The Kyryll

[delta]

Thank you very much! It's on the backburner while I finish the Churchill and Tachikoma but I should be able to complete it in the next couple months

[delta]

PE Class-



I decided to try some of the PE radar dishes from the Essex set, mostly for educational purposes. My fat fingers wrecked 3 of them but I managed to get this single humorously tiny one to set intact and (mostly) unbent. It now resides on the bridge, though I can't get the camera to pick it up at all against white.

All in all a very good learning experiment though. I actually managed to get some of the parts into shape before mangling them or obscuring them under glue after 10 attempts to get them to stick to the other PE bits.

This one radar came out pretty well I think, with only a sliver of a sprue connection remaining on top. Not sure how to remove such things, even the finest sandpaper would obliterate or collapse the entire dish in one swipe. But otherwise I'm proud to stick it on the Kyryll, where it won't be seen but I'll always know it's there.

[tigrazor]

Ooooooh sweet. Been there, done that - for the "Bumble Bee" project.

What works fine for the connections you want to sand: Take some tweezers with a broad tip and place the part inside. The tip and the part should be in one line, then you can sand without problems.

[delta]

Perfect, thank you!!!

Very glad to see the Bumble Bee coming along, I really look forward to seeing the final design

[kaytermarram]

Any progress, Ari?? This thingie hier is too cool to be left "on the floor". But you are busy with Frank and his bride, I guess, harhar! Working with photo etched parts is heaven and hell in one word, harhar!

Frank

[delta]

Progress is at a halt as I develop the necessary skills for the next part.

First I need to fill a lot of holes, scratch build a few last components, and further putty and sand my mistakes thus far. I'm not quite good enough to do this seamlessly yet, so I'm doing a few relevant kits as practice and experimentation.

But the real challenge comes in the form of painting and detailing the big guy. My attempts to paint and weather models so far have been very basic and limited in terms of realism. I really want to make this one special, something truly spectacular. Beyond that, the carrier is white in the book, which presents some difficulty in both establishing scale and in weathering without just making it look mucky. I'll also need to master home printed decals, as the thing is covered in Russian text and markings that won't be found in any real carrier kit. So far I can't get the decals to survive being wet, the inkjet ink just washes off with whatever I try to seal them in with.

When the time comes though I'll have a lot of questions to ask here about how to proceed. I'm honored you're watching this one come together and want to see more! Thank you

[kaytermarram]

Ari, when it comes to painting skills, maybe check out THE WEATHERING MAGAZINE from Mig Jimenez. You will find tons of tutorials, examples and can read all about those new and old painting and weathering techniques. I can highly recommend these magazines (four times a year).

And for puttying and sanding, what exactly do you want to know? There are a few tricks, but they are easily learned...

Frank

[delta]

I'll look for it, I think my hobby shop actually carries it, or at least has some back issues for sale.

Thanks for your willingness to help! When it comes to puttying and sanding, I guess my main question is how to keep the putty from falling apart or scraping off deep into the cracks it's meant to fill, and then how to get it to the same texture as the surrounding material. I'm using Testors putty (same shaped tube as their red glue) and various grits of file or paper, and a few things happen- First, the sanding seems to go down into the pit it fills, leaving the pit still there. Perhaps too much pressure on the surface? Then, it inevitably comes out sort of gritty in texture, in contrast to the smooth surroundings. Once primed, it sticks out roughly as bad as it would have when the crack was there. Any advice is helpful, even if it's "Testors putty sucks, buy something that costs more than 3 cents per tube." But those tricks you mentioned are compelling, absolutely anything I'd be most thankful to hear!

[Foenetik]

i had the same problem delta. as far as it drying too fast and not matching the texture. theres actually different grits of putty. the bigger grits are meant to fill the bigger gaps. and the finer ones are for finishing. no matter what putty you use youre going to not match the original material. but a finer putty will get you closer to a smooth surface. and then you have to figure out how to match it.i use tamiya white and green (never tried testors. i dont prefer their products). the key is to do what you have to do without losing as much original material as you can. i know thats hard with one-off products like this. but lots of modelers end up rescribing or recreating the surface as best they can. sanding with fine grits will get you close. i still need to improve in this area and i find it to be the second hardest part of modeling next to showrooom clean finishes.

[TRM]

Ari, that cracking and falling in...or out, is typical on larger openings. Kind of like working with wall board. The joints need to get tapes in order not to crack. I know the piece is closed up now, but for future though, gluing some styrene flat stock in there. You can also cut a small piece of styrene stock...or even sprue tree to fit into the cracks and glue in place, then sand flush.

The putty has a little to do with it. I know with Tamiya White, the base solvent bites into the plastic better than some, similar to how the thin adhesives melt the plastic. But for larger openings, you still need to bridge the gap a little.

On the painting...the original is white? A white and black technique might be something you could try out. The priming stage is black and then do all the shading and highlights in grays and whites. The black acts as a shading for corners and panel lines when your done. You can cross this bridge when you get there if you like!

[delta]

Thank you both! I'll look into more diverse putties next time I'm at the shop. The bits of styrene thing also sounds good and I'll give that a shot.

TRM- The original is grey, with white primer now. I could definitely try the black base and building up though. I'll experiment with that soon. Thank you!

[kaytermarram]

I fill larger gaps with Miliput or Magic Sculpt: Rolling a thin sausage, bringing it in with a brush and smoothing it out with a moisted brush. So I get an absolute clean seam, minor sanding is needed, more a polishing with steel wool and absolute no imperfections on the surface. Smaller gaps can be filled with super glue, which becomes rock hard and can be smoothed out with fine grain paper. Some people close gaps in kits with cementing the parts with polystyrol cement. This comes out of the gap, cement the parts together and can be cut away with a sharp hobby knife and smoothed down with wet and dry sandpaper. Experiment a bit and it will be no real problem anymore.

Frank

[delta]

All these sound viable, I'll give each a shot. Thank you Frank!

[kaytermarram]

No problem, Ari. I mean, thats why we all are here!

Frank

[dupes]

WOW, man...great scratchbuild (and kitbash)!

[delta]

Thank you!