First build ever… Imai 1/144 Queadlunn-Rau

[Papa Rat]

Build number 6 complete. ✌️☺️

The Volks 1/144 scale FSS A-Toll. 
 

I don’t have much to say about this one. It went together extremely smooth. There are only a few seam lines to deal with and most of the connections felt solid when glued. All and all this was an enjoyable experience. I highly recommend this kit as the best entry into these Volks kits compared to the other two I have built; Bang and Batsh.  Again note it’s all glue and no snap fittings  

Now I need to find a better way to photograph these awesome kits. My phone and bad lighting are not doing them justice at all. I have some nice purple reflective elements “Mr crystal color purple” in there that are sort of lost but create a nice splash of color like a shimmering beetle wing next to the OD matte colored carapace armor.

Next up is the 1/72 Hasegawa, Queaddlunn Rau Milia movie edition! The big sister to the build that started this thread.

I’m super pumped on this one. 🥰

 

Edited July 18 by Papa Rat
Spelling

[Big s]

42 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

Build number 6 complete. ✌️☺️

The Volks 1/144 scale FSS A-Toll. 
 

I don’t have much to say about this one. It went together extremely smooth. There are only a few seam lines to deal with and most of the connections felt solid when glued. All and all this was an enjoyable experience. I highly recommend this kit as the best entry into these Volks kits compared to the other two I have built; Bang and Batsh.  Again note it’s all glue and no snap fittings  

Now I need to find a better way to photograph these awesome kits. My phone and bad lighting are not doing them justice at all. I have some nice purple reflective elements “Mr crystal color purple” in there that are sort of lost but create a nice splash of color like a shimmering beetle wing next to the OD matte colored carapace armor.

Next up is the 1/72 Hasegawa, Queaddlunn Rau Malia movie edition! The big sister to the build that started this thread.

I’m super pumped on this one. 🥰

 

Another great looking kit. Metal colors truly are a pain to capture, even with the best cameras. Somehow the luster gets lost and they usually are amazing in person.the sensor eye is a clear piece with a chrome painted backing on my Assault Suit Leynos. It looks alright in these pictures, totally dull in others, but in bright daylight is so reflective that the little piece can be seen for the other side of the house. It’s an effect that I wish translated on camera 

[Papa Rat]

21 minutes ago, Big s said:

Another great looking kit. Metal colors truly are a pain to capture, even with the best cameras. Somehow the luster gets lost and they usually are amazing in person.the sensor eye is a clear piece with a chrome painted backing on my Assault Suit Leynos. It looks alright in these pictures, totally dull in others, but in bright daylight is so reflective that the little piece can be seen for the other side of the house. It’s an effect that I wish translated on camera 

Wow. That looks beautiful! I like the idea of chrome on the back of clear parts with clear color on front. I’ll have to do that. I guess it’s similar to a candy color but you have that thickness of the plastic to refract that light which gives more depth. Literally lol. 
 

I like the way this candy color worked out on these emblems for the shoulder shield parts. I zoomed in on an earlier photo I posted. With the correct viewing angle and light it looks like a jewel. 💎

Edited July 18 by Papa Rat

[Big s]

7 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Wow. That looks beautiful! I like the idea of chrome on the back of clear parts with clear color on front. I’ll have to do that. I guess it’s similar to a candy color but you have that thickness of the plastic to refract that light which gives more depth. Literally lol.

It’s actually a stupidly simple process. I just do a quick spritz of chrome on the back of the clear part and then if need be a clear color like red over the top. I used Alclad on the chrome with an airbrush and just got a little watered down tamiya clear red with a hand brush for the clear red. If the part is already colored. Like a clear green piece, then you only need to chrome the back.
It  also works if the part the lense attaches into gets painted with chrome. Some gundam gm kits have a thin piece for its face covering, but a detailed part underneath. Just chrome the the under part usually by putting a gloss black surface and then chrome over that and then just pop on the clear part over that.

 

[Papa Rat]

Number 7 in the books!

So the 1/72 Queadlunn Rau is wrapping up. This model is HUGE! I thought it being a 1/72 would put it closer to Hasegawa Battroid size, but this thing towers over it.

This kit is such a huge upgrade from the earlier Hasegawa VF-1A Super Battroid Valkyrie it’s not even close. Parts align with little effort or modification needed. Color separation was nice and I didn’t mask anything. I avoided using many of the black marking decals and went with hand painting black enamel instead and reverse washed to clean up the lines. I think that’s what the technique is called? Most of this kit is snap fit and very little glue was need aside from a few major seam lines and the optional pilot “Miria” 

This kit went together very fast and I only needed to spend a few days working on it. I’ll probably go over it with a couple more gloss coats once decals are all dry and then possibly polish it up. 
 

I had fun blasting through this one and I have the Max version on its way. They will make for a nice set once both completed. 

 

Next up, Hasegawa Regult Standard Type! Very excited. ☺️

 

Edited July 23 by Papa Rat

[Big s]

4 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Number 7 in the books!

So the 1/72 Queadlunn Rau is wrapping up. This model is HUGE! I thought it being a 1/72 would put it closer to Hasegawa Battroid size, but this thing towers over it.

This kit is such a huge upgrade from the earlier Hasegawa VF-1A Super Battroid Valkyrie it’s not even close. Parts align with little effort or modification needed. Color separation was nice and I didn’t mask anything. I avoided using many of the black marking decals and went with hand painting black enamel instead and reverse washed to clean up the lines. I think that’s what the technique is called? Most of this kit is snap fit and very little glue was need aside from a few major seam lines and the optional pilot “Miria” 

This kit went together very fast and I only needed to spend a few days working on it. I’ll probably go over it with a couple more gloss coats once decals are all dry and then possibly polish it up. 
 

I had fun blasting through this one and I have the Max version on its way. They will make for a nice set once both completed. 

 

Next up, Hasegawa Regult Standard Type! Very excited. ☺️

 

The regult is a fun one, lots of surprising mobility in the joints.

[Papa Rat]

3 hours ago, Big s said:

The regult is a fun one, lots of surprising mobility in the joints.

Yeah! I’m also pumped that it comes with a stand which is a nice addition. 

[Papa Rat]

Hasegawa Regult Standard Type test fit was very chill and no tape needed. Starting to see a trend with these newer kits being more snap fit than I had expected. Regardless there is going to be lots of seam removal on this bad boy. It’s putty time! I may mix up some goo from the runners. I have never tried that before so why not. 🤔

There is one thing I’m curious about though. So I’m assuming I need to drill out holes for the remaining 6 smaller red lenses in this kit? Anyone have any advice on hole diameter and best way to adhere them omce complete? PVA/Elmers white glue? Anybody’s 2¢ is appreciated. 
 

 

Edited July 25 by Papa Rat

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

Hasegawa Regult Standard Type test fit was very chill and no tape needed. Starting to see a trend with these newer kits being more snap fit than I had expected. Regardless there is going to be lots of seam removal on this bad boy. It’s putty time! I may mix up some goo from the runners. I have never tried that before so why not. 🤔

There is one thing I’m curious about though. So I’m assuming I need to drill out holes for the remaining 6 smaller red lenses in this kit? Anyone have any advice on hole diameter and best way to adhere them omce complete? PVA/Elmers white glue? Anybody’s 2¢ is appreciated. 
 

 

Yeah, Hasegawa is definitely learning some big lessons compared to their old battroid kit

i started small on the holes and slowly made them a little bigger with a needle file until it was just wide enough to still hold the lense without falling through , then used a little extra thin cement around the edges. If you use a little panel lining on the round pat of the plastic where the unclear bits are, it makes a good guide to let you know if you’re still centered 

[nonner242]

Why couldn't they just put the holes there...really!

This does make me excited to eventually get to my kit. I wanted to do some fancy weathering on it to look sorta battle damaged and dirty. But seeing it clean here just makes me think it looks Soo good just stay simple..

Good luck on filling in legs.

[Big s]

16 minutes ago, nonner242 said:

Why couldn't they just put the holes there...really!

I’ve been complaining about that ever since it came out. They easily could’ve made it to where these clean red pieces just pop in with a simple bit of extra backing and the holes already open. It wouldn’t have even been more plastic or anything really.

[Papa Rat]

7 hours ago, Big s said:

Yeah, Hasegawa is definitely learning some big lessons compared to their old battroid kit

i started small on the holes and slowly made them a little bigger with a needle file until it was just wide enough to still hold the lense without falling through , then used a little extra thin cement around the edges. If you use a little panel lining on the round pat of the plastic where the unclear bits are, it makes a good guide to let you know if you’re still centered 

Thanks for the advice. I’m baffled by their decision to go that route. I noticed that in the manual that whole row of clear red parts are grayed out as if not to use them. 🤔

Anyway, I like how you handled it and will be going that route. 

2 hours ago, nonner242 said:

Why couldn't they just put the holes there...really!

This does make me excited to eventually get to my kit. I wanted to do some fancy weathering on it to look sorta battle damaged and dirty. But seeing it clean here just makes me think it looks Soo good just stay simple..

Good luck on filling in legs.

I also like the clean look of this design. I will probably do minor to zero weathering on this. I haven’t really stepped into the weathering arena yet and lack the experience. I want to dial in on the building part first. I’m still rolling on training wheels. 
 

Good luck on your build. 👍

[Papa Rat]

Very nice mail day today. My HLJ order arrived.  Backlog is forming nicely. 🥰

This will probably keep me busy the rest of the year. 

[Papa Rat]

On 7/24/2024 at 11:10 PM, Big s said:

Yeah, Hasegawa is definitely learning some big lessons compared to their old battroid kit

i started small on the holes and slowly made them a little bigger with a needle file until it was just wide enough to still hold the lense without falling through , then used a little extra thin cement around the edges. If you use a little panel lining on the round pat of the plastic where the unclear bits are, it makes a good guide to let you know if you’re still centered 

I ran with your advice/pointers and got the lenses installed. I just took it slow to make sure I didn’t file out the holes too much and it worked like a charm. Thanks

[Big s]

On 7/25/2024 at 7:19 PM, Papa Rat said:

Very nice mail day today. My HLJ order arrived.  Backlog is forming nicely. 🥰

This will probably keep me busy the rest of the year. 

Don’t even lie, you’ve been turning these things out at an extremely rapid rate compared to most of us, this is maybe a month or two, you’ll still need some more for fall and winter 

[Papa Rat]

15 minutes ago, Big s said:

Don’t even lie, you’ve been turning these things out at an extremely rapid rate compared to most of us, this is maybe a month or two, you’ll still need some more for fall and winter 

Hahahaha 😂