AG Chopper paints

The painting has begun. 

First a bit of presiding and a base colour. And then layered reds on top. 

All Tamiya acrylics. 

White markings and numbers are still to come, when I've decided on what exactly. 

That's all for today. 

Cheers,

Martijn 

AG Chopper - big update part 2

Aaaaaand we're back. Welcom for part 2 of the AG Chopper Big Update!

So with the two 'aft' parts fixed together and some of he painting under way there was still quite a bit of work to be done. Especially to the under side... it needed details. Tons of them (or that's what it felt like). Stupidly, however, these are the only three pictures I have of that... (you can see more of it a bit further down)

Another big thing was some ballast/AG steering type tanks I had dreamt up in early concept sketches... need to go under the front of the cockpit and sticking out the side.

Here 's that concept sketch again:

 

 Those tank things were ginving me a headache because I couldn't really think of a good way to attache them but also have them on sort symmetrically and sticking out at the right angle....

In the end I just went for it and stuck them on with Green Stuff... They are on at kind of the right angle, in kind of the right place and kind of symmetrical. In other words: good enough, let's hope know one will notice.... and since it's only you reading this; don't tell anyone. 

 

A quick dry-fit with all the other parts...

And as you can also tell from the concept sketch there's one last obvious feature that has so far been left out (and which I had kind of forgotten about too)... it's the flag.
And because I had kind of forgotten about it I had not though of anywhere to stick it on. So I had to scratch some kind of flag mast holder thing... which I then did. From styrene plate and pipe. And glue. The flag itself is made from brass rod and masking tape... I had considered using actual fabric, but it would never feel to scale and be too heavy. This was a lot easier.

And this is where it stands now. Next up is base paints, top paints, decals and effects... and some way of getting this thing to rest on something... In my infinite stupidity I haven't though of a way to have this thing stand on its own... yet.

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed it.

Cheers,
Martijn

AG Chopper - big update part 1

Yes hi there... it's been a while. Again. I know, I know.

Been doing a lot of work on the Anti Gravity Chopper scratch build.
The build is pretty much done now and because of the way I've put it together (stupidly) I've also started painting some of the parts.

This will probably be the first post of a couple because it would be nonsense to smash it all into one.

Anyway let's see where we last left it...

Ah yes... Well this has developed. And mainly in the details department.

For instance the cockpit got a little more complete... with steering and oxygen for the pilot. Plus a bunch of other hoses and wiring.

 

The tail end got some much needed aero dynamic controls like a tail fin and a some wing type things. How would one ever expect this thing to fly otherwise...

 

I also changed the tail lights because the old ones made it look a little too 'paleo futuristic 50s'. I used some Gundam detailing part for this... Actually various Gundam detailing parts were used quite a lot. 

 

This is where the build started to come together pretty well and I though it time to start painting some of the parts that wouldn't be able to paint after assembly any way... firs the main generator. The MK6 Kaminari AG field generator... (yes I actually thought of a model name for my imaginary machine)...

The more observant of you... might notice the ventilation unit at the tope is different from what is was. Again I didn't like the old one. Too clunky. This one is better.

Also the propulsion jet got a paint job... all these only received minor weathering and washes because I'll do that at a later stage, when it's closer to complete. That way I can keep it more consistent overall.

 

Also the pilot and part of the cockpit got their first layers of paint...

 

At this stage the whole thing consisted of three separate pieces. The front end the bit that had the seat on it and the tail section. With parts of the cockpit painted I could glue together the seat part and the tail sections. It took a a lot of one-eyed looking to get it all aligned and straight (as was possible) but when glued it was good to now have two parts in stead of three...

Before I could fix the to parts together there was one detail I needed to change. In the picture above you can see wire coming out of the helmet going into the back of the head rest. I didn't want to fix the pilot to the chair yet, but I noticed I wouldn't be able to get those wires into that little holes after assembly. There simply wouldn't be enough room to maneuver.
So I dreamed up some device I fixed to this seat belt that would have those wires go in and a bigger on come out which goes into the side of the chair under the seat... problem solved without loss of wiring (I love the look of wiring).

Parts were cleared for bonding. And of course I added more details too... a process which seems continuous by this point.

 

So that's it for this update... will be continued shortly in part 2...

New Rally Pawn and Camel team finished

Well that's that.
After a few more oil stains and a dusting of pigments I'm declaring this team finished...

Cheers,
Martijn