Cannon Fodder Joke Machine

[aaajin]

Work In Progress...

I made a noob mess when spraying white paint too close to the parts and ended up being too thick (Testor Modeling Spray Can : White Gloss).

Luckily Ive gotten used to the spraying distance by the time I spray the dark tan parts (Testor Modelling Spray Can : Dark Tan).

Now Im soaking the white-painted parts in pine sol and will wait till tomorrow to brush them all and repaint.

Pictures as follows (sorry for the crappy celly pics) :

Parts :

Parts to be painted white :

Parts to be painted dark tan :

Progress so far :

Wish me luck!

Edited May 18, 2014 by aaajin

[505thAirborne]

No luck needed, its looking great so far!!

[Kanedas Bike]

Good luck! Can't wait to follow your progress, love cannon-fodder schemes.

-b.

[aaajin]

Thanks for the kind words!

Another update : A bit slow today. Had to accompany the wife for her Sunday's shopping till 8 PM!

1) Cleaned/brush/paint-stripped parts that were painted too thick yesterday.

2) Painted the dark tan on the 2-halves of the fuselage

3) Painted white parts.

4) Painted dark tan on the inner calves

5) Puttied right solder-damaged hand (not sure why the original owner did that), sanded and painted it white.

Initially, the inner calves were supposed to have white trims around them (lineart accurate) but I decided to paint the whole innfer-face tan since I made a mess on the paintjob. Before painting dark tan on the calves, I taped the circumference with 3M painter's tape. However, it seems that the tan paint managed to seep through the tapes, leaving unclean looks on the white trims. Would really appreciate it if I could get some suggestions/pointers from MW guru's on how to get a clean white-trim on the outer calves. Hoping to stay as lineart-accurate as possible, especially on the outer calves colors.

Parts donated by EXO and CrazyDude will prolly come in before next weekend, so my next update will be by next Sat/Sun.

Cant wait to finish this up and big thanks to EXO and CrazyDude!

Edited May 19, 2014 by aaajin

[aaajin]

messed up the paint (tan) on one of the wings and the top fuselage

Soaked them in pine-sol to paint-strip and will be repainted once I get a new set of paint cans, hopefully by this weekend.

[aaajin]

Update :

1) scrubbed the paints off the wings and top fuselage.

2) painted wing (white)

3) painted cockpit trim & intakes (matt black - pic not updated for the intake)

4) painted outer calves (dark tan)

5) painted tan on the tailfins. Modified the paint-scheme a little bit since the bottom area will be rubbing against the backpack hinge.

6) found a 1A JM head on ebay!

And just realized that my backpack is missing the two rear tabs. The break was so clean that it almost looks like nothing was broken. Oh well, doesnt affect the functionality and transformation.

Edited May 25, 2014 by aaajin

[aaajin]

Finally finished with all the parts.

Just need to use black sticker strip for the border between the white and tan colors on the bottom half of the nosecone.

Parts will be left to dry thoroughly before coating them in semi-gloss paint.

And, waiting for 1 x left-hand (EXO) and 1 x 1A head (CrazyDude/ebay) arrivals before I can continue working on them!

Sorry for the crappy cellphone pictures. Will snap some using a real camera when its done.

Edited May 25, 2014 by aaajin

[505thAirborne]

Looking great, you're on the home stretch too completion!

[aaajin]

Managed to get this off ebay. Gonna use the head for the CF custom~!

Edited May 29, 2014 by aaajin

[aaajin]

Looking great, you're on the home stretch too completion!

Thabks!. Cant wait to get this done quickly!

[aaajin]

Done painting :

1) Left arm (donated by EXO - thanks!)

2) 1J head (donated by EXO - thanks!)

To do :

1) Putty leg thrusters (from a "battle damaged" toy) & paint black

2) Repaint inner tights (some paint chip after inserting spring)

3) Coat all parts (semi-gloss)

[aaajin]

DONE! All thats left are to let the parts sit for a few hours before applying some decals ... and coat it with semi-gloss paint

Gonna dig my 1J 30th anniversary sticker sheets. Heard they include waterslide decal with that (never inspected the manuals/stickers - lol)

[Falcon18]

Looks very good. Congrats on completing it! Looking forward to it being fully assembled.

Yup, the 30th 1J has a waterslide sheet.

[aaajin]

thanks! decided to use a "used" destroid sticker sheet..feels more natural bcause the destroids are also brown

[aaajin]

.

Edited June 4, 2014 by aaajin

[aaajin]

with decals :

Edited June 1, 2014 by aaajin

[EXO]

Looking good. I was questioning the choice of Destroid Stickers but you pulled it off!

[aaajin]

Thanks! Was working with whatever are left of my destroid sticker sheets, so there are a lot of trimming here-n-there's.

But one thing that I feel lacking is the Macross "screw-cover" and "VF" decals since all JM customs on the board have those.

I may have missed the opportunity to purchase the JM stock decals (probably by takatoys) back in 2004-2006. But that time the JM bug had not bit me.

Anyone's selling theirs?

EDITED :

Also ordered 4 sets of H-eyes from HLJ (2 x mini circles and 2 x standard squares, each in green & red - they dont carry blue at HLJ ) to be used as :

2 x nosecone lights

2 x wing lights

1 x visor

3 x backpack lights/thrusters

4 x rear legs lights (L&R)

2 x under wrist lights (L&R)

Edited June 4, 2014 by aaajin

[aaajin]

.

Edited June 6, 2014 by aaajin

[aaajin]

DONE! will post more detailed pictures in the weekend.

Edited June 6, 2014 by aaajin

[aaajin]

finished decaling today. Arcadia sticker sheet sucks big time. You can see how thick it is compared to Yamato's destroid sheet.

Anyways, whats done is done and I'll just re-coat it tomorrow :

Edited June 7, 2014 by aaajin

[505thAirborne]

Looks fantastic, great job! A true one of kind VF-1J!

[aaajin]

Thanks! Prolly gonna have to clear coat it again due to the thickness of arcadia's sticker sheet. Its killing me!.

[aaajin]

Sad news. Bought a can of matte spray can (not sure why I decided to use matte when Ive been using semi-gloss all this while - for some reason I was thinking that matte = semi-gloss)

Sprayed it on the custom and walla. the whole thing now looks like its been dipped in sugar frost coating. homigod .

And so, thats the end of the JM's life that Ive been working on in my spare time for the past 3 weeks.

Maybe I should take it apart and pine-sol it. but I wont have the time to work on it anymore until late August as project is now on high gear at the U.

So, sayonara my little friend . Its been a good learning experience

[EXO]

That shouldn't be a problem. As long as it's even you can cover it in gloss and the paint should even out. Or if it's really bad, use a an automotive scuff pad to take of the layer of matte. Go to a Auto part store, a big art store or sometimes a home depot has them. Or you can even order them online. I use them to repair paint all the time. Don't get the 3M brand, they're too stiff.

Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Sungold-Abrasives-74402-SunBrite-General/dp/B00HSGOWRQ

[505thAirborne]

What EXO said if its rough, I thought I had ruined my VF-0B kit a few years back using a Matte finish, using a semi-gloss cured that problem!

[aaajin]

Thanks for the tips. but I think the paint is beyond repair.

The paint in some areas like the cockpit now has cracks on em. Maybe the coat melted the paint underneath and for some reason accelerated the drying, causing crack lines.

Areas with black paint are now grey-ish, and all surfaces felt rough. Man, to think that that was the last step of the custom.

Im gonna take a break before repairing or attempting a second round at it.

[EXO]

what type of clearcoat was it? lacquer?

[CrazyDude]

Strip, wash, rinse and put aside in a box to be worked on when you get a bit of time.

Trying to finish something fast is my prime recipe for mucking up or ruining a build, so far none beyond repair though.

[aaajin]

EXO, not sure about the type of paint since I threw it away after finding out what it did to my custom..

Thanks crazydude, keeping it in a cabinet and will see if I have the time to repair it

[aaajin]

OK, I changed my mind and decided to fix it today :

1) I disassembled the whole thing and have sand/wash/re-painted majority of the parts that were affected, mainly the upper cockpit fuselage and left tight areas. Theyre all waiting to dry now.

2) The most affected area, (and thank god the easiest to repaint) is the heatshield. It's now soaking in pine-sol. Will paint strip and repaint it next weekend.

3) Need to re-coat chestplate with semi-gloss paint. Will get the same coat that I used the 1st time (Tetor semi-gloss) that I saw available at a walmart location thats further away from my place.

Crossing my fingers now. Hope semi-gloss coat will fix the issue.

And of course a very big thanks to EXO, 505thAirborne and CrazyDude for the great mod tips! Greatly apreciate it!

[aaajin]

.

Edited May 21, 2016 by aaajin

[aaajin]

Group shot :

I would like to thank EXO for donating his JM parts for this custom (and future customs). Also thanks to the members on this board who gave tips & advice on the custom.

Will be working on my next custom in free time when time permits, most probably end the year.

Thinking of customizing 2 recast copies that EXO sent me :

1) YF-19 JM theme, using a complete recast copy

2) Construction Destroid JM theme, using a partially complete recast copy (ref pic)

Edited June 16, 2014 by aaajin

[mojacko]

nice,....personally it could use a bit of panel wash...but thats just me.....its clean and cute!!!

[aaajin]

nice,....personally it could use a bit of panel wash...but thats just me.....its clean and cute!!!

noob question. is there a difference between panel washing and panel lining?

does panel washing involves smearing the surface with black water-soluble ink, then wiping the surface? (so that the ink will get in the panel lines?)

anyways, I think I personally like it clean, but would consider paneling it sometime in the future