MK44 Prototype Completed

MK44 Prototype Complete

It's done and dusted... with some pigments (ba-dum zing).
I washed this guy with oils.

Added some last minute details (a coiled cord coming off his helmet) and dusted him up with a layer of pigments.

Sorry for not taking your through this one step by step, but the pics should speak for themselves...

Beteer pictures of the finished thing are to follow...

MK44 paints

Just like the last time it's been a while since I updated this build so this is going to have quite a lot of pics... I'll keep the reading to a minimum...

Here goes:

The idea of an open cockpit got me thinking about one detail I had kind of ignored before.
I put a strip at the bottom of the front part so that there is a clear barrier between the inside and the outside... It wouldn't make sense to me having this thing be in outer space without the possibility of sealing the cockpit.
I realise it won't be visible and it would have rubber sealing strips of some kind and that this is all just fantasy anyway... but I just didn't like the cockpit to be as 'airy' as it was.

With the build finished it was time for the paints...
With the 'prototype/maintenance I wanted a unconventional paint scheme. And after doing a little test in Photoshop I went for a bright orange with dark grey/blue parts.

Next up decals... which turned out to be a minor nightmare.
I finished up the paints. And started the decals, but they kept tearing and seemed to stick to the model really fast (like right at touch down). I had put down a coat of clear gloss varnish, which usually prevents this from happening but this time something was obviously different.

Anyway, ripping and frustration galore. I would slide the decals on a layer of micro set (or sol... the blue one), but it would just settle really quick and be stuck. Or only partly, which would cause it to rip.

I had done the '3' on the top and wanted to put the big 3s on the hip plates too... but of course the first one ripped.
So I ended up painting them on by hand... a bit weird painting the decals as they come with the kit, but since the first on went on pretty well I had to stick with the 3s

After this was done, the project ground to a hold. The figure needed some arms and I had ordered a kit of 1/20 F1 pit crew figures from Hobby Link Japan but it took a while for them to arrive.

Anyway when they finally did I grafted them on and added some aves to make him look like Frankenstein's monster.
I also modded toe helmet to open up. An idea I admittedly stole from Love Love Garden who put out some AMAZING 1/20 scale figures and add-on parts for MAschinen Krieger kits.

Anyway this is how the figure turned out:

And that's it for now.
I'm still undecided on some added white details to the outside of the machine. Just something to make it a little more special, give some more personality... as soon as I come up with something I'l slap it on and start weathering this guy...

Until then, thanks for looking.

Cheers,
Martijn

MK44 mods

Well it's been a while since my last confession, but here's another update on the MK44 build... Quite a lot has happened even though not a lot seems to have changed.

The main build is done, but when I finished it there was one thing that just annoyed me to bits.
And that thing was the gun.
Not so much the weapon itself, but more the limited and frankly stupid way, the suit was able to hold it. Movement in the arms is so (limited) that it can hold point the gun to the side. To its left side.
That was just too dumb. This is supposed to be a machine of war.... in space.
Anway I decided to scratch it a new gun and I decided to integrate it into it's left arm. Like the smaller Ma.K suits.

It took a few attempts before I settled on a design I though best followed the lines and flow of the suit.
The first attempt I use the cap of a Copic marker and some of the remains of the original gun but this one looked too much like a pirate's peg leg:

Then the second attempt adding a more asymmetric element... didn't really solve the problem:

Then a builder friend of mine noted to lack of continuation of the lines of the arm.. and I had to agree, so I scraped the whole marker cap approach.

Third attempt was getting somewhere but still a little boring. I used acrylic nails, styrne tube and Aves putty for this.

The final design was close enough but had a little more detail:

So that was the weapon sorted. Then there was the issue of the shoulder plates. These things... what can I say. The didn't fit right, didn't fall naturally, they hit the top of the lower arm, the just looked off.

So I got rid of them. I tried shortening them but it just didn't work, so I chucked them.

But now the shoulder joints were too exposed, which wouldn't make sense on a futuristic space war machine... so I scratched him a couple of shoulder cover type things.

I think they work. Someone on Maschinen Kreuger's forum said it made him look less "Ma.K" which I get, but I decided not to care.

After a lot of ooh-ing and ah-ing I decided I was going to be presenting this guy in a garage / maintenance type of situation. The cockpit turned out pretty well and I don't think I have the guts or the talent to ever take a hacksaw to a regular Ma.K kit to scratch an open suit version so I figured this was going to be it. An open suit. 

This will need some further detailing/modding/scratch building. 

I want him connected to a good few hoses and wires eventually and a logical one would be a fuel hose.... but where would it go. The only really logical spot was und the bulbs cap on the back of the fuel tank. So I pried it off and turned into a petrol cap with a tank opening under it. 

The hose will have nice nozzle on the end of it eventually...

And then there was some further work to be done on the cockpit. Apart from som more painted details that I plan to do the armholes needed to be more like actual holes.

They are pretty shallow in the orginal kit so I took the dremel to it and deepened the holes. The I was satisfied with the depth (or rather when I was afraid got any deeper in fear of the arms falling off) I made some paying on the inside with Aves putty.

I nicked the left 'leather' part of the arm hole so this will need some further restoration and a new paint job but I'm pretty happy with the results thus far.

In the meantime I've also started work on an Oskar but I'll show you more of that next time...

Until then... meet Eddie. He's got asthma....

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Cheers,

Martijn