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14 hours ago, The Chief Smeg said:

I have seen a few people on this board discussi g how bad vinyl re-casts can be, but this is the first one that I have seen, boy have you had your work cut out so far!

 

This is only the second vinyl kit I've tackled, and the first recast I've had. To be honest, apart from some warpage of parts it's not too bad. I think I'm just used to kits where the parts fit together properly. 

 

Anyhoo...... I've started to hack the head up.

 

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As I said in a previous post, I'm going to remove the lumpy back of the head. This area is supposed to be flat, but is like the surface of the moon. 

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I'm also going to be removing the base of his head, as there's no way I can get it flat.

 

Out with the razor saw and scalpel.

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This is what we get, after some rough chopping. I glued a length of sprue across the head, to try and help it hold it's shape.

 

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Cut the base out using the same method of saw and scalpel. The sprue strengthener didn't last long.

 

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I used double sided tape to stick the original cutout section to a sheet of 2mm plasticard. Rough cut it out, and am in the process of finishing the shape to a good fit. It's a load of dry fit, mark high spots in pencil, sand and file, then repeat. 

I got a bit bored of all that, so moved on to the back of the head. I roughly cut a piece of the 2mm plasticard to fit over the hole in the back of his head.

 

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Super glued in place, I let it set for a while, and did a but more on the base.

When the sheet was nice and solid, I started roughing it to shape, to match the rest of the head.

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Taking shape now, nearly where I want it.

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Pretty happy with how it turned out. Added a chamfer to the edge, to help reduce the thick, slabby look of it. Might need more refining later, but it's ok for now.

 

Matt

Edited by S5 modeller
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I'm back again, like a bad penny I keep turning up. 

 

2016-12-05_12-36-04

Got the new base fitted into the head. I've left it a little long,as this helps align the rear of the head. The extra lip slots neatly in the rear section. 

 

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Much happier with the fit of the parts.it seems the lumpy section I removed from the back of the head was causing all sorts of issues.

 

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This join on the bottom still needs a bit of work, but I'm tempted to leave it alone. After all, no one will see it, unless they pick it up and turn it over. 

Need to neaten up some of the super glue on the base.

I don't think this is ever going to turn out perfect, but I'll try to make it the best I can. 

Now where did I leave that can of expanding foam? 

 

Until next time, happy modelling. 

 

Matt

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You're a braver man than me Matt.  I think I'd have had a temper-tantrum and tried to get a refund if I got it through eBay... it's a bit wobbly :S

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I know what you mean Mike. The place I ordered it from is in this country. He made no reference to it being a recast kit, and it cost me about 30 quid! He claimed it was in stock, so I presumed it might be a better quality home grown kit. Not happy when it turned up in an airmail box from Thailand! I could have got 3 kits from Thailand for the same money I paid for it. 

Still, in the good old British tradition, I just shut up and took it.

Just going to make the best job of it I can.

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Well good luck. :) I've had a few items that have purported to be from the UK but have eventually been delivered with an Airmail or customs declaration on the front.  They've all been under the limit and I've had no problems, but if it all went wrong, they'd be up the creek with eBay. :rolleyes:

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Luckily Mike this came under the radar too. I've since noticed the box is marked "gift".

As I couldn't find my expanding foam, I changed tack and started on the feet.

 

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Cheap bag of plaster of paris, a couple of quid from hobby craft.

 

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A set of kitcken scales and some hasty calculations scribbled on a scrap of paper and some water.

 

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One poundland funnel. 

 

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Aaand we end up with two lower legs filled with plaster.

It's given them a nice solid, weighted feel. Should help prevent ed from falling over, and make him more stable. I'm also hoping it's going to help provide a nice solid support to help with attaching the toes with brass pins. I also want to drill out all the moulded in fasteners and replace them with real cap headed bolts.

Just got to wait a couple of days now, for the plaster to dry out.

 

Matt

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On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 5:45 PM, S5 modeller said:

 

As I couldn't find my expanding foam

http://www.diy.com/departments/bq-500ml-expanding-foam/262489_BQ.prd

 

I bought some of this stuff from B & Q too fill a hole in my skirting board & it works, you only need a little bit.

 

Can be sanded & its really easy to cut once dry, also make sure you get a tin with a nozzle, as I had to look at the back of the bin location to find a can with a nozzle.

 

But great progess so far, liking your modifications.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Wayne.

Edited by Deadman Disciple
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello again. 

Managed a bit of work over the Christmas period. 

Got the head fixed together..

 

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Heated the rear half up with a hairdryer and smooshed the parts together. Managed to get a good fit, hopefully little filler will be required. 

 

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Superglued a piece of sheet styrene to the hip section. This is going to provide a good contact area when fixing to the head.

 

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Started fitting his boots. Got the right hand feet on fitted pretty good.

 

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Same can't be said for the other side. Both of the mounting points are far from flat, as both are the same I think both of the legs are cast from the same mould, both have identical sink marks, blemishes and curvature. 

I've also fitted the elbow sections to the arms, and fitted the flexi sections to the leg joints, but the photos have disappeared. 

 

Starting to think about paint now, but can't decide on the main colour.

Some shots he appears to be grey, but in others he has a decided blue hue to him.

If anyone has any input, I would love to hear it. 

 

Also, can I use Squadron grenn putty on the vinyl, or is milliput the only option? 

 

Happy modelling. 

 

Matt

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As promised here are the missing photos. 

 

2016-12-27_06-16-24

Elbows attached to the gun pods.

 

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Hip joints with flexi couplings. 

 

And now a public service announcement. 

Don't use a full fresh can of expanding foam on the wifes work top. Not if you want to stay married!! 

 

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Safe to say it exploded out the elbow joint on initial depression of the trigger. All over the nice black work surface, black washer/drier and laminate floor.

Expanding foam is a nasty, sticky, mess to clean up. Suppose I could have left it, except for the dire warning on the can " cured foam can only be mechanically removed"  so beware, you have been warned! 

 

Matt

Edited by S5 modeller
Clumsy, drink fuelled spelling
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Another day, another update. 

I'm starting to get some traction on this build. Now some of the awkward parts are done, I'm rolling along. 

 

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I just couldn't bring myself to keep the awful blobby mess that are the guns.

 

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So off came the first set.

 

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To be replaced with these. Various sizes of albion alloys brass tube, sliced up and sleeved together. Slightly undersize to the originals, but a vast improvement in definition. 

 

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Fitted a sheet of styrene in their place, and drilled the appropriate sized holes.

Just waiting for the milliput to set, then I can glue in the barrels. 

 

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As I mixed up way too much milliput, I used the rest to build up this flat section on the back of his head. There was a massive depression there. When it's gone off I'll be able to sand it back flat.

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I have to say, you are being far more patient with this build than you have any right to be. It's looking a hell of a lot better already, but I'm guessing you have a big list of things to do that are going to make us all smile on here. 

 

Very nice work so far. 

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Thank you.

This build has certainly tested my patience so far, but now the head is sorted, most of the problems are behind me.

I do indeed have a big list of things I'd like to sort out, but some of them are beyond my meagre skill set.

The next major overhaul, after the guns, are the rails on the legs. I've been fiddling with some ideas to replace them. I seem to be having trouble cutting strips of styrene, can't seem to get a constant repeatable strip cut.

Any suggestions for cutting a large amount of identical width strips from a sheet? 

Still need to source the decals for the kit too, as there weren't any supplied. 

Edited by S5 modeller
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2016-12-30_01-34-39

This picture illustrates what I've got to work with. The rails are twisted and deformed, and all the voids are filled in.

If the rails were straight and fairly true I could have just painted the voids black.

As it stands they are a mess.

I've been trying to replicate them, but the slots are causing me a headache. The rails are 8mm thick, and I can't cut the 2mm wide slots through them, there's just too much material to get through. 

Oh for a bench top milling machine! 

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Speaking as a mechanical engineer I would say you need to knock up a quick little jig to help you with the cutting, drill some holes for pins in a block of wood the correct edge distance to act as stops, sandwich and clamp the sheets that have been rough cut to the required size and then file the lot down to the right dimensions in 1 go. 

 

Oh oh how I wish I had a milling machine and a lathe in my workshop too. 

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Dear S5, nothing personal, I actually liked your build log and am quite interested to see the end result. You're probably a very nice and skilfull man who means all the best and I don't doubt that the least. The following is not a personal attack but merely a point of critiscism to modellers and this site in general. I really hope you don't feel attacked personally.

 

But....

 

This is a site where we love and promote the building of scale models and the companies investing in them. In this topic we watch build an illegal recast of a kit that is bootlegged from a company, like many others, that went bankrupt because of these recasts giving the originals a bad name and thinning out the field to such a degree it's hardly viable anymore. You all can be chummy and quaint about it, but these re-casters have literally almost entirely killed off an entire branch of our beloved hobby. I'm shocked that this is condoned and Mike, who should know better, actually pitches in without any form of critiscism about the practice while being very, maybe even overly, politically correct otherwise.

 

If you love something then honour it instead of helping in its demise, if you like vinyl kits then go out of your way to buy a proper original, or don't build it at all. Show the world how nice one can be instead of propagating a perversion of it. Now people wil see this and think "Ah well it's not that bad, what a nice challenge, I'll build one too" instead of teaching them how horribly bad in all ways these recasts are for the hobby. There are no excuses, yes they're cheap and easy to get while the originals are impossible to get, that's because it's stolen it's as simple as that. We don't sell stolen goods here either or pass of others builds as our own, so why allow illegal recasts that gave the entire field of vinyl models the bad name it will never recover from? We as a modelling forum have the obligation to promote this hobby, not to damage it as kits like these do.

 

If someone did the same with a resin recast from Accurate Armor the topic wouldn't have been condoned, what is the difference?

I will probably even get more negativity towards me for this post than the practice I'm questioning, I care enough about the hobby not to mind though.

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Thank you for your eloquently put monologue kasparov.

It's nice to hear your passionate respone to my build.

I am in no way condoning the industry of pirated models, although I have purchased one.

I could have purchased an original kit off of a well known auction site, at a highly inflated price, but it would in no way support the original manufacturer,  as you have kindly pointed out, is no longer in business and hasn't been for quite a few years. So I'm hardly to blame for single handedly ruining them.

All I would have done is to line the pockets of an unscrupulous collector that has held onto the kit, hoping to make a big fat profit in the process. Very rarely are the originals sold by individuals, who purchased them to build, but by people engaged in the trade of obsolete collectables.

 

I am more than happy to remove this build thread, if it offends the moral sensibilities of the modeeators.

 

Matt

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Matt,

 

please don't remove the thread. We are all learning a lot from this build. Can I also point out that you also stated from word go that you had not realised this was a recast. 

 

As you say to Kasparov his words and views are eloquently put, but this kit is from a now (regrettably) defunct company, you are no longer hurting them in building this model - things would be entirely different if this was a knockoff or poor copy of a Bandai, Airfix or Revel kit (to name but 3), of this had been the case you would be right to pull the thread. 

 

Kasparov, if you are reading this response, I appreciate your comments, your sentiments and the fact that you took the time to comment in such a pleasant manner - plenty of other forums I used to look on would have taken the opportunity to simply Troll 5s over this matter; these manufacturers have now ceased trading and we all regret that fact. I thank you for your views and welcome you to this part of the forum (never seen any of your threads here, but I am a recent member). 

 

Leigh

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