Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[pengbuzz]

12 hours ago, Thom said:

Good job on that @Photogirl! Looks fire!

As @Big s says @pengbuzz at least the crew is alive and, judging by the guy on the left, enjoying the close call!

Thanks Thom! Yeah, I'm trying to make it look like shadowing and not a fire sale! I've always had trouble with sludge washes (no wonder I like X-wing models; they're supposed to look beat up!). Going to do more white drybrushing and detail painting to correct it.

This is what I'm going for:

This is Astronaut Bruce McCandless II; on the NASA Shuttle Mission STS-41B ( OV-099 Challenge,r Feb 3-11, 1984), he made history as the first astronaut to pilot the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) on the first untethered spacewalk in the history of spaceflight.

This photo always resonated with me since they first showed it, but I never knew who the man in the suit was until a few years ago. 

Let me introduce him:

 

     

The first picture is of McCandless in the Apollo Program in the 60's, while the second is of him 20 years later for the Space Shuttle missions.

In this picture, he was serving as Capsule Communicator ("CAPCOM", main voice communicating to the astronauts aboard the craft ) for the Apollo 11 mission:

It took him 20 years, but he finally got to space in the 1980's. As a former Navy pilot, he served aboard USS Forrestal  and USS Enterprise (on the latter during the Cuban Missile Crisis), and was an electrical engineer (graduating with a BA in electrical engineering from the Naval Academy, 2nd in his class in 1958. His classmates: NSA Advisor John Poindexter and Sen. John McCain!).

There's a ton more info about him at his Wikipedia entry (otherwise I'd be three pages deep talking about him!):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_McCandless_II

He was one of the designers of the MMU, and the first one to test it out in space! 

Sadly, by the time I discovered all of this, Mr. McCandless had passed away (December 21, 2017). I had wanted to meet him, but I missed him by 2 months. 

This is why it pays to examine the stories behind the things you find pics of or want to model; there are some truly incredible lives waiting to be discovered and read about if you're willing to look. And I want to do a diorama using the figure I modified that replicates the photo of him during his historic spacewalk.

[pengbuzz]

On 5/30/2025 at 7:00 PM, Thom said:

@pengbuzz Understand the hurt. But, also glad to hear you found the right size spheres for the 22 incher! Huzzah!

Yeah; by the way, if anyone needs them for theirs, they sent me a coupe of dozen!!O.o Let me know if anyone needs any!

[Thom]

7 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Yeah; by the way, if anyone needs them for theirs, they sent me a coupe of dozen!!O.o Let me know if anyone needs any!

A couple of dozen!? Might be time to make a First Federation ship!

A small one, to be sure!

[pengbuzz]

On 6/3/2025 at 9:02 AM, Thom said:

A couple of dozen!? Might be time to make a First Federation ship!

A small one, to be sure!

Right?

On another note: last Thursday, I finally broke down and told my wife what happened to my 1/72 Space Shuttle model kit. She said that she "knew something had happened" and I explained to her how I lost control of it and how it shattered. She gave me a hug and told me not to worry about it; but she insisted from now on I spray it outside on the ground floor, and that she would "take care of anyone complaining". 

I thought that was the end of it.

A few minutes ago, I came into the room where my worktable/ computer table is and found this: 

Spoiler

 This note was attached to it:

Honey,

I know what you would say, but I felt REALLY bad about what happened to your model. I bought you this one; let me know if any parts are missing and I'll ask the seller about it (he said it was complete). We had a little extra money this month, so don't worry about the household.

PLEASE DON'T ARGUE WITH ME;  all I ask is that you build it with everything you've got. Make this the one you always wanted.

❤️ 

-Wife

Trying to find a box of tissues right now... and decals for this.

Stay tuned...

Edited June 4 by pengbuzz

[Papa Rat]

33 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

Right?

On another note: last Thursday, I finally broke down and told my wife what happened to my 1/72 Space Shuttle model kit. She said that she "knew something had happened" and I explained to her how I lost control of it and how it shattered. She gave me a hug and told me not to worry about it; but she insisted from now on I spray it outside on the ground floor, and that she would "take care of anyone complaining". 

I thought that was the end of it.

A few minutes ago, I came into the room where my worktable/ computer table is and found this: 

  Hide contents

 This note was attached to it:

Honey,

I know what you would say, but I felt REALLY bad about what happened to your model. I bought you this one; let me know if any parts are missing and I'll ask the seller about it (he said it was complete). We had a little extra money this month, so don't worry about the household.

PLEASE DON'T ARGUE WITH ME;  all I ask is that you build it with everything you've got. Make this the one you always wanted.

❤️ 

-Wife

Trying to find a box of tissues right now... and decals for this.

Stay tuned...

♥️

[Big s]

1 hour ago, pengbuzz said:

Right?

On another note: last Thursday, I finally broke down and told my wife what happened to my 1/72 Space Shuttle model kit. She said that she "knew something had happened" and I explained to her how I lost control of it and how it shattered. She gave me a hug and told me not to worry about it; but she insisted from now on I spray it outside on the ground floor, and that she would "take care of anyone complaining". 

I thought that was the end of it.

A few minutes ago, I came into the room where my worktable/ computer table is and found this: 

  Hide contents

 This note was attached to it:

Honey,

I know what you would say, but I felt REALLY bad about what happened to your model. I bought you this one; let me know if any parts are missing and I'll ask the seller about it (he said it was complete). We had a little extra money this month, so don't worry about the household.

PLEASE DON'T ARGUE WITH ME;  all I ask is that you build it with everything you've got. Make this the one you always wanted.

❤️ 

-Wife

Trying to find a box of tissues right now... and decals for this.

Stay tuned...

She sounds amazing. Glad to hear that she’s got your back. Make sure you don’t do anything to drive her away because she sounds like a keeper for sure

[derex3592]

That's a KEEPER right there!!! 💕

[Thom]

Your wife is a TREASURE,@pengbuzz! She treats you well, so you must be treating her well, and that is wonderful. 

And hey, if it's missing parts, you still have the other to pick through.

 

Thom

[pengbuzz]

  

13 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

♥️

My sentiments exactly!!

 

12 hours ago, Big s said:

She sounds amazing. Glad to hear that she’s got your back. Make sure you don’t do anything to drive her away because she sounds like a keeper for sure

I'm very careful of that, Big s! She had a rough upbringing and life before I met her, and I'm the only one she ever felt safe around.  I understand her hurts, and she understands mine (mental and physical); we take care of each other.  

 

9 hours ago, derex3592 said:

That's a KEEPER right there!!! 💕

Definitely.  

  

8 hours ago, Thom said:

Your wife is a TREASURE,@pengbuzz! She treats you well, so you must be treating her well, and that is wonderful. 

And hey, if it's missing parts, you still have the other to pick through.

 

Thom

Well, I just did the "pick-through", and was able to salvage the cockpit and pilots (badly damaged, but repairable) the OMS and Main Engine bells, and of course, the satellites in the bay (they weren't in the shuttle when it fell).

Really, I just need decals. But all the ones I saw on eBay are stupid expensive (and I just need the basic sheet that came with the kit!)

And yeah; she is a treasure!! I hugged her so hard she yelped!  She managed to not only locate a kit, but the exact same version ("Young Astronaut"s from the 80's!)!!

So with that, I plan on doing this kit; only this time I'm hand-carving the tiles by hand, and doing the thermal blankets one-by-one in masking tape!

I might even do the individual tile numbers. O.O

Stay tuned...

 

Edited June 5 by pengbuzz

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz That's AWESOME man! Thank God for your wife and finding an ORIGINAL 80's kit! I remember that kit too - pretty cool! It's also great you got your starship nacelles sorted out too! Things are looking up! - MT

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz That's AWESOME man! Thank God for your wife and finding an ORIGINAL 80's kit! I remember that kit too - pretty cool! It's also great you got your starship nacelles sorted out too! Things are looking up! - MT

Yeah! She told me a little bit ago she went on eBay, tracked down the exact same version and bought it, then when it came in yesterday, she hid it until she could surprise me with it!

Sneaky wife!

[MechTech]

That's awesome she did that! I wanna say, "Sneaky wife, happy life" but that can go bad too.😁

[pengbuzz]

4 hours ago, MechTech said:

That's awesome she did that! I wanna say, "Sneaky wife, happy life" but that can go bad too.😁

Yup (on all accounts! )

Working on the model as we speak; at least it's keeping my mind off the diabetes diagnosis I got today (organ damage to pancreas amongst other things). Doctor put me on ozempic, so we'll see how that works.

(at this rate, I wonder how it is my body still works at all!)

[Papa Rat]

No more loose hatch on the monster. Went for some magnets now I hope I can cover them up so they don’t look so out of place. 🤔

Also decided to submit a model for a show event. This will be a first on many levels. It has to be a Bandai kit and Gundam. I don’t know anything about Gundam so I went with this Tallgeese kit. I thought it looked cool and would be fun. I have only built the entry grade RX-78-2 kits so a MG should keep me busy. Now to think of a badass color scheme?

[Cheese3]

The gwazine! Base coat! Now filters etc 

[Papa Rat]

So yeah, this is my first go with a MG kit and I have to say they are wildly advanced. Test fit went together super fast and easy and looks great, but there was something missing. Call me crazy, but I’m not sure if I had fun building it I guess. I really appreciate it for its amazing quality, details and accessibility, but it really lacked some charm for me. I think mostly since I have never dedicated any time to the series at large. Not sure, but I hope I find some joy in removing the few seam lines present and painting it. Might do a dark, possibly black scheme or something? 🤔

Edited Monday at 04:05 AM by Papa Rat

[pengbuzz]

9 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

So yeah, this is my first go with a MG kit and I have to say they are wildly advanced. Test fit went together super fast and easy and looks great, but there was something missing. Call me crazy, but I’m not sure if I had fun building it I guess. I really appreciate it for its amazing quality, details and accessibility, but it really lacked some charm for me. I think mostly since I have never dedicated any time to the series at large. Not sure, but I hope I find some joy in removing the few seam lines present and painting it. Might do a dark, possibly black scheme or something? 🤔

I'd say: go for a high-contrast scheme like black/white/ gold. Maybe use this as inspiration for the color scheme:

[Big s]

9 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

So yeah, this is my first go with a MG kit and I have to say they are wildly advanced. Test fit went together super fast and easy and looks great, but there was something missing. Call me crazy, but I’m not sure if I had fun building it I guess. I really appreciate it for its amazing quality, details and accessibility, but it really lacked some charm for me. I think mostly since I have never dedicated any time to the series at large. Not sure, but I hope I find some joy in removing the few seam lines present and painting it. Might do a dark, possibly black scheme or something? 🤔

Since that’s sorta from Gundam wing, you could try watching the show or at least a few episodes. Maybe get a little inspiration. It seems to be streaming in several spots like Hulu.

As far as being not being into Gundam, I’d recommend 08th Ms Team at some point for a short watch that’s very easy to get into without the need for any background information 

[derex3592]

Early Sunday AM decal session yesterday with the Academy F-15E with my furry little helper....😺.  So.....the very 1st "SJ" tail marking decal literally disintergrated upon application. I really DON'T like Cartograph decals...yeh there're nice and thin...to thin for my liking, and I've done a LOT of decals over the years. FYI, they DON'T like Micro-SOL!  STEAR CLEAR! Micro Set is just fine once you lay them down, but Micro Sol on the surface = ruined decals!  Anyway, after that everything went fine. Had to go online and track down an aftermarket sheet of Strike Eagle decals with that "SJ" tail marking out of Australia, so they'll be here eventually......Only about a million more microscopic stencil aircraft markings to go...

[Gabe Q]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

As far as being not being into Gundam, I’d recommend 08th Ms Team at some point for a short watch that’s very easy to get into without the need for any background information 

I second this suggestion. 08th MS Team is great!

[Papa Rat]

@pengbuzz oh I like that. 
 @Big s @Gabe Q thanks so much for the suggestions!

[Papa Rat]

2 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Early Sunday AM decal session yesterday with the Academy F-15E with my furry little helper....😺.  So.....the very 1st "SJ" tail marking decal literally disintergrated upon application. I really DON'T like Cartograph decals...yeh there're nice and thin...to thin for my liking, and I've done a LOT of decals over the years. FYI, they DON'T like Micro-SOL!  STEAR CLEAR! Micro Set is just fine once you lay them down, but Micro Sol on the surface = ruined decals!  Anyway, after that everything went fine. Had to go online and track down an aftermarket sheet of Strike Eagle decals with that "SJ" tail marking out of Australia, so they'll be here eventually......Only about a million more microscopic stencil aircraft markings to go...

So nice having help with decals. ♥️

[SteveTheFish]

On 6/2/2025 at 1:15 AM, Papa Rat said:

While the search continues for the right ball joints for my Monster build I did a quick test fit on this Seapig.

 

I saw a video on YouTube in which a modeler used Lego ball joints for his Imai/Bandai Monster kit. Somebody sent me a link to that video and the result looks great. (I think it could have been the builder himself, but I can't remember.) I cannot recall the name of the channel, but maybe you can find the video through a search. I'm also finding that Japanese model builders can provide a lot of great information too on modifying these older kits to really make them look much better, less stiff and more stylized. Your work on that Gerwalk is fantastic

[MechTech]

@Papa Rat Good call on the magnets for your Monster! By the way, if you're careful, they will still work just under the surface. That way you don't have to cover them with anything.

Concerning your Talgeese: As a Sci-Fi judge for my club's last show, we dinged stuff like seam lines, rough paint, decals that were not blended well into the finish, or silvered decals (air gets underneath and it looks silvery). Stuff that will help you, adding detail bits, adding more scribing details/panel lines, and being consistent with your paint scheme (wear should be even across the model or rust, just not here and there). You should be able to get a a hold of the judging rules. If not, I'll see if I can find ours. Honestly, you should be able to walk into a show and have a good idea of where you stand. You know if you did a good job or not. At the very least, it's a lot of fun and a GREAT learning experience. You will see A LOT of awesome models and good ideas to borrow from.

Who's hosting the show? If they are IPMS based, their rules are pretty much the same across the board.

@Cheese3 Your paint shading looks good on that model and helps build size (for something so small).

@derex3592 Good help is hard to find; I'm glad you got some! 😄 Sorry your Seymour-Johnson decal got jacked up. That squadron must of had a special deployment to Australia or something, maybe with a special paint scheme it sounds like? - MT

 

 

[SteveTheFish]

I have finally finished that mini Nadia resin figure. It's real tiny, so the closer I get to it, the more the flaws become obvious.

I'm also working on a sofubi of Priss from Bubblegum Crisis.

[Big s]

1 hour ago, SteveTheFish said:

I have finally finished that mini Nadia resin figure. It's real tiny, so the closer I get to it, the more the flaws become obvious.

I'm also working on a sofubi of Priss from Bubblegum Crisis.

I see what you mean, but I think those flaws might be hidden if you try a dark wash at the places where certain parts meet. Like where the sash meets the belly or where the vest meets the body or even the hair meeting the face and the sandals meeting the skin of the feet. It will add a little depth and will help hide the imperfections 

[pengbuzz]

UPDATE:

Got the shuttle model to at least where the other one was:

 

For display, I constructed a new stand for it; it's still a little rough (I have yet to paint the back half and clearcoat the whole thing):

  

This one is going to be based on a "what if" that nearly happened in real life: after the loss of Challenger, NASA almost converted Enterprise from a functional test article (built the same way as the other shuttles, just without the engines or tiles). Instead, they had enough spare parts to build a new shuttle from scratch: Endeavour.

Bottom tiles in progress (hand-carving them):

Cargo bay: I had taken the contents out when painting the first one, so these survived. I simply updated the paint a little and glued them in:

   

And her place (for the time being) is next to another ship with the same name (just waiting on decals for her!):

I need to finish putting decals on the shuttle, but I have to print up more paper decals at the library today.

Stay tuned...

Edited yesterday at 01:48 PM by pengbuzz

[SteveTheFish]

38 minutes ago, Big s said:

I see what you mean, but I think those flaws might be hidden if you try a dark wash at the places where certain parts meet. Like where the sash meets the belly or where the vest meets the body or even the hair meeting the face and the sandals meeting the skin of the feet. It will add a little depth and will help hide the imperfections 

Thanks for the tip, but do you think a wash would be effective over a flat coat like this?

[Big s]

1 hour ago, SteveTheFish said:

Thanks for the tip, but do you think a wash would be effective over a flat coat like this?

It probably would work far better on a gloss surface since the dull will make it hazy and harder to clean up. Might be better to use a panel lining pencil or pen if you don’t gloss the surface and treat each area as a panel, like around the sash or the sandals and such.

[Papa Rat]

@SteveTheFish good idea on using Lego joints. Also thanks for the compliment. Same goes to you. I have test to try any resin kits and think I may take the plunge his year. 
 

@MechTech  really appreciate all the tips and things to consider. This will be at a anime convention in OCT. It appears that dressing up cosplay and performing is the main focus and models being secondary so there is that. Details are still not cemented as I reached out for more info. Stay tuned I guess. I’m excited to try some new things. 
 

@pengbuzzLooking good! 

 

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz Your Shuttle looks GREAT! I love the protective coating on the lab module. It looks realistic!

@Papa Rat No problem! Winning something at a con is cool too! Maybe fewer entrants? - MT

[Papa Rat]

@MechTech I tried searching for any modeling clubs/groups in my area “Portland,OR USA” and can’t find anything. When I stumbled upon this convention I figured it might be a way to connect with other nerds like myself. lol 

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz Your Shuttle looks GREAT! I love the protective coating on the lab module. It looks realistic!

Thanks; gotta love masking tape!  

I also used it for replicating the thermal blankets elsewhere on the shuttle. 

[SteveTheFish]

7 hours ago, Big s said:

It probably would work far better on a gloss surface since the dull will make it hazy and harder to clean up. Might be better to use a panel lining pencil or pen if you don’t gloss the surface and treat each area as a panel, like around the sash or the sandals and such.

That's what I thought. I actually did try to use a brown wash after the flat coat and it was messy. I had to rub it off rather well to remove what happened. I don't know any other way to do something like that. As you can see her standing next to the bottle of Tamiya cement, she's real tiny, like not even 6 inches tall. I painted her eyes and gold jewelry using optivisors and I added the glints of light in her eyes with a toothpick at the end. I can't really notice any such flaws on model kits until I get up real close to take photos. Then I notice the specks of dust, imperfections on paint lines, etc.

 

6 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

@MechTech I tried searching for any modeling clubs/groups in my area “Portland,OR USA” and can’t find anything. When I stumbled upon this convention I figured it might be a way to connect with other nerds like myself. lol 

Just wash the crap out of the resin with degreasing detergent. Soak the parts for days. Scrub with a toothbrush and pumice powder if there aren't delicate parts that can break (like strands of hair and such). Lately I've begun giving the parts a temporary soak in lacquer thinner too as I am sick of paint lifting off. It happened a few times with this Nadia figure I've finished. Like everything seems to be going well and then I lift up masking and it yanks the primer and paint off, down to the bare resin. Ever seen what happens to Thunder at the end of Big Trouble in Little China? I feel like that when it happens. 

[Cheese3]

Also on the table