Lenticular ReEntry Vehicle (LRV) Finale

 To see the previous entry, go here: http://kevtk.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2020-08-13T21:59:00-04:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false

 I had nothing but bad luck with the paint job on this model. Yes, it's simply white on top and black on the bottom, but I would paint the bottom the black. Let it dry. Turn it over and paint the white top. Let that dry. And when I went to move on there would be some scratch or nick in the bottom's paint. Re-paint the black and then there would be something wrong with the white paint. I must have at least 1000 layers of each color on this model! Grrr.  So I just left it for nearly 2 months!

When I looked at it again, all looked OK. So I proceeded with decals. Hoping I didn't have the same results as the Nuclear Wing, I started working the decals. These went on like a dream. I guess the model gods were giving me a break after their paint fiasco. There weren't may decals - just 4, and in no time, I was done. Thanks for looking.  

 

Northrup Nuclear Powered Flying Wing Finale

 To see part 2 look here: http://kevtk.blogspot.com/2020/08/small-updates-nuclear-powered-bomber.html 

 When I left off all I had left was to add the decals, smoke the canopy (so you couldn't see there was nothing inside) and I was done.  Easier said than done. The smoking of the canopy was no problem, but the decals were a nightmare. No matter how much water I flooded over the area, as soon as the decal hit the model, it stuck on, and could not be moved. After ruining one decal that goes along the cockpit, I left well enough alone and didn't bother with any markings on the bottom. 

But all in all it was a very nice model to build. 

 

I-7 Howlrunner Finale

 The last task for this model was to insert the canopy into the fuselage. The canopy is shaped to fit the fuselage (naturally) so with the top being narrower, it was a nail biter getting the wider bottom thru the narrower top part. I was on the lookout for the "glass" to pop out of it's spot.  

BTW it was the first time I used MIG's Ultra Acrylic Glue. It was supposed to have immediate hold and dry clear in 6 hrs. I didn't sit around for the 6 hours but glue it up and left it over night. Yes, it was clear the next day. And yes it did hold thru the squeeze. 

And with that, I was done. Thanks for looking.  Another BTW is the stand comes from Flight Pose.

 

I-7 Howlrunner

 Another beauty of a kit, Multi-Verses 1:72 scale Howlrunner is a work of art. First seen in the Dark Empire novel. First used by the Empire, it was subsequently used by the New Republic. 

Being simple it only has a few (13) parts. But the parts have nicely done panels and details.

First step is to glue the bottom front of the vehicle to the fuselage. But first it'll need to be painted. I don't know where the instrument panel came from, but there's lots of detail. A pilot is included that looks pretty much like a Jedi!

Once the cockpit was installed, the rest of the build went fairly quickly. I did goof a part where the fins attached to the fuselage, but some putty helped out. Painting here and there have been started.

Taking a break from the build, I turned my attention to the canopy. At first I was a bit confused on what to do. I could take the casting and just install it - hiding all the detail inside. So I chose to carefully cut the windows from the frame. I then cut the vac-form to expose the windows.  They give you two copies of the windows, as well as a buck in case you need to make another. 

The vac windows got a dip in Future, and then the canopy got painted. 

Time to paint. Instructions said to use a tan color, but instead I used Vs White Gray.  The bottom , I painted a Neutral Gray. As it's the bottom it was painted rather roughly.  There's was some metallics added to the engine and exhaust parts. I also tried out to make the discoloration of the exhausts. The panels were filled in with Tamiya's Panel Liner, and I also had a little wear and tear in places.

The canopy is just sitting in place.

 

Check back for the finale.

Geo-Metric Hunchback

 A few years ago I picked up a few of the old mini kits from Geo-Metric. As usual they got lost in the stash until I just found them again.  I don't think I've done the Hunchback since the days when I was a little kid building the Aurora kit. 

 The kit comes in 4 resin pieces and two metal parts. It all came packed in two bags along with a pic of the finished model.

In the pic, Quasi was holding on to the jester's "crown" the crowd gave him. My first problem was the the hand holding the crown was molded just like the other hand - with an open palm. I just received my new PE pliers and they were strong enough to bend the fingers enough without doing any damage. It's not a perfect grasp, but it'll do.

Taking a break from cleaning up the model, I took a look at the vignette. It comes with a disc that doesn't quite fit under the ledge with gargoyle, and then the arch was just left open behind the figure. I took some trusty foam, and cut out a wall, and also added a spacer to make it not feel like the wall was just blocked up. Didn't do to well on that, but at least there's a solid background now.

Turning back to Quasi, he got his base coat of tan and then my usual Beige Red for the skin color.  Looking it up Charles Laughton had blue eyes, and so I did those. But the figure is really too small to make out an eye color once the pupil was put in. 

The image had him wearing a light green tunic with dark green tights, his shirt was some sort of beige,  and brown shoes. Laughton also was said to have sandy brown hair so I tried to mimic that.  With that done I gave his shirt a wash with some Citadel Green shade. Looking at the pic of the crown the colors looks to be red and blue. Finding other pics online - altho B&W, the actually crown part seemed to be a shiny metal. So I broke out V's Duraluminum, and washed it with Nuln Oil to darkened the details.

One shade darkening to the recesses of the skin and then 3 highlights later, I was done. I had previously drilled holes in the gargoyle for the pins I had in his feet and I was done. It was then I saw that he was looking no where with his good eye. So I got some V's Ivory, Azure, and Black and gave him a new place to look - at the viewer. 

Jolly Roger: Hex Marks the Spot

 This kit brings back a LOT of memories as I did a few of them in my early teen years. I remember at the time, that I thought it was the best paint job I ever did - most likely with those gloppy Testor enamel paints.

 Anyway this was re-released by Round 2 and is 1:12 scale. Comes with a few sprues of parts and then the deck planking in 2 big sheets. I also comes with a large  sheet of decals. 

Starting right in I gave all the parts a coat of Stynylrez tan primer. There was some flash and the deck and box parts had a slight warp to them, but nothing serious. Things went so smoothly I even used the primer as the base color and started in with some Vallejo Dark Brown Wash.

My first mistake was painting the skeletons so dark. I knew I wanted them aged. But this was too much. Took a lot to get them to a dark ivory or sand color.

The seam down the two sides of the cannon was tough to get rid of. So I solved the problem by dabbing on some Tamiya putty. Got rid of the seam lines and also help the gun have that cast look. My plan was to paint it a mix of deep green and black, then dry brush some bronze over that. I added some of Citadel's verdigris paint here and there. 

 It was then a matter of painting and washing a LOT of wood grain. Only the standing skeleton had color call outs for his clothes, so I just closed by eyes and picked a color for the guy in the box. I wanted them dusty dirty, so I added some gray to the colors to bring down the color value.  But I also ended up with some brown pigment to get them even more dusty. The Standing pirates shirt had decals for stripes, but I just did them by hand.

Speaking of decals they were VERY thick. The standing guy had a headband in addition to the bandana. But the decal was so thick that even after 4 or 5 coats of Micro Sol, I couldn't get it to snug down. so I just pulled it off.  The other place I had a problem was the decals in the squares of the box lid. They too just wouldn't snuggle down into the wood grain. I the end I had to make a lot of slits in the decal film and it still wasn't perfect. Good idea to keep the box lid open. ;)    The map also had a decal, but I didn't want to sand down all the raised detail, so I just painted the map by hand as well. 

With that I was done. Thanks for looking.  

 

TKS The Birth of Dracula Finale.

 I took a break from all the painting and started in on the base. I had these 4X4' blocks hanging around and decided to use that. The base supplied was just one layer but it had 2 or three layers that couldn't be seen to make it a little taller.  I thought would be enough, but the base was smaller than the block, I cut out similar sized blocks out of foam to add around the base. 

I then had the idea that I would used Green Stuff World's Crackle Paint to make cracks and I planed on painting the cracks yellow and red as if the Devil was making his way up to Vlad.  Long story short the crackle paint didn't really work out. :( 

I always wanted to add a back drop so I just kept cutting foam to make them. I didn't have my cutter and doing them by hand I ended up with a few different sizes. Oh well.  When they were all cut I glued them together with Gorilla Glue .When that dried I cover the whole thing in my Black paint/Mod Podge mix. This will protect the foam from paints and super glues. 

Turning back to Dracula's armor I simply applied Nocturna's Sanctuary Red over everything and then a couple of coats of V's Metallic Gloss.  That's it, I was done. Since the wood base is rather big I will get a little name plate for it.  Thanks for looking.