Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[derex3592]

DON'T be intimidated by lighting! I was SOOO you for many, many years, and yes, it was more daunting back in the bad old days of fluorescent tubes and such, but NOW!, LED's have it super easy!, barely an inconvenience! (Someone will get that joke...). Seriously, just buy yourself a decent soldering iron if you don't have one, spend less than $30 bucks on some cheap china special LED strips and a roll of fiber optic on Amazon, and just play around a practice with it. Knowing how to solder is the main thing honestly. Practice makes perfect on that front. 

The Runabout made it to work today and is now on display:

 

[peter]

31 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

DON'T be intimidated by lighting! I was SOOO you for many, many years, and yes, it was more daunting back in the bad old days of fluorescent tubes and such, but NOW!, LED's have it super easy!, barely an inconvenience! (Someone will get that joke...). Seriously, just buy yourself a decent soldering iron if you don't have one, spend less than $30 bucks on some cheap china special LED strips and a roll of fiber optic on Amazon, and just play around a practice with it. Knowing how to solder is the main thing honestly. Practice makes perfect on that front. 

The Runabout made it to work today and is now on display:

 

That would be awesome to have at your desk at work to stare at all day.

Love the mouse pad. 

I had two toys at my work desk but apart from that, I didn't leave much of significant value there.

Pic from the start of the pandemic last year. 

[MechTech]

@Gabe Q You're Valk is looking good! Don't let some wires intimidate you, you can light a kit! You can get stuff everywhere, but if you want it pre-wired: https://evandesigns.com/

@derex3592 Alright Derex, rockin' the work desk with your shuttle!

@peter Thanks for posting that video. That's another way to do it with the cut-outs in the joints. Godzilla and Darth Vader. Good thing you didn't have the Queen's photo on the same shelf, people might start to talk😄

Is it just me, or is that high pitch voice in the video kinda creepy? Like the voice in Macross Plus warning about the fire in the studio creepy. Does anybody else's knife go "Ching!" when it cuts through styrene? I want one of those! - MT

[peter]

5 hours ago, MechTech said:

@Gabe Q You're Valk is looking good! Don't let some wires intimidate you, you can light a kit! You can get stuff everywhere, but if you want it pre-wired: https://evandesigns.com/

@derex3592 Alright Derex, rockin' the work desk with your shuttle!

@peter Thanks for posting that video. That's another way to do it with the cut-outs in the joints. Godzilla and Darth Vader. Good thing you didn't have the Queen's photo on the same shelf, people might start to talk😄

Is it just me, or is that high pitch voice in the video kinda creepy? Like the voice in Macross Plus warning about the fire in the studio creepy. Does anybody else's knife go "Ching!" when it cuts through styrene? I want one of those! - MT

But I do have the Queen's photo up on my cubicle wall 🤣

[MechTech]

Just don't put her between Godzilla and Darth Vader - MT

[Darth Mingus]

On 8/10/2021 at 4:22 PM, MechTech said:

Just don't put her between Godzilla and Darth Vader - MT

I think she can take both of 'em...

[Thom]

On 8/10/2021 at 4:22 PM, MechTech said:

Just don't put her between Godzilla and Darth Vader - MT

 

2 hours ago, Darth Mingus said:

I think she can take both of 'em...

She'd slap them around like they were a couple of spoiled princes!

[peter]

[pengbuzz]

Was digging around in my archives and found this one; someday I have to finish it:

Edited August 12, 2021 by pengbuzz

[peter]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Was digging around in my archives and found this one; someday I have to finish it:

Oh, now that is cool.  What scale is that?

 

[pengbuzz]

17 minutes ago, peter said:

Oh, now that is cool.  What scale is that?

 

it's the Revell 1:535 kit

I had found it an an antique mall back when I lived in Denver; the guy wanted 20 bucks for it (half assembled, missing parts, thick goopy enamel paint, etc.) After I pointed all that out, I got it for 5 bucks out the door. i stripped it down and modernized it (still need to finish it though!).

[peter]

41 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

it's the Revell 1:535 kit

I had found it an an antique mall back when I lived in Denver; the guy wanted 20 bucks for it (half assembled, missing parts, thick goopy enamel paint, etc.) After I pointed all that out, I got it for 5 bucks out the door. i stripped it down and modernized it (still need to finish it though!).

Revell and their weird battleship scales.

But that's awesome, and I love that you modernized it.

[Gabe Q]

@peter You had me laughing so hard at having the picture of the queen at your desk! I'm not even gonna ask why you have it there. Great pic of her handling the hardware as well. 

@pengbuzz I can't believe what a great deal you got on your USS Missouri. Nice! 

@MechTech Thank you for posting that link. The prices seem reasonable and, thanks to you, I think I'll take the plunge and try lighting a kit.

I came across one of my older builds and the arms fell off. They were just sitting in a box apart from the main kit. I filled the holes with Milliput and will insert a 2mm brass rod to secure the arms. These hasegawa battroids are fragile! 

[peter]

4 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

@peter You had me laughing so hard at having the picture of the queen at your desk! I'm not even gonna ask why you have it there. Great pic of her handling the hardware as well. 

@pengbuzz I can't believe what a great deal you got on your USS Missouri. Nice! 

@MechTech Thank you for posting that link. The prices seem reasonable and, thanks to you, I think I'll take the plunge and try lighting a kit.

I came across one of my older builds and the arms fell off. They were just sitting in a box apart from the main kit. I filled the holes with Milliput and will insert a 2mm brass rod to secure the arms. These hasegawa battroids are fragile! 

Let's just say I indirectly work for her.

 

Hahahahah!

[pengbuzz]

  

On 8/12/2021 at 9:49 PM, Gabe Q said:

@pengbuzz I can't believe what a great deal you got on your USS Missouri. Nice! 

  Thanks!

Okay, the full story: my wife and I were at the antique mall in Denver (somewhere on South Broad, if memory serves), and I found the model with most of the superstructure missing (including masts and whatnot), and the top deck not attached, sitting next to it. I figured it wouldn't be very much, so we brought it up front, as it didn't have a price on it. With these places, if you can't find a price on the item (sometimes the tag falls off, gets taken off, etc), you bring the item up front with the booth number so the person at the front desk/ register can call the person renting the booth to ask.

So the cashier gets a hold of the guy whose booth it was in (he was there that day bringing in more stuff for his booth) and he comes up and confirms it was definitely one of his items for sale. The guy wanted a thirty bucks for it (are you kidding me?!); in the condition it was in, I told him "no way". He got a bit of an attitude when I listed to him the issues and the challenges those would pose to anyone. He tried claiming "It's a classic and you can't get that anymore!", with his burly friend standing there agreeing with him, arms folded and scowling at me.

I pulled out my smartphone and showed them both that they could get a brand new kit of it at Hobby Lobby for $22.99 ($13.00 with a 40% off coupon that they had back then!)

Neither one of them seemed that imposing after that.

So, I offered 5 bucks for the model, he accepted that and we paid the cashier, took the model and got out of there.

 

On 8/12/2021 at 9:49 PM, Gabe Q said:

I came across one of my older builds and the arms fell off. They were just sitting in a box apart from the main kit. I filled the holes with Milliput and will insert a 2mm brass rod to secure the arms. These hasegawa battroids are fragile! 

Yeah, I noticed on the fighter I tried to build that the plastic is soft and just not very resilient (almost feels like there's air in the mix or something!). If I were ever able to get a Hasegawa Battroid kit, I would not even install the regular joints, instead opting to either glue in my own, or even doing a partial endoskeleton, with the armor attached to it.

That...or try attaching the parts to the transform on my VF-1 Bandai chunky and making a hybrid. O.o

Edited August 15, 2021 by pengbuzz

[MechTech]

@peter Hahahahaha! Great photo! How nice of them to put it in a maintenance stand for her. I hope she had ear plugs in! My wife worked for her more directly (MoD).

@pengbuzz That's great that you got that kit like that! Our club president is building the Arizona from that same kit line. Not only is that kit NOT worth $30 bucks brand new, it has a lot of stuff that needs fixing. But its an ancient kit!

@Gabe Q I'm glad you're getting into lighting! You'll see, it's easy. Just be be careful with the wires and you're good to go! Great fix on that kit! - MT

[electric indigo]

A tale of two guns...

[pengbuzz]

4 hours ago, electric indigo said:

A tale of two guns...

Wow...looks like the barrels broke. I'm so sorry. Can you reglue them?

 

UPDATE: the elevator for my Transformers Activity Center pretty much ate itself the other day when i tried putting in new plexiglass, and upon testing it, the car's support system shattered, the line snapped and the top of the shaft gave way.

So... this is what I am doing now:

1) rebuilt the shaft (no pics yet due to folks not being able to tell what the mess is supposed to look like! lol

2) Built an all-new elevator car using cardboard, styrene and plexi. The top is reinforced so the disaster from the last time won't happen again, And...

3) I'm installing an electric motor along with a DPDT switch, to allow one button on a rocker to bring the elevator up or down.

This project will be the first time I've ever done wall current,  so I contacted some expert help to ensure I don't burn my base down, torch my collection and possibly fry myself (extra crispy recipe.)_

We'll see how all of this goes; it's had it's ups and downs.

Stay tuned folks...

[derex3592]

Since Bandai has failed us all in not giving us a HiMetal R QRau... Back to a project from 2 years ago. Having another go at the seams with some Mr Surfacer 500. Stay tuned. 

Edited August 16, 2021 by derex3592

[Thom]

@pengbuzz 'Extra crispy recipe...' Yes, best steer clear of that. Will be nice to see it in operation.

@derex3592 I would love an injected 1/72 of that! Looks cool.

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz "We have the technology. We can rebuild him. Better. Stronger. Faster..." Hopefully it won't cost you Six Million Dollars!

@derex3592 There's no school like the old school! I always liked the lines on that kit anyhow. Every beautiful woman has her quirks anyhow! - MT

[Salamander]

16 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Wow...looks like the barrels broke. I'm so sorry. Can you reglue them?

I'm not so sure the barrels are broken. Considering the size of those guns they might just have been made in multiple pieces to fit in the box. A gun up to twice the size of the mech is pretty much on course for anything designed by Mamoru Nagano, after all... 😅

[Gabe Q]

20 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

This project will be the first time I've ever done wall current,  so I contacted some expert help to ensure I don't burn my base down, torch my collection and possibly fry myself (extra crispy recipe.)_

Hey be careful with that electricity stuff!

@derex3592 Awesome! A Q-Rau build!  I recently picked that one up when they last re-popped it. I'm excited to build it. Please keep us updated on your progress. There's a guy on YouTube that built it and articulated the pilot figure. https://youtu.be/pwdCyVpZ5j0

So I've put a freeze on all new builds until I clear out some of my extensive backlog of unfinished kits. I started this VF-0 well over a decade ago.

I began work on the leg armor. I'm slowly pulling off the masking tape and I get super nervous! Is the paint gonna lift with the tape? Did some paint seep under the edges of the tape? Was the alignment with the edge crooked? So many things can go wrong! I've quit many a project because of paint mishaps.

[derex3592]

Well.... Color me UN impressed with Tamiya lacquer paints. I was under the impression that these you could brush paint straight of the bottle and NOT have to do multiple coats. Ummm.. NO... Ohh well, I'm sure they'll airbrush beautifully, I'm going to have to pay through the nose and get some of their new enamel paint and try that. I can't keep doing models with no way to brush paint small details with one coat. Hell Model Master enamels never had a problem with it. Tamiyas lacquer is just to THIN. 

[peter]

On 8/15/2021 at 11:38 AM, electric indigo said:

A tale of two guns...

That is a skinny gun/rifle... Reinforce with brass rod or no space? 

[peter]

On 8/15/2021 at 7:22 PM, derex3592 said:

Since Bandai has failed us all in not giving us a HiMetal R QRau... Back to a project from 2 years ago. Having another go at the seams with some Mr Surfacer 500. Stay tuned. 

Yes, a Macross kit!!!  I feel really bad because it's been ages since I last built one

[peter]

10 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

Hey be careful with that electricity stuff!

@derex3592 Awesome! A Q-Rau build!  I recently picked that one up when they last re-popped it. I'm excited to build it. Please keep us updated on your progress. There's a guy on YouTube that built it and articulated the pilot figure. https://youtu.be/pwdCyVpZ5j0

So I've put a freeze on all new builds until I clear out some of my extensive backlog of unfinished kits. I started this VF-0 well over a decade ago.

I began work on the leg armor. I'm slowly pulling off the masking tape and I get super nervous! Is the paint gonna lift with the tape? Did some paint seep under the edges of the tape? Was the alignment with the edge crooked? So many things can go wrong! I've quit many a project because of paint mishaps.

Oh, I saw that vid! 

This is a cool one too, painted in DYRL colors:

 

 

 

[peter]

7 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Well.... Color me UN impressed with Tamiya lacquer paints. I was under the impression that these you could brush paint straight of the bottle and NOT have to do multiple coats. Ummm.. NO... Ohh well, I'm sure they'll airbrush beautifully, I'm going to have to pay through the nose and get some of their new enamel paint and try that. I can't keep doing models with no way to brush paint small details with one coat. Hell Model Master enamels never had a problem with it. Tamiyas lacquer is just to THIN. 

I remember their enamels were good, but thay was ages ago. 

[peter]

Haven't built anything all week, maybe more, so I finally have something on the workbench. 

Nothing exciting report though, just another AMT Star Trek kit.  I really wanted to do a Macross build, but I'm not sure I'm ready for the 1/48 Strike yet.  Need more practice. 

Anyway, what's in the box. 

The thing is huge compared to the Refit. 

Comes with shuttles you'll never see. 

The only raised panel lines are on the bottom of the nacelle and some other minor details.  At this scale, they don't look horrible, but on the 1/2500, it looked like a ribbed Trojan. 

I might cut those shuttled and figure out a way to display them outside of the ship.... Let's see if I'm not too lazy to do it. 

Look at that AMT Star Trek precision fit! 

Apparently retooled extra detailed parts? 

Different bridge domes for different versions of the Excelsior. 

 

G-Cal Aztecs

The kit decals do not come with the strong back decals, and neither do the G-Cal decals.

Feeling pretty lazy lately, I don't think I feel like masking and painting all the blue bits, so I ordered the Polar Lights Aztecs anyway.  Guess I'll have a complete set of decals for a second ship then (Polar Lights Aztec kit comes with two sets of Strong backs... One blue, and the other blueish green.).

Anyway, not a proper AMT Star Trek build without copious amounts of cursing... Stay tuned. 

 

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, peter said:

Haven't built anything all week, maybe more, so I finally have something on the workbench. 

Nothing exciting report though, just another AMT Star Trek kit.  I really wanted to do a Macross build, but I'm not sure I'm ready for the 1/48 Strike yet.  Need more practice. 

Anyway, what's in the box. 

The thing is huge compared to the Refit. 

Comes with shuttles you'll never see. 

The only raised panel lines are on the bottom of the nacelle and some other minor details.  At this scale, they don't look horrible, but on the 1/2500, it looked like a ribbed Trojan. 

I might cut those shuttled and figure out a way to display them outside of the ship.... Let's see if I'm not too lazy to do it. 

Look at that AMT Star Trek precision fit! 

Apparently retooled extra detailed parts? 

Different bridge domes for different versions of the Excelsior. 

 

G-Cal Aztecs

The kit decals do not come with the strong back decals, and neither do the G-Cal decals.

Feeling pretty lazy lately, I don't think I feel like masking and painting all the blue bits, so I ordered the Polar Lights Aztecs anyway.  Guess I'll have a complete set of decals for a second ship then (Polar Lights Aztec kit comes with two sets of Strong backs... One blue, and the other blueish green.).

Anyway, not a proper AMT Star Trek build without copious amounts of cursing... Stay tuned. 

 

Well, one thing I would do with that kit is a light sanding with maybe 250 -400  grit sandpaper of the grid on the upper saucer. Not remove it, but to knock down some of the "puffiness" that looks to be present around the grid lines (being careful of the phasers, of course!).

[electric indigo]

@peter Looking forward to see the finished Ex. It's a beautiful design.

@Salamander You're right, the Buster Launchers came in sections. Overall length is about 70 cm.

Still needs a few tweaks, but I'm close to attaching the legs on the V-Siren.

[Thom]

@peter "That's a big ship." "Not so big as her Captain..." Very nice choice for the next build! Awaiting the progress pics!

@electric indigo Still don't know what it's from, but it's looking super!

[Chronocidal]

19 hours ago, peter said:

Comes with shuttles you'll never see. 

Apparently retooled extra detailed parts? 

Different bridge domes for different versions of the Excelsior. 

So, as far as I understand, all of these extra pieces are to cover all of the variants that the Excelsior went through (short of the upgraded impulse engines that the Enterprise B got, but that's another kit).  The model used in Star Trek III was very different from ST VI, including those different shuttle bay details, different impulse dome, and bridge.  I'd expect all those tiny detail parts were also related to that refit.

Edit - Actually, unless you have two separate upper saucer halves, I think you're locked into making the ST:III NX-2000 version.  The refit for ST:VI had a dual set of impulse domes at the back of the saucer.

Looks to be a nice breakdown of the distinguishing details in this discussion: http://www.trektoy.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2420&page=7

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Chronocidal

[Gabe Q]

@peter Good luck on the next Star Trek build! 

@electric indigo Your build looks super clean. It's coming out great! 

Currently decaling the big boy...

[arbit]

Just got back from break. I stayed away from the net to refresh, but I haven't been away from Macross!

Hot of the printer, and I mean really smokin' hot!

She is based off an MMD model with heavy editing from me (not heavy breathing), 3.6cm height, 1/48 scale (but not really), for my Macross stage diorama.

The usual disclaimer: This is fan art, not for sale or distribution.

I have 10 figures in some stage of production. Should I wait till their printed to show you? Or just throw everything at you along the way?

And lots of great builds from everyone while I was away:

Liking Derex's lighting (looking forward to the Q-Rau), Gabe Q's valk, Peter's everything, Electric Indigo's FSS resin painting, and Mechtech's amazing detail work (Do you love Nadesico to bits like I do, or is this just a bit of kit-bashing fun for you?)