Ignacio Ocamica Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 No worries Captn', will patiently wait for the next update. Quote
captain america Posted November 30, 2019 Author Posted November 30, 2019 3 hours ago, Ignacio Ocamica said: No worries Captn', will patiently wait for the next update. Thanks. I suffered a triple-whammy when both my drill press and shop-vac conked-out on me, and to top it off, I had to start the backpack thrusters over from scratch after a very dubious putty-smash experiment went very wrong. It happens. Oh, and a little less than 7 hours left on the preorder special. Quote
captain america Posted December 6, 2019 Author Posted December 6, 2019 Captain’s log: Friday, December 6th. The fiddly work continues! Pic 01 shows the knee module receiving its customary detail courtesy of the putty-smash technique. A technique which will come back to bite me, but more on that later. The recesses were carved with a sharp blade and slightly oversized, them a Renshape plug was made and said plug was used to shape some polyester putty placed inside the carving. As the putty starts to harden, the plug is pulled out, and the excess putty sanded away. Pics 2 and 3 show the thruster module, which, like the backpack itself was made as hollow as possible to save on weight. Pic 4: here I’m starting to build the thruster nozzles using Renshape walls to hold the putty in place when I insert the plug shown in pic 5 to create the thruster tunnel… Aaaand that’s where things went wrong. Terribly wrong! I suspected it was an overly-optimistic move, simply by virtue of the size of the plug and the high degree of surface contact. It was only once I was committed to the move that I realized that the plug was firmly stuck inside the thruster unit. So stuck in fact, that the only way to remove it was with a hammer and chisel, thereby destroying the thruster unit. Sigh. To boot, my shop vac died, and the bearings in my drill press gave up the ghost. In Canuckistan, you no make model; model make YOU (crazy!) Alas, that which is broken can be fixed (or in this case replaced) so after lots of work… Ta-daa! Pics 6 and 7 show the reconstituted thruster module looking even better! Pic 08: don’t you just love how I use improvised Renshape Jenga blocks to hold my models up? But wait, there’s more!! Pics 09-11: Did I mention that it can also free-stand? A little hot glue helped with that, but it demonstrates that the kit is well balanced. Now that most of the big parts are done, I can start to tackle the more fine detailing. The adventure continues next week: stay tuned! Quote
Convectuoso Posted December 6, 2019 Posted December 6, 2019 Looking amazing so far! Great job as always, Capn Quote
captain america Posted December 7, 2019 Author Posted December 7, 2019 7 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said: Wow! How tall is this kit? Roughly 9.5 inches to the top of the backpack, and closer to 10 inches to the top of the antenna. Quote
captain america Posted December 13, 2019 Author Posted December 13, 2019 Captain’s log: Friday, December 13th. I’m going to start this update off by showing you one of the modeling techniques I employ, and then showing you the result. This is very tedious work, but if you want the results, you’ve got to be willing to put in the effort. This exercise will consist in creating a shallow, recessed channel along the surface of a compound curve, just like the black bands you see on the Q-Rau. It would have been far simpler to merely scribe some lines, but if you want to do things right… Well you know. So the first thing you need to get or make are the right tools. From left to right in pic 01: -a fine-tooth photoetch razor saw -a chisel (or sharpened screwdriver which is just a hair narrower than the channel you want to create -a squared diamond file -a sanding block, the thickness of which is about the width of the channel, that has 320 grit sandpaper glued along its edge. Pic 02: once you have carefully mapped and traced your guides in pencil, take your razor saw and scribe either the upper or lower edge of the channel; just one will do. Take your time and go slowly. Pic 03: once this is done, take an X-acto blade and score the line created with the saw 3 or 4 times. Ue just moderate pressure, and the blade doesn’t have to be new. Pic 04: now take your chisel, and using your scribed line as a guide, begin to slowly and carefully chisel out the shallow channel. Take your time, because mistakes will require lots of time and putty to repair! Pic 05: Now that you’ve chiseled out a shallow channel, you’ll need to even the surface out. For this, the squared diamond file is best. Once again, take your time. Pic 06: you can use a similar technique to create recessed details on a part. In this case, there’s a recessed grill-like thing on either side of the knee, so I start by creating a plug, that is to say, a negative of the detail I wish to produce. Both parts have to be identical left and right, and most importantly, the plug parts must be very smooth, otherwise it won’t release cleanly. One I have the plugs made, I chisel out the area of the detail with my trusty screwdriver. I like to make the hole extra large. Pic 07: I coat the plug part in mold release, then mix some polyester putty. I carefully fill the cavity on the part with the putty, then gently insert the plug and hold it there until the putty starts to harden. Pic 08: One the putty has started to turn rubbery, carefully remove the plug and clean away the excess putty. Now do it 20 more times with various other shapes, across the rest of the mecha’s surface! Pics 9-13 are of what the techniques above produce in terms of details. I’m happy to say that the cockpit is coming along nicely. I’ll probably start doing some intitial molding next week if all goes well, then start on the pilot bust. So much work, so little time! Quote
505thAirborne Posted December 13, 2019 Posted December 13, 2019 (edited) Someone at Bandai & Arcadia are asking "Who is this Model Making Genius?" Looks amazing Capt!!! Edited January 1, 2020 by 505thAirborne Quote
electric indigo Posted December 13, 2019 Posted December 13, 2019 I really like the way you implemented the head and how the beefier central body flows into the lower protruding part in the frontal view. Quote
derex3592 Posted December 14, 2019 Posted December 14, 2019 Loving the detailing on this. Gonna kick myself for not getting one down the road if Bandai never does an HM-R of it. Quote
arbit Posted December 14, 2019 Posted December 14, 2019 That's a lifetime of skills there. Cap, I wonder, when was the first time you sculpted something from wood and what was the reason? Quote
captain america Posted December 15, 2019 Author Posted December 15, 2019 19 hours ago, arbit said: That's a lifetime of skills there. Cap, I wonder, when was the first time you sculpted something from wood and what was the reason? I've never used wood to sculpt anything: the beige/sand colored material you see is industrial modeling board. It was recommended to me by a toy pattern-maker back in the 90s and it suits 80% of my building needs. I'm sure wood is fine for some applications, like a simple vac-form buck, but it has grain, cannot be machined, and isn't dimensionally stable (shrinks when dry, swells when humid, etc.) Quote
MechTech Posted December 15, 2019 Posted December 15, 2019 BEAUTIFUL work Capn'! Thanks for showing your build process and technique. - MT Quote
Podtastic Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 (edited) On 12/14/2019 at 3:38 PM, derex3592 said: Loving the detailing on this. Gonna kick myself for not getting one down the road if Bandai never does an HM-R of it. That's not a gamble I'd take with people who seem obsessed with valkyries and virtually nothing else from Macross. Edited December 16, 2019 by Podtastic Quote
tekering Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 2 hours ago, Podtastic said: That's not a gamble I'd take with people who seem obsessed with valkyries and virtually nothing else from Macross. Bandai knows what sells, I guess. On 12/14/2019 at 10:38 PM, derex3592 said: Gonna kick myself for not getting one down the road if Bandai never does an HM-R of it. While this will be much too big for an HM-R display, I'd get one anyway... even if you have no intention of building it. You can always sell it off if-and-when you decide you don't want it, and likely make a profit for your trouble. Quote
Convectuoso Posted December 16, 2019 Posted December 16, 2019 On 12/14/2019 at 10:38 AM, derex3592 said: Loving the detailing on this. Gonna kick myself for not getting one down the road if Bandai never does an HM-R of it. This will work better with Kitz Concept's VFs than HMR. But none of those lines have teased Max's VF-1A. Quote
captain america Posted December 18, 2019 Author Posted December 18, 2019 Hey guys, I'm going to push back next Friday's update to after Christmas. I have something else to unveil on the 20th. Quote
Gabe Q Posted December 18, 2019 Posted December 18, 2019 57 minutes ago, captain america said: Hey guys, I'm going to push back next Friday's update to after Christmas. I have something else to unveil on the 20th. I saw the teaser on your Insta. I'm very curious to see what that is. Quote
captain america Posted December 27, 2019 Author Posted December 27, 2019 Captain’s log: Friday, December 27th. The masters are almost done! Milia’s helmet s also done, I just have the Milia bust left to sculpt, and then a few small details left on the battle suit itself. Some molding has already begun—necessary to make the final adjustments to the pose. The decal artwork is also well underway, but I want to do some test-fitting to make sure all the markings fit perfectly. It’s only now that I’ve gotten it almost done that I realize what a lackluster job Club M did with their 1/72 Q-Rau kit all those years ago. Alas, enjoy the pics: I begin molding next week. Quote
Gabe Q Posted December 28, 2019 Posted December 28, 2019 Sweet Baby Jesus! It's a thing of beauty. Quote
nightmareB4macross Posted December 28, 2019 Posted December 28, 2019 She is a real beauty! Excellent work as always, Captain!! Quote
electric indigo Posted December 28, 2019 Posted December 28, 2019 This is the first sculpt, to my eyes, that gives the design an integrated feel, instead of being just a succession of blobs. Congratulations! Quote
arbit Posted December 29, 2019 Posted December 29, 2019 A tough subject to tackle with all those curves. And while it is beyond me to even contemplate how you get all those dimensions sculpted correctly, its your small details and rivets that raise it above past attempts. Quote
Bolt Posted December 29, 2019 Posted December 29, 2019 I hope Bandai is taking notes. Someone needs to show this to Miyatake San and Kawamori San.. Quote
captain america Posted December 29, 2019 Author Posted December 29, 2019 On 12/28/2019 at 1:45 PM, electric indigo said: This is the first sculpt, to my eyes, that gives the design an integrated feel, instead of being just a succession of blobs. Congratulations! Thanks, that means a lot. Admittedly, this is one of the more tedious projects I've worked on in recent memory, hence the longer-than-usual building time. The design of the mecha really does strike me as a succession of blobs: not very practical, but certainly pleasing to the eyes. Quote
Podtastic Posted December 30, 2019 Posted December 30, 2019 Really looking forward to this, its my fave Macross mecha. Quote
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