Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[peter]

On 4/14/2021 at 7:45 PM, pengbuzz said:

UPDATE:

Some paintwork done on the Tomcat ( Corrosion-control painting weathering):

Soon, I will be moving into attaching weapons rails and tanks (need to check the movie for whether these are on Maverick's bird during their time @ Miramar); before that, need to check specific references from the movie on any distinguishing different-colored panels and whatnot on the plane.

On another note, before I knew that we were going to obtain a new printer, I had put in an inquiry with Round 2 about the cost of obtaining the decal sheet for the refit; on their re-pop of the kit they had redone the decal sheet, correcting the old markings and adding additional ones as well. This was about a couple of weeks ago or so.

Being that I had misprinted some of the markings (I didn't use them, such as the hull registry numbers on the nacelles and such), I was preparing for another round of resizing and reprinting. Lo and behold, to my surprise, I got an email from them stating that they were sending me the decals!

O.o

So, just going to hold off on printing replacements here, and thank those at Round2 who seem to like me an awful lot!

 

Stay tuned...

 

That's looking pretty awesome!  Going to watch Top Gun now

[peter]

On 4/14/2021 at 8:30 PM, Gabe Q said:

@Chronocidal great work on that print! I can't wait to see her all done!

@pengbuzz it looks like you're in the final stretch for that F-14 build. Glad to see you got the canopy all sorted out. 

I just put a flat coat on the last few pieces of my super gerwalk build. It's still early so I may post a follow up pic when I'm all done later. 

Hey, look at that, another Valkyrie production line!  I can't wait to see this done.  Personally, I like Hasegawa Strike parts proportions far better than Max Factory ones.  I can't wait to see this complete.

[peter]

15 hours ago, derex3592 said:

@pengbuzz - Never trust a guy with a clean Tomcat.....dirtier the better! 

Lol!

[peter]

Dug the Hasegawa Battroid out again.  Since I just wrapped the fighters, I figured I'd compare a few parts between Battroid and Fighter.

Look at the size of that tab on the Battroid fin that goes into a slot in the leg.  Then there are the two tiny pegs for fighter that are basically useless to the human race.

Front of the foot on the Battroid is once piece versus the fighter which is two.  They look virtually the same at the end of the day.  I dunno, sometimes I think Hasegawa just made the fighter over complicated.

The nose section in Battroid mode just goes together, barely any seamline.  Granted no cockpit/landing gear bay, but the nose on the fighter go together like oil and water.

I didn't realize this was a snap kit......the only thing that fit like solid crap were the legs and hip area (which seems to be overly complicated.....and fragile).  

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by peter
Edited for spelling

[peter]

I decided to build an old Bandai 1/72 alongside the Hasegawa just to compare.  I was going to build a VF-1S but I'll set that aside for later.

Not a whole lot of detail compared to the Hasegawa.

1A head from the Battroid kit.  I wanted to use this for my fighters but it was too big so I might try and make it work for this Battroid kit.

Superb fit, lol!

Sweet Popeye arms.

Oval part into an oval hole?  Lol!

Anyway, got all the parts off, will see how differently this build goes compared to when I was a kid.

 

 

[derex3592]

Ok, seriously, do some of you guys not have jobs/wives/parents/kids??? HOW do y'all have so much time to work on models?! I'm lucky to get in a few hours on the weekends if I'm lucky! 

[wm cheng]

10 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

Ok, seriously, do some of you guys not have jobs/wives/parents/kids??? HOW do y'all have so much time to work on models?! I'm lucky to get in a few hours on the weekends if I'm lucky! 

YES!!!  So envious of you all - at least I can live vicariously through your achievements.

 

[Thom]

While I have plenty of time, but very little mojo...

[pengbuzz]

10 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Ok, seriously, do some of you guys not have jobs/wives/parents/kids??? HOW do y'all have so much time to work on models?! I'm lucky to get in a few hours on the weekends if I'm lucky! 

My wife does crochet and I do models, so we leave each other alone but take time to show each other our progress.

And no, I have no children; never wanted any, and I have seen the horrors of what a kid can do to collections that are unprotected. O.O One time though, one of my friends brought his grandson over to my house and the kid mad a beeline right for my workshop. Both me and my friend ran to stop him before he could make it in, and he was really upset when "he couldn't 'play' with (utterly destroy) the cool stuff".

No...I don't trust kids.

[pengbuzz]

15 hours ago, peter said:

I decided to build an old Bandai 1/72 alongside the Hasegawa just to compare.  I was going to build a VF-1S but I'll set that aside for later.

Not a whole lot of detail compared to the Hasegawa.

1A head from the Battroid kit.  I wanted to use this for my fighters but it was too big so I might try and make it work for this Battroid kit.

Superb fit, lol!

Sweet Popeye arms.

Oval part into an oval hole?  Lol!

Anyway, got all the parts off, will see how differently this build goes compared to when I was a kid.

 

 

Yeah, the heads I sent to you are smaller, so they might actually work out for you! As for Imai's stuff; I had to carve detail into mine after building it, that's how lacking they were.

[peter]

@derex3592

@wm cheng

Lol, my workbench is my home office desk, so when there is downtime, I work on models.  There is no way I could do this if I wasn't working from home.  So easy to switch to work when it's busy.

 

[peter]

25 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Yeah, the heads I sent to you are smaller, so they might actually work out for you! As for Imai's stuff; I had to carve detail into mine after building it, that's how lacking they were.

Those heads are awesome, not quite right for battroids, but perfect for fighters because I can hide the TV face when I'm building DYRL fighters. 

 

Thanks again for those, and I'll find a way to use those awesome wings you sent too!

 

[peter]

So, I've embarked on a journey of epic stupidity.  

I'm cannaibalizing old Gundam kits for their poly caps and ball joints and trying to ham-fist them into this decrepit old Bandai Valkyrie.

It's a bit silly considering the time and effort required when I could just spend $10 more and go get a few Hasegawa battroids, which are light years ahead and that's not saying much because the Hasegawa battroids still aren't in the same league as modern Gundam kits (I think).

Far one is the original 1/72 Bandai, white one is Hasegawa, and the closer one is from the Bandai 1/72 Gerwalk (I think....came with their Super Valk).

I'm really not smart enough to figure this out.

How do I made the Gundam parts fit inside the Valkyrie?

First time experimenting with epoxy putty.....just mashing everything in.

It pulled off part my glove.

What am I doing???!  I have no idea....it will probably all fall apart.

Filing holes where they probably don't belong.

If this actually works, it should have a bit more flexibility....if it falls apart, I'll just glue it together as a fixed pose statue, lol!

[pengbuzz]

38 minutes ago, peter said:

Those heads are awesome, not quite right for battroids, but perfect for fighters because I can hide the TV face when I'm building DYRL fighters. 

 

Thanks again for those, and I'll find a way to use those awesome wings you sent too!

 

That was the intent bro! Enjoy the parts!

  

28 minutes ago, peter said:

So, I've embarked on a journey of epic stupidity.  

I'm cannaibalizing old Gundam kits for their poly caps and ball joints and trying to ham-fist them into this decrepit old Bandai Valkyrie.

It's a bit silly considering the time and effort required when I could just spend $10 more and go get a few Hasegawa battroids, which are light years ahead and that's not saying much because the Hasegawa battroids still aren't in the same league as modern Gundam kits (I think).

Far one is the original 1/72 Bandai, white one is Hasegawa, and the closer one is from the Bandai 1/72 Gerwalk (I think....came with their Super Valk).

I'm really not smart enough to figure this out.

How do I made the Gundam parts fit inside the Valkyrie?

First time experimenting with epoxy putty.....just mashing everything in.

It pulled off part my glove.

What am I doing???!  I have no idea....it will probably all fall apart.

Filing holes where they probably don't belong.

If this actually works, it should have a bit more flexibility....if it falls apart, I'll just glue it together as a fixed pose statue, lol!

hey...how do you think 3/4 of my projects happen?!

Edited April 17, 2021 by pengbuzz

[Gabe Q]

@peter you're ambitious! It's always a learning experience at the bench. Working on these older kits is a challenge but it is worth the effort.

From my own experience, I tend to abandon the older kits more frequently. With the unusable decals, poor fit, and cruder engineering, it's a real challenge to follow through and finish.

I'm not saying you'll abandon the build but just encouraging you keep going we'll be watching. 

[peter]

1 hour ago, pengbuzz said:

That was the intent bro! Enjoy the parts!

  

hey...how do you think 3/4 of my projects happen?!

Lol, let's see how far my insanity goes.

@Gabe Q

I abandoned a kit 17+ years ago and stopped building models altogether, let's hope my stupidity does put me off again.

This old kit is nasty.  I found my original one from when I was 9 or 10.  Dug up a few others too.

Anyway, this floppy mess was my favourite self-built toy when I was a kid, so it's just nostalgia, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Everything is captured within another part, from the hands all the way to the shoulders.....same thing with the legs.  It would be build, sand and fill, paint, mask, then sandwich it in another section and do it all over.

All plastic joints, no poly so the joints will wear our and the whole thing will flop apart.  I guess my motivation now is just to be able to build each part separately for ease of painting and have a bit better articulation.  I guess it's also a learning experience, trying to figure out the best way to add better joints and use epoxy putty.  

Honestly, I wish someone else with more skill would just make a YouTube video on how far they could go in accuratizing and modernizing this kit and I could just sit back, watch and eat popcorn.

Anyway, I have another one of these and if I ever build that one, it would be straight out of the box.  This one will be my guinea pig

 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by peter
Edited for spelling

[pengbuzz]

23 minutes ago, peter said:

Lol, let's see how far my insanity goes.

@Gabe Q

I abandoned a kit 17+ years ago and stopped building models altogether, let's hope my stupidity does put me off again.

This old kit is nasty.  I found my original one from when I was 9 or 10.  Dug up a few others too.

Anyway, this floppy mess was my favourite self-built toy when I was a kid, so it's just nostalgia, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Everything is captured within another part, from the hands all the way to the shoulders.....same thing with the legs.  It would be build, sand and fill, paint, mask, then sandwich it in another section and do it all over.

All plastic joints, no poly so the joints will wear our and the whole thing will flop apart.  I guess my motivation now is just to be able to build each part separately for ease of painting and have a bit better articulation.  I guess it's also a learning experience, trying to figure out the best way to add better joints and use epoxy putty.  

Honestly, I wish someone else with more skill would just make a YouTube video on how far they could go in accuratizing and modernizing this kit and I could just sit back, watch and eat popcorn.

Anyway, I have another one of these and if I ever build that one, it would be straight out of the box.  This one will be my guinea pig

 

 

Do you know what that VF-1S Battroid build says to me?

"imagine the possibilities, if you dare..."

That kit is just begging for superdetailing, engraved panel lines, weathering, increased articulation and clear parts with greeblies behind them.

 

[Gabe Q]

Still masking and painting the little details. I hope I can get 'er done soon. 

 

[Gabe Q]

She's really coming along now. Almost done. 

[peter]

15 minutes ago, Gabe Q said:

She's really coming along now. Almost done. 

That looks amazing, but wait a sec, I don't recall seeing the removable Macross/skull logo plates on the fighter....is that something new for just the Gerwalk?

I haven't gotten around to the super/strike Battroid yet.

[Gabe Q]

Yeah the battroid has the removable insignia plates on the fast packs. Also, the micro missiles are showing in the fast packs as well. The super fighter does not have these options. 

[Convectuoso]

I've been doing some progress on my YF-29.

In the meantime, I've started a new project

[pengbuzz]

Nearly done... just a few more things to button up:

[MechTech]

@peter Cool work blending Gundam with Macross parts! I wish Bandai / Imai did that originally! I used to buy cheap Gundam kits (when there was a store by my home growing up) and do the same thing. Epoxy putty REALLY should be used with gloves, but then it sticks like crazy! I just used some recently to make a bottle and surgical needle thread together for a fine glue applicator. I just cleaned my hands really good!

@Gabe Q That's looking good Gabe! So did you build the 1/72nd Strike Valk and it came with the different fast packs? If so, that's cool, but too bad they didn't use the same for both kits.

@pengbuzz Nice custom decals to go with that scheme! I remember when the pilot, who originally inspired the story for Top Gun, came to our school and was telling us how he actually did fly inverted and gave the Soviets "the bird." It was a bomber though and they were escorting them out of the area. - MT

[arbit]

I'm making a miniature laser piano. I scribed all the panels and laid down a black enamel wash to create solid edges.  To paint the clear pla plate, I primed it with a clear varnish first to give the paint something to adhere to.

I gained some good experience with the repeated glossing and masking, as well as learning a bit about matching color tones.

Edited April 18, 2021 by arbit

[Rock]

Tomcat's cockpit parts and decals have been in customs for 2 months now... from Russia with love~

Been in quite the slump for the past few months anyways with hobby and life and haven't done anything but spring-time repairs.

 

Yesterday got a bit of a splash of inspiration when cleaning the basement and decided to start pinning/fitting my Atelier Sai Double X that evening. I'm not sure I'll go much further as the old girl is a mess. The Legs seem to be 1/60, the waist 1/100, the torso 1/72 and the head smaller than 1/100. I'm not sure I have it in me to correct it. I think buying the old 1/100 HG would be a good start as that would bump the head size up... but man- I have got to quit making everything into 5 kit donation project.

 

[pengbuzz]

4 hours ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz Nice custom decals to go with that scheme! I remember when the pilot, who originally inspired the story for Top Gun, came to our school and was telling us how he actually did fly inverted and gave the Soviets "the bird." It was a bomber though and they were escorting them out of the area. - MT

Thanks! Truth be told though: about 99 percent of the decals on there came with the kit! The only ones I printed were the national insignia "roundels", as the kit-supplied ones looked a bit stupid:

At the very least, they certainly aren't the national insignia that the Tomcat had in the mid-80's!

Anyways, with the Tomcat wrapping up, I have a "surprise" project that has actually been in the background for a while now:

 

It's an F/A-18E Super Hornet that I rescued from a thrift store a while back. Hint for what it's going to be: look at the aileron:

Also: does the pilot look a bit familiar?

Stay tuned.... "they're called "orders", Maverick..."

Edited April 18, 2021 by pengbuzz

[MechTech]

@arbit I'm at a loss, where's the piano from? It looks cool and with LEDs too!

@Rock Unless you tell someone, they may not notice Sometimes parts are accentuated / under accentuated for effect. This could be like that.

@pengbuzz Alright, what communist came up with those roundels? Those were never put into service unless someone did them on a custom job. Then they would have been made to take them off. I know, they were trying to match the Top Gun logo, but you don't mess with American national insignias. There's laws that govern that. Kudos for fixing them!

Your Superhornet is going to be released before the movie! - MT

[derex3592]

So yesterday was a HUGE milestone day!  The Runabout -- IS TOGETHER!  More importantly, nothing broke, my windows haven't fogged as I used Tamiya cement, not superglue, and all the LED's still work! I'm calling it a win!  Many clamps were used!  It's not perfect, lots more puttying, sanding and repainting to do now that it's together.  The upper hull sides were warped out of the box,  so I ended up using brass bars/rod in the nose and half way back to pry it open enough to (more or less) match up to the pegs and mate to bottom half.  Some pics below...one last look at the innards! The last one is the back end all sealed up with lights on!  More pics later when I get a chance.  

[pengbuzz]

Well, yesterday my darling upstairs neighbors decided to have "Stompfest 2021" upstairs. >:(  They managed to rattle several things right off the table in our apartment (I SWEAR they must be dropping bowling balls and cinderblocks!) ; thankfully, the Tomcat was NOT amongst the items that fell from the table. it was safely in its' storage bin and thus was not a casualty.

 

However... the Refit WAS.

 

As it stands right now, both nacelle pylons are cracked apart from the Secondary hull. Thankfully, they both have a metal reinforcement rod (bent into a "u" shape") that supports the main weight.

That said:... I DID NOT NEED THIS:

I should be able to repair the damage with Plastic Welder; then it's a matter of repainting the areas that got cracked (ugh) and doing my best to hide the damage. But since I haven't slept since it happened (I cannot sleep when I'm upset) When I am a bit calmer, I plan on having a very detailed discussion with our landlord, which will include the price for a new tube of Plastic Welder, as well as any other amenities I may need to effect repairs. This discussion will also include the request for the landlord to issue a written warning against our upstairs neighbors (to be retained in the landlord's files and a copy for our own files), and the future possibility of summoning law enforcement/ legal action concerning them and their less-than-civil behavior.

It's a very small universe when I'm angry with someone.

Stay tuned...

 

 

[Thom]

8 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Well, yesterday my darling upstairs neighbors decided to have "Stompfest 2021" upstairs. >:(  They managed to rattle several things right off the table in our apartment (I SWEAR they must be dropping bowling balls and cinderblocks!) ; thankfully, the Tomcat was NOT amongst the items that fell from the table. it was safely in its' storage bin and thus was not a casualty.

 

However... the Refit WAS.

 

As it stands right now, both nacelle pylons are cracked apart from the Secondary hull. Thankfully, they both have a metal reinforcement rod (bent into a "u" shape") that supports the main weight.

That said:... I DID NOT NEED THIS:

I should be able to repair the damage with Plastic Welder; then it's a matter of repainting the areas that got cracked (ugh) and doing my best to hide the damage. But since I haven't slept since it happened (I cannot sleep when I'm upset) When I am a bit calmer, I plan on having a very detailed discussion with our landlord, which will include the price for a new tube of Plastic Welder, as well as any other amenities I may need to effect repairs. This discussion will also include the request for the landlord to issue a written warning against our upstairs neighbors (to be retained in the landlord's files and a copy for our own files), and the future possibility of summoning law enforcement/ legal action concerning them and their less-than-civil behavior.

It's a very small universe when I'm angry with someone.

Stay tuned...

 

 

Aw, damn man. There's only one response to that...

 

It's real shame when neighbors choose to be arseholes. Hope it can be smoothed over, and for the model too!

 

[peter]

On 4/18/2021 at 8:39 AM, arbit said:

I'm making a miniature laser piano. I scribed all the panels and laid down a black enamel wash to create solid edges.  To paint the clear pla plate, I primed it with a clear varnish first to give the paint something to adhere to.

I gained some good experience with the repeated glossing and masking, as well as learning a bit about matching color tones.

I can't scribe to save my life.  Tried it with the Bandai and it looks like an abortion, will post pics, but yours looks amazing.

[peter]

On 4/18/2021 at 12:37 PM, Rock said:

Tomcat's cockpit parts and decals have been in customs for 2 months now... from Russia with love~

Been in quite the slump for the past few months anyways with hobby and life and haven't done anything but spring-time repairs.

 

Yesterday got a bit of a splash of inspiration when cleaning the basement and decided to start pinning/fitting my Atelier Sai Double X that evening. I'm not sure I'll go much further as the old girl is a mess. The Legs seem to be 1/60, the waist 1/100, the torso 1/72 and the head smaller than 1/100. I'm not sure I have it in me to correct it. I think buying the old 1/100 HG would be a good start as that would bump the head size up... but man- I have got to quit making everything into 5 kit donation project.

 

I'm not very familiar with Gundam but that looks good to me.

[peter]

14 hours ago, MechTech said:

@arbit I'm at a loss, where's the piano from? It looks cool and with LEDs too!

@Rock Unless you tell someone, they may not notice Sometimes parts are accentuated / under accentuated for effect. This could be like that.

@pengbuzz Alright, what communist came up with those roundels? Those were never put into service unless someone did them on a custom job. Then they would have been made to take them off. I know, they were trying to match the Top Gun logo, but you don't mess with American national insignias. There's laws that govern that. Kudos for fixing them!

Your Superhornet is going to be released before the movie! - MT

I agree, I don't really like the look of those Topgun roundels.

[peter]

12 hours ago, derex3592 said:

So yesterday was a HUGE milestone day!  The Runabout -- IS TOGETHER!  More importantly, nothing broke, my windows haven't fogged as I used Tamiya cement, not superglue, and all the LED's still work! I'm calling it a win!  Many clamps were used!  It's not perfect, lots more puttying, sanding and repainting to do now that it's together.  The upper hull sides were warped out of the box,  so I ended up using brass bars/rod in the nose and half way back to pry it open enough to (more or less) match up to the pegs and mate to bottom half.  Some pics below...one last look at the innards! The last one is the back end all sealed up with lights on!  More pics later when I get a chance.  

That Roundabout is pretty awesome...honestly, I had no idea they were that big inside.