Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[peter]

1 hour ago, 007-vf1 said:

finally 'Done" after a month of painting, detailing a bit

1/144 Yellow submarine Mk-II Mac Monster- with designation; 01.

I purchased it with some parts pre-assembled, glued and some lightly broken. there was some light warping on one of the arms from the casting.

I believe in both the cartoon and movies only the ones designated 01 and 02 are seen in the episodes we never see the details of the others; 03,04,05, etc

 

 

IMG_233887536.MOV 2.15 MB · 0 downloads

That looks awesome, I think I read somewhere, some online technical manual that only two were deployed aboard the SDF-1?  

There's one of these kits for sale on the local Craigslist, wants $460.

[arbit]

16 hours ago, 007-vf1 said:

1/144 Yellow submarine Mk-II Mac Monster- with designation; 01.

I really enjoyed seeing this thing built. Very nice colors and details. For a monster, he is a cute little guy!

On my workbench are 1/48 Anime Eye Decals. Yechk, what a nightmare. These things are less than 0.4mm in size.

First I had the trial and error to print on Hayes White Decal Paper at home on my Ink Jet. Settings must be Glossy Photo Paper, but my POS printer will only print small photos at that setting. I may have lost some quality for rescaling, but I am not sure.

Then you need to gloss them several times with an acrylic spray, that means do not use Japanese hobby lacquer sprays, or they will fall apart in water.

Then I found that these decals really don't like Mr. Mark Setter and Softer.  The only way to apply them without falling apart and color bleeding is with water, and after they are dry, just a jot of setter.  I really need to try another brand, because Mr. Mark Setter reacts with everything badly, doesn't work well on Future, fogs it up, and melts these Ink Jet decals in seconds.  Seems to work fine with pro decals though...

Then I had the challenge of cutting out these little suckers. I found the best way was to gently graze the surface of the decal with a detail hobby knife, while rotating the decal sheet in a circular pattern, but not really moving the hobby knife except to reset. 

After many disheartening fails, I finally got some decent results.

A satin coat will be next for final.

I've been trying to paint a mouth line, and some face/jaw shadows, but it is just too small, can't figure it out so far.

I'm a proud papa, but any painting advice appreciated...

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by arbit

[007-vf1]

6 hours ago, arbit said:

I really enjoyed seeing this thing built. Very nice colors and details. For a monster, he is a cute little guy!

On my workbench are 1/48 Anime Eye Decals. Yechk, what a nightmare. These things are less than 0.4mm in size.

First I had the trial and error to print on Hayes White Decal Paper at home on my Ink Jet. Settings must be Glossy Photo Paper, but my POS printer will only print small photos at that setting. I may have lost some quality for rescaling, but I am not sure.

Then you need to gloss them several times with an acrylic spray, that means do not use Japanese hobby lacquer sprays, or they will fall apart in water.

Then I found that these decals really don't like Mr. Mark Setter and Softer.  The only way to apply them without falling apart and color bleeding is with water, and after they are dry, just a jot of setter.  I really need to try another brand, because Mr. Mark Setter reacts with everything badly, doesn't work well on Future, fogs it up, and melts these Ink Jet decals in seconds.  Seems to work fine with pro decals though...

Then I had the challenge of cutting out these little suckers. I found the best way was to gently graze the surface of the decal with a detail hobby knife, while rotating the decal sheet in a circular pattern, but not really moving the hobby knife except to reset. 

After many disheartening fails, I finally got some decent results.

A satin coat will be next for final.

I've been trying to paint a mouth line, and some face/jaw shadows, but it is just too small, can't figure it out so far.

I'm a proud papa, but any painting advice appreciated...

 

 

I totally get your frustration with small figures/kits

I think Mr. Mark setter might be a bit too harsh for those new thinner decals. I read somewhere their chemical components were stronger than Microset. So i started using this other brand since. So far they haven't failed me but it takes longer and bigger amounts of the liquid to set the decals.

if the decals haven't set well if the spot always re-wet before wiggling it and then gently apply a paper towel or Q-tip to bloat the excess water off before it dries.

Another things you might want to invest in on a magnifier lamp glasses. They do help a lot with small things.

Your Minmay looks good and hopefully is a learning curve to make the next mini figure better.

@peter Thanks for the compliment. Not only are very difficult to come by of originals casts, but now a days are a few websites knock-offs who offer them recast for around $100. I got mine over 10 years ago so the investment wasn't that big then.

Edited October 19, 2021 by 007-vf1

[Grayson72]

I assume you already looked at these dry transfer anime eyes here?

https://archertransfers.com/ASSETS/FiguresPg1.pdf

[MechTech]

What the heck! I missed a WHOLE PAGE of builds! I guess I've been busier than I thought!

@derex3592 That's super star destroyer is looking great! Yes, thank God the weather is cooling down now. I was just enjoying it outside!

@Ignacio Ocamica You sir are BLESSED to have gotten that AWESOME kit! I look forward to seeing your build.

@Thom Your cockpit build is looking great! I thought Tomcat too. The wheel well details are great!

@peter Your starship build is looking good despite your self criticism! So let us guess. Your next project involves swords and pointy stabby thingies?

@pengbuzz Your X-Wing build is looking great!!! The cockpit and pilot modifications are a HUGE improvement over the stock parts. Was that pilot flexing his muscles for the chicks or what? That is the weirdest pose yet other than those pilots who look like their holding something other than the control stick😄

@wm cheng Your F-15C would make the Air Force proud! Your details including the new "turkey feathers" look great; especially at that scale!

@007-vf1 Your Monster came out great! Its too bad about the crooked resin, but it doesn't look so bad. I think most people won't notice it anyhow. I may have not seen it except you mentioned it.

@arbit Everytime I think of this post I think of the line, "Big anime eyes" from Robots. 007 is right. If you coat your decals with the Microsol liquid decal film, they will hold up MUCH better. The film is pretty tough. It is even used over water to make sheets covering those super slow flying balsa stick planes. It works great!

@Grayson72 I never heard of those guys before! I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the link! - MT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rock]

Few personal weeks off. Back at it.

Ordnance on. One big mistake I didn't catch it until mounting... oh well. Canopy is all that is left, then onto touchups.

[lochness]

That’s beautiful. Looking forward to seeing it completed.

[pengbuzz]

14 hours ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz Your X-Wing build is looking great!!! The cockpit and pilot modifications are a HUGE improvement over the stock parts. Was that pilot flexing his muscles for the chicks or what? That is the weirdest pose yet other than those pilots who look like their holding something other than the control stick😄

Thanks: I really couldn't get over how that pilot looked. As it stands, I forgot to post my progress lately, so we'll take it in a few chunks:-

1) I redid the barrels on the laser cannons, as I recall a sneeze could snap the plastic on them! Wooden dowels, which are then covered with masking tape. serve as the new barrel, with the old tip glued into place:

2) Now, the X-wing before painting:

 

 

3) Also have Darth Vader's TIE Advanced (it just needs a Darth Vader figure, as it was missing it when I rescued it from the thrift store)...thinking of a possible diorama when the X-Wing is finished:

 

4) Painted up (missing R2 at the moment):

I know: the paint job sucks; I'll be working to refine and fix it. I still need to do post-shading,m panel lines, panel lightening and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Stay tuned...

Edited October 20, 2021 by pengbuzz

[MechTech]

@Rock Looking good! Those narrow wings look like they'd never hold that ordnance in real life😧

@pengbuzz Your paint still looks good and your pilot and cockpit work make it that much more realistic! The laser cannon mods were a good idea! They look like how model propeller blades are - always breaking if you just look at them! - MT

[Thom]

Thanks @MechTech

@pengbuzz Some great work on that X-Wing! Can't wait to see what you do for the Vader figure!

And @Rock Nora's fighter is looking aces! Love the paint job.

Did a little painting on my Tomcat. White mainly for the intakes, trunking and exhaust tunnels, but also a hit for the gear well. Now to detail paint a little bit.

 

Thom

[arbit]

On 10/19/2021 at 8:13 PM, 007-vf1 said:

I think Mr. Mark setter might be a bit too harsh for those new thinner decals. I read somewhere their chemical components were stronger than Microset. So i started using this other brand since. So far they haven't failed me but it takes longer and bigger amounts of the liquid to set the decals.

Your Minmay looks good and hopefully is a learning curve to make the next mini figure better.

Thanks, I've been meaning to try Microset. 

But Minmay came out good enough for me. Very pleased with her.

On 10/19/2021 at 10:30 PM, Grayson72 said:

I assume you already looked at these dry transfer anime eyes here?

https://archertransfers.com/ASSETS/FiguresPg1.pdf

Definitely, I didn't start this project with mini figures till I found the perfect pair.

23 hours ago, MechTech said:

@arbit Everytime I think of this post I think of the line, "Big anime eyes" from Robots. 007 is right. If you coat your decals with the Microsol liquid decal film, they will hold up MUCH better. The film is pretty tough. It is even used over water to make sheets covering those super slow flying balsa stick planes. It works great!

Yeah, my eye decals do look kinda like cat's eyes. But however they turn out, they are much much better than hand painting multi-colored eyes in a 1mm space. I tried, and failed miserably...

[pengbuzz]

18 hours ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz Your paint still looks good and your pilot and cockpit work make it that much more realistic! The laser cannon mods were a good idea! They look like how model propeller blades are - always breaking if you just look at them! - MT

Thanks; I just need to keep working on the outer hull until it meets my expectations. Last night, I went and re-scribed the panel lines on the fighter, and ended up adding about 20% more that were missing (per the blueprints and screenshots):

 

At the front end of the canopy (where it meets the main body), I found they messed up and moved detail a little further down, throwing off the look of the entire thing. So, I re-scribed the canopy-parting line:

     

Before                                                                      After

The blue magic marker is temporary (so I can see what I'm doing on the clear plastic); a new panel line is inscribed, I just have to hit it with paint.

The new replacement laser tips on the S-foils:

Small, wire-nails that I clipped the heads off of, drilled a hole into the remaining laser tip/ flashback suppressor head and glued into place with plastic welder. As a testament to their durability, I accidentally dropped a roll of masking tape and it hit the entire laser cannon dead-on, only to find they were perfectly fine.

The old ones would have left me with a shattered barrel and dust for the tips.

On another note, I got some detailing one with rust on the fighter:

At this point, I'm also working on R2-D2, but I'll go into that in more detail in a future post very soon.

Stay tuned... and pick up your visual scanning folks!

[Thom]

Nose gear well is done, painted up and weathered with a dark panel line wash.

And mated to the cockpit tub before the nose sides were closed around it.

I have some seamless intakes on the way and I'll need to order some seats for the D variant. But, modeling on!

Thom

[Thom]

Going to town on that @pengbuzz! Looking pretty good.

[pengbuzz]

Just now, Thom said:

Going to town on that @pengbuzz! Looking pretty good.

Same goes for your cockpit, Thom! Coming along very nicely!

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz Your fixes are a HUGE improvement over the stock parts! It looks much better!

@Thom I almost feel bad because even with a mirror, hardly anyone will see that wheel well! It looks realistic though! - MT

[electric indigo]

Do you know the situation when each of your current modeling projects seems to hit a particularly tedious phase?

[pengbuzz]

UPDATE: how to make a Sith Lord-

Primary body-shaping:

Making Darth Vader's mask:

Addition of face, arms and front view so far:

 

TIE Advanced X-1 Cockpit test fit:

 

Final refinements, chair building and paint:

 

Front view without and with camera flash:

 

As of right now, Vader has been installed int eh cockpit of his TIE Advanced. Pics to come very soon...

Stay tuned...

[Thom]

@pengbuzz Dude! That Vader is looking awesome!

[Grayson72]

@pengbuzz Impressive, most impressive 😉

[Thom]

And onto my Academy 1/72 F-4J! While awaiting some PE for the 'pit I'm doing the cans first. I thought I might get some resin replacements, but they cost too much and would take too long to arrive, so I'll be doing a little 'home improvement.'

First is the detail of the burners which, while also being stuck pretty deep into the tunnel, are pretty simplistic.

But I have the parts for the F-14A variant that I'm not using.

So a little work has been done, first drilling a hole through the right and sitting it atop the one on the left.

Then I broke into the metal stash and cut some rods to form rings for the burners.

Now to glue that together and duplicate it!

Thom

 

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz Who needs a 3D printer when you got Pengbuzz!!! That is an AWESOME sculpt!!! And better than what probably would have come with the kit!

@Thom Nice touches to the J79s! Once again, too bad you'll hardly see them. - MT

[Thom]

@MechTech Well as the saying goes, 'I know they're in there!'😛

[lochness]

@pengbuzz I can’t believe you started that sculpt with wood. That is awesome! Looking great.

[pengbuzz]

Thanks folks, but I'm not that blasted clever: I had a MAJOR setback tonight on the X-Wing:

 

The area right next to the pivot for the wings is very flimsy; one thin layer of plastic attaching at two points is all that holds the wings to the pivot roundels. Even reinforcing with Plastic Welder leaves them too flexible for my tastes. And I had gone through great pains to try to ensure any sort of weaknesses would be addressed before I sealed the main body up.

So instead, I had to cut along panel lines and break open the work I did sealing the main pin into the extra walls I had built. I truly hope that the wings firm up with addition of more plastic welder; at 10 bucks a tube, that's my modelling budget for the month right there!

Redesigning/ rebuilding the pivot and wing attachments would be a howling nightmare,  and "just gluing them into place"...

...I would just as soon smash the thing to bits with a hammer.

Anyways, more to come...

          

[MechTech]

@Thom I got you! Yep, we know its in there!

@pengbuzz Whatever you do, don't toss all that great work in the trash! That joint is hardly visible anyhow. You could probably paint those areas all flat black and no one would be the wiser. If you can scratch build an awesome looking Vader, you can fix a battle hardened X-wing! - MT

[pengbuzz]

10 hours ago, MechTech said:

@Thom I got you! Yep, we know its in there!

@pengbuzz Whatever you do, don't toss all that great work in the trash! That joint is hardly visible anyhow. You could probably paint those areas all flat black and no one would be the wiser. If you can scratch build an awesome looking Vader, you can fix a battle hardened X-wing! - MT

Thanks, but the wing joint completely shattered this morning:

 

However, I have no intention of tossing it all in the garbage; my comment about "smashing it" was in relation top the fact that I do not want to simply glue the wings into place.

My plan now is to completely rebuild the pivot, and then re-mount the S-foils to it. It will require drilling into the wing-engine mount and removing a slight bit of detail to fasten it securely in, but I'll use the opportunity to correct some inaccuracies on the inner engine detail that I missed prior.

WARNING TO FELLOW MODELLERS: On the MPC/Ertl SW kits (1979 originals -2008 reissues), the plastic can be quite soft. If you have any kits that have major weight-bearing components made of this, do not use those kit parts. Instead, use them as a guide to build your own parts from heavier plastics (such as ABS, which I plan on using).

Save yourselves some considerable grief.

Edited October 25, 2021 by pengbuzz
added pic

[derex3592]

Small Titanic update:  Decking coloring continues slowly and painstakingly.  This morning I attached the first four rigging lines to the main deck utilizing my E-Z Line before I attempt to permanently put it in the hull.  Also began some small deck assemblies.  This model is true old school. There are no sub-assemblies, no snap tight Bandai goodness, tabs that DON'T line parts up right and have to be snipped and sanded then glue the parts together.  And for me, before I go to far, I have to look 3 steps ahead because of the lighting.  It's kind of like driving an old muscle car, without power steering or brakes or any modern comforts... it's looks good, but you have to DRIVE it. No modern BS to help you out! 

 

 

[peter]

That wood Vader is bonkers, holy.  Looks amazing.

 

 

[peter]

15 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Small Titanic update:  Decking coloring continues slowly and painstakingly.  This morning I attached the first four rigging lines to the main deck utilizing my E-Z Line before I attempt to permanently put it in the hull.  Also began some small deck assemblies.  This model is true old school. There are no sub-assemblies, no snap tight Bandai goodness, tabs that DON'T line parts up right and have to be snipped and sanded then glue the parts together.  And for me, before I go to far, I have to look 3 steps ahead because of the lighting.  It's kind of like driving an old muscle car, without power steering or brakes or any modern comforts... it's looks good, but you have to DRIVE it. No modern BS to help you out! 

 

 

I got some EZ Line for a few battleship models I have in my pile!  

[peter]

AMT 1/1000 USS Excelsior done.

Finished with GCal Aztec Decals meant for the Enterprise B, and a hodgepodge of parts from both NCC2000 and NX2000 versions, so not screen accurate by any means.

The kit was hard for me to build, lots of gaping seams, lots of filling and sanding.  I built this model entirely without magnification so there are a lot of errors, please do not zoom in, lol!

 

 

 

Glad it's finished, don't think I would ever build another one, hahahahaha! 

[peter]

Few shots with other 1/1000 ships. 

 

 

Just need to figure out Photoshop so I can delete the stands, lol! 

[MechTech]

@pengbuzz Major suckage! That's too bad. But I'm glad to see you're salvaging it. I'm in the same spot. I built that 1/48 Dougram Hasty Ironfoot F4X  (Revel Robotech "Gartan") and the skinny internal frame piece that the legs go on broke. The leg halves are thoroughly cemented together too. I saw it might be a problem so I reinforced it some, but I should have gone all out and assumed that sucker would break. Oh well. At least it still stands up on its own

@derex3592 Its looking good so far! I told a fellow modeller in my club about what you did for planking on your deck. He's building a battleship and was stuck how to replicate the wood deck. I told him about your build and what you did. He liked the idea!

@peter That is an EXCELLENT Excelsior! Great shots too. Make me glad I'm not a Klingon!

 

On a side note, I got no modelling done this weekend, but saw a cool movie with my wife. For all of you IJN Battleship Yamato fans, you may want to see "The Great War of Archimedes." It's a part fiction, part true story of the origins of the battleship Yamato and some of the Imperial Navy's back-room dealings (and ours).  For those of you that don't know, the same way we have international treaties on nuclear weapons today, battleships were under similar treaties back then. That plays a little into the story.I'm sure there are inaccuracies galore in the history of it, but it was fun to watch. My wife even liked the movie which is saying something. It is not a war movie (except the beginning), but it is a good technical and psychological thriller. It is a Toho movie, so its like Godzilla without Godzilla. The lip syncing is a little off too just like the old Godzilla movies, but it was still fun to watch: https://www.military.com/off-duty/movies/2021/04/29/japanese-war-movie-aims-reveal-secrets-of-wwii-battleship-yamato.html

Enjoy! - MT

[Thom]

4 hours ago, peter said:

AMT 1/1000 USS Excelsior done.

Finished with GCal Aztec Decals meant for the Enterprise B, and a hodgepodge of parts from both NCC2000 and NX2000 versions, so not screen accurate by any means.

The kit was hard for me to build, lots of gaping seams, lots of filling and sanding.  I built this model entirely without magnification so there are a lot of errors, please do not zoom in, lol!

 

 

 

Glad it's finished, don't think I would ever build another one, hahahahaha! 

I zoomed and I REGERET NOTHING!! Outstanding looking Excel!

[peter]

4 hours ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz Major suckage! That's too bad. But I'm glad to see you're salvaging it. I'm in the same spot. I built that 1/48 Dougram Hasty Ironfoot F4X  (Revel Robotech "Gartan") and the skinny internal frame piece that the legs go on broke. The leg halves are thoroughly cemented together too. I saw it might be a problem so I reinforced it some, but I should have gone all out and assumed that sucker would break. Oh well. At least it still stands up on its own

@derex3592 Its looking good so far! I told a fellow modeller in my club about what you did for planking on your deck. He's building a battleship and was stuck how to replicate the wood deck. I told him about your build and what you did. He liked the idea!

@peter That is an EXCELLENT Excelsior! Great shots too. Make me glad I'm not a Klingon!

 

On a side note, I got no modelling done this weekend, but saw a cool movie with my wife. For all of you IJN Battleship Yamato fans, you may want to see "The Great War of Archimedes." It's a part fiction, part true story of the origins of the battleship Yamato and some of the Imperial Navy's back-room dealings (and ours).  For those of you that don't know, the same way we have international treaties on nuclear weapons today, battleships were under similar treaties back then. That plays a little into the story.I'm sure there are inaccuracies galore in the history of it, but it was fun to watch. My wife even liked the movie which is saying something. It is not a war movie (except the beginning), but it is a good technical and psychological thriller. It is a Toho movie, so its like Godzilla without Godzilla. The lip syncing is a little off too just like the old Godzilla movies, but it was still fun to watch: https://www.military.com/off-duty/movies/2021/04/29/japanese-war-movie-aims-reveal-secrets-of-wwii-battleship-yamato.html

Enjoy! - MT

I saw that movie!  The few moments where Yamato actually appeared on screen was done beautifully, I just wish there was more screen-time for Yamato.

I have a few Yamato models but I don't have the confidence to build them yet.  The PE work......skill-wise, I'm not there, and effort-wise.....well, I'm lazy AF so I don't know if it will just kill the experience for me, lol!