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Hi all,

 

It's always interesting to see which project of the several I'm working on makes it to the point of painting, at which time I'm less reticent about sharing as there's a chance I might see it to completion 😛 This time it's another Kotobukiya kit, the Molga or as we know it Slitherzoid. This was easily my fave Zoid as a kid, with its crawling motion and nifty hidden gun and cockpit.

 

49018054252_84c3414e24_b.jpg

 

It'll look better with its wheels, but I'm changing the mounting for those to give it a narrower track (like the original Tomy toy) and haven't finished cleaning up and painting the modified parts yet.

 

It's painted with Tamiya red oxide primer and then dull and bright red lacquers. Over that I gave it a coat of GW Flesh Tearers Red mixed about 3:1 with Wyldwood - those are contrast points so they settle in the detail a bit, and I let them pool to give a patchy finish.

 

I drybrushed it with a couple of brighter reds, sponged on some Vallejo German Grey chips and painted a few scratches. Almost none of which will be visible at the end unless I contrive to have it leaping off a base? Then sealed it all with Dullcote.

 

I'm trying to avoid using any enamels as there's quite a lot of ABS in the frame, and I've fitted parts together with friction so it'll probably crack. I'm currently dithering about the body panels, which are painted in Alclad and decalled, but haven't been washed yet. They might not crack with enamel, but they might. But if I use acrylics around the details it'll be hard to get a really soft look.

 

I'll see if I can take some pictures of the armour bits today.

 

Cheers,

 

Will 

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Here's most of the armour clipped in place but not fully seated as I need to pull it off again.

 

49021251591_203e3ed448_b.jpg

 

It's painted with Alclad White Aluminium (I think!) over a black base, highlighted sparingly with Pale Burnt Metal and shaded heavily with Hotmetal Blue. I normally don't go far enough when I shade for effect/curvature like that, so this time I was quite heavy with it.

 

49021454887_841f5f6dd3_b.jpg

 

I think the inboard wheels look a lot better than the outboard setup in the kit, although it loses the ability to unfold them as earth spades....

 

W

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I certainly transformed some of my youthful Zoids into other robots, usually painted black and dry-brushed silver because it looked so cooool :)

 

I've got a bit further on the big slug, I was putting off shading the armour as I didn't want to use enamel but was worried about acrylic. I ended up going with acrylic and approaching it in two ways. I mixed Nuln Oil gloss with whatever the GW dark blue wash is called about 1:1, and painted that over all the lower armour panels (blue areas) using a brush to keep it from pooling after it was on.

 

That dried quite nicely on some bits, not so brilliantly on the cockpit, but that's largely hidden anyway...

 

49027239893_6c92a31d5c_b.jpg

 

On the upper brighter armour, I painted the same mixture directly into panel lines and around rivets. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but surface tension mostly got it in the right places and I cleaned up with a wet cocktail stick (after it was dry) here and there.

 

Emboldened, I also painted it into all the concave creases. In some places I think I hadn't stirred enough and it was a bit glossy, so I filled in any obvious places (vents and such) with Black Templar, and any subtler spots with Contrast Medium which is a nice eggshell matt rather than a flat finish.

 

I've painted up some odd details and done final assembly of the back end, that's all basically finished. I still need to paint and glue the new wheel mounts into place so they stay at the right angle, and paint a few details like the little inserts that cover the cockpit hinges, and add a few more caps.

 

I'd like to weather it, but I probably can't do too much without it looking too weird against the shiny armour? It also means things like rust are probably no-go.

 

Cheers,

 

Will 

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NB: I realise that I've been a bit dim and not cleaned up the slide-mould seams, but they were so neat and tidy that I thought they'd look fine.

 

i.e. I forgot until it was too late...

 

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On 11/7/2019 at 11:08 PM, Silenoz said:
  • looking good... deepen them a bit, add some dents along the side, 

I think it's too far along, but yeah that'd work. I think the other one (there are two in the box!) I'll try and remember to sand the buggers off.

 

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I've not had too much free time yesterday or today, but I cleaned up the spare guns I'd intended to use as wheel mounts and got them painted and fitted. The stub axles are the same as the kit would have you use, but instead of being held at the end of extensible arms they're drilled and pinned back-to-back through the chassis.

 

It makes for a nice tidy mount and the wheels are in-line with the arches rather than entirely outside them which is much closer to the lines of the original Tomy toy.


[also gosh those are some dusty bits, I hope that's not in the paint!]
 

Cheers,

 

Will

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Having got the axles sorted out I can go back to fun bits of painting. I started with the exhaust since it's pretty visible on the finished model and quite a nice detail compared to the original.

49045317243_8c1407747b_b.jpg

 

I started off blocking in the heat staining with thinned Iyanden Yellow, Aethermatic Blue and a little Magos Purple, plus some Ahkelian Green in the darkest of the blue bits. Then picked out the seam/weld with Vallejo Liquid Metal Silver. I also painted some patchy Black Templar around the round vent thingy and used it to black out the inside of the exhaust.

 

That was a bit stark so I went around the seam with Snakebite Leather to soften and darken the edge of the silver while keeping things warm, and gave it all a couple of coats of Klear to restore the sheen as the contrast paints are moderately matt.

 

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I came back to it after that was dry and misted very thin Tamiya Red-Brown over the upper armour to create a "plume" and then blocked in the middle with a little thinned Nato Black. Weirdly that dried a bit glossy - it was the end of a jar and I probably didn't stir it very well! Easy enough to fix with some Dullcote though.

The last thing in that area was to re-highlight some of the edges in a scratchy fashion with Mithril Silver.

 

I'd painted the gatlings previously, I say painted, it was black primer and graphite - nice sheen but a bit plain. I filled in the gun casings with Black Templar and added some dry-brushed highlights. Then sprayed a little Hotmetal Blue over the barrels and finished by unifying the casing sheen with Dullcote and picking out the final band with Leadbelcher.


49046876553_c416928b2f_b.jpg
 

Oh yes, and I also painted a tiny Mithril Silver patch into each sensor, tidied up with black and filled in the space with Clear Green. It's not amazingly evident, but nice when the light hits it.

The last bit I got to today was this Tigery exhaust under the tail. I didn't drill it out while building so I needed to do that, then I painted it with a thin coat of Rhinox Hide and built up some texture with Typhus Corrosion - surprisingly useful :) 
 

49047381156_31b0dbdf71_b.jpg


The rust is Skrag Brown and Ryza Rust, and the darker tones are from Wyldwood and Black Templar. I gave the end of the pipe a little dry-brush of Celestra Grey to make the shape stand out as well. 

It's a bit silly and out of character with the rest of the machine but it's mostly hidden underneath (and it was fun!)

 

Cheers,

 

Will

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I think the Zoid's about done, I repainted the lifting loops and added a bit of glossy leak to the segment joins (which you can't really see, ah well).

 

49083129151_42c99982c5_b.jpg

 

It's quite a bit more detailed than the old Slitherzoid, but it doesn't have such a nice set of tail spikes. I'm pleased that my colour choices (from memory) match the original plastic pretty nicely.

I found a bit of wooden serving platter so I'll probably knock up a quick desert base on that and add some dusty weathering.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

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Hadn't realised that the new one was the same size as the old one. I thought it was quite a bit larger, given the level of detail - very deceptive, and highlights how crisp the mouldings must be. What's the actual length of these?

 

I love the exhaust staining. It's such a wrench to do when you've got a perfect metallic finish, but it brings so much added realism and detail that it's worth the pain.

 

Andy:cat:

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11 hours ago, Andy Moore said:

Hadn't realised that the new one was the same size as the old one. I thought it was quite a bit larger, given the level of detail - very deceptive, and highlights how crisp the mouldings must be. What's the actual length of these?

They're very close - the old one is about 16cm, the new one 18cm. Most of the difference is in the slightly wider-spaced tail segments and the the length of the pointed tail itself, the front parts line up side-by-side pretty well.

Kotobukiya seem very good at getting sharp edges and detail on every surface - there are a bunch of slide-moulded parts that you wouldn't expect to be slide-moulded (like the booms and engine shrouds on the R-GRAY 1) and I keep not spotting the tiny seam lines on the 90' corners until it's too late!

I need to learn to keep an eye out for the cranked sprues, that's often a good clue.

 

11 hours ago, Andy Moore said:

I love the exhaust staining. It's such a wrench to do when you've got a perfect metallic finish, but it brings so much added realism and detail that it's worth the pain.

Cheers :)It has a tendency to get out of hand - I was probably going for something a bit smaller than I ended up with - but it does add something. I'm not very good at spraying very thin paint and I had some almost-a-run issues which you can just about see on the third segment, but it dried to a nice blotchy look which works really well :)

 

22 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Great paint work.

Thanks, I love doing shiny metals and the curvaceous surfaces on this one definitely show them off. I'm going to need to find a new Alclad supplier though, as it seems to be drying up in NZ.


Cheers,

 

Will

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I started making a simple base with this little acacia hipster serving thing from my bases box. (I tend to buy random bits of tableware when I see them for this kind of thing.)

 

49093615903_42934f9bcc_b.jpg

 

The Zoid more-or-less fits across diagonally, which is good as that's a better composition and doesn't need too much filler either side. I added some foam card and slate to the empty corners to build up the contours a little, but overall it's quite flat:

 

49094328307_bd662b5c40_b.jpg

 

The bits are just glued on with PVA, which has enough grip to roughly hold them while I poured some sand and grit over and around before setting it with thin CA dribbled on. This is not particularly safe but I have good ventilation and filtering so the fumes aren't a bother, and it's not quite a big enough area for the heat to cause problems either.

 

49094328487_edfdddc322_b.jpg

 

With the rocks fixed I did the same over the rest of the base, leaving the middle and edges clear. Ordinarily I'd smooth the foam more and add a layer of filler to soften the shapes, but the sand can be used to find the angle of repose and get quite nice slopes too. Plus it's a lot quicker as there's no drying time to speak of.

 

49094328647_c44cd30ab7_b.jpg

 

Lastly I added a mixture of thick and thin applications of two of the Citadel crackle paints, one plain and one with bits in for the "road" area so I could shape it a little. I dragged some skid marks from the Slitherzoid's belly plates and also scratched some horizontal lines with a toothpick to hint at the wheel pattern. It's rough and ready but should look OK when painted.

 

49094328812_09253ec670_b.jpg

 

It feels a bit artificial, like a diorama rather than a slice of reality, but I think when it's all painted and I add some scrubby greenery to break it up it'll make more sense.

 

49093616813_d89f84f5c7_b.jpg

 

Cheers,

 

Will

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23 hours ago, Soeren said:

Very nice this is. I had one of these myself.  Was it 30 years ago?  They had a motor inside when I remember correcrly and wasn't there dinosaurs as well?

They did indeed, see this pic from earlier in the thread with the original 

 

49083129151_1fa492bdb6_b.jpg

 

The one I'm building (on the right) is more like a Gundam kit, lots of tiny parts and articulation, but no motor :(

 

22 hours ago, DalekCheese said:

Very nice! Like the base in particular. What scale is it?

It's 1/72 scale. I ought to add a pilot really, but I'll have to figure out who to use - the kit comes with a seated pilot but I didn't bother to add him as the cockpit interior is categorically invisible.

 

I've done some more on the base today, starting with a coat of dilute matt medium to seal the crackle, and then a coat of Steel Legion Drab as a warm base colour. I added a bit of Kislev Flesh on the high areas too.

 

49098614281_78df0f1152_b.jpg

 

I washed all the outer areas with Seraphim Sepia to warm it further, and the "road" bit with Agrax for deeper shadows:

 

49098624176_6681b6a54a_b.jpg

 

The rocks had a coat of Khorne Red, which seems a bit risky! I also picked out some little bits of grit in Kislev Flesh.

 

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With a coat of Wyldwood (deep brown contrast paint) it's less scary. I went round the edges with Agrax as well to lift the rocks out of the surface a bit.
 

49098819332_cdb3724225_b.jpg

The weird rock colour should make more sense in the next update, I've done a bit more tonight but don't have any light for photos.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

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Cheers, I think I'm about done with the base now. I added some greenery - bits of Silflor foliage, some grass tufts, and some GW "barbed bracken" aka space rhubarb which I'd painted as a possible thing for my Necron bases but not used in the end. I think it fits here nicely.

 

49103285593_a6960e4867_b.jpg

 

I attacked the edges of the base, where the scenery wasn't much more than paint, with a couple of cotton buds soaked in alcohol. The aim was to reveal a bit more of the wood and make the wobbly edge look like it was something intentional (it was!) and not just a problem with straight lines.

 

I added more of the Tallarn Sand paint to the very edges of the earth areas and blended a little up to the side of the "road" as there was a stark transition there. With that all done I varnished the base with dullcote, leaving the rocks since they have a bit of sheen in the dark areas I was keen to preserve. 

 

I blended a little MIG beach sand and gulf war sand into the flat earth areas, sealed with a mist of varnish, and repeated the steps a couple of times - I think it looks a lot drier now.

 

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So that's the base - I'm quite happy with it.

 

49103794671_99a01f673c_b.jpg

 

Last steps are to weather the Molga in a bit and fix it in place.

 

Cheers,

 

WIll

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I put off doing the Molga weathering for a bit since I knew I wanted to use enamels but was chicken because they can cause cracking with snap-fit kits.

 

In the end I psyched myself up and applied some AK Africa Dust almost dry and then stippled/blended it with a brush ever-so-slightly moistened with thinners in the usual way. No problems with the plastic but it looked a bit crap - my enamel stuff is all a bit old and may have clumped rather. I wanted a softer look so airbrushed very thin layers of Tamiya Deck Tan instead:

 

49156215377_deebdd788c_b.jpg

 

but that was too soft and grey, so I blended some Africa Dust over the top, and that started to look better.

 

49155508798_a3d7f114ff_b.jpg

 

except the dust was a bit light and didn't really match the base anymore. So I worked some Africa Dust into the road there, as well as painting a shadow with thinned Nato Black to help the Zoid connect with the ground in the right way.

 

49156216097_3c5f457068_b.jpg

 

Then I kind of forgot to take pictures and ended up here:

 

49156216452_20d1d14cb2_b.jpg

 

Obviously quite a lot happened between the dust and the (finished?) model!

 

I dry-brushed the edges of the dusty areas with Tallarn Sand (my original dust/earth colour from the base) and blended in more Africa Dust. That helped shift the colour towards yellow but the dusty areas were still quite low contrast.

 

To restore some interest, I drybrushed the edges with German Black-Grey and followed that with graphite powder, a little Leadbelcher, and more graphite powder to show bare metal. I found a paper stump did the best job of shining up the edges but it was also a bit harsh and needed care not to scrape the paint.

I added a few oil and rust stains in specific places, and stippled/blended a patina of enamels on the shiny unweathered areas which helped them fit in. It's subtle and I was wary of doing it but I think it really helps. A misting of a mix of Flat Earth and Dark Yellow brought it all together, I kept this quite light but applied more to the tail as that would get more "wake" dust.

 

Finally I pinned and glued the model to the base and touched up the edges with a couple of coats of Klear to give a stronger contrast with the dusty dry terrain. I also painted a thin coat on the leaves to stop them looking dead.

So I think that's done, if I don't see any major problems in the pics I'll take some proper ones tomorrow.

 

This really was a nice kit - easy enough to build but quite interesting/challenging to paint and weather. It's probably ended up dirtier than I intended - dust is surprisingly difficult - but you can see the rich red in places, and the blue gradient looks really good under the grime.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

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