WIP 1/35 Tamiya King Tiger - Part 1

Hello Ladies and Gents. Welcome to a brand new WIP from the hummingbird. Usually I would be modding away on some retro gunpla kit or improving an NG or MG but I have been pretty much inspired to focus on AFVs after reading modelling magazines regularly so Here I am, builing a mighty tank I have been dying to build.

Full Details of the king tiger ( to those who don't know what it is ) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_tiger

Here's the Box art -

and here are the Sprues -

This is one seriously simplified kit ... but still, its a lovely kit and tamiya made this thing quite beautifully -

Anyway here's what I have done -

Did the road wheels ... Tamiya is just awesome .. all the road wheels fit just beautifully

Spocket and Ideller wheels

The details are pretty awesome

Exhuast are glued on and sanded ( although they will be covered, I just can't help getting rid of the seams )

 

 
The wheels fit very very nicely on the suspension

And I also made the Wheels movable by utilizing Tamiya's own superb engineering .. I plan to make a video showing you the moving wheels so be on the look out for that .....

Although this kit is really good, when I put on the rear plate on to the chassis, there was this huge huge gaps all along the joint so I had to filled it and sand it down


Also ran into some gaps on the front Glacis plate so I had to fill them and sand them down ( I just realize there are still gaps ... darn it ... oh well, more fillers and sanding


The Exhaust goes on nicely onto the rear hull


And then, I moved on to the Barrel - Here is how I deal with barrel -



I put bits and bobs of my stryene rods lying around inside the barrel as support and to make them heavy and to have a proper rigid feel to them

With those in place, I glued the other half and I can even do this without breaking the barrel -


and followed with some usual filling and sanding . .. ( darn things always leave a seam in the middle )

And there you have it...

I am truly enjoying this build as I haven't touched any tanks for quite some times.

Please look forward to my updates and thank you for your support as usual.

Read more >>

Everything I know about modding/SBing - Part 3

Part 3 of my '' Every Thing I know about Modding/SBing ' guys ... You can get to Part 2 from this link and Part 1 from Here .




DISCLAIMER - I am in no way a master in SBing or modding, there are so many others out there who can literally rape with me the amount of beautiful words they do. I believe in sharing and I want to bring out the best in everybody and help everybody in anyway I can. MAny Thanks!!!


5.0 Optional parts and accessories

So, optional parts and accessories. Obviously when we say about optional parts and accessories, one major product come into mind '' Koto Part ''. True you can always use koto parts as a reliable source but there are a number of stuffs that you can actually use from various cheap materials like straws or used up ball pens or lighters or even computer mother boards.

People actually spend money on buying koto vents when they can SB those little things themselves. I SB my own vents on my very first modding project ( WIP here http://modeller-innovation.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/improving-hg-1100-nataku-part2.html ) so I'm pretty sure anybody can SB their own little vents and can save money on both the products and postage buying the koto vents. I would love to link you to other masters' works where they SB their own little vents but my bookmarks are a shamble right now and its very very hard to find out which book mark is which so I do apologize  But my wip can be used as a basic mean of SBing your own vents

Pistons; static or moving piston, pistons (also called hydraulic cylinder) can be easily put on if can get your hands on a pair of telescopic tubes. You can use Tube/Tube or Tube/Rod combination, either way is fine as long as your smaller diameter rod or tubes goes nice and tightly into the main body of the piston. Evergreen has a wide range of telescopic tubes in the category so I would recommend buying it from them. I say away from moving piston as it is so much work so please forgive me if I don't link any wip for that but for static piston-; you can have a look at these two pictures - http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af133/hummingbird2012/MAC%20concept%20WIP/piston.jpg and http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af133/hummingbird2012/MAC%20concept%20WIP/P1050067.jpg

Thrusters; We can always buy the Koto parts and now bandai making their own stuffs but the more adventurous modellers use the little conical parts on the front end (don't know how they are called) from used-up ball pen (either plastics or metal). I have seen people putting on the metal ones and they actually looks very awesome.

Wirings, cables, piping - DO NO throw away your broken Earphone because they will become very very useful when and if you ever want to put on pipes or cables on your models.You can also use flexible plastic ( styrene ) rods as well but if you are putting the cables/pipes on moving parts, I would recommend using the broken ear phones as they are very flexible ( sometimes too flexible so be extra careful ).

Spikes - I have seen some people use 'TEE' ( golf equipment) and they work quite well although I have no idea how economical they can be. I tend to use various diameter sizes of Wood Skewers. I cut just the spike off, attach it to my power tool and sand it down at an angle relative to the spike to a 400 grit sand paper at medium speed and I got a very nice looking spike.

I think that's about it when it comes to optional parts. Bear in mind those are the ones that you can scratch build. Some of those stuffs like the round mold or square mold are VERY hard or impossible to SB so I can only recommend buying them from the Koto part.

If I miss anything at all, do tell me and I will add it up but right now, That's all I can think about on top of my head. ( Actually, I am not really happy cos I know I could add more to the list. If you guys can think of anything that I am missing please tell me )

Thank you all for your support and reading my humble blog. Stay Tuned.

Coming up next - 6.0 Funtional mods and gammicks

Read more >>

Everything I know about modding/SBing - Part 2

Alright, lets pick up where I left off from part 1 (in case you want to refer back to part 1, link is here ). Sorry it took me quite a while to write this up.

DISCLAIMER - I am in no way a master in SBing or modding, there are so many others out there who can literally rape with me the amount of beautiful words they do. I believe in sharing and I want to bring out the best in everybody and help everybody in anyway I can. Many Thanks!!!

4.0 Tools
Obviously, I don't need to say '' use a hobby knife'' as it is the first thing you would need to pick up whenever you start modelling.

Hobby Knives, however, comes in various kinds of blades and handles and it would really benefit you if you could invest in a set like this. The reason being that different blades have their different use, for example, the blade that look like a chisel ( I'm talking about the square one, third one from the left) is very useful if you need to cut away short pieces. Usually, if you overshoot something and need to cut, you use your ruler or whatever you can find, line up with the ruler, and run your knife along, which can and will result in too much force pushing the ruler away and your line of cut will be all messed up and you got a knife mark going all wobbly instead of a straight line. With that blade, I just mention, you just line up with a ruler, and just press down the flat blade down, and voila, hassle free cut.

Saws; Saws are your allies. Seriously, when I cut anything above 1.00 mm, Saws are the best to cut through them in short time while saving you the hassle of exerting too much energy. Before I invested in saws, I use my hobby knife to cut a 2.0 mm plate and OMG, it took forever and my fingers were almost blistered. With a saw, it’s just ''zig zig zig zig ( saw noises) ' and ''snap'', a nice cut.
Like knives and blades, saw comes in a great variety of forms. Quite a lot of Scale modellers who build those massive 1/32 airplane kits tend to use these kind of saw when they have had to cut the plane’s wings or fuselage or whatever. Personally, I think that's over kill; I mean look at it, you could kill somebody with it.  For gundams( Gunpla), this size of saw is more than enough to do the job. And lately, I have fallen in love with this particular saw ( from Trumpeter ). 

I don't think I need to say anything special about Sand paper as everybody knows how important they are. To be honest, I am still a noob when it comes to sanding, but I can say this, go to a DIY shop and grab from at least 400 all the way to above 1000. The more variety you have, the better. For me, I have 400, 600, 800 and 1000. I even have those sandpaper the carpenters use which are like 100  grit ( I think). Dang those things are really really coarse but quite useful if you need to do heavy sanding on two part epoxy. It would also be beneficial for you to invest in a set of file as well. I have this particular set of files and it really helps. It has a triangle shaped file, square shaped files and other shapes which I just can't describe (LOL) that will really really help you with sanding hard to reach areas and what not. 
Or if you are lazy and there is a large amount of sanding or you need to sand the inside of the tube (Concave surfaces?!?!?), you can always use a trust worthy power tool and a sanding bit.

Power Tools: ah, another very useful ally to us modellers. Without it, I don't think I could have even finish some of my kits. This little thing has been with me for 3 years and really really helped with me drilling through thick parts, cutting very very thick part, sanding down massive amount of epoxy.  It comes with as you can see from the link but you can also buy more bits (not the 00 universe bits, I mean the heads that you put into the machine). Every time I do some heavy amount of joint mod, I use this little thing to do some heavy duty drilling.

Rulers: Until about 1 and a half year ago, I always use my left over rulers I bought for my university, u know those two part rulers with one clear side and one dark white side. And seriously, plastic over plastic, the darn thing always move when I’m doing precise cutting. So I was ticked off, got off and went to a art store ask for a fine metal ruler that artist used. From then on, I just kept using Metal Rulers and I seriously Suggest using them.

Divider and circle cutter: They are your one of two options if you have to cut circular parts or some properly beautiful curved plates/plates/shape. I don't think I need to link what does a divider looks like (LOL). The other option you might need to invest in would be a simple, Circle Cutter like this .

Measuring: Most of the time, we use just our eyes to measure a approximate and then just use our rulers to measure it. That works, yes, but from time to time, when it comes to precise cutting, going on with that method is a royal pain in the butt ( not literally, mind you) and not to mention it hurts your eyes from them being strained too much. In that case, VOILA, A digital calliper comes in mighty handy. You don't really need to get an expensive one, just get the one that's work and it should be fine. 
Measuring angle is a major downer and most of the time, I always come up with some crappy angle and had to re-do stuffs 2, 3 times. It can be easily avoided with the thing every school children use (I think every school children use them); A protractor. For me, I use a metal protractor; that kind that sailors used (I stole it from my brother.. hahahah). It really helps make a difference. 

Well, that’s what I can think of, at the top of my head, regarding tools. I may be missing something and If you do find out I’m missing something or forgetting something, please tell me and I will put it in.

Read more >>

A Reference BOOK for Gunpla Modelling in English??

A reference book that is dedicated for Gunpla Modelling ... IN ENGLISH ???

Is that what most of us have been dreaming about all these years?

You all know I build AFVs as well ... look at the photo below. That's like only 20 percent of my personal library. So many references and resources out there for me to read up for my AFVs.

But When it comes to gundam modelling, nothing .... I have nothing because there is nothing. 

I remember when I start making gundams; I was very lost, true I can find ''some'' resources on the various forums and blogs but , like i said, '' Various'', spread all over the world and on the web that there is no DEFINITE references for me.

True there are loads of books about gundam modelling but they are all in Japanese. Do we all read Japanese? I don't think so. 

I love this hobby and I wish more and more people would take up this hobby and I wish youngsters today could spend more time building models then doing bad things. Fortunately, there have been a steady increase in young modellers and they are all out of reference due to the lack of resources. That could very well be a negative effect ( imagine people with bad internect connections or not old enough to have access to the internet and so on so forth ) to stop the next generations to model. I mean, even with all of today resources, I still prefer books for my ''references '' to build my AFVs. Now, this project, spearheaded by a friend and one of the head huncho of Plamocon of the US is a welcomed addition to our arsenal (including mine ).

A dear comrade and friend of mine, gdx9902 of PlamoCon and his associates are spearheading this project. In fact, let me show you guys his exact words - 

'' We're doing some crowdfunding to help cover the costs of a mecha modeling book we're writing that's in English. The idea is to make the first ever book about gunpla that is similar in quality to those from Japan. I'm doing a build up of a 1/144 Gundam and three other dudes are also doing step by step buildups. 

I often wish for there to be a book in English, and now I'm trying to do something about it, so please support us if you feel the same! '' 

Here is the link to the funding site - 

http://www.indiegogo.com/mechamodeling?a=490595

So, Please guys, lets help out our friends achieve a goal that is beneficial for all of us ... I don't know about you guys but I love this hobby and I enjoy promoting the hobby so for the sake of the noobs ( we were noobs once when we started, don't forget ) and for the sake of the future generations of modeller, please donate as much as you can so that my friend and his associates will received as much funding as they can and they can start this great undertaking.  

 

Lets keep up the love for the hobby!!!! 

Thanks to everybody support, the Project had a splendid start and now in full motion to be publish, realeased and will soon be on the market. My friend gdx9902 and his associates will launch a formal thank you video and yours truely will blog about it when and after they have made the said video.

Thank you so much for the suppot!!

Read more >>

And here we go again with another BIG event !!!!

Hola People ... Welcome to another post from the Bird ...

I have good news.. Great news infact ...

As you know, Kamm ( Our esteemed and man-love hungry Admin ) always have a knack for coming up with exciting stuffs like the EUGC ( please prefer back to my posts about it ) and the 2012 Mecha Contest that was just finished; successfully with loads of people participating, just a few months ago. And now, the said esteem admin has came up with another idea and after discussing within the Staffs of Mecha-Lounge, we are happy to announce a new and big event for year of 2013.

After a back-and-forth debate of naming, we have come up with this title, C.H.A.O.S, which is the abbreviation of -

Collectively Hoarding Astronomically Over-priced Styrene

Here is the background theme thought up by Kamm -

The world plunges into war as the fight for resources becomes too great. As chaos descends upon humanity two factions were formed those who would choose to inhabit the air and space, those who would choose to inhabit the land and sea. The colony's prepare for what will come to be known as the Great War, in which only one colony will survive and lay claim to Earth's resources. We would like you to choose your side and build your own personal war machine for the Great War and aid your colony to victory.

And the Rules are as followed -


GROUNDED COLONY             OR                 SKY COLONY

- First choose your side (Grounded or Sky)
- You may build any kind of model kit for your chosen side for example. You may choose the Grounded Colony and build a Zoid, Gundam, Tank, Boat, Figure etc.
- All we ask is you try to paint / modify / build your model kit to match your chosen Colony. E.g. for the Sky Colony you may build your model with numerous thrusters etc.

- This is not a competition. This group build is for fun and we will be announcing prizes for lucky winners and participants throughout the event! We want to encourage everybody to take part regardless of skill level and just have fun together. You may build models for more then one colony and again this event allows for almost any kind of build so if your looking for an excuse to work on your back log! now is the time.

- Deadline will be January 1st 2013 - June 30th 2013
- You can enter More then one model into the group build and dioramas are accepted!
- Prizes will be announced during the GB to keep the excitement rolling.

So what will it be!? who will you choose to fight for? and what will you choose to fight with!? (more information will become available over the next two weeks)

So there you go. Since this is kinda like a Teaser announcement and we still have more process and bugs ( to coin a phrase) to iron out, I can only release this much information so I do apologize in advance but I will keep you all posted.

BUT here's something you guys need to know -

This GB is not limited just to Gunpla ( and gundams) and mecha, this GB is given life so that all kind of models  ( plamo, mimi, figure, gunpla) and all kind of modeller can have a good time, kick back and enjoy, share their build and , most of all, to have fun. I wouldn't even be building any gundams ( fingers crossed) as I have a huge backlog of Tanks and this is the perfect excuse I have been waiting for.

We hope to bring all kind of modellers together to have fun while in the mean time, share techniques as well. Basically put, this GB is made to '' SPREAD THE LOVE OF Astronomically Over-priced Styrene WHICH WE CALL MODELS '' .. lol .. 

So even if you are a tank modeller, a car modeller, a ship modeller, a mini-figure ( wargaming modeller ) or a plane modeller, gundam modeler etc. etc...  doesn't matter what as long as you build models, Join us ... Join our GB to spread the love and most of all to have fun ...

The friendly and dedicated staffs and equally awesome  members of Mecha-Lounge await your participation.... lets have some fun ...

Now, CHOOSE YOUR SIDE ( Im going to the Ground team, btw )

Would you like to know more ??? Simply click on the image below and it will take you to the forum thread -

˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅˅

oh and here is a teaser ...

Stay TUNE for MORE INFO

Read more >>