"Fliege" P.K.A.-Space type 1/20 scale

WOO First to comment!  Awesome as usual.  I like that the shading isn't overdone on him.  I haven't tried that yet but I've also never airbrushed a kit yet.  I like the base but I know what those people mean.  Nothing wrong with it though.  I have a couple of questions though.  How moch do these kits cost?  And I'm curious about the pilot.  You know how much I like them in your suits.  They definately give a sense of scale to the work.  No one knows how tall a Gundam is by looking at the model.  I was curious if the pilot is like a full figure or just a head that sits in there?  As always you did an amazing job.  I think this is the cleanest Ma.K kit I've seen too.  Lucky guy doesn't have to go tramping around in the desert.

Thanks SG. I was much pleased w/ the shadows and highlights too. Discovered the technique completely by accident.

I'll try to address your questions in order.

When I bought this kit, I paid about $12 for it on HLJ. Unfortunately, this kit has since gone out of production. If you can find one on evil-bay, they cost upwards of $80. There is hope that Wave or Hasegawa will be re-releasing this kit, or a variation of it in the near future, but I'm not holding my breath.

The pilot figure is a torso only, although the kit came w/ a full size pilot as well. You may have noticed that there is not really room for the pilots inside the Ma.K.s. This is a fact that we MaK enthusiasts blithely ignore...

Everybody notices how clean it is, for good and bad. I have two reasons for building it that way:

1) I imagined that something this top heavy, and w/ such small engines, could not be deployed on planetary surfaces; rather it would be used in close range ship-to-ship boarding actions, or to attack space stations, etc. Therefore, it would probably spend 99% of the time in a locker or hanger, like the EVA pods in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Hard to get dirty like that.

2) I painted the model in 2000 or so, and back then I had no idea how to do weathering on it.  

I like the base too. I think the smooth, solid black gives a nice contrast to the lumpy, shadowed figure.

Thanks again - JC

matthew9:

Excellent effect you did with the paint.

Thank you M9, kind of you to notice.

When I was building it, I looked at a lot of old NASA photos. I noticed how everything photographed in a vacuum had a sort of aura, a luminous kind of glow.

I knew there was no air in space to cause any diffusion of the light, so I assumed it had something to do w/ the cameras. Maybe the cameras had to be pressurised, and moisture was fogging the lens? Maybe cosmic radiation was messing w/ the film?

That aura was the effect I was trying to achieve. I don't think it worked, but I am otherwise pleased w/ the results.

Thank you again for your kind comments.

Nice build.  It does sort of have an 80's desk lamp vibe   But seriously, you pulled of the post shading quite nicely, it's subtle but noticeable. 

I wish I could find these kits for $12.00 now, I really do hope hasegawa does re-release them... fingers crossed.

Altered_Sight:

Nice build.  It does sort of have an 80's desk lamp vibe

It really does, doesn't it?

A_S:

But seriously, you pulled of the post shading quite nicely, it's subtle but noticeable.

Thank you. I've seen and enjoyed your work hereabouts, and I'm flattered.

A_S:

I wish I could find these kits for $12.00 now, I really do hope hasegawa does re-release them... fingers crossed.

Yeah, me too, but I think the days of $12.00 models are behind us.

I do think this series has enough of a following that we will continue to see releases into the near future. Plus, I still have a couple that I haven't finished yet, so I'm good for a little while at least...

Thanks Buddho. That's quite an endorsement, coming from a National Champion. 

Seriously though, I appreciate it.

-CJ

Hey Joe. You know you're crazy right?

Der "Fliege" is out of production, unfortunately. I talk more about it earlier in the thread...

I appreciate the thought, though. Try to stay out of trouble, alright?

See you next episode - CJ