Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[Papa Rat]

2 hours ago, Big s said:

Seeing how this is an unmanned unit, I guess it would make sense that it would be friendly to livestock. I honestly don’t know all the lore on Machinen Krieger and am kinda curious about how far the AI goes in the series since there seem to be several different types of unmanned units.

I am also in the dark as far as the lore goes besides any translation I have read on the sides of the kit box(es). I am curious to find out more. 

[nightmareB4macross]

Going to try and work on the Battroid controls, egress access panel/display for seat, and canopy hinges with frame.

and more.

[Papa Rat]

@nightmareB4macross so cool. Oh and that little trainer bot thing. Love it!

[Mog]

What’s lying on my workbench?  

A Gatling gun, missiles, sand paper, paints, and pretty soon, some stickers. 

[pengbuzz]

Sponge painting/ weathering a model (B-2)

 

[tekering]

On 7/30/2025 at 9:41 AM, Rock said:

What Misa figure is that?

I recognize it.

1997 ARII vinyl figure, from their Macross 15th Anniversary line.

I made some minor modifications to mine. 😉

[Papa Rat]

Paint is almost done. I like all the weathering that came with just the brush painting portion of the process. I also did a small amount of preliminary damage with fine grit sandpaper buffing to some areas along with a few slices with a file.

Now It’s time for decals, to then more weathering/chipping and then painting the detail parts like lenses and any touch ups. I am unsure as of now if I’ll top coat it?

I should be getting that 1:35 animal set delivered today so I will be making a small diorama stand. I have never done before so any advice is welcome. Might just go in the backyard and get some dirt and tiny wood pieces and use good old Elmer’s white glue. 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

Paint is almost done. I like all the weathering that came with just the brush painting portion of the process. I also did a small amount of preliminary damage with fine grit sandpaper buffing to some areas along with a few slices with a file.

Now It’s time for decals, to then more weathering/chipping and then painting the detail parts like lenses and any touch ups. I am unsure as of now if I’ll top coat it?

I should be getting that 1:35 animal set delivered today so I will be making a small diorama stand. I have never done before so any advice is welcome. Might just go in the backyard and get some dirt and tiny wood pieces and use good old Elmer’s white glue. 

For farms, you could do a simple bit of fine dirt over the Elmer’s glue. Just make sure it’s watered down you can even add little bits foliage that could give a small grass look. Then lock it in with some watered down Elmer’s. You’ll probably want to at least dull coat the base if not totally paint it. But as long as the glue is thin enough, it often dries clear. You can also take things like flat wood coffee stirs and run a coarse sand paper once slowly in a single rough uneven pass to give it more of a worn wood grain kinda look and build some fencing. 
My understanding is that farmland in Machinen Krieger is rare due to the holocaust, but not totally unheard of after the attempts to repopulate the earth. So something odd like a farm scene on the edge of a desolate area might be an interesting use of those animals 

[Papa Rat]

49 minutes ago, Big s said:

For farms, you could do a simple bit of fine dirt over the Elmer’s glue. Just make sure it’s watered down you can even add little bits foliage that could give a small grass look. Then lock it in with some watered down Elmer’s. You’ll probably want to at least dull coat the base if not totally paint it. But as long as the glue is thin enough, it often dries clear. You can also take things like flat wood coffee stirs and run a coarse sand paper once slowly in a single rough uneven pass to give it more of a worn wood grain kinda look and build some fencing. 
My understanding is that farmland in Machinen Krieger is rare due to the holocaust, but not totally unheard of after the attempts to repopulate the earth. So something odd like a farm scene on the edge of a desolate area might be an interesting use of those animals 

Love the suggestions. I think I’m leaning into a chicken or goose and smaller animals. I feel like those animals may survive some apocalyptic events. Small and able to reproduce fast. Also maybe a Rabit could work? 

I like the idea of included some detritus showing signs of what used to be a farm or human element like the fence or maybe even Brocken boards. 👍

I got work to do. Lol

Edited August 2 by Papa Rat

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

I like the idea of included some detritus showing signs of what used to be a farm or human element like the fence or maybe even Brocken boards. 👍

Maybe try that fence, but beat it up and soak a heavy wash and then dry brush some light color like old bare rotted wood or something 

[Thom]

Finally working past a stalled build. (or many...) Decided to break out the Ranger from the movie Interstellar. I had it a while ago but ended up selling it for some reason. then another Facer was getting rid of some kits and it was in the pile, so I reached a hand and yelled GIMMEEEE!!!!

It's not a complicated kit by any means. Few parts and it seems to be going together pretty well. I had most of the fuselage together in 30 minutes. The only mods are closing up the gear wells and putting in a mounting pole for an 'in-flight' display. 

As is at the moment.

Thom

[Big s]

26 minutes ago, Thom said:

Finally working past a stalled build. (or many...) Decided to break out the Ranger from the movie Interstellar. I had it a while ago but ended up selling it for some reason. then another Facer was getting rid of some kits and it was in the pile, so I reached a hand and yelled GIMMEEEE!!!!

It's not a complicated kit by any means. Few parts and it seems to be going together pretty well. I had most of the fuselage together in 30 minutes. The only mods are closing up the gear wells and putting in a mounting pole for an 'in-flight' display. 

As is at the moment.

Thom

Looks like it could be very interesting. I have so many space things and always curious about ships, but usually just stick to bots and armor suits

[Papa Rat]

28 minutes ago, Thom said:

Finally working past a stalled build. (or many...) Decided to break out the Ranger from the movie Interstellar. I had it a while ago but ended up selling it for some reason. then another Facer was getting rid of some kits and it was in the pile, so I reached a hand and yelled GIMMEEEE!!!!

It's not a complicated kit by any means. Few parts and it seems to be going together pretty well. I had most of the fuselage together in 30 minutes. The only mods are closing up the gear wells and putting in a mounting pole for an 'in-flight' display. 

As is at the moment.

Thom

Nice! Excited to see this one. 

[Papa Rat]

Farm animal auditions are tonight. I think I’m going with chicken. Goose is great but tonight’s not your night. 

[wm cheng]

Wow!  That looks amazing @Papa Rat  Great weathering too!!!  Might be a good one to test out that Acrylic Ink stippling technique.

[Bolt]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

Farm animal auditions are tonight. I think I’m going with chicken. Goose is great but tonight’s not your night. 

Nice job on the MAK.

[Big s]

2 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Farm animal auditions are tonight. I think I’m going with chicken. Goose is great but tonight’s not your night. 

Could have the goose riding on the back for fun

[Papa Rat]

22 minutes ago, Big s said:

Could have the goose riding on the back for fun

Hahaha. I like that idea. 
 

@BoltThanks. 

Edited August 3 by Papa Rat

[Papa Rat]

1 hour ago, wm cheng said:

Wow!  That looks amazing @Papa Rat  Great weathering too!!!  Might be a good one to test out that Acrylic Ink stippling technique.

Thanks so much.  I do want to try out that technique. I am working my way to the VE-1. Maybe I try it on that one. 👍

[pengbuzz]

Well... it's back:

 

I had destroyed this model after it had failed, and dumped the pieces into the dumpster a couple of years ago, after it's utter failure.

Anyone want to guess how it survived?

Spoiler

My wife went out to the dumpster after I fell asleep that night and recovers the pieces.

Yes; she hid the pieces from me for THREE YEARS!!!

In any event, I found its' remains the other night int he closet and put two and two together. So I brought the box out and asked her about it, and she started tearing up (crying). It turns out this plane resembles to her the E-2C Hawkeye one of her relatives flew in the Navy.

 

She begged me not to trow it away again, and to try finishing it.

 

I didn't have the heart to say "no" to her. 

Anyways, over the past several days, I pieced it back together using every single material, technique and trick I had in my arsenal. It was a pain, but I knew that the only way out of this was the hard way.

More pics of where this is right now:

 

  

I need to mask off windows and prime this, then paints and decals.

And then a stiff drink.

Stay tuned...

Edited August 3 by pengbuzz

[derex3592]

@pengbuzz - Hey man, you 1000% married a GOOOD woman right there! We can bring our Cat's Eye's across the finish line together!  In other news...actual progress was made over the past couple of days on the TOS Enterprise! More decals and detail painting today, but I am starting to get excited about finishing this one up! 

 

[Thom]

@Papa Rat He's on the mach-attack... for some chicken nuggets! 

@pengbuzz Behind (over and below, beside and ahead of) every good man is a GREAT wife!! Your Cat's Eye is looking good after some great TLC. Maybe it deserves your wife's name inked on the side?

@derex3592 From that pic it looks like Kahn captured the engineering section and the crew managed to escape in the saucer!

Edited August 3 by Thom

[Goodman Models]

On 7/28/2025 at 7:12 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.  

 

Awesome 👏 looks great! 

[Papa Rat]

Cluck cluck cluck
Just need to add a bit of super glue at feet leg connection to fill that tiny tiny gap.  Probably do a wash and a gloss on the tail feathers  

Edited August 3 by Papa Rat

[pengbuzz]

8 hours ago, derex3592 said:

@pengbuzz - Hey man, you 1000% married a GOOOD woman right there! We can bring our Cat's Eye's across the finish line together!  In other news...actual progress was made over the past couple of days on the TOS Enterprise! More decals and detail painting today, but I am starting to get excited about finishing this one up! 

 

Right? She's definitely my treasure. 

On your TOS-E: I see you have the Gary Kerr paint callouts! Those helped me tremendously when I did my 1/650 and 1/537 ships!

As for the nacelle caps: I found that "frosting" the outside of the outer dome with #0000 steel wool and then1-2  thin coats of Tamiya Acrylic Transparent Orange will give you that "glowing hellfire" look.

7 hours ago, Thom said:

@pengbuzz Behind (over and below, beside and ahead of) every good man is a GREAT wife!! Your Cat's Eye is looking good after some great TLC. Maybe it deserves your wife's name inked on the side?

I was thinking just that, since some planes are definitely named.  The plane may not be 100 percent on-spot accurate, but after the absolute hell I went through with it, I think I can be forgiven. 

 

[Big s]

3 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Cluck cluck cluck
Just need to add a bit of super glue at feet leg connection to fill that tiny tiny gap.  Probably do a wash and a gloss on the tail feathers  

Looks really great for the super tiny size

[Papa Rat]

On 8/3/2025 at 6:26 AM, Thom said:

He's on the mach-attack... for some chicken nuggets! 

Hahaha

17 hours ago, Big s said:

Looks really great for the super tiny size

Thanks. I am liking this brush painting thing. Having fun. I have also collected a bunch of debris from my yard for the display along with some coffee stirrers per suggestion, and used some air dry clay slapped on top of an old yogurt lid. Being resourceful feels good and I hope I can pull off a proper diorama/stand. 

[Big s]

51 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

Hahaha

Thanks. I am liking this brush painting thing. Having fun. I have also collected a bunch of debris from my yard for the display along with some coffee stirrers per suggestion, and used some air dry clay slapped on top of an old yogurt lid. Being resourceful feels good and I hope I can pull off a proper diorama/stand. 

Those yard bits make the best ground work for earthy scenes. I’m kinda doing something similar trying to find light grayish small rocks for a bit of a lunar look to mine, and I got an idea for an abandoned outpost or something if I have enough time to slap it all together 

 

[Papa Rat]

55 minutes ago, Big s said:

Those yard bits make the best ground work for earthy scenes. I’m kinda doing something similar trying to find light grayish small rocks for a bit of a lunar look to mine, and I got an idea for an abandoned outpost or something if I have enough time to slap it all together 

 

Awesome! I’m excited to see some pics. 😊

[pengbuzz]

Update: started paintwork. Kind of crude right now; will refine as I go:

[Thom]

That Cat is looking good, @pengbuzz!

[SteveTheFish]

@pengbuzz I already typed this yesterday, but I must have clicked away from the tab before sending it and lost it. Great story, and I have to chime in with praise for your wife. Actually, my wife is the reason why I got back into this hobby about 26 years ago. She came home from work with an AMT Star Wars AT-AT plastic model from the hobby store on the corner where her bus stop is. She asked me, "You know how to build models, right? You've built them before. Build a doggy horse for me!" (That's what she always called Imperial Walkers and they were her favorite part of Star Wars. She even has a Kenner AT-AT toy.) So I built it with only minimal painting, just leaving the gray plastic as-is and wiped some enamel on it for a bit of weathering. Since then, I've grown modeling experience from there. I'm glad she bought that for me, because I then remembered how enjoyable the hobby is. It's good to have a wife who's supportive of your hobbies.

So is that Cat's Eye a resin kit? 

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, SteveTheFish said:

@pengbuzz I already typed this yesterday, but I must have clicked away from the tab before sending it and lost it. Great story, and I have to chime in with praise for your wife. Actually, my wife is the reason why I got back into this hobby about 26 years ago. She came home from work with an AMT Star Wars AT-AT plastic model from the hobby store on the corner where her bus stop is. She asked me, "You know how to build models, right? You've built them before. Build a doggy horse for me!" (That's what she always called Imperial Walkers and they were her favorite part of Star Wars. She even has a Kenner AT-AT toy.) So I built it with only minimal painting, just leaving the gray plastic as-is and wiped some enamel on it for a bit of weathering. Since then, I've grown modeling experience from there. I'm glad she bought that for me, because I then remembered how enjoyable the hobby is. It's good to have a wife who's supportive of your hobbies.

So is that Cat's Eye a resin kit? 

Actually, it was scratch built from masking tape and cardboard (and a few scrap model parts):

This was it in progress circa September 30, 2021; this is how it began:

The original posts begin here-

https://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/topic/35120-whats-lying-on-your-workbench-mk-iv/page/317/#findComment-1596128

 

Edited August 5 by pengbuzz

[Thom]

@SteveTheFish "Build a doggy horse for me!' That is too cute!

11 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Actually, it was scratch built from masking tape and cardboard (and a few scrap model parts):

Just a peak into the Pengbuzz-level of awesomeness!

[Big s]

11 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Actually, it was scratch built from masking tape and cardboard (and a few scrap model parts):

This was it in progress circa September 30, 2021; this is how it began:

The original posts begin here-

https://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/topic/35120-whats-lying-on-your-workbench-mk-iv/page/317/#findComment-1596128

 

It always amazes me how you can turn tape into something cool like that.