Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[Papa Rat]

Picked up some Gunpla round option hands and it’s going to make a big difference. Now to get a ball socket in there.

I also need to make some tiny verniers from some of the runners since they are absent  

Edited Friday at 10:35 PM by Papa Rat

[Thom]

Yeah, @Papa Rat those look much better!

[pengbuzz]

5 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Those look almost exactly the same. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used one to sculpt the other. Both released near the same time frame. Possibly, even similar sculptors of the time.

Well, Shoji Kawamori is listed as one of the designers of the original G1 Convoy/ Optimus Prime 1984 toy.

 

[pengbuzz]

5 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Hmm. I wonder if I should make this into a 1/55 conversion kit. 🫠

 

That would rock!!

 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

Picked up some Gunpla round option hands and it’s going to make a big difference. Now to get a ball socket in there.

I also need to make some tiny verniers from some of the runners since they are absent  

Those Zeon hands are a major improvement. You could probably use some spare poly caps and some epoxy putty to hold them in

[Papa Rat]

8 minutes ago, Big s said:

Those Zeon hands are a major improvement. You could probably use some spare poly caps and some epoxy putty to hold them in

Yeah, I’ll have to dig through some old kit boxes and see if I have anything that fits. 

[MechTech]

@Papa Rat That M.Lover looks GREAT! I love that Mr. Super Clear. It makes a lot of finishes just meld together. You're VF is coming along cool too!

@nightmareB4macross Dude! Put your top back on, this is a family site!🤣 The Valk spread out reminds me of the old Imai cartoons where one of the girls has her Valks on display as insects with pins in them!😁

@Chas The paint looks SMOOTH on your SDF-1. The mods do too!

 

ALRIGHT, so, my apologies for all the photos. I thought some of you might wonder how I did what I did and how it may help you (as I learn from you guys doing stuff too).

Somebody I know wanted an F-35 for a temporary display. I mentioned I have an F-35B and they can borrow it after I build it. So I've been asked to build it, while forcing me to get it out of storage and building it. So, win-win!

Back in 2018, I got the Hasegawa F-35B when it was new. Probably one of the best 1/72nd iterations of that airframe. Downsides, no ordnance and the decals are now outdated. The RAM tape that shows up as lighter colored lines all around the plane are now dated. It's all now the same color except for some hatches and stuff.

The first thing people do when they look at an F-35B is look into the giant LiftFan behind the pilot. Hasegawa just has the top guard and a 1950's looking turbine blade under it, so I decided to make it more accurate. I think the F-35B is a cool plane design and I wanted to put the effort into it.

The LiftFan has three sections you can see from the top. 1. The top guard with 11 spokes (and small sensor tubes all around). 2. Variable vanes that look similar to fan blades, but they're not. They're variable guides to adjust air flow. 3. The actual lift fan. In fact, there are two lift fans (counter-rotating) and other stators inside the fan housing, but you won't see them on the kit looking down, so I left them out here and on the model.

First I tried making about seven turbine fans in styrene. All but one failed, and that one was shaped wrong, so I dropped that. This was about a week of wasted effort! So I'm showing you the bad with the good.😉

Next step was to build everything from soldered brass. That worked much better, but is A LOT more work. I used a pair of scissors and super-glued an angle piece onto it to act as a guide.  - This is now how the "variable" vanes section went together:

Then a depth gauge was used to keep the thicknesses the same when cutting all those tiny strips.

Next, I needed a jig to hold the brass blades while soldering and doing other stuff, so I lathed and milled a block of bass wood.

Next, all those little blades were sanded smooth to help with the finish and solder adhesion.

Then the center piece was milled. This took a couple of tries. You can see there is hardly any material on the splines sticking up. This was the delicate part. They could easily break off - even in brass.

The center piece and blades getting fit together. Then they were soldered. Note there is a slight angle to the left in the blades.

 - This is the top "Guard" piece. This is a similar piece, but it is for the guard that goes over the top. This is how I figured out how to shape it without busting up the delicate parts. The pieces stayed in the wood while I CAREFULLY sanded them to an angle.

Soldered onto a piece of K&S metals tube. An iron was used because the mini-torch was too hot for this thin metal.

And after A LOT of cleaning up, filing, and the center piece milled out...

The top guard and vanes fit in place. The K&S tube was a God send, PERFECT fit after I cut out the center tub that came in the kit for the fan.

The turbine center hub similar to above. This is also canted and tapered like the actual fan.

The actual turbine was made similar to the vanes above. Just shorter, stockier blades. This is AFTER all the solder flux was cleaned off.

I tried to think of how to put the twist in the blades. The answer was in front of me. I did opposite of the milling. I made a "reverse" screw driver blade with a taper. Then put it in the mill like I was going to make cuts. Instead, I manually twisted the bit just a little. Raised the bit, rotated the rotary table, lowered it onto another blade, and repeat - 24 times! I had to REALLY resist turning the motor on each time. This is similar to how I mill stuff in rotary increments.

AND FINALLY, everything together. You can see Hasegawa's two pieces. Then (top right to lower left) came the LiftFan casing with the vanes in it, the top guard assembled, and the turbine - polished up and sized to fit inside the tube. The brass rod is the special tool used to twist the blades.

It was fun, but A LOT of work to finally make a turbine. I'll have to remember this process for future models. Thanks for checking in! - MT

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 01:14 AM by MechTech

[nightmareB4macross]

9 minutes ago, MechTech said:

@Papa Rat That M.Lover looks GREAT! I love that Mr. Super Clear. It makes a lot of finishes just meld together. You're VF is coming along cool too!

@nightmareB4macross Dude! Put your top back on, this is a family site!🤣 The Valk spread out reminds me of the old Imai cartoons where one of the girls has her Valks on display as insects with pins in them!😁

@Chas The paint looks SMOOTH on your SDF-1. The mods do too!

 

ALRIGHT, so, my apologies for all the photos. I thought some of you might wonder how I did what I did and how it may help you (as I learn from you guys doing stuff too).

Somebody I know wanted an F-35 for a temporary display. I mentioned I have an F-35B and they can borrow it after I build it. So I've been asked to build it, while forcing me to get it out of storage and building it. So, win-win!

Back in 2018, I got the Hasegawa F-35B when it was new. Probably one of the best 1/72nd iterations of that airframe. Downsides, no ordnance and the decals are now outdated. The RAM tape that shows up as lighter colored lines all around the plane are now dated. It's all now the same color except for some hatches and stuff.

The first thing people do when they look at an F-35B is look into the giant LiftFan behind the pilot. Hasegawa just has the top guard and a 1950's looking turbine blade under it, so I decided to make it more accurate. I think the F-35B is a cool plane design and I wanted to put the effort into it.

The LiftFan has three sections you can see from the top. 1. The top guard with 11 spokes (and small sensor tubes all around). 2. Variable vanes that look similar to fan blades, but they're not. They're variable guides to adjust air flow. 3. The actual lift fan. In fact, there are two lift fans (counter-rotating) and other stators inside the fan housing, but you won't see them on the kit looking down, so I left them out here and on the model.

First I tried making about seven turbine fans in styrene. All but one failed, and that one was shaped wrong, so I dropped that. This was about a week of wasted effort! So I'm showing you the bad with the good.😉

Next step was to build everything from soldered brass. That worked much better, but is A LOT more work. I used a pair of scissors and super-glued an angle piece onto it to act as a guide.  - This is now how the "variable" vanes section went together:

Then a depth gauge was used to keep the thicknesses the same when cutting all those tiny strips.

Next, I needed a jig to hold the brass blades while soldering and doing other stuff, so I lathed and milled a block of bass wood.

Next, all those little blades were sanded smooth to help with the finish and solder adhesion.

Then the center piece was milled. This took a couple of tries. You can see there is hardly any material on the splines sticking up. This was the delicate part. They could easily break off - even in brass.

The center piece and blades getting fit together. Then they were soldered. Note there is a slight angle to the left in the blades.

 - This is the top "Guard" piece. This is a similar piece, but it is for the guard that goes over the top. This is how I figured out how to shape it without busting up the delicate parts. The pieces stayed in the wood while I CAREFULLY sanded them to an angle.

Soldered onto a piece of K&S metals tube. An iron was used because the mini-torch was too hot for this thin metal.

And after A LOT of cleaning up, filing, and the center piece milled out...

The top guard and vanes fit in place. The K&S tube was a God send, PERFECT fit after I cut out the center tub that came in the kit for the fan.

The turbine center hub similar to above. This is also canted and tapered like the actual fan.

The actual turbine was made similar to the vanes above. Just shorter, stockier blades. This is AFTER all the solder flux was cleaned off.

I tried to think of how to put the twist in the blades. The answer was in front of me. I did opposite of the milling. I made a "reverse" screw driver blade with a taper. Then put it in the mill like I was going to make cuts. Instead, I manually twisted the bit just a little. Raised the bit, rotated the rotary table, lowered it onto another blade, and repeat - 24 times! I had to REALLY resist turning the motor on each time. This is similar to how I mill stuff in rotary increments.

AND FINALLY, everything together. You can see Hasegawa's two pieces. Then (top right to lower left) came the LiftFan casing with the vanes in it, the top guard assembled, and the turbine - polished up and sized to fit inside the tube. The brass rod is the special tool used to twist the blades.

It was fun, but A LOT of work to finally make a turbine. I'll have to remember this process for future models. Thanks for checking in! - MT

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is some very intricate and astounding fabrication methods with excellent results.

One day, I’m going to grow up big and strong just like you.

😜 

[Papa Rat]

@MechTech Thanks. I’m having a blast with these old kits.

That turbine project you shared is wild. I’m blown away. Hahahaha Dad joke, but seriously you are on some other level while I’m here playing in the mud. lol

I'm excited to see what else you have to share. 

[Thom]

Dang @MechTech, once again showing your chops!

[Papa Rat]

Today marks my first year on this forum and first year building. In celebration here’s my first build in all of its sloppy glory including glue fingerprints and everything. I’ll just call it weathering. I used rattle cans with limited color options and some enamel hand painting. I found out that using lots of panel liner makes plastic brittle since most of the fingers broke off and had to be glued in place. lol.  This kit is what started it all for me and glad to have taken the leap. I’m an old fart and better late than never. 

Edited 23 hours ago by Papa Rat

[Thom]

2 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Today marks my first year on this forum and first year building. In celebration here’s my first build in all of its sloppy glory including glue fingerprints and everything. I’ll just call it weathering. I used rattle cans with limited color options and some enamel hand painting. I found out that using lots of panel liner makes plastic brittle since most of the fingers broke off and had to be glued in place. lol.  This kit is what started it all for me and glad to have taken the leap. I’m an old fart and better late than never. 

For a first build. I wouldn't mind having that on my shelf!

[Big s]

27 minutes ago, Thom said:

For a first build. I wouldn't mind having that on my shelf!

I gotta second that. My first build was embarrassing in comparison 

[Papa Rat]

@Thom @Big s thanks! 😊 

[Papa Rat]

So it begins. I now have three kits in motion as I wait for paint to arrive for the previous two.

Test fit went ok. Yeah this is going to need some extra TLC. I want to put some ball joints in hips for more stability. Maybe put some weight in the feet too? One of the more pressing issues are the arms and hatch. I need to figure out how to make the arm articulation tighter and rear hatch sit flush in the closed position. They just flop down and can’t support the weight. Not sure how to approach that. 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

So it begins. I now have three kits in motion as I wait for paint to arrive for the previous two.

Test fit went ok. Yeah this is going to need some extra TLC. I want to put some ball joints in hips for more stability. Maybe put some weight in the feet too? One of the more pressing issues are the arms and hatch. I need to figure out how to make the arm articulation tighter and rear hatch sit flush in the closed position. They just flop down and can’t support the weight. Not sure how to approach that. 

I just used a little extra paint into the joint there. Gloss works pretty good as well, but those methods will only work if it’s not played with too much 

[Papa Rat]

2 minutes ago, Big s said:

I just used a little extra paint into the joint there. Gloss works pretty good as well, but those methods will only work if it’s not played with too much 

Have you messed with super glue to build up those friction areas? I imagine once a pose is established I will leave it be for the most part. 

[Big s]

6 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

Have you messed with super glue to build up those friction areas? I imagine once a pose is established I will leave it be for the most part. 

Super glue is a little risky because if you build it up too much, it can be a pain to sand back down. It’s also more solid and can wear out a bit sooner. While something like a bit of gloss can be almost rubbery and give a little grip. I’d suggest an acrylic though since it won’t glue the parts like a lacquer might. And the gloss can always be reapplied if things do wear down. Just thin it with a bit of water and let it drip into the joint

[Papa Rat]

20 minutes ago, Big s said:

Super glue is a little risky because if you build it up too much, it can be a pain to sand back down. It’s also more solid and can wear out a bit sooner. While something like a bit of gloss can be almost rubbery and give a little grip. I’d suggest an acrylic though since it won’t glue the parts like a lacquer might. And the gloss can always be reapplied if things do wear down. Just thin it with a bit of water and let it drip into the joint

Makes sense. I’ll give it a go when it’s time to finish this up. 

[Papa Rat]

My first attempt at some UV resin casting. I needed a duplicate cockpit so here goes nothing. 
I used this reusable mold clay stuff that softens in hot water. Pressed the piece into the clay and let it cool. Then it’s as easy as adding liquid resin and hit it with a UV light for a few minutes. Really easy to work with. After casting I just need to do some clean up and I’m good to go. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Papa Rat
Added final result photo