Andy Moore Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 (edited) A little more progress has happened on K2. I still wasn't absolutely sure about the metallic base coat I'd used for the chipping. I was going to tone it down with a coat of matt varnish but after a bit of thought I decided to mist some pale grey over the Alclad which left a nice mattish grey silver. It doesn't actually matter that much as the chips are going to be pretty small, and the subsequent dirt and grime will tone them down anyway The shot above includes the front and back hip/groin parts, which I'd have preferred to attach to the waist section before painting, but the waist has a couple of tiny grill panels that need to be painted in a polished finish first then masked off. The torso also has a bit of polished trim around the neck, so that and the waist have been sprayed with the AK polished aluminium I used for the mouth parts I'll mask off the grills on the waist, then matt down the finish with another grey overspray. I was intending to do the same thing for the rim around the neck, but after a few failed attempts to cut a ring of masking tape with a compass cutter, I'll do it a different way. The rim is less the a mm thick and the tape kept breaking up as I tried to cut it, but I did end up with the left over inner and outer rings of tape, so I'll do the main painting on the torso then use them to mask and spray the polished rim at the end. I'd ordered a jar of Gunze Aqueous H32 Field Grey 1 (Panzer Grey to you and me) for the main finish, as I thought it would be just about the right tone. What I didn't realise until it came is that it's a gloss finish and a little on the transparent side. It was also slightly lighter than I was expecting, so I mixed a drop of Tamiya flat black into it, which lessened the glossiness and darkened it at the same time. After a coat of hairspray I gave the head and hip parts a coat of the darkened grey then, after drying for about 10 minutes, I wet the surface and started chipping the paint. To begin with I used a cocktail stick that I'd sharpened to a chisel edge, but the wood started to soften from the water which was making the chips larger than I wanted, so I switched to using the point of a knife blade. Obviously you have to be pretty careful doing it that way as even a tiny amount of pressure with the blade will scratch the paint down to the plastic, but if you let the weight of the blade skip across the surface, you'll end up with tiny chips I did start off trying to match the chips and scratches to the photo reference of K2, but in the end I just went with the general look of the original. I'm reasonably happy with how the head's come out. The chips are a bit too big, but in this scale it's hard to keep them small enough. The eyes had the holes in the back painted white which goes some way to replicating the look of the real ones Next job is to paint and chip his torso, then I'll have to build up the arms and legs, and decide what pose I want him in, as I'll probably have to glue the limbs in position. Andy Edited January 11, 2017 by AndyRM101 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Smeg Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Looking really good so far Andy. Hairspray chipping does seem to be a very versatile technique 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Looks good Andy - I wouldn't worry about the scale of the chips, they look fine to me I'm wondering if some little punched discs of silver foil pasted into the centres of the eyes might do a slightly better job of reflecting the light and giving the impression of those movable "eyeballs" that gave him extra character. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesP Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Remarkable work even more so considering the size 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sheene Machine Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 So, this is you winging it again with no plan.....Outstanding work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 On 08/01/2017 at 10:52 AM, BIG X said: I do like the decal / sticker option - great for the kids. They also work well as pre-cut masks. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Some lovely looking chips Andy! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Smeg Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 5 hours ago, Blastvader said: They also work well as pre-cut masks. That's damn clever! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Stunning work, he looks fantastic so far! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portaler Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 With K2SO being so tall he's sure to have more scratches and chips on his noggin. Looking great ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmonk Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 The chips on the head look fine Andy, as for the rest, well I think most comments so far sum it up! On a side note I have managed to get 2 0.15mm enamelled wires down the leg and through the knee joint, there is a little trick in getting it through the knee involving making a notch in the clear centre. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R0ver Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Just catching up on this thread. K2's head looks superb! The scratches look very realistic, and definitely not too big to me. Outstanding stuff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portaler Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) Andy if you need a bit more film reference for K2SO pause this video at around the 15 second mark. He has quite a bit of weathering around the arm joint I see. Actually quite a cool video. Love this behind the scenes stuff, especially the aliens. Neil Scanlon has one of the best jobs out there I'd say ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovgxkgiDQg Edited January 18, 2017 by Portaler Added info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Looks nice, very sharp scratches. Must be cool when you can move the parts around and see all the chips glinting against the matt black! Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Moore Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Thanks guys. Sorry for the lack of updates. It's been a hectic week, but I've finally managed to get some more work done on him. On 14/01/2017 at 08:36, Madmonk said: On a side note I have managed to get 2 0.15mm enamelled wires down the leg and through the knee joint, there is a little trick in getting it through the knee involving making a notch in the clear centre. I'm looking forward to seeing one lit. Painting the back of the lens works okay, and Mike's suggestion of putting foil at the back would work well too, but the effect tends to be lessened by the ribs moulded on the front of the eyes, which have a kind of fresnel effect that diffuse the sharpness of the painted eyeball. I imagine a lit one will probably look sharper as well as being brighter. 11 hours ago, Portaler said: Andy if you need a bit more film reference for K2SO pause this video at around the 15 second mark. He has quite a bit of weathering around the arm joint I see. Thanks for the link. He's actually got more weathering than you initially think, but a lot of it doesn't show up that well against the dark colouring. I'll have to be a little careful how I go about it, as I don't want to cover up the chipping with to much weathering. I'll probably stick to a few grimy filters and some oil runs and streaks. So, as I said at the top, I've got a little more done. I'd kept the waist section separate as there are two little grills that needed painting in a polished finish. I used the AK polished aluminium for them, masked them off then gave the rest of the part a coat of pale grey for the chipping. After a couple of coats of hairspray, it got the same darkened Gunze Panzer grey top coat as used previously, then some light chipping with a small brush and a knife blade, after which the masking for the two grills was removed and the previously painted side panels were clipped into place With that all done I could fit the hip panels and leg joints, and this section, bar the weathering, is done The torso is also now painted and chipped. As with the head, there was a half-hearted attempt to match the chipping to the real droid, and for the most part, the chips are roughly in the same place. I even added some of the darker scratches that show up on his shoulders by scratching through the metallic base coat to the black plastic underneath. I'd intended to mask and spray the polished ring around the neck, but I managed to rub the paint off the ring to reveal the base coat. It will need a bit of cleaning up, but it's saved me another masking job. What I didn't do, but really should have, is fill the join across the top of the torso. For some reason, when I was putting it together, I didn't think it would show that much. Oh well, I'll just pretend there's a meant to be a panel line there. Real K2 for comparison So he's currently looking like this... There's some detail painting and/or decals to add, and I need to make the neck so I can add his head. I've also started on his legs, and I'll upload shots of those later. Andy 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmonk Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I tried to use some 1mm fibre guide but there's is not much room in the head, opted for a couple of 0403 LEDs mounted horizontally in the eye holes then painted the rest of the clear part black. Obviously left the front lenses clear! Will try try and get a decent photo to show. That is looking good Andy, keep it up' Are you at the Bolton Show on Sunday by any chance, will have the K-2SO lights there. Cheers, Warren 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Reckon you should probably lose that panel line Andy.....Suspect it'll only bug you if you don't. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portaler Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Looking great. I did a quick check on the chipping accuracy. Not bad ! Close enough for me. Don't know how you would close that panel line without re-painting everything. I'd leave it or convince myself it's on the original. (Just can't see it due to that light flare on the original picture ;-) ) Doesn't look bad at all IMO. Andy are those stock antennae or paint brush ends ? :-) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Moore Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 23 hours ago, Madmonk said: Are you at the Bolton Show on Sunday by any chance, will have the K-2SO lights there. No, unfortunately not. It would have been nice to see the lights in person. 23 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said: Reckon you should probably lose that panel line Andy.....Suspect it'll only bug you if you don't. I suspect it will too, but since, as Portaler said, it'll require re-doing the base coat, top coat and chipping, I'm just going to leave it. I really don't know why it didn't occur to me to fill it at the time. I'd been looking at the ref pics for days and knew full well there wasn't a panel line there. Just a bit of brain fade, as I was thinking too much about the painting. 15 hours ago, Portaler said: Andy are those stock antennae or paint brush ends ? :-) You caught me, they're from my stash of 1/12 paint brushes . No, they are in fact the kit parts. Just need detail painting. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Moore Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 As I mentioned a couple of posts up, I've started work on the legs, or one leg to be precise. One of the things I needed to check was whether I could make the knee joints without using the clear inserts, which are there to add some friction resistance to the joints. On the real droid the joints are completely open, which is how I want to make them. The clear plug sits inside the centre section of the knee joint Then the two outer halves of the joint clip over the plug from each side If you leave the plug out, it looks like this, which is how the real thing looks With the plug out, the joint is just about tight enough to support the upper leg, but there's no way it would support the whole body with gluing the joint in a fixed position. You can also see that the upper leg has quite a prominent seam line where the two halves join. This sanded out okay, but you have to be quite careful with this kit because Bandai have used a really soft plastic across all the parts, soft enough that you can leave a mark in it with your finger nail. You have to be really gentle with any sanding to avoid leaving deep marks in the surface. The lower leg is also a two-part assembly, but the join is on a panel line, so it doesn't need any filling/sanding. There's surprisingly little articulation on the legs, at least compared to the earlier figures, but that's probably down to them being so spindly As you can see, as soon as the hips and torso is added, the whole thing collapses from the weight of the upper body, so the joints will definitely need gluing I've also been painting the shoulder rings. These had a metallic base coat like the body and head, then a coat of pale grey with more hairspray chipping The yellow band and the panels were then masked off and sprayed. There's actually two different greys on the panels, a mid shade on the lower panels and a darker grey on the upper ones They had a black pin wash on the panel lines and were clipped into place on the shoulders. The torso has been detail painted too. I didn't bother with any of the supplied decals, as they aren't that good. The white outline that goes on the front of the chest was particularly bad. Instead of a solid white line, the decal was made up of diagonal checks. It was easier to run some white paint into the panel line, then wipe off the excess Andy 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 He's coming along Andy, and the eyes look ok now we're seeing them in context of the rest of the build. Not quite a bright and contrasting as the original, but there was precious little you could do really without resorting to lighting. Speaking of which, where's Warren with the pic of his lighting attempt? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levin Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 (edited) Nice build andy👍 Have you though of using some kind of pipe instead of the plug? i honestly don't know how big the diameter of the hole is but an arrow shaft might be appropriate. mine at least have nice thin wall relative to their diameter in any case - nice build and good luck to find something for the joints. Levin Edited January 20, 2017 by Levin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanoyen Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Damn you... I'm trying to be good and stop adding to the stash until I complete a few more kits but you're making want to get one of these! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Cool, nice seing the torso bits together with the head. Its looking great 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
langy Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 brilliant work Andy, i just love the attention to detail you have, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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