Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[derex3592]

9 hours ago, wm cheng said:

What kind of lacquer clear coat gloss that is airbrush-able would everyone recommend?

@wm chengI've had good luck with this as of late...

Amazon.com: Alclad II Lacquers Gloss Klear Kote, 1oz, ALC310 : Arts, Crafts & Sewing

Edited September 20 by derex3592

[Rock]

10 hours ago, wm cheng said:

What kind of lacquer clear coat gloss that is airbrush-able would everyone recommend?

Mr. Color's GX series, Gaia's EX clears, all thinned with Mr. Leveling Clear. GX100 Super Clear III (UV Cut) is probably the best gloss clear I've used outside of a 2k clear. GX113 is their flat coat in that respect. There are a few downsides, I've notice quite large particles (grit) in some jars, not sure if a bad batch or age related. It looks like dust when sprayed out onto a clear part. Secondly, they require a lot of thinning. They take Mr. Leveling Thinner really well but, you will go through a lot. I use a 1(paint) : 1 (laquer thinner) : 1 (Mr. Leveling Thinner) ratio. Lastly there is a big downside being that you only have gloss and flat. All other finishes must be hand mixed between the 2.

 

That is why I rely on Gaia Notes EX clears more often these days or when the project cannot be sprayed in one go. EX-03 (gloss,) EX-04 (Flat,) EX-10 (semi-gloss.) The whole Gaia EX line is fantastic and the colors have blown MR. Color out of the water for a long while*** (in my opinion.) *** If you want a really fun paint look for their new EX-06 Fluorescent clear, it makes almost anything shine under a fluorescent/black light, such a cool product! With LED lighting models being so popular these days it definetly has a niche. 

I do rely on Alclad II Clears (lacquer) for final coats still. Anything more than a mist and I have issue with them (dry spots and yellowing.) I really like their Light Sheen Klear Kote which is about as close to a suede finish, and Semi-Gloss. Love them for my final overcoats on kits. FWIW The MIG Ammo line is just rebottled Alclad. The bottles used to clearly state that but, they since have renamed them.

 

On 9/19/2024 at 5:06 PM, pengbuzz said:

That, or overcoating Molotow Chrome Marker.

On that note: long time no see, Rock!! You have any projects going right now?

Just working on my (probably not going to finish on-time) GBWC entry and trying to become more comfortable with putty sculpting, carving.  Until this project gets to paint, I won't drag out my whole spray setup, which is what the other projects are awaiting anyways. 

[F18LEGIOSS2]

On 9/16/2024 at 5:50 PM, wm cheng said:

Unfortunately its somehow damaged the orange sections underneath the clear coat (the orange areas were Tamiya Acrylic) and gave it a very light crackling crazing.  I think I can sand down carefully the raised folds/cracks but I don't know if I can do anything about the orange sections that have this fine lighter colour cracking that's below the clear coat surface and I can't strip it back without loosing the decals (which I already had a lot of problems with breaking up and definitely do not have enough spares to redo - or want to).  I will see how carefully I can sand down the texture and re-coat, maybe if I can get it smooth again and try to recover and protect, the ink weathering can hide some of the sins?  Don't know if I'll have enough patience for that.

I've printed my homemade decals for my legioss gakken by using inkscape, give it a try !

[Goodman Models]

On 8/31/2024 at 7:28 PM, nonner242 said:

Well you guys are pro here..WTF is this mess. Got a box of stuff with a really good deal on old airbrush and compressorless  air tank and found this in the parts pile😂

It's a hideous mess of I don't know what your thinking..no I will not try and fix it. Pengbuzz!

Interesting, that’s a B-tank for a  torch, usually filled with acetylene dissolved in acetone and absorbed into a porous mass. 

[Goodman Models]

Just about to get this off my bench; just a few more small things to finish. 

[Urashiman]

4 hours ago, Goodman Models said:

Just about to get this off my bench; just a few more small things to finish. 

Oh man ... the boosters - that subtle blueish-green. Nerdgasm

[Big s]

4 hours ago, Goodman Models said:

Just about to get this off my bench; just a few more small things to finish. 

I love that blue fade , looks really great that way

[Cheese3]

Hasegawa rau built, great kit!

[SteveTheFish]

On 9/24/2024 at 12:38 PM, Goodman Models said:

Just about to get this off my bench; just a few more small things to finish. 

Oh that is cool! I assume that is a new HG kit? I built the old, legacy Gundam Sentinel kit and lit it with LEDs. I shelved it for a while, but finally finished it about 3 years ago. I used Oyumaru and UV resin to cast the face in clear. The booster units are hollow inside, making them easy to run LEDs with thick fiber optics inside.

 

[Goodman Models]

7 hours ago, SteveTheFish said:

Oh that is cool! I assume that is a new HG kit? I built the old, legacy Gundam Sentinel kit and lit it with LEDs. I shelved it for a while, but finally finished it about 3 years ago. I used Oyumaru and UV resin to cast the face in clear. The booster units are hollow inside, making them easy to run LEDs with thick fiber optics inside.

 

Nicely done! I really like the lit boosters.

[Goodman Models]

On 9/24/2024 at 3:54 AM, Big s said:

I love that blue fade , looks really great that way

Thanks for the comments all! My build is a major conversion between the ‘88 kit and the HGUC exs gundam. I used the tail boom, boosters, rear thruster pod and wings from the old kit. The head, smart beam gun, torso, waist section, shoulder pods and arms are from the exs kit. 
 

I like to add a lot of small details to my builds: brass/aluminum barrels that I turn myself, sometimes painted sometimes not; Lenses and sensor strips, turned aluminum thrusters, stretched spruce antenna, etc. I added the propellant tanks and inner flap detail with sheet stock. I’ll post more pics of the finished build shortly!

Edited September 26 by Goodman Models
Added content.

[Urashiman]

Almost done with my vintage rubberband kit.

Canopy missing and some stuff on the gear as well as the lacquer stuff to tense up the paper on the nose.

 

PS: wanted to show you guys this thing.

one huge waterslide decal. Man… that‘ll be a hassle.

 

edit: okay, another day. Basically ready to fly now.

Edited September 27 by Urashiman

[Rock]

[Urashiman]

Okay.

It‘s done and it flies.

[Big s]

21 minutes ago, Urashiman said:

Okay.

It‘s done and it flies.

Glad to hear that it works.

[Thom]

2 hours ago, Urashiman said:

Okay.

It‘s done and it flies.

Awesome!!

[MechTech]

@F18LEGIOSS The decals look cool!

@Goodman Models That Gundam Booster Unit brings back some 80's memories! The paint, especially the faded blue and custom colors with the extra details looks awesome!

@Cheese3 Thanks for sharing! That looks like a great kit and pretty big too!

@Urashiman WOW! Now that is OLD SCHOOL!😁 Also, REALLY COOL! I haven't seen a balsa and doped tissue kit in decades (we used to sell them too). - MT

[pengbuzz]

Been busy...

[Thom]

54 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Been busy...

Questions abound!!

[pengbuzz]

38 minutes ago, Thom said:

Questions abound!!

I'll bet!!!

[arbit]

On 9/27/2024 at 2:10 AM, Urashiman said:

Almost done with my vintage rubberband kit.

Canopy missing and some stuff on the gear as well as the lacquer stuff to tense up the paper on the nose.

PS: wanted to show you guys this thing.

one huge waterslide decal. Man… that‘ll be a hassle.

edit: okay, another day. Basically ready to fly now.

With those old balsa kits, you have to build a spitfire, hurricane, Fokker and a Zero too.

[SteveTheFish]

Looks like GoLion's sword, but I wouldn't know if it was the Bandai kit or the new Moderoid kit. Personally, I'm holding out for a Dairugger XV Moderoid. I'd be all over that.

[Goodman Models]

On 9/29/2024 at 6:53 AM, Urashiman said:

Okay.

It‘s done and it flies.

That’s awesome 👏 looks like you’re having fun!!

[pengbuzz]

11 hours ago, SteveTheFish said:

Looks like GoLion's sword, but I wouldn't know if it was the Bandai kit or the new Moderoid kit. Personally, I'm holding out for a Dairugger XV Moderoid. I'd be all over that.

Well, it is GoLion's (Voltron's) sword (Ten Kings' / Blazing Sword), but it's neither kit:

It's Matchbox/ Trendmasters (originally Popy) Deluxe Voltron III:

With 12 inch ruler and can of Pepsi for scale:

The base (with handmade logo based on the font used in the 1984 title screen) and custom Lion Key:

  

Sword in holder on base (based off of holder for sword on Soul of Chogokin Golion GX-71) :

It's nice to have this project back together; the sword was on hold for two years while trying to figure out how to rebuild it. I needed to use foil tape on it, but all the blades kept flexing, wrinkling the foil and ruining the effect. It was only when I went back to the original blade, cut a slot down 3/4 of it in the center groove and added a hardened steel rod/bar that the sword became inflexible and steady enough for the foil:

The hardened rod goes from almost the tip of the blade all the way down to the pommel in the handle! I wanted to make sure this thing was STRONG.

On that note: this is what I started with and where it ended up(original work finished in 2019 up until I needed to redo the blade on the sword):

(Yeah, this one took a lot of work!!! O.o )

Now, all I need to do is finish detailing the hilt, and this one is done!

Thanks for looking folks! Next up: Goodyear!!

Edited October 1 by pengbuzz

[Thom]

@pengbuzz That is some great work on that Volton and sword. Well worth the time it took!

[Urashiman]

@MechTech Been a while since I've build one (last one around 2005ish I think). But yeah ... the dope job went kinda bad. Eze Dope low odor makes those white stains. I later read on the internet that one should thin it with water first and then spray it on. Silly me just brushing away like with classic Graupner dope (the super smelly one). I'll know for next time.

@arbit I actually did somewhen in the 90s. Those planes were lost to gravity.

@Goodman Models yeah, quite the fun there. Good I had a bit of glue with me, as some parts flew off during the fun hahaha.

@pengbuzz Good to see you back in the game  

 

As this was this much fun, my kid urged me to glue together another kit that was sitting dormant in my basement. This thing goes way back...

I think it was originally issues somewhen in the 1980s. It was sitting in my families favourite hobby store for a while as some parts were missing. My brother purchased it for DM 9.99 (around EUR 5.00) in March 1999. I later inherited it by giving him my started BF-109 1/12 dog fight plane (fuselage done, stabilizers done and wings done, just had to be equipted with stuff). Anywere, pictures speak more than words.

It is a lightweight plane made to be equipted with a CO2 engine. Basically an engine that runs on those cream suspender CO2 catridges.

The fuselage is made from styrofoam pressed into shape.

Funfact: The wing ribs are molded from plastic.

The blueprints.

Now something I am really annoyed about. There was supposed to be a German translation to the instructions. Stuff is in Czech language ... I know 5 languages, but none of them are Czech ... anyway. It isn't too much of a hassle, though.

Started with the left wing today. It is a horribly slow build as the wood is warped and has to be but back into shape with water and an iron.

 

I will build it and leave openings for micro RC servos. I have a small 2S brushless engine and an ESC flying around that will fit this thing.

Edited October 1 by Urashiman

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz WOW! Great modifications and COOL work on the stand! It looks great and is a nice touch to the project. I'm sure most people don't have a key either😎.

@Urashiman DUDE! I'm like having 80's flashbacks with that Modela CO2 engine and shaped foam fuselage. I had a one of those engines, but never really used them. They were little gems. A lot of power for weight to power ratio too. That plane will run awesome with a brushless motor too! - MT

[Cheese3]

Base coat! 

[Thom]

@Cheese3 Looking good!

[MechTech]

First off, my apologies for not posting any projects in a while. I've just had less time for modelling lately. Also, my apologies for making up for lost time with a lot of photos! I put the scratch-built aircraft you saw me working on earlier to the side for a while - I got distracted. Long story, but I was going to get one of the 1/48th Dougram "Blockheads" that were marked down at Wise Guys for box damage. But, I waited too long and they sold quick! While looking online, I forgot all about Max Factory's 1/35th "Dougram Version GT, DX Complete Edition." It's been released for awhile now. At first I wasn't interested because it's not canon to the original anime. It is revised (DX) after a newer comic. Also not canon means I can make slight changes without "screwing up" anything. But the DX Complete version has all the original main "Fang of the Sun" characters and everything is a BIG 1/35th scale! I saw it on sale fora GREAT price and got one!

The kit is BEAUTIFUL and BIG! My only gripes so far is that a few pieces had slight fit issues making hiding the seams difficult. Also, for a large 1/35th kit, the cockpit is a bit sparse for details. Finally, several parts were molded with voids in them instead of making them two-pieces or molding them solid. A perfect example is that ALL of the red roll bars are hollow with voids in the underside. They aren't solid or completely round. They're about the same thickness as the sprues too! I'm sure they did that to minimize shrinkage in the plastic while cooling, but it's a bummer when you take a good look at the kit. There a few other parts made the same way.

The great part is that they've done like Bandai and made most seams and sprue gates invisible or hidden. Some sprues are molded undercut to hide stress marks. And the whole thing is molded in the various colors of the design. You can get away without painting it if you just want a cool model for your display case.

***FIRST OFF - QUESTION***: With two main colors, I experimented with two colors of Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color, Light Gray on the Blue and Black on the Light Gray. Does it look overly contrasted, should I go with only one color - black? Or, does it look good as is? It will be pretty weathered. Dougram was ALWAYS getting shot up in the series. In fact, my son and I JUST finished watching it for the first time. You'll also see LOTS of hand-holds all over this thing. I had to drill them out and clean them up with an Xacto knife.

The kit is AWESOME on may levels. One is that the cockpit window and frame are TWO pieces. NO MASKING! The downside, no opening top hatch. So I took a DSPIAE 0.1mm scribe and etched it completely through. Of course it wouldn't fit anymore, so I surrounded the door with sprue and sanded the edges to fit. Next, I made very simple hinges by cutting .015" brass sheet with scissors and folded it around .020" wire. Then crimped it with pliers. ANYONE can make these simple hinges! Then just to make it more rugged, covered the hinges with filed-down sprue sheet plastic to match colors. No scratching after painting here - there's only touch up paint needed! NEXT, I have to drill-out the window to match the hatch area and for the top hatch.

My evil plan is to make animated cockpit displays with a strobing LED circuit. The board needs a place to fit, so I milled out the rudimentary seat and back wall to fit in a 1/32nd ejection seat with better details and fit the board in on the backside. The center tab was also drilled out to fit the battery wires through (as in the first photo).

Here's the LED circuit, a $1.50 to $2.00 toy at most online shops. You've seen me use them MANY times here on the boards. It has multiple colors and 7-8 modes you can select. When the circuit board is cut up, it will fit here below:

This will be the cockpit front.

The circuit has to be close by, so I made the switches near it too. A power switch and a button to select the flashing modes. EVERYTHING got CRAMMED into the small back head piece. They were then glue-gunned in place to keep solid. Clear red and green were used for solid color "on - off" markers. The non-canon red button looks like it belongs and the switch is TINY.

The LARGE shoulder cannon (Linear Gun) had a shallow indentation for the barrel muzzle. Again, for a kit this big and detailed, not cool! So, I machined a partial barrel liner sleeve out of aluminum. Then I "rifled" it with a Dremel bit by carefully ramming it through with my lathe drill section as a press. It does have a slight twist. Two had to be made before one looked alright. The sleeve on its own, and inserted into the barrel muzzle piece are below.

The molded detailing on this kit beautiful!!! Since I'm thinking of entering this in a future modeling show, I'm adding extra details. The original screen mesh molded into the arms was replaced with photo etch screen. The original detail is alright, but the edges lose detail because of how the molds work in only 2 dimensions. I scraped them out and cut mesh to fit. Then colored the mesh with Brass Black and glued them in place with Gorilla contact cement. Now they stand out better too. Again, GREAT molded details on this kit!

That's it for now. Thanks for your opinions and checking in! - MT

[Big s]

9 minutes ago, MechTech said:

First off, my apologies for not posting any projects in a while. I've just had less time for modelling lately. Also, my apologies for making up for lost time with a lot of photos! I put the scratch-built aircraft you saw me working on earlier to the side for a while - I got distracted. Long story, but I was going to get one of the 1/48th Dougram "Blockheads" that were marked down at Wise Guys for box damage. But, I waited too long and they sold quick! While looking online, I forgot all about Max Factory's 1/35th "Dougram Version GT, DX Complete Edition." It's been released for awhile now. At first I wasn't interested because it's not canon to the original anime. It is revised (DX) after a newer comic. Also not canon means I can make slight changes without "screwing up" anything. But the DX Complete version has all the original main "Fang of the Sun" characters and everything is a BIG 1/35th scale! I saw it on sale fora GREAT price and got one!

The kit is BEAUTIFUL and BIG! My only gripes so far is that a few pieces had slight fit issues making hiding the seams difficult. Also, for a large 1/35th kit, the cockpit is a bit sparse for details. Finally, several parts were molded with voids in them instead of making them two-pieces or molding them solid. A perfect example is that ALL of the red roll bars are hollow with voids in the underside. They aren't solid or completely round. They're about the same thickness as the sprues too! I'm sure they did that to minimize shrinkage in the plastic while cooling, but it's a bummer when you take a good look at the kit. There a few other parts made the same way.

The great part is that they've done like Bandai and made most seams and sprue gates invisible or hidden. Some sprues are molded undercut to hide stress marks. And the whole thing is molded in the various colors of the design. You can get away without painting it if you just want a cool model for your display case.

***FIRST OFF - QUESTION***: With two main colors, I experimented with two colors of Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color, Light Gray on the Blue and Black on the Light Gray. Does it look overly contrasted, should I go with only one color - black? Or, does it look good as is? It will be pretty weathered. Dougram was ALWAYS getting shot up in the series. In fact, my son and I JUST finished watching it for the first time. You'll also see LOTS of hand-holds all over this thing. I had to drill them out and clean them up with an Xacto knife.

The kit is AWESOME on may levels. One is that the cockpit window and frame are TWO pieces. NO MASKING! The downside, no opening top hatch. So I took a DSPIAE 0.1mm scribe and etched it completely through. Of course it wouldn't fit anymore, so I surrounded the door with sprue and sanded the edges to fit. Next, I made very simple hinges by cutting .015" brass sheet with scissors and folded it around .020" wire. Then crimped it with pliers. ANYONE can make these simple hinges! Then just to make it more rugged, covered the hinges with filed-down sprue sheet plastic to match colors. No scratching after painting here - there's only touch up paint needed! NEXT, I have to drill-out the window to match the hatch area and for the top hatch.

My evil plan is to make animated cockpit displays with a strobing LED circuit. The board needs a place to fit, so I milled out the rudimentary seat and back wall to fit in a 1/32nd ejection seat with better details and fit the board in on the backside. The center tab was also drilled out to fit the battery wires through (as in the first photo).

Here's the LED circuit, a $1.50 to $2.00 toy at most online shops. You've seen me use them MANY times here on the boards. It has multiple colors and 7-8 modes you can select. When the circuit board is cut up, it will fit here below:

This will be the cockpit front.

The circuit has to be close by, so I made the switches near it too. A power switch and a button to select the flashing modes. EVERYTHING got CRAMMED into the small back head piece. They were then glue-gunned in place to keep solid. Clear red and green were used for solid color "on - off" markers. The non-canon red button looks like it belongs and the switch is TINY.

The LARGE shoulder cannon (Linear Gun) had a shallow indentation for the barrel muzzle. Again, for a kit this big and detailed, not cool! So, I machined a partial barrel liner sleeve out of aluminum. Then I "rifled" it with a Dremel bit by carefully ramming it through with my lathe drill section as a press. It does have a slight twist. Two had to be made before one looked alright. The sleeve on its own, and inserted into the barrel muzzle piece are below.

The molded detailing on this kit beautiful!!! Since I'm thinking of entering this in a future modeling show, I'm adding extra details. The original screen mesh molded into the arms was replaced with photo etch screen. The original detail is alright, but the edges lose detail because of how the molds work in only 2 dimensions. I scraped them out and cut mesh to fit. Then colored the mesh with Brass Black and glued them in place with Gorilla contact cement. Now they stand out better too. Again, GREAT molded details on this kit!

That's it for now. Thanks for your opinions and checking in! - MT

Looks great so far

[pengbuzz]

Meantime, while waiting on parts for my Goodyear Blimp model (plastic), I cobbled together this piece:

Maybe not the world's most accurate TMP wrist-communicator, but I did my best!

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz Cool! An unusual subject too! - MT

[Thom]

@MechTech That's a great level of detail being added.

@pengbuzz Real good looking prop!

[wm cheng]

OK, I've left it to breath and walked away from it for a few weeks and I've calmed down.  After the Alclad clear coat crackling, it dried but attacked the paint underneath, but only the Tamiya orange areas (Tamiya Acrylic thinned with Mr. Color leveling thinner - which works amazingly), the lighter tan area is Mr. Color Tan Radome which is a lacquer and seemed to resist better.  However there is still a very raised pronounced texture over everything.  I've sworn off Alclads now (I only use them for metalizers - this is the 4th time I've had problems with their stuff like the gloss black enamel undercoats).  I'm going to try switching over the Mr. Color Super Metallics - nice to have something brushable for touch ups.

So after walking away from it a while I can come back with a bit of calm.  So I started to sand everything down working from 4000 grit to 6000 to 10000 grit.  I think I got pretty good at gauging how far down to go without removing too much paint, just getting through the layers of clear coat to a smooth finish.  I've seen people sand down decals and I didn't have the guts to do it before, but now after sanding down the clear coat just to the decals, I think I got the hang of it.  Plus it gave a really smooth finish and blended all the decals in so they looked painted on with no carrier film.  Unfortunately, I can see now that the Alclad aqua clear when it reacted with the Mr. Color Super clear (lacquer) actually attacked the orange Tamiya Acrylic paint and created this weird pattern.

But I noticed that the decals protected the orange paint underneath and it was perfect (look at the space between the 0 and 7 in the 607 and you can see the carrier film protection.  So I thought I would sand everything down to a smooth finish without disturbing the decals and mask them and re-spray the orange.

I got everything smooth now.  There were a few spots I went a bit too far and I had to repair with some lighter tan.  Unfortunately, the orange separation to tan was no longer crisp because the paint reaction somehow made it seem to bleed into each other.

I managed to take the masking off today and it looks pretty good - so I'm pretty happy with the repairs other than the added 2wks of heart stopping sanding.

Here's some before and afters...

I'm going let the orange cure (luckily I still have some mixed from Tamiya Orange + Red) and then hit it with a light mist of Mr. Color GX100 Gloss clear.  I want that lacquer clear coat because I want to try doing that ink weathering technique that uses Tamiya X-20A thinner.  Hopefully things will go more smoothly over the next few weeks after this save.