Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[Big s]

8 hours ago, MechTech said:

@arbit @Thom Thank you guys! Yeah, the cats keep me on my toes. They also help with quality control. This same cat kept sitting on the deck of the ship. Of course it collapsed! It wasn't designed for cats! But I reinforced it with carbon fiber tube and it now supports cats too. Just one way they help keep my builds strong enough for radio control.😁 - MT

Kitty approved quality assurance 

[arbit]

Here is something new for release. Hope you like it.  

https://www.patreon.com/arbitscalemodels

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by arbit

[electric indigo]

Greased up for the ball on the hill

[MechTech]

@arbit Awww! How cute! Cool sculpts on your page! - MT

[MechTech]

I hope everyone had a good weekend! Here's some more work done on the frigate.

For the torpedo and missile decoys (the types that inflate to "look" like a ship on radar or emit a signal to look like multiple ships to a torpedo), this launcher was made. Basic rivet detail and the rounds are made from Gundma missile castings made years ago. Originally I made a sponson to hold the crane on the back on the ship.  I'm such a genius, that I didn't think the crane would need more room to move. I was VERY WRONG! So why waste a good sponson? It now holds the decoy launcher. The rounds get glued in later when painted.

Now my crane was left hanging with no place to go. So I made a new sponson - designed with more room. I recycled a failed part as the base and re-machined it to fit bigger bolts (the original was a failure because the smaller bolt hole pattern was off). The sponson top was made with failed deck tie-down patterned plastic for detail. Gundam to the rescue again with another PC insert piece. The crane and launcher are removable to slide the heli-deck outwards for equipment access. The sponson needs sanding when the glue fully cures in a couple of days.

 

Don't throw away dulled drill bits! I needed a mill bit I didn't have the right size for to drill missile holes (think Rolling Airframe Missiles) in plastic. I ground down an old bit flat and filed the interior out so the bit was turned into a mill bit. You guys can do this with a Dremel like I did. Now I have missile holes for the AA missile launcher (more on that another time).

That's it for now. Thanks for checking in. Have a good week guys! - MT

[arbit]

9 hours ago, MechTech said:

I hope everyone had a good weekend! Here's some more work done on the frigate.

@MechTech Keeping real modeling alive and well.  Nice seeing your update. Gorgeous handiwork. Are you actually getting even better?

 

[MechTech]

@arbit Ha ha! I don't know about better, but thank you! I'm humbled.  - MT

[derex3592]

Railings......sooo many railings....

[MechTech]

@derex3592 I'll skip the railing puns and just say they look great - the who;e ship too!😉 - MT

[arbit]

https://www.patreon.com/posts/1-72-sdf-pilot-2-73305734

New sculpt.

[Bolt]

@MechTech that frigate is looking awesome ! Great idea with the dull drill bits. Now i have a reason for why I've been keeping those dull things!

@derex3592 your patience on those railings is to be commended! Wow!

@arbit that's a great sculpt! Could use a few of those. Are there any Macross deck crews out there at that scale? My 20th century deck crew figures just don't look SPACY enough! Modifying them would be tedious..

 

[arbit]

1 hour ago, Bolt said:

@arbit that's a great sculpt! Could use a few of those. Are there any Macross deck crews out there at that scale? My 20th century deck crew figures just don't look SPACY enough! Modifying them would be tedious..

A Macross deck crew is a good idea. Help me out to understand what would be cool.

Could you show me different examples, and poses, uniforms, and helmet types (or no helmet).

For example there is the 1/72 Fujimi US Deck Crew and the Hasegawa deck crew we could base poses off of.

And if you have screen caps, or line art, we could do some screen accurate poses.

I could put them together pretty quickly since they are small scale and not hero figures, especially if we use the base SDF uniform.

New uniforms need more work, but interesting to do for fellow modelers.

[Bolt]

7 hours ago, arbit said:

A Macross deck crew is a good idea. Help me out to understand what would be cool.

Could you show me different examples, and poses, uniforms, and helmet types (or no helmet).

For example there is the 1/72 Fujimi US Deck Crew and the Hasegawa deck crew we could base poses off of.

And if you have screen caps, or line art, we could do some screen accurate poses.

I could put them together pretty quickly since they are small scale and not hero figures, especially if we use the base SDF uniform.

New uniforms need more work, but interesting to do for fellow modelers.

I'll send you a pm

But here's an example. BTW I really need this model in 1/72!

Edited October 16, 2022 by Bolt

[arbit]

11 hours ago, Bolt said:

I'll send you a pm

Lets let the other guys chime in. Thats a cool site you sent.

http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/Stats/Statistics/Flightsuits/Spacesuits.php

[Bolt]

[505thAirborne]

I masked off all of the black sections and gave it a good coat of Tamiya Primer, I might do one more. Next will be some actual white Tamiya spray paint. I need to find some decals & fixed pose hands... (Suggestions on hands that might scale with this?) 

Will be nice to have a VF-11C with the other 11's I have. 

 

[Bolt]

Looking good !

[Thom]

5 hours ago, 505thAirborne said:

I masked off all of the black sections and gave it a good coat of Tamiya Primer, I might do one more. Next will be some actual white Tamiya spray paint. I need to find some decals & fixed pose hands... (Suggestions on hands that might scale with this?) 

Will be nice to have a VF-11C with the other 11's I have. 

 

You could try Gundam toys, and see if those hands will work. Or try G-System articulated hands.

 

[505thAirborne]

5 hours ago, Thom said:

You could try Gundam toys, and see if those hands will work. Or try G-System articulated hands.

 

Thanks @Thom, long ago I used to have some of those Gundam toys, those might actually work. 

[electric indigo]

I lost my soul when I fell to earth

[Bolt]

Nicely done. What is she from?

[electric indigo]

It's after an original work by illustrator Baby Fish.

[505thAirborne]

Hi all, sorry for the 20 questions about spray paint colors yet the closest Hobby Shop near me that carries Tamiya is like a 2 hour drive, so ordering online is my easiest option. 

Between the old 1/100 Bandai kit and what they used for their HM-R VF-2SS, is there any spray paint shade that comes close to the Super Armor Pack color? (Or something in between). I thought about using an Olive Drab but wanted to try this first. 

Thank you. 

 

[MechTech]

@505thAirborne I wish the color swatches were bigger, but this chart is pretty good (depending on your monitor).

https://www.tamiyausa.com/blog/ts-paint-chips-tamiya-color-spray-paint/

I know you could look this up too, but just wanted to confirm that its pretty accurate (from personal experience). I miss having local hobby shops! I pray they make a comeback somehow. - MT

[505thAirborne]

2 hours ago, MechTech said:

@505thAirborne I wish the color swatches were bigger, but this chart is pretty good (depending on your monitor).

https://www.tamiyausa.com/blog/ts-paint-chips-tamiya-color-spray-paint/

I know you could look this up too, but just wanted to confirm that its pretty accurate (from personal experience). I miss having local hobby shops! I pray they make a comeback somehow. - MT

@MechTech Thanks buddy, when I lived in the Los Angeles area (San Fernando Valley) I had Smith Bros. Hobby Center as my instant go to shop, man I I miss that place. If you needed it they had it. 

As for those color swatches, I am starting to think the Tamiya "Coral Blue" might work out. After a wash in some Flory's that might even darken it a bit too. 

Time to place an order!! 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, 505thAirborne said:

@MechTech Thanks buddy, when I lived in the Los Angeles area (San Fernando Valley) I had Smith Bros. Hobby Center as my instant go to shop, man I I miss that place. If you needed it they had it. 

As for those color swatches, I am starting to think the Tamiya "Coral Blue" might work out. After a wash in some Flory's that might even darken it a bit too. 

Time to place an order!! 

The one that I’ve been going to in Corona is Hobby Town. They have some good stuff and sometimes even get the Mr Hobby paints. They’ve added a new store close by where I live currently, but I might be moving up to the mountains due to being priced out of the area due to increasing interest and mortgage rates. Over the summer the homes we thought we could afford after only a couple months of saving are unfortunately out of our range now, so we started looking outside the areas we were originally going for. Seems I gotta get a banjo and washboard to fit in now

[Bolt]

8 hours ago, Big s said:

The one that I’ve been going to in Corona is Hobby Town. They have some good stuff and sometimes even get the Mr Hobby paints. They’ve added a new store close by where I live currently, but I might be moving up to the mountains due to being priced out of the area due to increasing interest and mortgage rates. Over the summer the homes we thought we could afford after only a couple months of saving are unfortunately out of our range now, so we started looking outside the areas we were originally going for. Seems I gotta get a banjo and washboard to fit in now

I don't even have a hobby store nearby .

Count yourself lucky if any of you do! i pay a ton of money to live in the north coast redwoods and wine country. But I won't compromise, no matter the cost.  I wish the best for you , amigo ! 
 

[Big s]

3 hours ago, Bolt said:

I don't even have a hobby store nearby .

Count yourself lucky if any of you do! i pay a ton of money to live in the north coast redwoods and wine country. But I won't compromise, no matter the cost.  I wish the best for you , amigo ! 
 

I do wish hobby shops were as popular as they were when I was younger. We must have had five or six in town when I was a kid. Now they just opened one after a few closed down. I guess if you count Michael’s, it would be two but I think of that as arts and crafts even though I should just put that as a hobby. I’m probably going up to crestline as long as nothing to big comes up in the inspections, hopefully there’s something up there. Thanks for the well wishes. There’s an extra room up there that seems to want to be a project room,  so hopefully I can add some stuff to these pages again soon

[Thom]

I live in the wrong part of my state! There are at least two or three hobby shops two hours, minimum, in either direction from where I am. There was one right in town, but it closed about ten years ago for the owner's health reason, and another that was 40 minutes away, but closed for financial reasons. Frustrating!

Just pure model hobby shops can't survive on their own. They have to be wedded to another popular hobby, either RC or Gaming, and the two two that I frequent most (two hours away) do that. Dan's Craft and Things in Rochester and Performance Hobby in Webster, NY.

[Goodman Models]

Hi gang, I've been working on a number of projects trying to speed them on to the finish line - here's a JGSDF type 89 ifv just after decals. 

[MechTech]

@Goodman Models Your paint is nice-n-smooth! I like the optics too! There is depth to them.

 

Slowly but surely the frigate is getting there. Needed some defensive missiles for quick-reaction, short range (like the RIM-116 rolling airframe missiles). So here's the launcher under construction.

Getting a good and straight bevel is harder than you think - even on a mill!

The boxes assembled and the turret pieces. Remember the missile  "holes" from last week's post? NOTE: the bottom base is temporarily being used here.

And assembled (with temp base) TEMPORARILY fitted together.

And the actual base going with it. At the base of the lower left side of the turret you'll see ventilation louvers. While filing the turret sides, the file slipped and cut a DEEP gouge into it. Trying to figure out to putty it or cover it up, I decided to cut it out and put a piece of left-over louvers from the bridge area. The turret still needs ladders and detail pieces yet.

The fun part was cutting out bases to fit into the vacu-formed turret tops. Several tries later...

Next step is making the barrels and the swivel point for them. I cut the flats on the rotary table and drilled the holes and cut the outer area off on the lathe. This way everything stays centered and identical. I had to make six of them. THREE turrets. Two for the ship and one for a detailed cutaway.

I used leftover poly-caps for the turrets so they'll hold a pose when elevated.

And under the turrets a ring and the bases (same near oval shape as the original Oto Melara 76mm gun turret). The third turret is shown with the carousel-magazine test fit.

That's it for now. Thanks for checking in everyone! - MT

 

[Goodman Models]

32 minutes ago, MechTech said:

@Goodman Models Your paint is nice-n-smooth! I like the optics too! There is depth to them.

 

Slowly but surely the frigate is getting there. Needed some defensive missiles for quick-reaction, short range (like the RIM-116 rolling airframe missiles). So here's the launcher under construction.

Getting a good and straight bevel is harder than you think - even on a mill!

The boxes assembled and the turret pieces. Remember the missile  "holes" from last week's post? NOTE: the bottom base is temporarily being used here.

And assembled (with temp base) TEMPORARILY fitted together.

And the actual base going with it. At the base of the lower left side of the turret you'll see ventilation louvers. While filing the turret sides, the file slipped and cut a DEEP gouge into it. Trying to figure out to putty it or cover it up, I decided to cut it out and put a piece of left-over louvers from the bridge area. The turret still needs ladders and detail pieces yet.

The fun part was cutting out bases to fit into the vacu-formed turret tops. Several tries later...

Next step is making the barrels and the swivel point for them. I cut the flats on the rotary table and drilled the holes and cut the outer area off on the lathe. This way everything stays centered and identical. I had to make six of them. THREE turrets. Two for the ship and one for a detailed cutaway.

I used leftover poly-caps for the turrets so they'll hold a pose when elevated.

And under the turrets a ring and the bases (same near oval shape as the original Oto Melara 76mm gun turret). The third turret is shown with the carousel-magazine test fit.

That's it for now. Thanks for checking in everyone! - MT

 

This project is really neat to see! Can you tell us about your mill setup? I've thinking about one for a while now.

[wm cheng]

Argh, I might be getting old, but it always seems like 2 steps forward and 1 step back.  Thought I'd finally seal in all the decals under a gloss coat before the final finish, but for some reason, the gloss coat (maybe the Mr. Color spray cans) went on a little too thick, it "melted some of the decals" and pulled them in the direction of drying - I stood my model up on end vertically (in hopes to provide less surface for dust to fall on the drying clear coat) and the clear coat seems to have shifted and took some decals down with it.  The VF-84 is now distorted (just the center portion) and the 7 in the tail code is partially melted.  So weird, has anyone had this happen?  In all my years it hasn't happened before.  It also partially melted my weathering above USS ROOSEVELT into this weird pattern, don't know if I will keep it yet as I haven't seen weathering like this on a real plane.  I had to mask and re-spray that VF-84 with the gull grey (I thought it would be less intrusive than going through the clear coat to remove it) and pieced together another VF-84 to replace it and clear coat again.  I'm going to let the "7" and the "N" go as it is (as I don't have any spares to replace it with), but haven't decided on redoing the weathering or leaving it alone.

[arbit]

24 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

I'm going to let the "7" and the "N" go as it is (as I don't have any spares to replace it with), but haven't decided on redoing the weathering or leaving it alone.

I'm magnifying it 400% and decal problems are hardly noticeable. If anything, the weathering looks great.

[Thom]

@Goodman Models Nice looking little IFV.

@MechTech Stellar work on those guns!

@wm cheng Dang! No, sorry, that has never happened to me before. But, as Arbit mentioned, even blowing the pic up, it's not too obvious. Weathering looks good too. Keep on it!