My back is pretty stiff in the AM, I have a very physical job, anyways 4am I get up, still kinda hunched over waiting for everything to kinda loosen up and I sneezed, hurt my back so bad I about fell to my knees. Didn’t last but a few minutes but getting old sucks.
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@Demolition My back is usually my main worry during golf season. I see a chiropractor once a month just for maintenance. This left hip muscle pull thing is right outa left field and completely unexpected.
On the model front. Ugh. So today, I go to touch up the spots, previously masked for the left foot, with a wash, having base and gloss coated over the last two days. Just a simple hand brushing. I used my reserve wash that I had already mixed. AK Damp Earth Wash mixed with AK White Spirit. But I suppose some of the White Spirit had evaporated from the mix, because it went on heavier than what was already applied. So, in the moment, I decided to just keep applying the wash over the entire base. I’m not happy with the result. It’s too much. Ugh. It’s like one problem just keeps leading to another problem and I can’t seem to get anything right or get a break.
Tomorrow, I’m starting over, yet again, with the base paint job. I’ll mask off the cell and airbrush yet another base coat. Then, another gloss coat for yet another wash coat. Hopefully, I get it right this time.
Pics of the heavy wash forthcoming tomorrow.
Thanks for looking.
Cheers,
Mark
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I’m finding this model to be quite the learning curve, and very humbling. What I’m sure appears to be a simple model to most is proving to be quite the challenge for this novice.
Here’s a pic of the unintended heavy wash on the base.
As mentioned in my previous post, this was supposed to be just a simple touch up, for the area within the red circle. But the wash went on thicker and heavier than what was already laid down. Truth be told…instead of calmly getting some clean White Spirit and a Q-Tip and clean it off and dilute my wash mix and reapply, I kinda panicked a bit instead, and proceeded to just cover the whole base again. As mentioned, I don’t like it. It’s too much. Needs a redo. Which, of course, has led to yet another roadblock in the way of fixing it.
That roadblock being…how do I mask off the cell now that the back wall is cemented in place? Ugh.
Here’s my solution. I’m hoping it works.
I used some cardstock, cut in two pieces horizontally. I laid down double sided scotch tape around the perimeter. I then poked nine holes, strategically placed, in each piece, and ran a string of thread through each hole. Each thread has a stopper knot on the backside. The idea here is to pull the cardstock via the thread, and the double sided tape will hold the cardstock up against the inside edge of the cell walls. Easier said than done. Took me about three hours to do this, and the tape didn’t really hold that well. I had to fill some gaps. I just used paper towel for that. Despite the tape not sticking in other spots, the threads are useful, albeit a bit awkward, to pull taut while airbrushing.
Fingers crossed that this will keep any overspray into the cell to a minimum. I’m expecting not, but I expect what overspray might get in there I can touch up with hand brushing. The ultimate goal is to prevent any overspray from getting on the nooses. Time will tell.
I figured I should start over (short of stripping all layers off) so I got a fresh primer coat sprayed on this afternoon.
Thanks for looking. Suggestions are welcome.
Cheers,
Mark
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That’s an engineer’s solution to a problem. It might work better than you expect, but be patient while spraying and holding the strings at the same time.
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Still enjoying the thread, Mark, and sorry to hear about your hip! So far, you’ve put up some fantastic solutions to whatever has been thrown at you, it’s inspiring to know that the fixes can be there. I sometimes give up after such simpler issues, now I want to focus efforts on how to overcome whatever I just did!
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@gomeral Thanks! And, honored to be an inspiration! Cheers!
Yesterday I sprayed another base coat on the base and today I got it glossed again.
Going to try and get a wash on it tomorrow.
The masking will be left on until after the final flat coat is applied.
Thanks for looking.
Cheers,
Mark
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Second (Third?) wash applied to the base. I’m happy with this.
Will ultra matt coat it soon and then I intend to apply some pigment here and there for dirt piles. Not sure about that yet. I have only two weathering pigments on hand and, at the moment, and I still need to do a color comparison with the wash.
So, I applied a wash to the Body, Cape, and Cravat as well. The intent, here, is to make the clothing dirty, like the environment the guy lives in. But not quite as dirty as that. This wash was much more diluted than the Base wash.
Results:
So, this is a major learning experience for me. I realize, from my research, that doing a wash on a figure is unusual. My take on the results are:
- The shirt and shirt cuffs turned out phenomenally. Couldn’t be happier with that.
- The suit. Meh. It’s dirtied up somewhat, but not as much as I wanted.
- The cape. The inside red. As the suit, meh. Same conclusion. It’s dirtied up somewhat, but not as much as I wanted.
- The cape. The outside panzer grey. What a bleeping disaster. Ugh.
After reflecting/pondering on what to do (read: another fresh Panzer Grey coat and subsequent dry-brushing?), I worked on “cleaning up” the suit and the cape, by way of some Q-Tips and White Spirit.
Here’s the result of the cape after “clean up”.
It looks much better, but I’m still on the fence about it. Perhaps the more I look at it, the more it will grow on me.
Lesson learned with this (to me) is…washes don’t really work so great with black or, in this case, a very dark grey. I mean, going on wet, it looks fine. Then it dries and ugh. Testament to this observation is, the inside cape red, and the white shirt and cuffs look fine. Not the Panzer Grey.
Honestly, I want this model done. I’m all for learning and intend to delve into learning how to dry-brush properly in the future. I just don’t have the patience to learn that on this model now, and I really don’t want to put the model on hold for that either.
Having said that, I’m inclined to finish it as is.
Thanks for looking. Suggestions are welcome.
Cheers,
Mark
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Mark, you’re doing an AWESOME job on this model kit. Your base looks terrific with the washes you’ve applied and your work on the cape looks good. I know that you want this kit to be completed but you’ve worked so hard on it don’t rush just to finish it.
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Mark, I’ve done a couple Phantoms, the last one was 25 years ago, which I did as an out of the box project. I feel your pain, been through similar struggles off and on since 1963. May I offer a few suggestions? The first is to congratulate you on having the stones to admit that you threw your most valuable tool out of the box: PATIENCE. No modeler can play “Beat The Clock” successfully! Next, having been stuck with warped base parts, I think you climbed out of the hole okay. If you mentioned your method for making the warped base sit flat, I missed it. But it would be a simple matter to cut a piece of sheet styrene (“card stock” north of Ohio 
) large enough for the base to sit on, apply a worm of Milliput to the underside of the base, and push it down onto the styrene. Any excess putty could be cut away before the epoxy sets up. Before you do any of that, there’s a way to fix the Phantom’s foot issue. You could use your Excel saw blade to cut the raised section on which the Phantom’s left foot rests away from the base. Use the figure to reset the position of this piece, which you’d glue to the styrene substrate, and then fill the resulting gaps with epoxy putty. You’d get to bring your sculpting skills to bear, in order to blend the putty into the contours of the base. Once all the putty work was dry, you’d trim the excess card stuck away from the perimeter of the base. Now the base sits flat and the Phantom’s foot lines up where it’s supposed to.
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Thank you so much. I won’t. A promise to myself.
Cheers,
Mark
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Thank you so much for your reply.
Absolutely. I’m always open to suggestions. Having said that, please don’t feel slighted (this goes for anyone) if I don’t use them. The way I see it, this build log, and the request for suggestions, isn’t necessarily just for me. It’s also a record of how things went, some right, some wrong and if someone can learn from this log to prevent their own mistakes, be it a Phantom build or whatever, then that’s a good thing.
Completely agree.
Thanks. I have not mentioned a method for making the warped base sit flat, so no, you didn’t missed that. Having said that, I did come up with a solution weeks ago (just haven’t mentioned it yet). My wife has some poly foam sheet (similar to what would be used in an aquarium filter; I suppose it’s about 1” thick) and some black fabric. I’ve asked her if she could sew up a small piece of the poly foam in the black fabric. So, the idea here is that the model will be sitting on a little flat pillow, so to speak, and the weight of the model itself will sink into the pseudo pillow, thus hiding any imperfections of the distorted base in relation to laying flat. Hoping it works. Having said THAT, your idea is awesome and I will be filing it into my memory bank. This isn’t my last monster model. More to come. Some of which use a similar “rock” base. I intend to do The Wolfman next winter. That has a “rock” base as well. Not to say I’m going to make the same mistake again with that base, but I definitely appreciate the suggestion. It’s a good one.
As for the left foot, again, thank you so much for the idea. That sounds like a very plausible solution. Having said that, I’m okay with the offset. As long as the foot is on the “pedestal” it works for me.
Today, I airbrushed an ultra matte coat on everything. Post airbrush session, I didn’t have much time to look at results, as I had to clean up hurriedly before heading out to a Mother’s Day feast. But a quick glance at that back of the Cape rendered me pleasantly surprised at the results. I’ll get a better look at it tomorrow.
Also, I realized that I had neglected to get a wash on the shirt lapels.
In addition to that, I still want to look at possibly adding some pigment to the base, simulating dirt piles.
Finally, I feel like I’m in the far turn, and heading for the homestretch.
But not forgetting the #1 rule. Patience, Grasshopper.
Thanks for looking.
Cheers,
Mark
Mark,
I’ve always said that whatever the builder considers the right way to build a model IS the right way to build a model. So by all means, take what you want from my suggestions and have fun!
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