Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[Papa Rat]

In tandem with the Theater-Scout Quel-Quallie build I’m also going to crack into this IMAI 1/15 scale Ride Armor VR-052T Ley Type Mospeada kit. 
 

Again, a kit I haven’t seen much of if any built when searching the internet. Excited to see what’s up with this thing. 
 

Edited July 26 by Papa Rat
Spelling

[SteveTheFish]

On 7/25/2025 at 7:29 AM, pengbuzz said:

NEXT PROJECT- STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE K'TINGA CLASS BATTLECRUISER (1/537):

This one literally just came in today; box was sealed in the original plastic. It's a 1984 reissue, but that makes no difference to me. The top of the main body in back is somewhat flattened out and needs some heat-reshaping, but the plastic is in excellent condition. No brittleness or cracks; it was sealed and kept out of sunlight. Decals look a little aged, but they shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I know this model has some accuracy issues, but some spare styrene and a couple of modifications should resolve that nicely. As usual, I'll be doing a custom stand for this on,e as the stand kind of reminds me of a light blue Dorito™!!

Stay tuned...

Hey, yo yo yo. If you have a 3D printer or have access to one through a friend or whatever, CHECK THIS OUT. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTf9VV-JAv8

This guy designed replacement parts for the top command deck as well as the engines. I bought the STL files from him about a year and a half ago but I have yet to get these printed for me. Unfortunately, he never got around to making a replacement for the bulb below the bridge section, nor did he create the disruptor cannons on the underside of the forward parts of the wings. But his price is pretty reasonable and your kit will look a lot better than out of the box, so I highly recommend it. 

[nightmareB4macross]

This build seems to never end. But the arms are good. Now onto more detailing and control panels.

[Papa Rat]

21 minutes ago, nightmareB4macross said:

This build seems to never end. But the arms are good. Now onto more detailing and control panels.

Sweet space where all the magic happens! Keep the updates coming. 😊

[Cheese3]

This model kit is a pain! Ha! Built the leg backwards, gauged the plastic! Sat on it! Twice! I just painted it somthing, still gonna give it washes, etc. 

[Big s]

12 minutes ago, Cheese3 said:

This model kit is a pain! Ha! Built the leg backwards, gauged the plastic! Sat on it! Twice! I just painted it somthing, still gonna give it washes, etc. 

That’s an interesting transition. Very reddish from the top view, but more greenish towards the bottom 

[Papa Rat]

@Cheese3 I’m digging your neon color schemes. I’m a kid of the 80’s and those vibrant colors brings nostalgia. 

[Papa Rat]

Little update on the IMAI Quel-Quallie.

There will be a lot of elements needed to be worked out and painted during the assembly process. Almost all of the parts will be captured inside the main body of the ship so unless I deal with them in advance it would be a headache later. 

Most of the parts also need seam removal or filling of some kind. There are a bunch of these small recessed circle shapes throughout and a little sanding and putty takes care of that no problem. The biggest area needing attention is the void area in the rear between the thrusters. It’s just open and shows some rather clunky attachment points etc… doesn’t look good at all  

I decided to try and make it more interesting by using some pla plate, a spare part from a Hasegawa VE-1 kit and some Milliput. 
 

I’m going to add some more small details as I go like a couple pairs or antennas simply made from brass rods and possible some panel lines. 
 

So far so good. It’s a very simple kit like most of these old vintage models. 

Edited July 27 by Papa Rat

[derex3592]

Sunday morning projects..... In the words of Morpheus... "He's beginning to believe....", that the Moscato Cats Eye may actually turn into a half way decent display piece at some point! Mr Surfacer Black over the whole thing this morning because well, black hides a lot of things.. LOL... Also beginning to get a good feeling for the POS I mean TOS Enterprise.... LOL. 3rd side project, my buddy at work has been restoring a 93 Bronco and asked me if I could paint a 1/64 Greenlight Hot Wheels size white Bronco the color of his... Pretty happy with it so far! My 1st time attempting to repaint a Hot Wheels size anything! 

[LocusPocus]

I’m new here, love the site and all the talent. It’s mind blowing the work posted here. I saw @Papa Rat acquired a 1/15 mospeada. I purchased two of the Houquet and after a test fit decided to alter them heavily. Here are a few pics, they are a bit hmarly and will forever be unfinished I suppose.

[Papa Rat]

1 hour ago, derex3592 said:

Sunday morning projects..... In the words of Morpheus... "He's beginning to believe....", that the Moscato Cats Eye may actually turn into a half way decent display piece at some point! Mr Surfacer Black over the whole thing this morning because well, black hides a lot of things.. LOL... Also beginning to get a good feeling for the POS I mean TOS Enterprise.... LOL. 3rd side project, my buddy at work has been restoring a 93 Bronco and asked me if I could paint a 1/64 Greenlight Hot Wheels size white Bronco the color of his... Pretty happy with it so far! My 1st time attempting to repaint a Hot Wheels size anything! 

Awesome seeing a bunch of irons in the fire. 😊 stay busy my friend.
 

Been wanting to find a 1988 Bronco and paint it to look like the Twin Peaks Sherifs department vehicle from my favorite series. One day!

@LocusPocusWelcome and thanks for sharing your builds.  I’m so excited to get to work on that kit. 

[wm cheng]

I finally got back to my cursed VT-1 after 9 months off the hobby.  A lot of stuff had happened, my basement hot water tank exploded and wet the bottom layers of my workbench, then when it was beyond repairs, they replaced it with a on-demand boiler but had to drill two holes for the intake and exhaust.  Instead of drilling the holes right close to the boiler, they went across my basement ceiling to drill in the opposite side - right over my hobby workbench covering it with a layer of very fine brick dust over everything (including all my brushes and airbrushes) - ARGH!!!  I tried to shop-vac it but it was so fine that it went through the filter of the shop-vac and blew it everywhere in my basement - it took days for the cloud of dust to settle!  That pretty much killed any interest I had in completing this model for a while. 

Then I found out about a new technique using acrylic ink to mottle the paint surface for scaled weathering that I thought I'd try out and learn something new - its mostly more appropriate for the TPS Navy planes like F-14s.  It's funny that I spent most of my modelling career trying to paint a smooth finish colour only now to lean ways to make the solid smooth paint look mottled and distressed!  Unfortunately again it didn't turn out as I hoped.  I hope to let everyone know so many things went wrong with this build, but don't loose hope, whenever I swore off of it, after a few months off, I was able to figure out ways (probably my OCD thinking about it before going to sleep) to fix it (easier when you don't care about it as much anymore and it no longer becomes as precious and I was more willing to experiment).  Unfortunately, I was in the middle of also experimenting with new paints (I almost always used Tamiya acrylics because of the easy clean up) but with all these new techiques, I needed a stronger/hardier paint, and started to look at Mr. Color lacquers now.  But with this mix of paint (and repaints because of that horrible Alclad clear coat wrinkling eating away at the Tamiya undercoat that I had to re-sand down everything) the Acrylic Ink using the Tamiya X-20A thinners attacked some of my paint underneath again.  I was so discouraged that I didn't even take any photos of that, I wished I had.

When this technique is done properly, the effects are phenomenal! 

https://luftraum72.com/layered-ink-patina-technique/

I do urge people to try it - I'm starting to get the hang of it after a few false starts, luckily you can undo a lot with the X-20A thinner (except when it started attacking my older Tamiya paint - you should only do this over top of Mr. Color lacquers)  Except I kind of over did it - too heavily weathered for a trainer!

So I masked up everything again, so spray the original colours over top of all the weathering lightly so you can still see the mottling underneath but it toned down the effects.  I think this is the 4th or 5th time I've had to carefully re-mask everything and respray everything on this model - I felt like I've build 3 or 4 of these now 😛

The final stretch is in sight!  I'm finally happier with the finish, its still a little too weathered for a trainer, but I do like the weathering patterning, I will keep the semi-gloss sheen instead of going flat matte to keep it looking a little "newer" or better kept.

 

 

[Big s]

33 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

I finally got back to my cursed VT-1 after 9 months off the hobby.  A lot of stuff had happened, my basement hot water tank exploded and wet the bottom layers of my workbench, then when it was beyond repairs, they replaced it with a on-demand boiler but had to drill two holes for the intake and exhaust.  Instead of drilling the holes right close to the boiler, they went across my basement ceiling to drill in the opposite side - right over my hobby workbench covering it with a layer of very fine brick dust over everything (including all my brushes and airbrushes) - ARGH!!!  I tried to shop-vac it but it was so fine that it went through the filter of the shop-vac and blew it everywhere in my basement - it took days for the cloud of dust to settle!  That pretty much killed any interest I had in completing this model for a while. 

Then I found out about a new technique using acrylic ink to mottle the paint surface for scaled weathering that I thought I'd try out and learn something new - its mostly more appropriate for the TPS Navy planes like F-14s.  It's funny that I spent most of my modelling career trying to paint a smooth finish colour only now to lean ways to make the solid smooth paint look mottled and distressed!  Unfortunately again it didn't turn out as I hoped.  I hope to let everyone know so many things went wrong with this build, but don't loose hope, whenever I swore off of it, after a few months off, I was able to figure out ways (probably my OCD thinking about it before going to sleep) to fix it (easier when you don't care about it as much anymore and it no longer becomes as precious and I was more willing to experiment).  Unfortunately, I was in the middle of also experimenting with new paints (I almost always used Tamiya acrylics because of the easy clean up) but with all these new techiques, I needed a stronger/hardier paint, and started to look at Mr. Color lacquers now.  But with this mix of paint (and repaints because of that horrible Alclad clear coat wrinkling eating away at the Tamiya undercoat that I had to re-sand down everything) the Acrylic Ink using the Tamiya X-20A thinners attacked some of my paint underneath again.  I was so discouraged that I didn't even take any photos of that, I wished I had.

When this technique is done properly, the effects are phenomenal! 

https://luftraum72.com/layered-ink-patina-technique/

I do urge people to try it - I'm starting to get the hang of it after a few false starts, luckily you can undo a lot with the X-20A thinner (except when it started attacking my older Tamiya paint - you should only do this over top of Mr. Color lacquers)  Except I kind of over did it - too heavily weathered for a trainer!

So I masked up everything again, so spray the original colours over top of all the weathering lightly so you can still see the mottling underneath but it toned down the effects.  I think this is the 4th or 5th time I've had to carefully re-mask everything and respray everything on this model - I felt like I've build 3 or 4 of these now 😛

The final stretch is in sight!  I'm finally happier with the finish, its still a little too weathered for a trainer, but I do like the weathering patterning, I will keep the semi-gloss sheen instead of going flat matte to keep it looking a little "newer" or better kept.

 

 

Sorry for all the troubles. That water heater had to be tough. We had to have one replaced just the other year. Ours house is on a slope where the main floor is in top and the bottom floor is set up as a bedroom, but we’ve just been using it for storage and laundry. The water heater is behind the bottom room in an odd crawl space where you go downstairs and then crawl up into a an angled floor because of the slope. Luckily it didn’t explode or anything, just kinda died. But getting the replacement was a pain because everything had to squeeze up and take some tight turns in there. And of course it went out right after the pros replaced it. Kept having to crawl in and relight the the dang thing. Turned out there was a problem with the thermo pile and had to get new parts and another repair crew.

anyway, the VT-1is looking really cool. Sometimes it’s fun to try some new techniques 

[Big s]

5 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Little update on the IMAI Quel-Quallie.

There will be a lot of elements needed to be worked out and painted during the assembly process. Almost all of the parts will be captured inside the main body of the ship so unless I deal with them in advance it would be a headache later. 

Most of the parts also need seam removal or filling of some kind. There are a bunch of these small recessed circle shapes throughout and a little sanding and putty takes care of that no problem. The biggest area needing attention is the void area in the rear between the thrusters. It’s just open and shows some rather clunky attachment points etc… doesn’t look good at all  

I decided to try and make it more interesting by using some pla plate, a spare part from a Hasegawa VE-1 kit and some Milliput. 
 

I’m going to add some more small details as I go like a couple pairs or antennas simply made from brass rods and possible some panel lines. 
 

So far so good. It’s a very simple kit like most of these old vintage models. 

Thanks for the pics, really cool to see details on how it goes together 

[Papa Rat]

@wm cheng I am liking the paint on that. Looks great! The journey sounded difficult but all the headaches paid off. 
 

@Big s You bet. I’ll post updates as it comes together. 

Edited July 28 by Papa Rat

[Big s]

Gonna try and get this lil guy done in time for the hlj machinen Krieger contest. Not sure if I got enough time, but it is a little kit and not really expecting to win, just trying to get it done for fun. Gonna try a couple things I’m not used to like armor texture and painting a mustache. Seriously, out of all the lil dudes in models over the years, this is the first one I’ve ever had that actually has facial hair.there were a lot of seams, but luckily they were only on very simple rounded shapes, so they cleaned up well. Gonna try and make the joints look like worn out fabric covering. Probably gonna try and make the whole thing look like it’s been around a bit longer than it should. Also gotta make a stand. 
forgot to mention that I found some spring that was just slightly bigger than the hoses, but they fit super snug over them perfectly and at least I don’t have to try to hard at sanding those

Edited July 28 by Big s

[Papa Rat]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

Gonna try and get this lil guy done in time for the hlj machinen Krieger contest. Not sure if I got enough time, but it is a little kit and not really expecting to win, just trying to get it done for fun. Gonna try a couple things I’m not used to like armor texture and painting a mustache. Seriously, out of all the lil dudes in models over the years, this is the first one I’ve ever had that actually has facial hair.there were a lot of seams, but luckily they were only on very simple rounded shapes, so they cleaned up well. Gonna try and make the joints look like worn out fabric covering. Probably gonna try and make the whole thing look like it’s been around a bit longer than it should. Also gotta make a stand. 
forgot to mention that I found some spring that was just slightly bigger than the hoses, but they fit super snug over them perfectly and at least I don’t have to try to hard at sanding those

Hell yeah! Excited to see this take shape. 
I totally forgot about the contest. Might have to finish that GroBer Hund I started awhile back…🤔

[Big s]

5 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

Hell yeah! Excited to see this take shape. 
I totally forgot about the contest. Might have to finish that GroBer Hund I started awhile back…🤔

I think you got a month, might have enough time if you work fast

[Papa Rat]

27 minutes ago, Big s said:

I think you got a month, might have enough time if you work fast

 

[Papa Rat]

Shifting gears thanks to the reminder from @Big s about the HLJ Ma.K. Contest. I think it would be fun to enter and a great motivator. 
I decided to bust out one of these little 1/35 Grober Hund kits from Artpla. 
 

 

[wm cheng]

I replaced the smaller thruster exhausts with these aftermaket "vernier" add-ons (they were bought 15yrs ago from HLJ but I think they should still be around).  I reused some of the kit parts (the original nozzles) as detail inside the larger ones.

 

I started this kit Nov 2023, so its really nice to actually have it all together again.  I have to thank @arbit for sculpting that amazing Minmay in the back seat with her helmet off.  I bought this kit 20yrs ago in 2003 but was so disappointed that there never was a Minmay in the back, so it sat on my shelf all these years.  The pilot is also sculpted by him and 3D Resin printed as well and its what's got me back to finally finishing this model - even with all the crap that has happened on this long journey. 

[wm cheng]

Finally finished!  The canopy decal didn't fit properly, the left side did, but the right half was a tad too long, wierd, the VE-1 decals fit perfectly, it also crumbled into 4-5 pieces - probably due to age, but I noticed some of the round vernier thruster port decals didn't fit the engraved details perfectly too.  That serves me for having 20yr old models to get to in my stash!  Funny some of the weathering paint mottling didn't show up on my iPhone photos as much.  I will take some better photos of them, but you can see @arbit amazing Minmay sculpt so well in the those huge bubble canopies.  

 

[Papa Rat]

@wm chengCongrats on finishing it up. It looks outstanding and the perseverance/story behind it makes for such a sweet ending. 🎉♥️

[Big s]

1 hour ago, wm cheng said:

Finally finished!  The canopy decal didn't fit properly, the left side did, but the right half was a tad too long, wierd, the VE-1 decals fit perfectly, it also crumbled into 4-5 pieces - probably due to age, but I noticed some of the round vernier thruster port decals didn't fit the engraved details perfectly too.  That serves me for having 20yr old models to get to in my stash!  Funny some of the weathering paint mottling didn't show up on my iPhone photos as much.  I will take some better photos of them, but you can see @arbit amazing Minmay sculpt so well in the those huge bubble canopies.  

 

This looks really awesome. I like the overall shine

[Big s]

2 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Shifting gears thanks to the reminder from @Big s about the HLJ Ma.K. Contest. I think it would be fun to enter and a great motivator. 
I decided to bust out one of these little 1/35 Grober Hund kits from Artpla. 
 

 

I think you’ll do all right with this one. I thought you were talking about the Hasegawa version. The hasegawa kit is in my stash and one day I’ll tackle that complicated beast, but I’m a slow builder and I know it’s gonna take me a long while to build.

[Cheese3]

Group shot!

[Papa Rat]

55 minutes ago, Big s said:

I think you’ll do all right with this one. I thought you were talking about the Hasegawa version. The hasegawa kit is in my stash and one day I’ll tackle that complicated beast, but I’m a slow builder and I know it’s gonna take me a long while to build.

Oh you were right when I mentioned doing the Hund I was indeed talking about the Hasegawa version but then I remembered I had these little Artpla ones and figured I’d like to go small. Haha.

I did get most of the Hasegawa completed and will need to finish that up later when I have more time. 

[Papa Rat]

5 minutes ago, Cheese3 said:

Group shot!

Family portrait! ♥️

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

Oh you were right when I mentioned doing the Hund I was indeed talking about the Hasegawa version but then I remembered I had these little Artpla ones and figured I’d like to go small. Haha.

I did get most of the Hasegawa completed and will need to finish that up later when I have more time. 

Yeah, not gonna lie but that hasegawa one is a bit intimidating, but I’ll get to it one day.

I got a few of the wave armor suits, so I ended up picking the Fliege since it had a window to show off the face. I figured it would be more interesting picture wise than one of the Fireball SAFS type suits even though I prefer those.

[Papa Rat]

Managed to get quite a bit done tonight on my test fit. This thing is small “extra thin for scale” and packs in plenty of detail. Also super fun to build so far. 
 

[Thom]

Wow, some great work @wm cheng!

@Cheese3 That's a pretty cool looking Macross collection.

[Gabe Q]

Thank you @wm cheng for the lesson in perseverance! The VT-1 looks great! The canopy is crystal clear. You'd never know there was a huge moldline there. The paint job looks amazing. 10/10 After all these years you're still the master model builder around here!

[pengbuzz]

On 7/26/2025 at 6:24 AM, SteveTheFish said:

Hey, yo yo yo. If you have a 3D printer or have access to one through a friend or whatever, CHECK THIS OUT. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTf9VV-JAv8

This guy designed replacement parts for the top command deck as well as the engines. I bought the STL files from him about a year and a half ago but I have yet to get these printed for me. Unfortunately, he never got around to making a replacement for the bulb below the bridge section, nor did he create the disruptor cannons on the underside of the forward parts of the wings. But his price is pretty reasonable and your kit will look a lot better than out of the box, so I highly recommend it. 

Much appreciated Steve, but by the time I read this, I had already done most of the work in masking tape:

Had to do quite a bit of research on this one, as the colors looked gunmetal grey in parts of ST:TMP. I found color pics of the filming model here though:

https://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/4487-polar-lights-model-kits-ktinga-the-colors-man-the-colors-pt-1/

and 

https://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/4500-polar-lights-model-kits-ktinga-the-colors-man-the-colors-pt-2/

I still have several small details to add in; those are ongoing, as is the installation of windows (not 11, thank heaven!).

Stay tuned...

 

[wm cheng]

4 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

Thank you @wm cheng for the lesson in perseverance! The VT-1 looks great! The canopy is crystal clear. You'd never know there was a huge moldline there. The paint job looks amazing. 10/10 After all these years you're still the master model builder around here!

Hey @Gabe Q, there's a much easier way to remove that moldline now (I used to scrape it with an exacto, then sand, then Tamiya Polish and clear coat by dipping it in Future). I found these GodHand sanding sponges and you work from 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, 10000 lightly sanding the seam and it dissappears crystal clear!  I still dip my canopies in Future to make them extra shiny though, but its not to hide any scratches from the sanding anymore.

Hey @pengbuzz that Klingon Battlecruiser turned out amazing!!!  Great paint finish on it too!  Thanks for the colour info, I have to bookmark those for future reference.

 

Hard to believe it's been 20yrs since I bought this kit!  Here's the VE-1 I did 18yrs ago for comparison when I was trying to do the smoothest coat of paint I could and weathered everything (post shading) with an airbrush - it looks too clean and slick (although I purposely tried to restrain the weathering on both of these as I thought they'd be better kept than something in used in war).  Not that I've been building consistently for the last 18yrs, I've taken many years off but I like seeing the progress.

[Rock]

On 7/28/2025 at 6:12 PM, wm cheng said:

Finally finished!  The canopy decal didn't fit properly, the left side did, but the right half was a tad too long, wierd, the VE-1 decals fit perfectly, it also crumbled into 4-5 pieces - probably due to age, but I noticed some of the round vernier thruster port decals didn't fit the engraved details perfectly too.  That serves me for having 20yr old models to get to in my stash!  Funny some of the weathering paint mottling didn't show up on my iPhone photos as much.  I will take some better photos of them, but you can see @arbit amazing Minmay sculpt so well in the those huge bubble canopies.  

 

Glad to see how this turned out! Minmay looks great! 

 

On 7/26/2025 at 8:19 PM, nightmareB4macross said:

This build seems to never end. But the arms are good. Now onto more detailing and control panels.

What Misa figure is that?