Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[pengbuzz]

Okay...just got gifted a Destroid Defender toy (Exosquad/ Robotech matchbox Reissue) that I'm going to be reworking into a 1/72 to go with my valks in the repair diorama.

Meantime though: been working on a different project. I had one of the Warren transformers Activity Centers (cardboard base) when I was a kid. Well, recently I decided to build one from scratch, but it ended up...erm...upsized:

The lower level was bare in the main section, so i built a "power reactor" for it; meantime, the two level "tower" looked kinda dumb to me, so I built a working hand-crank elevator with clear plastic enclosure. The angled "pyramid" like section was the armory, but I think that whol;e area can be cut in half so a med center can be put in.

Here's what I started with:

Stay tuned folks...

Edited May 19, 2020 by pengbuzz

[Grayson72]

21 hours ago, NZEOD said:

Do the impossible and find me the weapons pod of the right side of the Wave Tomahawk chest that pinged off a peg outside will airbrushing... never to be seen again?

Don’t be ridiculous, it’s right here (holds out empty hand) wait... where’d it go?

[NZEOD]

yep... turned in time to see the first one ping out of the peg and launch for the heavens so recovered that one then thought... crap what about the other one, I better grab it out of the peg befroe that happens as well... and then saw the empty peg... too LATE! The ground is gravel so even though I've combed through it day and night (hoping the metallic gunmetal would reflect in torch light)  its still gone burgers. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by NZEOD

[MechTech]

WM Cheng - Thank you very much, I appreciate it! Likewise where you are great with finishes, I suck at them! My local club is challenging me to improve though. Maybe this ship will be show worthy.

Pengbuzz - STILL the MASTER of masking tape - and cardboard! Cool setup! Do robots need a med center? Inquiring minds want to know. - MT

[wm cheng]

Yep, I just cleaned and vacuumed the floor of my workbench and found some old tiny photoetched parts I lost years ago, and I am sure I spent a good 6-8hrs looking for them.  Now years later even after a basement renovation, I found some of those parts - although I no longer even have those models.  I'm sure someone in another dimension was f**king with us.

 

[pengbuzz]

3 hours ago, MechTech said:

WM Cheng - Thank you very much, I appreciate it! Likewise where you are great with finishes, I suck at them! My local club is challenging me to improve though. Maybe this ship will be show worthy.

Pengbuzz - STILL the MASTER of masking tape - and cardboard! Cool setup! Do robots need a med center? Inquiring minds want to know. - MT

Well, jetfire needed one just recently, so yup.

  

3 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Yep, I just cleaned and vacuumed the floor of my workbench and found some old tiny photoetched parts I lost years ago, and I am sure I spent a good 6-8hrs looking for them.  Now years later even after a basement renovation, I found some of those parts - although I no longer even have those models.  I'm sure someone in another dimension was f**king with us.

 

Pretty much. I think gremlins...

Edited May 19, 2020 by pengbuzz

[NZEOD]

More WIP projects for this week.

Much to repair and clean up on this old project before I can carry on completing it! Paint damage and dust!

Edited May 20, 2020 by NZEOD

[Thom]

On 5/18/2020 at 6:30 PM, pengbuzz said:

Okay...just got gifted a Destroid Defender toy (Exosquad/ Robotech matchbox Reissue) that I'm going to be reworking into a 1/72 to go with my valks in the repair diorama.

Meantime though: been working on a different project. I had one of the Warren transformers Activity Centers (cardboard base) when I was a kid. Well, recently I decided to build one from scratch, but it ended up...erm...upsized:

 

Stay tuned folks...

Pengbuzz that is awesome. It is bringing back some hazy, childhood memories!

7 hours ago, NZEOD said:

More WIP projects for this week.

Much to repair and clean up on this old project before I can carry on completing it! Paint damage and dust!

Lovely job on that Valk! Love that shape.

[Dobber]

@NZEOD just wanted to say that that is really great of you helping William out like that. Good on you 

Chris

[MechTech]

Cool NZEOD! I saw the similar kit being offered with all the under-wing ordnance and was tempted to get it. - MT

[Return To Kit Form]

On 5/15/2020 at 10:35 PM, CrossAir said:

I thinks it turned out more than okay, I think it looks awesome. For me it is perfect, especially for promo. Damn, I am still lacking skills to reach this result 

Thanks mate but but I am still learning too. Blokes like Mike Rinaldi and a lot of the YouTubers put amateurs like me to shame. But practice practice practice and we will get there. Even Mig Jimenez would have made a terrible glue bomb for his first kit!

Just don't give up!

-Brett

[slide]

9 hours ago, NZEOD said:

More WIP projects for this week.

Much to repair and clean up on this old project before I can carry on completing it! Paint damage and dust!

Very nice!

I like the white leading edges!

[NZEOD]

4 hours ago, slide said:

Very nice!

I like the white leading edges!

Intakes for the secondary engines

[NZEOD]

Meanwhile some more progress on the second Destroid of 5

[pengbuzz]

On another of my projects (taking a break from the base), I got new feet for jetfire, but need armor and a gun for him. However, all the ones on Ebay were expensive for me, and a few avenues I pursued were...less than helpful.

So, after getting more than a tad annoyed...

Admittedly, it came out slightly chunkier than I intended, but I sanded it down as much as I could for circumference (the difference is by like a milimeter). And the barrel is slightly shorter (end nozzle is the problem, planning on fixing it later). But at least I ahve a gun pod now.

Total build time: 3 hours, 25 minutes (from start, to paint and decal).

Edited May 21, 2020 by pengbuzz

[derex3592]

Hey @pengbuzz your projects look great! I found a couple of pics from back in the day with that same Transformers base! 

 

[arbit]

The award for cutest modeler goes to....

 

[MechTech]

NICE splinter scheme NZEOD! That gives the Phalanx a realistic touch!

Pengbuzz - And he scores again with masking tape!!!

That's cool Derex! That just reminded me of the cardboard SDF-1 I used to have. It was suspended from the ceiling (wouldn't fit anywhere else). I hung a bunch of 1/200 Nichimo Valks around it. - MT

[derex3592]

@NZEOD I freakin LOVE that Phalanx dude!  Killer! Tomahawk looks cool too! 

 

And now, if you guy's will permit me, a bit of a history...I've been sorting/scanning/cropping thousands of old family slides and pics during the lock down while at work not doing much actual work.  My dad was a photographer most of his working life.  This is, according to my mom's note on the back of the pic, my very 1st model "by myself".  It was a battleship....now I wanted to build this not because it was a battleship, but because Star Blazers was on TV at the time and this WAS the Yamato (or Argo as it was called on SBer's) in my eyes, as there were no Japanese models of it here in TX back in the early 80's of course.  My dad had built a few models after he got back from Vietnam, a 1:48 scale Huey, and F-111 and a couple of others as I recall.  He didn't paint, they were molded in a "close enough" color, he just glued together and slapped a decal or two on them.  I'm pretty sure I destroyed them playing with them, but anyways, I remember my mom and dad helping me out after school and on the weekends with my 1st models, and I found a pic of some of them as well. Mom always taught me to READ THE DIRECTIONS 1st, not just start gluing parts together! She also helped me with the water slide decals.  Thought I would share a few pics here...If I find more, maybe I'll post more, I think I have some of me during my teenager years working on planes! OF COURSE, you will note there are some Macross kits in here so this post is ON TOPIC!   I mean yeh, it was Robotech in TX in the 80's but old dusty hobby shops with grumpy old men running them had some Macross kits back then...LOL. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by derex3592

[neptunesurvey]

Just finished.  Try some new techniques I learned off of youtube.  Enjoy one of Capt's Tomahawk.

 

[neptunesurvey]

Forgot to add "Vamps last stand at Mar Base Sara".

[pengbuzz]

10 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Hey @pengbuzz your projects look great! I found a couple of pics from back in the day with that same Transformers base! 

 

 Wow bro! Wish I still had some of those you had there! lol

Yeah, I wanted that base back, but it's expensive now, probably not complete anywhere and not in good condition. No to mention I had some ideas.

Thank you for posting these; good to see you as a youngin' and your modelbuilding exploits as well as your collection!

[Urashiman]

17 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Hey @pengbuzz your projects look great! I found a couple of pics from back in the day with that same Transformers base! 

 

Wow color! - my back in the day photos are black and white

[sumyumgoy]

Love the photos @derex3592!  I wish I had some of myself back then too.

[Convectuoso]

Hi

I need some expert advice here.

I'm building the Bandai VF-25F Tornado Messiah, but I'm having some problems with the decals

Those decals didn't adhere properly to the surface, even though I used decal softer and left them to rest all night. Any ideas on how I can fix that?

 

Thanks

[arbit]

14 minutes ago, Convectuoso said:

I'm building the Bandai VF-25F Tornado Messiah, but I'm having some problems with the decals

Are those stickers or water slide decals? You cant use softner on stickers.

If they are very tough water slide decals, you add more softner and press down firmly with a q-tip till they form in place. And keep repeating till it works. But weak water slide decals will risk breaking up. So you test on blank part of the decal to see how much softner it can take.

If it is a sticker, I have no idea, but you may google it.

[pengbuzz]

43 minutes ago, Convectuoso said:

Hi

I need some expert advice here.

I'm building the Bandai VF-25F Tornado Messiah, but I'm having some problems with the decals

Those decals didn't adhere properly to the surface, even though I used decal softer and left them to rest all night. Any ideas on how I can fix that?

 

Thanks

 

I would try slitting the corners and reapplying the softener.

[Dobber]

That’s cool @derex3592! Love the V.E.N.O.M Switchblade drawing too. Totally reminds me of my childhood bedroom too!

Chris

[Convectuoso]

1 hour ago, arbit said:

Are those stickers or water slide decals? You cant use softner on stickers.

If they are very tough water slide decals, you add more softner and press down firmly with a q-tip till they form in place. And keep repeating till it works. But weak water slide decals will risk breaking up. So you test on blank part of the decal to see how much softner it can take.

If it is a sticker, I have no idea, but you may google it.

 

49 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

 

I would try slitting the corners and reapplying the softener.

Thanks.

It's water slide decals

[David Hingtgen]

Yeah, for the shoulder decals on the VF-25 kit, you're going to need to slit the stripes at the corners, AND use the strongest decal set you can find.   Thankfully most of the other decals are a lot easier. 

[wm cheng]

Yeah, nothing worked on those Bandai decals (if I remember correctly) - they are so strong.  I think that's when I moved off of MicroSet and MicroSOL and moved onto Mr. Setter and Mr. Softer (which is deadly to any other decals but barely made a difference with those Bandai VF-25 ones).

[Convectuoso]

1 hour ago, wm cheng said:

Yeah, nothing worked on those Bandai decals (if I remember correctly) - they are so strong.  I think that's when I moved off of MicroSet and MicroSOL and moved onto Mr. Setter and Mr. Softer (which is deadly to any other decals but barely made a difference with those Bandai VF-25 ones).

Mr Softer is the one I used

[MechTech]

Derex - Thanks for sharing the photos, that's cool! Talk about flashbacks! I know what you mean. I laughed when you mentioned about Starblazers! I did something similar. I had recently built a USS New Jersey (maybe the same kit as you-back in the 70's?) After I saw "Space Battleship Yamato" on a local movie show, I was amped! I took my model New Jersey and drilled a big hole in the bow. I guess that was my first model mod!!!

Neptunesurvey - I like your effects! They add a nice touch to your completed build! The lighting looks cool. - MT

[derex3592]

2 hours ago, MechTech said:

After I saw "Space Battleship Yamato" on a local movie show, I was amped! I took my model New Jersey and drilled a big hole in the bow. I guess that was my first model mod!!!

 

LMAO! @MechTech!  Glad my old man kept the power tools locked up! I prob would have tried the same thing! 

[arbit]

2 hours ago, MechTech said:

I laughed when you mentioned about Starblazers! I did something similar. I had recently built a USS New Jersey (maybe the same kit as you-back in the 70's?) After I saw "Space Battleship Yamato" on a local movie show, I was amped! I took my model New Jersey and drilled a big hole in the bow. I guess that was my first model mod!!!

I didnt have any idea about models, but when I saw Starblazers around 1980, I would draw the Yamato over and over again with huge space battles. It was just from memory, I had no other material. I remember my 4th grade teacher asking me, "What are you drawing," and I said, "It's the Armada." I wonder what she thought of the little warrior.