[Archive] Fuggit Khan's other model stuff

Archive [Archive] Off-Topic Showcase
1

Fuggit Khan:

Greetings :hat off

For those of you who have followed my Chaos Dwarf army blog here on CDO, you probably know that I love building models. Not just fantasy stuff, but military models and Sci-Fi kits are also my passion.

So for those of you who are interested (thank you by the way), I thought I would share some of my ‘Other Stuff’ here :hat off

For starters I’d like to share my build of the Space Battleship Yamato, hands down my most favorite of all Sci-Fi anime.

With the the remake of the series back in 2012 ( Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - Wikipedia ) Bandai issued an all new series of kits in various scales. These are beautiful models, I can’t say enough praise for them.

This is the smallest of the Yamato kits, packaged in a very small box (about 5 inches) with 5 sprues of parts molded in color





The detail on these parts is stunning, especially given how small the parts are. Perfectly molded with NO flash or mold lines.





GW paint shown here for size comparison…



This is my favorite part of the kit: everything is ‘snap together’ and the hull is designed to ‘snap’ around the red lower half…so you don’t have to paint any straight line red demarcation.



This shows the rather elaborate ‘snap fit’ peg/hole designs on the kit, once it’s snapped together, it does NOT come back apart



All of the panel lines were accented with thinned enamel black paint







But nothing is perfect :wink:

My one and only gripe about this model is the lack of the open circular notch on either side of the front bow. Oddly enough, the circular cut out design is molded as recessed…



Well, Fuggit was not happy with that, so I drilled out those…now it looks better I think



Starting to put the hull design together



Forward and aft gun decks are painted. Other than this, I basically left the entire model unpainted, since it’s molded in the correct colors and the superb CAD design of the molds is that all sprue attachment points are mostly hidden when the parts are assembled







Bottom of the hull is designed in multiple sections…superb fit and detail







It’s a small kit!



Painting in the bridge windows…and again all the panel lines are painted in with thinned enamels





:hat off

2

Dînadan:

Nice work, got any others to show off?

Sounds like it’s a well thought out kit. Not a fan of the design, but that’s an issue with the source material rather than the mini - looks too much like a seafaring ship for me. In fact, I’m betting if you sawed off the keel you could plonk it down next to WW2-modern naval ship minis and it wouldn’t look out of place (at most it’d look like the equivalent of a steampunk ship to Victorian-era ships).

3

TheHoodedMan:

Great start! Thanks for showing, i’l surely follow this thread.

4

Abecedar:

I remember that show. I did enjoy it but you knew they were going to win once they shot of the big gun.

5

Abecedar:

. Not a fan of the design, but that's an issue with the source material rather than the mini - looks too much like a seafaring ship for me.

Dînadan
I think that was a part of the back story about the secret creation of the ship. I think it started its life as a sea-going ship?
"Fuggit" can educate us I guess.
6

Admiral:

$4? That is very good value for such a brilliant little kit. Are there by any chance a Japanese retailer selling such kits to international customers?

Nice work on it. Your added details has already brought it to life. Looking forward to see your all your sci-fi and historical models. :hat off

7

Fuggit Khan:

I remember that show.  I did enjoy it but you knew they were going to win once they shot of the big gun.

Abecedar
Here in the States the English dubbed version is called Starblazers...was it called that down under too? And yeah! The Wave Motion Gun is the gun to end all guns (George Lucas mentioned in an interview once that the Death Star gun was inspired by the Yamato gun)
$4? That is very good value for such a brilliant little kit. Are there by any chance a Japanese retailer selling such kits to international customers?

Admiral
$4 is indeed a great value for such an excellent model...all the "Mecha Colle" kits in this series of models are only $4 in Japan...there are numerous Japanese retailers who sell them, Ami Ami is a good source. Most of these small kits are also made as much larger (and more expensive) 1/1000 scale Yamato kits as well.
.  Not a fan of the design, but that's an issue with the source material rather than the mini - looks too much like a seafaring ship for me.

Dînadan
I think that was a part of the back story about the secret creation of the ship.  I think it started its life as a sea-going ship?
"Fuggit" can educate us I guess.


Abecedar
Yep! Abecedar has a good memory :cheers
The Yamato was the lead ship in her class of Battleships in the Imperial Japanese Navy of WW2...to this day she is the biggest Battleship ever built in the world, and widely considered as the most beautiful Battleship design as well:


In the Space Cruiser Yamato story, Earth has been bombed into an atomic wasteland by the alien Gamilas ("Gamilon" in English). All of the Earths oceans had dried up, exposing numerous shipwrecks, including the wreck of the WW2 Yamato.
The Earth Defense Forces rebuilt the Yamato into a spaceship, in order to hide it from the Gamilas forces, basically built it in plain sight of the enemy.
This may seem a bit odd to us Westerners, but it helps to view it in the context of Japanese culture.
Everybody in Japan knows the story...during WW2 the Yamato's final mission was it was sent out on a one way suicide mission to fight the American fleet at Okinawa, it was literally only given enough fuel for a one way journey because the Japanese high command knew it would not survive. The entire crew of 3332 men were told it was a kamikaze suicide mission, and they could request transfer if they wished. None of them did, and more than 3000 died when it was sunk.

So iconic is the Yamato in Japanese culture that there are numerous Yamato museums, including this massive 1/10 scale museum model:


What a model, what a lovely model!


A Yamato museum:


In fact the #1 grossing movie of all time in Japan was a war movie of the Yamato produced last year (what makes that so interesting is the fact that it's a war movie, which are not popular at all in pacifist Japan nowadays)...the lifesize sets used had more than one million visitors during the shooting of the movie:


Anyways, back to the model ;)
I decided to make some small water line decal markings on the back hull, just like in the show. I basically cut small strips of white decal and applied them individually with tweezers


The wave motion engine 'glow' was painted in as well


And all finished :)




Nice work, got any others to show off?

Dînadan
Thank you :)
And yes, more to show off :hat off
Another model in the same small kit series, the Gatlantis Comet Empire ship "Lasceax". In the original 70's show this ship was called the "Goland"...I prefer that name so that's what I'm going to call it.


Packaged in the same small 5 inch box, the kit has 4 sprues of parts


As with all Bandai models, the parts are molded with ZERO mold lines or flash...beautiful details as well


This shows the commitment that Japanese model manufacturers make to the quality of their models...the sprues are molded with large protective 'walls' around thin pointed parts that could otherwise break easily:


Another interesting CAD design is how these parts fit together on the conical tips (everything is 'snap' together)


Some of you asked me how I painted in the panel lines with enamel paints...so here you go:
Thin the enamel paint with a bit of enamel paint thinner and just paint it on, no worries if it's sloppy


Then use a Q-Tip cotton tip, dampen it with some thinner (not soaking! just damp)


And then just gently wipe away the excess paint, it leaves the paint in the panel lines perfectly. Much better than using washes.


Same method done on the upper section of the hull


Before and after


:hat off
8

Dînadan:

Now that’s more like it in terms of spaceships; would look good if you removed the bow cone and slapped some orange paint and an Autobot symbol on it to make the Ark from G1 :wink:

9

Admiral:

Neat end result on the space Yamato, and thank you very much for sharing pictures and info on it, the Goland and Japanese casting quality. Now that is a high standard!

10

Abecedar:

That is a nice one too. Not one I am familiar with though.

And I’m pretty sure it was starblazers here too. Screened during the mid to early eighties.

11

Fuggit Khan:

if you removed the bow cone and slapped some orange paint and an Autobot symbol on it to make the Ark from G1 ;)

Dînadan
Ha! True! I'm sending you some slaves for the laugh :)
Japanese casting quality. Now that is a high standard!

Admiral
They set the standard, and have no peers.
That is a nice one too.  Not one I am familiar with though.

Abecedar
It's from the second series, with the Comet Empire...although the original 70's version was covered in lots of missiles

Continuing work on the Gatlantis Comet Empire "Goland" ship...detail work on the back mast, I had to paint the small green bit at the top. Trying to match the molded green color, I mixed a 50/50 mix of Soviet Warsaw Pact green and Skarsnik Green :sick


Like the other kits in this model series, it's a 'snap together' kit...although in this case the back engine parts 'slide' together and lock in place


Painting in the (very!) small triangular bridge windows by hand was a pain in the @ss...especially since I spent nearly two hours mixing 4 different paints to get the correct shade of yellow/orange. Yeah, I have too much free time ;)


Painting in the details on the various gun turrets and hull sections




Starting to look like a spaceship now




And finished :hat off









:hat off
12

Skink:

Gotta be honest, the only kind of modeling I’m into is Warhammer. I can still recognize great miniatures though. Well done mate! These are not Chaos Dwarfs but they are a pleasure to look at none the less :cheers

13

Jackswift:

The result looks great. Well done on the color matching and your line work process with the enamel and thinner gives a beautiful result.

I acquired some of the small scale EDF starship models for use with full thrust along with some of the same scale toy ship figures. They have been sitting in boxes. This is great inspiration and incentive to get those models painted and done. Cheers!

14

TheHoodedMan:

Excellent. I love those spaceships.

15

Admiral:

Nice spaceship, though it seems to lack a cathedral, skulls and a galley ram… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I wonder what Japanese marvel kit you’ll pull from your sleeve next.

16

Abecedar:

More of these. Just not a silly converting robot please.

17

Fuggit Khan:

Gotta be honest, the only kind of modeling I'm into is Warhammer. I can still recognize great miniatures though. Well done mate! These are not Chaos Dwarfs but they are a pleasure to look at none the less :cheers

Skink
Thank you Skink :hat off
I'm a huge miniatures/model fan of all genre's (except motorcycles...for some reason motorcycle models bore me). Good too see that you enjoy models too :cheers
I acquired some of the small scale EDF starship models for use with full thrust.  

Jackswift
Awesome! I love Full Thrust and Star Fleet Battles, great games! And you have some of the Yamato EDF ships?! Well good sir, that deserves me donating 50 slaves to you, since you are cool enough to have Yamato models and you play Full Thrust :cheers
Excellent. I love those spaceships.

TheHoodedMan
Thanks Hood, much appreciated :)
Nice spaceship, though it seems to lack a cathedral, skulls and a galley ram... ;P

Admiral
Haha! No spaceship is complete without a galley ram ;P
More of these.  Just not a silly converting robot please.

Abecedar
I built a few converting Macross kits as a kid...but I'm not a fan of converting robots too much. I'm more a fan of the 70's vintage giant robots...Mazinger!
I wonder what Japanese marvel kit you'll pull from your sleeve next.

Admiral
How about this:


The Yamato 2199 Garmillas fleet set #2 ...a huge box with a wealth of parts molded in 7 different colors


Includes full color instructions painting guides...but wait! What is that little gem pictured in the bottom right hand corner?


After all, sci-fi is not all about spaceships...we have tanks too :)
The Garmillas Saruba S-VI tank has always been my most favorite tank ever since I was a kid.
As a youngster I made one from lego, and spray painted it green (back in my day, lego only came in red, white and blue colored bricks. That's how old I am)
Such a cool, sleek and aggressive design...I love it <3


Not too many parts for this kit, they're molded on one of the same plastic sprues for the Gaiderol class battleship


Quick snap together parts accurately have all the detail for the bogie wheels, suspension arms, etc



The tracks are molded in the correct blackened gun metal color, and their CAD design makes a quick and easy fit (any tank modeler will attest to how much a pain making track links is)




Upper body and side skirts are beautifully molded with NO flash or mold lines..again I used thinned enamels to accent the molded details. In this case I used a combination of black and gray enamels



Lower hull all finished up




Impressive detail on the turret


Can you guess which barrel I stepped on and broke into 5 pieces?


Rule #1: Don't leave plastic sprues laying on the floor, and then step on them :(

The 5 broken pieces were carefully glued back together, and the glue seams were then carefully sanded/blended with fine grit sandpaper.

Turret and barrel all done...the turret swivels and each barrel elevates independently of each other...pretty darn cool


And all done <3













It's small!


:hat off
18

Skink:

Those enamel paints are a blessing. You are doing a great job with these! The tank looks epic.

19

Abecedar:

Ditto. How many kits are you going to buy to get a squadron of tanks?

20

Admiral:

That kit is nothing short of brilliant!