Boobytrap

Oh yeah, I completely blanked on the biopsycher. Sorry about that. I am a patient man. Until next time...

So @captain america now that the Horizont and contest has been completed what is next on the work bench? I'd like to re-nominate the Gigamesh. 😉

Thank you all so much for the feedback. I will be sure to put it all to good use. This is the first time that I have tried to photograph a figure in this manner. Most of my photography experience is of nature and landscapes. I have occasionally taken pictures of figures outdoors and with mood lighting and I thought they turned out OK. The reason why I was thinking the lightbox would help was because the pictures I took of the figure (pre-final flat coat) in my detolf cabinet turned out much better. It has evenly disbursed, multi-directional, dimmable lighting which a lightbox would be able to replicate even better. I liked the gloss look so much that had I won I was planning to make the green one clean with ultra shine and build a mothership interior display box with lots of mood lighting to reflect off of it. As requested here are some more pictures of the base, warts and all. Here's where one of my major last minute mishaps occurred. I was literally applying the last swipe of blue to finish it up and the ramp box on top snapped off from the side. I had only a little over a day left before the deadline so there was no way I was going to properly repair it in time. It still took me a while to get it back to this state and was the reason I didn't have time to finish the cannons. Eventually I will have two slightly raised platforms with one cannon apiece on this side. I'm going to leave the front semi-circle as high gloss and etch in a line for detail to replicate the show. Because of that I will need to smooth it out more so that it doesn't show as many ripples and bumps. I'm going to change the mounting position so that it is slightly in front of the display and looks like it is floating. I will also be carving out sections of the front plate and putting in recessed pipes and hoses which will be lit from the interior lights.

One thing the recent contest taught me, among many, is that I need to improve my picture taking. So I went back out to see if I could take some better pictures to share. They are improved but still not great. I'm definitely going to be investing in a light box. I think the better light source and lighter background will help things out. And of course... practice, practice, practice.

Way to go Ted! Fantastic job.

Just got back from the showing. It was a great time. There were probably over 40 people in the theater. I haven't seen + in years and certainly never on the big screen. This is an experience I would like to have again with other Macross titles. Hopefully someone like RightStuf or some other distributor gets to sell it in the States soon. I'd love to watch it on my home projector.

Thank you so much for the kind words. There is no doubt I will finish it. There are also some additional ideas I had for it that I had to set aside due to the time constraint that I will be adding in. Your fantastic work deserves all that I can do to highlight it.

Most definitely. I need to take a little bit of a break first. I've been pushing myself pretty hard the past week+ to get this done (probably over 50 hours) and I'm a little burnt out. Once I recharge my batteries I will finish everything I planned for it, but at a much slower pace.

Yeah I sculpted the claw like thing in the back, the partial disk in the front, and the city tower. I also sculpted a couple of cannons but I ran out of time to finish and mount them. The figure is on a thick acrylic rod. There's no chance of it ever breaking or falling. I bumped that thing more times and in more ways than I care to admit so it has been thoroughly tested 🙂. And that diorama... 😵. While I agree that your figure is more than strong enough to stand on its own that thing is a whole other level of awesomeness.

Whelp times up. Unfortunately I didn't get everything done that I wanted to. Definitely could have used some more time to take some better pictures too. Oh well. Road weary warrior heading back out to combat... Moscato Bioloyyd Commander and Sled. Painted with lacquer, weathered with enamels and powders. For the figure, customized articulation in the shoulders, wrists, fingers, hips, ankles, and toes. Magnets in the hands and modified the gun drum to be on the outside. For the sled added details for the front, yoke, interior sides, and foot pads. Wired LED's for the thrusters. Customized base made from wood, plasticard, and clay. Wired LED's throughout.

@tekering I love the chipping effect on the first picture. Did you use the salt method? My heart goes out to you with the chipping effect on the second picture.

Man that sucks! I've personally never had an issue with Tamiya white primer. It has always functioned the same for me as the greys. Their gloss white runs as bad as your first picture though 🤢. Maybe it's a weather thing? I'm in So CA where there's always low humidity and moderate temps. All that being said I had an almost exact same thing happen this weekend. It was my final two pieces before I could finish assembly on a major part of the build. When I peeled off the Tamiya masking tape it took off a massive area of weathering and base color, basically down to the primer. I can't even describe how pissed I was. Normally I would start over but with the contest deadline looming there just isn't enough time for me to do it over from scratch. I'm left with no option but to streamline my process and try to blend it in as best as possible. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable and the rest of the work will make up for it. Good luck to you getting your issue resolved. I can't wait to see what you submit.

It's taking me longer than I thought but I am almost there. It will probably come down to the wire though.

Awesome! Thanks for the links. Was able to get both of them along with the WWM VF-25F. I can breathe a sigh of relief now.

Mine is still in the works. I think it will be ready some time in November.

Excellent work! Assuming you go with these, I can't wait to see what you do with them for the contest.

Hot Damn! I thought that the entries were going to have to be submitted this month. Having until December is awesome. I should definitely be able to complete everything by then. I'm really looking forward to this. I can't wait to see all of the wonderful submissions that people have created of your works past and present. There should be some real beauties. Any chance we can send in photos through some other means other than Facebook? I don't have an account there and try to avoid it when at all possible.

Yeah it does have that minty fresh sparkle 😁. I only wish I had the funds to get multiples when Cap originally offered these. I would definitely have kept one of them with the glossy shine. All the curves and angles are great for that. I plan to take a bunch of pictures under different lighting conditions before I apply the final flat coat to enjoy the gloss one last time.

Weathering step 3 done. This step is a little more subtle (edge highlighting) so not too much different visually from the last pictures. On to step 4.

350mm * 350mm

I agree with Captain. In addition, as you can see from my most recent pictures, the only time you see the gap is when viewed perfectly straight on at the waist. Looking at it from any other angle the gap disappears and (especially once painted) even appears to be black/dark in between the pieces. Since most. if not all, of the images I have seen from the anime are always at some kind of angle and not straight on I assume that Cap got it right... from a certain point of view .

Part of why I did the repaint is that it was always my intention to have the two tone effect. If you try real hard you can kinda sorta see it in my original pictures. The colors were just too close to each other to be able to see it easily. Oh yeah I remember you mentioned you were going to do that before. Are you building a swing or a slide mechanism to do that? For me I have run out of some paint and enamels for weathering take a long time to cure. So while I wait on the postal service and for paint to dry I have started on the base. I have the footprint and rudimentary shapes for the city started. It has a long way to go.

Aww man, that sucks. Been there done that. Having to go back to square one after getting so far in the process is one of the worst feelings in this hobby. Is the blaster glued to the sled yet? Hopefully not so you can at least preserve the rest of the work you did and focus on the two parts that need to be fixed. For me, I decided to proceed with the color change. I'm much happier with it. Unfortunately the Tamiya tape pulled off some white paint when I did it so I am going to have some extra clean up to do. I've also finished weathering step 2. Just need to seal it then on to step three.

Yes and no. If it was a decent camera I'd agree with you (although with a decent camera there are ways to compensate for that). But when the light is increased, as with the last photo I posted, the whites get blown out. I don't think this phone has ever taken a decent indoor picture. Even getting it to properly focus is a pain. It does well enough outside during the day. I agree with you. I went with the lightest olive drab I could do. I keep trying to convince myself it is fine but in the end it really is too dark. I think I am going to have to re-do it. Otherwise it is always going to eat at me every time I look at it.

Just for you, an early teaser pic. Look ma , no hands!