Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[derex3592]

Great builds everyone! Love that Defiant model, I used all the decals on mine and I loved the outcome. Waaaay to lazy to mask and paint it if I have decals. Speaking of masking.. Hahaha.. Runabout detail painting update. LOTS of masking and painting. I'm now actually on to brush painting by hand, Tamiya acrylics (Yes! me!) with my new best friend the VERY helpful Tamiya Paint Retarder on the very small panels. Lots more to go, but things are moving forward! Stay tuned! 

[505thAirborne]

You Star Trek fans are having a field day lately!! 

Already looking better considering how yellowed it was. 

 

[Thom]

@peter  It looks goood either way! As for a low-vis, you could do another in darker grays as a Section 31 ship. Maybe one with an illegal cloaking device.😉

@derex3592 Clearly, you've been hoarding your masking skills for this worthy project. Very nice.

@505thAirborne But you are bringing us back to Macross with each pic. It is quite the entertaining tug of war!😁

Edited June 28, 2021 by Thom

[Thom]

Just so you all know, Pengbuzz has not been able to load Posts or PMs for the last few days. I left word with Shawn in the PM, so hopefully it will be fixed for him soon.

[Chronocidal]

Not sure what platform he's on, but my guess would be the forum update caused some shenanigans.  I know the forum has not been able to load properly on my phone for quite a while, but that's my own fault for owning an old phone.

Decided to keep going on my small scale marathon, and build up the Tomytec Delta kits I bought ages ago.  Nice little kits, and some really fine detail for such tiny models, but not without a few little drawbacks

I decided to forego any glue on these, mostly just because I need to buy more thin glue before I can attempt gluing anything this small.  For the most part, they stay together without it.  What I did with a few key parts on the 31s was to add a layer of cellophane tape around tabs or pegs to get enough friction, and that was enough to hold any loose parts in place.

Hayate's and Mirage's came out pretty well, though the paint work was a little sloppy on both.  Hayate's had one of the blue stripes on the side of the nose quite blurred, while Mirage's had issues with paint colors, and there are at least three or four distinct shades of pink, red, magenta, maroon, or whatever else you want to call it on her plane.

The 31A is just beautiful as always, though the fit around the nose isn't quite as good as the other 31s.  Unfortunately, the 262 is not at all capable of staying together without glue.  The parts just don't have anything substantial to stick together without actual glue, so that one will have to wait until I get some thin cement.

Detailing on all of these is absolutely exquisite, but I think the biggest drawback to these little kits is that the stands are... insufficient.  The bases are so tiny as to be questionable whether they would hold up against a stiff breeze, and the choice to mold the mounts in clear plastic doesn't help, since the tiny ball-jointed pegs tend to cause stress fractures in the sockets, and leave them too limp to even support kits of this miniscule size.  The off-center mounts on the 31s don't help either, leaving them prone to tipping back until the noise is straight up.

This is definitely making me look forward to putting together the Hasegawa 31A I picked up, just need to ship it from HLJ once I get another pile of stuff ready to go.   I did cave and pick up a couple of the Ace Combat models on sale, so I might put up some pics/details about those once I get the parts trimmed and fitted.

[pengbuzz]

51 minutes ago, Thom said:

Just so you all know, Pengbuzz has not been able to load Posts or PMs for the last few days. I left word with Shawn in the PM, so hopefully it will be fixed for him soon.

Test

 

[pengbuzz]

Okay, looks like I can post!

 

[Thom]

59 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Okay, looks like I can post!

 

WooHoo! Welcome back!

[Anasazi37]

On 6/27/2021 at 1:43 PM, peter said:

Oh, I heard about your decals, and heard they are pretty awesome!

They are the result of many, many years of experimentation and innovation. They also wouldn't be what they are today without the longstanding support of this community. I'm always happy to answer questions about my process.

[derex3592]

13 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Not sure what platform he's on, but my guess would be the forum update caused some shenanigans.  I know the forum has not been able to load properly on my phone for quite a while, but that's my own fault for owning an old phone.

Decided to keep going on my small scale marathon, and build up the Tomytec Delta kits I bought ages ago.  Nice little kits, and some really fine detail for such tiny models, but not without a few little drawbacks

I decided to forego any glue on these, mostly just because I need to buy more thin glue before I can attempt gluing anything this small.  For the most part, they stay together without it.  What I did with a few key parts on the 31s was to add a layer of cellophane tape around tabs or pegs to get enough friction, and that was enough to hold any loose parts in place.

Hayate's and Mirage's came out pretty well, though the paint work was a little sloppy on both.  Hayate's had one of the blue stripes on the side of the nose quite blurred, while Mirage's had issues with paint colors, and there are at least three or four distinct shades of pink, red, magenta, maroon, or whatever else you want to call it on her plane.

The 31A is just beautiful as always, though the fit around the nose isn't quite as good as the other 31s.  Unfortunately, the 262 is not at all capable of staying together without glue.  The parts just don't have anything substantial to stick together without actual glue, so that one will have to wait until I get some thin cement.

Detailing on all of these is absolutely exquisite, but I think the biggest drawback to these little kits is that the stands are... insufficient.  The bases are so tiny as to be questionable whether they would hold up against a stiff breeze, and the choice to mold the mounts in clear plastic doesn't help, since the tiny ball-jointed pegs tend to cause stress fractures in the sockets, and leave them too limp to even support kits of this miniscule size.  The off-center mounts on the 31s don't help either, leaving them prone to tipping back until the noise is straight up.

This is definitely making me look forward to putting together the Hasegawa 31A I picked up, just need to ship it from HLJ once I get another pile of stuff ready to go.   I did cave and pick up a couple of the Ace Combat models on sale, so I might put up some pics/details about those once I get the parts trimmed and fitted.

@Chronocidal - Man, I remember building those TomyTec kits, I absolutely loved them. Some of the best kits I've built. I think they NAILED fighter modes on the VF-1's and VF-31's.  Never bought the Gerwalk or Battroid kits, as they weren't cheap.  As you said, the details are just amazing and with just a tiny bit of glue, they display wonderfully.  I only wish they had kept the line going and finished the Delta valks. 

[MechTech]

@peter Your Enterprise looks great! Putting Macross decals on a Star Trek model!? Looks cool! I think you might have made a hole in the time space continuum.

@derex3592 Your light choice for lighting the Titanic is realistic and I think a good choice! All lighting was "yellow" back then, electric or oil/gas. Your shuttle is looking good too! I'm glad the paint retarder is working. I should try that myself. Airbrushing is smooth, but a pain for just bit painting.

@505thAirborne Great improvements over the original work. I hope the paint sticks solid!

@Chronocidal Those little kits are great! I'm kicking myself now for not getting them back then. I just don't have many kits in that scale, so it didn't make sense. - MT

@pengbuzz I'm glad you're back! That's weird you got bumped off the site. - MT

 

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz I'm glad you're back! That's weird you got bumped off the site. - MT

I seem to specialize in the "weird" nowadays...

[peter]

On 6/27/2021 at 3:28 PM, derex3592 said:

Great builds everyone! Love that Defiant model, I used all the decals on mine and I loved the outcome. Waaaay to lazy to mask and paint it if I have decals. Speaking of masking.. Hahaha.. Runabout detail painting update. LOTS of masking and painting. I'm now actually on to brush painting by hand, Tamiya acrylics (Yes! me!) with my new best friend the VERY helpful Tamiya Paint Retarder on the very small panels. Lots more to go, but things are moving forward! Stay tuned! 

I see a familiar color on there, is that Tamiya Light Blue?  I used Tamiya Light Blue on my defiant, and the bottle cap looks blue, the paint inside looks blue, but when it dried, it had that greenish tinge just like on your Runabout.  Bottle of lies, hahahahaha!

I'm going to have to build a Runabout one of these days.

[peter]

On 6/27/2021 at 5:14 PM, 505thAirborne said:

You Star Trek fans are having a field day lately!! 

Already looking better considering how yellowed it was. 

 

Wow, that looks great so far.  Thankfully none of my Yammies are yellowed, but one thing that really bugs me is the stickers.  They are so obvious, you can see the edges, and some of them are peeling.  

[peter]

On 6/28/2021 at 4:28 PM, Chronocidal said:

Not sure what platform he's on, but my guess would be the forum update caused some shenanigans.  I know the forum has not been able to load properly on my phone for quite a while, but that's my own fault for owning an old phone.

Decided to keep going on my small scale marathon, and build up the Tomytec Delta kits I bought ages ago.  Nice little kits, and some really fine detail for such tiny models, but not without a few little drawbacks

I decided to forego any glue on these, mostly just because I need to buy more thin glue before I can attempt gluing anything this small.  For the most part, they stay together without it.  What I did with a few key parts on the 31s was to add a layer of cellophane tape around tabs or pegs to get enough friction, and that was enough to hold any loose parts in place.

Hayate's and Mirage's came out pretty well, though the paint work was a little sloppy on both.  Hayate's had one of the blue stripes on the side of the nose quite blurred, while Mirage's had issues with paint colors, and there are at least three or four distinct shades of pink, red, magenta, maroon, or whatever else you want to call it on her plane.

The 31A is just beautiful as always, though the fit around the nose isn't quite as good as the other 31s.  Unfortunately, the 262 is not at all capable of staying together without glue.  The parts just don't have anything substantial to stick together without actual glue, so that one will have to wait until I get some thin cement.

Detailing on all of these is absolutely exquisite, but I think the biggest drawback to these little kits is that the stands are... insufficient.  The bases are so tiny as to be questionable whether they would hold up against a stiff breeze, and the choice to mold the mounts in clear plastic doesn't help, since the tiny ball-jointed pegs tend to cause stress fractures in the sockets, and leave them too limp to even support kits of this miniscule size.  The off-center mounts on the 31s don't help either, leaving them prone to tipping back until the noise is straight up.

This is definitely making me look forward to putting together the Hasegawa 31A I picked up, just need to ship it from HLJ once I get another pile of stuff ready to go.   I did cave and pick up a couple of the Ace Combat models on sale, so I might put up some pics/details about those once I get the parts trimmed and fitted.

Are those as small as I think they are?  They look like they are about as small as Bandai's Mecha Colle?  Star Wars and Yamato mini models?

If so, that's an incredible amount of detail packed into those things.  The last three I built from the Yamato series, I had to use magnification on all three otherwise I couldn't see them with the naked eye.

Are they wallpaper decals or is that mostly paint?  Either way, they look amazing.  I only gave Mac F a single viewing, so I'm not familiar with all of the Valks, but some of those look pretty cool.

[Chronocidal]

20 minutes ago, peter said:

Are those as small as I think they are?  They look like they are about as small as Bandai's Mecha Colle?  Star Wars and Yamato mini models?

If so, that's an incredible amount of detail packed into those things.  The last three I built from the Yamato series, I had to use magnification on all three otherwise I couldn't see them with the naked eye.

Are they wallpaper decals or is that mostly paint?  Either way, they look amazing.  I only gave Mac F a single viewing, so I'm not familiar with all of the Valks, but some of those look pretty cool.

The only experience I have with the Mecha Colle series is one of the Sv-262Ba kits I picked up, which went together very easily, but the decals are (as expected) a screen-printed mess of stickers that I'm going to ignore.  From my measurements, that one is very close to 1/200 scale.  I also grabbed a few of the VF-171s they made, and just plan to decorate them by hand.

These TomyTec kits from Macross Delta though are all 1/144 (same as the small-scale Star Wars fighters), and the VF-31s all come out to about 5.5 inches long.  These kits are completely pre-printed with all of the paint and markings.  That's part of my reason for not wanting to mess with gluing them, since I would have had to scrape away paint on the contacting surfaces.  Fortunately the fit is good enough to not need any sanding or puttying, or it would ruin the printing.

As a side note, I grabbed a pair of the Ace Combat Morgan kits from the HLJ sale, which are also in 1/144 scale.  Those are each almost 7 inches long.. that plane is just huge.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Chronocidal

[peter]

45 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

The only experience I have with the Mecha Colle series is one of the Sv-262Ba kits I picked up, which went together very easily, but the decals are (as expected) a screen-printed mess of stickers that I'm going to ignore.  From my measurements, that one is very close to 1/200 scale.  I also grabbed a few of the VF-171s they made, and just plan to decorate them by hand.

These TomyTec kits from Macross Delta though are all 1/144 (same as the small-scale Star Wars fighters), and the VF-31s all come out to about 5.5 inches long.  These kits are completely pre-printed with all of the paint and markings.  That's part of my reason for not wanting to mess with gluing them, since I would have had to scrape away paint on the contacting surfaces.  Fortunately the fit is good enough to not need any sanding or puttying, or it would ruin the printing.

As a side note, I grabbed a pair of the Ace Combat Morgan kits from the HLJ sale, which are also in 1/144 scale.  Those are each almost 7 inches long.. that plane is just huge.

Oh, ok, I remember those now. 

I have a few of the 1/144 Chara Works kits. 

Never got around to putting any of them together. 

Was toying around with the idea of doing a Max/Milia DYRL scene, but I still have to research the differences between SDFM and DYRL Q-Raus.  Would also need to repaint Hikaru to Max, then rob one of my other Chara-Works kits for a 1S head..... 

Back on the shelf for now, hahahahaha

 

[Thom]

2 hours ago, peter said:

Oh, ok, I remember those now. 

I have a few of the 1/144 Chara Works kits. 

Never got around to putting any of them together. 

Was toying around with the idea of doing a Max/Milia DYRL scene, but I still have to research the differences between SDFM and DYRL Q-Raus.  Would also need to repaint Hikaru to Max, then rob one of my other Chara-Works kits for a 1S head..... 

Back on the shelf for now, hahahahaha

 

One of the best scenes! I'm sure you'd do it justice.

[derex3592]

I'll have to get a pic of my TomyTec VF-1's - If you think the detailing on the Delta Valks is good, just wait...I got two CFs, a Roy and Hikaru. These are totally 100% built out of the box. No decals, no panel line washes. All the parts were undergated was the term I beilieve, meaning there was NO nasty nubs to sand off on any parts that showed!  Bandai!! ARE YOU LISTENING!!!???  I only wish they would have continued the line into the more rare birds including VE-1 and Angel Birds/Virgin Road and such, THEN they could have done all the Enemy mecha in 1/144 ,and then Destriods!!! and then a Cats Eye and that other sexy shuttle plane I cant think of the name of!! and then AND THEN!! and ARRRRGGHHHH!!! Ok...calm ..calm down. 

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by derex3592

[MechTech]

@derex3592 I hear you Derex! Sadly, Imai was probably the closest company to get out a near complete line of kits / products for the period. The 1/285th gaming pieces seem to be catching up now for Macross.

Smoke if you got 'em! Smoke and decoy canister launchers for the mecha. This is a segment of machined 1/4" styrene square rod machined with angles and angled holes drilled into the tops. The canisters are resin copies from a Geara Doga I made also around 25 years ago. Some here are bubbled rejects for a test fit. They're kinda big, so I'm thinking about something smaller that will fit the launchers. - MT

 

[505thAirborne]

One step closer. 

[derex3592]

The painters reported to the shipyards today... 

[MechTech]

@505thAirborne @derex3592 Looking good guys! The weatherman says its supposed to cool down and lower humidity today. Maybe I can join the "paint club" today too! - MT

[peter]

On 6/30/2021 at 6:38 PM, derex3592 said:

I'll have to get a pic of my TomyTec VF-1's - If you think the detailing on the Delta Valks is good, just wait...I got two CFs, a Roy and Hikaru. These are totally 100% built out of the box. No decals, no panel line washes. All the parts were undergated was the term I beilieve, meaning there was NO nasty nubs to sand off on any parts that showed!  Bandai!! ARE YOU LISTENING!!!???  I only wish they would have continued the line into the more rare birds including VE-1 and Angel Birds/Virgin Road and such, THEN they could have done all the Enemy mecha in 1/144 ,and then Destriods!!! and then a Cats Eye and that other sexy shuttle plane I cant think of the name of!! and then AND THEN!! and ARRRRGGHHHH!!! Ok...calm ..calm down. 

 

That is an insane amount of detail for 1/144. 

 

I wonder if I gloss coat the Chara-Works ones, I can run panel lines on them...will have to see how deep they are on those kits.

[peter]

On 7/1/2021 at 7:05 AM, MechTech said:

@derex3592 I hear you Derex! Sadly, Imai was probably the closest company to get out a near complete line of kits / products for the period. The 1/285th gaming pieces seem to be catching up now for Macross.

Smoke if you got 'em! Smoke and decoy canister launchers for the mecha. This is a segment of machined 1/4" styrene square rod machined with angles and angled holes drilled into the tops. The canisters are resin copies from a Geara Doga I made also around 25 years ago. Some here are bubbled rejects for a test fit. They're kinda big, so I'm thinking about something smaller that will fit the launchers. - MT

 

I bet you're the kind of guy that would completely redo the missiles in the old 1/100 Missile Phalanx

[peter]

19 hours ago, 505thAirborne said:

One step closer. 

That just made me wonder if I would bother filling in the seam lines for the arms and legs.  With the Hasegawa, it wasn't hard because the battroid goes together in sub-assemblies, but with older Bandai kits, each segment is captured within another, making the seam filling/paint process a huge PITA.

[peter]

4 hours ago, derex3592 said:

The painters reported to the shipyards today... 

Is that Tamiya Hull Red?  The stuff in the bottles looks almost brown and I haven't tried rattle cans yet.

[MechTech]

1 hour ago, peter said:

I bet you're the kind of guy that would completely redo the missiles in the old 1/100 Missile Phalanx

I'm on the fence about that one. If I did, it would only be to make it easier to paint them - MT

[derex3592]

4 hours ago, peter said:

Is that Tamiya Hull Red?  The stuff in the bottles looks almost brown and I haven't tried rattle cans yet.

@peter No, actually it's Dull Red TS-33. It's slightly more red and I think it looks much better. I used Hull Red on my USS Fort Worth hull and now I wish I had used the Dull Red. 

[derex3592]

2 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

@peter. Of course it is over a darker gray primer. I always do test sprays on white plastic spoons now with the primer and paint I intend to use before I go anywhere near the model!

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by derex3592

[Dobber]

Yeah, Tamiya Hull Red is WAAAAY OFF. Never seen any hull look like that color. Like peter said it’s like a brown. That Dull Red looks real good though! 🙂

Chris

Edited July 3, 2021 by Dobber

[505thAirborne]

And it begins! 

First coat of Tamiya dark blue applied, I'll be using super fine sand paper in a few days to buff it out before a second coat. So far the Mr. SURFACER primer is worth every penny and the Tamiya as usual goes on really smooth. 

@peter I thought about using Tamiya putty to seal up some of those gaps and thought, nah I still want it to have that look and feel of the toy that it is. 

@MechTech Hope the weather works out for you so you can get in some painting! All of May it rained out here and most of last week too, nice to dry out for a bit. 

@derex3592 Looking good on the TITANIC, good choice on the red. 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by 505thAirborne

[arbit]

I will be away from home, so this is my last project of the summer.

Hope you like this rockin' pair!

Mylene's Bass Guitar courtesy of a kind pro on Artstation https://www.artstation.com/artwork/E3Rge

Models from from Uta Macross: Smartphone Deculture.

This is fan art. No sale or distribution.

Edited July 3, 2021 by arbit

[Thom]

@505thAirborne That blue is poppin! Really liking it.

@arbit That pair look fantastic! Hope you have a good time away, to make up for the lack of modelling!

And my build is approaching the finish line. A few more decals, a little spritz of clear and some, and some real mild weathering and it'll be done! The prop is just sitting in there at the moment.

 

Model on!

Thom

[MechTech]

@505thAirborne That is dark blue! It does look smooth too!

@arbit That print looks awesome! Have a good summer!

@Thom That is looking beautiful! It's actually nice to see a civilian paint job for once - but don't quote me on that

For all my fellow "Yanks," HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

This weekend I got the lower torso done and added the defensive sensors.

These are the main parts used. Note the ABS stairs. I glued them to the styrene using simple acetone. It worked great.

One of the completed units ready to go.

Side view without the legs mounted.

3/4 rear view.

With the legs mounted.

Does this make my butt look big!?

3/4 rear all together with smoke / decoy cannisters

Rear sensors mounted.

And the collar sensors for the front.

That"s it everyone! Thank you for checking in.