MAXXxxx WIPs
- Thread starter MAXXxxx
- Start date
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
won't have a lot of progress this week (travelling to the office and back takes an extra 3 hours a day + pubs with collegues), but next week I'll try to catch up as I'll be on holiday for the week.
That means:
- some better photos of the "flesh faire" 'mini' and the other kit this weekend
- start of some more flesh (4 Kingdom Death prologue minis all in different tones), finishing them during the week (basically I plan to have some naked flesh + red toga, so not a lot of colors will be needed)
- finish some old projects (2 Sodapop tantacle Bento figures)
- hopefully start on the "Achilles 2.0" figure from infinity (the normal one, not the LE)
That will leave only 2 figures on the desk that are started. One flat and the big tank.
That means:
- some better photos of the "flesh faire" 'mini' and the other kit this weekend
- start of some more flesh (4 Kingdom Death prologue minis all in different tones), finishing them during the week (basically I plan to have some naked flesh + red toga, so not a lot of colors will be needed)
- finish some old projects (2 Sodapop tantacle Bento figures)
- hopefully start on the "Achilles 2.0" figure from infinity (the normal one, not the LE)
That will leave only 2 figures on the desk that are started. One flat and the big tank.
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
gallery vote count beginning to slip. Last year I voted a lot, but now I see: "You have voted on 213592 out of 226570 minis!". That cca 13000 difference is basically the new pics since february/march last year.
Since then I voted only sporadically on pics from users I know (like Thau) or that were on the "top last 7 days" list.
So it's time to fire up the voting-engine
Since then I voted only sporadically on pics from users I know (like Thau) or that were on the "top last 7 days" list.
So it's time to fire up the voting-engine
kablaq
New member
And here I am feeling proud about voting on 155...
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
Some of the 'minis' (well 2 are actually too large to be called a mini) I painted in the last 2 months. Not as many and not as good paintjobs as I wanted to be.
First is Mizuho for WM's flesh faire competition.
View attachment 46846
Then some KD survivors. Actually based on how much cloth they have they could go to the competition as well
What important was, that I could play around with some of the skintones I have to see how they look. Basically all were highlighted with ivory and shaded with dark flesh (except for the dark flesh one, that was shaded with a violet). Colors are left to right:
- Basic Skintone
- Beige Red
- Medium Skintone
- Dark Flesh
View attachment 46847
Last year's WM-Anime Kit competition figure Mitsuba Tohno's sister Wakana Tohno.
View attachment 46848
And finally a small ship called "Lord British". Even though the assembly is less than stellar, it was a PITA. Looks like resin casts of plastic mechs are not for me.
View attachment 46849
aand I just got a package from FeR miniatures containing Major Tom. Looks like a very versatile bust. You could build with innerwear / outer armor, normal head / with transparent helmet / armored helmet OR any mix of these (basically 6 different busts without conversions, just by mixing the parts). What's more, with a minimal application of insta-mould (basically just copying the back of the head and a bit from the neck) you can build 2 busts from the kit (1 normal head+innerwear, 1 armored helmet + armor). When will I start painting it... no idea, could be next year based on things I planned for 2016.
First is Mizuho for WM's flesh faire competition.
View attachment 46846
Then some KD survivors. Actually based on how much cloth they have they could go to the competition as well
What important was, that I could play around with some of the skintones I have to see how they look. Basically all were highlighted with ivory and shaded with dark flesh (except for the dark flesh one, that was shaded with a violet). Colors are left to right:
- Basic Skintone
- Beige Red
- Medium Skintone
- Dark Flesh
View attachment 46847
Last year's WM-Anime Kit competition figure Mitsuba Tohno's sister Wakana Tohno.
View attachment 46848
And finally a small ship called "Lord British". Even though the assembly is less than stellar, it was a PITA. Looks like resin casts of plastic mechs are not for me.
View attachment 46849
aand I just got a package from FeR miniatures containing Major Tom. Looks like a very versatile bust. You could build with innerwear / outer armor, normal head / with transparent helmet / armored helmet OR any mix of these (basically 6 different busts without conversions, just by mixing the parts). What's more, with a minimal application of insta-mould (basically just copying the back of the head and a bit from the neck) you can build 2 busts from the kit (1 normal head+innerwear, 1 armored helmet + armor). When will I start painting it... no idea, could be next year based on things I planned for 2016.
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
Lately I've been messing with scale models instead of figures / minis.
And since Macross Delta runs atm and the original was a favorite of mine I bought a few hasegawa macross models.
Finished an older one, a YF-29. I learned to hate bandai. They put stickers instead of decals in the box. They are not sticky enough to stay where they should be, but enough to rip the paint off the model despite the primer.
So in the end I had to remove the stickers, reprime the damaged parts, repaint the parts, then freehand the lines and patterns. 'Fun'.
Today I wanted to try how hard is a job I gave to a friend (assembly and painting the hasegawa Macross - TV version), so I opened up the Movie version box.
Originally I just wanted to do 1 or 2 parts, but ended up assembling the whole ship. There is of course some sanding / correcting to do before priming (IF it will be primed)
Here is it (most parts glued, but the bigger ones just dry-fit, so later I can paint it properly)
View attachment 48945
And the disassembled parts:
View attachment 48946
What I don't know:
- should I keep the grey plastic or should I prime and paint it ? (I fear because of the panel lines are pretty shallow)
- what to use for panel lining? Acryl washes or oil ones.
- Is there a way to make the glass parts (not added to the model) stand out? I've heard a light metallic base (VAC Chrome) on the background and a light tint of the glass can do it, not sure it really looks good.
And since Macross Delta runs atm and the original was a favorite of mine I bought a few hasegawa macross models.
Finished an older one, a YF-29. I learned to hate bandai. They put stickers instead of decals in the box. They are not sticky enough to stay where they should be, but enough to rip the paint off the model despite the primer.
So in the end I had to remove the stickers, reprime the damaged parts, repaint the parts, then freehand the lines and patterns. 'Fun'.
Today I wanted to try how hard is a job I gave to a friend (assembly and painting the hasegawa Macross - TV version), so I opened up the Movie version box.
Originally I just wanted to do 1 or 2 parts, but ended up assembling the whole ship. There is of course some sanding / correcting to do before priming (IF it will be primed)
Here is it (most parts glued, but the bigger ones just dry-fit, so later I can paint it properly)
View attachment 48945
And the disassembled parts:
View attachment 48946
What I don't know:
- should I keep the grey plastic or should I prime and paint it ? (I fear because of the panel lines are pretty shallow)
- what to use for panel lining? Acryl washes or oil ones.
- Is there a way to make the glass parts (not added to the model) stand out? I've heard a light metallic base (VAC Chrome) on the background and a light tint of the glass can do it, not sure it really looks good.
Sicks
Active member
If you did prime the grey parts it might be worth using a brush on primer for better control and it might be easier to not flood the panel lines. I don't have any experience with oil washes or painting glass so I'm no help there but it will be interesting to see this come along, it's not the usual sort of model you see around here
Schwarz-Brot
New member
The Vallejo Surface primers can be slapped on with a brush pretty thick. They shrink quite a lot and give a very nice surface, maybe a bit too shiny sometimes on smooth surfaces. Give them a few days to really dry up before painting over. Can of course be applied with an airbrush as well.
Maenas
New member
I am sure @Blackadder could be of help here, if you do not know him, he is a specialist in scratchbuilding spaceships and robot thingies....
On the other hand I am sure airbrush will be of help in this project.
Also for those clear plastic parts Tamya has some clear tints to paints/tint them in different colours I think the violet, blue and green ones are the most common, but I do not know their names...
On the other hand I am sure airbrush will be of help in this project.
Also for those clear plastic parts Tamya has some clear tints to paints/tint them in different colours I think the violet, blue and green ones are the most common, but I do not know their names...
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
Some progress:
- primed it grey with Vallejo primer from AB
- did a bit of shading around larger parts. Smaller ones I'll do with pigments as I can control them much more.
- painted in the details, both the different color ones and most of the transfers too.
- not pictured, but added the glass parts.
View attachment 49069
And a try on the panel lines. Instead of oils and their thinners I tried: GW-BlackInk + TamiyaX20A, cleaned up with X20A. So far I like the result on the front of the spaceship.
(tried first on one of the ARMD platforms (smaller ships with the blue runways), but there I overthinned the black and previously it received varnish too heavily so there the result was not so good (but with the X20A cleaned up perfectly, so I can try again)
View attachment 49070
- primed it grey with Vallejo primer from AB
- did a bit of shading around larger parts. Smaller ones I'll do with pigments as I can control them much more.
- painted in the details, both the different color ones and most of the transfers too.
- not pictured, but added the glass parts.
View attachment 49069
And a try on the panel lines. Instead of oils and their thinners I tried: GW-BlackInk + TamiyaX20A, cleaned up with X20A. So far I like the result on the front of the spaceship.
(tried first on one of the ARMD platforms (smaller ships with the blue runways), but there I overthinned the black and previously it received varnish too heavily so there the result was not so good (but with the X20A cleaned up perfectly, so I can try again)
View attachment 49070
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
Experiences with shapeways.
In another thread Bailey03 asked me to share it in the forum or in PM. I rather share it here, as this way others can learn about it too.
Sooo, after having the bust sculpted the sculptor validated the files for printing on shapeways and sent them to me. Now to get it I had to start from 0 as I never used their services before.
1. registration: pretty standard, even simple. Just fill out the form, get an activation email and use the link there.
2. uploading the files. This was a PITA. The upload component feels ancient with no feedback or whatever. As I had 3 files (2 with 64mb in size) it took a while to wait without knowing if the upload is still going or not. Eventually the upload finishes. At this point shapeways calculates the size, cm3 and other parameters and validates for materials if it could go. On the body I had a zip-lock. it validated as false for all materials except for "frosted ultra detail", which is not really a problem as the others are not 100% suitable for us painters. The good point is the email communication here. Even if your browser froze during the validation it is still done and you get an email if it's ready.
3. ordering was again pretty straitghtforward, basic basked, payed via paypal. Originally I feared the price as I thought they'll charge based on the bounding-box. Luckily it's not like that, they charge on the real volume taken up. This way the print costed around 90$ (with the frosted ultra detail) instead of 500+.
4. now the wait started. They indicated that it'll take about 7 days before they ship the item. The plus point is that you can check the status of your order, so you see where it is (prepping, printing, post-processing, packing, shipped). I found it pretty nice that you can follow the process for each of the ordered items and see the progress being made.
After the print is done you get an extra email stating how likely the print will go on for future prints. You get a ratio for all printed materials.
Finally there is a mail when it is shipped. All in all the steps are easy to follow and I liked that.
5. unpacking: 2 days later a package arrived from the netherlands even though shapeways is a US based company. It's pretty nice this way as the shipping costs less and there is no custom tax.
The prints were packaged solidly. The material used to pad the box against breaking things is enough for me to send out 3-4 other boxed with minis. Basically I got a 20x20x30cm box full of padding material for a bust of approx 4x4x9cm. As expected nothing broken (not much could have as there are no long and thin parts, but the protection looks pretty solid)
The printed mini: To avoid the stepping I chose the "frosted ultra detail" material. It's bacially a transparent resin material, that I'm not a big fan of, but it's printed differently than the other plastics. Meaning less to no stepping in the print. Also some of the details didn't allow any other cheaper material. Not that it mattered as I didn't plan on having it printed with a sub-par material/method.
Even though it's the best material for these prints you can still see a bit of stepping. So very likely before I can start painting a bit of priming with a surfacer + sanding with 1200-2000 grit sandpaper will be needed.
The only detail that didn't turn out great is the problematic zip-lock, But it's not that bad either. The feel is there, just not the smaller details. Knowing this can help a sculptor as there is no need to sculpt them.
Ohh and the material has a slightly nutty smell, like hazelnut.
Overall:
- except for the ancient upload-page I'm very satisfied how shapeways do their business (and that I can survive)
- The material is about 100% is what I expected. I never thought it will be completely smooth (and this is the smoothest they can deliver). The 3d printing needs a few more innovations before it'll be super for us, but for master models it's workable. Meaning you need a bit of prep-work to hide the signs of the printer but not much.
- would I use them again? Based on this experience definately.
In another thread Bailey03 asked me to share it in the forum or in PM. I rather share it here, as this way others can learn about it too.
Sooo, after having the bust sculpted the sculptor validated the files for printing on shapeways and sent them to me. Now to get it I had to start from 0 as I never used their services before.
1. registration: pretty standard, even simple. Just fill out the form, get an activation email and use the link there.
2. uploading the files. This was a PITA. The upload component feels ancient with no feedback or whatever. As I had 3 files (2 with 64mb in size) it took a while to wait without knowing if the upload is still going or not. Eventually the upload finishes. At this point shapeways calculates the size, cm3 and other parameters and validates for materials if it could go. On the body I had a zip-lock. it validated as false for all materials except for "frosted ultra detail", which is not really a problem as the others are not 100% suitable for us painters. The good point is the email communication here. Even if your browser froze during the validation it is still done and you get an email if it's ready.
3. ordering was again pretty straitghtforward, basic basked, payed via paypal. Originally I feared the price as I thought they'll charge based on the bounding-box. Luckily it's not like that, they charge on the real volume taken up. This way the print costed around 90$ (with the frosted ultra detail) instead of 500+.
4. now the wait started. They indicated that it'll take about 7 days before they ship the item. The plus point is that you can check the status of your order, so you see where it is (prepping, printing, post-processing, packing, shipped). I found it pretty nice that you can follow the process for each of the ordered items and see the progress being made.
After the print is done you get an extra email stating how likely the print will go on for future prints. You get a ratio for all printed materials.
Finally there is a mail when it is shipped. All in all the steps are easy to follow and I liked that.
5. unpacking: 2 days later a package arrived from the netherlands even though shapeways is a US based company. It's pretty nice this way as the shipping costs less and there is no custom tax.
The prints were packaged solidly. The material used to pad the box against breaking things is enough for me to send out 3-4 other boxed with minis
. Basically I got a 20x20x30cm box full of padding material for a bust of approx 4x4x9cm. As expected nothing broken (not much could have as there are no long and thin parts, but the protection looks pretty solid)The printed mini: To avoid the stepping I chose the "frosted ultra detail" material. It's bacially a transparent resin material, that I'm not a big fan of, but it's printed differently than the other plastics. Meaning less to no stepping in the print. Also some of the details didn't allow any other cheaper material. Not that it mattered as I didn't plan on having it printed with a sub-par material/method.
Even though it's the best material for these prints you can still see a bit of stepping. So very likely before I can start painting a bit of priming with a surfacer + sanding with 1200-2000 grit sandpaper will be needed.
The only detail that didn't turn out great is the problematic zip-lock, But it's not that bad either. The feel is there, just not the smaller details. Knowing this can help a sculptor as there is no need to sculpt them.
Ohh and the material has a slightly nutty smell, like hazelnut.
Overall:
- except for the ancient upload-page I'm very satisfied how shapeways do their business (and that I can survive)
- The material is about 100% is what I expected. I never thought it will be completely smooth (and this is the smoothest they can deliver). The 3d printing needs a few more innovations before it'll be super for us, but for master models it's workable. Meaning you need a bit of prep-work to hide the signs of the printer but not much.
- would I use them again? Based on this experience definately.
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
could take a while.
First I want to finish the spaceship (basically done, undecided if I want to shade it a bit more with pigments or not)
Then I have to figure out how to start with the bust. I'd really love to prime with vallejo primer from AB, but that's not sandable and I'm sure I need a bit of that, and I'm out of tamiya primer too. All I have is a black gw one and a white artist one.
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
Macross WIP5:
View attachment 49197
Basically done. Just have to fix a lot of mistakes I see on the pic (most glaring is the dark patch at the engine)
It was a bit weird painting 1/4000 scale planes. They are TINY.
And the smile
View attachment 49198
I didn't trust that it'll be as smooth as it should be, so I sanded it a bit with a 1200 one and some steel-wool after that to get rid of any scratches and making it a bit more smooth.
After priming with black+ white it looks pretty good. Only place where I see some to be sanded down is on the hair.
Face and Neck are separate from the body, and got more white primer.
View attachment 49197
Basically done. Just have to fix a lot of mistakes I see on the pic (most glaring is the dark patch at the engine)
It was a bit weird painting 1/4000 scale planes. They are TINY.
And the smile
View attachment 49198
I didn't trust that it'll be as smooth as it should be, so I sanded it a bit with a 1200 one and some steel-wool after that to get rid of any scratches and making it a bit more smooth.
After priming with black+ white it looks pretty good. Only place where I see some to be sanded down is on the hair.
Face and Neck are separate from the body, and got more white primer.
Sicks
Active member
That does look pretty nice, the print cost doesn't seem too bad in exchange for a unique sculpt, it looks like she will be fun to paint up. Th macros ship is looking lovely too, although maybe a little too clean around the rocket thrusters on the back (I assume that's what they are anyway)
khavor
Member
Interesting, love seeing the Macross WIP as it's something a bit different from what we usually see on these forums. I just recently joined the Starship Modeller group on Facebook, and have really enjoyed seeing what guys who build these type of models can do with them. Afraid I'm absolutely no help when it comes to what paints to use for panel washes/weathering/etc., but I also feel like there are a lot of techniques out there that the kit modellers use that we don't see as much, but could be useful.
Looks like the print did turn out very nice. Is the texture on the hood of the sweatshirt intentional, or due to the printing process? Is that stepping I also see on her hair around the ponytail?
Looks like the print did turn out very nice. Is the texture on the hood of the sweatshirt intentional, or due to the printing process? Is that stepping I also see on her hair around the ponytail?
