1/20 Hasegawa Ma.K. Falke Mk01

Modeling Subjects Science Fiction
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Starting to get a rhythm now.

I like the smooth crispness you can get from airbrushing, but there are times I just want to use a regular old paint brush. Which requires a different set of techniques. Figured I’d finish the paint job on the headrest by hand. The first coat is generally thin and very ugly. This is the hardest thing to deal with when brush painting. We so badly want the single perfect coat that unknowingly sabotage ourselves. Ugly ok. Ugly will go away.

You can actually see where I started on the second coat when I decided to take the picture to show some of the process.

Give a few minutes for the first coat to dry some. Timing varies by paint and mftg I try to wait 15 minutes between coats. This usually works best when I am working on several pieces at once. Typically by the time I am done with the last piece the first is ready for the next. I often move the brush in the same direction in each coat. Instead, varying my starting points slightly so that the brush strokes don’t align exactly.

The paint is textured. Which I am ok with. It is possible to get a very flat finish with a brush, but that’s not what my goal was with this piece. I wanted it to have hint of field maintenance. Imperfect paint jobs are part of that.

Finally the third coat is applied. Ugly brush strokes are gone from the first coat and all I did was continue to apply the paint the same way each time.

While paint was drying between coats I continue assembling the fuselage. Wouldn’t you know it. A nice drop of Tamiya extra thin was discovered to have marred the surface.

Thankfully the culprit was sloppy and left a fingerprint behind.

It was only a partial but we got a good clean lift from it and were able to positively match it to the offender. Me. :roll_eyes:
Let us just say some sanding was involved. Yes several more mishaps were discovered afterwards. This is the most I have ever used the Tamiya Extra Thin. It’s usually reserved for small pieces where fine amounts are needed. This is my first large scale use of the stuff. Mistakes were made and lessons learned. Thankfully none of the glue mishaps were very deep. Maybe 30min of sanding and all of them disappeared. My first bottle of extra thin (5 years old now) is mostly empty. Not from use. I keep forgetting to screw the lid down. 2/3 of the bottle has been lost to evaporation alone.

Apparently my talent in knocking over things is reserved for the bottles of Testors enamel thinner. I’ve yet to go without knocking one over and losing half of it. Apparently it satisfies some innate need for sacrifices. Usually after that big spill of thinner it never happens again.

Where was I?

Oh yes, the Falke!

Um, painting, glue, and… Painting, glue, and one more thing. There was something else.

Warped part! That was it. Had to go back and look at my photos. Got distracted by that tangent thing.

Before I can start painting the camo there are a few pieces I needed to attach temporarily. The canopy and the foot cover. The canopy fit a treat. The foot cover was another story.

I call it the foot cover because that’s what it does. It covers the pilots feet. Goes right here, the area circled.

It had a slight warp to it so it wouldn’t lay flat.

Gluing it in place would work, but the directions show it as one of the last pieces going in so that’s not an option. Out comes the heat gun!

Dialed it to 220F (apologies to those of you on the far more intelligent and intuitive metric system. Seriously. I really wish the US would finish it’s conversion.). Aimed the air so it would go over the top and bottom of the corner at the same time. My hope was that it would heat the plastic more evenly and prevent warpage and discoloration.

After about 2 rounds of 20-25 seconds of heat, followed by placement and holding into shape, I was gifted with this.

I love it when a plan comes together!

The front edge is slightly raised on both sides to the exact same degree. I’m going to call that FAD (Functioning As Designed). Dang I just noticed I have sprue nub on that other piece. Maybe no one will notice…

With that little bit taken care of, all assembly prep before painting is complete!

Time for primer! After covering the engine of course.

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142

It’s looking great! Can’t wait to see it with the camo! Any plans for a base or diorama?

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Thanks @NWAN322!
I have been thinking of putting this one on a base. With the other figure it would greatly benefit from it. If I do end up going that way, this will be my first model to receive one. My focus has been on learning and building skill in techniques and methods for assembly and painting. I do try to add at least one new technique/skill per build. In this instance it was doing the splinter style camo. I wouldn’t be adverse to adding base building to that. :slight_smile:

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That’s a really respectable model-making goal haha! I think I personally fall into a rhythm of just trying to be comfortable when I build, but that probably hinders growth lol.

A base sounds cool! What kind of environment does Ma.K take place in? I thought I remember one of them being called a lunadiver or something, so is it on the moon? I’m not super familiar with Ma.K, but I’ve always loved the drawings and designs haha. I would love to try one one day though.

Anyways, good luck!

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Getting comfortable when building is the other half of the equation. Usually upon trying a new technique I try to reuse on an upcoming build. That way I can build comfort and competency with it. Given I’ve now practiced the application of splinter camo no less than 4 times during this build (3 test runs and the final production run) I think I’ll be good on that front for the moment. :laughing:
I also push myself to try a new technique to deal with the fear of the unknown. It’s scary to step out of one’s comfort zone. But it’s necessary to do so in order to experience new things.
It has been both fun and frustrating holding to the mantra of “try one new thing”. I get a new skill, but it slows down the build because I have to learn a lot about what I am trying to do. And if something goes wrong, well now I have to learn a new way to fix it. Probably way more than you wanted to hear on the subject of my build philosophy. :rofl:

As for the environment of Ma.K. It takes place on Earth and some of it on the moon. The Falke is an aircraft, so it’s going to be Earth bound. For the base I’d like to display it on the ground. Setting is still undetermined.

I encourage giving it a try. They are unusual subjects that are fun to build. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I’ve seen the Falke dressed in all sorts of cool schemes, from camo to Gulf racing blue and orange, and yours is coming along great Phoenix. Here was our review from 2009.

@NWAN322 Here’s the Wikipedia page for Ma.K and a little more background.

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Thanks Tim!

I ran across that exact article just as I was starting my build. Now that I’ve put some time into the kit, I’d have to say the article is spot on.

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Progress update.

Black Conceals. White Reveals. A truism I’ve used more than once to my advantage. In this case the primer did reveal the seam as being a broken line. I think I can get away with that. The final color will be darker and I intend to use the camo pattern to break that up some.

While priming this I realized I’ve never painted anything this large or smooth. My typical scale is 1/72 so this thing is massive at 1/20. I also have a new found appreciation for those who work on large scale aircraft. All of that long smooth surface to paint. Which loves to show every little speck of dust dirt or lumpiness where maybe paint didn’t quire smooth out the same. For the first time ever I felt the need to sand the primer. I went over the whole thing with some 800 grit sanding paper knocking down tall spots and lint that stuck in the paint. Then I did all this again with a second coat of primer. Thanks to @MisterMeester. It was the fantastic paint job on the suit of his Phantom of the Opera with an off brand siphon airbrush that sold me on the worth of investing in one. Having a siphon airbrush with a .5mm nozzle made a world of difference in getting this primed quickly and evenly. I’ve had problems covering large surfaces with my Iwata Neo CN.

After all that is said and done. A blink of the eye later,

The top half is painted in the dark grey blue. However, something I kept forgetting to photograph was a recurring issue both on the canopy and on the bottom bulb. Finally did grab a shot to show the weirdness.

WHAT!?

Then I stormed out and decided to come back to it later.

That wasn’t the first time it had happened either. Same thing happened when applying the primer on that part. The paint wouldn’t adhere. It just sort of oozed off the surface. And when applying the dark blue grey it also did that on the canopy though much worse. Everywhere else the paint went down beautifully.

Was ready to shelve this as I did not want to strip down whole thing back to plastic to fix it. Cooler heads prevailed and all it needed was some gentle sanding to smooth it out and it was ready for another try. As it was I had to sand both surfaces several times before I was able to get a smooth coat where the paint stuck without issue.

At first I thought it was my technique, but no matter what I tried it kept happening. Then I thought perhaps it was my paint mix, but it worked just fine on everything else. So why not on these two specific spots? Then quite by chance I discovered the culprit.

Yup it was silly putty. I’d been putting a blob of it on the canopy and the bulb on the bottom in order to protect the paint from chipping while I was working on the top or bottom. Apparently it was leaving a residue behind that was messing with the paint’s ability to adhere. What clued me in is I dropped some of the silly putty on the dark grey paint and after peeling it off there was a noticeable sheen to the paint that hadn’t been there before. And it didn’t just wipe off. It smudged across the surface. I had to lightly sand the area in order to remove it. After sanding the affected areas and avoiding silly putty the problem went away.

Mystery solved. Anger going down. Breathing returning to normal. Blood pressure, well that’s always high. :laughing:

With first color down, masking has begun!

Halfway done for the first set of masking.

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I am a staunch advocate for signing one’s work. Much like you have done, I tend to do it during the building stage so as not to forget later when the model is near finished.

Looking really nice so far and although it’s a small detail, I really like how the headrest turned out.

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:rofl:

I place my makers mark in variety of mediums. Plastic, paint, putty. I’m a multimedia kinda guy. LOL

I like how the headrest turned out as well. I tend to derive greater satisfaction from the smaller details rather than the larger ones. I believe it’s the small details are what sell the overall look of a build.

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Things are moving along, but not always moving in the direction I’d intended.

Finished up the first level of masking and applied a clear coat to seal the masks.

At first glance it looks ok, but upon closer inspection…

The gloss clear did not go down smoothly. It pebbled all over the model. >:D

So I’m thinking perhaps it isn’t so bad. Hitting it with a little sandpaper might take it down easily.

Not so much

Working around the masks is near impossible and the pebble texture is way stronger than it appeared at first. Not good.

I used Pledge floor gloss for the clear. It’s soluble with some ammonia. First thought is to try polishing it out using a weak ammonia solution in a damp cloth. I nixed that idea as it had the same challenges with the existing masks and knowing my luck I’d be busy embedding lint into it.

I really don’t have a lot to lose so this was the solution I settled on. Mix up a very weak solution of ammonia and distilled water. Then spray the model down with it. The thought is the ammonia will reactivate the clear and hopefully get it to settle.

It mostly worked.

Despite the splotchy nature of the current finish, giving it a close once over, looks pretty smooth. Running my finger over the paint and it feels smooth.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Not bothering with the clear again. Next color! What’s the worst that can happen? (Don’t answer that.)

No obvious signs of failure. Some of the masking lifted in a few places. Won’t know how bad till the final reveal. What about the texture of the paint?

Looking smooth. I was ready to call it a conditional win.

It was a couple of days before I could get back to the model, and discovered this scattered all over the model.

It looks like crazing, but near as I can tell there is no texture to it. The finish feels as smooth as everywhere else. At this point I’ve moved past frustration and annoyance. I’ve reached a zen like calm acceptance of these paint mysteries. I shot a couple of test passes of paint on a crackly patch and left it alone for a day. All evidence of the disfigurement disappeared. However, the recessed rivet detail is starting to fill in so rather than add another coat of paint I started some strategic masking and then proceeded to the final color.

I just finished the painting the other day. I’ve been letting it sit in case any other weirdness pops up.

In the meantime, between all that drama, I started assembling the chain gun.

In spite of all the paint issues, this has been a relatively low stress build and I am continuing to enjoy working on it. I eagerly await peeling the masks off tonight and finding out how it looks.

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Oh bunkies! I’m sorry you are having paint issues PG. I try to stay away from Pledge floor finish and use the Gunze and Tamiya clear in the spray cans instead. You know, you could keep the “alligator” paint and call it weathering. But keep pressing on and don’t give up!

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Regarding the crazing paint issue, I’ve experienced the same thing when thinning too much with ISO.

Rob
Iwata Padawan

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The picture you posted in the What Did You Do on the Workbench Today thread of the finished splinter camo shows amazing results. Well done, and kudos for persevering.

Cheers,
Mark

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Thank you! A good reminder for me to update the thread with pics.

Sometimes I think model building is a hobby sustained by sheer stubbornness. A refusal to let the model win. :rofl:

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And here they are. Photos of the completed camo.




This form of splinter camo turned out to be really easy to apply. Masking was a cinch. I do recommend taking the time to burnish all the pieces. Paying close attention to where they overlap as that’s where a small gap is very likely to form, letting paint worm it’s way in. What takes the longest time is painting and giving it enough time to cure before applying the next set of masks. There are a total of 4 layers of paint to do this specific scheme. I’d say that for the most part it won’t have a significant level of impact on the recessed details. However, on this kit much of the recessed details are rather shallow. The complications required additional paint passes and in some sections it softened the detail. However, I’ve got a good degree of confidence it won’t significantly impact the overall look of the finished model.

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That camo job is an eye popper. Nice and crisp. Congrats

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NIce! That’s a wild scheme.

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Awesome work! Can’t wait to see what you do with it next!

Any ideas for a base yet? hahaha no pressure tho lol

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Pretty Cool Cammo Scheme!

Rob
Iwata Padawan

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