Sorry I've been quiet. Just haven't taken time to write here.
Firstly, I finished the two cars I've been dragging out. The Volkswagen;
Paint did not come out perfect, but still. This has been sitting half-built in my backlog for over a decade now. Lack-luster paint was less important than finishing the build.
Next, the Alpine-Renault;
Paint is markedly better, but the decals tweaked on me. I've had bad luck repeatedly with Tamiya waterslides.
So, the Valentine is at a pausing point;
As I mentioned before, the tracks that came with the kit are worthless. I will be picking up the aftermarket tracks for this at some point. Not right away, though. I just bought an old Celica. That's going to be a money sink for a minute. Shame it's still winter. Doubly shame I haven't a garage. Working on the Celica is going to be fun. We'll see.
I seem to be making quicker progress on the Tau. I am currently picking-out panels and the bodysuits with Vallejo English Uniform.
My original plan for the battlesuits (big dudes up front) was to use English Uniform on the visible frame. I felt that the contrast was too sharp. Painting the frame this color would have been overwhelming. Instead, I turned to picking out a fixed pattern of individual panels. There is still variance, but such is present on the model itself.
I've finished a couple of projects.
The Tau you have all become tired of;
And the Miles Magister I've mentioned in passing here and again;
I could likely have finished the Magister some time ago. I was more concerned with finishing the Tau and clearing them off of my bench.
Finishing two projects means returning to another. I have started painting the Infinity JSA;
The included tutorial was unclear about what neede
Sorry I didn't post last week. Culmination of excuses led to no work done at all. Shameful, but I suppose this is a hobby. Modelling is neither my job nor my life. Sometimes, I need to realize that.
Anyways, I've started streaming! I figured, should I be able to drum up enough interest, I might turn a buck or two doing what I do anyways. So I started a Twitch. New laptop for it and everything. I'll link it below.
With the energy I've found from having a reas
I finished the model for my local Gundam club's contest. At least, I'm calling it done.
More work was had on the centaur. I'm going to plan and finish the 'human' torso before I go farther with the 'horse.' The paint guide I found for a palomino is about 90% pastels, so I want to minimize handling before clear.
I also made treacle tart. Went over well.
Here's to the contest.
Finally got around to painting the bases for my half-squad of Bolt Action 8th Army;
Just the one coat. Don't want bare plastic, but I also didn't want to spend two weeks layering color. I mounted the figures and based them, too. All done;
I have no idea why the photos are so yellow. Whatever. Maybe a little glib with the sand. If it bothers me, I can pick them clean. Gets them off of my bench, though. Airbrushing is on hold at this point, though.
Apologies for the lack of update last week. I was with friends till late.
I admittedly haven't done much. I sprayed additional coats of color on the scooters;
Decided on green with the Honda. Probably ruined the paint on the Yamaha. Well, I'll (eventually) take a closer look. Other blog will be updated, as the only other modelling I've done is more pertinent there..
So, two weeks & 156 track links in, I realize I have the wrong hafltrack;
What I have here is a Sd. Kfz. 250/8 Neu. What I needed was a Sd. Kfz. 250/8 or the like. The hull is wrong, noticeably so. Should feature a peak about midway down the crew area. I'm really annoyed as I spent much time fiddling to get the tracks assembled. I'll have to keep an eye out for the correct 250 from Dragon, so I can use these tracks I've already finished.
I started bui
Well, I finished the suspension;
And I managed to set it pretty square.
I also started on the tracks;
...ehhhhh. I'll get back you on that. This could take a minute.
I've been a busy little shut-in this week.
Yes, we have had a 'shelter-in-place' order in Illinois, as well.
Either way, I've built the 'City Bike' set. These things were little heaps. Nothing lined up or fit. The white bike, which is a Honda Tact, was to have a saddle-bag assembly. I couldn't make heads-or-tails of it. I didn't have directions in the box, nor were such forthcoming online.
I forget which of the two leftmost scooters is the Suzu
Until I sort a spray booth, the Infinity JSA will remain as they are.
These are temporarily fixed to the bases using (ancient) PVA, thinned with water. Water should cause the glue to let go when I go to paint the bases. Hopefully.
I also updated my 'con chain.'
Every time I go to a convention, I will buy another charm. I then add the charm to this chain. The chain hangs from a very clever shirt I picked up at one convention. Leather shoulders & bras
Apologies for skipping last week. The 26th was my birthday. I hopped around some hobby/game shops in Chicagoland, then played X-Wing at the local. Friday got out-of-hand, but that's neither here nor there here, is it?
As of Christmas Eve, I putting the Infinity on hold. I plan on using some patterned Plastruct sheet to dress-up the bases. I find myself without a compass or circle-cutter of any nature, though. Except, may, a brace-&-bit, but that would be excessive.
Highlights, now. Edge or otherwise. I'm still trying to be conservative with the highlights. I don't want to outline everything. All the studio models seem that way, though. I've been using white mostly. I mixed something like 10:1 white to neutral gray for the big armored dude's highlights. Huge puddle of paint I barely used. Still, he will receive further highlights. I mean, I'm getting somewhere.
Some corrections will be needed. As always. I picked up
Almost done with the Tau. Spent the first few sessions this week putting everything through a dip wash.
The drones were a little heavy on the wash. I was using Vallejo dipping-formula Sepia. Kind of thick in the jar for what is supposed to be a ready-to-use project. I wasn't using a fresh jar, either.
On the battlesuit here, you can see what I did with all of the optics. Translucent Blue over Chrome Silver. I always thought the combo offered a nice pop.
Just a whole host o' painting this week. Got below done;
Some of the Tau has been done again in black. I need more before I can spray further. Until next week...
Firstly, apologies to the 40 or so people who seem to care about my work. The past two weeks have been nuts. We moved office at work.
I'm calling the pirates done. Off the bench, warts and all. I could do better, but they're not characters or any special job. Just grunts.
And out of focus.
My Magister is coming along OK. Yellow is a pain, and I'm slogging along with Model Master paint on it so far. Chicago weather doesn't help.
Lots of varied work this week.
Primary focus at home was the Tau. I finished magnetizing & building the Crisis Battlesuits from the first of my two boxes.
These get tucked away in a case somewhere for a few months until it is painting season again.
I started building the next box. Back to basic infantry.
Only just started, though. These go together very quickly. Again, shake-the-box.
I experienced some drama in Dungeons &
Finished up about what I could with the Opel;
Bunch of detail here you'll never see. No provision for opening hood (bonnet to y'all,) deep, narrow cab hiding the pedals.
Built a box. She's mostly straight. Just a little warpage. Should be fine.
Braced the box. All these brackets lift the box maybe 1/4" clear of the frame. The lift also gives space for the fenders.
Barring some small details I didn't photograph, t
Started working on a model of BMW's MINI Cooper;
Pretty simple kit, actually. No engine, sadly. I can't do much more until I pick up airbrushing supplies. At this rate, I'll have everything built, with nothing finished. Save the Firefly. That kit can rot for all I care. Stupid individual-link tracks...
Also, Revell...
WHO THE ABSOLUTE F*** THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD G****** F****** IDEA TO CHROME THE WHOLE F****** DASHBOARD? Persistent s**
With the continuing concerns over COVID-19, and additionally the unrest in my neck of the woods, my Gundam club held another virtual build day. I joined, pulling out the Gray Zeta to work on.
Now, you've seen the cover image, so this is spoiled, but the Gray Zeta isn't actually gray.
That's right, it's cheddar orange. Supposedly the result of the mechanical designer having a form of color blindness. They said Stroudley was colorblind, too...
She tr
I had to put away the Tau. I just did not have the patience. The whole operation became very daunting very quickly.
Instead, I bought some new Gundam kits to settle with;
The larger box is a so-called Master Grade, or MG kit. Excellent levels of detail, well-thought colored molding, & intricate assembly that attempts to affect 'realistic' poses. I favor the kits. Larger scale, too, at 1/100. The other three are so-called High Grades, or HG kits. All t
If you've not seen any news, 'lockdown' in the US has been a joke. Seeing the punchline, I've maintained spending time with a friend of mine. We watch anime, play video games, and build Gunpla. It's fun! Also, I'm 30. Make your judgements.
I like to have a kit for building at my friend's house. I finished that last such kit on Sunday;
I broadly need to improve my photography. This was a Bandai Master Grade 1/100 Gunner ZAKU Warrior Lunamaria Hawke. Ki
Work has continued on the ReZEL;
All this becomes...
This! Tall s.o.b., too. Probably nine, ten inches as it is. I still need to finish the back...assemblies;
This kit comes with parts to build two versions of the backpack, so-called Type B & Type C. Type A is not available in these colors. I still really don't know what-all is going on with the packs, though. None of the art I've found really shows that these variants look lik
The ReZEL Type C is built.
Impressive beast, isn't it? What you can't see in this shot is the 'kickstand' the kit supplied. This thing is very back-heavy. Even with a forward-canted dynamic pose, It just doesn't want to stand straight.
It transforms, too;
This form, called 'waverider,' is awkward in many ways. Firstly, it doesn't want to hold this mode. There are not many locks, and what few there are are weak. Mounting it on this spare stand was also
