I’m going with a weathered look. Personally, I feel weathering giving a sense of gravitas and history to a piece. Weathering is a form of visual story telling. It makes me wonder what it’s journey was to end up looking like that.
I have that running in my mind when dirtying it up. How did that dirt get there? What’s the envirnoment and weather like where it operates? What are the maintenance conditions? In the end I hope some of what I was thinking reveals itself in the final look.
Thanks Bakster! I’m pleased with the paint job as well. Still working on mastering pre-shading, but I’m happy with the progress I’m making. It really helps mecha pop. All those panels and edges make for great places to apply it.
I’ve tried glueing things freehand. They are about as consistent as when I try drawing a line freehand without a straigh edge. Modeling has certainly taught me to acknowledge and accept personal limitations. That last bit being really important to me. So if I can’t do it with current skill, I find or create tools to help. This particular build has showed me it takes far less effort (and skill) to accomplish gratifying results. I would have never believed that to be true before this.
Oh man. This makes me thinks of all the mistakes I’ve had to fix simply because I saw the finish line and decided to push on. Thankfully, mental klaxons now start going off when I have thoughts like “you don’t need to wait. Look how close your are. Just keep going and you’ll have this finished and ready to present.” Oh boy.
I discovered the hard way that those can be some of the most dangerous thoughts for me. The worst part is when I do push on and things turn out great. That gets me believing I can do it again. And wouldn’t you know, that’s when disaster strikes.[:P] At least now when I push on I ask myself if I’m willing to risk disaster. Sometimes I am, and when disaters does strike, I usually maintain my calm and push on. Accepting the risk ahead of time seems to help keep me from losing my sh*t when things go awry. Not always, but more often than not.
All the above is probably why I slow down so much when getting cloe to the end of a build.
LOL, there are some amazing weekend builds the forum members turn out. I don’t know how they do it. I don’t think I’ll ever be a seasoned modeler. I’m too busy trying to push myself. Makes it hard to recognize “good enough”. Unless I’m sick of a build in which case “good enough” is equivalent to done and therefore awesome.
This is the first model I built when I got back into the hobby three years ago.
It took me over a month of evenings and weekends to build and paint it. I have it in a central position of my collection. He not only re-ignited my interest in bulding models, he’s also my inspiration for developing skill.
Whenever I wonder if I’m really growing as a modeler I lookup and see that guy and everything that’s followed since and I can’t help but recognize how I’ve grown. It’s what keeps me trying. That, and the words of encouragement from you and the other wonderful members of this forum. Keeps me going back to my stash to grab another kit and discover what the next build will reveal.
The Spartan is shaping up really nice. The finish line is so close, you can almost taste it. I mean, figuratively. Nobody likes to lick a painted stripe on the pavement! At least I don’t think so… [^o)]
My first anime mecha build was a small 1/550 scale marine Mobile Armor from Gundam:
That was way back in 1983! Your modeling progress has been light years faster than mine!
ROFL! I can freely admit to never being tempted to lick pavement. [:D]
That a great model! I can honestly say it is way better than anything I ever did in my youth.
Thanks for the kind words. I think I have an unfair advantage though. Modern access to high quality information and the financial resources of an adult. And I plan on making full use of them too! [:D]
I really didn’t like that green, practically anything was better. I think the color choices for my Macross mecha are being influenced by modern armor. Which makes a sort of sense.
Almost forgot quick snapshot of the missiles with the decals.
I think they look a lot better with the fake labeling. The color isn’t quite what I was aiming for, but I’m good with it.
BTW, those were printed on the new laserprinter. So much easier to work with than inkjet decals. The color reproduction on the laser printer isn’t as nice as the inkjet. However, the ease of use more than makes up for it.
You can print them and pretty much use them right away. No extra coats or anything. Also, the transfer film seems to be more durable. I’ve not had any issues with tearing on these. Not a single failed decal, yet. They’ve all applied flawlessly.
Well, to be fair, I was already building planes and tanks well before my first Gundam kit, and was going into college at the time. I was already using putty and an airbrush, so I wasn’t starting from zero.
But the early years building Gunpla was tough - most kits lacked polycaps (as you know so well), so we had to scrounge spare ones from other kits and learn to modify the joints. And a lot of the early kits had TERRIBLE proportions, requiring slicing, shimming, and whatnot. Today’s kits look a heck of a lot better out of the box than their earlier counterparts. It’s good to be in the 21st century.
But your Spartan build reminds me that there were also a lot of great looking kits back in the day that, with some TLC, can still keep up with modern kits. You have re-infected my brain, and so I’m looking to work on at an old MSV (Mobile Suit Variation) Prototype Dom from the early 1980s that has been in my stash. It’s one of those good looking kits that only needs modern jointing, better hands, and some improved details. It’s also one of my favorite Gundam MSV kits.
So you see PG, the cross-contamination goes both ways. [:P] I make you modify your kit to incorporate missile bays, you make me want to do an old-school rehabilitation project. But as you mentioned, we have modern resources available to us that did not exist 40 years ago.
Rock on PG, and we’ll see your Spartan on the battlefront!
Getting the decals to lay down nicely is taking a lot more time than I predicted.
It’s not that they look bad, I’d just like them to look better. So it’s prick little holes on thie latest bit of silvering. Apply Micro-Sol. Wait to dry. Check. Repeat.
Tedious but it’s getting there. It won’t be 100% but it will be far less noticeable by the time I’m done.
Because the Micro-Sol is softening the decals so much I’m going really slow. Last thing I want to do is start destroying what’s been laid down.
Since all of the waiting is creating alot of down time I’ve started on a small Star Blazers 2202 model. I’ll make a separate thread for that.
So true. Now is an amazing time to be a modeler. The improvement is so great that going back to an older kit can be jarring, but there’s something quite gratifying when you look at a kit where you had to put in that extra effort to make it look nearly as good as the modern version.
Not being very familiar with the Gundam universe I had to look up the Dom Prototype MSV. I found some pics of the original kit and it looks a fun build.
MWAHAHAHA! The tables have turned! LOL [:D]
Thanks, and I look forward to seeing what you do with the Dom!
Speaking of older kits. I stumbled across the U.C. Hard Graph kits and sincerely hope they reissue them. Those looked like a lot of fun. Second hand market is bloody expensive!
Bandai has been stingy when it comes to reissuing older kits. There used to be a day when it was so easy to get whatever you wanted. Bandai also used to post re-release schedules so nobody would get into a panic wondering when a particular kit would be reissued. Those days are gone now.
That being said, I have the big hover truck kit in the stash. And I need to thin the collection. If you are interested, PM me!
Decals finally came together yesterday and got them sealed in. There was celebration in the street!
Next level of weathering has begun!
Decided to start with the hands since they looked far to clean for a working bot. Started by adding some Vallejo Oiled earth to all the seams cracks and crevices. Found that this stuff streaks beautifully when wiped down with a cotton swab a few moments after application.
The hands and forearms are showing some character now.
