Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[Chronocidal]

So, if you haven't installed them, my thought was that you could just leave out the little cross-bars in the front of the lower legs, and that would eliminate the alignment issue entirely.  You'd just have to find another way to mount them.  You might be able to just glue the legs onto the thighs and align them manually. 

Or maybe just scrape out the guides inside the legs and mount the cross-bars at the right angle?  I don't know why the magazine example didn't do that instead, because it sounds several orders of magnitude less work.

Edited March 31, 2021 by Chronocidal

[wm cheng]

@pengbuzz  I don't know how you do it, but you've pulled some amazingly patient rescues with the crap you had to start with.   What a great wife there too, thank her - nice to see someone so understanding.  My wife has often said to me when I get frustrated; "why are you even doing this, it obviously brings you no joy, you should just quit!"  I often get an anxiety attack just watching you attempt some of your projects :P  I've come to the realization that my time is so precious to me that I will spend whatever it costs to get a great model kit (Taimya, FineMolds, GWH or Hasegawa) complete with every Photo-etched or resin/3D printed add on to make my life easier because ultimately my time & aggravation costs more than what the kit or materials will cost. 

@electric indigo Where were you when I just built my 1/72 GWH F-14 Tomcat?!?!  I put so much effort into that beautiful photo-etched cockpit and its completely hidden away with the canopy closed - argh!!!  I usually display the canopy open, but the rear RIO coaming was a bad shape on this kit (it was squeezed to allow the canopy to close over it) so I decided to close it and it ended up hiding all that work - it had great rear fuses/breaker detail as well as sidewall detail & decals that is totally hidden.

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, wm cheng said:

@pengbuzz  I don't know how you do it, but you've pulled some amazingly patient rescues with the crap you had to start with.   What a great wife there too, thank her - nice to see someone so understanding.  My wife has often said to me when I get frustrated; "why are you even doing this, it obviously brings you no joy, you should just quit!"  I often get an anxiety attack just watching you attempt some of your projects :P  I've come to the realization that my time is so precious to me that I will spend whatever it costs to get a great model kit (Taimya, FineMolds, GWH or Hasegawa) complete with every Photo-etched or resin/3D printed add on to make my life easier because ultimately my time & aggravation costs more than what the kit or materials will cost.

Well...most of that as sheer necessity. We don't have a lot of money due to circumstances, so anything I get that isn't "up to par" has only one choice: make it do or do without. The Tomcat was an unusual circumstance, and one where my wife Meg honestly felt bad for me after everything I tried with that kit. Things like the VF-1S kit that fell apart, the Arii Macross transformation and the 1/72 Armored Factory were out of necessity: the first was old brittle plastic, the second was because I will never be able to afford or find either a Hasegawa TV Storm Attacker kit or Matchbox SDF-1 that doesn't cost 700 dollars (even 30 dollars is a stretch when bills need to be paid), and the last  literally doesn't exist for the market at 1/72 that I know of! So with those things in mind: I often get anxious myself when I attempt these things too, but hey, someone's gotta do it, right?! lol

And yeah: my wife is one in a trillion trillion trillion; she does crochet, so she knows all too well what frustration is! lol

The thing is wm cheng: it was one of your tutorials on the VF-1 (it was on Scribd before they deleted it) that has been of great assistance to me in my modeling efforts. I see folks' clean, perfect work and wish I could do that (I literally cannot do a clean build to save my life!) , but I still try!

Edited April 1, 2021 by pengbuzz

[MechTech]

@Chronocidal That's cool! I think you do have a manufacturer's advertising model. The internal logo inside the wing (as you pointed out) and "Douglas" on the box are indeed old markings you won't see anymore. I always loved that plane! We have one at the museum and the "Ford" was another great airframe design that suffered from an under powered engine. It just looks like it wants to fly.

@peter Thanks! I know what I'm getting. If I see things correctly, that will be a 1/72nd scale 76mm cannon (since I already have ammo for it)!

Concerning finding that book AFTER building all those valks... Yeah, been there, done that!

HAPPY APRIL FIRST EVERYONE! Don't get pranked! - MT

[peter]

On 3/31/2021 at 10:50 AM, Chronocidal said:

So, if you haven't installed them, my thought was that you could just leave out the little cross-bars in the front of the lower legs, and that would eliminate the alignment issue entirely.  You'd just have to find another way to mount them.  You might be able to just glue the legs onto the thighs and align them manually. 

Or maybe just scrape out the guides inside the legs and mount the cross-bars at the right angle?  I don't know why the magazine example didn't do that instead, because it sounds several orders of magnitude less work.

While I was watching the primer dry on the 1J, I decided to open the 1S.  

Figured it sat in my pile for almost 20 years, maybe I should get it going.

All my leftover TV missiles will come in handy for these TV builds.

I wasn't going to bother fixing it, but then decided I may as well practice and see how bad I screw it up.

Top leg is unmolested, bottom one is "fixed".  The IJ is mostly glued together so I won't mess with it, so just the 1S for now

[peter]

On 3/31/2021 at 6:25 PM, pengbuzz said:

Well...most of that as sheer necessity. We don't have a lot of money due to circumstances, so anything I get that isn't "up to par" has only one choice: make it do or do without. The Tomcat was an unusual circumstance, and one where my wife Meg honestly felt bad for me after everything I tried with that kit. Things like the VF-1S kit that fell apart, the Arii Macross transformation and the 1/72 Armored Factory were out of necessity: the first was old brittle plastic, the second was because I will never be able to afford or find either a Hasegawa TV Storm Attacker kit or Matchbox SDF-1 that doesn't cost 700 dollars (even 30 dollars is a stretch when bills need to be paid), and the last  literally doesn't exist for the market at 1/72 that I know of! So with those things in mind: I often get anxious myself when I attempt these things too, but hey, someone's gotta do it, right?! lol

And yeah: my wife is one in a trillion trillion trillion; she does crochet, so she knows all too well what frustration is! lol

The thing is wm cheng: it was one of your tutorials on the VF-1 (it was on Scribd before they deleted it) that has been of great assistance to me in my modeling efforts. I see folks' clean, perfect work and wish I could do that (I literally cannot do a clean build to save my life!) , but I still try!

Man, I wish WM Cheng's tutorials were still pinned up in the model thread for easy access.  I flipped through them ages ago, but wasn't building models at the time.

Now I'm finally getting around to models I bought 20 years ago, using up rattle cans and bottles of paint that are probably just as old.  Surprisingly still ok, though some needed some thinner.

[peter]

Comparison between a regular nose gear, and a launch ready one....lol, can hardly tell the difference.

Tried something different on the feet.....flat black base paint, then dusted on the Steel.  Ended up looking it it was sprinkled with stripper glitter. Side not and tip to the fellas here, that $hit is impossible to wash off so don't get any in you.....or so I've heard.

Top one was straight steel, bottom intake covers are stripper glitter over flat black.

[peter]

BTW, I've been humming and hawing about dumping the idea of building Hikaru's 1J and was thinking of trying to recreate this scene:

https://youtu.be/dyVwXc5KTKo

Can anyone tell who is on deck?  It looks like Hikaru, Max and Kakizaki.  Not sure if Roy already launched, but I didn't notice his 1S.

Any idea what their placement is in terms of which catapault they are staged at?  I know nothing of carrier deck operations, but it looks like Hikaru launched from one of the front facing ones, and maybe someone else launched from the other one?

Anyway, just mulling over the idea, if I figure it's too much, I might just bin the idea and go back to building Hikaru's TV 1J.  Also, I'll need more 1A heads, hahahaha!  I have no idea why I bought so many 1S Valks back in the day.

 

[pengbuzz]

46 minutes ago, peter said:

While I was watching the primer dry on the 1J, I decided to open the 1S.  

Figured it sat in my pile for almost 20 years, maybe I should get it going.

All my leftover TV missiles will come in handy for these TV builds.

I wasn't going to bother fixing it, but then decided I may as well practice and see how bad I screw it up.

Top leg is unmolested, bottom one is "fixed".  The IJ is mostly glued together so I won't mess with it, so just the 1S for now

I remember building the 1S; I modded the wings to have "dropped flaps and slats". Not my best work, but passable:

Ended up not using them (model later didn't go so well), so I stashed these aside. Probably would need stripping and rework; the attachment bar they slid onto snapped off inside them, so that would have to be dug out.

 

 

[peter]

42 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

I remember building the 1S; I modded the wings to have "dropped flaps and slats". Not my best work, but passable:

Ended up not using them (model later didn't go so well), so I stashed these aside. Probably would need stripping and rework; the attachment bar they slid onto snapped off inside them, so that would have to be dug out.

 

 

Holy crap, that's well beyond my abilities.....and patience.  I would totally mangled the wings.  I couldn't scribe a straight line, let alone saw flaps off and reattach them like that.

Edited April 2, 2021 by peter
Edited for spelling

[pengbuzz]

34 minutes ago, peter said:

Holy crap, that's well beyond my abilities.....and patience.  I would totally mangled the wings.  I couldn't scribe a straight line, let alone saw flaps off and reattach them like that.

Well, I'm mailing the heads out to you tomorrow (Post Office gave us a customs form we had ti fill out, so mailing them yesterday was a bust!), so if you want, I'll toss these in with them. I got the holes where the mounting spar into the main body goes cleaned out, so they should be good to go.

Edited April 2, 2021 by pengbuzz

[peter]

On 3/30/2021 at 12:36 AM, Sanity is Optional said:

How is the Hasegawa 1/48 YF-19? I have one in my backlog, plus the photo etched add-on kit.

Found this build:

https://youtu.be/JVgFokfsRUs

Sort of want to build one now 

 

 

[505thAirborne]

A bit more progress today with the 31A. 

 

[peter]

2 hours ago, 505thAirborne said:

A bit more progress today with the 31A. 

 

Nice work!  Love Tamiya rattle cans, spent a fortune on them over the years, lol!

[505thAirborne]

29 minutes ago, peter said:

Nice work!  Love Tamiya rattle cans, spent a fortune on them over the years, lol!

Thanks @peter Yeah those Tamiya cans aren't necessarily cheap but man how the paint goes on evenly. 

[Salamander]

On 4/2/2021 at 6:13 AM, peter said:

Holy crap, that's well beyond my abilities.....and patience.  I would totally mangled the wings.  I couldn't scribe a straight line, let alone saw flaps off and reattach them like that.

It's not that hard, because you have panel lines along which you can scribe/saw. You saw through the wings at the short edges, and then use a scriber to cut through the long edge.

If the wings actually use separate parts for top and bottom half, you can cut out the flaps on each halve and then fill up the remaining space with plastic card.

The only real problem occurs when the top and bottom half of the wings are not properly aligned with regards to the panel lines, and the wings are a single piece.

 

[505thAirborne]

Getting closer to decals! 

 

[peter]

22 hours ago, Salamander said:

It's not that hard, because you have panel lines along which you can scribe/saw. You saw through the wings at the short edges, and then use a scriber to cut through the long edge.

If the wings actually use separate parts for top and bottom half, you can cut out the flaps on each halve and then fill up the remaining space with plastic card.

The only real problem occurs when the top and bottom half of the wings are not properly aligned with regards to the panel lines, and the wings are a single piece.

 

Hmmm......might dig out an older model to experiment on.  I have a few fighters I build as a kid, maybe I can try it with one of those.  I should get a saw for this type of task.

Not much to report on the VF-1 builds.  Just painted the white bits like the landing gear, bays and intakes.

I'd forgotten that white requires a lot of coats over darker primers.

 

 

While waiting for the paint to dry, I got curious about a few Battroid kits I bought, also about 20 yrs ago or so.  I laid them out to take photos for a comparison, and next thing I know, I start cutting parts off trees and started to fit a few parts together.  

 

Wow, the Battroid version is coming across as a lot easier to build so far.  The older Bandai might be a bit of a pain, what with captured parts.  I build a few of those old Bandai kits as a kid, and made a mess of them, so hopefully I can do better now.

Got some subassemblies slapped together, did as much as I could without my helping hands magnifier.  Left eh forearms open because it does capture a clear piece, so that might need some pre-painting before closing them off.

More to follow.

[arbit]

Working on my airlock. Trying to add a bit more care scribing this one.  The micro DPDT switch is a lot of fun to solder! I've have added two LEDs in series which attach to the two motor pins, so I get different color light depending on direction of the motor when airlock is opening and closing.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by arbit

[Salamander]

6 hours ago, peter said:

Hmmm......might dig out an older model to experiment on.  I have a few fighters I build as a kid, maybe I can try it with one of those.  I should get a saw for this type of task.

 

Personally, I use a small handsaw for the cruder jobs, and photo-etched saws for finer work (these literally come as a fret of photo-etched parts, and typically include saws you can hold between a few fingers and also versions that can replace your modelling knife blade)

[MechTech]

@505thAirborne Those colors look good together! Nice scheme.

@peter Where do you get all the free time to build! You're building up a massive armada to take over the galaxy!

@arbit That's awesome Arbit! What's the little green box? I think I saw those micro switches at Radio Shack. They are TINY! - MT

[arbit]

1 minute ago, MechTech said:

That's awesome Arbit! What's the little green box? I think I saw those micro switches at Radio Shack. They are TINY! - MT

The little green box is a mobile bread board

[peter]

2 hours ago, Salamander said:

Personally, I use a small handsaw for the cruder jobs, and photo-etched saws for finer work (these literally come as a fret of photo-etched parts, and typically include saws you can hold between a few fingers and also versions that can replace your modelling knife blade)

Will have to look for those next visit to the local hobby shop

[peter]

1 hour ago, MechTech said:

@505thAirborne Those colors look good together! Nice scheme.

@peter Where do you get all the free time to build! You're building up a massive armada to take over the galaxy!

@arbit That's awesome Arbit! What's the little green box? I think I saw those micro switches at Radio Shack. They are TINY! - MT

Lol, no free time, with two little kids running around and 1.5 jobs, I just stay up in the middle of the night to work on stuff.......then drink gallons of coffee the next day just to function, hahahahahaha!

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, peter said:

Lol, no free time, with two little kids running around and 1.5 jobs, I just stay up in the middle of the night to work on stuff.......then drink gallons of coffee the next day just to function, hahahahahaha!

Peter... are you telling us that they found blood in your caffeine stream?

[505thAirborne]

Making some progress on the 19 today! 

@peter In my retail days we had a saying "Sleep is for the week!" 

 

 

 

[peter]

5 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Peter... are you telling us that they found blood in your caffeine stream?

Lol, there is just a little blood left, hahahaha

[peter]

1 hour ago, 505thAirborne said:

Making some progress on the 19 today! 

@peter In my retail days we had a saying "Sleep is for the week!" 

 

 

 

That's coming out nice.  I might crack mine open and take a peak inside.  There are a few 1/48 builds on YouTube, wonder if the 1/72 version is as easy as the 1/48 build looks?

I worked retail for 5 years, even have some military experience, but the sleep deprivation from mil work is nothing compared to having kids in your 40s, hahahahaha!!!

[peter]

White on grey primer (actually, it's white with a few drops of gray)

I've only rattle-canned my recent Valkyrie builds in a light grey, so this was the first time I was going for white.  Also, first time painting a Valk with an airbrush.

Really digging the splotchy look.

A few more coats

I still sort of like the gray....I don't know if I want to go full stark white from the anime.  Also, worried if I go further, I'll lose the splotchiness.

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by peter
Edited for spelling

[arbit]

Adding a few greeblies from a 1/700 battleship to make the airlock more Maross-y. 

[pengbuzz]

On 4/4/2021 at 10:03 PM, peter said:

White on grey primer (actually, it's white with a few drops of gray)

I've only rattle-canned my recent Valkyrie builds in a light grey, so this was the first time I was going for white.  Also, first time painting a Valk with an airbrush.

Really digging the splotchy look.

A few more coats

I still sort of like the gray....I don't know if I want to go full stark white from the anime.  Also, worried if I go further, I'll lose the splotchiness.

 

I'd stay with the splotchiness; it looks better. keep in mind that the anime wasn't exactly going for "photo-realistic".

[Chronocidal]

Building up that intake duct to print out got my 3D printing itch started again, so I figured it's time to see if I can't get the rest of the parts for this Excalibur model finally built up.  Spent a few hours engraving the rest of the panel lines, and got the parts actually what I would call "finished."

Now the "fun" part... test printing everything to see if it will actually fit together.  I've got the tails and engine exhaust panels done, so next up I'm trying one of the engine mounts (large pod on the far right).  Going to be a long ten hours waiting for this one, and I'm really not looking forward to how long the main wing will take.

[pengbuzz]

6 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Building up that intake duct to print out got my 3D printing itch started again, so I figured it's time to see if I can't get the rest of the parts for this Excalibur model finally built up.  Spent a few hours engraving the rest of the panel lines, and got the parts actually what I would call "finished."

Now the "fun" part... test printing everything to see if it will actually fit together.  I've got the tails and engine exhaust panels done, so next up I'm trying one of the engine mounts (large pod on the far right).  Going to be a long ten hours waiting for this one, and I'm really not looking forward to how long the main wing will take.

Interesting...resembles the Hellcat from Wing Commander IV.

[Chronocidal]

10 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Interesting...resembles the Hellcat from Wing Commander IV.

Hah.. good reason, it's a design from Wing Commander III, and got used in IV some.  Been building this model for literally decades, it started as an X-Wing vs Tie Fighter mod.  

Edited April 7, 2021 by Chronocidal

[pengbuzz]

4 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Hah.. good reason, it's a design from Wing Commander III, and got used in IV some.  Been building this model for literally years, it started as an X-Wing vs Tie Fighter mod.  

ROFL!!! Wow, small world! I literally played WCIV until I literally wore the discs out! loved that game!