Jager restoration continues

Jager restoration continues 

Hey all last Friday's post was about pinning the jagermech's limbs, and I mentioned repairing the radar dish as half of it was damaged. 

This post will be another tutorial for you all. 

Plastic packaging, ever wonder what uses it has? 

Well, for starters it can be used for scratchbuilding parts. 

We start off with two peices of plastic packaging, both about 3/64 inch thick. 

Step one:

As the plastic is clear with a smooth surface, we will need to file it down to a matte finish so the glue we'll be using to laminate the peices together will stick together the best. 

Step two: 

Fuse the two peices together with the super glue, and trim it 

down to the size necessary to replace the part. 

In hindsight I should have cut the 30 degree angle on the peice before cutting it down to shape as it is too small to do so know.I will make a new one later.

Also I'd like to take a second out of your day to say that if you enjoy what is posted on this blog, please recommend this blog on Google+ and your friends as it will help us greatly, and in turn, give you more weekly content including product reviews( more on that Friday...) and mech builds and models galore!

With that concludes today's blog post, see you soon.

Jäger down! Jäger down!

Hello all, last week I promised a lesson on pinning and where to do so to effectively ensure structural integrity to a model, so I hope you find this helpful.

While building a model or figure you might realize that some pieces need pinning to support the part.

For this demonstration I am using both a 3/64 drill bit, and music wire and a pin vise.

Step one-Find the face on the model that will need the pin inserted. In this case it is the left and right leg, where they connect to the torso and to the base.
-Find the center of the piece

                                     

Step two-after finding the center of both faces, mark the center with your hobby knife to make a "pilot hole" 

In this picture I screwed up and didn't get the drill bit centered so the same mis-centering is required on the other face to counteract it. Step three- Do the same to the other side of the model 

Step four- Almost done! Here all I have to do is pin the other side and mount it on the base, quick and painless!

*puts on sunglasses*I geuss you could say...that it is legged.

All I've got to do is make a new raider dish for the jagermech as half was lost in the drop. 

But I hope this shows that pinning doesn't have to be difficult. 

See you next Monday. And if you enjoyed this post make sure too subscribe and recommend this blog on Google plus as we update the blog twice a week; Mondays and Fridays. 

Awww Son of a...

Ok. Shortly after I finished taking the pics for the last update I just had to drop the jagermech. Which is... Disappointing to say the least. On the bright side it should require only minor pinning, and luckily it only broke at the major joints...
See image below.

So anyways... Tip of the day:
If you insist on taking your minis outside to take pictures of them, make sure you know what your doing so as not to drop them because the results can be quite frustrating.

this Friday's post will consider a short lesson in pinning small parts and how to do it effectively as possible.
See you soon.

A quick question...

Hey guys, this is just a post compensating for tomorrow's lack of posting, I was thinking of getting this printed out as a water slide decal, where would I go to get this done fairly cheap? I was thinking it would look good as nose art on the war hammer:

Though I suppose it would work better on a Hollander than a Warhammer just because of the big gun and no support weapons; like this picture of the Hollander:

So anyways, If you know where to get this done, please tell me in the comments section, it would be very appreciated. 

Thank you and see you soon. 

"Artist" Rendition of the war hammer

 I forgot to put this in the last post, an "Artist" rendition of the Warhammer in digital camo:
                                             

It's a pretty bad render of it (figures I did it.) But it does give you a descent idea of what I hope to achieve.
Sadly I won't have a blog post on Friday because of highschool finals before winter break.

It's Alive!

It's alive! 

Over long thought, I've decided to make it my own custom variant instead of going with MW LL's A variant of the warhammer. The only difference between mine and there's is that one of the ppc's is swapped out for a gauss rifle. 

There variant has two gauss rifles; one on each arm. 

I also put a light coat of grey primer on the surface of the model to test if I had gotten all the mold lines smooth. 

See pictures below: 

 In other news Monday I mentioned the contents of this blog post being the following, a rambling of tools that I use, and why

 I use them. The only exceptions are the types of putty I mentioned in the last post. 

1.) generic CA super glue:

As you can see it is the generic bargain brand CA super glue you can get at craft stores like Hobby Lobby. You can get this particular brand for roughly $6.00 a bottle, $2.00-$4.00 less then the name brand glue.

Perks

-CA has been developed for use in the military. This means that 

it can AND will bond to skin (almost instantaneously) as it was originally created to clot bleeding much faster than a scab can form.  

-Strong

-Lightweight 

-Bonds most material together, be sure to file both surfaces down so the glue has something to hold on to.

2.) Finger drills

Finger drills work in the same manner of a pin vice. 

Perks

-as apposed by a pin vice, they are held in your fingers so you 

can be more precise. 

-They come in many sizes; the ones I usually use are:

          -1/64

          -3/64

          -1/16

          -1/32

*A caution* the smaller bits like 3/64 are extremely delicate and can snap easy. (Hasn't happened to me YET. But I have heard of it happening) 

3.) File

A file is a very, very useful tool that is often overlooked. 

I am primarily using the one on the "workchamp" Swiss Army knife; this particular file was meant for soft metals so it reallycuts through the putty like butter. 

Perks

- teeth on the file are far away, so gunk is rarely needed to be cleaned out. 

-Can be used on multiple surfaces

4.) permanent marker 

I use a blue sharpie to mark out where detail needs to go on a 

model, and too right build notes on the models surface for reference

Tip of the day: Hand sanitizer works great to get sharpie of a surface because of the alcohol content. 

And with that, this draws an end to this blog post, see y'all soon next Monday, where we'll probably be discussing paintschemes. 

Hint; I am thinking of doing some sorta digital camo...

Stay tuned more on that later.

If you enjoyed today's post make sure to recommend this blog to your friends and family, and also please recommend this blog on Google+ if you particularly enjoy what I am posting. 

 

Hello? Spambot? Anyone there?

Hello? Spambot? Anyone their?
Not to much progress has been made in the past few days since we last talked, the putty I'm using is Squadron brand and it takes a while before solid enough for sanding.
You can get two different types of putty from squadron, white and green. They have a few differences between the two.
I pulled this from a thread over at scale model magazine's forums; and here are the attributes for both:
Go here to see original thread; It will open in a new window.

GREEN PUTTY:
-Best for darker colored paintchemes
-Has a grittier surface than the other.
-Less brittle than white putty
WHITE PUTTY:
-Finer Gritt
-Easier to work with, sanding, filing, ect.
-A bit on the brittle side.
-Better for lighter colorschemes as it doesn't darken or lighten the shade of paint
SIMULARITIES:
-Both melt plastic if to much is used at a time
-Both fill gaps
-Same price; in USD it costs around $4.00 a tube
-Both claim to last a while
Go to the original forum post:
And here is a bad picture of the gauss rifles, I got the air bubbles filled in and I still have to do a lot of filing to get the surfaces completely smooth, but all in all the build is coming together nicely.

So what will we be discussing in the next update? Well, to answer simply without giving to much away we will be talking about different tools, everything from hobby knife to resin to ruler, as well as hopefully have both gauss rifles mounted. 

I think that about does it for this update, see you all on Friday. Have a nice day. 

Here

Duel Gauss rifles!

Hello again, this is the last update to my blog until Monday December the eighth, after which the blog will be updated twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, at 10:30 PM mountain time.

As promised I got the gauss rifles for the warhammer completed today (almost)

These aren't my first try to make a resin cast of the master copy, the other one turned out awful, didn't get the 2 part resin mixture right. Anyways, the second attempt went much better.
The first gauss rifle has a major air bubble in the surface, so I have drilled four holes inside of the whole to insert metal tubing, kinda like rebar. This is because I am not sure wether or not that the putty I am using would be strong enough to fill the whole by itself.
Here is a picture of it: (Please excuse the bad picture quality, camera won't take good  pictures of white material)

And a side view of both gauss rifles, as you can tell they need a lot of cleanup work to be suitable.

All in all the casting process went better than what was expected especially with my novice amount of casting knowledge. 

Tip of the post: I can't stress this enough how important it is to get the mixture of resin correct if using a two part mixture like I am! Too much of part A, (accelerator) and the resin won't dry properly,  and Too much of part B will make the part to weak to use. 

Also if you enjoyed the content of this blog so far, I ask that you support the blog by recommending it on google+. If you would like further updates delivered to you via email, there is a button near the top of the page. Thank you guys, and see you soon, on Monday the 8th. 

Good news!

Update:
The mold for the gauss rifle is almost complete! I should have a cast of it to show you guys tomorrow! Here is a picture of the mold:

In other news, starting Monday of next week I am excited to announce that we will have a more regular posting schedule at "Mechwarrior/Battletech models inc." 

Here is the schedule; a new post will be added Every Monday and Friday, the Monday scheduled post will be at 10:30 pm, Mountain time zone (UTC-07:00) (a little late I know) and the Friday post also will be at the same time. 

That is all for today's update, and I ask that you haven't already please subscribe on Google+ (Uplink contact under sub tab "Spread the word!") for more  Battlemech model goodness! 

See you guys soon. 

Project warhammer update

Today I filled the inside of the guass rifle with hot glue.
Question: Why would I do this?
Answer: to make the resin cast a solid peice.

Tip of the day:
When working with hot glue and styrene, be careful as the styrene can and will melt if too much heat is applied at the same time. An example of this is in the first picture, it is the peice I cut off.

This is the side veiw of the cut off piece, as you can tell I didn't get the hot glue poured in the right way, it works best with the hot glue gun about an inch from the surface you are pouring it in.

Next picture of the progress is a side view of the mold. As you can tell because my casting skills are somewhat noobish I have three sprue peices on the surface. One is to make a whole in the mold to pour the resin and the others are for air to escape as the resin fills the mold. 

So far this has been a fun little projespct to do, and if anyone of you is wanting to scratchbuild something like I am and are wondering where to start, I say just jump in! Here are some basic modeling tools you'll need.

-Hobby knife/scalpel 

-A cutting board like seen in the picture is good to have

-sand paper: fine, medium, rough grit

-Multitool like in the pictures. I personally use a Swiss Army knife because it has a good balance of tools that you might need, like a sharp pair of scissors, and razor sharp knife blades. The particular model I am using is called the champion. You don't have to have a super expensive multi tool, just something that has the tools to get the job done with precision and in a timely fashion.

Anyways, that is it for today's update, I hope to have more content on the blog sometime in the latter part of next week. Hopefully I will have the warhammer assembled and ready for a awesome paintcheme. Until then, stay tuned and take care. 

-Geiger out

Update on project Warhammer

Update on project Warhammer:
I didn't get too much done.  But I managed to get one of the two guass rifles almost completed today. It is made out of a local amusement park card.
Tip of the day: looking for cheap styrene?
When working smaller projects that need styrene, use an old membership card made of plastic. This is because it is made of the Exact type of styrene that you can buy in big sheets at the hobby shop for 7-8$ more and you get the exact same result.

Another place to get styrene cheap(er) in the [$4-$5] range, other than the hobby shop is at the Home Depot or other hardware store. They tipically have signs made of styrene.

Of course, remember to get the best results for gluing and painting, remember to scrape off whatever print is on the card or sign.

Anyways, you guys came here for progress of the build, so here is a picture of the guass rifle.

This is just a prototype, as I will be casting it in resin so both gauss rifles are symmetrical to each other as possible. 

This is a pretty fun build and I hope you've enjoyed watching the build progress as I go along. 

As always, stay tuned. 

-Geiger out. 

New project

First off, Project Atlas is cancelled due to insufficient funds, possibly for a later date. In the meantime I did start a new project: restoring one of the 1/60 scale Robotech tomahawk/warhammer. Here are some pice; the original paint wasn't that bad I just forgot to remove the mold lines so I figured I'd make a high quality display model while filling in the gaps. Behold:

I am trying to install ladder rungs on the right foot 

Side viewof ladder rungs:

More pics of the build next week, stay tuned

A NGNG comic

Hey guys, I haven't started project atlas yet, but I thought I'd show a "Critical hits" comic.
They're  pretty funny to read. They make fun of designs of the mechs as well as gameplay aspects of the TableTop edition

Photo Slew!

Hey guys today I thought I'd give you some good pictures of the Atlas's detail for reference if you guys wanted to make a model of it as I am.
First picture is this one; of the papercraft model without texture next to the actual in game model:

Next is the shoulder assembly:

Bottom veiw:

Front view(side?)

The side view of the chassis

Off kilter front view

Head side view without shoulder assembly:

Another side veiw of the head this time with the shoulders attached. Because of the way the head is modeled it looks as it can be taken off for maintenance.

Front veiw of the shoulder/head assembly 

From this view it also appears that I could make multiple loadouts that slide in on the fly and are held in with earth magnets. This will work on just about every weapon except the CT large lasers. 

Also one more photo for what I hope to achieve, not the paint scheme but the loadout, I want to make  the lower canister on the AC/20 replacible with a AC/2 to simulate the 

Atlas AS7-D

Also I have yet another link for you. The papercraft by Parman01 over at the MWO forums:

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/88692-atlas-papercraft/

And also a link to what someone else did wih the same paper plans:

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/153204-papercraft-as7-d-atlas/

That's it for me for today. I hope to start the build over Turkey week.

Thanks for reading this blog.

Useful links:

Here are some useful links for you guys:
Classic Battletech 3D models:
http://www.sarna.net/files/media/3d_models/
The MWO forums:
http://mwomercs.com/forums/forum/7-community-hyperpulse-generator/

Myomer Dreams; a good blog with large scale mech models

http://myomer-dreams.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=14

FCY:Battlemech Club more large scale mech models

http://battlemechclub.blogspot.com/

Leg destroyed reverse disabled; yet more large scale mech models as well as some CBT scale stuff as well.
http://reversedisabled.blogspot.com/

More links will be added at a later date, stay tuned.

-ace

A link

Hey all, haven't gotten anything done on any of my projects buy I thought I'd give you guys another good link today. On Sarna the official Battletech wiki they have a download section with 3d models of most of the mechs. Here are some of the models straight from the download part.
The summoner:

The Jenner light mech:

And finally the Atlas assault mech

Here is the link if you guys are interested:

http://www.sarna.net/files/media/3d_models/

These models should almost be ready to be 3D printed just some minor cleanup on each. 

A new project.

Hey guys I am sorry I haven't really posted anything today, but am inspired by some other people's blogs to create my next project.

Like
Myomer dreams: http://myomer-dreams.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=14

This is a great blog where he describes building large scale mech builds, and he have inspired me to attempt my biggest project yet. My favorite mech of all time, a 1/60 scale MWO atlas model much like the one featured in the title of this page. This blog post won't show any work or pictures as I haven't started it yet, but rather it will go over the basic plan of how to do it in a paragraph or too.

The owner of The FCY Battlemech Club and the owner of myomer  Dreams both base they're models off of a paper craft model. To make a model from a paper craft you cut out the paper pieces of said model. You trace the shape of the piece on to a piece of styrene plastic (anything from .15 to .30 depending on what is needed for the part. After this, you take the piece of paper from before and cut out any panel detailing on there, and do the same step as for the first part mentioned here. This is because on a standard paper craft model all the surface texture is printed onto the paper. When you build it out of plane sheet styrene, obviously there isn't any surface detail to the part. After doing this for each part of the model you then have to put it together like a typical paper model. When you are done with this step fill in all gaps between parts and any sinkholes that cover the model surface with green stuff. After this step some make a mold of it so they can make a limited amount more of them.

Well that's it for this blog post,
Catch Ya'll later,
Mech42ace out.

More Mwo mini goodness

Update:
Today, I thought we'd backtrack a little bit on how I got the MWO minis and how they were before assembled, as well as show some other mechs I still have to paint up.
We'll start off with how they were shipped out to me:
Here is the Atlas, unpainted going through the motions of being assembled:
It came in six main peices:
-Torso assembly
-Waist
-Right arm
-Left Arm
-Left leg
-Right leg

Also, for inquiries about these models, please contact me here:
geigerA42@gmail.com

Next up is the Raven model: It to came in six pieces. 

That one was fun to paint, but if you end up getting one here is a little warning for you: Not to knock the quality of the model but on the same day of assembly the legs both snapped in half, so they are quite delicate. 

No here is a catapult that still needs to get a layer of paint on it:

This has to be the best catapult model I've ever seen, the assembly really is a monster of a kit with 20 peices including peices to make all available variants. They're not shown in this picture but it has a set of LRM 15s and a set of K2 arms to make the Kuritan's version of the catapult. 

Next up is an before assembly picture of most of the MWO mechs pre-assembly 

Above are the arm options for the catapult and Jagermech, Below that you'll see various models including a jenner, cataphract, Raven, and catapult. And with that I think that's all I have to show you guys today, thanks for looking at my blog. 

Completed Mwo minis

Hey guys, today I've got two more MWO minis to show you today:
A first Marik milita  Raven 3L and a First Davion Guards Jagermech.
They are also posted on Cool mini or not, so please go give 'em a rating it'd be much appreciated.
Here is the link:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/browse/browseid/10603748

So anyways, you guys came here for pictures, so here they are!

First up being the Raven 3L:

Next is the Jagermech; same with the atlas, it was a really fun sculpt to paint and build. The guy had 6 different arm options but I went with a duel gauss rifle setup for the loadout.

Thanks for visiting this blog, there will be more later tonight or tomorrow, stay tuned. 

Good afternoon folks

Hello all, as this is my first post on my new blog, let me introduce myself.

Screen Name-on the MWO I go by "Mech42Ace" link to my  profile: 

Hobbies-building and painting mech models from the series's MechWarrior and also Battletech. 

So now that we've gotten that out of the way, here is a simple FAQ about this blog and what it contains:

-Lots of Battletech/MechWarrior models

-Helpful links

-Commentary on Miniature builds (I.E. what went together easily, what was difficult.)

So. Without further ado, I thought I'd post something cool for my first post:

Some of my MWO minis I recently got off a guy on a Battletech fan site:

The all mighty atlas AS-7 RS

It was a really fun sculpt to paint, and went together fairly well. It also is one of the first minis where I tried to add highlights to the armor. It is supposed to be part of the first sword of light of the Great House Kurita.

Next on the chopping block is the stalker: It doesn't belong to a particular unit, but it is done up in the ridgeline camo.