Wednesday, July 29, 2009

What's next?

Thanks for all the comments and constructive criticisms to the Baby Falke!
After this I am actually already working on the WAVE Snakeeye for the PLAMO mini groupbuild amongst us Ma.K fanatics there. I am also in the midst of sanding the 2 additional Polar Bears for my Polar Bear diorama. It will feature the Hardboiled gift from Francesco as a Polar Bear, and a two handed Polar Bear carrying rocket(s).
I am in love with the winter/snow dioramas. Its probably due to the impact of Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back, the winter battles on the planet Hoth... :)

Also after doing the baby Konigs Krote, I find myself itching to do another baby Neuspotter varient, just for fun.

Daddy Falke is also halfway done...

So many Ma.K, so little time! How?
lol

Monday, July 27, 2009

Baby Falke and baby Konigs Krote - Completed

At long last, its finished...
For the baby Falke, I toned down the panel lines and weathering with another layer of white. Both dive brakes broke (just like the real Falke) and I had to glue them back. Colored the lobster marking orange to differentiate it from the body.
I re-did the base by using plaster of Paris, blue and violet acrylic paints, followed by woodlands scenic artificial snow on top.

Another angle

Tried making the baby Konigs Krote 'walk' on the snow to make foot prints before laying it down to rest.
One of my favourite pictures, its not easy to take pictures of the kit!
From the top
Closeup on the Falke
Closeup of Ashley's name and picture (both copied from her handwriting and sketch below)
This plane is Ashley's! :)

Ashley's sketch (mommy, daddy, and the real big one is Ashley -_-''')


side view
'top view'

Additional closeups of baby Konigs Krote

Constructive Comments / Criticisms encouraged.
Myself I think the symmetry can be greatly improved, and the two front engines are actually upside down (oops), lastly the main thruster's shape could be improved too.
I wanna just thank all you guys* who posted your comments/thoughts in my WIP and for Bernard of m workshop to organise the competition.
Now on to my next project...

*Guys include: G-man, Vayeate, leafster, klay, ericp, KGM2, snake eye, sammy514, frankietanch, maxwinamp, i_used_to_be_fit, link, Lin.K, viper1972, fusionexxtreme, wingzero78, dlcm, fang, tazzdevil, dhmy2kgto, Skinnybob, BK Bryan, turner, Igor57, Francesco, java, Ravenworks69, Maknifiso, marisomodelkits, nowfuture, nscol, count0, scotty, Hedwerx, Kylwell, Vargen, Darklord, Mar.K, wout.er, Nik, dewberry, ArnoB, EHarm, Supergeek, ponch, catchaser, daimocow, schatze11, finally primer James! Hope I did not miss anyone out..
Many of you are my heroes in model making. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Will

Friday, July 24, 2009

Baby Konigs Krote for Baby Falke Diorama 3

After a break of 2 days I have finished painting the baby KK.
All with Gunze lacquers and tiny brush. Some gray, followed by white, then orange + red, just like in the Falke Profile book.

Drilled out the main eye and tiny holes with my hobby knife and hand drill.
Test shot one


Test shot two, lying on its side, final pose

Think I will spray a layer of matt before calling it done for this fellow.

I've reworked the base, covered it with plaster of paris to get rid of the yellowish paper clay,
will finish that up and post final pictures in the gallery!

Will

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Baby Konigs Krote for Baby Falke Diorama 2

After being out of action for a few days (sick, work), I finally spent one night/morning piecing the baby KK together. I used plaplate, spare sprues, leftover grill from MG Zaku and glue.

Here's how it looks before priming...

Here's how it looks after priming...
Hope you can see the 3 fingers of the manipulator which was difficult to glue together.
Its really small, as tall as the kneecap of the WAVE AFS.
Its supposed to be damaged with broken legs in the dio but I can't bear to break it, so I'll just put it lying down on the snow...
Constructive Criticisms Encouraged!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Baby Konigs Krote for Baby Falke Diorama

I started building number 4 with the eye using the clear dome from the Fledermaus kit.The kit has 2 such tiny clear domes which I had not used... Here's the result of 1hr of work using bondite...
Cute? I personally like it a lot, though its not as cute as the number 4 design (head should be even bigger and body smaller)
Pictures taken tonight after the Bondite has hardened...


Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Baby Falke WIP 14

Final WIP... sorry if I seem a little self indulgent.. :)
And strangely no close ups on the baby ...
Here's how it looks like, my coffee table at 12am in the morning...
Really overworked at my day job last week and as I was completing my baby and thinking of how to finish up the diorama, a brainwave made me very excited. Can you tell what I am doing?
Here's a clue...
The Neuspotter was sketched from the cute Neuspotter found on the Ma.K Profile book : Falke but that's not what I am making.. -_-'''

Also totally unrelated, my wife and sister are doing creative jewelery at the same time I am modeling (baby Ashley's asleep)



Any criticisms/suggestions for my base/diorama? Thanks in advance!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Baby Falke WIP 13

And I am back...

Hope I am not 'beating a dead horse to death'...
After many days of sleeping and working I finally got back to my baby...
I glued plaplate to the air intake on the rear and puttied it with Tamiya putty..
Then penciled in the panel lines, and using the anti-flash white plus grey green, I colored in the panel lines similar to the Ma.K Profile book. Here's how it looks after 2+ hours of brush work...
Too much?

Pictures taken in the morning, I might have overdone them (the panels)... have I?

I will add the 4 nuts/things in the front of each round engine thing, the tiny intake fins as well,
paint the word Ashley (my kid's name in her own handwriting) and her face, add more decals...
One more WIP and I think I can call it finished.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Shipment 15 is IN!

Shipment 15 is in(since last week)... Ashley opened the box with eagerness...




The stuff (Raptors, Gans, usual Nitto stuff and a seapig conversion, and some rare 1/35 stuff)

Most of them are requests, I will sort them out and release the others for sales soon.


The prices are going up now, with the Raptor's popularity up high and the exchange rate to USD weak...
Will

Friday, July 3, 2009

Baby Falke WIP 12

Updates:
Lin.K from the Ma.K forum wants to show my baby Falke pictures to Sensei Kow Yokohama who heard about me tonight! I will shoot some more pictures with close-ups for this purpose...
So exciting!!!
Took more photos, accidentally broke one of the air brakes... You know Falkes luv to break them..
Side view, is it the port side? :)

Top view, you can see I've accidentally broken the left dive brake...

The nose detail which I am quite proud of myself to being able to replicate, I actually put off this part until the last moment because I was not confident of pulling it off. In the end it was much pla-plate, wires, spare sprues and parts from other kits which made up this details...

Front view of the baby...

Bottom, which you can see the shadows are very hard and painting is actually unfinished. Its also lacking in details as I ran out of time as well as parts for it. Well I will finish painting it but no more additional construction work from me.

The main thruster engine and rear of the baby. I will add more brown to the thruster to show the details I've build. The air intake 'hole' is actually painted on and I am not satisfied with it. I've added pla-plate (not shown here yet) and plan to refine it..
Another shot of the nose to show the details, I might add the rectangular piece of detail on the right side if I can find suitable parts. The pictures are yellowish because I was using a yellow bulb...

That's all for tonight, I've been sleeping alot more these few days, recovering from last week :)
Will

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Baby Falke Aftermath

Bernard the organiser awarded me the BEST EFFORT award. Yay!

Pictures from the event itself:
http://www.themworkshop.com/MEVENT_GROUPBUILD_EGGPLANE.htm

and also here: (I am the guy with the M-shaped hairline first picture looking down, wearing white T-shirt in the first picture)
Bernard the boss is taking pictures of the planes
http://www.armiemodels.blogspot.com/

I will be posting better pictures/closeups tonight taken at home.

I will still be fixing a couple of things before declaring it finished
adding internal details of the engine
repaint the bottom
intake behind the cockpit add stuff
decal recolor of the lobster
nose art - naming the baby 'Ashley' with her handwriting as she just learnt how to write her name!

Baby Falke WIP 11

I can't believe I managed to complete construction today!
Here's more photos taken this morning...




I mounted the Falke on the chipboard with paper clay on top, and I dust artificial snow on it, not very successful though.

Saw quite a few friends (maxwinamp, wingzero75, KGM2 amongst others) in M workshop today, and Bernard the owner was very kind to ask me did I get to sleep...Lots of very cool builds and some very well done, and creative ones!
I didn't win anything, but I am satisfied that I accomplished what I set out to model and managed to hit the dateline. I will post more detailed pictures up here soon.
More corrective work needs to be done on the baby and once finished I will post in the gallerys.
I will also critique my work so that I can improve.

Thank you everyone for your kind works/encouragement/support thus far in emails, PMs in both PLAMO and Ma.K forums! I would not have done it without you guys!
:)

The rush forced me to paint in a way I've never done before, just splash on the paint in an arty sort of way and have the look. There was paint all on the floor as I was mopping my house. Oops!


Will

Baby Falke WIP 10

At 5am, its primed...


by 8am, its painted (rush like mad using Ma.K painting technique)

It was tough to decide which decals to use.. In the end I used the 'M' inverted to spell my initials from the Ma.K Profile book, and gave into the 'lobster' unit as can be seen from the picture...

No sleep for me last night, but its finished.
More pictures after the competition...
Right about time to go for church service... Praise the Lord! :)