DocRob

Better now, phew, thanks for all your help and recommendations. This time, I applied a very faint layer, which only lightened the background grey of the underlying Mr, Surfacer 1500 grey primer. This was followed by three more misted layers with a drying time of at least 15 minutes between each. I raised the air pressure at about 2,0 bar and used the paint without leveling thinner. No orange peel and no attacked plastic, luckily. After a pause of two hours, I added four more layers, the last being a bit more rich, with a half hour between applications. Now it looks good. I also sprayed all parts in white, which will later painted fluorescent red, because on the body, these areas are also painted white down under and I didn´t want another hue in the red. Cheers Rob

Thank you Craig, I will dig a bit deeper into the videos. I didn´t know, that my usual primers should not work with resin bodies and am wondering a bit about it. I used Mr. Surfacer on smaller resin kits and resin aftermarket a lot, without any issues. Cheers Rob

It seems, I underestimated the hotness of the Zero paint, Craig. Thank you for letting me know your experiences. I hope, my next application in said faint layers with higher air pressure setting will lead to better results. I have to master these type of colors, as I have quite a lot stashed for certain projects. The MP4/6 is now officially a test mule with only slim hopes for a better outcome. Cheers Rob

Thank you Alan, I learned so much through MSW and LSM, that it is a pleasure for me to give a bit of my experiences back. With the McLaren. it is like I stepped a Voodoo on the foot, but some projects are like that. If it will be finished, it will not be a show stopper, but I hope to learn a lot out of it for future car building projects. Cheers Rob

A while ago, the McLaren was shelved, because I couldn´t mount the body onto the floorpan, without having a gap of 1-2 mm between them. I wanted to keep the body removable and because, I had no idea how to tackle this without the gap, the MP4/6 got benched. Then I had an idea. When I bought my MFH Brabham lately, I also ordered some aluminum rivets and when I saw these, I thought, I could drill tiny holes into the overlapping parts of body and floorpan and insert the rivets, which locks the parts in the correct position. Done and almost invisible, when painted later. I caught some fresh wind on that project and started the bodyworks with priming. Mr. Surfacer 1500 went on super smooth. I wanted to accomplish a bit more practice with paints like Zero or Number 5, before I continue with my Cobra Coupe. Good that I´ve done so, because... ... then disaster struck. I sprayed Zero Paints MP White on in a light but covering layer and all looked good for a minute or two. Then, grey shadows loomed through the paint, followed by the late forming of orange peel. Somehow the paint must have reacted with the plastic through the primer. Normally, that would have been the point to bin the kit, but like I said, I´d like to get a better feel for these kind of colors and finishes, so I stripped and sanded the parts for some hours and will redo everything. I found a video abut how to apply Zero Paints best. It states, that you only mist a tiny bit of color onto the primer wait for ten to fifteen minutes for the next layer and so on. You should use 1,5 bar for that. I usually spray low pressure highly thinned for best results, but these colors seem to need instant drying through the air pressure, because they are so hot. Lets see, how the next try works out. Cheers Rob

Thank you Ken, I will post some better pictures when completely finished and will add some of my thoughts about the project. Cheers Rob

Thank you Phil and Alan. This projects theme came instantly to my mind, when the "Sandbox" group build started over on Large Scale Modeller. The Neuspotter drone was no part of the initial idea, but when I saw it, it reminded me, that I wanted to build one since my teen age, when it first came out. What better than to grab the 40th anniversary edition and add it to the scene, where it supports the sinister atmosphere. I wanted a bit of black humor or irony seep out of this little dio and hope to have done so. Cheers Rob

Almost done with the project. I added lots of details to my main acts, like a syringe made from clear plastic sprue and metal rods and a tiny push disc, dipped into clear green. The mask of the pilot was hanging out of his cockpit by it´s tube made from an old guitar string and many more. The threaded rod, holding the Neuspotter was painted in sand color and surrounded by dry grass from my garden to hide it a bit and simulate a hovering effect. Then I glued the Kampfanzug in place on it´s stone and used AK´s desert sand paste to design the ground. With a wet brush, I formed the typical sand ripples and amassed the sand on the front right side, where the blasting storm came from. Next, I pressed the weapons, the pilots helmet and all the empty squeezed water bottles into the paste and added very fine real sand on top. I used the sunny day to get some really harsh lighted outdoor shots, but will later add some from the photo box, when finished. Cheers Rob

Today, I finished the basic setting. The main components of the Neuspotter were airbrushed with chalky white color (washable white) and then weathered with a stiff brush, but only slightly, as the rescue drone didn´t suffer that much. This was followed by a DAK wash with pigments, dotted onto the white color. After drying and manipulating a bit with a flat brush, I assembled the main components of the Neuspotter and added some wires and coils to arms and "body". Then I threaded the drone on it´s mount and the angle, it was hovering was like I desired. The backrest of the deceased pilots Kampfanzug was made from two lava stones from my garden. I liked the bubbly appearance, as it looks a bit strange. Next, I have to add the various bits and pieces, like water bottles, weapons, helmet, etc. and design the dio with sand baste and sand. Cheers Rob

Glad you pulled through this demanding build, Alan, if not only for showing us a beautiful rendition of that not often kitted bird. With the NMF you captured the retro futuristic look of the Yak perfectly. Cheers Rob

There is not a lot, I have done lately. I like the creative phase of airbrushing and preparing a certain finish, but it comes with unavoidable drying times, which is time consuming. The Neuspotter got red dots, but wait ugly dots, why? Well, the solution to the riddle are the red crosses, which were masked then, using Kabuki tape cut quickly on my Infiny cutting mat. It´s a rescue drone. Next wase the base coloring, sprayed in Tamiya XF khaki. The other parts got different metal shades all from the Extreme metallic range. The exhausts were sprayed with dark exhaust color, the spindly arms with titanium, the drum like anti-grav unit in duraluminum and finally the lower body in gun metal. Cheers Rob

I did realize that, my Cobra Coupe as well as the Ferrari 250 TRI are long gone now. The Williams FW16, I bought was ordered on the firs day of the pre order timeframe luckily. The kit never made it to the normal selling page. Yesterday I received this beauty, which was up as a re-release on the MFH page for one day last month and I missed it. Luckily SpotModel had one left. Cheers Rob

My base will be "framed" by a plastic tub, which I sprayed in sand color. For the hovering drone, I added a threaded rod, epoxied onto the base and a nut also epoxied into the lower part of the Neuspotter. I hope, I can cover the rod with some dried grass later. I used it, because it allows to adjust the height of the drone over the surface as well as the angle, because the nut is not glued in in a right angle. The bowl was then filled with plaster of paris. Meanwhile, I primed the parts of the Neuspotter in black and white, black for the pure metal parts, like arms and exhausts and white for the rest. Cheers Rob

Congratulations Craig, what a beauty. I hope we will see a future build log about this beauty. I ordered another 1/12 MFH kit yesterday and also received one in 1/20. Lets say, I´m hooked . Cheers Rob

The huge Neuspotter drone is nearly finished. Not shown on the pic are the antigrav unit and the exhaust nozzles, which will be added after painting. If I use the Neuspotter in my dio, I have to find a way to let it hover. I guess, I will use slide fit brass tubes for that, epoxied to the base and the drone. Cheers Rob

Let me introduce you to this sinister looking drone. The Neuspotter is also based on a design Kow Yokoyama for the MaschinenKrieger universe. The kit was first issued by Nitto 40 years ago and my Wave boxing marks the 40th anniversary. Still it looks cooler and somehow more frightening than modern drones. I started with the sensor unit, which besides the strange colored plastic features coil springs, vinyl tube and different wire diameters for the numerous antennas. The age of the mouldings is visible, but everything fits as it should. I will quick build the Neuspotter and then decide, if I add him in my scenery. To get a better idea about how the Neuspotter looks, I add this illustration, which comes with the kit. Cheers Rob

Thank you Alan, I like to build up this kind of weathering in thin layers, which leads to a more real look with depth. Now I have to think about the base and setting. Cheers Rob

Well, if that´s your definition of the state the poor pilot is inn, OC . Cheers Rob

After evaluating different methods on clear spare parts, I decided to use Tamiya Extra Thin for my sand blasted windows. I used the supplied brush nearly dry and applied the cement very carefully. This is only preliminary, to check the effect and more effects will be added, especially for the front window. Cheers Rob

Thank you OC, dusting and some sand residues are for granted. I may try to go a bit further, possibly trying matte clear or even CA glue or thinner for fogging. Cheers Rob

On went the second layer of dry paint dabbed on. This time it was a light bone color, called Moonray Flesh. I also applied the paint with a stiff old brush, but this time not only in the direction of the sandblast, but also a bit more from above to simulate some bleaching. This is only the basic weathering and more will be added later with sand deposits and dust everywhere. I have to decide, how to weather the clear parts. I´m open to any suggestions. The sandblast should have been blinded this canopy side, but the other and front window should be relatively clear. Cheers Rob

Time for some pointillism. I lied a bit about the looming panic, because the hairspray didn´t work like it should. I hate to alter my original plan, but this time, I didn´t bin the project and instead worked on a plan to add the sandblast effect with different kind of paints, dabbed dryly onto the surface with an old brush. It took a while to get the Extreme Metal Steel dotted, like intended, one side blasted, the other nearly unharmed. Cheers Rob

Wow, looks so cool in yellow and the use of enamels is very interesting, especially, as there are no decals involved, which would have called for a clear coat. Cheers Rob

Just stumbled into your build log Chris and your Fly looks absolutely fantastic. I love the bright colors and the lots of eye catching details, like cannon rigging, etc. Cheers Rob

It´s time for some heavy wear and tear for the Kampfanzug. Unfortunately, the hairspray wasn´t working like planned, possibly due to many layers of paint and varnish on top. Right, plan B, scratching, chiseling, grinding, sanding and rubbing was incorporated using a variety of tools, to achieve different looking wear, a messy affair. I don´t like the effect right now, as it doesn´t look like my planned sandblast treatment, but it will have to do as a first stage for weathering. I will try to accomplish the sandblast effect with sponge chipping and stiff brush dabbing. You can clearly see, that one side is almost stripped of paint, while the other is relatively unharmed. I want to simulate a one sided sandblast, to add some dynamic into the weathering. Cheers Rob