Plastic modeling

[ROFL BOX 6647]

Have any of y'all been to the USS Lexington down in Corpus?  Up in the fo'ksul, there is an impressive display of dioramas, both naval & otherwise. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is just a small sample; I took them to show to a friend who was a Blackhawk crew chief for quite awhile (& now does this contract in & out of Afghanistan).

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

On 9/9/2019 at 10:52 AM, RDCanecutter said:

I like the step-by-step photos.

Especially when told veeeery slowly....mmmmmmmh. Airplane glue .......

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

Alright, fine. Here's the latest:

Canopy has been temporarily removed and there are a few more things to do, but it's about 95 percent finished.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Sweet.

Last time I used airplane glue. I didn't notice any effect at all. But spray paint, on the other hand...

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by RDCanecutter

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

36 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Alright, fine. Here's the latest:

Canopy has been temporarily removed and there are a few more things to do, but it's about 95 percent finished.

Those are veeeeeery nicely executed details.

[Chad Fuck 17658]

So over in the airplane thread, which I think has a lot of crossover here, I posted about the NTx modelers getting kids interested in the hobby by giving out free kits and build assistance.  I was talking to their President, and he noted that the IPMS-USA Nat'l convention will be in San Marcos in 2020.  That would be something to see.  They also have a cool logo:

http://www.nats2020.com

Edited October 21, 2019 by Chad Fuck
derp on the date

[RDCanecutter 26376]

On 9/26/2019 at 6:42 PM, RDCanecutter said:

Cover me, I'm going in.

So I started trimming up one of these resin Skyraiders (no sanding, just a sharp knife and a clear conscience.)

It was totally gross with YUGE amounts of resin to lop off.

I grew disgusted, and quit.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

OK, I decided to harden back up but switch to a "real" plastic model, a 1/25 MPC Barnabas Collins Vampire Van.

This beauty is a reissue of the 1970 original back when the daytime "Dark Shadows" horror soap opera was at its peak. This vehicle was never part of the show, so it's not real, unlike the other things on Dark Shadows.

Today, we'll look at the kit, gather the tools, and start the engine assembly.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

An unexpected bonus is a rockin MPC sticker for my 1/1 scale ride.

Now the actual work.

Today I'm just doing the engine.

I like to slice my fingertips off with nice new clean blades, so we have a Changing of the Guard.

The glue.

 

About the fit and precision of these parts-- it's what you'd expect from old molds that were aimed at pre-adolescent boys in the early 70s. Everything is loose, off-sized, or doesn't line up quite right. I find myself going back to my skill level as a 10-year-old, twisting parts off sprues, leaving fingerprints, glopping a little extra glue. Who cares? It'll (probably) paint out.

Some of those chrome-plated parts. Whole lotta scrapin goin on so I can glue them together.

I'm gonna spray the regular parts black and paint them later. I get this stuff for a dollar a can at Lowe's. I love it.

And here we are. When it has time to dry I'll slap some red on the engine block with a brush, and maybe touch up the 47 places where I chipped the chrome.

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

6 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

About the fit and precision of these parts-- it's what you'd expect from old molds that were aimed at pre-adolescent boys in the early 70s. Everything is loose, off-sized, or doesn't line up quite right. I find myself going back to my skill level as a 10-year-old, twisting parts off sprues, leaving fingerprints, glopping a little extra glue. Who cares? It'll (probably) paint out.

Some of those chrome-plated parts. Whole lotta scrapin goin on so I can glue them together

Old molds, sloppy fit, and plenty o' flash is just the MPC "Mark of Excellence," my man. 

I also despise chrome-plated plastic. Never looks right and so much extra work. Still, engines are always fun.

On the subject of glue, consider replacing Ye Olde Tube with this:

Same stuff, just a much finer application. Plus, it won't crack and leak like the tube.

And this shit right here is a game-changer:

It's a styrene solvent, so it forms welds similar to the toluene-based stuff you're using--albeit not quite as strong--but sets almost as quickly as thin CA.

[TwiceHorn 31431]

But can you huff that shit like Testors?

Inadvertently, I mean.  Incidentally.

Edited October 24, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[RDCanecutter 26376]

17 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

But can you huff that shit like Testors?

Inadvertently, I mean.  Incidentally.

The modern-day Testors just doesn't have that 1960s zing.

Hell, I remember catching a buzz off off whatever was leaching out of the vinyl of a 1960s Barbie Playhouse. (GI Joe was stopping by the back door while Ken was off at work.)

Maybe it's good that we don't have 1960s chemicals everywhereeasDKJN HUH

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

45 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

But can you huff that shit like Testors?

Inadvertently, I mean.  Incidentally.

That Tamiya Extra Thin is super volatile, so short answer ... yes.

And let's be honest--I wasn't using those brain cells, anyway.

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

45 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

But can you huff that shit like Testors?

Inadvertently, I mean.  Incidentally.

That Tamiya Extra Thin is super volatile, so short answer ... yes.

And let's be honest--I wasn't using those brain cells, anyway.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Tire time on the Vampire Van.

They gave helpful hints about weathering the tires to make my Barnabas Collins Vampire Van look more realistic. I decided to skip all that.

 

If glitter is the herpes of the craft world, then the scraping of chrome from chrome model car parts is also herpes.

 

I am not big into cigars but I think cigar bands are cool. Tires do double duty propping up engine with exhausts' glue drying.

 

The unglued wiggly bits.

Will blast all the white parts with black spray paint sometime soon.

Edited November 4, 2019 by RDCanecutter

[wd40 1976]

so it turns out Rod Stewart wasn't getting his stomach alternately filled and pumped at tour parties.

he was model railroading

 

screencap from the article

 

[PittsburghTiger 6174]

stumbled upon this one. It's Mr. Porsche's, grandson of Ferdinand, model train set.

 

 

[ROFL BOX 6647]

I was watching so long & got totally immersed that around 16:30 it was like I was suddenly in the land of the giants.

[El Diablo 4232]

8 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

I was watching so long & got totally immersed that around 16:30 it was like I was suddenly in the land of the giants.

I watched about half that long but yeah, it's real to me dammit!

[ROFL BOX 6647]

4 hours ago, El Diablo said:

I watched about half that long but yeah, it's real to me dammit!

FFWD to around 16 & then watch for about 45 seconds... you'll understand.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Finally got those resin Skyraiders slapped together. No pics, it wasn't pretty.

I avoided any sanding, and trimmed down parts with knife and nail clippers. Had to dumb down assembly because it had all sorts of flimsy pieces that would shatter if handled, and these are supposed to be game pieces.

Bleh.

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

Still, props for finishing it.

Resin isn't fun. Like an anal-retentive boss, it offers incredible detail but isn't pleasant to work with ...

[Player 4575]

Figured this thread would be picking up steam. Where are y’all?

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

LoL will rep when I can.

Been contemplating starting something new but the fire hasn't been there. Besides, spring has sprung, so the focus has shifted to getting out on our trails (while still maintaining distance from others, of course).

[RDCanecutter 26376]

2 hours ago, Player said:

Figured this thread would be picking up steam. Where are y’all?

I am supposedly thinking about working from home. What I am really doing is playing video games, and catching up with toy soldier painting commissions.

This includes the resin Skyraiders. The assembly looks like a drunk chimp did it, but hoping to get a "looks good from 2 feet away" paint job on them.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Resin is a beast.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Crashed Huey to go with the Skyraiders. This one was a solid resin block with polystyrene fiddly bits, a lot easier on the sanity. 1/100 Battlefront model.

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

Well done. You should've coaxed a fire ant to wander into frame to demonstrate how tiny these are.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

13 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Well done. You should've coaxed a fire ant to wander into frame to demonstrate how tiny these are.

We are too shady here for true fire ant action. I remember the sundrenched yards of my youth, now those had some true fire ant action. But with our little patch of woods, we have maybe one tiny mound of them, and I think they must be the pre-South American variety, they're just oddly mellow, like I could train them to roll over and let me pet their bellies.

[Player 4575]

I like the paint job on the crashed chopper. Reminds me of...



Will there be zombies and gratuitous titties?

[atomheartbevo 89617]

On 3/21/2020 at 5:52 PM, Player said:

Figured this thread would be picking up steam. Where are y’all?

Too busy doing models?

Should have looked for this before, son and I have been working on a B-17 that I bought right as all of this started, and a couple of snap-site X-Wing fighters I bought back in the 80s and then stashed away in my Star Wars box o' toys.

Anyways, a few weeks ago, we needed a few things (paint, cement, etc.), and Amazon was being a beast, and so I called up the HobbyTown here in Austin, and they came through awesomely..

I don't know if this will work (should be the Austin location), but if not, just hit the regular site and locate your local store.  Check their inventory online, and then email or call them, and they can set up a curbside for you.

https://www.hobbytown.com/search?s=scale model&fl=128&lg=fl

Very quick turnaround, and they have a lot of good stock.  Think I will be using local stores like that a lot more.  And the kid is enjoying doing the models.

And we are adding RC in the mix, since I have some 80's Tamiya cars to rebuild.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Finally got back after the MPC Barnabas Vampire Van.

The movable front wheel assembly is like assembling a voodoo charm from chicken bones. I went back to my old tricks and heated up a knife on the stove, mashed down the ends of pegs so it'd stay together without glue.

 Overall, the kit is Late 60's Aweful with atrocious fit, and flash everywhere. It's truly something for a small boy to slap together sitting on the floor, and it's great.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Think I may just leave it black and chrome, maybe a little red on the seats.

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

Weird kit.

[atomheartbevo 89617]

10 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Weird kit.

There were so many cool kits in the 60s and 70s, and thankfully a few have been reprinted, but the rest, the ones I would like to do, fetch a handsome price.

I have a hotrod that's made out of a horse-drawn hearse, and have most of it (it did not fare too well in numerous moves), and have thought about trying to put it back into some kind of shape, but the paint job was...lacking.  Think it was a cheap Revell.

[atomheartbevo 89617]

@RDCanecutter You, actually most reading this, will appreciate this video that was just uploaded.

I had the Vandal and Boot Hill (which was not designed by Tom Daniel).

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by atomheartbevo

[atomheartbevo 89617]

I want every one of the car kits that was shown in there.  Not sure what happened to my Vandal, but new ones cost $60, so not going there.

But damn, I want all of them.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

13 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I want every one of the car kits that was shown in there.  Not sure what happened to my Vandal, but new ones cost $60, so not going there.

But damn, I want all of them.

The funny thing is, when I was a kid building tons of models, me and my friends were snobs against the car kits. I mean, you might build one, or throw in a Planet of the Apes figure, but we were are militaristic airplane and ship model guys. It was an Air Force town, and of course, boats float.

Later on I got into those Tamiya 1/35 scale tank and soldier kits. How I would lavish on the mud and dust.

Now, much older, I just want to build some weird funny shit. Also, I got nostalgic and bought kits for most of the cars we owned when I was a kid.

[atomheartbevo 89617]

58 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

The funny thing is, when I was a kid building tons of models, me and my friends were snobs against the car kits. I mean, you might build one, or throw in a Planet of the Apes figure, but we were are militaristic airplane and ship model guys. It was an Air Force town, and of course, boats float.

Later on I got into those Tamiya 1/35 scale tank and soldier kits. How I would lavish on the mud and dust.

Now, much older, I just want to build some weird funny shit. Also, I got nostalgic and bought kits for most of the cars we owned when I was a kid.

Yeah, I kind of stuck my nose up at most car models (built a model of my dad's muscle car) back then, but somebody gave me the Vandal for Christmas and I liked it, and the Boot Hill Express, I just thought looked cool (it had a skeleton), and actually used my allowance at a TG&Y to buy it.  I stuck mostly to planes, and the occasional tank.

Now I wan to build those crazy cars.   There's some out there that have been re-released, and there's got to be some money in plastic modeling - somebody bought up Airfix I think, and is releasing their stuff, so I'd like to see more Monogram.

[atomheartbevo 89617]

Hmmm...Vandal and some of the others haven't been re-released, but Revell has released some of the old kits and they are still under $25 or so on Amazon - Really want Rommel's Rod, and AMT has Flameout.  Atlantis has a nice selection including some Tom Daniels stuff (would have thought that stayed with Revell/Monogram, but maybe because it's different scales its fine). 

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

On 6/1/2020 at 1:09 PM, atomheartbevo said:

somebody bought up Airfix I think, and is releasing their stuff

Hornby of model railroading fame acquired Airfix in 2006. Don't recall seeing an Airfix car, but that's probably because other companies dominate the U.S. market.

Airfix has reissued some airplane kits, so they are probably doing the same for select car kits.

Their new kits are hit and miss. The P-51D-20 Mustang at the top of this page was excellent, easy to assemble and full of detail, flash notwithstanding, but some other recent toolings have drawn a lot of criticism for fit and quality control issues.

Airfix gonna Airfix, I guess.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Braff Zacklin

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

After yet another lengthy hiatus, I've started on an old Tamiya kit featuring Jiro Hirokoshi's masterpiece:

First tooling was in 1973, so the molds have seen some miles. Detail is crude by modern standards (by comparison, Tamiya's 1/72 versions of the same plane--first tooled in 2012--have much better detail despite being a third the size).

Fit and engineering seem sound despite its age. It's also cheap. I paid $11.39 for it about a year ago, and it will be worth every penny.

My plan is to give this one Pearl Harbor markings as an adversary for the F4F-4 Wildcat that's next on the to-do list. (Technically, it should be an F4F-3, but I only have a -4, so cut me some slack, jack.)

These are all the parts, minus the clear sprue:

I knocked out a J2M3 Raiden from the same vintage a year ago and encountered all sorts of fit issues, particularly at the wing roots and on the underside where the back of the wings met the fuselage. Judging from the taped-up mockup below, things should go much more smoothly with this kit.

The rest of the pictures I'll hide in spoiler tags so as not to further longcat the thread.

Spoiler

This shot of the planform and fuselage halves underscores the Zero's relatively low wing loading, high wing area, and long wings. This beaut could climb and turn with the best of them.

There also appears to be a dead pilot underneath the rudder.

Cockpit, engine, and landing gear parts after being cleaned up and primed. The wheels will hide the EPMs on the gear covers, so I think I can get away with not filling them.

Close up of the cockpit showing the "lightening holes" that I drilled out.

A very out of focus shot of the wheels, prop, and bucket seat after priming. My intention was to show the weight-reducing holes but was too lazy to reshoot. (The "unmolested" bucket seat can be seen underneath the right horizontal stabilizer in the first picture.)

Will apply basecoats tomorrow, so get ready to see more greenish zinc chromate in the cockpit.

However, landing equipment (wheel wells and covers) will be painted aotake, an anti-corrosion enamel with which the Japanese coated all aluminum structures. Considered superior to zinc chromate, it's been found in colors ranging from yellow and olive greens to bright blue and turqoise. I'll be going for a blue-green pearl version that is partially translucent. It's one of my favorite paints to mix up.

 

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Oh Hell Yeah.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Two large boxes just arrived at my house containing a Free French Tank Company for me to assemble and paint at 1/100th scale. Most of the vehicles are the new non-resin ones, ie, they are tiny little model kits that I can assemble with model airplane glue.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

Getting in the Zen Zone with knife and glue. These little 1/100 Shermans are about an inch and a half long. There are 14 separate parts, pretty nice fit, to make the basic tank. I'll probably scratch build lots of extra stowage, and because it's Free French, going to see if I have some 1/100 French troops in the bit box so I can give them a mix of US and French headgear. Somebody needs to have a kepi.

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

Have you abandoned the Vampire Van?

[RDCanecutter 26376]

1 hour ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Have you abandoned the Vampire Van?

Oh no. It is merely set aside while I knock these tanks out for moolah.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

A Gray Plastic Soldier 1/100 Sherman vs a Battlefront one:

 

105 gun and 75mm gun:

 

Getting cute with the flip-up armor on a halftrack:

[Braff Zacklin 13551]

Looks like you've got a division's worth of Shermans and M3 half-tracks! Will you be painting these, as well?

Also, I must repeat an earlier suggestion to buy a pot of that Tamiya Extra Thin. It's a gamechanger. It'll decrease your build and dry times while leaving virtually no residue/excess.

Try eeeeeet.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

2 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Looks like you've got a division's worth of Shermans and M3 half-tracks! Will you be painting these, as well?

Also, I must repeat an earlier suggestion to buy a pot of that Tamiya Extra Thin. It's a gamechanger. It'll decrease your build and dry times while leaving virtually no residue/excess.

Try eeeeeet.

I've got lots more than this to build and paint-- most of the rest are resin and metal.

I weel try ze Tamiya Extra Thin once I use up all the gloppy glue. It shows me where to splotch the mud on these earth pigs. Plus, I am avoiding all excursions into human infested areas, and I also dislike Jeff Bezos.