Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[peter]

8 hours ago, Photogirl said:

Well, something happened to the decals.
THEY WILL NOT slide off the paper. 
they seem COOKED right on. its hard to see, but they are also very yellowed. 
I've worked with yellowed decals before, but i've never seen a waterslide that wouldn't come off. 

This project is garbage without the fine details. 
The white strioes and such i can paint, and i have spare UN.SPACY logos but none of those details are paintable. 

Heartbreaking, and the kit ws expensive. 

 

Geez, sorry to see that you're having decal trouble.  I've seen others have that same issue with that particular decal.  I only had one that almost fell apart, but I got it onto the panel and somehow managed to save it. 

 

Are the other decals on the sheet wrecked as well? 

 

[peter]

Not a lot to report..... The 1/1000 kit came with a bunch of spare parts, looks like the aircraft hangar or something, no instructions to build it inside our out of the model.

I know the Yamato 2199 version had this option, but this one is the 2202 version and there are actually some differences I noticed. 

The front end is actually wider than the older version. 

Lighting kit for the engines. 

What the kit calls for to light it.

Sandwiched between the old 1/1000 kit, and older 1/500

Just working on the Yamato while the Pledge dries on my Chunky Valk

Once the Pledge cures, decals and weathering. 

 

[Photogirl]

6 hours ago, peter said:

Geez, sorry to see that you're having decal trouble.  I've seen others have that same issue with that particular decal.  I only had one that almost fell apart, but I got it onto the panel and somehow managed to save it. 

 

Are the other decals on the sheet wrecked as well? 

 

ya, i've tested decals from all around the sheet. they just will not come off the backing. 
soaked up to 12ish minutes.
Its like they've been glued to the sheet

 

[Gabe Q]

3 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

ya, i've tested decals from all around the sheet. they just will not come off the backing. 
soaked up to 12ish minutes.
Its like they've been glued to the sheet

 

Try a layer of Microscale Liquid Decal solution. Then, use very warm (not boiling) water. Hopefully, that may do the trick. 

[Anasazi37]

16 hours ago, Photogirl said:

Well, something happened to the decals.
THEY WILL NOT slide off the paper. 
they seem COOKED right on. its hard to see, but they are also very yellowed. 
I've worked with yellowed decals before, but i've never seen a waterslide that wouldn't come off. 

This project is garbage without the fine details. 
The white strioes and such i can paint, and i have spare UN.SPACY logos but none of those details are paintable. 

Heartbreaking, and the kit ws expensive. 

 

Wow, that's terrible. I have some of the original Hasegawa Macross kits, which are a lot older than the Virgin Road kit, and none of them have decals with that amount of yellowing. It's possible that the sheet got wet at some point, but if that was the case, I'd expect to see decals shifted in location and probably wrinkled. The blue paper backing would probably be warped, too. What's more likely is that the sheet was exposed to a lot of heat and humidity, so the glue on the back of the film was activated and the decals fused to the paper. I don't know if these suggestions will work, but you can try them on the text decals in the bottom left corner of the sheet (e.g., 65764, 1/72, VF-1D) since you don't need those:

• If you can get it, brush some Microscale Liquid Decal Film on top of the decal. If you can't, you could try airbrushing on a very light layer of glossy clearcoat (like Future Floor Polish). The goal is to put a flexible clear film on top of the decal film so the decal holds together when you try to move it.
• Cut out the decal and place it in warm water, not room temperature water. That might help to loosen up the glue.
• Wait several minutes before trying to slide the decal off the paper, to make sure everything is saturated. Use gentle nudges, but a little more force might work as long as you're careful.
• You might need to repeat the dunk-in-warm-water-and-wait routine several times to loosen up the glue.
• Nuclear option: brush some decal setting (not softening) solution on and around the decal while it's still on the paper. Since setting solutions can be strong, I recommend thinning it out with some water first. Saturating the paper with the weakened solution might be enough to free the decal.

I'll reiterate that I don't know if any of the above will work. I've never tried those methods, but I've made and worked with decals for a very long time, so I'm trying to think through what might help you. Good luck.

[Thom]

10 hours ago, peter said:

The front end is actually wider than the older version. 

 

I wonder if that is to accommodate the housing for the newer lighting set-up.

I do like the better detail on it.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Thom

[Photogirl]

3 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

Wow, that's terrible. I have some of the original Hasegawa Macross kits, which are a lot older than the Virgin Road kit, and none of them have decals with that amount of yellowing. It's possible that the sheet got wet at some point, but if that was the case, I'd expect to see decals shifted in location and probably wrinkled. The blue paper backing would probably be warped, too. What's more likely is that the sheet was exposed to a lot of heat and humidity, so the glue on the back of the film was activated and the decals fused to the paper. I don't know if these suggestions will work, but you can try them on the text decals in the bottom left corner of the sheet (e.g., 65764, 1/72, VF-1D) since you don't need those:

• If you can get it, brush some Microscale Liquid Decal Film on top of the decal. If you can't, you could try airbrushing on a very light layer of glossy clearcoat (like Future Floor Polish). The goal is to put a flexible clear film on top of the decal film so the decal holds together when you try to move it.
• Cut out the decal and place it in warm water, not room temperature water. That might help to loosen up the glue.
• Wait several minutes before trying to slide the decal off the paper, to make sure everything is saturated. Use gentle nudges, but a little more force might work as long as you're careful.
• You might need to repeat the dunk-in-warm-water-and-wait routine several times to loosen up the glue.
• Nuclear option: brush some decal setting (not softening) solution on and around the decal while it's still on the paper. Since setting solutions can be strong, I recommend thinning it out with some water first. Saturating the paper with the weakened solution might be enough to free the decal.

I'll reiterate that I don't know if any of the above will work. I've never tried those methods, but I've made and worked with decals for a very long time, so I'm trying to think through what might help you. Good luck.

Yea, i'm thinking the glue was activated somehow, and they're stuck down. i tried soaking them up to 15 minutes, and they still wouldn't budge. 
The damage you see in the photo is me actually picking them with the tip of my blade. 
I think i'll just get one of the battloid sheets off Ebay and paint the white bits. 
I won't have the specific wedding decals, but o'll see if i can find another virgin road kit and just build this one for fun, and experience.
I won't feel bad swooshing it around my apartment that way. 

[Salamander]

20 hours ago, Photogirl said:

Well, something happened to the decals.
THEY WILL NOT slide off the paper. 
they seem COOKED right on. its hard to see, but they are also very yellowed. 
I've worked with yellowed decals before, but i've never seen a waterslide that wouldn't come off. 

This project is garbage without the fine details. 
The white strioes and such i can paint, and i have spare UN.SPACY logos but none of those details are paintable. 

Heartbreaking, and the kit ws expensive. 

 

Clearcoat the decals with (for example) Tamiya clear from a bottle (apply with a brush).

Then go SLOW on the decals. Don't try to move them off the sheet until the sheet looks positively soaked and the decals look like they're lifting off the backing sheet.

Just last week I completed a mid-1990s kit where the decals would not budge until I soaked them in water for over an hour (each)...

Edited May 21, 2021 by Salamander

[Photogirl]

SOOOO..
Look like this kit:  https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10013237
has a double decal sheet you can pick Max, or Hikaru.

I found one on Ebay, and asked the seller if he can show a photo of the decal sheet before i purchase. 
it can be a good insurance policy if i fail on painting the white stripes. 

[Chronocidal]

2 hours ago, Photogirl said:

SOOOO..
Look like this kit:  https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10013237
has a double decal sheet you can pick Max, or Hikaru.

I found one on Ebay, and asked the seller if he can show a photo of the decal sheet before i purchase. 
it can be a good insurance policy if i fail on painting the white stripes. 

That's the single 1/72 Hasegawa kit I have, and I believe that one actually covers Hikaru, Max and Milia, since the only difference between the decals for the M&Ms are the numbers and names.

You won't have the fancy wedding decals, but I'm actually not sure if the Virgin Road VF-1D has a canon number.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Chronocidal

[Photogirl]

16 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

That's the single 1/72 Hasegawa kit I have, and I believe that one actually covers Hikaru, Max and Milia, since the only difference between the decals for the M&Ms are the numbers and names.

You won't have the fancy wedding decals, but I'm actually not sure if the Virgin Road VF-1D has a canon number.

I caved and picked it up.
i tried some of the suggested tricks for the decals and they are just toast. 
Hopefully with this i can finagle something together.

 

[pengbuzz]

12 hours ago, Photogirl said:

I caved and picked it up.
i tried some of the suggested tricks for the decals and they are just toast. 
Hopefully with this i can finagle something together.

 

I wonder if the white "married" decals could be done on clear decal paper by hand. I may try that and let you know how it turns out.

[derex3592]

Runabout detail painting day! I need to buy stock in Tamiya.. LOL 

[MechTech]

WOW! LOTS of great stuff everyone! Miss a couple of days and you miss a lot!

@peter That shading on the Yamato does look great! The other builds are looking good too!

@joscasle Your paint job is looking great! That's cool that the fit is so good, you don't need glue just to piece it together to check the fit.

@Photogirl (Posted this after your update popped up. Hopefully the new sheet works out)...You may be able to coat the decals with Micro Superfilm, then let them soak in hot water. The film will prevent splintering. All of Microscale's products are great too.

http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MI-12&Category_Code=FINPROD&Product_Count=6

Also, when I built the vintage 1/48 Dougram Hasty, each decal had to sit in water for at least 30 minutes each - no kidding! I started laying them out in order to use in the bowl and just let them sit while I watched TV, then applied them one at a time as 30 minutes passed. It's ultra slow, but its cheaper!

@derex3592 Looks like you DID buy stock in Tamiya Then again, most of probably have! Runabout is looking good!

 

Time to bring out the BIG gun - really! I highly modified the stock cannon to accept the polycap joint and a canister for use as an ammo drum. I sat there for hours trying to figure this one out. Thank God a solution came to me. The polycap in the joint is so large, I just drilled a hole in it for a brass rod to go through. The brass is needed for strength. So the polycap is working on two axis at the same time now. The photo perspective makes the cannon and chest look larger than it is - smart phones are not too smart sometimes.

Then I created a plate to closely match the brown armor plates on the lower chest and added vision slots to the collar area.

Have you ever done something and it turned out wrong in some way? After I say this, you won't be able to unsee it, but the chest looks like a frog's face right now! I'm hoping a coat of paint and decals clears it up.

Next, I machined discs out of old wheels to cover up the joint area in the forearm. There is also a hexagonal piece added for detail and to space the arm pieces out on the joint.

These are either going to be cooling systems or generators on the back of the legs. At least that gaping area is filled in now. And an oblique perspective shot to put it all together so far...

Thankfully, everything is starting to come together - except that frog face thing Thanks for checking in! - MT

Edited May 23, 2021 by MechTech

[Photogirl]

HAAAA!!

i tried the light coating of clear last night, and let the decals soak in near boiling water for a while, but they still fell apart.
I tried again today but only just dipped them in for a minute, and got this result.

the UN. Spacy decals were OK, but the warning decals were still a bit iffy.
but they went on. 

There is a balance i have to find. if you look at the decal sheet in the right light, its not an even level of "damage" so some decls may be salvageable, and some not.
I'm already out 6 or 7 important decals on failed tries.
Also, the seller on ebay i bought the spare decl sheet from canceled my order because HongKOng post won't ship to Canada due to Covid.

FFFffffffffff. 

[Photogirl]

Since the Virgin Road kit was an afterthought, the kit was molded first as a VF-1A/J/S. The special D parts were on an added sprue, so, had they included two canopy glass and head options, this could have been made as any model, so there was a nose cone, and main fuselage spare. 
Thats what i built up here as practice, to see how white would go over the blue, and if i could mask off to make the white stripes since the decals were toast.

I am happy with results, and will now get on to the kit proper. 

[arbit]

4 hours ago, MechTech said:

Thankfully, everything is starting to come together - except that frog face thing Thanks for checking in! - MT

Lots of greeblies going on!

1 hour ago, Photogirl said:

I am happy with results, and will now get on to the kit proper. 

Looking forward to this one! I treat Hasegawa VF-1s like resin kits, lots of puttying and sanding to get the forms I want out of this ancient (yet beautiful) mold.

If only it came with M&M in wedding gear!

[Photogirl]

18 minutes ago, arbit said:

Lots of greeblies going on!

Looking forward to this one! I treat Hasegawa VF-1s like resin kits, lots of puttying and sanding to get the forms I want out of this ancient (yet beautiful) mold.

If only it came with M&M in wedding gear!

Ya, but i decided that since later in the episode, max is in his flight suit, and Milia is in hers, with a yellow helmet, that i can just recast the pilot that came with the Gerwalk kit, and just have the plane from after the wedding, LOL. 

I;ve decide to modify the kit with gear up, so that its in flight mode, and that takes some careful alignment and sanding.

 

[derex3592]

Some good progress yesterday, couple of touch ups to do, but so far, so good....

[joscasle]

VF-1A SUPER MASS PRODUCTION CONTINUES

Started to apply some decals, use magnets for the weapon pilons, bad idea to do that after you glue the wing pieces, but works 

Use a random number for the Valk.

 

 

 

 

[pengbuzz]

Not a happy camper right now, as My VF-1J had paint peeling from several areas and from whatever crap our former upstairs neighbors' decided to smoke indoors ( the smoke seeping down into our apartment. I hate old buildings!)

 

So...it's strip and repaint time. I can print most of the decals (white mech red stripes with un spacy roundels and black nacelle un spacy log. Just need to figure out the white for the gunpod, or ask to see who's got a couple of white decals they can spare.

Was  trying to take a break...eh well.

[505thAirborne]

3 hours ago, joscasle said:

VF-1A SUPER MASS PRODUCTION CONTINUES

Started to apply some decals, use magnets for the weapon pilons, bad idea to do that after you glue the wing pieces, but works 

Use a random number for the Valk.

 

 

 

 

Looks great so far, love the use of magnets! 

I'm also working on a VF-1A CF with Fast Packs. Just curious, what shade of paint did you use for the light brown? 

[joscasle]

20 minutes ago, 505thAirborne said:

Looks great so far, love the use of magnets! 

I'm also working on a VF-1A CF with Fast Packs. Just curious, what shade of paint did you use for the light brown? 

Hi!  aflter a lot of tests, I use for main colo Tamiya LP-76, with a marble coat of varios shades os light brown, LP-77, Gaianote 201,204, deck brown and sandy yellow. The top coat was LP-76.

[Gabe Q]

@joscasle Your super CF is looking amazing! I can't wait to see it all done. From my experience, the magnets are tricky to get right. 

[joscasle]

5 minutes ago, Gabe Q said:

@joscasle Your super CF is looking amazing! I can't wait to see it all done. From my experience, the magnets are tricky to get right. 

Thanks Gabe !!! I owe you a lot, that's your color combination for the super packs! And the magnets, well ... It is better to install them before gluing and painting the wings hehehehehehehe, my mistake.

[Photogirl]

i'm no longer worried about the white details. I tried some more decals, and even with clear coat to keep them together, its hit or miss. big or small. 
 

[Gabe Q]

@Photogirl is that white stripe a decal or painted on? Looks good so far! 

[Photogirl]

11 minutes ago, Gabe Q said:

@Photogirl is that white stripe a decal or painted on? Looks good so far! 

painted

 

[505thAirborne]

@joscasle Thank you for the list of paints that you used, I'll see if I can come up with something similar. I look forward to you completed Valk! 

Just a quick shot of what I have going on, this is my first 1/48 VF-1 kit and so far I am very happy with how it assembles. I'm sure when I eventually get a Weapons Set kit I'll change my tune, for now this thing is pretty awesome. 

 

 

[Thom]

9 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Not a happy camper right now, as My VF-1J had paint peeling from several areas and from whatever crap our former upstairs neighbors' decided to smoke indoors ( the smoke seeping down into our apartment. I hate old buildings!)

 

So...it's strip and repaint time. I can print most of the decals (white mech red stripes with un spacy roundels and black nacelle un spacy log. Just need to figure out the white for the gunpod, or ask to see who's got a couple of white decals they can spare.

Was  trying to take a break...eh well.

Former!? That's good news!

As to taking a break... Modellers are like gamblers without any 'Modeller's Anonymous.' There's no hope for us, thank god!

[pengbuzz]

3 hours ago, Thom said:

Former!? That's good news!

 

Right?After the incident where they damaged my Refit E, I was ready to use a Macross Cannon on them! As it stands, the landlord just pulled the industrial dumpster that she had to rent to clean out the utter disaster they left in their apartment after they left! They were filthy to the point where the entire inside had to be scraped down and redone. They also had roaches, but refused to let the exterminator the landlord contracted with into their apartment (we ended up sealing every crack and crevice in our place  with boric acid and then silicone caulk over it).

Not sorry to see them gone, tbh. I just hope the next neighbors aren't a nightmare of any nature (not holding my breath though). But the damage they did is done, and now my poor VF-1J needs a complete refinish and decals.

  

3 hours ago, Thom said:

As to taking a break... Modellers are like gamblers without any 'Modeller's Anonymous.' There's no hope for us, thank god!

Yeah, not much hope, eh? lol Anyways, progress pics on some of the VF-1J parts:

The major pain was that the VF-1J was molded in red, and I redid it as Hikaru's in white. So now, I have to re-prime it and ensure that I can successfully recapture the "magic" I got when I first repainted it. I have to make sure I get every crevice on it, or it's going to look like crap.

I left one arm red for the shot so folks can see what color it was before the repaint.

The fighter nose is going to be "fun", since I don't want to repaint the cockpit tub or pilot! Sigh...

Edited May 25, 2021 by pengbuzz

[electric indigo]

I'm still stuck in prep hell with the V-Siren. Checked the pose for the 100th time and adjusted the shoulder armor layers.

One more go at the angle of the feet...

I also want to add a piece of additional head armor that's in Nagano's illustration

[joscasle]

2 minutes ago, electric indigo said:

I'm still stuck in prep hell with the V-Siren. Checked the pose for the 100th time and adjusted the shoulder armor layers.

One more go at the angle of the feet...

I also want to add a piece of additional head armor that's in Nagano's illustration

Nice job!

[Photogirl]

progress update.
some lines need to be cleaned up, but for the most part, its worked out. 
Made some learning points for the next build.
managed to get 3 out of 4 pilot names on the canopy. 4th one disintegrated, so i'll pretend thats battle scuffing.
going to go for it tomorrow with the rest of the decals, and see what i can get on from the damaged sheet.
the UN.Spacy you see on the gun is from a Battloid kit sheet. 
worst case scenario i need to wait a few weeks for a 3rd party detail sheet to arrive in the mail. 

I can't wait to woooooosh it around the apartment with the soundtrack playing.
Other people do that right....??

 

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, Photogirl said:

progress update.
some lines need to be cleaned up, but for the most part, its worked out. 
Made some learning points for the next build.
managed to get 3 out of 4 pilot names on the canopy. 4th one disintegrated, so i'll pretend thats battle scuffing.
going to go for it tomorrow with the rest of the decals, and see what i can get on from the damaged sheet.
the UN.Spacy you see on the gun is from a Battloid kit sheet. 
worst case scenario i need to wait a few weeks for a 3rd party detail sheet to arrive in the mail. 

I can't wait to woooooosh it around the apartment with the soundtrack playing.
Other people do that right....??

 

*wooshes SDF-1 around room while Macross theme plays*