Macross Tactical Pod REGULT - Bandai 1:72

[TonyG]

Oh, wow. Macross kits making a comeback? I had a few of the original ones when they were released over here in the 1980's (?). Two Regult pods - one with missile launcers on the top, couple of battroid Valkyries, one big 'un with four big cannon and a Destroid defender (I think). Oh and the small version of the SDF-1. Always wanted the bigger version but by the time I got round to it they'd disappeared from the shelves in Beatties. They must still be in the loft somewhere.

[Mike]

Dunno if they're making a come-back, but I'm having a bit of a revisit

Just so you don't all think I've done nothing to the thing, here are a couple of pics of the "head" that I've finally managed to join together with some of Warren's fancy electronics inside. There's a reflector made from the end of a metal cigar tube, into which a small red LED is fitted. There's the tiny package containing the little computer that runs the pulsing of the light, and of course a CR2025 battery and holder, with a micro-switch projecting through a small hole in the lower rear of the head. The battery box is velcroed to the side of the switch retainer, and can be replaced by opening the articulated rear access hatch, grabbing it with tweezers, and pulling it free from the velcro. I've just started the process of seam filling after using a syringe to drizzle in a load of black epoxy resin around the reflector to make it light-fast and well-stuck.

I'll fill and sand the seams in a multi-stage process over the next few days, as the styrene is very soft and prone to sinking where it has been glued.

[Hunter Rose]

very nifty! Nice work Mike

[Madmonk]

Looking good Mike, glad it all went in okay.

Cheers,

Warren

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Cracking!

[Will Vale]

Looks very nice Mike, the eye is perfect.

Will

[wyverns4]

Wot! Nothing yet? 

 

Christian, exiled to africa

[Mike]

give us a minute!!!! I've not even had chance to dig out the assemblies yet.  I sprayed some more white primer over some seam correcting I'd done last week, so I'll see if that's ok, and if it is I'll clear coat it, then start masking up to lay down one of the other colours... once I've decided what they are of course

[Mike]

I'm now struggling with my complete lack of understanding of written Japanese (and almost all of the spoken stuff too).  Anyone got any ideas what these colours translate to?

 

 

[Mike]

Think I've managed to suss out some reasonable colours to use for this build.  I was rummaging through my various paint brands, and despite one reasonable match with Xtracrylix, I hit upon two colours from Gunze that were close enough, but needed an additional hint of blue adding to them.  For the dark colour I chose H42 Blue Grey, and for the light, I've gone for H418 RLM78 Light Blue, with a blob of H25 Sky Blue added to each to add the desired bluish tint.  I've not settled on final proportions, but will probably wing-it when I get down to the painting, and mix up a small bottle of each so I can touch-up where needed without having to re-match the colour again.  The white parts have had yet another coating of Aqua Gloss to seal that in, and I've been planning my paint process going from light to dark, as some parts of the legs and torso are black, but I'll use Panzer Grey, as I don't like seeing pure black as a main colour on a model.

 

Here's a quick snap of my test swatches:

 

 

I foresee lots of masking in my future

 

[Misrule]

Bit late but if it helps...

 

 

 

there is a helpful site here that has translations for a lot of these Japanese kits. Mainly Gundam but bunch of others too. 

 

http://www.mech9.com/

[James B]

Coming along really nicely Mike. I found that the google translate app was quite accurate with translations and has the ability to read from a photo taken. Mind you, it seems to be quite open to interpretation, as a few weeks after, a friend of mine took a look through and eventually translated it all and came up with some quite major differences. That said this was in regards to made up vehicle names for the TB2 pod vehicles, so colours might be easier.

[Mike]

It's a bit of a mindwarp, isn't it? Thanks to @Misrule for the link, which yields the following:

 

 

From this I get:

 

Soft Grey = 90% H53 Neutral Grey + 10% H61 IJN Grey

Ball White = 80% H31 White Green + 20% H51 Light Gull Grey

Metal Blue = 50% H5 Blue + 50% H56 Intermediate Blue

 

I had to take two liberties, as medium blue doesn't exist in the paint range, and there isn't a "gull grey" either.  It's either light or dark, and dark won't work.

 

14 hours ago, James B said:

I found that the google translate app was quite accurate with translations and has the ability to read from a photo taken.

I didn't know that, but hopeully it'll stay in my brain long enough to be useful next time

 

Incidentally, I got a coat of black primer on the dark sections last night, which will act as a base for the darkest grey I can lay my hands on.  Black Grey, or Panzer Grey, probably

[Mike]

Here's a snap of the black primered part forest

 

 

[Mike]

It might not look like a whole lot of progress, but I've been spraying Mr Color Dark Grey over the black primer, allowing some of it to show through a little for some tonal modulation.  Then I mixed up some ever-so-lighter grey and did a smidge of dry-brushing on edges to bring out the detail a little.  It doesn't show up much in the photos, but it looks a bit better in the flesh.

 

 

I've taken the plunge and ordered the 2 missing paints I'll need to do some test mixes of the suggested colours, and we'll see what those look like when they rock up.  If I don't like 'em, I'm quite happy with the mixes I came up with from what I have in stock, but we'll see.  In the meantime, I'm going to have a think about a possible base for it, so I'm going to need to decide on the pose to find out what size base I need, and then I'll need to make it and put some groundwork down.  As well as my first Gundam/Macross/giant robot kit, it'll probably end up as my first diorama base too I fancy a bit of a building to give it some scale, so I'm looking for something 1:72/1:76 that looks a bit knackered and war-torn. Did Airfix do some busted up buildings once?

[rockpopandchips]

Not sure these will be in scale but might be worth a look as they are very Macros/Gundam dio looking.

 

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spectacular-1-144-Battle-Damaged-Building-Outland-Model-Railway-Scene-FOR-GUNDAM/202121651485?var=&hash=item2f0f63a51d

[Mike]

Thanks for thinking of me, but 1:144 is too far out for this project. I've got a few Gundam kits that I'll get around to eventually though, and something like that may come on handy.

 

I have found a 1:76 building from Airfix going cheap due to a damaged box. However, so I've taken a punt on that. It's moulded with damage already, so all I'll need to do is paint it and integrate it into the groundwork. I'll post a photo when turns up.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

The Airfix resin pieces are a bit clunky, I'm not that keen on 'em:  https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/shop/dioramas-buildings.html

 

They're not cheap for what they are either. 

 

 

[Mike]

They're not cheap at retail, but my damaged box one will give me a couple of quid change from a tenner, delivered.  I noticed the thickness of the "slate" roof on the one I've purchased, but I can always Dremel that back a bit and replace the purlins if I have to.

 

 

 

[Mike]

Those Mr Color paints arrived today, so fair play to the eBay seller Why didn't I ask Martin @ Air-craft.net though?

 

Anyway - the first one I tried was total bunk - it was just a bland grey when I mixed it up, without a single shred of the blue hue that's evident in the pics, so I'm going back to my concoction I've got an empty LifeColor pot to play mix-up with so I guess I'd better get masking the grey off

[Mike]

A butt-load of masking tape later, and I'm ready to paint the paler of the two blues.  Now I just need to mix up the shades correctly... in the loosest sense of the word!

 

 

[Hunter Rose]

Paints looking nice so far Mike, look forward to seeing more

[Sgt.Squarehead]

TBH Mike, I looked high & low for decent 20mm sci-fi scenery last night (my ADD gets like that sometimes) and I didn't come up with anything better for the scene you have in mind, certainly not for under a tenner! 

 

Italeri do some nice 1/72 buildings in plastic, but they too are kind of pricey. 

[Mike]

Pricey doesn't really work for me in this instance

[Mike]

Here we go, fresh out of the paint booth   I opted for quite a vibrant colour for the light blue/grey to convey a little bit of the cartoon quality of the original... yes, yes... Anime I've added a slight change in tone around the edges of panels and such for the blue/grey too, and it's come out quite shiny I couldn't resist assembling the legs, which only have a bit of detail painting and their little red orbs needing adding to the ankles, and now I just need to mask up the head and paint the darker blue.

 

 

Then I'll have to decide whether to weather, wash and chip the model, and after that I'll need to find a small(ish) frame to use as a base for the dio.