Technical Difficulties

My Millennium Falcon project has hit a bit of a snag.  All of the colour references in my Fine Molds Star Wars models are for  a Japanese paint called Mr. Color.  Instead of trying to match all of the colours with other brands I thought it would be easier just to get the Mr. Color  paints.  Mr. Color is not available in Canada, so I made an order through a U.S. company at great expense.  I did a quick search to see how to thin the paints and it looked like laquer thinner would do the trick.

Fast forward to today.  I tried airbrushing my Falcon with good old Mr. Color.  I ended up with what looked like paint cobwebs all over the areas I attempted to paint.  After doing a bit more thorough research, I found that Mr. Color will dry in the air before it hits the model, result in in “spider webbing”.  The solution is to use Mr. Thinner (no joke) which has a drying retarder added to it for airbrushing purposes.  Yes, I could have ordered it with the paint.  No, I didn’t order it because I was cheap.  So, now I go online to order my expensive bottle of Mr. Thinner.  Do you think it is in stock anywhere?  Nope.  I couldn’t find a whiff of this stuff anywhere. Now my poor Falcon must sit at the airbrush table, waiting for some thinner to come along. I’m pretty disappointed, as I was moving along well with this model.  I guess it’s back to painting Retribution for a while.  Damn!

1:144 Millennium Falcon

It turns out that this kit is a breeze to build.  I built the whole thing in a few hours.  It is certainly not a complicated build.I spent some time detailing the cockpit, although it’s unclear how much will be visible through the canopy. 

Speaking of the canopy, it took me several hours one evening to get the canopy masked.  I tried to use the included masks and the larger ones worked OK, but the smaller ones wanted to “float” around on the canopy and I was uncomfortable leaving them there.  That meant using masking tape, which was also time consuming.  I probably spent as much time masking as I did building the rest of the ship.

Anyway, I need to add some battle damage that was not moulded in the kit, finish a little assembly then I’m ready to paint.

Ever Onwards

I’ve managed to get most of the base colours on my halbardiers.  I have a bit of flesh to touch up and some hands to paint on the back of shields, then it is on to washes and highlights.  But first, I need a bit of a break. 

As of today, I am on Spring Break for the next two weeks and I hope to make the most of the extra hobby time.  I find that I don’t have the drive to power through the painting of an entire unit anymore.  So, I am going to get a start on the Fine Molds 1:144 scale Millenium Falcon I have in the stack.  I’m hoping this project goes a bit faster than my X-Wing simply because  I learned a lot during that build.  I’ll try to post more frequent updates, during what is hopefully my busy hobby time.

Project Pointy Ears

I've had a student teacher in my classroom, so things have been busy at work, but the payoff is coming soon.  This coming week, my student will be teaching three straight days.  I can handle a few days of observation.

Since I decided a while ago not to buy more minis in order to clear out some of the backlog I had filling my shelves, I made it through almost all but maybe two of my Menoth models.  Now it is time to move onto Project Pointy Ears and work through the batch of Retribution minis I bought over a year ago.  I have one jack and a full unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force painted up, plus Ossyan as a caster.  I sort of stalled after that, though.  It is now time to work through the pile so I can play a bit of elven goodness.

Right now, I'm working on a full unit of halberdiers, plus UA.  I'm almost done the base colours and depending on how busy I get this week, maybe move on to a little highlighting.

As an aside, these models are the biggest pile of rubbish I've ever had the misfortune to build.  The mould lines are unacceptable and many were simply impossible to fully remove due to their placement.  Often the lines run through very visible areas of the model.  Removing the mould lines on this cement they call plastic is also a chore I dread. I know it's a common thread on this blog, but Privateer Press model production is simply shameful and the models are not worth the money.  They need to move their production out of some stoner's garage and into the 21st century.  Rant over.

Super Sized

It took about half a year to finish, but Judy is finally battle ready.  As you  may recall, I painted the old girl in chunks, which worked out well.  The final assembly was a complete pain in the arse, however.  The arms and shoulder pads had to be pinned due to their size and weight.  The damned things never did fit properly.  Currently they are attached, but there is some give in the shoulder joints.  I actually want them to fall off, so I can pack the joints to the tits with green stuff and leave nothing to chance.

Anyway, it’s done for now.  I couldn’t take any good pictures of her because she won’t fit into my Foldio.  I backed the Foldio 2 which is much bigger, but it won’t ship until March, so Judy will have to wait until then for her glamour shots.

Huzzah!

I finished it!  I finally finished my X-Wing.  It was a long and sometimes frustrating journey, but ultimately fulfilling.  I look at this model and I see lesson after lesson.  They say learning new things keeps the mind supple and young.  Well, my mind must have regressed to that of a teenager with the amount I learned on this project.

I just took some cell phone pictures until I get some time to take a few better ones.  I hope this thing will fit into my Foldio.  It’s going to be nip and tuck.  I may not want to take better pictures though.  This model is best enjoyed from a distance.  When you look closer, all of those “lessons” become far more apparent.

I am happy with the results of my first scale model since I was around 15.  I look forward to doing my next one, which will be the Tie Advanced.  However, I have to finish the Judicator first.

New Tools

I got a couple of new hobby tools this past week.  The F-clamps were under half price at Canadian Tire which meant they were only about $10.  I think I can use those a lot in my scale modeling.   You  may wonder how a blusher brush could be a hobby tool.  Well, I leaned in the past month or so that during a long cold winter with the furnace on all of the time, there is a lot of dust.  If you don’t clean that dust off of your models before painting, you get crud in your paint job or clear coat.  Yes, this fool let that happen.  The blusher brush is a super soft brush that I’ll use to dust my models after they have been sitting before I do any painting from now on.  At around $6 at Wal-Mart, it’s a lot cheaper than a brush produced by a hobby company.

Just so you know, I’m still working on the X-wing and I’m hoping to have a post later in the week.

Pin Wash

I have continued work on the X-Wing this week.  I’m actually very impressed with myself.  I spent many hours on Luke’s chariot in my evenings.  As part of the whole trying new things theme I have going on with this build I decided to try a method of weathering called a pin wash.  This technique involves using an oil wash to fill the recessed panel lines by pressing a small brush to them and allowing capillary action to draw the wash into the grooves.  The brush leaves a small dot of the wash on the panel line.  After the wash has dried, a cotton swab dipped in mineral spirits is rubbed over the surface reactivating the oil paint.  The paint in the dot can now be manipulated to make greasy or dirty looking streaks across the surface. 

I tried pin washing out with limited success.  Part of my problem, I believe, is that my gloss coat was not smooth enough and thus gave the wash too much “bite” so it was hard to move around or even get out.  However, the results look passable and not too bad for a first try.  I’m going to try and add a bit more weathering with some powders and see if that gets it closer to where I want it.

I’m not far from being done.  A little more weathering, a clear coat, R2-D2’s head, the display stand and then final assembly.  I’m really looking forward to putting this thing on my shelf.

I can Play

You will notice the absence of “well” in the title.  Regardless, I finally made it out to the club for a game last Friday.  It had been months since I had been out.  I decided in the new year I would be a better nerd and make it out to the club more regularly.  I got a game in against Tyler who had brought his Circle army.  We played a Steamroller 2014 scenario, but I can’t remember which one. 

To make a long story short, I lost on scenario.  I still had lots of army left and could have given him a run if it hadn’t been for those damn control points!  I realized some of my mistakes, which didn’t make the loss any easier to swallow.  I misdeployed and couldn’t get my force to where it needed to go in time.  I was also not aggressive enough; a common failing of mine.  Finally, I rolled pretty crappy. 

I did have a good time and managed to knock some of the rust off.

Recharge

I’m back in the Frozen North again after a week hiatus on the south coast.  It was nice to able to run outside and just wear a light jacket for a while.  We even got some sunny skies in a region renowned for it’s rain during the winter.  We had a busy social schedule while down there visiting Jen’s family and friends, but it was still energizing.  But with beautiful vistas full of mountains to contemplate each day, it was hard to feel hard done by.

The warm weather is now long gone (it is currently –30C (-22F) outside).  The good news is that I haven’t reverted to video games and useless web surfing.  I have spent a couple of solid days at the hobby table.  I finished applying the decals to my X-Wing.  That turned out to be a long and painful experience.  The problem stemmed from my lack of skill and the steep learning curve as well as the quality of the decals.  The decals are very thick, so they don’t wrap over or around details.  They were tough to work with.   There was also the sheer number of decals.  R2-D2’s head had 5 decals all by itself and it is about the size of the end of your pinky finger.  But, I persevered and finished.

 

Now, I am about to put another coat of gloss varnish on the model and try my hand at weathering.  Like everything else on this project, it will be a learning experience and likely not turn out quite the way I had planned.  I’m trying to stay positive and see the journey as important as the destination.

By the way, a couple of parcels showed up on my doorstep just before we left for holidays.  It looks like I’m set for a while.