Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[peter]

2 hours ago, Thom said:

This is a build just recently off the workbench. I took some Refit nacelles, the bridge dome and the torpedo housing and made a torpedo boat out of the Grissom.

So is born the USS Joxer!

 

I bet that thing would mop the floor with the BOP.  That is an awesome gunship!

[electric indigo]

Nice Trek stuff going on here. @peter You should treat yourself with the 1/350 BoP, it's one of the best Trek kits around.

[peter]

16 minutes ago, electric indigo said:

Nice Trek stuff going on here. @peter You should treat yourself with the 1/350 BoP, it's one of the best Trek kits around.

Oh I heard it's a nice kit....and green strawberry sells the baffle kit to make the wings variable.

Really want one, but the prices are a bit bonkers right now with the scalpers.

Hoping for a reissue or maybe find a cheaper one on the local FB Marketplace or Craigslist.

[arbit]

Thom, Nice photography there. 

Urashiman, Interested to see what you do with that clunker. I'm sure with your experience it will look great. Keep the panel lines thin and any weathering to scale, and it will be better than Matchbox thought possible.

[Thom]

10 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

I've wrestled with this model for years, literally. Can't find a canopy for it, can't mold a new one, can't buy one, and I don't want to try anything else with it because now the seams have let go... sorry, i'm going to have to leave off on that and go do something else for a few weeks. My blood pressure is up and I don't feel very well.

Hoping your pressure comes down and you start to feel better. Sucks being sick, not the least of which that it limits the mojo.

[Thom]

4 hours ago, arbit said:

Thom, Nice photography there. 

Urashiman, Interested to see what you do with that clunker. I'm sure with your experience it will look great. Keep the panel lines thin and any weathering to scale, and it will be better than Matchbox thought possible.

Thanks!

[Thom]

9 hours ago, peter said:

I bet that thing would mop the floor with the BOP.  That is an awesome gunship!

I would hope so! And thank you!

[Bolt]

18 hours ago, Thom said:

This is a build just recently off the workbench. I took some Refit nacelles, the bridge dome and the torpedo housing and made a torpedo boat out of the Grissom.

So is born the USS Joxer!

 

Nice job!

[Gabe Q]

Got more work on the Super Gerwalk today. Decals on the fast packs. This is a newer kit so it was a pleasure to discover that the decals behaved nicely. 

On some of the older Hasegawa valks, the decals just rip apart no matter how careful you are. I bought some Micro Set but haven't had the chance to try it yet. 

 

[peter]

2 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

Got more work on the Super Gerwalk today. Decals on the fast packs. This is a newer kit so it was a pleasure to discover that the decals behaved nicely. 

On some of the older Hasegawa valks, the decals just rip apart no matter how careful you are. I bought some Micro Set but haven't had the chance to try it yet. 

 

I've heard absolute nightmares about older Hasegawa Valk kits, but last summer, I build four 20+ year old kits with little issue.  Broke a few from carelessness, but nothing like the nightmare decals from the AMT Star Trek kit.

I haven't spoken to anyone who has had any luck with the decals from this kit.

Some fragmented just from the paper back bending when placing them in the water.

 

[peter]

2 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

Got more work on the Super Gerwalk today. Decals on the fast packs. This is a newer kit so it was a pleasure to discover that the decals behaved nicely. 

On some of the older Hasegawa valks, the decals just rip apart no matter how careful you are. I bought some Micro Set but haven't had the chance to try it yet. 

 

Damn, I want to build a Valk now, but I'm knee deep in Star Trek kits right now, lol!

 

[peter]

Ok, so diving into the Enterprise set and not in any particular order.  My buddy is building an ENT D so was sort of inspired to start there first.

Lots of flash, lots of ill-placed injection spots.

These were a bit of a mess to remove without messing up the saucer rim.

Those are all bits I had to carefully trip off.

Snap-fit my @$$.

More injection marks....very well places, right on the inside of a curve.

Some filling required.  I didn't go crazy filling every gap, just some really bad ones that I could see from a meter a way.

Some fitting required, lol!

I was debating sanding off the grid-lines all over the ship, but I didn't want to hate-build this thing so I decided to leave them.  I actually started deleting the lines on the side of the neck, but the neck needed some serious sanding as the shape was a bit wierd.

 

More to follow 

[peter]

Also started the Ent B. I really liked the Excelsior, and thought the Ent B looked ok, but in this kit, it is probably my least favorite.  

How big do you figure those grid-lines would be if scaled up to life size?

The secondary hull had those massive ribs too.

Snap fit my @$$

Some filling required.

Look at the flash on this part, lol!

Screw it, going to make the Ent B into a 1/2500 "Smoothie".

Wierd that some of the grid-lines were raised and the rings were inset.  Not going to fill those.  It was the raised ones that stood out.

More filling.

More grid line removal.

I like it more, some may not agree.

Smoothie.

I was going to leave the nacelles, but then decided they wouldn't match the rest of the ship, so I decided to take a file to them.

Finished with a sanding stick.

Not perfect, but better than looking like two Trojan ribbed condoms.

 

More to follow

[Thom]

@Gabe Q Good looking pack! What scale is that? 1/72?

@peter Shame you keep hitting all these 'easy builds' and not finding it easy at all! Wresting them into shape though!

[derex3592]

@peter - Dude, if you want my advice, sand down the D. You'll thank yourself when you do the decals! I did and had zero regrets.  I agree, the B is my least favorite and I cared least about making it look good.  At least your engines aren't molded crooked! .  I'm enjoying watching your progress!  Looking great so far! 

[peter]

13 hours ago, derex3592 said:

@peter - Dude, if you want my advice, sand down the D. You'll thank yourself when you do the decals! I did and had zero regrets.  I agree, the B is my least favorite and I cared least about making it look good.  At least your engines aren't molded crooked! .  I'm enjoying watching your progress!  Looking great so far! 

Oh, they were crooked, hahahahaha!

I let them sit in hot water for a while and begged them to straighten.  They wouldn't, so I had to be careful not to snap them off when I bent the hell out of them.

Aso, I must have read your mind because I smoothied the Ent D as well, lol!

Outer saucer done.

Port side done, next the starboard side.

Inner saucer.

I really, really wish did this before glueing the saucer section to the drive section, hahahaha!

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by peter
Edited for spelling

[peter]

Oh, started the TOS version as well.  Not much to report except the saucer didn't want to close, and there was a bit of filling and sanding when installing the pylons.also sanded off the windows from the neck, secondary hull and pylons.

 

[peter]

14 hours ago, Thom said:

@Gabe Q Good looking pack! What scale is that? 1/72?

@peter Shame you keep hitting all these 'easy builds' and not finding it easy at all! Wresting them into shape though!

Lol!  I'm a nice guy, I deserve nice things don't I?

Seriously though, after these horrendous AMT kits, I need to go back to an easy Bandai kit.....or hell, maybe even a Hasegawa Valk or something.

At least I'm sort of used to those.

 

[Gabe Q]

@peter I'm surprised you had good decals from those older Hasegawa kits. Maybe I'm not storing them properly and the decals are degrading? I'll have to look into this. I'll be sure to avoid that AMT Star Trek kit. 

That little Enterprise B kit you're working on looks challenging! All that prep work would scare me away. 

16 hours ago, Thom said:

@Gabe Q Good looking pack! What scale is that? 1/72?

Thanks, @Thom 

This is the 1/72 Strike/Super Gerwalk kit. 

Today I got more decaling in. Finished them all but will hit them with more decal softener tomorrow to get them to really sink in. I got some panel lining in, too. All that's left is a gloss coat to level everything out and a flat coat to seal it in. I may do a bit of dry brushing on the edges of the armor after the flat coat but no weathering. 

 

[peter]

1 hour ago, Gabe Q said:

@peter I'm surprised you had good decals from those older Hasegawa kits. Maybe I'm not storing them properly and the decals are degrading? I'll have to look into this. I'll be sure to avoid that AMT Star Trek kit. 

That little Enterprise B kit you're working on looks challenging! All that prep work would scare me away. 

Thanks, @Thom 

This is the 1/72 Strike/Super Gerwalk kit. 

Today I got more decaling in. Finished them all but will hit them with more decal softener tomorrow to get them to really sink in. I got some panel lining in, too. All that's left is a gloss coat to level everything out and a flat coat to seal it in. I may do a bit of dry brushing on the edges of the armor after the flat coat but no weathering. 

 

All my kits were buried in a cool dark room, no sunlight, heat or moisture, still in the boxes.

I definitely heard others having issues with older Hasegawa decals, so I guess I just got lucky.

The only decals I botched were my own fault.

I think I bugger d Kakizaki's chest decal.

I think I also screwed up Max's.

These were the Valks I built last year.  First Macross kits after a 17 year break.

Lol, it was Roy's Strike Valk that really put me off building models to begin with.  I got part-way through that kit, decided I was in over my head and packed it in.  Finally revisited Roy's Valk last year and decided to build Kakizaki, Max and Hikaru.  

Actually, I still have a few Hasegawa 1/72 Valks in the pile.  I'd like to build the skull squadron as straight fighters without the super/strike packs, but I stole the 1A heads from other kits so I might just be left with a bunch of VF-1S fighters.

 

[pengbuzz]

10 hours ago, peter said:

All my kits were buried in a cool dark room, no sunlight, heat or moisture, still in the boxes.

I definitely heard others having issues with older Hasegawa decals, so I guess I just got lucky.

The only decals I botched were my own fault.

I think I bugger d Kakizaki's chest decal.

I think I also screwed up Max's.

These were the Valks I built last year.  First Macross kits after a 17 year break.

Lol, it was Roy's Strike Valk that really put me off building models to begin with.  I got part-way through that kit, decided I was in over my head and packed it in.  Finally revisited Roy's Valk last year and decided to build Kakizaki, Max and Hikaru.  

Actually, I still have a few Hasegawa 1/72 Valks in the pile.  I'd like to build the skull squadron as straight fighters without the super/strike packs, but I stole the 1A heads from other kits so I might just be left with a bunch of VF-1S fighters.

 

Well, you could always mold or scratch up the tops of the heads; after all, that's all you're really going to see in fighter mode anyways, right?

[MechTech]

 @Urashiman Ooooh, Langnese honey is on sale! C'mon, tell the truth, that is multiple kits you are putting together! That nose seam is horrible and the winshield. But you're making it SOOOoooo much better!

@Thom The Joxer looks like the muscle car of Starfleet! It's all nacelles and little ship. It just needs a supercharger scoop on the hood somewhere Great build! Nice-n-clean finish too!

 

[Urashiman]

3 hours ago, MechTech said:

 @Urashiman Ooooh, Langnese honey is on sale! C'mon, tell the truth, that is multiple kits you are putting together! That nose seam is horrible and the winshield. But you're making it SOOOoooo much better!

@Thom The Joxer looks like the muscle car of Starfleet! It's all nacelles and little ship. It just needs a supercharger scoop on the hood somewhere Great build! Nice-n-clean finish too!

 

yeah .. the good honey haha.

WELL ... I put together the F14 cockpit and the F-5B. So kinda the truth there. To test if everything fits, I use UHU Patafix. That is the white stuff squeezing out through the seems. I also use it fix the parts to little wood sticks for airbrushing. That stuff comes in really handy. Doesn't work so much for posters, but for modelkits.

[Thom]

6 hours ago, MechTech said:

 @Urashiman Ooooh, Langnese honey is on sale! C'mon, tell the truth, that is multiple kits you are putting together! That nose seam is horrible and the winshield. But you're making it SOOOoooo much better!

@Thom The Joxer looks like the muscle car of Starfleet! It's all nacelles and little ship. It just needs a supercharger scoop on the hood somewhere Great build! Nice-n-clean finish too!

 

Ha! 'Muscle car of Starfleet!' I like that!

[MechTech]

I've been working on parts for the Oto Melara 76/62 76mm gun - below deck portion. I'm thinking of displaying it on a clear baseball cube container. Gun above it, all the workings below it in the clear cube. Here's the real deal below deck and an inert 76mm round for comparison:

 

 

Easy bolt heads. Take a metal plate, drill your selected size hole in it (1mm in this case), and get a Allen wrench driver bit the same diameter. Line up the bit with the hole (I used my drill press) and punch the plastic. They're not perfect, but passable. I made about a hundred bolt heads in about 20 minutes.

The fun part was trying to figure out how to make the parts that hold the rounds. You can tell by the mat with one inch squares in the photo how small the parts are. I used a bolt, cut the head off, and used opposing facing nuts to hold plastic in place. A Dremmel bit was ground to the right thickness (you can see it in the photo) and used to make cuts on my rotary table. The actual plastic is .020 mounted to a 1/8" thick piece of plastic with double sided tape. The 1/8" plastic acts as a disposable table and supports the thin plastic for milling. You can see the part after machining and cleaned up. Getting the double sided tape off was a pain.

 

Here are some of the parts LOOSELY fit together to give you an idea of what it looks like so far. You can see where the 1mm bolt heads went. The rounds actually fit snug into the carousel.

 

RB Models makes the 76mm ammo, and cheap too! The ammo for the German 75mm PAK 40 is the same size as what I need. But they are on a long break from making it and nobody has it anywhere in stock! I did find their 76mm ammo for the Sherman Easy 8 tanks (and other similar guns). The problem, the shell casings are too short, like about 1mm. They also have a pinched neck which is wrong. It also threw off everything else in the carousel. So I had to make the shell casings. I spent several days and after DOZENS of failed attempts (I mean that too) I figured out how to lathe the 76mm shell casings. It required grinding a new cutting tool and setting my lathe up like never before.

The casings below STILL NEED to have the rims trimmed, they are still rough. Left to right, a pile of casings (about 30), a piece of 1/16" tubing as the working material, a completed round with RB Models projectile, and a correct size shell casing next to RB Models shell casing. "So, what did you do this weekend?" I made itty bitty cannon shell casings - MT

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by MechTech

[electric indigo]

^ MechTechMadness! 

_

After a few setbacks, I got this beast done. Better pics when the sun comes back.

[CrossAir]

@MechTech I‘m always impressed by the depth of detail you put into this project. Waiting patiently for the final version 

@electric indigo Looking great without sunlight already.And whatever setback you suffered, I can not notice 

[Thom]

10 hours ago, MechTech said:

I've been working on parts for the Oto Melara 76/62 76mm gun - below deck portion. I'm thinking of displaying it on a clear baseball cube container. Gun above it, all the workings below it in the clear cube. Here's the real deal below deck and an inert 76mm round for comparison:

 

 

Easy bolt heads. Take a metal plate, drill your selected size hole in it (1mm in this case), and get a Allen wrench driver bit the same diameter. Line up the bit with the hole (I used my drill press) and punch the plastic. They're not perfect, but passable. I made about a hundred bolt heads in about 20 minutes.

The fun part was trying to figure out how to make the parts that hold the rounds. You can tell by the mat with one inch squares in the photo how small the parts are. I used a bolt, cut the head off, and used opposing facing nuts to hold plastic in place. A Dremmel bit was ground to the right thickness (you can see it in the photo) and used to make cuts on my rotary table. The actual plastic is .020 mounted to a 1/8" thick piece of plastic with double sided tape. The 1/8" plastic acts as a disposable table and supports the thin plastic for milling. You can see the part after machining and cleaned up. Getting the double sided tape off was a pain.

 

Here are some of the parts LOOSELY fit together to give you an idea of what it looks like so far. You can see where the 1mm bolt heads went. The rounds actually fit snug into the carousel.

 

RB Models makes the 76mm ammo, and cheap too! The ammo for the German 75mm PAK 40 is the same size as what I need. But they are on a long break from making it and nobody has it anywhere in stock! I did find their 76mm ammo for the Sherman Easy 8 tanks (and other similar guns). The problem, the shell casings are too short, like about 1mm. They also have a pinched neck which is wrong. It also threw off everything else in the carousel. So I had to make the shell casings. I spent several days and after DOZENS of failed attempts (I mean that too) I figured out how to lathe the 76mm shell casings. It required grinding a new cutting tool and setting my lathe up like never before.

The casings below STILL NEED to have the rims trimmed, they are still rough. Left to right, a pile of casings (about 30), a piece of 1/16" tubing as the working material, a completed round with RB Models projectile, and a correct size shell casing next to RB Models shell casing. "So, what did you do this weekend?" I made itty bitty cannon shell casings - MT

 

And after all that work!!

[Thom]

6 hours ago, electric indigo said:

^ MechTechMadness! 

_

After a few setbacks, I got this beast done. Better pics when the sun comes back.

Sweet looking bird! Nice on the camo.

[peter]

18 hours ago, MechTech said:

I've been working on parts for the Oto Melara 76/62 76mm gun - below deck portion. I'm thinking of displaying it on a clear baseball cube container. Gun above it, all the workings below it in the clear cube. Here's the real deal below deck and an inert 76mm round for comparison:

 

 

Easy bolt heads. Take a metal plate, drill your selected size hole in it (1mm in this case), and get a Allen wrench driver bit the same diameter. Line up the bit with the hole (I used my drill press) and punch the plastic. They're not perfect, but passable. I made about a hundred bolt heads in about 20 minutes.

The fun part was trying to figure out how to make the parts that hold the rounds. You can tell by the mat with one inch squares in the photo how small the parts are. I used a bolt, cut the head off, and used opposing facing nuts to hold plastic in place. A Dremmel bit was ground to the right thickness (you can see it in the photo) and used to make cuts on my rotary table. The actual plastic is .020 mounted to a 1/8" thick piece of plastic with double sided tape. The 1/8" plastic acts as a disposable table and supports the thin plastic for milling. You can see the part after machining and cleaned up. Getting the double sided tape off was a pain.

 

Here are some of the parts LOOSELY fit together to give you an idea of what it looks like so far. You can see where the 1mm bolt heads went. The rounds actually fit snug into the carousel.

 

RB Models makes the 76mm ammo, and cheap too! The ammo for the German 75mm PAK 40 is the same size as what I need. But they are on a long break from making it and nobody has it anywhere in stock! I did find their 76mm ammo for the Sherman Easy 8 tanks (and other similar guns). The problem, the shell casings are too short, like about 1mm. They also have a pinched neck which is wrong. It also threw off everything else in the carousel. So I had to make the shell casings. I spent several days and after DOZENS of failed attempts (I mean that too) I figured out how to lathe the 76mm shell casings. It required grinding a new cutting tool and setting my lathe up like never before.

The casings below STILL NEED to have the rims trimmed, they are still rough. Left to right, a pile of casings (about 30), a piece of 1/16" tubing as the working material, a completed round with RB Models projectile, and a correct size shell casing next to RB Models shell casing. "So, what did you do this weekend?" I made itty bitty cannon shell casings - MT

 

That is just incredible.  Those tiny shell casings are nuts!!!

 

I hope you build a 1/20 Valkyrie if it ever gets released....I want to see you fabricate the 55mm she'll casings sprinkled around the Valk.

Edited March 15, 2021 by peter

[peter]

13 hours ago, electric indigo said:

^ MechTechMadness! 

_

After a few setbacks, I got this beast done. Better pics when the sun comes back.

As Crossair mentioned, it already looks pretty amazing without the sun.

 

 

[peter]

Nothing exciting to report, just a lot of filling, sanding, bending and cursing.

Have a bit more sanding and I'll hit these guys with primer.

The Ent E was pretty bad, a lot of flash, a lot of ill-fitting parts.  

The Ent C.....I was so close to sanding off the grid-lines, or maybe even knocking them down a bit, but the details they are attached to (life boats, windows, phaser banks) would be either affected or a huge pain in the butt to work around.

I think I'll have to accept the Ent C for how it looks.  But I'm glad I smoothied the Ent B and Ent D

[CrossAir]

3 hours ago, peter said:

Nothing exciting to report, just a lot of filling, sanding, bending and cursing.

Have a bit more sanding and I'll hit these guys with primer.

The Ent E was pretty bad, a lot of flash, a lot of ill-fitting parts.  

The Ent C.....I was so close to sanding off the grid-lines, or maybe even knocking them down a bit, but the details they are attached to (life boats, windows, phaser banks) would be either affected or a huge pain in the butt to work around.

I think I'll have to accept the Ent C for how it looks.  But I'm glad I smoothied the Ent B and Ent D

Cursing... That was what I did half the time working on my current project during the past two days as well!

But as we know your abilities you will make the crappiest kits looking good! 

[CrossAir]

Just finished: Sheryl Nome (resin kit from E2046)

Took me five weeks to finish her as I have not much time for hobby left since work is steadily increasing since January.

Though it is a resin kit it was not hard to built - fitting of parts was quite good, not much filling, priming and sanding necessary and everything went fine until the last airbrush stroke which should only be a tiny correction to the sole of one boot. 

From here on I went through modelers’ hell as I had to redo the right leg completly cause somehow I managed to ruin the finished paint job due to color on my fingertip. After this I thought I had overcome the worst part of this build, but it struck me even harder. During assembly of the veil on the back I dropped the idea of screwing it to the body and decided to use solely superglue. When I checked some minutes later I almost got an heart attack as I noticed a drop of glue had run down the right thigh.

Even worse, since the veil came off again I had marks of superglue on other parts, too. Once again I had to sand down the thighs, paint and clear coat it again. this time even on the already assembled figure. Same on some other parts. Took me the whole weekend for the repairs. And this time I attached the veil with a screw. But I still wonder how smoothly I went through the restoration process in the end. 

Final conclusion: I hate superglue!!!! 

[derex3592]

ahhh, superglue, it's such a blessing and a curse! Cursing is just part of modeling. I said a few choice wirtyderds myself this weekend!  "Let's try thinning Tamiya Liquid primer with lacquer thinner and airbrushing it on the deck of the USS Fort Worth so it won't cover up all my hard work on the tiny PE! It worked great for the guy who did it on YouTube!"  Yeeeehhhh....about that. It does work, however, you have to thin the ever loving crap out of it to get it to spray good. Despite my best efforts it still laid down rough in spots so I stripped it off and said screw primer, I'm just gonna paint the plastic. Used Vallejo Model Air - I have to say, that paint is phenomenal! No mixing, straight into airbrush and BAM! perfect mix to paint with and it has NO smell. Not even a whiff of anything. Not that I mind the Tamiya acrylic smell, but the Vallejo is better IMHO. 

Work continues on the Runabout warp nacelles, sanding and filling, filling and sanding..uuhhhhghhh....and then there's the hour I dedicated to working on stripping the disastrous primer/paint mix off the Cat's Eye. Slowly but surely!  Onwards and upwards, maybe by 2022 I'll have something finished! 

@peter- I agree with you on the Ent C - I left it alone. Just so you know, the warp engine decals on that one and the E are some of the most challenging! 

@electric indigo- Love the paintjob!  Great work! 

@MechTech - Soon you'll be making those guns really shoot tiny projectiles! I can see it now! Amazing work! 

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by derex3592