After finishing Bluefin’s Unicorn and Robo4Less’ Mega Zaku I just wanted to do something quick and simple for myself so I chucked all my plans for the ultimate contest winner and set out to build this little Airfix Spitfire.
and
Check it out!
Last weekend I put the finishing touches on the 1/48 Mega Size Zaku. I built it for Roy, who owns Robot4Less, which happens to be about literally around the corner from my house. It’s now on display there next to a couple of other Mega Size models built by speed-builder Martin. Click on the Picture Link below to see the gallery.
Only in my world would that sentence make sense.
This was going to be a post, but this was a pretty massive project, so I decided to make it into my usual In-Progress and Completed pages.
In mid-January I called up Steve at Bluefin and had him send over the Unicorn (again) for refurbishment. We last left the Unicorn in a case of Star Wars-like “used future” weathering in an attempt to make lemonade once the clearcoat on the Unicorn turned VERY yellow from sun exposure, and it suffered a fair amount of dings and staining in being shipped cross country. We started with this:
We last left the Unicorn looking like this...
Stripped parts - Decals and most yellowing are gone.
And ended up about 6 weeks and 123.5 man-hours later with this:
Love the red!
Completed rearview
I spent most of December and January working on the house in preparation for a baby we’ve got coming in April. When I could spare a little time I worked on a mega-size Zaku for Roy at Robot4Less. It’s all painted and awaiting clearcoats and decals/weathering but in the last few days my focus is on the Bluefin Unicorn. I’m excited to get it done, the shading came out pretty nice.
As if I needed to divide my attention further, I started another project. A couple weeks ago one of my built models sold at Robot4Less and I had some money burning a hole in my pocket. So, I went on a detail parts shopping spree. I bought photoetch parts for 3 Valkyries, 2 Sherman tanks, a truck, a jeep and a Quad Gun Tractor, as well as gun barrels for the Shermans and a resin cockpit set for my Tamiya F-16.
Then last week I got sick and was home two days from work. I hate painting when I’ve got a cold (because of runny nose and sneezing not working out under a respirator mask, yuck) so I didn’t want to work on the Mega Zaku and I had just got the PE parts for the Quad Gun Tractor so I pulled that kit out and went to work on it. I’m doing a bunch of kitbashing/scratchbuilding on it to turn it into a remote-control command vehicle for my Jin-Roh Patlabor (JRP).
The first thing I did was make room for a rear-facing pilot. I cut a rectangle out of the roof and built a box on top of it to give the pilot some headroom and space for a TV monitor so he can see where the JRP is going. Next I built a little TV screen that will have a camera-eye-view decal on it.
I had to swap parts for the pilot, using the arms and legs of the Canadian driver figure that comes with the kit with a Nazi torso and head so he looks right. I’ll have to use some sanding and putty to turn his shorts-and-scrunch-socks-wearing legs into pants-and-jackboots-wearing legs.
I installed some rails across the two center rear seat bases to provide a seat mount for the pilot since he’s backwards and off center. Next I went to town with another new tool, my punch and die set. It makes hole, discs, and if you line them up right, rings from holes in discs.
I used these to make some low-tech-looking electronics for the cockpit. I also installed a base and a mount for a large antenna mast (think news van).
Next I built a little control column using plastic bits, more punched discs and the handles from a 1/35 scale .50 caliber machine gun.
Here’s how the cockpit looks put together:
In this last picture I moved the box on the left that sat on the wheel well to the floor because it got lost behind the antenna mast.
I’ll still add some wiring and maybe a few more bits. It occurred to me that the real Gun tractor has a bunch of hatches/tool boxes that open into the rear and I’ve just made disappear. I’ll probably build something to represent that some of them are still there and maybe make the others look welded shut.
On the outside of the Gun Tractor I sealed off the normally tarp-covered “sunroof” and I’m planning to “up armor” the Gun Tractor in the way that modern Humvees serving in Iraq/Afghanistan are with some plastic plate. I’m also thinking of putting in the windows backwards and framing them to look like thick ballistic glass.
A few months ago i built a simple but effective spraybooth for my brothers-in-law. Partway through I started taking pictures and eventually I made a writeup but then I got busy with stuff around the house and forgot about it. I’ve got another couple how-tos in various states of completion (plus an actual model-building update) so hopefully I’ll get them all posted in the next week.
For now:
The Simple $60 Spraybooth
With a baby on the way in April and my wife about to go on Winter Break, I decided in early December to start working on the process of turning my office into the baby’s bedroom, rearranging the family room where the build gatherings are held and fixing up the garage for better storage space. That would have been enough without the whole holiday rush but on top of that, my wife got sick, and then really sick, and then was ultimately hospitalized for a week with pneumonia.
Once she got back home, we got back to work on the house. And the swimming pool. I hadn’t planned to do crap to the pool because it’s winter, but since our old pool cover had disintegrated, every rain and wind storm had dumped massive amounts of leaves into the pool. Bah!
Anyway, we got a new cover and I think the pool is under control. We’ve made good progress rearranging the house. My dad and uncle are going to come over this week and help do some construction and painting. But for now the house and my work area are a mess so I’ve only managed a few hours of model building in the last couple of weeks…
I’m also in the process of selling off about 15 kits because I just have way more than fit in any reasonable fashion or that I might ever build. Anyway, hope to be back to building seriously in the next couple weeks.
After a little more than six months of work, my part of the Those Gundam Guys GM Build diorama is done. 6 mobile suits, 2 support vehicles, 1/6 diorama base and a lot of paint and weathering. On the one hand quantity took precedence over quality and there are lots of small flaws. On the other hand these little models came out pretty cool and I got a lot of good shading and weathering practice, which I needed.
Follow this link to the completed Diorama launchpad page which leads to pictures of all the subjects
So… 24 hours to go. Let’s take an inventory.
From the left we have 1:48 mega Zaku parts that have to be shaded and then brought up to various points in the clearcoat/decals/panel line wash process for my demo at SCGMC. Then there’s the orphaned HGUC Zaku that needs panel lines and paint chips and assorted clearcoats. Then there’s 4 GM’s that are mid-paint-chipped (3 more to go) and then need some pastel work, lenses painted and battle damage painted. Then I have to go to Robot4Less to get my models that I’m taking tomorrow and pack up all the models I plan to take. then I’m gonna go borrow my parents’ minivan and swing by Clem’s to pick up stuff to take tomorrow morning.
Holy crap it’s a good thing I don’t work today!
It’s another busy time as Those Gundam Guys prepare for the first annual SCGMC next weekend, November 12th in Fullerton, CA. We’ve been emailing each other back and forth and making plans. We’ve got the plan pretty much set, so go check it out:
We’re having categories for Gundam UC and Alternate Universe (each split into small- and large-scale) as well as non-Gundam mecha, anime figures and dioramas. We’ve put together an impressive raffle including a massive 1/144 Dendrobium, 4 MG kits (at current count) and a bunch of other kits.
Last night we got together to organize for the event. Clem and Dave prepared the trophies and award coins. We also tried to finish our massive group project, a six-piece diorama of several teams of GMs assaulting a Zeon remnant base circa UC 0083-4. The dio is pretty much done, but the GMs still need some work. We’ve got an orphan corner that’s been through two TGGs that have given up on it, so we divided up the kits between us to finish off. At least I got the Zaku, and not another GM… ATM I’m waaaaay GM’ed out. Here’s some not-quite-finished shots of my section:
I made a tutorial showing how I did the camouflage on myRick Dom II using Sticky-Tack and Parafilm…
Sticky-Tack Camouflage Masking Tutorial
