Friedrich mod

So I've been buidling the Friedrich (as part of the Küster & Friedrich set by Wave)... if I can still call it that.

I've been making some... well I hesitate to call them improvements, but changes anyway.

While building this guy I felt like I wanted more room to paint... Kind of a stupid reason maybe, but I thought it might be cool to close the side windows and make the front hatch out of steel. Added a little handle (on the right side so it's easy to reach on the 'hand' side of the suit). and an extra camera on the top (I've been assuming the thing in his chest is a set of optics too)... connecting these to his visor I figured he didn't need no stinking windows (Am I taking this too serioulsy?).

Anyway I used green stuff, vallejo putty and a lot of sandpaper to fill in the windows after I glued then in of course.

It's now ready to paint the inside.

Still thinking about whether to put on the curved bars that usually go there (like on the ketzer) but since it doesnt' have those windows... it doesn't really need them anymore... 

What do you guys think? Did I just ruin a perfectly good Friedrich, or full steam ahead (not like there's any going back on this)?  

Comments are more than welcome.

New build: the Küster

So I started a new build.
I actually started it when I was still working on the base for Auricom Griffon but I didn't want to confuse the bloggery.

The build doesn't really deviate from the instructions apart form some tiny additions (a wire going into the IR unit and a coat-hanger antenna for the processor unit in stead of the looped one).

I used Mr Surfacer 1000 to add texture to some parts, I suppose would be cast steel. Other then that nothing to report so far.

The Kuster came with Friedrich of course, which I'll build next so I can paint the simultaneously.
I have a nice idea for the colour scheme which I'll show you in a later post.

Auricom Griffon Cockpit Done

It's all painted and assembled. 

As covered on the earlier posts I added some (soon to be invisible) details and spurred on by Grendel and Dragline I decided to add some decals to those details too. Might as well...

The control panel has a bunch of decals too... one tip for anyone building in the future: there's a decal that goes over the button on the righthand side of the thing (a red/white striped square). To have this fit properly you have to cut away all excess material from the decal, otherwise it won't and tear when you force in on.... which is what I did (like an idiot).

Also added some decals to the inside of the hatch and on the little screen (that what that is right?) that came form a sheet of optional decals from Wave.

Super Jerry further assembly

The build's done. As much it can be for now.

I left some panels off and most main parts aren't glued tight yet as I'm getting ready for paint.

There are already quite a few things I want to do very differently in my next build. Most notably the weld seams... they are waaaay to crude now. I'm just chalking it up to experience and learning. We'll see how they come out after paint and weathering, maybe they be won't as noticably crappy.

I rebuild the rocket launchers out of styrene, as I couldn't get them seamless and smooth looking (without just about sanding the entire rings off anyway). This was quite a learning experience in itself. First cutting the styrene tubing to size was a nightmare, before I found this neat little pipe cutter.

Getting the styrene strip glued onto the barrels was a bit of a b*ll ache too, but I learned that after I scraped the inside of the strip with a knife (making it curl and slightly thinner) and switching to a hotter glue (for the first 3 I used Tamiya Extra Thin, but switched to the hotter Plastruct glue), they went on ok.

I also added some extra nuts/bolts that I cut off the sprue, here and there. Most notably on the back cover, which I couldn't get to fit exactly. I didn't mind the bad fit as I liked the idea of this thing having been taken off and put on a few times, by the field mechanics, and to accentuate this idea I added the bolts there (some rust and chips will be added later too).

There were also some holes in the legs I didn't really like (in the hydraulics and in the gear-looking thing through which the screw goes to attach the leg...if you opted for that construction route) (I didn't). I put another bolt in the hole in the hydraulics part and just filled the hole in the gear looking thing with putty.

That's all for now. 

Next up; deciding on a paint scheme and method… undecided between, AB / HS or all brushes.

Thanks for looking!

Super Jerry construction

With the pilot neatly tucked away in the cockpit, it was time to hide him away in the hull forever.

I glued in the side window and covered them with a couple of layers of Winsor&Newton liquid latex... it's colorless (not very handy) zo I added a couple of extra layers to be sure I got all the whole thing. Left the main canape of for now. Filled up the cockpit with packaging foam and cover that with masking tape.

The hull when together well enough.

Then I grinded off the axle-flange-things to glue in an extra part. In the instructions this is the 'pro' assembly option (the novice option being to glue in the torpedo shaped part in which the bolt go onto which the legs can be screwed later)...
Regrettably I didn't take any pictures of this stage of the build.

I assembled the rest of the hull. Apart from the usual filling and sanding of seams and gaps I replaced all the handles other thin bits with copper wire. Also added weld seems with green stuff.... Some of them are quite crude I will admit, not exactly to scale, I guess. Still learning there.

I filled in the spotlight armature on the front with green stuff as well as I thought it'd be more logical to that thing be a solid part... not hollow. I will sand off the top of the light before glueing it onto it (after paint).

Than it came time to start assembly on the legs... and I ran into a little bit of a problem.

The hull required two of the 8 supplied PE Sleeves. Then the legs required another two each... but when I wanted to attached the hydraulics to the legs I noticed I came up 2 sleeves short. 

Assuming this was a mistake in putting together the kit (maybe they just made a mistake counting the ones they put in the box), I wrote Wave an email. They promptly replied with an answer. 

Apparently mine is part of an older release of the kit, containing an old set of instructions. A corrected version is added to newer releases (probably the one coming in March).

Anyway, the solution is to cut the remaining 2 sleeves in two and use the halves for attaching the hydraulics to the legs....

BUILDER'S TIP:

When you're reading this and you're building this thing please note the following. These sleeves have been known to react to paints or thinners thereof (even the odorless turpenoids), by swelling up. This has in some cases been bad enough to split the legs (and when this happens it will happen after painting).

The solution to this is to cut a thin strip out, down the of length of the sleeve, giving it room to expand  into.

Ketzer

My first post, my first build.
Well this is my first Maschinen Krieger build. I used to do a lot of classic cars and stuff when I was younger, but since I've cleared out some room in my attic to reboot my scale modeling habit, I decided to focus more on Ma.K. and sci-fi kits.
Something I always wanted to do, but was hard as these kits were very hard to come by here in the Netherlands before the old interwebs got turned on.

Anyway the build. A Ketzer from Wave.
A fun build which I kept fairly straight forward. No real mods to speak of. I covered the joints with Milliput and and added some weld seams. All firsts for me, so this whole thing was a very educational experience... There's a ton of things I'm going to do different next time (or not forget, like the sink marks in the inside of the arm cover)

 Here are some pics of the finished thing. I will eventually build this guy a base... which I will post about here. This pics aren't what one would call professional, you'll have to excuse me thing will improve with time.

 Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy.

ps: the back wall of the interior seems to be a really bright blue... it isn't really, not sure how that happened. When I've built him a base I'll get better photographs.