Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[arbit]

Some progress I'm happy with. 

And more detail.

Edited January 27 by arbit

[Chas]

Detail paint done ( sorry 'bout the glare, forgot to turn the bench lamp off)

Gloss coat and first go at oil wash.

[pengbuzz]

...

Edited February 3 by pengbuzz

[nightmareB4macross]

There are so many great projects happening. You guys are all doing a fantastic job! 

Here is my humble update. 

[Chas]

Nice workmanship there NB4M. So tell, about this, are your new parts Styrene? If so are they gonna be strong enough for the weight, stress and forces involved? How are you bonding them to the old plastic of the toy (ABS?)?

 

 

[arbit]

Starting to come together.  

Edited January 28 by arbit

[nightmareB4macross]

2 hours ago, Chas said:

Nice workmanship there NB4M. So tell, about this, are your new parts Styrene? If so are they gonna be strong enough for the weight, stress and forces involved? How are you bonding them to the old plastic of the toy (ABS?)?

 

 

Thank you.

Using nothing but styrene and PlasticWeld. The parts are plenty strong.  This won’t be transformed liberally but will do the job just fine.

 

[Thom]

@nightmareB4macross Really liking that hinge/piston set up.

[Chas]

@nightmareB4macross plastic weld? Is that MEK based ? or an epoxy? I'm very intrigued by the process of securely bonding different plastics together. Do you thoroughly scuff the two surfaces to give the adhesive some bite?

I figured it wouldn't be used like a toy, but still the different assemblies that are being twisted, folded, extended and turned have some fairly good heft to them.

Don't get me wrong I'm not doubting your assertion ( I'm certain  you wouldn't be doing all this work if you weren't sure of your process).

Just interested in learning how you work with such desperate materials being used in such high stress application.

More weathering on the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. This time with a ref . Pic.

Think I'll need to darken some of the grey panels a bit.

 

[nightmareB4macross]

3 hours ago, Chas said:

@nightmareB4macross plastic weld? Is that MEK based ? or an epoxy? I'm very intrigued by the process of securely bonding different plastics together. Do you thoroughly scuff the two surfaces to give the adhesive some bite?

I figured it wouldn't be used like a toy, but still the different assemblies that are being twisted, folded, extended and turned have some fairly good heft to them.

Don't get me wrong I'm not doubting your assertion ( I'm certain  you wouldn't be doing all this work if you weren't sure of your process).

Just interested in learning how you work with such desperate materials being used in such high stress application.

More weathering on the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. This time with a ref . Pic.

Think I'll need to darken some of the grey panels a bit.

 

Greatest Space Junk Ever! Seriously though, that is coming out great.

Plastruct is MEK based. It bonds by melting the surfaces to allow for a really strong bond. For mating surfaces I increase the mating surfaces to allow better adhesion. Contouring parts to fit better makes them strong. And I typically make my own pins from metal rods. 

As an example, you can see how the tubing is inserted into the flat surfaces of the hinge plates and the leading edges below the intake areas. I file away material so parts can be embedded and increase strength. With tubing I do the same by shaping the ends to lay onto more curved surface of a perpendicular tube.  Most times I stagger hinge joints to allow for increased dispersion of stress on a joint.

Hope this helps.

 

[Chas]

Ahh! Very clever! Thanks for the explanation. That was very instructive and helped clarify a lot.

The top and side-walls of the old girl are done and dusted.

Matte coat on and window masks removed.

If you hold the ship right up close you can see Han and Chewy in there, but Leia and 3P0 are nigh on invisible. Oh well.

Now I gotta do the bottom and then fashion and paint some Asteroids.

Here's the main ref. I used for the weathering details.

Edited January 28 by Chas

[derex3592]

Falcon looking good! Over here Mr Surfacer 1500 Black went down on the Superhornet this morning.... 

[Chas]

Jesus! That looks soo cool!

Edited January 28 by Chas

[arbit]

@Chas Your base coat and weathering on the falcon are really sweet.  

[Big s]

3 hours ago, Chas said:

Ahh! Very clever! Thanks for the explanation. That was very instructive and helped clarify a lot.

The top and side-walls of the old girl are done and dusted.

Matte coat on and window masks removed.

If you hold the ship right up close you can see Han and Chewy in there, but Leia and 3P0 are nigh on invisible. Oh well.

Now I gotta do the bottom and then fashion and paint some Asteroids.

Here's the main ref. I used for the weathering details.

Nice paint and build. Now we need some head on pictures 

[Chas]

Well, not to be stingy.

[derex3592]

@Chas - Which kit is that? Finemolds? or Bandai ? 144?

[Chas]

Finemolds 144th.

Got a Bandai in the wings. Thinking maybe a cloud city landing platform dio for that one.

Edited January 29 by Chas

[nightmareB4macross]

Loving all these new features.
- swing plates with actuating pistons
- reworked landing gear with 3-piece bay doors
- tucked head (more to come on this feature)
- spring loaded FLIR connection points for hips at nosecone
- extending hip connectors
- turbines
- hinged intake covers
- A-stance joint
- reworked chest hinges
- smoothed fuselage to chest profile

I’m sure I missed a few updates, but many more to come.

😆

 

[derex3592]

@Chas I thought so. Did that kit years ago, very enjoyable. Never liked the Bandai offering, they got the shape of the cockpit WRONG on both the 1/144 and the 1/72 IMHO. Finemolds did it better. Yeh, yeh Band-Aids details were slightly better and the mold was a bit crisper, but not enough to justify the cost and time of doing the builds over again if you already had both the FM's built. 

Edited January 29 by derex3592

[Rock]

Home stretch

[Rock]

Phone glitch

Edited January 29 by Rock
double post

[arbit]

17 minutes ago, Rock said:

Home stretch

Beautiful paint work.

[Chas]

1 hour ago, Rock said:

Home stretch

So clean and Smmoooth! Lookin killer!

[Mr Jones]

After a long while off building any models at all, started on the Hasegawa TV SDF-1 along with the PE set; TBH I'm rusty but its looking good so far ( I'll just accept most of the inaccuracies )

 

 

[Thom]

@Chas That is a clean looking paint job! Nice.

@Mr Jones Cool seeing a Macross on the Bench!

 

[Big s]

22 hours ago, Chas said:

Well, not to be stingy.

Looks really great. Thanks for sharing 

[nightmareB4macross]

12 hours ago, Rock said:

Home stretch

Good Lord!! That’s incredible.

Could you list the primers, colors, and washes  used?

This is what I want to aim for once I begin to paint.

Thank you.

[arbit]

On 1/29/2024 at 5:19 AM, Chas said:

Well, not to be stingy.

Chas, brilliant work.  But the cockpit looks too white and clean compared to the body. Maybe a bit if weathering will do it?

[Chas]

Thanks arbit. I noticed that as well. Gonna balance it out a bit when I do the weathering on the bottom of the ship.

[wm cheng]

What a Hunk of Junk! @Chas - looking great!

 

Nice warm tones @Rock - never seen those big ass missiles outboard before, are those their version of Phoenixes?

[arbit]

And done. 

 

[MechTech]

@arbit THAT looks like Isamu!!! Smooth too (no pun intended 😁)!

@Chas You did "The Ole' Girl" justice! Great weathering on it too!

@nightmareB4macross Your "fixes" look much better than stock. Having it transform closer to the canon version will be worth all the effort!

@Rock That Tomcat is looking SWEET! I actually know one of the pilots that fairied those over there. Interesting stories😎.

@Mr Jones Good to see you back on the boards! PE is FUN to work with (note sarcasm in voice). It makes a difference though.

 

FINALLY making some progress on the 1/1 - 1/72 Oto Melara canon diorama. It's weird working on the "real thing" and a model with it in there.

First off, the 1/72 complete rounds (brass propellant case with the projectile as one ready-to-fire piece). Projectiles were turned on a Dremmel to mark the copper driving band (orange Sharpie) and then painted OD green. They were then glued into the brass cartridges with G-S Hypo Cement. The brass was coated with thinned nail polish (you can see a scratch in one).

And one of the gunners that carries one. The brass rod are how the figures will attach to the base (better than just glue).

And another gun crew member taking the rounds out of the storage rack. The rack is ready to go too.

And ten rounds loaded into the rotating magazine of the canon's turret.

All of the gun mechanisms below deck are controlled through this panel on the actual gun. The model has two LEDs. One is a color changer and the other is a tea-light candle LED to flicker. All are soldered to a 1.5V "Joule Thief" board to run them. LOTS of blackout methods used to control the light leakage.

And now back to the 1/1 scale 76mm resin projectile. I wanted to add the stenciling on the projectile, but had no way of making a custom stencil. I DO have Plastruct 1/4" letters though! So I reversed stenciled and used them. I used little dabs of contact cement to make them stick.

You can see where the glue also masked the paint, but added to the stenciled effect.

And finally starting the base coats for the gunnery crew. They all look like they had to much to drink 🤣

That's it for now. Thanks for checking in everyone! - MT

[arbit]

My first coloring.

[derex3592]

You begin to think you might just have some modicum of talent...then @MechTech posts an update....then you crawl back under your model table and begin to re-think your life....😂