Ma.K Group Build 8/2010-8/2011

Back at'cha, Gun.  Hope that all is well. I dig the base color of the suit --- looks very functional, industrial and believable... Completely believable, dude! The chips are fantastic. Did I see that you used the "hairspray" method for the chipping? Unless I missed it, can you tell us a little about how this worked --- never tried this one... As mentioned, the stripe ties it all together for me --- grounds it in the real world, kind of like the gear used in "The Abyss" or the graffittied combat gear in "Aliens"...  Great decals, too. 

Honestly, not much to show on the Snake Eye other than more sanding and putting to try to finish off the seams. Same for the 35th scale Prowler that comes with the Lunadiver. Been experimenting with paint on the Diver, too, hoping to add some burn marks on the fins and other parts...don't know if it will look good.

Alas, I had Luna Diver at my Club meeting on Saturday and a young one got a little curious --- she flexed my canopy hatch before I could stop her, breaking off the pegs. So I have to rebuild those out of square brass or Mimeca and Lion Roar micro tubing... I would probably have had to do this anyway. Kind of a bummer, but the youngster was not being supervised (first time visitors to the club) and she just didn't know...unlike my 4.5 year old son, who goes to the meetings often and knows better than to touch somebodies' works...  Oh well, things happen, what can ya do?!  Thankfully, nuthin' I can't fix.

Hope to finish up the puttying and base coat the Snake Eye soon! Same for the Diver. Keep up the great work, folks!

Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B.

As You have asked havoc:  Hairspray

This was a method used by aircraft modelers for a while before the rest of us caught on to the trick.  It is really simple in principle and process of application.  Just as with any plastic model, prep is the 1st step, we all know wash the plastic and after you have done what ever you are going to do with the part or model, you prime.  I like Mr. Hobby 1200, super fine and paint likes the stuff!  Then  we pick a suitable dark undercoat for the part, lets  say dark panzer grey, apply to the part and allow to dry.  Now here is the tuff part> go to the Dollar Store, we have them in every little town in the South, and buy the cheapest Extra Hold hairspray you can find.  I take the model outside, hold at arms length and spray away.  When the model has a uniform wet look, allow to dry.  I for some reason give mine over-night to dry if I got a little happy w/the spray.  Now the hairspray will dry slick as snot on a glass door knob,  that's what we want, the hair spray becomes a barrier between the next color and the dark underlying color.  Now you have to be able to remove the paint once it is applied and dries, so acrylics is a must for this, vallejo is what I use.  Now, I have a part w/panzer grey  undercoat, a layer of dried hairspray, and now have applied the top color, something lighter than the base, lets say Desert Tan.  Now the rule is you can start the process after allowing this last color to dry to the touch, about 2 hours, I give mine a bit more time, heck, I have started the weathering the next day.  Here is a tip that is a must, warm water, again, warm H-2-O.  Also a good stiff bristle brush, a cut down flat is OK, what ever you like, but you will use to remove this last layer of paint.  Now dip the brush in the WARM water, apply to the area  you want to show as wear and tear.  I have found applying harder pressure and moving the brush in different directions, results in all sorts of neat effects.  The trick is keeping the brush and the surface wet.  When you are happy with the area, I wipe w/a Q-tip.  After you have completed the whole model, seal with you favorite flavor sealer, for the vallejo, I use their varnish applied by brush.  This is not hard to do and depending on light too heavy, the results are up to you.  I think it is the best way to do this since it mimics real results of paint  wear/tear.  I hope this has been helpful.  I do accept donations  for my advice.

Foot Note:  The idea is to get the darker color to shown thru the lighter color as chipped and or worn paint.  This is the reuslt we are looking.  This procees really shows it's stuff when you apply a metalic undercoat, then HS, on this zinc chromate, and then Navy Blue.  You will be amazed @ how real the paint job will look.

I was asked a question today about if a individual was building the same kit as someone else on the GB was that cool.  Heck yea, I do no care how many builders build the same kit, no two will be alike, kinda interesting sometimes to see what people do, but again, if you want to submit a build and someone else is also building, by all means post your WIP.  Hope this helps and might get a few more posted WIP going.

Tinkering on my Fliege, hope to get it done by the time the Melusine arrives.

 Will have a pictorial update soon.

Also ordering a Kauz.

Heya, Gunpla,

Belated and beaucoup thanks for the most-helpful tutorial on hairspray, dude! While I can't throw any money your way, maybe we can get you set up as a "sponsored modeler" by V05 or Aqua Net! Beautifully explained and I am looking forward to finding the time to make an attempt!

Thanks again for taking the time to share, bruddah.

Little sanding on my 1/35th scale Prowler and 20th scale Snake Eye done and that's about it --- alas, nothing worth pictures...

Keep up the great work, Gunpla and friends...

Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B. 

Mad-Modeler look forward to your Fliege, are you going to do standing or a in flight stance?  The Kauz is top notice too, makes a really good mate to a Fliege.  Melusine, one way to describe "Bad Boy" of the Ma.k cannon.  Have seen a version of a Melusine blended into the mid section of a Krote to make a mean walker version of this heavy hitter.

My Pal havoc, you are welcome beaucoup back.  VO5 is too sticky, but Aqua Net, now your talking my talk!

Oh please post some pic's, I feel like I am all alone

Thanks guys for posting, the GM

Thinking of doing the Fliege and Kauz side by side, not decided on display yet.

Melusine most likely will be on guard duty or similar.

The standard AFS and SAFS somehow leave me cold.

Hope Kauz get here soon as I got a friend In Japan sending it.

Should have some pics on the Fliege soon, said that also got a 2-week work trip across asia and Australia coming up.

Here is my first entry for this group build; a modified Fliege. So far there has been a lot of gap, seam, sink areas, and panel misalignment puttying and sanding. The back hatch required some putty and has to be re-scribed. Worse of all is the crew hatch. Pictures show the alignment is WAY off and tonight i applied some aves to it to try and get it to align with the rest of the suit and also re-scribe afterwards. I've read a lot about how good these kits are, but i haven't been too impressed by the Fliege. Hopefully after the hatch and re-scribing is complete things will sail on. 

iafrate.

Coming along nicely, I am doing my Fliege stock.

Also you got to remember that those kits were mastered and the molds made way back in the 80's.

Wave did re-toolings for a few kits but the majority are still the same as when they were first released 25 or so yrs ago.

I guess its good to pass on possible trouble areas on a kit to people who are olanning on building one. I knew about the back hatch from another builder, but did not know about the crew hatch. Also if you plan on using Aves for gap filling anfd contouring....dont use to much. I did and im having to carve it down to sand it. Aves is tough against sanding over bare plastic. There are a lot of firsts for me in this build...so i guess we all live and learn.

Great build you got going on there iafrate.  I have looked very closely @ your photos and was wondering if you would, when time permits, list what mods you are doing, how you did them and why.  I really dig the alum. engine bells and there are many things I see, but I would rather you to point them out.  Now about the buildability of the kit, there is a love/hate when it comes to Ma.k kits.  You will build one that almost falls out of the box built w/mim. work and putty.  Then  you get ahold of the build monster that requires you to do everything to get to look right.  Sadly the Fliege is not a beginners kit as you are finding out.  But, I have found that those kits that require all the work, well they are the one's you remember the most, get the biggest bang from and you sit and look at w/pride that you got it too look that good.  Aves, great stuff, but as you have learned, apply thin and close to the given shape.  When the stuff dries, it is like iron and very, very difficult to sand.  Now for sculpting it is the bomb, but remember, you finalize the shape before it dries.  I suggest you give Squadron, Tamiya or Mr. Hobby putty a try for the work you are doing when building/seams.  As for 1st, that is the best thing of the hobby, always learning, new results and if all OK, job well done.  I am glad to have you posting this build and look forward to more of this most excellent build.  So far you get from the GM for your mods and clean build style.  Keep it up and post soon.

Gunpla Master

Oh please post some pic's, I feel like I am all alone

I'm sorry brother. I'm making some progress, so I'll try to hang some pics tonight.

Don't worry man, you're not alone!

Cosmic J

Gunpla Master:

Oh please post some pic's, I feel like I am all alone

 

I'm sorry brother. I'm making some progress, so I'll try to hang some pics tonight.

Don't worry man, you're not alone!

He's Alive!  I thought you might have went Cosmic.   Looking forward to those pix's.  Glad to hear from ya and you think of the ole GM from time to time.

I've build both the Fliege and the Kauz, and had severe fit problems w/ both. I did what you appear to have done iafrate, and fitted the haches in place then sanded them to fit. I scratchbuilt a new hand for the Fliege, but skipped that difficulty for the Kauz and just added an aftermarket hand.

I like the little device on the right arm. It's ambiguous looking - could be a weapon, could be a camera or sighting mechanism. Cool.

Gunpla Master

 

He's Alive!  I thought you might have went Cosmic.   Looking forward to those pix's.  Glad to hear from ya and you think of the ole GM from time to time.

Heh! Sorry 'bout that. I'm a bit of a slow builder, and like some of the other guys here, I tend to work on multiple projects at one time so it can take a while to show some real progress. I haven't left you though.

I started the kit w/ the interiors of the joints. I didn't want to do the sculpting the joint covers thing because that's what everybody does, so I started working on all the moving parts.

As I noted earlier, I'm building this kit w/ parts from a Raccoon (in green) and leftover bits from a Fireball (in off-white). I noticed that the white parts were slightly softer than the green ones - this difference in the plastic may account for why there was so much flash on the Raccoon kit. The white ones were easier to sand and fit, while the green ones had sharper details.

I sanded and fitted all the parts to make sure they moved, but didn't bind up when doing so. If they bind, they can cause the seams on the outside of the legs and arms to split open, so I went slow and careful. This took a few hours, and then I was going to paint them black along w/ the interiors of the leg and arm pieces, after which they would need to be test fitted and possibly sanded again...

I realised I was just making extra work for myself, so I packed the joints w/ putty and had done w/ it. I did manage to keep the hip connectors, though.

I chose the skirts I wanted and fitted those before gluing the upper hull together, choosing the Raccoon part for the rear, and the fireball one for the front. No real reason, just personal preference. As part of the style of this build, I really want to emphasise the in-humanness of the design, so I began adding little hex nut and bolt details to various parts - I'll probably add a bunch more before I'm done.

I added the cable housing part to the backs of the feet, but only as a gap filler, I then sanded them flush to add my own bits there. My initial try at using short lengths of brass tube as cable housings didn't work as well as would have liked though... so I pulled the parts I made, filled the holes w/ Aves and sanded them flush again. I'll try something slightly different next time. Maybe more hex bolts.

Looking at the box art, I like the way the hands seem very mechanical and somewhat dangerous. They remind me of those graspers on Dr. Octopus' tentacles in Spiderman II - you can almost hear the clickity-click sound they make when doing their precise, deadly work. I want the finished model to have that look, but the kit parts are just plain sad.

I started by carefully cutting the fingers and thumb off the hand w/ a razor saw. I'll replace them w/ the digits from some 1/100 scale replacement manipulators. It's okay if they're a little big, I want them to look all graspy/clutchy like. If it turns out they're too big, I can always cut them off and use some 1/144 hands instead.

So that's where I am. I literally keep taking two steps forward and one step back, but I think I'll like the results when I finally get finished.

Wow, great work everyone!  You guys are modeling machines!

Now I feel a little embarrased about my absolute lack of significant progress (haha)

Anyway, I haven't done much as life keeps getting in the way, but this is where the base is at right now.  I added coarse sand and fine dirt from my backyard, this is going to work as the base for the vegetation to come.  You can see where the PKA will stand as I left those spots clear.

I painted the primary color on the arms, legs and torso:

Masked the upper torso with vertical stripes of tape of varied length and width:

And sprayed the secondary color plus a coat of Future in preparation for decals:

And that's about it

Cosmic:  As always, great to see your work.  I for one love how and what you are doing to the suit.  Where did the bolts come from and what size/number are they.  Thanks for sharing.

ponch:  You my friend have absolutely nothing to feel embarrassed about.  I know meticulous work when I see it, and this is not a race.  Take your time my friend, we have a year to finish.  Progress can be measured in small steps as well as the large ones. and from what I see you have still been chipping away at it.

"A man was given a pocket knife and told to chop down a tree.  One year later when the individual returned to see if this task had been given up on, he saw to his surprise the fella settin waste deep in small chips, still whittling away at that tree"  Now this gent asked him, why have you not given up by now, the wise fella  looked at him and retorted, you didn't say when I had to have the tree  chopped  down by!    How do you measure progress?

And as far as I can tell, you setting waste deep, ponch

I hope all had a wonderful, peace filled day, today.  The GM

Today is a rest-day(sort-off) as I need to wait for my flight in the evening. Will be working on the Fliege today, doing sub-assemblies.

Can't decide on colour scheme just yet as I want to co-ordinate with the Kauz(not in hand yet).

Hope flight went well and looking forward to photos of the Fliege.

Thx, flight went well.

But client is keeping me on my toes with extra requests, etc.

So haven't been able to do much on kits, can't wait to get back to routine.

Ok well Im going to go ahead and post this here too. I am building it for the Swimming Machines group build in the fan design section of the Ma.K. forum. It is/will be completely scratch built and will be a Ma.K. I envisioned a heavy aquatic combat walker for the strahl forces. It started as a few old computer parts and a game controller. I opened the game controller removed all the insides, inverted the base, cut and reglued parts, and managed top get one leg to test assembly. Well here it is.

This is how it started.

I hope all of the Ma.K. purest dont string me up for this

That base came out really nice ponch, and I'm digging the camo too.

Gunpla Master

Cosmic:  As always, great to see your work.  I for one love how and what you are doing to the suit.  Where did the bolts come from and what size/number are they.  Thanks for sharing.

I hope all had a wonderful, peace filled day, today.  The GM

 

I bought the little bolts from HLJ - they're from Modeling Support Goods/Kotobukiya. I buy a lot of their detail sets - bolts, rivets, minus molds, burner nozzles, weapons - they have a lot of stuff to choose from. This particular one is the Hexagon Nut set:

http://www.hlj.com/product/KBYP-117

Glad you like it so far, and I hope you have a good day too.

Hello everyone, getting ready for church and thought I would say, have a blessed day and hope to see your post soon.

PS:  I hope to this week wrap up the AFS build, then I will finish the Nut which is already base painted.  After that I have some other projects that will require attention, so it will be up to you to keep this GB going.  I have a new kit ordered, and that will be the next build I post, a Luna Pawn.

Well after church today, I set in to get as much as I could before tiring on the NUT.  I have everything but the radiation shield and whip antenna attached.  I also need to finish the sensor under the mantel that the search light is setting on.  As you can tell, I stayed with a very well know color theme here and I am pleased with how it turned out.  This is the 1st Nut I have built and I have another that when I build it, I will know what to look for and what additions I will add the next go round.  I did a pretty much OOB build w/the addition of a MV Lens for the search light and a brass antenna, of which I have not attached yet.  I will not heavy weather, but will use MIG products, ie: filters for German Dark Grey. and some washes.  I am not going for that worn out look this time, but rather a look as if it has recently left the Depot for the 1st time.  Over all I have enjoyed this little project and highly recommend it to anyone who is a Ma.K fan.  This would be a great 1st canvas to try before you try a build of the new one coming down the pike.  One thing to watch: decals.  Really thick and takes along time to release from backing sheet.  Used alot of Micro-Sol to apply them and get to snug down.  This puppy is not far from being a done deal!

Looks realy good my freind. Ready for some action

Hello Ole Friend SLW45, so glad to hear from you and too know you are back in the saddle.  I look forward to your action.  Thanks for you kind words.

Well here is my 1st completed Ma.K GB model.  The only thing not done is the radiation shield and I may leave it off?  Anyhow, for your viewing pleasure, I present the Nutcracker by Nitto in 1/76, done in a scheme most are familiar with if you have built Luftwaffe aircraft.  My thinking on this was since it was a hover vehicle, then why not painted in this type colors.