Working on the gauges for the cockpit last night.
At first I thought it was a single decal but upon microscopic examination it became clear each was a each unique decal. So started by separating it into instrument clusters.
The red hashed warning box had a solid center so I scored it to make it easier to fit over the big button on the right.
It mostly worked. The first few decals went on no problem. After those it started to fall apart. Literally. Every single decal after that started to come apart during placement. Then, when I went to seal them in the clear coat hazed. And finally when I went to add some gloss for the glass it didnāt go down smoothly.
It was a completely snafu.
To top it off I lost half the canopy hinge. Spent over an hour trying to find it. No luck. It isnāt a huge loss. Just means there isnāt a way to easily pose the canopy open. Things were going so well it wasnāt too much of a surprise when this happened. Cāest la vie.
Their creativity has made for some extremely unique looking designs. The hint of the familiar present in unfamiliar configurations. Definitely part of the appeal for me. A notable portion of my stash is dedicated to Ma.K. kits. I look forward to getting to each of them.
OMG! I love this!!! Tyhe pilot looks awesome! Have you thought of adding some tubing in there, maybe something that connects to the flight suit, and another one that connects to the helmet? Maybe a larger hose for breathing, and a couple of smaller ones for helmet IO back to the flight computer?
Thanks @JimC2020!
The pilot was a fun test of my developing figure skills.
Itās a very neat idea but Iām burnt out on scratch building thanks to my last two projects. Need a chance to recuperate.
However, I will say the great thing about Ma.K. is that itās awesome OOB and is a very fertile playground for customization. I have many more Ma.K. kits in my stash and there is a plan to use many of them for a diorama that will involve a lot of out of the box thinking. At least for me. And now that Iāve said that Iām going to add the following caveat. Donāt expect anything on that anytime soon. Iāve got several other projects to do before that one comes to fruition.
There is one bit of scratch work I am thinking of doing. Itās more out of necessity than anything else. I lost a critical part of the hinge for the canopy. Instead of posing it permanently closed or open I am thinking of making some additions to it. So it looks like itās being worked on. Specifically adding a wiring harness to the canopy and a corresponding receptacle in the cockpit.
Crap! Crap! Crap! Now Iām having another idea. What have you done?!
Used white glue to hold the wire strands together. I wanted to make it look more like a ribbon cable. I chose white glue because it retains a degree of flex after drying, is rather transparent and takes paint well.
Used a toothpick to spread the glue to as consistent a layer as I could.
The masking tape was there to help ensure the wires didnāt separate during curing. Flipped it over and repeated the process on the other side.
Finished detailing the engine as well.
Debating whether a pinwash is really needed. Itās looking pretty good to me as is. Probably because I started with a black primer.
For the splinter camo Iām thinking a three color scheme. Going to lay it out on some styrene sheet. Good for practicing the method and checking the color scheme.
I must say this build is really enjoyable. Technical challenges have been minimal and each step has just been sort of working. Iām hoping that when the time comes the two halves of the fuselage join well with minimal need for filling.
Did a practice run of splinter camo. Followed the process outlined here.
Really easy to do. Just takes a bit of time and patience.
It looks like the same color. Trust me, it isnāt.
Final results.
I like the colors used. I feel the triangles need to be much longer and I would prefer the background to be the lightest color and the triangles be the darker. Iāve got a couple of ideas for achieving that. Back to testing.
This color scheme looks better along with the narrower triangles. The pattern still needs some work. Iām thinking one more iteration should nail it down.
Sure thing! I tend to wander a bit in my WIP postings. So many weird things can happen during a build and you never know what might help or inspire someone else.
I have not been idle this past week. I continued my work with the camo pattern and I think we have a winner for the layout.
Now all I need to do is assemble enough of the fuselage to begin painting it.
To that end I started work on the inside of the canopy. Thought it would look interesting to do the various panels inside it various colors starting with dark grey blue for that panel.
Masked that, then painted the inside pale grey blue, then masked the recessed panels.
I think that was nearly two hours of work to do. All those inside/outside curved surfaces. Lots of little pieces of tape.
Then painted the rest of the canopy interior green.
Deliberately made the interior green look more roughly applied. Thereāll be some detailing and washes coming on that.
Thereās an insert that goes in there that looks like some sort of padded brace for the pilot. so started on that.
I like making the padded parts look like they are upholstered in leather.
And while all this is going on, slowly gluing the fuselage together. Doing it piecemeal to help keep the halves aligned. Starting by gluing the outer side back to front and then starting again from the inner side. Iām hoping that by doing it this way Iāll be able to maintain
The top and lower half didnāt align quite right and I found that adding a popsicle splint helped true them up so I wouldnāt have to try and maintain alignment by hand while the glue set. Iām about halfway up the outside so far.
I love this camo idea. A simple variation on a fairly common camo pattern and youāve made it totally unique. Iāve been contemplating various schemes for one of my projects and you have put into practice a vague idea that I had rattling around in my cranium. Thank you.
I just had no idea exactly how to implement my idea. This will probably push me to figure out my own design in a similar vein. Full credit to you and apologies in advance if mine looks too similar, Iāll do my best to keep mine original.
The top and bottom halves are glued together now. It was a slow process, but it achieved the desired goal. Minimizing the work needed to clean up the seams.
Before:
After cleanup with the aforementioned Kisage knife:
So much faster and cleaner than using a hobby blade and sanding. Going to wait till after priming to decide if any filling is necessary. I may get lucky and it will luck intentional.
There are still a lot parts left to add to finish the hull. Like these guys.
They were supposed to be installed as part of gluing the halves together. Located in the circled bits.
(keen eyes will note the newly install bulge on the left forend)
If Iād installed them before painting thereād have been very little I could do to detail them properly. So, I left them out for later installation. I did some practice fittings and found that with beveling the back left edge
theyāll make a very nice press fit into the model. (wow that last picture is huge!)
Still fitting on pieces of the hull.
Taking a little more work due to slight warping. Nothing insurmountable though. When all is said and done, all the pieces are fitting with very little extra work.
Itās not all been roses. The canopy interior was rather disappointing.
Probably should have gone with darker color on the recessed panels and lighter on the surface panel.
Placed the headrest in it just to see if it changes anything. The headrest still isnāt fully painted.
It could workā¦
And in the process of juggling all this I misplaced the wiring harness I put together. Itās a nice to have and not a show stopper. It may turn up along the way.
Next up is continued installation of lumps on the fuselage.
Now that the slow parts of the assembly are done things are picking up. Got a lot more of the surface lumps and such added.
I spent a good part of the night chasing down these little goobers.
Only four of them but they were a headache to work with. All rounded sides and edges. Let me tell you, sanding the sprue connections off those guys was āfunā. The sanding was quick, once I was able to get a grip on them. What took forever was getting a grip on them without sending them flying, and when they did go flying, chasing them down and looking for them on the floor. None were lost and it was a relief to be done with them.
And now that Iāve said that Iām going to add the following caveat. Donāt expect anything on that anytime soon. Iāve got several other projects to do before that one comes to fruition.
