Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[peter]

On 5/23/2021 at 9:16 AM, MechTech said:

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

Man, that  thing is so cool.  I don't know what anime it's from, but I would probably throw a Macross Kite on there somewhere, hahahaha!

 

[peter]

On 5/24/2021 at 4:47 AM, derex3592 said:

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

That's coming out really sharp.  I should start pecking away at my Star Trek queue.  I just helped a buddy pick up one of those 1/420 scale Defiants.....it's HUGE, lol!

[peter]

On 5/24/2021 at 8:30 AM, 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.

 

 

 

 

I've never experimented with magnets....those things look small....probably too small for my sausage fingers to handle.  Great work on that CF.  

I've built multple 1/72 Super/Strikes.....wonder if I'll built multiple 1/48s when I eventually get to my first one.

[peter]

23 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

 

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.

  

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...

Interesting you left an arm red.....

7 hours 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

I honestly don't know the background of this mecha, but its looking pretty cool.  

[peter]

On 5/24/2021 at 2:34 PM, Photogirl said:

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. 
 

I get the sense that the Max/Milia colors are a lot of masking......

[peter]

23 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

 

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.

  

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...

Interesting you left the arm red.

 

I finished my 1/72 Bandai Chunky.

My two chunkies.  Both were total experiments in customizing joints for ease of build.  It was a good learning experience, but I don't think I want to build these particular kits ever again, hahaha!

Pig in the middle was the one I build when I was a kid.  The other two are just pigs with lipstick.

It almost has a Millenium Falcon vibe to it, with all the different colors....it's more obvious in person, but some of the panels were painted in different shades of gray.

Ok, I totally cheated with the leg armor....just saying the backs were blown off.  The chunky's legs are actually too fat for the armor, so I would have had to shave the backs paper thin make them fit and didn't see a point in adding them if nobody looks, lol!

VF-1J using the knife-hand to the VF-1A

Of course, the knife-hand is always used by the chain of command so when the boss is around, he gets to use the knife hand.

 

 

 

[arbit]

6 hours ago, Photogirl said:

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

The hand paint looks great. You nailed it!

And no, I never fly my valks around the room, at least not every day.

[pengbuzz]

8 hours ago, peter said:

Interesting you left the arm red.

 

 

Yeah...I wanted to show what I was trying to cover. The mech originally looked like this:

So due to the paint job failing (due to neighbors upstairs and their toxic brew of whatever they were smoking getting onto my poor valk), I now am having to repaint it. This also means sourcing some new decals.

*Grrr... growl, snarl, huff, puff, wheeze... cough, gag, sigh*

 

[Thom]

@peter Wow, I love that battle-scarred battroid! The colors on it really stand out.

 

[Photogirl]

9 hours ago, peter said:

I get the sense that the Max/Milia colors are a lot of masking......

yes. its molded in blue. and the even if the decals were not damaged, the nose, and "Legs" need to be white, so, yes, lots of masking, and thin layers to retain the panel lines. 
so everything had to be primed in grey, then white, then masked, then repainted blue. 

 

[pengbuzz]

36 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

yes. its molded in blue. and the even if the decals were not damaged, the nose, and "Legs" need to be white, so, yes, lots of masking, and thin layers to retain the panel lines. 
so everything had to be primed in grey, then white, then masked, then repainted blue. 

 

Yeah; the Hasegawa valks have some really shallow panel lines, especially in the 1/72 scale range. When I built one up, a couple of coats of paint from a rattle can were enough to nearly obliterate the panel lines. Since my method was to paint the main color and then then overpaint the secondaries, you really gotta watch it with those layers!

My hat's off to you Photogirl; not sure I could pull off masking everything separately like that.

[peter]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Yeah...I wanted to show what I was trying to cover. The mech originally looked like this:

So due to the paint job failing (due to neighbors upstairs and their toxic brew of whatever they were smoking getting onto my poor valk), I now am having to repaint it. This also means sourcing some new decals.

*Grrr... growl, snarl, huff, puff, wheeze... cough, gag, sigh*

 

That hangar/factory is awesome, I've always wanted that diorama since I was a kid, but the prices they go for sometimes....yikes, just knocks it down the priority list.  Yours looks good.  I left mine red because I actually ran out of the Mr. Hobby Mahogany primer I was using and was too lazy top go out and get another can so I used Oxide Red on that one piece. 

When I looked at it, I remembered @Thom mentioning mismatched parts so I decided to leave it.  The arm is from an old Bandai 1/72 variable I build as a kid so it is definitely mismatched anyway.  I didn't realize it had a real C3P0 vibe to it (arm left in red primer) until after I started putting it together.

[peter]

Comparison of the arms.  That gray mess was cannibalized from the variable 1/72 I built as a kid.  The other arm looked worse.  I didn't sand off any seam lines, I brushed on the paint, and at one point, I ended up gluing the arms together for a fixed fighter mode, then they parts broke off at the shoulders, so these arms were a real mess. 

Still, they look better than the chunky's original battroid arms, which were almost twice as thick, lol!

[peter]

4 hours ago, Thom said:

@peter Wow, I love that battle-scarred battroid! The colors on it really stand out.

 

Thanks!  I got the idea from you to have different color parts for this build

 

[peter]

3 hours ago, Photogirl said:

yes. its molded in blue. and the even if the decals were not damaged, the nose, and "Legs" need to be white, so, yes, lots of masking, and thin layers to retain the panel lines. 
so everything had to be primed in grey, then white, then masked, then repainted blue. 

 

I rattle-canned 4 of these Hasegawa fighters last year, skipping the primer and going straight to paint.  I was losing panel lines and other details left, right and centre, compounded with my messy sanding and filling work.  

I'm still not very good and sanding and filling seam lines, but using an airbrush really helps retain some of the detail when applying paint.  

Those Hasegawas though.....really shallow panel lines and they are easy to lose.

 

[Thom]

@peter It really fits, esp with the battle-scarring.

[pengbuzz]

7 hours ago, peter said:

That hangar/factory is awesome, I've always wanted that diorama since I was a kid, but the prices they go for sometimes....yikes, just knocks it down the priority list.  Yours looks good.  I left mine red because I actually ran out of the Mr. Hobby Mahogany primer I was using and was too lazy top go out and get another can so I used Oxide Red on that one piece.

Lol yeah, sometimes I can get lazy on stuff as well. Some days, ya just gotta take it easy on yourself!

As for the diorama that the mech I'm repainting was a part of: the original factory is 1/100. I built my own at 1/72, given that the factory was too small for my mechs and I wanted one at the scale my mail line of mecha are at.

Blast from the past for you peter; here's how my diorama began:

Just plain mat board.

On that note, I'm thinking of putting together a PDF or something on how folks can make their own out of mat board or cardboard. Feel kinda selfish for having this to myself!

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by pengbuzz

[Photogirl]

GAWDAMIT!!

i glued the head in place, had glue on my knuckle, touched the wing, and now there is super glue over the top of the wing.
going to strip it down when the new decals arrive and paint the wing from scratch later.

Going to try recasting some pilots now. 

[joscasle]

The Super in 1/48 is heavy!!!

Sill no glued

 

 

[Thom]

@Photogirl Ugh, same thing happened to me, only with the canopy of my Spit.

And

@joscasle As she must have said, 'that's huge!'

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, Photogirl said:

GAWDAMIT!!

i glued the head in place, had glue on my knuckle, touched the wing, and now there is super glue over the top of the wing.
going to strip it down when the new decals arrive and paint the wing from scratch later.

Going to try recasting some pilots now. 

Or you can use 2000 grit sandpaper and toothpaste to polish off the super glue.

 

[arbit]

Minmay Project Continues: Can we control Minmay?

Making some progress with Adobe built in poses.  Still lots to study before successfully printing as a figure.

And just because we can...

[MechTech]

@peter Dude, you're making the airframe technicians furious with all that battle damage! That would take forever to fix! Seriously though, it looks great! You're the master of disaster - I mean that in a good way.

@joscasle Your valk is looking great! The magnets are a nice touch too! I love using magnets when I can. They add flexibility to an otherwise static model.

@arbit Speaking of flexibility, now you're just showing off!!! That's cool though and looking good. Which Adobe software are you using?

@pengbuzz That really sucks about your paint - and apartment. I've lived in places like that. You're sitting there and all of a sudden, "Where's that smoke coming from!?" No fire, just the neighbor's smoke leaking into your house.

@Photogirl Pengbuzz is right, you can probably fix that without trashing the wing paint entirely.

Quick update. Swapped the shoulder armor R to L thinking it made more sense to balance it out (weight wise). Added in a box for ordnance and smoke grenades and attached a shield. I was looking for a scrap of plastic, when a rejected gun barrel from the old 1/200 Monster build rolled out. I thought, "HEY!" and milled it down to replace the stock barrel that was too small and had VERY deep recessed lines. Add in an unfinished tank driver for scale. - MT

Edited May 27, 2021 by MechTech

[arbit]

34 minutes ago, MechTech said:

@arbit Speaking of flexibility, now you're just showing off!!! That's cool though and looking good. Which Adobe software are you using?

I can't see Minmay breakdancing and not share it with you guys

This is Adobe Mixamo, controlling movement of an .stl file.

Keep in mind I have zero experience with design software and 3D printing. 

I am not sure if an animation file is suitable for 3D printing, without making adjustments to ensure the walls are thick enough, and the model is all one piece (manifold), etc. But if it can be done, the possibilities will be endless.

[Chronocidal]

1 hour ago, arbit said:

I am not sure if an animation file is suitable for 3D printing, without making adjustments to ensure the walls are thick enough, and the model is all one piece (manifold), etc. But if it can be done, the possibilities will be endless.

Animation-focused models do tend to be better off than ones designed for games, so you might not fare too badly just trying to print the raw file.  The mesh does look fairly high resolution.

You might get lucky, as some print software will add a default thickness to bare polygons, but the more likely scenario is that you would need to add thickness to certain parts, especially cloth if it has no physical thickness in the model.  The cloth at the top of the boots looks very thin, for instance, and you would probably need to thicken it up to be printable.  Any cloth modeled over the top of the character body would probably need to be made into solid objects, rather than thin layers.

[arbit]

On 5/27/2021 at 4:21 PM, MechTech said:

Quick update. Swapped the shoulder armor R to L thinking it made more sense to balance it out (weight wise). Added in a box for ordnance and smoke grenades and attached a shield. I was looking for a scrap of plastic, when a rejected gun barrel from the old 1/200 Monster build rolled out. I thought, "HEY!" and milled it down to replace the stock barrel that was too small and had VERY deep recessed lines. Add in an unfinished tank driver for scale. - MT

Your kitbash is beginning to look like a little Hulk Buster!

[arbit]

On 5/26/2021 at 9:04 AM, peter said:

 

Now THAT is cool!

On 5/27/2021 at 5:18 AM, Photogirl said:

Perfect shades of blue and white. Very nice! Max was my favorite. He was just too cool.

[Urashiman]

On 5/27/2021 at 3:18 AM, Photogirl said:

GAWDAMIT!!

i glued the head in place, had glue on my knuckle, touched the wing, and now there is super glue over the top of the wing.
going to strip it down when the new decals arrive and paint the wing from scratch later.

Going to try recasting some pilots now. 

Ugh ... very unfortunate. Happens to the best of us. Just don't use super glue. If there are any fingerprints near the glueing position, they will be encarved forever into your model, due to the super glue fumes.

[peter]

On 5/27/2021 at 5:21 AM, MechTech said:

@peter Dude, you're making the airframe technicians furious with all that battle damage! That would take forever to fix! Seriously though, it looks great! You're the master of disaster - I mean that in a good way.

@joscasle Your valk is looking great! The magnets are a nice touch too! I love using magnets when I can. They add flexibility to an otherwise static model.

@arbit Speaking of flexibility, now you're just showing off!!! That's cool though and looking good. Which Adobe software are you using?

@pengbuzz That really sucks about your paint - and apartment. I've lived in places like that. You're sitting there and all of a sudden, "Where's that smoke coming from!?" No fire, just the neighbor's smoke leaking into your house.

@Photogirl Pengbuzz is right, you can probably fix that without trashing the wing paint entirely.

Quick update. Swapped the shoulder armor R to L thinking it made more sense to balance it out (weight wise). Added in a box for ordnance and smoke grenades and attached a shield. I was looking for a scrap of plastic, when a rejected gun barrel from the old 1/200 Monster build rolled out. I thought, "HEY!" and milled it down to replace the stock barrel that was too small and had VERY deep recessed lines. Add in an unfinished tank driver for scale. - MT

Man, that is awesome!  Look at the muzzle brake on that thing!  I used to love massive muzzle brakes, but the guys in the lane next to me always hated me for it.

[peter]

On 5/26/2021 at 8:01 PM, arbit said:

Minmay Project Continues: Can we control Minmay?

Making some progress with Adobe built in poses.  Still lots to study before successfully printing as a figure.

And just because we can...

Lol, I want to see that in color, fully rendered....would be so awesome.

[peter]

On 5/26/2021 at 6:43 PM, joscasle said:

The Super in 1/48 is heavy!!!

Sill no glued

 

 

No glue.....that must be a pleasure to build.  If only the 1/72 was that awesome.

 

I'm really looking forward to building my 1/48....just a bit more practice with other models  so I'm good enough to build it.

[peter]

On 5/26/2021 at 6:18 PM, Photogirl said:

GAWDAMIT!!

i glued the head in place, had glue on my knuckle, touched the wing, and now there is super glue over the top of the wing.
going to strip it down when the new decals arrive and paint the wing from scratch later.

Going to try recasting some pilots now. 

Battle damage?  Didn't they go into battle right after they got married?

[peter]

Space Battleship Musashi..... Lol, I know, there's no such thing,  but I have two in 1/1000 scale, so I'm building fictional sister ships. 

I even got IJN Sasebo Arsenal, where Musashi was built. 

The other color, IJN Kure, will be for Yamato, which is the final Battle Version (beefier main guns, extra AA).

I haven't even watched Yamato 2202 yet. 

Preshading.

Sasebo Gray....and not anime accurate, lol! 

Tamiya's Hull Red though..... Ok, it's totally brown, lol! 

Looks like a close match to IJN Musashi though. 

More to follow. 

[peter]

Slapping this together between paint coats on Yamato/Musashi. 

I don't eve.ike this ship, but I'll build it for practice. 

This thing goes together so easily.  Seems a bit big..... 

[arbit]

2 hours ago, peter said:

Lol, I know, there's no such thing,  but I have two in 1/1000 scale, so I'm building fictional sister ships. 

What you do with the second one is extreme battle damage and weathering!