Tsukuda Hobby 1/9 T-800

[tcoat]

My son picked this up in a comic book store clearance bin for $20. He is very eager to have it built and since it should be straight forward and quick I will try to keep the liltte guy happy (he is 40).

These molds have been used by two or three other companies over the years but this kit was the first release so the sprues are beautifully crisp with zero cleanup required. Some of the detail is simplified but there is more than enough that it should pop when given a nice wash.

 










I have always objected to calling the terminators beyond the T-70 as "Cyberdyne T-XXX" as anything after Judgement day was a Skynet creation since Cyberdyne ceased to exist.

[project510]

Very cool. How tall is this thing when complete do you know? Should look awesome on a shelf haha.

[tcoat]

Probably about 10” or so. The pose out of the box and using the stand would be sort of straight up and down, at attention, present arms boring so I will be articulating it to the box cover stride.

[keavdog]

What paint will you use? Alclad airframe aluminum AL119 gets pretty chrome like.

[tcoat]

May 7, 2024 17:11:05 GMT -5 keavdog said:

What paint will you use? Alclad airframe aluminum AL119 gets pretty chrome like.

Want to avoid the really heavy chrome look that these sometimes get finished in. Some of the movie lighting makes them look more chrome plated than they really are especially walking through ash as they tend to do. Will use some of my precious Modelmaster chrome and then knock that down a bit more with a black Future wash. Previous experience with this combo tells me I should get the reasonably shiny realistic steel finish I am after with some excellent highlighting as a bonus.


This lighting shows how the finish is reflective but more like polished steel than chrome. This is my goal.

[tcoat]

Quick build but some really strange engineering going on. It is like they started out to make it articulated and then changed their minds and said "screw it the builder can do it".

The head consists of two side pieces that join in the rear and a face that inserts into them. This results in a T shaped seam on the top and rear. Fit is very good and a bit of CA filler should make it disappear.



Arms are straight forward. The elbows are trapped posts that pivot but then when you glue on the fixed actuator rods they are immobile. The rods are already in the right lengths for the positions I was after though so all is good.



Legs are supposed to bend at the knee but again the actuators are fixed so I left the rods off until the legs get attached to the body.



The torso has a flanged post in the center that get's trapped by the spine but yet again it is negated later on by firm mounted rods preventing any movement. I glued the torso to the hips with just a slight left angle since the head will be turned as the last part of the gif above shows.



Starting to really come together.




Now, if built with the parts as is and on the provided stand the result would be the most boring, static and least menacing T-800 ever.



The instructions do however give a method of positioning the actuator rods.



That seemed like gross overkill though since there is some play in the locator pins. For the retracted rods on the rearward leg I just cut them off at the cylinder, removed about an 8h of an inch and butt jointed the rod back on. For the forward leg I simply cut off the locater pin, moved the connection up the inner leg a tad and glued the rod on there. If a Skynet engineering bot sees it they may catch on but nobody else will.
The result is a T-800 turning to look to it's left while striding across the wasteland.

[keavdog]

Great progress. What type of plastic is it? I remember some early figure kits like this being vinyl and difficult.
I was thinking you could resize the actuator rods to suit the pose you wanted when I was reading along. I wonder if anyone made a set of movable actuators for the kits?
Looking forward to paint!

[tcoat]

May 8, 2024 19:58:20 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Great progress. What type of plastic is it? I remember some early figure kits like this being vinyl and difficult.
I was thinking you could resize the actuator rods to suit the pose you wanted when I was reading along. I wonder if anyone made a set of movable actuators for the kits?
Looking forward to paint!

It is styrene but a bit softer than normal.

I have done vinyl figures before. They are not to bad once you get the hang of them.



The changes in length to get any sort of normal looking gait are so small that the whole drilling and inserting is really overkill to me. If somebody really, really, wanted to be able to make repositionable  limbs for some reason all the rods and cylinders could be replaced with metal or even styrene rod and tube that could slide and pivot. Once mine is positioned it is staying that way so all fixed is fine. 

[Real G]

I had started to re-joint the kit but lost steam. I look forward to seeing yours built up! The weakest looking parts are the hands, as they are kinda flat and don’t really look like the real thing.

[tcoat]

May 8, 2024 20:16:43 GMT -5 Real G said:

I had started to re-joint the kit but lost steam. I look forward to seeing yours built up! The weakest looking parts are the hands, as they are kinda flat and don’t really look like the real thing.

I may cut out the material between the fingers which would help a lot but am a bit nervous I will just end up with a bunch of severed digits.  Will decide once I see how much a dark wash hides the material.  Even as is I don’t think they will stand out much once the whole thing comes together even though they are very noticeable as sub components. The one holding the gun looks very odd with the straight fingers.  

[kyledehart5]

This is awesome! Great start to it. Anything Terminator makes for a fun subject in my opinion.

[406 Silverado]

Some really good work going into the stance/ position of the whole thing Tony. That picture you posted of the T-800 on the instruction sheet just looks goofy so your improvements are going to be WELL beyond that for sure. Looking forward to seeing the painting and detailing on this guy. 

[tcoat]

May 9, 2024 4:53:13 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Some really good work going into the stance/ position of the whole thing Tony. That picture you posted of the T-800 on the instruction sheet just looks goofy so your improvements are going to be WELL beyond that for sure. Looking forward to seeing the painting and detailing on this guy. 

Well painting was easy since it was a simple coat of gloss black followed by chrome. The only details are the white teeth and red eyes. Should be dry enough to handle and post up pictures by this evening. It came out REALLY well and the black wash should rock.

My goal for stance is to line up with these guys.

[406 Silverado]

May 9, 2024 5:05:52 GMT -5 tcoat said:

May 9, 2024 4:53:13 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Some really good work going into the stance/ position of the whole thing Tony. That picture you posted of the T-800 on the instruction sheet just looks goofy so your improvements are going to be WELL beyond that for sure. Looking forward to seeing the painting and detailing on this guy. 

Well painting was easy since it was a simple coat of gloss black followed by chrome. The only details are the white teeth and red eyes. Should be dry enough to handle and post up pictures by this evening. It came out REALLY well and the black wash should rock.

  You've got me on the edge of my seat Tony........

[tcoat]

May 9, 2024 5:15:17 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

May 9, 2024 5:05:52 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Well painting was easy since it was a simple coat of gloss black followed by chrome. The only details are the white teeth and red eyes. Should be dry enough to handle and post up pictures by this evening. It came out REALLY well and the black wash should rock.

  You've got me on the edge of my seat Tony........

[keavdog]

May 8, 2024 20:33:40 GMT -5 tcoat said:

I may cut out the material between the fingers which would help a lot but am a bit nervous ...  

We saw what you did with that Apache rotor head.  

[tcoat]

May 9, 2024 8:32:01 GMT -5 keavdog said:

May 8, 2024 20:33:40 GMT -5 tcoat said:

I may cut out the material between the fingers which would help a lot but am a bit nervous ...  

We saw what you did with that Apache rotor head.  

[tcoat]

Quick coat of gloss black to look for bad seams. All looked goood.




Then Modelmaster Chrome enamel to everything.







And the grand total of detail painting

[keavdog]

Chrome looks sharp!

[tcoat]

Tinted Future wash on head. You can see the slight discoloration on the forehead and jaw which is exactly the shiny but slightly tarnished steel effect I was after.












And a more reasonable viewing distance




Hand on left with wash. hand on right base paint only. I made a very abortive attempt at cutting the material from between the fingers on the right side and as I fear he would lose them so more black between them down the road.

[buddho]

Very coool!🤓

[armornutii]

    Uzi 9mm, phase plasma rifle in the 40watt range.

[tcoat]

May 9, 2024 19:12:37 GMT -5 armornutii said:

    Uzi 9mm, phase plasma rifle in the 40watt range.

[kyledehart5]

Excellent. That metallic finish is perfect. Just what I’d expect to be killed by out in the wasteland

[handiabled]

Your wash techniques really make detail pop! The metallic finish on this looks awesome

[tcoat]

May 10, 2024 0:51:21 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Excellent. That metallic finish is perfect. Just what I’d expect to be killed by out in the wasteland

May 10, 2024 1:51:02 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Your wash techniques really make detail pop! The metallic finish on this looks awesome

Thanks guys. It is actually a bit more glossy in real life but I had to tone down the lighting a bit to get the pictures.

[406 Silverado]

May 9, 2024 18:22:34 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Tinted Future wash on head. You can see the slight discoloration on the forehead and jaw which is exactly the shiny but slightly tarnished steel effect I was after.

 This is just sensational work Tony. You really brought that to life with the details and effects man. WOW!!

[tcoat]

May 10, 2024 14:43:19 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

May 9, 2024 18:22:34 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Tinted Future wash on head. You can see the slight discoloration on the forehead and jaw which is exactly the shiny but slightly tarnished steel effect I was after.

 This is just sensational work Tony. You really brought that to life with the details and effects man. WOW!!

Well l would love to take credit for technique but most of the praise needs to go to whoever sculpted that mold.  The details are exquisite. There is about 15 minutes total work put into painting and washing that head.  The rest of the body detail ranges from OK to pretty good but the head is the molding star.  

[deafpanzer]

Way too cool! It will look great next to your other Terminator builds.

[406 Silverado]

May 10, 2024 15:20:25 GMT -5 tcoat said:

May 10, 2024 14:43:19 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

 This is just sensational work Tony. You really brought that to life with the details and effects man. WOW!!

Well l would love to take credit for technique but most of the praise needs to go to whoever sculpted that mold.  The details are exquisite. There is about 15 minutes total work put into painting and washing that head.  The rest of the body detail ranges from OK to pretty good but the head is the molding star.  

  I was just thinking about this build yesterday Tony. You got any updates on this modern art masterpiece?