Borg does Modelling

[borgdoestri]

My DIY spray booth and fume extraction setup. The plans for the spray booth I found online. The blower on the back is around 240-250 cfm with that short a run of 4″ duct. Works really well, even with lacquers and rattle can primers which are notoriously smelly. The ductwork is connected with pop rivets and then sealed with metal duct tape to minimize leakage. When I’m done spraying I just pull in the wooden flange at the top and close the window. When it was all said and done, the spray booth ran me a couple of hundred bucks (Canadian) and the ducting was another 50 bucks. Well worth it to me since it works great and bought retail, would have been significantly more. The 12X24 furnace filter is easily replaceable. I just happened to have the LED light in the garage so I re-tasked it. Link is below:

https://vent-works.com/blogs/the-ventilation-blog/15945741-diy-hobby-spray-booth

[borgdoestri]

Armored Trooper Votoms Scope Dog wip. At the priming stage. Using a decanted Tamiya primer on the non-metallic pieces and Alclad gloss black for the metallic ones. 

The plan is to do a heavily weathered version. The metallic parts will just get the final coat, but the others will get a dark base then hairspray before the first base coat. 

The Bandai kit is excellent as I would expect. Very little work had to be done to any of the external surfaces - they are expert at putting the sprue connections in places that are either not visible or on edges that are easy to remove them from. 

Note my MacGyvered partholders made from BBQ skewers and cheap alligator clips. 

[borgdoestri]

I’ve been meaning to do a comparison of a few of the metallic paints and here they are.

1. Mr Paint chrome

2. Alclad chrome

3. Tamiya chrome silver

4. Mission Model chrome

Mr Paint is a paint manufacturer from Slovakia, well known for their aircraft metallics but they also have other paints for armor (I will do a separate post for those). The rest of the I think are fairly well known.  I put down a base coat of Alclad gloss black primer on all 4 test pieces and let it sit for 24 hours before applying the metallic coat. 

The Mr Paint chrome seemed a little dark compared to the others, so much so that I had to double check the bottle after I applied it. Beautiful finish but if you were looking to use this as a base for a candy apple finish, this wouldn’t be the paint I recommend. Straight out of the bottle into the airbrush (Iwata Eclipse 0.35mm) and sprayed great, no surprise for a lacquer based paint. A little smelly which is to be expected as well. Very durable finish and had no issues with the Tamiya, masking, or Frog tape (medium adhesion) tests. 

Alclad chrome sprayed beautifully - again to be expected with a lacquer based paint and the finish was great. It also had no issues with the tape tests with all three tapes. For Gundam, this had become my go to paint for the metallic pieces. 

The Tamiya chrome silver had to be thinned and I used Tamiya lacquer thinner roughly 50-50. The result was a little grainy, not unusable but not as good as the others. It also had difficulty with the Frog tape - there was heavy pickup as you can see from the photo. It had no issues with the other two tapes. I’m a big Tamiya fan, and for the non-metallic paints, it’s usually the first one I reach for.

Finally the Mission Model chrome. Unlike their non-metallic paints, this could be sprayed out of the bottle with no thinning. Sprayed great, and had a nice finish that was just a hair less glassy than the lacquers, but definitely a good paint particularly if you’re not able to spray the lacquers because of your surroundings. Excellent durability and had no issues with any of the tapes. 

In summary, I would have no problem using Mr Paint, Alclad or Mission Model metallics on my armor or Gundam builds and in the case of not being able to spray the lacquers, the MM paint is an excellent choice. 

It should be noted that for the tape test, I would rub the tape into the painted surface pretty hard before peeling off. The Frog tape was at least twice as tacky as the other two. 

[borgdoestri]

Finally got to work on some modelling. Been out of action with a shoulder injury - haven’t touched a model in 10 days. Moving the Matilda along - doing some pinwashes. The lower picture is what it looked like when I started, the upper picture after the cleanup. Using a Vallejo enamel wash, with turpenoid as the cleanup medium. Soooooo many bolt heads! Took a while. The friul tracks finally arrived by snail mail from Europe. I’ll post some pics of what I do to those. 

[borgdoestri]

An earlier effort. Dragon kit of an Elefant with Friul tracks, some photoetch and scratch built grab handles (in the rear). Tow cables and tracks came out great. A little uneven with the pigment, but live and learn. I do remember that I had to spray those numbers and Balkenkreuz 3 times to get them right, but they look so much better than decals in my opinion. 

Initially called the Ferdinand (after its designer, Ferdinand Porsche), it was renamed the Elefant after modifications made as a result of the battle of Kursk. The 88mm L/71 on it was lethal, and it had one of the highest kill ratios of the German tanks. Unfortunately, mechanical issues as a result of its 65 tonnes weight, coupled with a lack of a machine gun were significant weaknesses. 

Eventually it was replaced by the Jagdpanther tank destroyer.  

[borgdoestri]

Didn’t get as far as I wanted on the Matilda but some progress was made. Some distressing on the decals, and a coat of very thinned camo colour to weather the decals even further. Time for the major weathering to begin. Thankfully I have lots of Africa pigments and washes. 

[borgdoestri]

Managed to repair the damage to paint job when the primer lifted off, and I added the decals. I had to use Microsol for the numeral 4, but it lifted off a little since it was so soft. Not a big deal since I was planning on distressing the decals anyway. Letting it sit over night, then I’ll start putting the tools and other bits on before a final overall coat of satin varnish before the weathering begins. 

[borgdoestri]

A Deathscythe I had made. Nothing too fancy. I’m a fan of that titanium red paint job, although my wife not so much since that Tamiya paint tends to smell, even with the paint booth. I also used Alclad for the metallics instead of the Vallejo and I think it came out better. Been a while since I’ve made a Gundam. I have a few good ones to pick from - 1/60th scale Unicorn Gundam and a Sazabi. Need to give some thought to possible colour schemes. 

[cursim-deactivated20120427]

Reblog if no matter if you have 50,000 or 50 followers, you appreciate every single one. Reblog if you appreciate the messages you get, whether it's 100 or 1. Reblog if a little smile comes across your face everytime you see a new follower or message. Reblog if even though most of us aren't tumblr famous, we appreciate the little things.

[7thgenscot]

Appreciate each and every one of you!

[mistressofspeed]

I do appreciate all of You! ❤🚘

[borgdoestri]

I'm happy that you found my work interesting enough to follow - many thanks!

[borgdoestri]

Not a great day. I finally got to the painting of the Matilda. Masking went well, until it was time to remove all of it. Not like I was using frog tape or anything, it was Tamiya tape. As you can see, big chunks of the paint came up including the primer. Talk about pissed. The only small mercy was that the masking on the rear deck came out pretty much perfect. I’m going to try and see if it’s repairable without stripping the entire thing. Sigh. 

[borgdoestri]

Some better pictures of the Krote. Still learning about the new DSLR.

[borgdoestri]

Krote finally done! Some streaky rust and grime added as well as decals. I used some pigment on the feet to give some actual texture. Definitely happy with the result. The beauty of using subject matter that’s complete fiction is that you have carte blanche (within reason) on the camo and weathering. 

[borgdoestri]

Matilda first coat of primer. A couple of spots to touch up (other than the obvious gun barrel). Used the Mission Models primer. Great coverage and the details really show through. A little frustrated because I had ordered the British colours to paint this (North Africa camo), and last minute I get an email saying the order was delayed because one of the paints was back ordered. Anyway, it will be a while since I did really want to use those paints. Time to work on a different model. 

[borgdoestri]

My Sinanju model. A little bit of wear and tear transporting it, but I love the way this one came out. That paint job is a major pain in the ass - primer, chrome, then 5 layers of clear red. I clearly still have a lot to learn as far as posing the model.

[borgdoestri]

Matilda is ready for priming. Quick build- no real  issues going together. Not surprising for a Tamiya kit. I’ve left the tools and some other items off for painting. The camo pattern for this tank in North Africa will be an adventure in masking. I also have this kit in the Russian lend lease version, but I wanted to do this one first. I’m also ordering the Friul tracks. There’s plenty of room to slip those in. 

[gundamflexing]

oh my~~

[borgdoestri]

That'll make you look at Sinanju in a whole new light!

[borgdoestri]

Picture of my assembly area. I MacGyvered the lamp together after seeing the idea in a Pinterest post. It works great to get rid of shadows when I’m working on a model. 

I have a Tamiya Matilda on the bench as well as the Ma. K Krote. I just started that one. Nice kit.