Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[Urashiman]

Workbench time!

the kid and I are building the plamax VF-1J today.

it‘ll be a GUNPLA style build. Little color, heavy panel lining maximum fun

 

[Big s]

4 hours ago, Urashiman said:

Workbench time!

the kid and I are building the plamax VF-1J today.

it‘ll be a GUNPLA style build. Little color, heavy panel lining maximum fun

 

I think you’re really only gonna need a touch of gray for the head lasers and maybe some clear colors on the clear parts and a little black in some recessed areas. Don’t forget the glue on the loose bits like the circles, those things love to just plop off. Other than being a little old school it’s mostly a fun build with very few seams that show. Oddly it has seams on the thumbs and Gunpod that are the most noticeable 

[MechTech]

Cool! It looks like they over-did the parts number, but the detail looks great! - MT

[Urashiman]

@Big s yeah! Just look at the pics below. I think the kit is satisfying to build. Stuff just fits, sometimes a bit loose but nothing that would make one angry.

@MechTech oh you have no idea… so many parts… I‘m not done yet. Option parts as well. Panels, hands …

 

picture time!

First time for me to use PLAMAX decals. They get loosened really quickly, even in cold water. And with a little mark setter they wrap around any shape.

the red dome is done by a decal wrapped around the dome.

the other leg and the gun pod will be taken care off tomorrow. Really a nice kit so far.

[Big s]

27 minutes ago, Urashiman said:

@Big s yeah! Just look at the pics below. I think the kit is satisfying to build. Stuff just fits, sometimes a bit loose but nothing that would make one angry.

@MechTech oh you have no idea… so many parts… I‘m not done yet. Option parts as well. Panels, hands …

 

picture time!

First time for me to use PLAMAX decals. They get loosened really quickly, even in cold water. And with a little mark setter they wrap around any shape.

the red dome is done by a decal wrapped around the dome.

the other leg and the gun pod will be taken care off tomorrow. Really a nice kit so far.

Definitely a nice kit for Macross fans

[Chas]

1 hour ago, Urashiman said:

@Big s yeah! Just look at the pics below. I think the kit is satisfying to build. Stuff just fits, sometimes a bit loose but nothing that would make one angry.

@MechTech oh you have no idea… so many parts… I‘m not done yet. Option parts as well. Panels, hands …

 

picture time!

First time for me to use PLAMAX decals. They get loosened really quickly, even in cold water. And with a little mark setter they wrap around any shape.

the red dome is done by a decal wrapped around the dome.

the other leg and the gun pod will be taken care off tomorrow. Really a nice kit so far.

Is that blue light/lens on the leg a decal? A sticker? or paint?

Edited May 25 by Chas

[Urashiman]

7 hours ago, Chas said:

Is that blue light/lens on the leg a decal? A sticker? or paint?

It‘s a clear part. There is a decal for the blue on the decal sheet, but I painted it with revell clear blue.

 

edit:

and done

Edited May 25 by Urashiman

[pengbuzz]

UPDATE:

A couple of pics for now (heading off to bed after some pain-induced insomnia) of Street Hawk in progress:

 

Ended up using a 1/12 Maisto Honda CRF450R as the basis for this build (closest I could find in this scale)-

Unfortunately, the forks broke on me, so I cobbled together a replacement set using an old radio antenna:

Converting the wheels from "wire" to "mag" was also a royal pain:

 

Stay tuned, more to come....

 

Edited May 25 by pengbuzz

[Big s]

1 hour ago, pengbuzz said:

UPDATE:

A couple of pics for now (heading off to bed after some pain-induced insomnia) of Street Hawk in progress:

 

Ended up using a 1/12 Maisto Honda CRF450R as the basis for this build (closest I could find in this scale)-

Unfortunately, the forks broke on me, so I cobbled together a replacement set using an old radio antenna:

Converting the wheels from "wire" to "mag" was also a royal pain:

 

Stay tuned, more to come....

 

Neat project there. Can’t wait to see this one

[nightmareB4macross]

You guys are killing out here with all these amazing builds.

The PlaMax VF-1J Battroid kit looks really good.

Here’s the progress thus far on my old school retake 1/55.  

Edited May 25 by nightmareB4macross

[nightmareB4macross]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Looking really nice so far!! One word of caution on those ailerons though: I tried doing my own years ago, and they kept interfering with one another when I tried folding them! O.o Keep that in mind; you may need a sliding joint kind of like the ones the Yammies/ Arcadias have for theirs.

------------------------

On another note: does anyone have a spare wheel from a 1/72 Tamiya air crew truck? It looks like this:

The one on the other side is missing, and nothing I have will fit. It's also too small for me to try to make on my own!

Wish I had the wheel for you. Why not just scratch build it?

Thanks for heads up on the mechanisms for the vertical stabilizers. I was just wrapping that up today. Installing the hinges tomorrow.

[pengbuzz]

3 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Wish I had the wheel for you. Why not just scratch build it?

Thanks for heads up on the mechanisms for the vertical stabilizers. I was just wrapping that up today. Installing the hinges tomorrow.

No problem!

And the reason I don't scratch build it: my hands don't work so well anymore. It's too small for me to make now.

My apologies; I didn't mean to derail your build here, NB4M! Really looking forward to where you take this one!!:)

Edited May 26 by pengbuzz

[Thom]

Fine looking Battroid @Urashiman Looks like a really good kit.

@pengbuzz that Street Hawk cycle is looking great! As to the wheel, is there any way to make a resin copy of one of the other wheels? Or, if not that, buying another toy with similar wheels and just taking all you need from that one.

And cool work on they Valkyrie @nightmareB4macross

As for me, I can't seam to keep my model from morphing into different kits. Last I looked it was an Me-410, and now its a Crusader. It's not even the same scale!!

[pengbuzz]

16 hours ago, Thom said:

@pengbuzz that Street Hawk cycle is looking great! As to the wheel, is there any way to make a resin copy of one of the other wheels? Or, if not that, buying another toy with similar wheels and just taking all you need from that one.

No, I have no casting materials. I still have more work to do on the wheels; this is just "first colors" to see how it would look. I'd rather not bu anything else when the work I'm doing is just incomplete.

[SteveTheFish]

My friend from America came to visit Japan for a couple of weeks, and we spent a weekend together at the start of Golden Week. We scoured the various Book Off, Hard Off, Hobby Off, Surugaya, and Mandai Shoten locations in Gunma and Tochigi Prefectures. I bought a Y-Wing sofubi kit by Argo Nauts at a Book Off Plus in Maebashi. It is mostly vinyl, but also has brass, pewter, and resin parts. Here is a quick dry fit of what it looks like so far. I didn't tape the pieces together or anything, but just quickly assembled it for this picture. I have not yet begun to bend copper wires to put on the ship for its piping. The kit does not come with any decals, so I gave it my own, unique paint scheme. The main body is vinyl, the tail ends of the nacelles are resin, the nacelle beams are brass, and the guns and landing gears are pewter (I think).

I painted the vinyl parts with V-Color paints, which are made specifically for painting sofubi kits and toys. I first mixed Light Gray in with Black to make my own German Gray color which I used as an undercoat. I splotched Mr. Masking Neo in areas with a sponge for paint chipping, then went over it with Light Gray. I used Blue and Pastel Blue for the trim, and Orange Yellow to have one panel be a replacement. For the non-sofubi parts, I used Mr. Color 325 (JASDF Gray, IIRC) which is a good match for the V-Color Light Gray. Since it is a sofubi kit, I will have to use an acrylic wash rather than enamel because enamel paints and thinners react badly to vinyl.

This reminds me... I have a Macross Valkyrie sofubi kit by Kaiyodo I bought a few years ago. I'd first need to cast one of the arms though, since that part is missing. Fortunately, the seller on YAJ gave me a partial refund after I realized it was missing the piece and both arms are identical to each other anyway.

EDIT: I just realized that I had hastily attached the nacelles upside-down. I just threw this quickly together to take a photo before I left for work this morning.

Edited May 29 by SteveTheFish
caught a mistake

[Urashiman]

Got this from Aliexpress. I was purchasing some rechargeables and they advertised „no shipping fees“ if I purchased something else for at least 2€.

 

was a quick Build. faster than I thought .

fully poseable

[Big s]

3 hours ago, Urashiman said:

Got this from Aliexpress. I was purchasing some rechargeables and they advertised „no shipping fees“ if I purchased something else for at least 2€.

 

was a quick Build. faster than I thought .

fully poseable

Looks like these would make for great customization. Add more armor for a more mecha kinda look or maybe soft goods and some putty to give it more of a character kinda look. Lots of fun ideas could be possible 

[SteveTheFish]

Last night I finally finished my Asuka resin kit from E2046. It did not come with eye decals, so I hand-painted them.

Oops, I didn't notice that tiny hair speck on her arm. I just wiped it off.

[Thom]

Wow, @SteveTheFish nicely done! Those eyes are great!

[Big s]

3 hours ago, SteveTheFish said:

Last night I finally finished my Asuka resin kit from E2046. It did not come with eye decals, so I hand-painted them.

Oops, I didn't notice that tiny hair speck on her arm. I just wiped it off.

Nice work especially with those eyes 

[SteveTheFish]

14 hours ago, Big s said:

Nice work especially with those eyes 

Thanks! I can't do justice to Sadamoto's signature eye style, but it's passable. I see some people who can pull off gradations and I could do that just a bit, but I cannot do the seamless blending that some can. The thing about doing figure garage kits is that it doesn't matter how well you did painting a figure if you screw the eyes up. If the eyes look like crap, the whole figure is gonna look bad. There is one guy who does a lot of Macross builds online and he did a Rei figure that just looked awful. I won't mention names, but he attempted to do something with her eyes that really should not have been bothered with because the shape of the figure did not match what he had in mind. The figure ended up looking disturbingly alien or something. 

[nightmareB4macross]

 

Got a little more done. Extending flaps and each move independently.

Really enjoy the look of the new vertical stabilizers.

[Chronocidal]

Those are some incredibly fine looking hinges on those flaps, bravo!  Can't wait to see where this project goes.

[nightmareB4macross]

4 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Those are some incredibly fine looking hinges on those flaps, bravo!  Can't wait to see where this project goes.

Thank you.

And they work great.

[Thom]

Agree in the hinges. Take another Bravo!

[MechTech]

@Urashiman That Valk looks COOL! Nice 80's throwback - without the SEAMS! I'm surprised they went "cartoon" style with that sculpt instead of lineart accurate. COOL all the same! Cool little figure too!

@pengbuzz Your Street Hawk looks awesome! Only YOU could take a toy and make it look COOL like dat! Did you mean a Hasegawa air crew truck? Do you still need it?

@nightmareB4macross Your Chunky Monkey mods are brilliant on that ole' ABS baby! They make it look MUCH better. You'll have the ultimate version when you're done!

@SteveTheFish "Hey, hey, my face is up here!" 😄 Beautiful eyes on Asuka! Looks like a decal, but its' not!

Sorry guys, been busy with real life stuff, but still working on a couple fo aircraft designs for the ship. I'll post when I get something worth posting. - MT

[pengbuzz]

3 hours ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz Your Street Hawk looks awesome! Only YOU could take a toy and make it look COOL like dat! Did you mean a Hasegawa air crew truck? Do you still need it?

Thanks MT!! Only issue is: the figure is LESS than 6 inches (JUST figured that out)! So, I need to make a replacement rider for it. Not too much of a pain, just a nuisance.

And the air crew truck was a Tamiya, but if it's 1/72, the wheels should be pretty well interchangeable. And I still do need it.

[nightmareB4macross]

6 hours ago, MechTech said:

 

@nightmareB4macross Your Chunky Monkey mods are brilliant on that ole' ABS baby! They make it look MUCH better. You'll have the ultimate version when you're done!

I’m trying the best I can to bring in a lot of new ideas but trying to remain respectful of the original design.

My goal is to be able to see it at a glance and people say “hey, that’s the Valkyrie I used to have as a kid!” But when they look at closer it is but at the same time it isn’t. Just my humble take on an update.

Much love for this old 1/55.

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz That sucks about your figure. Can't tell you how many times I redid something to make it more accurate. It will be worth it to you in the long run. I'll take a look for one!

@nightmareB4macross I think you're doing a GREAT job at keeping it accurate, but adding the bells and whistles we WISH we had on ours in our youth. I bought mine in my late teens. When I said it was for my "nephew", the lady behind the counter was like, "Sure it is!" She knew I was lying trying to not look like a geek - which now its cool to be😁 At least I looked cool with my spikey, jelled hair. Now I need more hair🤣 - MT

[pengbuzz]

54 minutes ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz That sucks about your figure. Can't tell you how many times I redid something to make it more accurate. It will be worth it to you in the long run. I'll take a look for one!

@nightmareB4macross I think you're doing a GREAT job at keeping it accurate, but adding the bells and whistles we WISH we had on ours in our youth. I bought mine in my late teens. When I said it was for my "nephew", the lady behind the counter was like, "Sure it is!" She knew I was lying trying to not look like a geek - which now its cool to be😁 At least I looked cool with my spikey, jelled hair. Now I need more hair🤣 - MT

Thnaks MT!! Truly appreciate the help with the truck and figure!

As for the hair: join the club!! O.o

[Thom]

23 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

I’m trying the best I can to bring in a lot of new ideas but trying to remain respectful of the original design.

My goal is to be able to see it at a glance and people say “hey, that’s the Valkyrie I used to have as a kid!” But when they look at closer it is but at the same time it isn’t. Just my humble take on an update.

Much love for this old 1/55.

Nice homage! Definitely keeps its lineage, but with bells and whistles!

[arbit]

My own CM's Guld!

Some projects are grail items, some projects are for a challenge, and some are just things you never imagined possible.

But isn't that what a hobby is for?

I've been too busy to hobby very much, but I wanted to print this guy.  I had a couple of frustrating print failures, but as usual, it was my lack of experience. I haven't printed a figure this big, and all it needed was stronger supports.

 

Edited June 9 by arbit

[pengbuzz]

UPDATE:

Well, after discovering that the Jesse Mach (rider for Street Hawk) figure was off scale by a considerable amount, I had to find another one. Thankfully, I found a really cheap Star Wars figure that fit the bill:

With that set, I began modifications...

Ladies and gentlemen...Conan O'Brien!!!:

I shaved down and reworked both the body suit and the head:

I also took the liberty of redoing the helmet:

Near-final results and original actor's (Rex Smith, circa 1985) image:

And where the project stands as of right now:

And the original intro for the show:

 

Stay tunes...

[Big s]

1 hour ago, pengbuzz said:

UPDATE:

Well, after discovering that the Jesse Mach (rider for Street Hawk) figure was off scale by a considerable amount, I had to find another one. Thankfully, I found a really cheap Star Wars figure that fit the bill:

With that set, I began modifications...

Ladies and gentlemen...Conan O'Brien!!!:

I shaved down and reworked both the body suit and the head:

I also took the liberty of redoing the helmet:

Near-final results and original actor's (Rex Smith, circa 1985) image:

And where the project stands as of right now:

And the original intro for the show:

 

Stay tunes...

Good job on that face, he does look a lot more like the actor for Steet Hawk now

[Thom]

@pengbuzz So that's what happened to Conan!?

Some very good mods to that figure, Peng