1/20 Hasegawa Ma.K. Falke Mk01

Modeling Subjects Science Fiction
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Hi Baron,

In general that’s been my stance when I get slightly irregular surface. No big deal. It adds character. However, I’ve been getting some significant pebbling. Where rather than looking like a subtle texture it looks more like bad paint. I am also concerned about silvering occurring when applying decals.

I’ve continued testing with the gloss coats and seeing some incremental gains. However, I am still experiencing challenges with larger scale repeatability. I’m to the point where I’ve started a lab book to better track the parameters and results.

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Success! :partying_face:
:tada::confetti_ball:

Two different tests on different days with Pledge and able to get a high gloss sheen with no pebbling! Just lint caught in it during application.

The matte strip in between the two glossy parts was to make for easy demarcation between the two different test attempts.

I still haven’t found a method for Vallejo or Testors. However, the success with Pledge gives me hope. I was beginning to wonder if I was chasing a pipe dream. :face_with_spiral_eyes:

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Whew, I can’t believe it’s been over half a year since I last updated this thread.
Work on the Falke has now resumed.
I’m currently working on the other figure in this kit while I finish cleaning up the bench and inventorying parts to find out what I may have misplaced since I last worked on it.
More to come.

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As per my comment work has resumed. While cleaning up and dusting off the bench and the Falke I discovered something very unexpected.

My siphon airbrush still has Pledge Floor Gloss in it from gloss testing done back in October 2025! Photo doesn’t really show just how much was in there.

It’s been sitting in my brush for 7 months! So you know I have to try to shoot some right?

First surprise, stuff came out of the airbrush first try. Second surprise, it went down pretty darn well. A little thicker than expected, but that’s probably due to sitting in my airbrush for half a year. LOL

After that I was raring to go. Got to my gravity feed airbrush and the needle isn’t moving. Maybe a little paint dried in there drop in some thinner and move on. Second gravity feed airbrush needle is moving fine, but now I am suspicious. Put some water in the cup and pull back the needle, I get air, and nothing else. Work the action back and forth and it spits at me a little and stops.

The one brush I expected to be permanently hosed works without an issue first try and the other two which I had cleaned before putting away are the ones that fail.

Some patient work and a while later both brushes seem to be working well enough that I prime the figure.

It looks a little textured to me… We’ll see.

Right after finishing that, I dump water all over myself while cleaning up the airbrush. In a moment of sheer brilliance I then proceeded to blast myself in the face with water from the airbrush while I was trying to remove a kink from the airhose. Then I proceed to drop the airbrush’s paint cup cap into the one gallon bottle of ammonia solution I keep handy for cleaning the airbrush. Had fun fishing that out. At this point I get what the universe is telling me and wrap it for the night.

Not exactly the adventure I expected when I sat down last night to resume work on the model ROFL :rofl:

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There will be days like that PhoenixG! You just gotta power through, or stop and let the universe reset before trying again.

Good to see the Falke back on the bench!

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Indubitably! My resolve is unwavering, and in this particular instance I think the universe was just getting a good laugh at my expense. lol

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Wow, what a day at the bench for you. :rofl:

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Slow ramp up to getting back to the bench. A little work completed last night.

Since I used Vallejo plastic putty as a seam filler it all came out when I washed the figure in alcohol.
I sanded the shoulder joints clean. Refilled them and when I went to sand them, the putty turned to dust and fell off.

This photo doesn’t really show anything. I just thought it looked good.

Anyways. I’ve wasted enough time trying to achieve perfection on the joints. Calling this good enough and moving on.

Primed the figure and this time it’s looking much better.

I may have gotten lucky and some of the filler stayed in the small gaps that were left. Overall this primer coat looks much better than the last. In a moment of annoyance I blue tacked her to the turntable in my painting booth. Only to discover I couldn’t move her to the paint dryer because of it. Ooops.
She’s been standing there drying since last night. I’ll drop her in the paint dryer for 15min this evening to finish curing the primer and I should be able to get started painting tonight.

In this build I have learned the truth of the saying,

“Perfection is the enemy of done.”

No more.

Going forward my motto is “git 'er done”.

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Yeah, the styrene MaK figures suffer from fit issues and softer details than the aftermarket resin figures. This one isn’t too bad, but does benefit from some putty. I have a couple of this one that I use for practice.

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Yeah that primer coat really polished off the figure, so to speak. Looks good!

I have definitely smacked my forehead after stripping paint from a figure before and watching all that Vallejo putty melt away. :rofl:

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Completely agree on the fit issues for the figures. I had to do some major surgery on the torso around the shoulders in order to get the arms to fit properly. I picked up a couple of Ma.K. resin figures for future builds.

Thanks! The polished look is probably because the primer was still drying. :wink:

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So the last night wasn’t the paint party I had originally planned. While the figure was curing I decided to work on adding the remaining greeblies to the bottom of the craft. Which ended up being the focus of the evening.

I’d been holding off for fear of breaking them. I can be rather ham handed.

While following the directions to add all the greeblies I couldn’t locate one of the parts. :scream:
I was beginning to panic. Started digging through the box looking for parts and low and behold I find it. Still attached to the sprue. :rofl:

That was a close one! It’s part of the chain gun assembly. That’s the last bit of equipment that remains to be attached. Well that and the last two a-grav domes.

More to come.

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The adventure continues!

Chain gun attached!

But not really.

I took the photo while testing the fit. The chain gun was just resting on the attach points. I got called away before glue could be applied. And this my friends, is where the story truly begins.

Coming back to the bench later that evening, work resumes on attaching the chain gun.
It’s sitting rather high when the tabs on the Falke are inserted into the slots of the gun body.
While I am trying to observe what’s interfering, this happens.


One of the two tabs that secure the gun pod had snapped. Not exactly sure how it happened, but it is supposed to be straight up and down. While I was checking the damage it came off the rest of the way.

Thankfully it is a good clean break.

My first thought is there was too much paint build up on the parts. So I started carefully scraping the paint off of the tabs. Used the broken tab for doing test fitting and no joy. The tab isn’t fitting in the slot. I really should have test fit this earlier. :roll_eyes:

Out comes the hobby blade to carefully widen the slots. Shave, fit, shave fit. Hmm… It looks like it should fit, but it still won’t seat fully. Peer deeply into the recess and lo and behold I discover that melted plastic from gluing the two halves (the seam runs right along the slots) is protruding inside the cavity. Carefully reach in and shave it off. Test and… Success! The tabs now fit. Except…
The gun pod isn’t seating fully still. What is it now? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Turns out it’s this.

That large block of plastic won’t clear.
Out comes the scraper. Scrape, scrape, scrape. Does it fit, no. Scrape some more.
And of course in the process I put that nice big scratch in the paint you see above. Thankfully most of it will be covered and the rest can be attributed to the wrench monkeys who service the craft. :wink:

After much scraping and trimming it now seats fully. Except…

The parallax of the photo hides just how bad that part now sticks outside the cowling. It should be parallel.
Looking at the craft I can see that there is a slight twist to this portion of the cowling. Out comes the heat gun. Leaving the gun pod attached so I can tell when alignment is achieved, the heat gun is set to 312F, and hot air is blasted along the edge of the L shape you see in the photo. Applying gentle pressure the braces are slowly brought into alignment.


Yet another crisis is averted.

Foolish me for thinking attaching the gun pod was going to be simple and easy. LOL

The broken off tab still needs to be reattached and the pod secured. However, I’ve had my fill of fun and retire from the bench for the evening. All in all it was a productive session and I am very happy that I was able to address each issue as it arose. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Started laying down the base flesh color for the figure.

While she was drying I masked up the other two a-grav domes so they could get a slighty darker ring.


The dark ring around the edge will help hide the slight gap that exists between them and the fuselage.

Attached them and the chain gun to the ship.

It’s coming together nicely!

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Haven’t been able to do any painting the last few days due to rain. The humidity in the garage has spiked to above 60% even with the dehumidifier running. I need it to drop to at least 55% before I can do any more painting. Hopefully the rain will let up soon so the dehumidifier can catch up.

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The Pacific Northwest. Oh, how I miss it. Seriously. I really do.

Cheers.

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It’s a lovely area and it’s where I’ve spent my life. For a while there I did a bit of travel as part of my job. Saw some beautiful places, but I prefer the damp and the evergreens. :slight_smile:
And it’s cool to be able to say I live on the ring of fire. LOL

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So good to see you back at it on this build Johann. I’ve had that happen with looking for parts that were still attached to the sprue as well. Frustrating yet relieving feeling when we find out that we haven’t lost our minds.

Way to stick with the issues that keep coming up. Keep at it brother. :+1:

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Haven’t been idle, just more of the same. Finally have a little progress to show.

So the Pledge Floor Gloss on my test sheet suddenly went super yellow. The photo doesn’t show just how yellow it got, but you can get the idea.

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So I’ve been practicing with Vallejo gloss. I just applied the first coat yesterday in preparation for the decals. In between I’ve been working on the standing figure.

I continue to have tool related issues. I was applying a light pink to the figure to shift the hue of the skin when my airbrush suddenly spewed paint making half of it super pink. Rather than start over I just rolled with it.

I figure I can adjust the color by applying some filters to it.
In the meantime I continue to block in the colors.

Sadly the figure took a literal nose dive off the holder and hit the concrete nose first and chipped off some paint. Again, will try to fix it in post. :slight_smile:

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Rather shocking that your Future went yellow. :exploding_head: maybe the prophecies are true!

The figure’s looking good from here though. An interesting and lifelike pose, too.