Science Patrol vs. Bemular

[Will Vale]

Hi all,

 

This box has been nagging at me for a while now:

 

 

So I thought I'd get on and build it as a bit of light relief. I'm still umming and ah-ing a bit about the breakdown by colour - the masking looks quite hard, and the fit is good, but I'll end up with a weird panel line between the red and silver.

 

So far I've put together some parts and filled gaps around the rear fuselage insert and between the nose and red fuselage section.

 

 

I also attached the missile tubes to the wingtips, which was weird - I used thin CA and on both sides they cracked in half almost immediately along a jagged line. I think maybe it was a flow line? I put them back together with CA, sanded it all back, and one fitted OK while the other broke again. Third time lucky though.

 

I wonder if this is another reason why the Bandai and Kotobukiya kits are so vulnerable to enamel thinner? If the flow lines are really hairline cracks they provide some good places for fluids to run into.

 

The idea is to sculpt the head and shoulders of Atomic Monster Bemular (from Ultraman episode one) emerging from the water and have his deadly beam support the VTOL in flight, but let's just start with what we have

 

https://youtu.be/4x7_DBzBetM

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

[Will Vale]

Well it wasn't *quite* one of those evenings, but I managed to break the other end of one of the missiles and get a fingerprint on the wing while priming. Almost sorted out now but will wait for it to dry up and then re-sand the missile tomorrow.

 

The flow lines in the metallic plastic translate into different gloss levels on the surface, which have taken a bit of flatting back and buffing up to eliminate. I went for grey primer since I think I should use a non-high-shine metallic to make life a bit easier!

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[Thud4444]

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Your building an Ultraman diorama?  This is going to be awesome!  The original Ultraman show is a classic!  So cheesy.  Great monsters,  great characters and orange space suits made to look like business suits.  The cherry on top? Great dialogue like this: 

 

"Where have you been? The entire Science Patrol has been looking for you!"

"It doesn't matter where I've been!  I need the S16 atomic submarine brought to the lake!"

[Andy Moore]

 I saw this on ebay a while ago and nearly ordered it. It's such a cool '60s design. Looking forward to the build.

 

8 hours ago, Will Vale said:

I wonder if this is another reason why the Bandai and Kotobukiya kits are so vulnerable to enamel thinner? If the flow lines are really hairline cracks they provide some good places for fluids to run into.

 

I think the flow marks are quite likely one of the problem areas. When I had cracks on the AT-ST they were in the middle of parts, rather than at joints, and they were more like fracture lines in the plastic, and I'm guessing they were along flow marks.

 

Andy

[Hunter Rose]

Will be watching with interest sounds cool, bugger about the cracks!

[Will Vale]

More of a vignette than a diorama! I have the Hasegawa Ultra Seven (I think?) ship as well which I need to build, although I've not seen that series. It's a really cool design that riffs on Century Series jets and comes apart into three ships, which was the hallmark of excellence when I was a kid (see Ulysses 31 etc.)

 

I love the original so much, the English dub is completely charming too. And at the end of every episode: "Where is Hayata? He will be sad to have missed Ultraman yet again. Oh Hayata, there you are!" <laughter>

 

Will

[Mike]

Well that's 20 minutes of my life I won't get back.   What I want to know is... why did I wait so long to turn it off?

[Will Vale]

Just now, Mike said:

Well that's 20 minutes of my life I won't get back.   What I want to know is... why did I wait so long to turn it off?

 

Philistine! 

[Mike]

I did get a laugh when (Astra) Belmont (or whatever his name was) took a hit to the very top of his head, and in the next close shot he's a bit cross-eyed.  Classic!

[Will Vale]

This will surely win you over:

 

 

 

[Mike]

I'm not biting again!

[Carts]

I did,and now I don't know what anything means anymore.

[Will Vale]

Result

[Hunter Rose]

Haha! just the sight of the dino tank had me in stitches! God bless you and your craziness Japan

[Will Vale]

I will admit (cautiously, is Mike still around?) that I've been eyeing up the Lindberg T-rex for tank compatibility But I was also wondering about bashing it with the Gundam Gusion to create a Klegg, so not sure what's going to happen there yet.

 

I've got silver paint on the ship now, need to take some pictures really. Lots of irritations to sort out with the primer but the Alclad Duralumin went on very nicely once I'd done that. Next: Masking.

 

Will

[Misrule]

I know nothing of this series and after watching the vids I still know nothing of this series  Except that there must have been something amazing in the water back then!

 

These little Bandai mechacolle kits though are very nice and seem to keep getting better, very surprising for the price.

[Madhatter]

now I think I've seen everything. Godzilla humping a tank taking on a wannabe Power Ranger

That could only be thought up in Japan

[Will Vale]

4 minutes ago, Madhatter said:

now I think I've seen everything.

 

 

This video embedding lark is highly amusing, sorry for those of you who were expecting modelling.

 

Except I do have some modelling: Silver paint on the VTOL:

 

 

I watched Episode 1 again and I think it's actually a glossy Sky Grey kind of colour, with white wingtips, but silver seems a popular option and it does look cool! There are some shots where it could be metallic as well.

 

I've painted the red bits silver and I'm planning to chip them using Andy's masking fluid technique to get something a little more worn. I also saw a video of a Japanese modeller applying Tamiya Panel Line Colour to one of these kits, straight onto the bare plastic, and it didn't crumble to dust so I'm going to gingerly try that for the weathering.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

[Andy Moore]

Looking good Will. Out of curiosity, do you get waterslide decals or stickers with this?

 

Andy 

[Will Vale]

There's a nice sheet of waterslide decals including all the livery bits with the tricky curved edges. It's tempting to use them but I'd have to match the paint.

 

Will

[Thud4444]

17 hours ago, Will Vale said:

This will surely win you over:

 

 

 

 

Would you believe that's not even the weirdest one?

 

Here is one of my favorites, Ultraman must teach a young boy that it's never ok to send a giant monster to kill your ex girlfriend. The name of the monster: the Hoe. Japan I honestly can't tell if your just awkward or ironic any more. ...

 

 

 

[Madhatter]

That was terrible!

what amused me was the girlfriend's name: Midori

When he asks the boy : "Do you really hate Midori?" I was thinking to myself No one likes Midori - it tastes awful

The monster kind of reminds me of the Rabbit from Donnie Darko but with a saliva problem

 

Where does the craft your building come into this show Will?

[Will Vale]

The saliva was his tears of rejectedness, it all makes sense really! That was a cool episode although the '60s music is rather better than the '80s music

 

The VTOL is a bit like Thunderbird 2 - the Science Patrol use it to get around, shoot at monsters and transport stuff - see the video I linked to in the first post. It generally isn't able to stop the monsters, because if it was Ultraman wouldn't have to make an appearance.

 

Talking of monsters, I've made an armature for Bemular and mocked up how it fits together:

 

 

It's twisted up from soft wire and then soldered for a bit more strength. The tube is to support Bemular's atomic beam, which in turn will support the VTOL. I need to figure out how to texture the beam - I tried melted sprue but didn't get on with it, maybe 5 minute epoxy would be more my thing? I've also seen people use hot glue for this.

 

Haven't done any proper sculpting before so this should be interesting. I'm going to cover the armature in foil and leave the roof of the mouth open so I can fit LEDs in the eyes later. The LED for the beam can just be installed into the end and the whole shooting match passed down the tube later, or at least that's the idea.

 

I've got some Sculpey to play with - much cheaper than epoxy putty!

 

Cheers,

 

Will 

 

 

[Will Vale]

Usually when I try something new I get paralysed by indecision and stall for ages. Not this time!

 

 

I wrapped the armature in tinfoil, and then added a thin layer of Super Sculpey rolled out with an AA battery. I fiddled with the pose a bit more (so he leans back further) and blended the surface a bit with my finger, then threw caution to the winds and baked him for ~20min at '130'C. Very satisfying as he now goes "clunk" rather than "squidge".

 

There's more shaping which isn't really evident in the pictures - the combination of translucent clay and diffuse light hides shape, but I let the surface sag down between the armature wires in the back and bulked out the throat at the front.

 

I can start adding details next, I might pack the insides out with foil to avoid any chance of cracking as the layer is really thin?

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[Thud4444]

There's something. ... unsettling about that creation.