Sprue Cutters Union #7: Your Significant Other

 This week the Union asks (for the first time) a question I am totally unable to answer, since I do not have, nor am I remotely close to getting a significant other.

- How does your spouse (significant other) view your hobby? -

So instead of writing a depressive novel about my so-called "love life," I'll simply give a shout to all the other great blogs that are part of the Union by giving you all the following links:
 
David Knight's Weblog
The Combat Workshop
Kermit's Bench
Yet Another Plastic Modeler
Migrant's Wanderings
The Eternal Wargamer

Sprue Cutters Union #6: Can't Make Me!

This week, the Sprue Cutter's Union asks a question I originally thought I could have alot of fun with answering, however, after giving the issue further thought, I discovered my answers were actually somewhat boring.

- What will never make its way on to your workbench? -

I've pondered this question for days now, and the conclusion I came to was this: I can't honestly say there is anything I won't try. At least once, anyway. 

     

Now, don't get me wrong here, there are some things I truly would rather eat a bowl of broken glass than force myself to work on (vacuum form kits spring to mind), but even then, if the subject is right, or the commission is good enough, they will see my workbench. That said, I suppose instead of answering this question as "what will never make it's way on to your workbench?" I'll respond as "What would you rather not see on your workbench?"

1.) Vacuum form kits. I absolutely hate these things. I really do. Not only are most of them expensive, they are crudely detailed, and a pain in the ass to work on due to numerous factors including the thinness of the material and the work involved to clean up the parts.

2.) Mega kits. You know the ones I'm talking about. Those kits where the parts just never end, like SOAR Art's DORA railway gun with it's epic 3,000 parts. They're not bad kits by any means, they just bog me down because they seem to go on, and on, and...

3.) Anime figures. This is one that has nothing to do with parts or quality. I just have ZERO interest in the subject matter, and you know how it is, no interest equals stressful project. 

4.) Planes. I absolutely HATE filling seams and re-scribing detail. Period. In my experience aircraft of any type seem to be the worst offenders for needing epic amounts of both, therefore I avoid them like the plague if I can. 

5.) Ships. This one kind of falls into the category of "mega kits." It's not that I don't like ships, actually there's many I would like to build, they just take so long to finish I end up exhausted and feel like I'm treading water whenever I attempt one. (no pun intended.)

And if you're interested in what the other members of The Union have to say:

Lt. Smash's Models
Eternal Wargamer
Yet Another Plastic Modeler
Scale Model Workbench
Doogs' Models
Build The World With Me
The Combat Workshop

Simple Wood Grain Effects

Introduction
There are numerous ways to replicate a wood grain in plastic. The most common (mostly used on model car dashboards and the like) are waterslide decals, which are available from numerous companies, and may be somewhat costly. The other is dry brushing, which involves painting the piece a dark color, the highlighting the wood grain areas with a mostly dry paintbrush. My method, on the other hand, is a simple three step process utilizing the versatility of oil paints that can be used on almost any surface with excellent results every time.

Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant

About The Build

Manufacturer: Verlinden Productions

Scale: 1/5

Subject: Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant

Kit Number: 2032

Date Built: August 2013

Modifications:

• N/A

About The Build

I built Verlinden's Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant as a companion to my earlier Gen. Robert E. Lee.The entire experience was fairly straightforward as far as large scale resin busts are concerned, with the majority of assembly time being spent on paint work and detailing. Though the uniform appears black, it is actually a very dark blue, Tamiya TS-55 Dark Blue to be exact which, according to my research, is actually a close match to the blue shoe polish used to dye Union Army officer uniforms. As with my other large scale figures, I blended the basic skin tones in oils, then used pastels for the shading and highlights, which I find a far easier process than blending them with oils. After a coat of Mr. Topcote clear flat, the buttons and other details were picked out in various shades of Testors metallic enamels, then the pedestal was painted according to this tutorial on replicating wood grain effects with oils. For being my second bust, I'd rate the effort as "good," definitely not a show winner, but acceptable for my growing shelf of Civil War soldiers.

Finished Build
click thumbnails to enlarge

Poll: Which Project Do You Want To See?

With two projects coming to a close soon, it's time to start thinking about the next item on the to do list. That being said, I'm having a hard time deciding on just which kit I want to build. That's why I've decided to ask the readers with a simple online vote. The project with the highest number of votes will be the next subject of a W.I.P. series here on Havoc Models. If your choice is "something else," let me know your idea in the comment section. If there's enough responses with the same subject, that project just might make the lineup.

survey software

Working With Cast Resin Parts

Introduction

When you buy a model kit these days, chances are almost one hundred percent the material used in casting the pieces will be polystyrene plastic. But when it comes to kits manufactured by smaller companies and aftermarket suppliers, you will find that the majority of them are cast in a slightly different material known as polyethylene resin.
       When it comes to assembly, resin parts require almost the same approach as your standard styrene kits, with a few little quirks. That's where this tutorial comes in. Here you will learn the basics of the resin casting process, parts preparation, defects to watch out for, and how to repair them.

Sprue Cutters Union #5: Philosophy

This weeks installment of The Combat Workshop's Sprue Cutters Union asks a simple question with many complex answers depending on who you ask:

 - What is your modeling philosophy? -

Interestingly enough, I've never had just ONE philosophy when it comes to model building. It's been a changing game depending on many factors including mood, money, age, and many others. In my younger years, It was all about the fun. Slapping something together with tube glue, making a mess, then destroying it with a BB gun later. Once I became a teenager, however, things started to change.

I was sixteen when I discovered the model contest, and for the first time, we see a philosophy shift. Now modeling was no longer about the fun. It was all about the winning and the trophies.In short: PERFECTION. This was an era where a single imperfection, lump of dust, or minorly crooked piece would cancel an entire build. I had to be perfect in every way or there was no hope of me winning that trophy. This was also the time I discovered the aftermarket and started spending hundreds of dollars in an effort to keep pace on the show tables. But in the long run, that didn't work out for me or my wallet. And  besides, as I got older, I finally learned the harsh lesson anyway that no matter what you do, how much you spend, there's ALWAYS someone better than you.

And so we come to the next philosophy shift, which is also my current one. It's the same principal I use in my fiction writing (actually all of my writing) and so far, it's worked out pretty good.

K.I.S.S. 

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!

The acronym is exactly how it sounds. I keep things to the bare minimum. If I don't need to go overboard on detail, I don't. While fully wired motors complete with dipsticks and every line appeal to the eye, you need to ask yourself, "who's really going to see this?" Honestly, in most cases, not even me. Take my 1972 Corvette LT-1 for example. Fully wired engine and chassis and it's been eight months since I've even taken it out of the display case. That being said, that's why I concentrate on the big picture these days. The highly visible parts like bodies and paint schemes, and try to make them look good from a distance with as little effort as possible. It keeps it fresh, fun, and it saves my eyes (and my sanity) whole lot of undue strain.

So in short, when it comes to the question "what is your philosophy?" Keep it simple stupid and just have fun. That's all there is to it!

Unless of course it's a 1:350 Titanic, then all bets are off...

If this post interested you, perhaps you'll be interested in what some other members of the Union have to say

Yet Another Plastic Modeler
The Combat Workshop
Kermit's Bench
Martin's Scale Models

Sprue Cutters Union #4: FML Moments

http://thecombatworkshop.blogspot.com/2013/08/state-of-union-fml-moments.html

In response to a question asked on The Combat Workshop blog, I've decided to put together a list of the top "FML" moments from my modeling career. These are the moments that make you tear your hair out, maybe even make you cry... or carpet bomb the house with a barrage of words that start with the letter F. So without further adieu, lets start the FML countdown with...

Black paint on a white carpet!

I can't think of another thing more jaw dropping than this. Especially when it was caused by my own stupidity. This is how it went down: I needed to paint something flat black. The lid was stuck. Instead of thinking about it logically, I thought it would be a good idea to put the little glass bottle in a bench vice and crack the lid with a pliers. BAD IDEA! Instead of the lid coming off, the pressure shattered the entire bottle, spraying black paint all over my workbench, my legs, and my off white carpet. Despite the fact that it was acrylic (thank God) and washed up mostly with soapy water, there was forever a gray stain to remind me to never put a paint jar in a vice again.

The leaning tower of paint stand...

Number two has caught me with my pants down at least a few times. This is the one where you have a freshly painted car body on a makeshift wire hanger stand. It's glass smooth and dust free, ready for the drying period before polishing- but gravity makes it's presence known and the whole thing falls over. Picking it back up to see your body encrusted with chips, dirt, and leaves... It's enough to make a grown man cry.

Final assembly issues.

With this one, I'm not talking about minor things like a tiny spot of glue on a windshield. No, I'm talking bigger.. way bigger. Say mounting a custom body to the chassis and stresses in the assembly crack the entire bumper off. The one you spent days massaging with Bondo and sandpaper until it was perfect. And to add insult to injury the only means of repairing the damage is to strip your custom lacquer paint job and start from scratch.. FML

Dropping a completed build

Last but not least, this one needs no explanation really. Picking up a model to dust it or move it, and your butterfingers drop it onto the floor, shattering it into a million pieces.

I'm sure there's plenty more to tell. Some I've probably forgotten, others I've simply blocked out because of the trauma involved.  I hope there are no more added to the list for future posts, but we all know where scale models are concerned, Murphy's law is king.

W.I.P SERIES: Academy M1A1 Abrams Part III Mine Plow (Part 1)

Part I
Part II

With the basic lower hull complete for the most part it was time to move on to the mine plow assembly. I had both a Trumpeter 5 in 1 Abrams which includes a mine plow and a stand alone Dragon track width mine plow on hand and after looking over the instructions of both I decided the best coarse of action would be to cannibalize parts from both in to a useable plow. It seemed early on this would be a fairly straight forward assembly, however this 60 piece mini kit quickly escalated in to an almost month long ordeal. Poor parts quality coupled with confusing instructions gave me a migraine more than a few times and made me want to throw it against a wall and beat it with a 20lb sledge for good measure. In the end I persevered and "War Pig" will have it's plow.

On the hunt for content

Yet another very short entry coming today. As you are aware, I haven't been able to keep up material on the site as much as I would like, however, I am always willing to take content submissions and guest entries from outside. If you or anybody you know would like to contribute material to the Havoc Models site, simply send your photos along with your name and whatever you would like to write about your chosen subject to XcorvettemikeX@yahoo.com and I will post it to the site. I'm also in the market for helpful tips and techniques, kit reviews, and news about new products, especially from aftermarket companies.

Content submission guidelines:

NO inflammatory subjects.This includes subjects of a politically charged or religious nature and sexually explicit images. I would rather not post nudity, but if your subject includes a pinup or something along those lines, please keep it tasteful.

Reviews: Please include photos of the following:

Kit box
Instruction sheet
All parts trees
Decals
Kit number
Manufacturer
Parts Count (if available)

Photos:

All photographs should be in .jpg or .jpeg format, preferably taken against a neutral background.

All submissions are subject to review and editing by the Havoc Models staff.

May Update

It's been quite some time since I last posted, so I thought I would post up a small update on what's been going on. I'll be brutally honest, I haven't touched anything plastic in better than three months. Now that summer is upon us, so is the heat and humidity which has turned my shop int. a sweat box. It's actually become painfully uncomfortable to work down there which is one of the main reasons I've been avoiding it. Add that to the seemingly endless stream of stinging insects that have grown to call my paint shop home, and you have a recipe for a completely apathetic view toward all things modelling related.
    All is not lost however. I do have plans in the works for something big. Something I've been putting off for numerous years because I felt my skills weren't up to par and I never had the time. This project is so big as a matter of fact, I'll be devoting an entire sub-section of the site to it when I finally get things under way. As far as what this project is exactly...  That will be kept under wraps until I finally get started, whenever that may be.
  

The new Havoc Facebook

I had been running the Havoc Facebook page through the account I used to play the Car Town game. If you haven't tried it, it can be a fun game, just.....extremely....buggy. Well the constant bugs finally got the better of me and I quit the game, part of which involved deleting the account since I would no longer be needing it. When the account went down the old HM page went down with the ship therefore a new incarnation had to be created. Just move your courser over and hit "like" on the right hand side of this page near the top to join in the fun!

General Robert E. Lee

About The Build

Manufacturer: Verlinden Productions

Scale: 1/5

Subject: General Robert E. Lee

Kit Number: 2068

Date Built: March 2013

Modifications:

• N/A

Verlinden's 1/5 scale Robert E. Lee was one of my first experiences with a large scale bust. I decided on this project the project along with a companion bust of Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant after watching the documentary series "The Civil War" by Ken Burns which renewed my interest in General Lee, a man I have long admired for his intelligence, loyalty, and battlefield prowess. The kit is a spectacularly molded three piece resin affair with first rate detail, little to no mold lines or air bubbles in the castings along with thin pour stubs which are easily dealt with. I started off by assembling the bust before priming it with Tamiya gray surface primer. In hindsight it would have been far easier to paint each component separately from one another as I ran in to quite a few issues with detail painting, to the extent I had to carefully remove the finished head in order to properly paint the uniform. All base coating was done with acrylics from Model Master and Folk Art save for the uniform which is actually Dupli-Color primer sealer. The face is shaded with Windsor & Newton artists oils while on the uniform I actually tried a new method I had seen in a Youtube video involving shading with ground pastel chalk and it worked like a dream producing nicely feathered edges, far better than anything I had done with oils in the past. I do believe this will now become my new default method for shading large scale figures. The "wood" base is included in the kit as a block of resin with some light grain texture in it to appear as though it were turned on a lathe. I base coated it with Folk Art "Nutmeg Brown" followed by a Burnt Umber oil tint wash which while it was still wet I went over it with a raged brush leaving lighter streaks as to make it appear like stained wood. Lastly the base was covered in two coats of Future floor polish to give it a nice polished appearance. Some issues with painting caused by my own stupidity aside, I found this build very enjoyable and I look forward to assembling more busts and large scale figures in the future.

Finished Build
click thumbnails to enlarge

Posted by Michael J. Wheeler at 7:21 PM

Coming in March

I've been feeling quite under the weather this past week in conjunction with dedicating most of my spare time to my fan fiction novel "Fallout 3: Genesis, a prequel based on the events prior to the start of the video game's main quest, so I haven't gotten much done in the way of model related things. I do have many things planned for the upcoming month though, here's a small primer to get the anticipation up.

W.I.P. Series: USMC M1A1 Abrams
The mine plow and lower hull on this project is finally nearing completion. After nearly a month of labor I should be ready to post the next update of the series sometime during the first week of the month.

Preparing for paint: Part IV
In the conclusion of my series on preparing parts for paint I go over basic seam filling, repair techniques, and tie the previous three installments together.

Verlinden 1:5 Robert E. Lee
This has been a side project for when I'm feeling burned out on the larger stuff. I'm fairly close to final detailing and the full page should be posted to the completed builds section early in the month.

Working with resin:
Ever wonder how to work with a material other than standard polystyrene plastic? In this tutorial I show you how!

Dealing with clear parts
Clear parts got you down? A tutorial on dealing with scratches, chips, and many of the other problems inherent with transparent parts might do the trick.

W.I.P. Series: JP Velociraptor
Moving along with my project for FSM's "My First Time Group Build", I assemble the Lindberg kit and give it a base for some nice skin.

Preparing For Paint Part III: Tools Of The Trade

Now that you can recognize the defects in kit plastic and know about the different types of filler materials you're probably asking yourself "how do I smooth and shape this rough blob of putty, it looks awful!?" Well, that's where tools come in to play. Anything from a toothpick to an old credit card can become a makeshift tool and in this installment of the Preparing for paint series I will discuss a variety of different tools and their uses.

Painting Eyes on Scale Figures

Introduction

Painting eyes on figures can be a nerve wracking task. Many people bemoan the fact that their figures end up with a "staring" gaze, cross eyed or wall eyed which usually happens in the smaller scales such as 1/35 which I honestly recommend not even trying in these scales, a shadow and a light dry brushing is enough to suffice here. This tutorial is intended for larger scale figures such as our test subject, Verlinden's 1/5 scale Robert E. Lee bust.

The human eye

If you take a look at a real human eye you will notice the whites of the eyes don't take up alot of space and aren't pure white, they are more of an off white. Many painters err in painting eyes pure white and leaving too much behind which will lead to the zombie stare. Next is the iris or colored part. The iris should be fairly centered  and overlapped slightly by the upper and lower eyelid with a darker ring of color around a lighter inner part. Note the iris moves off center in some cases depending which direction your character is looking. For example if your character is looking to the left the left iris will actually be slightly closer to the inside (right) side of the eye while the right side iris will be slightly toward the outside and vice versa if your figure is looking right. Pupils change size so there is really no set rule here except they should be centered in the iris.

Preparing For Paint Part II: Filler Materials

From sink marks, to sunken ejector pins, to seams fillers assist the builder in making two parts look like one or a rough surface look smooth or can manipulate two parts to look like one but which one do you choose out of the array of tubes and bottles on a hobby store shelf? The following list with pros and cons of each filler type along with their suggested uses should help shed some light on the subject.

Preparing For Paint Part I: Common Defects

 You can be the best painter on the face of the earth, however no degree of skill will compensate for defects in the plastic surface underneath if they are not repaired prior to the finishing process. In this multi part series I will discuss the different types of defects along with the materials and techniques used to deal with them starting in part one with common defects. Many of these defects are simply unavoidable as they stem from the molding process itself therefore will be a part of every build no matter what price you paid for it or who the rave manufacturer of the moment is, why that is takes a basic understanding of injection molding. A styrene injection mold consists of two aluminum or steel halves with an impression in each side for one half of the part to be produced. When the halves close a cavity is formed which liquid polystyrene plastic is pumped in to under hydraulic pressure which then cools, the mold halves are opened, and pins push the completed parts out preparing the mold for the next round. To see the molding process in further detail take a peek at the video below.

W.I.P SERIES: Jurassic Park Velociraptor Part I Introduction

2013 marks 20 years since Jurassic Park arrived in theaters and took the world by storm. Steven Spielberg's masterpiece was a trailblazer for it's time relying heavily on computer animation extensively for the first time in a feature film replacing the old time standard of clay puppets and stop motion techniques. Among the most memorable and crowd pleasing creatures aside from the Tyrannosaurus were the crafty and agile Velociraptors. Depicted as as a vicious pack hunter in the films about 6' in height capable of jumping over a car and advanced critical thinking, science has since debunked the films portrayal of these small carnivorous dinosaurs. In truth the Velociraptor was no more than 1.5' tall at the shoulder and 6' in length overall, weighed about 33lbs, was sparsely covered in primitive feathers, and fossil records show limited to no evidence of cooperative or "pack hunting" behavior. Rather than a true Velociraptor, the film's portrayal more closely resembles Dromaeosaurus or Utahraptor, both of which could reach heights of 6'-7' and may not have had feathers.

Am I loosing my patience?

As I progress in my hobby I've been noticing a trend. I'm not sure weather to be disturbed by it or just view it as the next chapter in my model building career. Years ago I could tackle a long complicated project such as my R.M.S. Titanic wreck which took two years and is about 80% scratch built or my 1972 Corvette LT-1 that has full engine plumbing among other details down to a set of keys in the ignition without an issue. As time has gone by I find myself leaning more toward simplicity. Figures, painted skill one snap kits, simple 1/72 aircraft and the like. The issue seems to be that recently as I work on longer projects that have part counts in the many hundreds, I find myself getting burned out very quickly. Add unforeseen issues such as spilling glue on an assembly, fit issues, lots of seam filling (my most hated part of building a kit), or a paint mistake and matters get compounded. My current project is Academy's M1A1 Abrams which has just reached the stage where the hull is complete and assembly on the turret has started. For the past week I've been in the garage about two hours a day and finding that I've gotten little if anything (in my mind) done, for example last nights progress only completed the headlight assembly, a mere six pieces yet it seemed like an eternity to get through. Folks would say "well if it feels like a job, take a break" but the thing is I just took one. When I moved I was away from building for over a month, reading magazines and other blogs ravenous to get back to building, yet now that I'm back I can't get motivated to do anything. It could be residual exhaustion from moving, or maybe I just have a complete and total lack of patience. Maybe I should build slow and just not care. Maybe slow progress is better than no progress. Maybe I shouldn't worry about trying to get a new progress post up ASAP. Maybe I should just sit back and let the project take me at it's pace instead of trying to force the issue. It could be that that's been the problem all along...

Kit Review: Revell 2010 Corvette ZR1

ZR1: The Ultimate Corvette

A luxury sports car carved of power, performance and prestige, ZR1 boasts a handcrafted LS9 638-horsepower supercharged V8 with titanium connecting rods and intake valves and a test track top speed of 205 mph. Experience 0-60 mph in only 3.4 seconds and 1.05g skid pad, or over 1.13g with available ZR1 High Performance Package (PDE), while nestled in a refined and luxurious interior. All while maintaining a fuel efficiency of 21 MPG highway.
ZR1 is the fastest, most powerful car Chevrolet has ever produced, and rivals the world’s best luxury sports vehicles both on and off the track, and was the overall winner of the 2010 Car and Driver Lightning Lap competition, which pitted the ZR1 against the fastest cars in the world. And because it’s Corvette, it’s the only truly American sports car in the competitive class.  -chevrolet.com

W.I.P SERIES: Academy M1A1 Abrams Part II Rear hull details and suspension

In part one of this series on building Academy's M1A1 Abrams the basic hull was assembled, motorization holes filled, and a non skid texture was added to the upper surfaces. In part two I will go over the details and fixes for the rear panel and the suspension which consists of the road wheels, idlers, and main drive sprockets.

The photo above shows an overview of the rear panel. Everything here was assembled per the instruction sheet except for the addition of two missing lift rings. These can be seen directly over the main exhaust visible by their silvery color. In order to produce these I bent a piece of hollow core solder to shape then flattened it with a hobby knife. They were then glued on with CA and blended in with tiny amounts of Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1000. The below photo shows them in greater detail. They may not be entirely the correct shape but since I am a fan of the TLAR (That Looks About Right) method they are good enough for me.

Any resemblance to reality is purely coencidental...

Posted by SP&R member Spruemaster I had to share this video in which a silhouetted man with an altered voice discusses an addiction to plastic models that has destroyed his life. This video is intended to be taken purely as a joke for a good laugh.

Kit Review: Revell-Monogram 1962 Corvette

 When it came to the 1961/62 Corvette for almost 50 years all modelers had to choose from was the very flawed AMT/MPC offering. The original suffered greatly due to the tooling technology of the day with an undersized body, chrome headlights, a front end that was far too vertical, metal axles that slid through the oil pan, and an overall poor parts breakdown. As the years went on and the molds aged further problems cropped up such as an overabundance of flash, heavy mold lines, poor quality plating, scratches in the clear parts, the list goes on and on.

I really hate technology

Recently I have been making a whole lot of changes to the Havoc site. It's come to my attention that most pictures have disappeared overnight and are now just tiny gray boxes, please bear with these broken links while I go through the pages and attempt to fix the situation.

EDIT: It took about 6 hours or uploading and tinkering but most of the site is back online save for one of the tutorials which it seems I have lost the original files. Maybe one day they'll turn up or I'll find another project to replicate the step by step on, until then that page will be the token busted page. 

Picking a proper paint brush

There are two tools in your arsenal you will use more than any other, the hobby knife and the common paint brush. Choosing a brush might seem like a fairly easy task but when it comes to the difference between a mediocre finish and a top notch one your choices can make a pretty sizable difference. One thing to remember, and this goes for any tool really, is the age old rule you get what you pay for. Buy a cheap brush it ain't gonna last. It'll shed it's bristles and may even dissolve in solvent based paint. That being said, how exactly do you choose a "good" brush?
For starters do your shopping at a store specifically geared toward art supplies like Aaron Brothers where you will find a much better selection and quality then you would at a discount super mart. The brushes commonly found at your everyday big box stores are geared toward amateurs and weekend crafters and won't hold up as long forcing you to go out and replace them more often. My brushes cost me $5-12 each but in the end if you need to replace a $2 brush twice in less time than it takes for the $5 brush to wear out, you've equalized the costs. Now lets take a more in depth look at brushes keeping in mind the brands and types I have listed are not to be taken as the only choice there is. Find what you're comfortable using and go with it!