Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[SchizophrenicMC]

I personally love Tamiya Color acrylics. For detail painting and airbrushing that's all I use. Sometimes, it's cheaper and easier to get the Tamiya enamel spray for big parts, but the colors are exactly what I want. For about 7 months, my local HobbyTown USA has had no Tamiya paint, but they're finally getting shipments in. I need to get some more paint and a new airbrush so I can build this Skyline that's been in a box on my desk since August.

[MechTech]

He he, sounds like a variety of opinions on paint. Yeah Sharoin, the gunpod decals. On the topic of paint, now that the weather is improving, I need to get the Daedalus done before the humidity picks up soon. I'll have to worry about moisture clouding the finish later on if I don't. - MT

[505thAirborne]

He he, sounds like a variety of opinions on paint. Yeah Sharoin, the gunpod decals. On the topic of paint, now that the weather is improving, I need to get the Daedalus done before the humidity picks up soon. I'll have to worry about moisture clouding the finish later on if I don't. - MT

If your humidity gets as bad like mine does, now is about as good a time as any to get the Daedalus all painted up!!

[Jefuemon]

Getting back on topic of what's on the workbench, here's whats occupying my time now, a Tamiya 1/350 Battleship Musashi. My first ship kit (Space Battleship Yamato doesn't really count), and the first real world kit that I've done in a long time. Not going too crazy with the option bits (my first time for those, too). Just done barrel replacement surgery, and have a real wood deck that I'll be putting in later on.

I've also finally upgraded my camera. Goodbye 15 year old Fuji compact!! Just got a Canon Eos Kiss X50. Fun camera!

Edited April 6, 2012 by Jefuemon

[Shaorin]

I've also finally upgraded my camera. Goodbye 15 year old Fuji compact!! Just got a Canon Eos Kiss X50. Fun camera!

it's great to have an SLR. they really kick A$$, eh?

myself, i stepped up to my first, a NIKON D5000, back in mid-2009. couldn't be happier with it!!

Edited April 7, 2012 by Shaorin

[Shaorin]

just got that Minky Momo figure kit around a week back. mostly finished with her, as can be seen;

-the hardest part so far? those 30-year old Eye decals. they DID NOT want to leave the backing paper without a fight.

THANK GOD i had MICRO SOL, MICRO SET and GLOSSCOTE LACQUER, else i would've been SO screwed...

[Thom]

Well, it's still on the bench even though it is DUN. My Battlestar Kára is Bad-Azz's Valkyrie kit with extra flight pods and armed with Moebuis Galactica's kit guns, the guns from Paragraphics photo-etch set and 1/700 weapons sets for IJN ships. She's a 'smaller' scale than the Mobeius Galactica and so is only slightly smaller all around, which is good cause I don't like the thought of it really being only as large as one of Galactica's flight pods. This sleak design deserves some size!

[Benson13]

I've never seen any Battlestar. It looks pretty good though.

[505thAirborne]

Amazing Battlestar you have there Thom, you should take a picture of it next to the Galactica!

I'm still waiting for the Pegasus to come out, but I will get one of these as well!!

And as for you Benson, if you've never seen Battlestar you need to either get Netflix or drop some cash and get the BSG series, one of the best series ever made IMHO.

[Benson13]

Amazing Battlestar you have there Thom, you should take a picture of it next to the Galactica!

I'm still waiting for the Pegasus to come out, but I will get one of these as well!!

And as for you Benson, if you've never seen Battlestar you need to either get Netflix or drop some cash and get the BSG series, one of the best series ever made IMHO.

I'll check it out tonight while I'm posting nerd porn on this fine forum.

[505thAirborne]

I'll check it out tonight while I'm posting nerd porn on this fine forum.

Nerd Porn first, then BSG!

[derex3592]

Nerd Porn first, then BSG!

BIG +1!!!!! go out and get the Blu Ray box set of the new BSG...trust me...you won't regret it.

[Shaorin]

pretty much finished... outside of cleaning up a few of those fine details, such as the purse strap, and such

not quite sure what the whole "Deer caught in Headlights" expression on her face is all about,

did i F%$k up on it somehow, or was it just BANDAI's silly sculptor back in the early 80's? i dunno. Anyway;

((( EDIT )))

OKAY... i THINK i MIGHT have figured it out. those AREN'T supposed to be a lower set of teeth, after all.

jeez, though; i just had a HELL of a time this morning here, trying to correct that,

without making her end up looking like a Vampire that just finished her meal... lol;

Dammit, NOW she looks like she just got caught with her hands in the Cookie Jar! S&%t! maybe it's the camera angle, i don't know...

OKAY!! this is more like it!! still looks rather weird in the photo, to my eye... but she definitely looks just about right now, in the flesh, so to speak;

Edited April 13, 2012 by Shaorin

[Thom]

Amazing Battlestar you have there Thom, you should take a picture of it next to the Galactica!

Thank you for the great comments. I am working on another battlestar based on the Moebius Galactica, named Hekate. And another named Pyrrha.

[505thAirborne]

Thank you for the great comments. I am working on another battlestar based on the Moebius Galactica, named Hekate. And another named Pyrrha.

Sweet, looking forward to that!

[Shaorin]

WELL, you're not gonna believe this, but i had just been forced to pick this up, for $12 shipped, blessedly;

why? i'm certain you are all asking? well, you see, the manual for the "ATLANTIC FLEET SQUADRONS" variation of the above kit,

which i own, illustrates loading the nosecone with around 10g of Ballast.

(to counterbalance, and keep the plane from tipping back onto it's A$$-end when built with the gear deployed and sat upon on a desk)

well, even though i intended to build the model with gear retracted,

i figured the extra weight certainly wouldn't hurt the feel of the model when in hand,

and i also figured that Putty would be a good option for accomplishing that,

so it was off to my HOBBY TOWN USA to run across a tube of "TAMIYA PUTTY BASIC TYPE" for a nice price, like $4.70, IIRC.

well, either i failed to read the directions right, or the directions failed to mention this, figuring that only an -EXPERIENCED- plastic modeler

would be spending $4.70 on this S&%t, but, after filling the entire cavity of the cone with the stuff,

and letting it "Cure" overnight, i wake up in the morning to find that my F-14 nosecone has been transformed to PLAY-DOH.

!!!!ZOMGWTF!!!!

i had NO IDEA WHATSOEVER that plastic modelling putty, at least TAMIYA PUTTY BASIC TYPE, was in any way corrosive to styrene plastics!! i cal B -effin'-S on that!!!!

anyway, THANK THE MAKER that i was able to find a spare so quickly and cheaply...

Edited April 15, 2012 by Shaorin

[mechaninac]

I guess the solvents in the Tamyia putty melt styrene; that and the heat generated from the curing process causes PS to turn to goo. FYI, Tamyia is not the only culprit in this regard; I dare say most modeling putty will have a similar effect if used in the volume you describe in an enclosed part. As for the amount of ballast... 10Kg (kilos)? I think you mean 10g (grams).

I usually like using BBs and Elmer's glue for that purpose, personally.

Edit: Awesome find BTW.

Edited April 15, 2012 by mechaninac

[Shaorin]

I think you mean 10g (grams).

MY BAD...

[505thAirborne]

MY BAD...

Don't feel bad Shaorin it happens, I did something similar like that with my VF-0A+Ghost 1/72 kit years ago, Shin took a good hit but I was able to save it, BB's and Elmer's glue work wonders!!

[SchizophrenicMC]

Putty has a solvent in it that degrades styrene. Further, the curing process is exothermic and exponential. If you double the amount of curing putty in a given sample, the heat given off is 4 times greater. Pennies are a better option for ballast. They cost $.01 and are 2.5g apiece.

Curing plastics is fun stuff. I was once making a fiberglass prop helmet, and I'd prepared a fairly large batch of polyurethane to coat the helmet in. It rapidly reached 300 degrees, and turned to jelly. The plastic container I'd had it in literally melted. (It was a plastic resistant to urethane corrosion; the heat was what did it in) Cold-set plastics cure faster when they're exposed to heat, and they give off heat as they cure, so the process just accelerates until it's all used up. I have a baseball-sized lump of urethane resin in my room from a batch last summer that just balled up, then cured rock-hard.

Save the expensive putty for smoothing stuff out.

[Vifam7]

WELL, you're not gonna believe this, but i had just been forced to pick this up, for $12 shipped, blessedly;

Is that a 1/48 scale kit or 1/72 scale kit?

[Shaorin]

Is that a 1/48 scale kit or 1/72 scale kit?

1/72, just as is the one i already have that i destroyed the nosecone on, which was the whole point of buying this spare parts kit...

[neptunesurvey]

Greetings all. I'm slowly painting away on the Cat's Eye as well as the Comanchero. Should have the Cat's Eye finished by the end of the month. That will leave me the base, the mechanics, and support vehicles to finish. Enjoy.

[Benson13]

Greetings all. I'm slowly painting away on the Cat's Eye as well as the Comanchero. Should have the Cat's Eye finished by the end of the month. That will leave me the base, the mechanics, and support vehicles to finish. Enjoy.

Excuse me while I have a nerd lust moment......Thank you. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[505thAirborne]

Damn Neptune, that is some serious XXX Nerd Porn right there, love it!! Do you have pilots for the Cats Eye couldn't tell from the pics?

[neptunesurvey]

No pilots for this Cat's Eye. This will be part of a diorama with a maintenance crew and support vehicles. The canopies will be displayed in the open position.

[505thAirborne]

I'm a huge fan of pilots, but being part of a diorama maintenance setup sounds awesome and the canopies being opened, even better!

[VF-19]

FYI, I have finished my 1:350 Yamato about a month ago, but the problem is how to properly photograph it as I have no proper sized background to put up behind it to hide unwanted things in the background...

I'll be figuring something out soon.

[Benson13]

FYI, I have finished my 1:350 Yamato about a month ago, but the problem is how to properly photograph it as I have no proper sized background to put up behind it to hide unwanted things in the background...

I'll be figuring something out soon.

I know how you feel. My modelling stuff is in my bondage chamber too.

[Shaorin]

FYI, I have finished my 1:350 Yamato about a month ago, but the problem is how to properly photograph it as I have no proper sized background to put up behind it to hide unwanted things in the background...

I'll be figuring something out soon.

I know how you feel. My modelling stuff is in my bondage chamber too.

i doubt either of you have anything on me; my modelling stuff is stuck in the bathroom i have, directly off of my bedroom.

using the sink to clean my brushes IS most convenient, however, so it could all certainly be much worse, little bug-screened window, for good ventilation and all those good things.

take a gander, if you dare;

oh, and a couple of jobs i did about a half-decade or more ago;

the KENWORTH W-900 was an unstarted 1970's "ALASKAN HAULER" kit that i nabbed out of my mother's boyfriend's storage unit

when we had cleaned it out, and the PATLABOR "HELLDIVER" was a kit i had gotten from a comic shop for cheap

back in the late 90's, because it was missing ONE SINGLE VITAL PART; the FRONT CHEST HALF.

i had fabricated one for it, back then, not particularly well, and had went back to the model around '07ish,

and attempted a much better overall job on everything, as can be seen tn the photos...

Edited April 19, 2012 by Shaorin

[David Hingtgen]

Sorry to say, but yes, "don't use putty for weight" is a known issue for models. Most putties intentionally dissolve styrene to some degree--it's how it "sticks" to the model.

[Ahab]

I know how you feel. My modelling stuff is in my bondage chamber too.

..didn't see that comin!

[VF-19]

Nah, I keep that stuff in boxes under boxes and in other boxes!

Seriously, I'd rather figure out a nice background for a clean photo shoot. Perhaps some bedsheets (blue, preferably) draped over a couple of chairs should do the trick.

[PetarB]

Greetings all. I'm slowly painting away on the Cat's Eye as well as the Comanchero. Should have the Cat's Eye finished by the end of the month. That will leave me the base, the mechanics, and support vehicles to finish. Enjoy.

Can't wait to see them! I don't think I've seen anyone else's Commanchero besides mine. I wish more people would post their builds....

[Maiden Japan]

Scratch building a head guard for TF Universe Inferno figure.

It is made of styrene sheet, pipe, and actual G1 parts that's modified.

Now it's more like old G1 style.