up pressing detail into the cooled hot glue with a burnishing stylus, sandpaper (to simulate skin tone by pressing it into the glue and sand rough spots), and trying to counter-shade the recessed areas as seen onscreen.

All that said: if you folks want to know what the papers said (I accidentally blurred some of the print with water while gluing them down ), it readsas follows:

Front of page:

LOCAL NEWS

OCP INVESTIGATED FOR FRAUD, BRIBERY

OLD DETROIT ARENA CLOSED

REBELS BURN DOWN RESORT OF ACAPULCO

MAJOR STORM TO HIT DETROIT AREA THIS WEEKEND

THOM BUILDS A STAR TREK MODEL

MECHTECH INC. FINALLY FINISHES REPLICA BOAT

Back:

CAR-TASTIC SALES EVENT!!!

(Some crappy sketches of cars, including the 6000 SUX taking up 1/3 of the bottom of the page).

6000 SUX: AN AMERICAN TRADITION

Thanks everyone!!! See you all next build!!

Edited January 22 by pengbuzz

[arbit]

4 hours ago, MechTech said:

I hope that helps. I only found those points because you asked😁 Again, great work as always! - MT

Thanks MT,  yes I think I should make those pouches with softer edges.  The chest computer details vary depending on the line art, so I am fine with those.  The important question to me is: overall does it looks like the character? But it doesn't have to be perfect.

[505thAirborne]

Looking good everyone, so many great projects going on here! 😎👍

@nightmareB4macross the mods on that 1/55 is breathtaking! 

 

As for me, my decals have arrived!! 

 

[derex3592]

@505thAirborne Holy Cow! That's a LOT of decals! Should make that YF-23 beauty a treat to behold! 

Rant Mode ON -- WHY do companies NOT include 1/72 pilots these days?  I mean sure, a "PRO" model maker always makes models with gear down, all hatches open, blah blah freakin blah! Well, guess what?! I wanna do gear up in flight badass looking jets WITH PILOTS! ARRGGH! So frustrating! (Not to mention the no gear up wheel door option, but I can kiiiind of understand that)...maybe..but a freaking tiny little pilot or two? IS that gonna break the bank of these huge companies?! And WHY does NO US COMPANY make anything worth a crap when it comes to model kit pilots?!  Whatever....Rant Mode OFF.

PJ Productions to the rescue once again, just have to wait for them to ship from FREAKIN SINGAPORE...uhhgg...Well this time I bought a crap ton of different pilots so I'm ready for all my upcoming builds for the foreseeable future anyway...Super Hornet ON HOLD until pilots show up and get assembled and painted. Uhhgg. 

 

[arbit]

16 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Rant Mode ON -- WHY do companies NOT include 1/72 pilots these days? 

It's just for money saving.  Mostly they are selling reruns old molds, with as little money expended as possible.  And before 3D modeling, sculpting good pilots was not easy.

And if you talk about character pilot figures from an anime, they would have to license the figure as well as the vehicle. That's why you see these no-name valk girls.

[505thAirborne]

17 hours ago, derex3592 said:

@505thAirborne Holy Cow! That's a LOT of decals! Should make that YF-23 beauty a treat to behold! 

Rant Mode ON -- WHY do companies NOT include 1/72 pilots these days?  I mean sure, a "PRO" model maker always makes models with gear down, all hatches open, blah blah freakin blah! Well, guess what?! I wanna do gear up in flight badass looking jets WITH PILOTS! ARRGGH! So frustrating! (Not to mention the no gear up wheel door option, but I can kiiiind of understand that)...maybe..but a freaking tiny little pilot or two? IS that gonna break the bank of these huge companies?! And WHY does NO US COMPANY make anything worth a crap when it comes to model kit pilots?!  Whatever....Rant Mode OFF.

PJ Productions to the rescue once again, just have to wait for them to ship from FREAKIN SINGAPORE...uhhgg...Well this time I bought a crap ton of different pilots so I'm ready for all my upcoming builds for the foreseeable future anyway...Super Hornet ON HOLD until pilots show up and get assembled and painted. Uhhgg. 

 

Thanks @derex3592 down the road if I ever make another YF-23 or anything 1/48 I truly have a ton of options.  The company that makes these decals, I highly recommend them, they are really good quality, they go on smooth, no cracking or tearing & were worth the price tag. 

As for pilots and keeping a fighter with the gear up or down, yeah, it's a bit frustrating. With this YF-23 kit the rear landing gear doors fit flush while the front gear doors do no not (You'd have to do surgery for it to work), best example ever for me with having both options were the Moebius Galactica Vipers... we need more kits like that, not to mention the detailed resin pilots. 

 

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz "MECHTECH INC. FINALLY FINISHES REPLICA BOAT" - THAT - WOULD be a headline!!!🤣 Gott finish my ship! The water on the papers actually adds realism besides making them less hand-made. REAL newspapers outdoors would be subject to rain - or whatever falls from the sky in that dump of a city😁

@arbit The only thing that doesn't make Isamu look like himself is the hair hanging down in his face. Other than that, I think he looks GREAT!!!

@505thAirborne Don't know if you did it yet, but if you gloss coat that model, the decals will melt into it like butter!

@derex3592 And you can longer whip a pilot out of the Hasegawa ground set. The helmets and uniforms are VERY different now! SORRY! I agree with you though. - MT

[Big s]

19 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Rant Mode ON -- WHY do companies NOT include 1/72 pilots these days?  I mean sure, a "PRO" model maker always makes models with gear down, all hatches open, blah blah freakin blah! Well, guess what?! I wanna do gear up in flight badass looking jets WITH PILOTS! ARRGGH! So frustrating! (Not to mention the no gear up wheel door option, but I can kiiiind of understand that)...maybe..but a freaking tiny little pilot or two? IS that gonna break the bank of these huge companies?! And WHY does NO US COMPANY make anything worth a crap when it comes to model kit pilots?!  Whatever....Rant Mode OFF.

Jets look great on the ground with all the stuff open and details exposed, but the dioramas and set ups that I get excited for are the in flight ones. I love seeing the pilots through the canopy. Car modelers love to show off the hood up with all the engine detail, but maybe I’m just a simple person because my attention always goes to that one dude that didn’t care about adding extra details to the engine that weren’t in the kit, but to that guy that somehow found a figure of a driver and made it appear as though the car was speeding down the road. Give me a little action over extreme details and I’m happy.

My usual rant is that companies sometimes decide not to include a simple set of waterslide decals or a good set of hands with sci fi kits. Bandai is often guilty of these crimes and will put out a kit that doesn’t have the basic emblem as a waterslide decal and often just throws in the J.O. hands. 

[505thAirborne]

@MechTech Matte finish my friend, Matte finish. 

[Thom]

@505thAirborne Those decals dress it right up.

[505thAirborne]

13 minutes ago, Thom said:

@505thAirborne Those decals dress it right up.

Thanks @Thom, yeah those decals do wonders for this fighter. I kind of went the Bandai DX route and added a few extra decals like all of the NO STEP, refueling and other little markings for that added effect, otherwise this YF-23 is from the days of the ATF competition, the Black widow Hourglass is underneath as well. 

[Big s]

2 hours ago, 505thAirborne said:

@MechTech Matte finish my friend, Matte finish. 

Nice work on the paint and markings 

[derex3592]

@505thAirborne Dude! That looks great!  Love the subtle panel lines, what wash did you use?

[electric indigo]

A bit of progress on the Intruder. Decals are from Caracal Models.

@wm cheng this is 1/48 scale - you are the one who makes their 1/72 kits look like 1/48 😄

[wm cheng]

2 minutes ago, electric indigo said:

A bit of progress on the Intruder. Decals are from Caracal Models.

@wm cheng this is 1/48 scale - you are the one who makes their 1/72 kits look like 1/48 😄

LOL!  Man that looks amazing and I love high-viz schemes especially orange!!!

[Rock]

Basic colors on the go fast bits. Stainless steel, pale burnt metal, hot carbon and burnt iron followed by a brown and black dirty wash. Easy on the painting as I want to revisit some other forms of weathering I hadn't really touched in 20+ years when I was fresh around the ears.

 

Hope to get the engines wrapped up by tomorrow so I can focus on the experimental payload it was equipped with and finally clear the workbench!

[pengbuzz]

12 hours ago, Rock said:

Basic colors on the go fast bits. Stainless steel, pale burnt metal, hot carbon and burnt iron followed by a brown and black dirty wash. Easy on the painting as I want to revisit some other forms of weathering I hadn't really touched in 20+ years when I was fresh around the ears.

 

Hope to get the engines wrapped up by tomorrow so I can focus on the experimental payload it was equipped with and finally clear the workbench!

Would these be of any help?

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/174708.aspx

I know you probably don't want to go so extreme as the video, but maybe there's some info in the vid or the first link that may be of use to you? I currently have 3 F-14's that I'm needing to build (to replace the ones lost when my neighbor's tub overflowed and leaked into our computer room); I thought the stuff I found might help you in some way .