Thursday 15 November 2012

Hasegawa 1/72 VF-11B ThunderBolt

Hey guys .... Welcome to another finished product of the Bird ...
Ever since I have started working, I just have no more time to produce kit as I have done so in the past so there hasn't been any kit launched from me since like April. Sorry about it.

I tried to squeeze what amount of time and energy I have left to finished this as it was a gift from a dear and close friend. And that friend is not other then Mr. Steve Santos AKA sneeper1980. He was kind enough to send it to me in surprise so I figure I might as well make good work out of it.

Nothign special about this just a quick Fun work ( actually took me about 5 weeks :/ ). Followed some shading method I saw on FloryModels forum and used FloryModels pigment, FloryModels Washes, MIG Pigments and MIG wash. Everything has been painted with Tamiya Acrylic. The colour Scheme is my own custom and a mix of almost everything that was within my sight LOOL.

The weathering is done in a sense that it has been going through one missions after another that it has become fairly dirty. The jets from the Macross universe are really fast so I figured paint fades would be quick and not to mention they can transform so they can and will get weathered pretty much. I added some black soot on the thrusters on the Dorsal (back) side. I added some dust effects as well on the Dorsal air intake and some amount of fading and weathering effect on the large main air intakes. (I am a SUPER noob at Aircraft )

I hope that everybody will like it. I tried my best to make this kit as good as it can get but I still made some boo-boos but nothing I can't improve on in the next build. And most importantly, I hope Steve will like this as I will be sending this back to him as a gift along a 1/48 P-51D Mustang (I've already bought the Mustang Steve, I will not take no for an answer ) ...
so as usual, here are the photos - enjoy




















Thank you all for viewing and thanks in advance for the support and most of all, Thank you Steve for the kit .. It was a fun build.

                                                                                                                                 
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Tuesday 13 November 2012

Everything I know about modding/SBing - Part 1

 
 Hey guys .... I haven't been able to post blog these days as I was busy during the months of October. I do apologize about it. Long Story short, I have to do 12 hour shifts last month and those shifts left me exhausted that I just can't bring myself to blog.

Basically,one of the member of MechaLounge sent me a PM, asking some questions about Modding/Sbing so I thought it would be nice to make a thread that every one can have a look if they anybody want to refine or start modding/SBing


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!!!

1.0 Concept

Basically, the most common question I get and I see around on the forums is this - '' How do u Scrach build something ? '' or '' How do u mod? '' or  '' How do I learn modding? ''

and my reply those kind of question is this -
''' The only option to do it is to learn by looking at how other people works and getting the general ideas and finally getting your own concept, and start working on yourself which at that stage, you can specifically ask how to change a specific part ...
We all learn to do this ...
Browse through the various threads and see how each person works
There are some basic-need-to-know stuffs about SBing and modding in the tutorials sections too ....
Above all, What you will need is - your concept, a good eye to catch what other peoples have done, and no fear ... ''

Not to mention one crucial thing Aulon pointed out - '' The Idea '' ..
The Idea is the most important, IMO, only by knowing your idea, you will know what you want, and only by knowing what you want, you can narrow down your search ( if you got stuck ) and start building.

And that is no joke-  It's all about knowing what you want to mod. Ask questions of yourself. Like " is this part necessary here? " "Maybe I can remove it and put something better there? " or just finding a style you like.

and also, when people ask ' how do u SB something '' , All I can reply is -

'' You're asking a very very very broad question mate ....
I have been in this hobby since 2007 .. there is no such ''specific'' tutorials such as '' How to SB Something''
We all have to learn from other people's wip and see how they make them ...
BUT what you can find is some basic ''how to '' ( ''dos and don'ts'' ) tutorials that can help you SB ...
and SBing also require your initial concept/designs .....   ''

As you can see, the answers are quite similiar and everything goes back to the important thing, ' idea/design/concept'

2.0 Cutting pla-plate/Poly stryene


The other kind of question Which I see quite often is '' How do u cut pla plate ''  or a follow up to that '' How do u cut it identically/neatly? '' ...


here are some tutorials about pla plate cutting....


http://forum.zerogunz.com/viewtopic.php?p=88355&sid=a4a3e7479fdc2bf0b71887044b13c581


http://heathorn.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/plaplate-cutting/


http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/cj_scribe.htm


For cutting identical pieces, the most effective weapon is ''Double Tape.
Another method is to use kamm's method; to drop a very very small droplet of glue right in the middle of the piece you want to duplicate, then glue it toa plate, wait for it dry, cut the shape along the edges of the first piece, and after cutting, check if both pieces are identical, sand if needed and just drive a hobby knive down the seam in the middle, slowly does it as you only want to cut it open by cutting away the glue.

I couldn't find too much about tutorials on that topic but when it comes to research and references, you know me ... so will keep searching...


3.0 MG-fying, improving articulation etc.

Another Kind of question which I also see from time to time is the usual  ''' How do u improve this part's articulation '' or in a whole '' How do u go about MG-fying a old kit '' -

I'm not sure if this can be universal but i make up my own set of things to look out for if you want to mg-fied a kit -
1. mobility of the arms (that included the shoulders)
2. mobility of the neck
3. moblility of the waist
4. mobility of the skirts
5. mobility of the legs ( included the knee joints, ankels and thighs too)
6. extra details
There are alot of example out there... and even my own works are done by researching and reading about what I want to do, what i can do with my current skill level, and never forget to checkout the other great guys' works...

for mobility of the arms specificilly, you can check out my own wips... or you can check out this
site .. That is my VERY first WIP that I studied to get a MG elbow... This is also what i refer to.. You can get a general idea from that ...

I learned a thing or two from
here too
another
one of Derringer's works that I believe is helpful this should help too
i did my reserch from
here too
This
DSHC is one of my '' have to go look and learn '' piece.
Same goes for this
Freedom if I need to do more research

Nowaday, too many MGs are coming out true BUT there are still some people who enjoy improving OLD kits ... ( LIKE me ) so this is for those who enjoy making old HG and NG kits into a beautifully articulated one .. ( so please refrain from dropping comments like '' what's the point when there are many MGs out there, blah blah blah ).


Okie, its already long enough for the first part and some paper work came up (im at work now) so I will stop here. In part 2, I talk more about Tools, and Accessories so Stay tuned.
Thanks for reading.

P.S, If I missed anything that should have been included in this post, please do tell me. Thanks.
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Monday 12 November 2012

Review : AK's ''The Weathering Magazine'' Issue 2 - DUST

If you guys could recall, I made a post last month, reviwing one of the wonderful book published by a great company ( Link HERE  ). AK interactive has just release the 2nd issue of their '' Weathering Magazine '' and as soon as it hit the stores, I just jumped and bought 3 copies straight away ( the other 2 are for my friends if anybody wants any ). This 2nd issue is named '' DUST '' and was released in the third week of October. Because I was busy, I couldn't write a proper review until today so I do apologize for my delay in writing a review.

In this issue, Ak showed a even greater variety of methods (compare with Rust ) to apply dusts on a model, from heavily dusted helicopter in use in Afghanistan to a dusty and dirty figure, from simple trick as airbrushing on paint like Tamiya Tan to the complicated tricks of combining all the products ( washes, filters, pigments) to produce a ultra-realistic effect.

The magazine is printed on a very high quality glossy heavy paper, and is 63 pages in full color.

First you got this on the cover -


And once you turn the page, you are greeted with a wall of text from the chief editor himself ( I didn't take any photo of it, sorry ) ... and then after that, you will come to the contents

Again with the model but Im not really complaning about this one ... she's hot.. especially since she's holding a gun ( chicks + guns = hotness, u know hehehe )

and after that you will get straight into the first chapter -

'' Chopper Dusting '' is basically how an aircraft can get dirty when it is in service in a really really dusty and sandy area, in this case, a Black Hawk used by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment ( Airborne ) in Afghanistan. In this chapter, AK showed step by step in using acrylic paints and enemal washes to create a well used aircraft operating in very dusty and sandy conditions. The chapter cover how to replicate dust sticking to the matt paint finish and how it collects on areas that are frequently lubricated with oils and greases.

In Chapter two '' Panzer Grey and Dust '' -
They talked about how to achieve a realistic dusty finish in on a tank. They took a Tiger I, somewhere in the eastern front, as a subject. They talk about how to acheive a various down of dusty finishes on the tank, and where dust would be thin  and where it would be thick. I found this chapter very useful and very good as most tanks would be dusty in this kind of way, espeically tanks operating in climates like the russian summer.

Chapter 3 '' Space dust '' is all about how a sci-fi model offer a wide range of weathering potential.

The chapter talks about how to achieve a fairly used space hardware, with space dust and everything in between. Since this is sci fi, creative potential is high and too many a option are avaiable but they chose to go not too over board with a ton of dust but instead, showed how to make a suitable layer of dust using a minium amount of materials.

I wouldn't actually say this article is a chapter since it is only one page but this is one page that seriously helped me. TBH, I knew how to apply a dusty finish by airbrusing acrylic paint on a model but never knew about using ENAMELS to make it. Now I do ...

They choose to use Humbrol for the article and they couldn't have choose a better paint for the job .

'' Mucking up a Merkava'' is the title for chapter 4 and in this one, they talk about how to achieve a really really dusty and dirt-filled, dirt-stained tank that have undergone extensive services and opereations by using ACTUAL dirt as one of the materials

I find this article very interesting and eye-catching and actually useful for modellers who aim to work on vehicles that have been used and abused in numerous operations and humid,dry and sandy climates.

Again, this is another article too short to be a chapter and this article is aimed for those diorama builders.

Titled '' Dusty Cobble Stone Road'', they talk about how to get a realistic dusty Stone road and not only just dust, they also talk about how to enhance the texture of the stones as well.  I really really like this article as they show how to acheive a nice dusty road in a matter of a few steps ( namely in 5 ) and with only 4 different materials.

Following this article is another Article for a diorama as well, with a title '' A dusty Diorama''.

What interesting about this article is that they actually used real sand ( fine sand ), real pebbles, some fibrous hairs ( don't ask me where they got the hairs from, that was the very first question I asked myself as well when I saw them ) and some dried lichen. Also to be of noted is the use a modelling clay as a base and for the sand to stick onto.

Chapter 5 '' Dust brings a tanker to life '' shows how some modellers forget to weather the crew figure according to the settings in which they weather their vehicles.
The chapter shows how to bring life to the figure using both enamel and acrylics for dust effects and how a figure weathered accordingly to the environment will add a ton of extra realism to the entire model or diorama.

The article following this is named ''Dusting Tiger Tracks '' which basically shows how to put on tracks on the tiger tank coverd in chapter two.
Quite a lot of materials is involved with this materials but the explanations are clear and easy to understand. Another great article that would be useful all the time if one if fond of making tanks ( like me ).

The next article to follow is an article named '' Airbrushing Dust and Dust Washes ''.

Basically, this is quite similar to the way we spray enamel and acrylics to produce a dusty finish but instead, they talk about using enemal washes and white spirit and another peculier instrument  ( namely a artist fibre pencil ) to get a nice dusty finish. This method has been covered in Chapter 2 as well but this article covers in details about this method.

For the next article, it is titled ''VK4502 Dust and Dirt'' and they talked about how they get the dirt and dust that covered the VK4502 that was featured in the very first issue's very first chapter.
To be of note in this article is the use of Modellling product such as AK's Gravel and Sand fixer, some leaves ( not the big ones, the diorama accesories ). This articles is more about how to get a dirt ( or clumps or dirt) effect on a vehicle instead of a dusty layer and how to fix it properly on the model.

The next articles is kind of a like a combination of everything that has been said previously ( I beleive).


Basically, this articles shows how to get dust and dirt effect using every weapon in a modeller's arsenal: acrylic, enemal, enamal washes, pigments, filters and other products such as AK wet effect fluids. A particular part that is of great interest ( to me that is ) is the part where they talk about how a heavily dusted surface makes a great base for the dried mud and how pigments, applied correctly, create a cool looking and ultra-realistic cracks in the dried and caked mud.

Following this is a section dedicated to a fine selection of real life reference photos, just like they did in the first issue.
After this, we come back to another Chapter, Chapter 6, titled '' Br39 Before and After ''. Basically this is a chapter that shows, in great details, how a locomotive can get dust and dirt with all the oil, greases and cargo on board. The model used is Rivarossi Analogic H0 scale br39.

This chapter shows how to achieve some uber realistic weathering effects without the need to disassemble any parts to change a toy looking mass-produced model locomotive into a real looking one.

The Final Chapter, Chapter 7 is named dusty ground and they showed how to make a dried and dusty diormama from the ground up and with dust and dirt effects on the DIORAMA instead of the model.
The example setting they choose was Tunisial; which is a landscape of not purely desert sand but also comprises of different types of soil,rocks and vegatation. Basically, this chapter talks about how to make a real life enviorment with different kind of shades of soil and type of pebbles and rocks.

This book is a must have in my opnion. Packed with invaluable techniques for recreating all manner of dusts and not to mention beautiful photos, detailed "how to" information, and containing real-life examples, too.


VERDICT - HIGHLY, EXTREMELY RECOMMENDED.

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