MechTech

@pengbuzz Your Enterprise looks awesome - again! Why is the song, "The Final Countdown" going through my head😁 That was a cool movie! @Thom More Yamato action! She's looking good! @arbit Awesome! We get the WHOLE crew now! And the look GREAT! @Urashiman Your rendering looks accurate to me! The nose does look sleeker. The cool part about digital sculpts is changing things you want to fix. @Chronocidal I never played Starfox, but your print and build looks GREAT! The stand makes it look like a kit! TWO small updates. The mold worked great! I was low on silicone, so I used shreds of old molds as filler. That's OK, except I shoved them in there. Remove the original subject / pressure, and that made the mold bulge out slightly in a few places. Which in turn made small depressions. So the castings need a little fixing, but not badly. The original is on the bottom. The top three are casts. The top one has a primer / base coat on it. The driving bands are all tests coating the molds with either brass dust or "gold" dust. The colored fuse is only resin and the mold coated with the gold. The gold "leaked" into the top white part, so it didn't come out as planned. But the cool part is that the fuses screw into the casings like the real thing. For paint, I'm going with the hairspray technique to chip it as the original is for realism. The color will be Olive Drab for the HE rounds. Speaking of realism, which fuse is the original, and which is the model? I'm VERY happy with how it turned out. The molds picked up the lettering perfectly making that part easier. That's it for now. Thanks for checking in guys! - MT

@Chas She's looking good! @Thom's getting the band back together!😁 Nice-n-clean finish too! @pengbuzz I love the design of the Mospeada models! Being actual transformer models vs partsformers was AWESOME! They also were delicate because of the styrene too😉 At least they had a couple of metal parts. - MT

@foundshaian Don't worry about questions! As long as you're having fun (and learning new skills), that's what's important! @505thAirborne When I got that kit (the first time), it was the GoBots Cykill. It was a model, so I looked at the construction photos just for the heck of it. I was like, "Hey, that's Mospeada!" I was bummed that it was Yellow's, of course (I wanted Scott's with the missiles). I messed it up bad even using rattle can paints - just because of the wear and tear on the parts movement. I like the colors you have! @Chronocidal Looking GOOD! Especially for ABS printing. @derex3592 Sorry for all the tedious steps, but your work looks NICE n CLEAN, epsecially with the PE parts gluing. - MT

@505thAirborne Your Ride Armor is looking good! That kit is borderline cool and evil all at the same time!🤣 It is cool that it transforms, but building it and making the parts stay in place are the evil part😄 And yes, the accessories that go with it are ULTRA cool! @electric indigo Great looking helo! It DOES look sci-fi! The Chinese have been trying hard to keep their military hardware futuristic looking. Gone are the days of Soviet era stuff they license built or copied (other than old stock still in use). They're definitely going for street credit and the intimidation factor. @foundshaian When using the ultra thin styrene, go ultra easy with the cement too😉 It melts easily and will even crack if under pressure like being bent. The fast melt means it also produces more "goo" when applying pressure after gluing. It is a MUST have though for detailing, as your obviously doing. Its also cool because you can cut it on the Cricut machines and similar CNC devices like butter. I love it for all sorts of stuff. @Chas That's one Cordoba that does NOT come with Corinthian leather😁! COOL looking model! I almost thought of getting it, even though I never saw the whole series. - MT

@Big s Dah, you're right, it's Plamax! My mistake! @Thom Sorry, Thom! I just realized I forgot to comment on your interior detailing! The details look realistic and BEAUTIFUL! It's too bad they won't be seen! @Rock I'm glad you got her to fit in. The photo with the rod comming out of her belly is a bit disconcerting 😄 Your modes are looking good though! - MT

@Rock That sucks that the figure doesn't fit into the cockpit. How hard is it to make an ACCURATE cockpit in that scale Bandai? The figure should fit in - espeically at the scale! NICE save Rock! Too bad you had to do so much work just to make her tushy fit in! @arbit Long story, but the paper-craft mod was sorta work related. I'm glad you like the gears. The model is more of a clock now than a model! @Chas Sounds like the humidity got to your clear coat? The end result looks great, however! @derex3592 Sorry about the heat (and humidity). I don't miss it at all. The humidity was so bad around San Antonio, it was even condensing on the outside of the rain gutters! - MT

That sucks about the fit! It looks like your dog is being held down by a force field "No parts fo you! 😁 - MT

Thank you @Chas! That oil weathering added more depth to your build! The funny part, my old Imai 1-S decals look similar to yours, after 30+ years of moving! Your build will have a realistic look to it! Thank you @Thom! Thank you @Gabe Q! Thank you @Urashiman! Thank you @derex3592! Your F-5 came out GREAT! Especially after some "sheet metal battle damage repair." That's what they do on the real thing. When I first saw you paint it black, I thought it was going to be a "Mig-28" from Top Gun. I'm glad the Mission Model paints are working out for you. The guys in my club hate them and have had to redo several paint jobs because they chip or pull up with masking or chemical interactions that aren't normal. I hear there's a formula for them. When the club members use terms like "alchemy", I have to laugh! Thank you again guys! I hope to get a casting done by this weekend - the clock is ticking! - MT

There is some AWESOME looking stuff for the last couple of pages guys! Sorry, been busy and short on time. I thought I better post something. I can spend my short times here, or at the bench, so ti's a toss-up! 😁 The workbench focus has been on the 1/72nd scale Oto Melara mini-diorama. Maybe not-so-mini anymore though. October we have the local model show coming up. I'm hoping to complete it by then - we'll see! My apologies for spamming all the photos, but I guess it would be the same spread out over the last few weeks. After the challenge by the club to animate this thing, I realized I had some custom gears to cut. This one has to be durable, but nearly photo-etch thin. And yes, these are Dremmel bits in the photo! This is the finished gear showing how it meshes loosely into the magazine carousel. Here you can see the gearhead motor (a TINY 6mm diameter unit), the bushings, and rotor pieces. They are for the vertical feed. It works like a revolver cylinder in a handgun, but with a slot in it for a vertical chain to drag the rounds up into the gun. The black gear drives everything. The other gears you see will drive off of this motion. See, Dremmel bits! This one was spun around on a grinding wheel with new slots cut into it. All that just for a single tiny "crown" gear. There is a chain that travels all the way up into the gun like a ski-lift to lift the rounds up into the gun. But this one goes vertically. To simulate that, this spinning piece was machined. The revolving feed has 9 thin walled cylinders. The only way to re-create them was with thin-walled needle-like tubing. Dispense All makes "Blunt Dispensing Tips" that look like hypodermic needs, but they're blunt and NOT medical grade. I chose them for cost and ease of purchase. They are available directly and via Amazon or other retailers too. They're in multiple lengths and diameters too! This is a 16 gauge tube. It's slightly larger than 1/26" inch, so I had to CAREFULLY ream it out so it sat snug into this jig. A set screw at the bottom holds it in place to cut away a portion like this. As tight as this fit into the jig, I had to feed it SLOWLY into the mill or it would get torn out. And then all 9 cleaned up and ready to go... And because words are probably useless explaining how it all works, this is a test run in action (UPSIDE DOWN) to show the operation. The tiny gears will be hidden by details when this is completed. This image is LARGER than the original model. The GIF is deceiving, the barrels and carousel spin in the same direction (clockwise). The tiny diorama got bigger when I thought it would be cool to put the actual projectile in the display. So I took my 76mm round, cleaned up the molten edges of the holes (from de-militarizing it with a blowtorch prior to sales) and filled them with JB weld epoxy putty (it's a cheaper alternative to white Milliput). The actual round is TOO HEAVY to use with a diorama, about 15 pounds, so a casting has to be made. At about 35cm / 14" high, this thing is BIG. So a silicone mold with a tube reinforced outer-shell is needed to keep the mold shape intact. The rubber would bow-out without reinforcements. 2mm thick plastic was scribed with lines and bent into shape, then re-inforced with circular rings. Screws held them in place temporarily for gluing. After gluing everything together, EVERYTHING was glued together - including what WASN'T supposed to be glued together! So I had to do some cutting and patching of the tube. Some cheap brass hinges and a couple of cheap jewelry box clasps, and we're ready to cast - I HOPE!😉 We'll see how the casting goes. I'm probably going to get some Smooth-on Onyx to do a slosh-mold of this and the fuse top. Thanks for checking in guys and sorry again for spamming the photos! - MT

Wow, looks like a lot of restoration work! - MT

Cool! But where's the rest of it!?😁 - MT

That was freehand from the earlier photos! CRAZY and AWESOMELY COOL! A cool original idea too! - MT

@electric indigo You should DEFINITELY enter into some modeling shows - if there are any in your area - just for fun at least! The added bonus - all the vendors there selling cool stuff! - MT

@derex3592 Cool! A little old, a little new (on two levels)! @Urashiman Bricktastic! That is REALLY cool looking - especially for bricks!

"She's a Supertweet, Supertweet; she's supertweety, yahwl!" That looks awesome @electric indigo! I bet the original never looked that good! I mean that in the best possible way too. Smaller air forces aren't always so nice to their aircraft 😁 - MT

@derex3592 Your sub looks GREAT! My ship has suffered from feline plastitackus too. Styrene is just so cool to work with - and munch on evidently!? Maybe that's why plastic spoons are mostly made from it? - MT

The cutaway drawing on that Valk is epic! That would look cool and get lots of stares at a modelers contest. - MT

@Shawn @WiseGuyVic Thanks for sharing guys! There are some awesome models there that we haven't seen in decades, and in quantity that I thought we'd never see again! You guys are making it possible - THANK YOU again! - MT

That was cool they posted that video, thanks for sharing guys! That would have been cool to attend, but got other things going on. - MT

@derex3592 The sub looks bootiful comrade! Cool decals too! @electric indigo The Tweety and pilots look super clean (in a good way)! - MT

@pengbuzzThat's AWESOME!!! Glad to hear it and see you back on the boards too! @derex3592 That cockpit looks GREAT! The Texas looks great too! The green highlights are unusual. I don't think I've seen that before. - MT

@derex3592 That effect looks great! I'm also glad you're not fryin'! Be careful with the Mission Models paint! Everyone I know refers to it with four lettered words - if you get me meaning. It seems to easily peel off, so try to avoid masking it if you can. One vendor practically gave his whole stock away to a friend for REAL cheap - to include the case it was in😉 @electric indigo Your tweety is looking smooth! - MT

@wm cheng Your Galactica came out great! The finish has nice levels of depth and doesn't look like there's a clear coat over it to make it bland. The lighting levels are actually at realistic levels when compared to real life subjects. You never see that stuff anyhow until the lights go down. I think you nailed it! @Ignacio Ocamica Your soldier is looking good! That is a cool sculpt! - MT

@derex3592 I put the Tamiya powders on last. You just can't clear-coat some things - it takes away the effect. Especially when I did my robot diorama from the dessert. The powders made the tires look realistic. Clear coating them too wouldn't have worked out. - MT

Thanks again, Shawn! REALLY COOL stuff to see in all those boxes! - MT