Online Model Contest

[kyledehart5]

Thank goodness. I need an extra day off. Lol

[Real G]

Hey no rest for the weary - or for the slowpokes like me!

Hookay, the modeling mood has returned, and I am regularly working on the Gelf.  Actually, I'm running out of time, which acts like a hot poker stick on the backside of my donkey-butt!

The crotch armor flap hinge has been repaired and now functions as intended.  Rather than placing the hinge high up on the flap, it was located lower and away from the flap to provide a tilting action to avoid fouling the upper torso.

Gelf-41 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Gelf-42 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Gelf-43 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

I found that the thighs fouled the crotch, so some aftermarket rocket bells were cut down into rings and glued to the crotch to act as spacers.  Plus the anime line art of the Gelf had this feature - bonus.

Gelf-45 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Gelf-46 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

The grenade launchers have been added to the forearms.  Oops, digital photography is a cruel mistress - the spare magazines need some light sanding.



MZ3, how goes the Government Type walker?



Hurry, Star force, there are only two weeks left!

[mz3]

The blue plastic is killing me! It doesn't want to stay together. If it weren't for that, I'd be further along. Just now I had to go over the seams, again, with filler to get them to disappear. Very annoying. Arms are almost done, I need to figure out the "shields" on the hips, legs are 75% done. I'll post pics in a while. I'm just taking a little break from this and the X-wing.

[Real G]

Aug 30, 2024 15:30:05 GMT -5 mz3 said:

The blue plastic is killing me! It doesn't want to stay together. If it weren't for that, I'd be further along. Just now I had to go over the seams, again, with filler to get them to disappear. Very annoying. Arms are almost done, I need to figure out the "shields" on the hips, legs are 75% done. I'll post pics in a while. I'm just taking a little break from this and the X-wing.

MZ3, try using stretched sprue from the kit to fill in the seams.  Use liquid cement to get it in really, good, wait about 15 minutes, then start lightly sanding the excess sprue off.  Apply a quick brush of liquid cement after sanding to seal everything in and to spot imperfections.  It works well getting rid of ghost seams.

[mz3]

I actually braced the parts with styrene strips and cement on the back. Then after that dried I filled the cracks with mr dissolved putty. Then mr surfacer 500 after sanding. This blue plastic just wants to fight the whole way. The parts that make up the upper torso fought aswell. I literally had to soak them with cement and clamp them together. The grey seems fine, no problems at all.

[Real G]

It is weird that the blue plastic on your kit isn't staying together. Those old kits never seemed to suffer from any adhesion issues. Anyway, I wish you success and look forward to seeing updates!

I have to go full bore over this weekend and finish all remaining work on the Gelf, as I have to start painting next week. The most challenging bit will be making the clear visor. I am thinking of pouring plaster into the head to make a buck to vac form over.

My friends are coming over for our monthly get-together this Saturday, so for once I plan on actually doing some modeling. I am getting jazzed. Or is that panic I'm feeling?

[Real G]

I was able to replace the blah-looking foot detail with proper full cylinders.  They are loose right now and need a bit of de-burring before being glued in place.



I am posting this from an actual computer at home!      Recently I have been out of the office a lot due to doctor's appointments and other things, so I finally caved and asked for a laptop device.  The downside is work will follow me home, but the upside is that I can post photos.  An equitable trade.

[mz3]

Hip joints installed...








Should be standing by later today. I also started adding inbthe details lost by sanding and working the parts together. I also added some details to hide the nastiness aroundnthe bas of the new waist. I just didn't fell like sanding and filling and sanding and filling and sanding and filling... I'm already sanding and filling too much as it is. I should have just done the V1 MG Grandpa.

[Real G]

MZ3 that waist area is looking really good already! Keep going!

[mz3]

Alright, for the first time since I started this thing I feel like I've made positive progress finally...








Legs pop off for easy painting. The hip armor parts I sliced out a piece in the middle to make them fit better. Most of the seams are sanded and smoothish. There are atill a couple of rough areas on the lower legs where edges don't match up well. Mostly on the back.

2 weeks

[kyledehart5]

Coming right along. Great modifications

[Real G]

That is looking fabulous MZ3! Rock on!

I worked on the Gelf today on my day off, although my progress is nowhere near as impressive as MZ3's.

I made a detail insert for the left shoulder sensor.  A clear red tinted window will be added later.





The hands are pretty crummy, with shallow detail and poorly molded fingers (a recurring problem with most of Bandai's smaller mech kits).  So the fingers were removed and the spare kits provided replacement digits.  It was WAY easier to shape and sand the fingers when not attached to the hands.



The right gun hand was similarly rebuilt, but the fingers were given a locator tab to permit reattachment after painting.



The neck details have been completed.  A confession: I cribbed the cable detail from some guy's on-line build of the Gelf.





I'm going to see if I can use Bandai's cable accessory set to replace the kit's poorly molded part.  It does not require articulation, so no concerns for making it flexible.

[mz3]

Looks like we're both getting close to maybe painting.

Test fit the pipes...





Had one break, probably due to age. The pipes on the legs are too short. I was about to throw a fit and realized I can just stick the pipes under the hip armor, tack them and be done.

Covered the edges with u shaped evergreen...







Just way easier then filling those areas and sanding and fighting.




I got a little behind. I needed a small break from this, that's why the X-wing basically was finished this past weekend.

[Real G]

MZ3,

Have you considered using either springs or mesh pipe for the hoses? That way you can extend them a bit so the legs can bend. I know time is short, but I might be able to send you some in time for the contest deadline.

[mz3]

I did, but the issue with the legs is a super easy fix and the broken one on the arm I'm just going to make a "field repair" on it. You know how I like my dirty, broken robots. I actually have some mesh cable stuff from HiQparts. So if it does become an issue, I can swap out real quick. I also decided at some point, with the exception of the waist, I want to keep it more OG looking.

[Real G]

I am currently at the seam filling & sanding stage, so nothing much to show in that regard.  I like to use stretched sprue from the kit as my first line (pun intended!) of attack, since the plastic is the same hardness and color.  It also eliminates those annoying "ghost seams", which never seem to go away, or reappear after the model is done.

But while I was doing this, I had a thought regarding the molded power cable that hangs off the Gelf's left shoulder armor.  Since the cable is made from hard plastic, limitations in the injection molding process causes some of the segment dividing lines to be skewed.  I really hate this, but what can you do aside from replacing the cable with something else?  Something else...

As Gru would say "Light Bulb!"

So I tried soaking the stretched sprue for a few seconds in liquid cement then draping it into the wonky recessed lines.



Incredibly, it only took one or two tries to get the "system" down.  It was possible to wrap the softened sprue completely around the cable in one shot, making the work go quickly.  I really needed a third hand though, as the cable was small and hard to hold on to without dropping.



I should have been doing this work at my desk, where the lighting is way better - I made an "oops" cut because I just couldn't see what I was doing.  Argh!  But patching the mistake was easy using more stretched sprue.  The excess sprue is sanded down, the new segment lines are penciled on, a first cut is made using a knife, and then the lines are widened using a razor saw.

I think this solution is to my liking, as it will look better than a spring or blocky aftermarket conduit segments.  I have another Falguen kit in the stash, so I am considering using it to rebuild the existing one to the same standards as the Gelf.

Gaaaah, only a little more than a week remains - hurry Star Force!

[mz3]

I love how primer brings out ALL the flaws...




It was getting hard to see what I was scratching lines in to. So I primed everything. Now I wish I hadn't.

[kyledehart5]

Lol. I feel that way myself sometimes.

[Real G]

Sept 7, 2024 4:48:36 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Lol. I feel that way myself sometimes.

But it is necessary! Like going to the dentist knowing you have a cavity. Now open wide and say AAAAAAARGH! 😁

[Real G]

The deadline is closing fast; only one week remains!

I finally got around to making the insert detail for the head.  But the realities of physical geometry over anime line art forced me to make the eyes smaller than desired, lest the eyes bulge out past the clear lens cover.



The blue dot on the eye is there just to make it easier to center.  The lens is simulated with clear packing tape.  I plan on using a clear red report cover to cut the actual lens out from.  The shoulder sensor window will be made the same way.  When viewed from the front, the eyes look severely crossed!  I will try to make larger eyes and angle them outward, trying very hard not to end up with a Marty Feldman!



And putty has been applied, ready for sanding tonight.  I'll also start priming parts that are ready.  I got my paints over the weekend, so the mad headlong rush to finish is on!

[Real G]

As the Joker said "Aaaaand heeeere we go."



Hopefully most of the joint filling work will not suck too bad.  Inspection will be performed tonight after I get home.

[mz3]

Blah...

I'm just not going to make it. The cemented seams keep cracking. The plastic just seems too old and brittle.










Every time I try to scribe a line into it, it seems like the plastic is chipping more than being carved out. I think what I want to do now is fill in all the panel lines and do a more anime look to it. But, there's not enough time to get that done.

[Real G]

Oh man, that is lousy news! Well, keep at it and finish it when you can. That brittle plastic is vexing.

The Gelf was a reissue from around 20 years ago, so it’s not as vintage as the original 1987 kits. I did notice the plastic was pretty elastic, not hard and brittle.

[mz3]

I'm disappointed, but atleast now I can do the other mods I want to do. I want to articulate the ankles and do something with the wrists and hands. I have more Dom parts.

I also have a rule about not rushing kits for contests. I've done that in the past and it turned out bad. The way things were going, I was looking at working on this right up to the deadline. I didn't want to make any mistakes.

[kyledehart5]

Man that’s a bummer!! Look forward to seeing where you take it now though!

[Real G]

MZ3,

It seems I have a bad habit of using up every inch of runway trying to get a contest model done.  I usually overrun, go through the boundary fence, and end up in the ditch or in the water!  But the 2-month time frame of this contest guaranteed a mad rush for me.

I had a chance to inspect the seam filling work on the Gelf after a quick spritz of Gunze Mr Surfacer 1500, and thankfully there were only a few minor problems.  It was easy enough to just use enamel paint to fill in the problem areas.  I like to use Testors' Airbrush Thinner to thin enamels, as it seems to emulsify the paint better than regular paint thinner.  I seem to get little blobs of paint that refuse to properly dissolve when I use paint thinner.  This never happened back in the day when we had lead and high VOC content in our hobby paints!



So some final sanding will need to be done tonight, and proper painting commencing tomorrow.

[Real G]

Sept 10, 2024 23:14:28 GMT -5 mz3 said:

I'm disappointed, but atleast now I can do the other mods I want to do. I want to articulate the ankles and do something with the wrists and hands. I have more Dom parts.

I also have a rule about not rushing kits for contests. I've done that in the past and it turned out bad. The way things were going, I was looking at working on this right up to the deadline. I didn't want to make any mistakes.

You know, that wisdom is so true!  To be honest, most of the models I have taken to contests that placed were older builds that were made at my leisure.  I had the time to properly fill seams and do clean work.  The only downside is that I have to wash the models before taking them!  My friends tease me about that, as I frequently end up doing the work in the hotel room bathroom sink.

[Real G]

The crescendo of madness begins to increase in pitch.



Not much to look at, but the colors are going on.  I had a last-minute change in the yellow I was using for the striping; I felt it was too middle-of-the-road yellow, so I grabbed a more orange mix I had in the paint box.  I like it a lot better.

[Real G]

I am really starting to appreciate modern color separation. I am in the midst of struggling with intricate masking challenges amid the high heat and humidity. Dang tape keeps coming loose.

And modern modular construction is SO convenient. The last bits that needed to be glued in stages is drying, so I’ll be ironing some shirts while I wait. I so hate assemblies that require three or more fill-sand-paint-mask, rinse and repeat steps.

The sensor glass for the head and shoulder armor was made from flat clear sheet and tinted with Alclad transparent red. It turned out OK.

Pics to follow later on; not sure how much I can get done tonight.

[kyledehart5]

Enjoying the process on these old kits.