1/20 Krote Updated 30mar

Dan

Ma.K is the current life of a series of photojournals created by Kow Yokoyama in the mid 1980s that ran in Hobby Japan magazine. The kits were kitbashed from Micronaut toys and everything from current Monogram kits to ping pong ball slices.  A future history storyline of colonization, return and strife was created and the monthly series was depicted in manga and photoessay form with the kits we see here. The original kit designs were picked up by Nitto and boxed in stylish, WWII-esque boxes, with names and uniform designs that hinted at Waffen troops. 

In those days full page ads ran in Finescale Modeler for Squadron Mail Order, with large line drawings of the Krote, PKA, Nutrocker Hovertank and Fliedermaus ( I told myself I would NEVER pay 25.00 for a kit!! ) offered by Squadron Mail Order in a two page ad spread.  That was most Americans introduction, and at that time the series was called SF3D.  These kits put out by Nitto were true multimedia kits including springs (now put out by Kotubukaya and Wave), wire and something we know now as polycaps from Tamiya and Hasegawa kits. The real fun was identifying where the parts came from (for instance, the PKA is aAcadamy Hughes 500 turned on end, with the bubble for the glass, doors for the sidewindows. The binocular mount is a .50 cal tripod base) 

A squabble between the magazine editors and Kow ensued, and the magazine article series ended, but Kow retains the rights to all designs.  To our delight, the series was renamed ZVB3000 Machinen Krieger and re-released in the late 90s.  New designs are currently being added and there are resin upgrade parts avialable (such as new pilots, decals, etc).  I like this sereis because feild modification is the rule---and I can modify, change, adapt or do as I wish with the suits.  There are several very well done Ma.K sites on the net and the level of detail, skill and effort put into these kits rival anything put out by contemporary armor entusiasts.   I am planning a "test" preproduction night interdiction SAFS suit with added sensors, low leven lighting and test paint scheme)

HTH

David 

To tell you the truth, I have no idea what Ma K is, but it looks cool... whatever it is (is it from a TV show ?) I like it.

BTW, ssgkopp, are you actually running BF"2 on a laptop ??? if so, what are the specs of that laptop please ?  

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/sgtkopp/krote/?action=view&current=1175358571.pbw

UPDATE

well more work done on the base going to cut the base board later and get the ground work started

Looks like a perfect ambush setup! I cant see these things walking too far or too fast, but when sitting in a defensive position, they look incredibly well-suited!

David 

update on the base   used legos as the molds and pour the plaster of paris in  worked great

got the roadway and the two pillars done   started mapping out the bricks and suchs  this was a great how to from armorama i give a link if anyone wants

well here are the pics (luckily th elegos gave me premade lines on the pilar so etching will be really fast)

Man! I wish I could work as fast as you! Wow!

Great work on the other SF3D's, I have that same leaf cutter from Michaels, and Hobby Lobby has a different one, Ill grab it as well. I planned to use it for making ground clutter but this is a new application!  Im glad to see your using bases, it makes so much more sense to the viewer when they can see it in context with its surroundings, instead of standing on a tabletop. Often you will see Gundams just standing there, static pose, and Im reallly trying to break that habit. I dont have a plan for the base on the Raptor, but i am figuring on a test type prototype unit with  high visibility markings and CG points!

David

here it is after decals and on the start of the base  the base will be a cobblestone brick alley and at the end will be walls a couple trees and ground stuff 

have to go to the LHS in the morning as i seem to be out of dullcaot and regular clear flat so i cant start weathering yet almost there though

hey i really like the scheme really differant from any thing ive seen  i did one of those using those leave cutters to make masks and it came out good

here is a shot of some of my mak collection

When i built my PKA I used similar colors to what you did, and used one of those nice loooong fingernail brushes to paint on reed-like stripes.  Too bad its almost all covered by Mig pigments and weathering!

This is my interpretation. I have two more PKAs and a Raptor, Im thiking of making my Konrad into a firefighter version.

 David

Looks good so far. how are you doing the camo? is there a mask or is this straight airbrush work?

I would be interested in the parts, I dont have a lathe so copying anything on my end needs to be done from my resin skills (or lack therof!).

 Will you be lighting this one? the searchlight would look great with a blue LED and the wiring would be super simple to hide in plain sight like I did on my recent MS-18K.

 David

i got them from industrial machine dial timer assemblies   theres a whole box of them at work and there are four per each time they are the four supports for the spring and gears of the timer

maybe if someone wants i can get a few more send them out and they can be cast up for anyone

Yep, thats how Ma.K is, it drags you in and wont let go!

What did you use for the silver cylindrical parts that have grooves cut into them? thats a nice detail feature and I dont know on the Krote if this is kit supplied or not, I haven't built one up (yet :-) )

David