u/muttkin2

Tried my hardest to emulate the original Hobby Japan spread. I hope I did it justice!

This kit has been a ton of fun to work on and a real learning experience. Setting it aside for a bit so I can come back with fresh eyes to finish it up (and learn how to take decent pics.)

Obviously pretty heavily modified. The ‘snooper’ in the right hand, radiator fins on the back, as well as the pilot’s gas mask and suit’s antenna were scratch built from putty, styrene and extra parts that came with the kit. Camo was based on desert night camo from the Gulf War.

My story for this character is that he’s a recon trooper sent out to observe and report EM signatures from unmanned combat systems like Nutrocker. The device in his hand pipes data into the suit through that data link in the forearm and subsequently back to HQ via the antenna.

Clearly he’s been in the field too long haha. I am planning to finish the diorama at some point and do some oil paint weathering before calling it complete, but for now, we both deserve a little break.

This project started as an experiment in making terrain and testing techniques before committing to a bigger project. Totally vibes based evolution from there, but it came together nicely and was a great learning experience. It’s not perfect, but it’ll do.

Fent-bot 5,000 (not) reporting for duty.

Hi all, I recently got back into scale modeling for a number of reasons, primarily because it’s awesome and I needed something for my mental health. While obsessively scrolling YouTube tip and build videos I came across Lincoln Wright and instantly fell in love with the Ma.K. Aesthetic, history of the franchise (is it a franchise? No idea.) and lore.

Anyway, found Lincoln’s store and was fortunate to snag the MK. III kit on the right. I was bummed because I really liked the Night Stalker and just the general vibe of the MK. I / II AFS suits, but they were sold out. This week I managed to find and get the Night Stalker kit shipped straight from Japan!

I’ll be honest. These things are so awesome that I’m sort of scared to even start one for fear of messing up something that I consider to be pretty much art.

I guess what I’m really trying to ask is, which would be a better first build? And more than that, aside from the Paint on Plastic videos and others that I’ve found which are great, what top tips should I have in my back pocket before I start snipping bits off the sprue?

I love the quality of content and spirit of this community and am genuinely inspired by the work I see many of you posting. It’s incredible to see. So, I appreciate any advice on technique, products to use and pitfalls to avoid. Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

I’m working (slowly) toward building out a Libyan civil war style ‘technical’ from a 1/20 scale Toyota pickup truck and tried a technique for the seats that I haven’t seen used before that I think turned out pretty good!

In short, I used 6mm Tamiya masking tape to cover each cushion, scored the tape then primed with Tamiya fine grey primer and sprayed it in NATO black. Tonight I used tweezers to peel back some of the scoring and painted yellow for the seat foam, then used a light black panel wash to knock back the brightness of the yellow and (hopefully) give the impression of grime.

I’m incredibly happy with the end result. It was an experiment and I’m happy to report it worked!

Bonus Toyota engine and frame w/ a Gundam shield that’s about to go under the knife.

This is one of those tiny Bandai models (q-tip for scale) it was cheap and I like Star Wars, so it was a fun opportunity to work on my painting skills. It’s way darker than it should be and I went wildly off script regarding the mismatched panels, but at some point last night I just started riffing.

There’s no good hobby shops around me, so I’ve only got generic bargain bin acrylic paints from Michael’s, an old ice cube tray as a palette and some used brushes my wife discarded lol. My fanciest tools are a good pair of nips and hobby knife, and one of those dry palettes with weathering colors. I have to clear coat it with a matte as a final step, but I’m pretty happy!

Any tips welcome, I know there is a wealth of knowledge here and I want to learn!