Taking pics this evening…

Wonderfest is in a week! Still busy updating the France trip pics, finishing up a Hero TIE Fighter (ANH flavor), thrilling to Gordon’s mellower personality, finding interesting things in bell peppers, and still AMAZED that we hung out with Boris Williams…

This is a collection of photos showing things I made from the pre-digital era, from the late 1970s to about 1999.

In 2008, I created a master pattern for the Lunadiver Stingray, which you can see here. The instruction guide is in pdf form, and chronicles the first build which I gave to Lincoln Wright to paint for Wonderfestival 2009. His paint work was wonderful and defined the way many would paint the Lunadiver models going forward. Download the guide here. Here are photographs of the models I made from my castings.

This is a build up from a resin kit of the Probe Droid, as seen in The Empire Strikes Back. I added a light, sound, and servo kit from Hyperdyne Labs so it can rotate it’s head, extend and retract antennas, fire the laser (via red led), and play sounds from the film. It’s a great model involves a nice amount of scratch building and tube cutting, and builds into a studio replica with all five legs articulated! This was a great opportunity to use the laser cutter to design and cut an internal armature as well. Here’s a video of the model in action!

I have been making a concerted effort to right the wrongs in my studio. If you build models, you have them too, and the big one is probably all of those unfinished models that take up space on shelves and in boxes. Well, I made a promise to myself that before I would start yet another NEW project, I would finish the ones that sit neglected and sad. Here is one such model – the homage to the Maschinen Krieger Cerberus that I began in 2007, and that I have not touched for four years. This has the dubious distinction of being shown to Kow Yokoyama, who politely offered a few pointers on what he would do, if this were his model. It’s a rookie fanboy thing to do – throwing your “original” work at the feet of “the master” and asking for feedback. All this is is a riff on something he made in the mid 1980s, so I’m grateful he gave it attention. Maschinen Krieger as a hobby over all is always a little mysterious to the non Japanese, so we take what we can get, and I have been fortunate to have been given a lot over the years. So here is the model as of 2008 – I will update as I begin to work again.

This is the final gallery for the U.D.K.38 Schenkel, built from an absolutely masterful kit from Eddy Murao, a famous Japanese Maschinen Krieger modeler. In order to safely support the weight of the upper body, I hand made each leg from brass tubing that I silver soldered together. It was a lot of extra work, but really worth it. The kit was further modified by scratch building the radar dishes, and adding the laser weapons (with a lasercut mount) to make the “Jungle” configuration. To further add texture, I draped tattered netting with foliage to set the mood.

Ma.K. in SF3D: The S.A.F.S. by Max Watanabe (volume III) by Hobby Japan, available from HobbyLink Japan.

This softcover with dust jacket continues to cover the series of mostly visual modeling content generated by Max Watanabe, who very well may be a cyborg – he’s a Ma.K. making machine!! You get 130 S.A.F.S. based models, in variants that cover both color and design! At 117 full color pages, you get a great value… but it’s made even better with the inclusion of a REALLY cool decal set!

A recommended book for any modeler looking for camo schemes and model tips (it helps to be able to read Japanese for the modeling instructions!). Click the HobbyLink Japan link at the top of this article to order now!

The 1/20 S.A.F.S. Space Type Fireball by Wave, available from HobbyLink Japan.

It is my pleasure to review the S.A.F.S. Space Type Fireball in 1/20th scale, by Wave. This is another exciting release, as it is the newly tooled Fireball, a classic SF3D design! Check out the pics below!

HobbyLink Japan has it in stock now, so click the link above and order one or three, now! Also order the Ma.K. in SF3D: The SAFS book for a photo survey of all of the variations you can make!

The W.H.J. 131 Grosser Hund Altair by Hasegawa, available from HobbyLink Japan.

It is my pleasure to review the W.H.J. 131 Grosser Hund Altair in 1/20th scale, by Hasegawa. This is again quite an exciting release, being the Space-based variant of an original late-run SF3D design that was meticulously researched and recreated by Katooo for the Garage Kit scene at Wonderfestival, then adapted for “space” with additional/different parts. Being a resin limited run kit, it always commanded a high price and was extremely rare, so a general release in friendly styrene? It’s a dream come true. It’s also a pretty cool release on a personal level, as I was the first fan to make a “Lunar Großerhund” model, which I was told inspired Kato-san to make the canon design a short time later.

Comparing to the original SF3D Großerhund, it has been completely recreated in the digital world, and “beefed up”. This Großerhund is taller, meaner, and just bigger. Check out the pics below!

HobbyLink Japan has it in stock now, so click the link above and order one or three, now!