Over the blue and chips I applied another satin coat of FFA, then more hairspray. Over the hairspray I sprayed on several layers of khakis and drabs and then masked and painted the stripes. Oncedone I immediately set to chipping with a stiff wet brush.

The resulting chips are not only rust toned, but blues and brighter greens chips appear giving the craft a much more worn and reused appearance.

Once that was done I gloss-coated it all with Future (FFA) and then applied decals. The kit does not come with decals, but I have LOTS of spares (as most of us do) from aircraft, tanks, gundams, etc… Once the decals were done I applied a flat coat. Next I’ll hand-paint the mall details, add more chips via a sponge to the delicate parts such as the PE hooks, then start weathering!

I got my sample of the Industria Mechanika / Kallamity Kastor Hovertank a few weeks ago and have been slowly working on it. Not for a lack of interest, but a total lack of available time. I’ve been insanely busy since starting Industria Mechanika so I don’t get to model as much as I’d like these days. But this thing is really cool and fun to work on. Luca did a great job on the master and everything goes together nicely. The kit comes with a sheet of PE which has a LOT of fantastic details.

After cleaning the parts, I started off with a coat of green Duplicolor Self-Etching primer. I followed that with a coat of the red-orange sandable primer.

After that cured I applied several random coats of various grays and rust tones. This was the base-coat for the hairspray technique layers. After that cured I gave it a gloss coat of Future and then a coat of hairspray.

Over the hairspray I applied a random coat of blues, bright greens and dull teals. This layer was chipped away heavily and is only to give the final cpaint layer which will be a khaki drab the look of being repainted over an older blue paint-job. The heavy chipping will allow mostly rust to show through on the next layer overcoat. I’ll post pics of that once done.

Well, here they are…  my two build-ups of Ian McQue’s Remora. The red one will be shipped off to Ian in a few days where he’ll do the final rigging and the blue will most happily collect dust in my display case. Overall these were a LOT of fun, not only painting/finishing, but building the master as well and producing the kit through Industria Mechanika.

You can preorder the Remora’s next edition at Industria Mechanika.

Here’s 40-something images for you to browse. Enjoy!

First up: You can preorder the 2nd Edition of this Remora kit now at Industria Mechanika!

Finally I have a chance to continue with the progress posts. First up was the rusty streaks. For these I used the AK-Interactive rust streaks, light rust and their white spirits. I also used a small flat brush and my airbrush. I misted on a VERY light coat of the Rust Streaks, then Light Rust Wash onto the hull sides and let dry a few minutes. Then I took a brush dampened with thinner and streaked the enamel product um and down creating the rust streaks. This stuff works great! Below is a few examples and a before/after.

You can simply paint streaks on with a thin brush, then blend them in with the thinner and flat brush, but the airbrush method gives you a heavier effect.

For the engines… What I did was paint them in dark gray, then hairspray, then a lighter gray-khaki color. Then I chipped the hell out of it with a toothbrush and water revealing the dark gray. Then I rubbed it with my finger in some of the AK-Interactive steel powder (graphite will work too). Then I did something similar to the discoloration technique, but with thicker globs of black and blue and worked that in. It removes and spreads around some of the steel powder giving it all a nice faint metal look. Then I drybrushed some gold, metallic blue, then metallic purple around the nose cones.

I used some of the optional dot-plate from the PE fret to make a rounded engine cover. I also used some of the leftover wire on the engines to greeblie it up.

Lastly for this update, here’s a few shots of the Red Remora with some cargo and the rigging of the crane done. Currently I’m in the process of adding bird poop and other rigging and will show those off with the final images.

Adding some chain and a bead to the end of the crane/hook helps weigh down the cable, keeping it straight.

I finally finished doing all of the paint and chipping on the two Remora build-ups. For the most part, it was all the same hairspray steps described in the last update. You can see on the blue ship, the ‘Lillian G’, that I added an extra boom to the mast that I had scratchbuilt to make it a little different.

After the paint was done I clearcoated and began decaling using the supplied decals. They worked really nicely and provide a LOT of ship names. As you can see Ian’s is the ‘Remora’ and mine is the name of the favorite boat my dad worked on before he retired from working on river tow-boats, the ‘Lillian G’.After decaling I airbrushed on a satin coat of Future and added a dark-brown, the rust filter to all the parts.

Been a very busy modeler since the last update. The nature of the paint-work, inspiration, and following Ian’s painting is making painting and chipping one part at a time a necessity for my own sanity. It’s very enjoyable and I love the challenge of interpreting Ian’s painting into realistic paint and chips on a physical model. I’m also working on my own color scheme version inspired by Ian’s other paintings so let’s break down how I’ve done everything so far.

Build-up for Ian McQue:

After I did the base rust colors shown in the last update, I sprayed the entire hull in hairspray and let it air-dry. When dry I first sprayed on a thin base of white to make the next red mix pop. After I immediately sprayed a mixture of Tamiya Red, White, and Earth to get the faded old red color. Then I staded it streaking up and down focusing on the underside with a dark warm gray color. Tamiya Acrylics works best for the hairspray technique. Do not use enamels, lacquers or Vallejo for this.

I let the paint cure for only about 10-15 minutes then began chipping away at the red using a stiff brush and a needle to smaller scratches. Heavier chipping was added around the entryways and edges.

I removed much of the paint from the deck, but will paint the deck in grays and rusts later after masking the sidewalls.

After the chipping was complete I gave the hull a thin coat of Future Floor Acrylic to seal the red and chips. I waited about 6 hours then sprayed on a more hairspray then a random coat of minty blues and whites focusing on the rear and front of the ship based on Ian’s Remora painting.

I chipped away at the “mint” coat revealing the reds and rusts beneath. I love this multi-layered approach to painting chips as it adds a lot of depth and visual interest.

Afterwards I gave the hull another thin coat of Future to seal the blues. While that was curing I started on the fins. Using the box art as reference I did the same hairspray steps as above using custom mixes of Tamiya acrylics and tape to get the desired look.

I asked Ian what the fins on the opposite side looked like as I assumed they weren’t mirrored and he sent me a quick render. Using that ref I did what you see below. Next I’ll start on the deck and wheelhouse painting.

Build-up for FichtenFoo:

Meanwhile I was working on my personal Remora build-up. I started off with a layer of hairspray then painted the deck and inner walls in Nato Black oversprayed with Khaki to highlight it.

On the outside I sprayed custom mixes of cool blue-green grays. I then chipped this quite heavily using a toothbrush. I gave the hull a thin coat of Future and let it cure overnight.

The next day I applied more hairspray, then more custom mixes. First some Tamiya “Sky”, then over that lightened Tamiya White + Blue, then straight blue for panel edging using some post-its to define the edges.

I masked the blue and painted the orange front by first laying down some white, then the orange. Afterwards I removed the tape and began chipping the blues and oranges. You can see towards the front of the blue where the grays from the first coat start to show through on the chips.

When I was done with the blues and oranges, I wanted to add some random yellow chips to the rear. I tore off some wide Tamiya tape with rough edges and masked the areas I wanted yellow. Then I used my airbrush to put down some of the AK-Interactive chipping fluid. It works just like hairspray, but can be airbrushed making it great for spot-work like this.

I sprayed the white, then yellow and removed the masking. Then I took a wet toothbrush and chipped away most of the yellow. The end result gives that mottled colorful feel that you see in Ian McQue’s paintings.

That’s if so far. Watch for more on the next update!

Sorry for the update delay, but the holidays and getting the Remoras shipped out took a good bit of time. Now that they’re here and shipped I’ve started on this pair. The clean-up went smooth enough… typical sanding and whatnot.Working with the photoetch and starting to pin it all together is where I really started having fun with it. I included a bunch of extras on the PE sheet and for the most part didn’t have a plan on where to put them. I added them to make customizing your own ship simpler. So you can see on the pair that I’ve added different panels in different places, then made some more from styrene and metal sheet to further the differences.

Like the instructions said, I added the McQue-styled holes in the hull then added some of the round grates over them They look great, especially after using some tools to damage a few of the mesh sections.

The large mesh grates for the deck (not shown) are two-parts each. I found it simplest to cut the mesh portions out first then glue them to the frames while the frames were still attached to the fret. Then I damaged and bent them up with some tool handles to make them look like they’ve seen a lot of foot traffic.

I primed the Remoras first in two thin coats Dark Grey Duplicolor auto-primer, then a thinner coat of their Red Oxide colored primer. This gave me a great base color for the rust layer. I airbrushed Tamiya Hull Red over the parts then sponged on some watered down flat Tamiya orange. (flat red + flat yellow since Tamiya doesn’t actually make a flat orange) This kept the surface very smooth and texture-free, but gave me a nice rusty looking surface whuch will show through randomly once I start the hairspray chipping stages tomorrow.

I also finished the bridge span a month or so ago. I ended up using the Archer waterslide rivets which frankly were AWESOME! Primed the bridge, then added the rivets, then primed again. Couldn’t be easier.

(photo found on Flickr in Industrial Decay Network group)

I decided to do a section of bridge over some water for the base of my Remora. The Remora will be floating above the bridge, moored to a tower similar to what’s shown in the image. The mooring point will be what holds the Remora up simulating hovering. I’ll go into it more in future updates, but for now I’m testing how I’d like to paint the concrete bridge pylons based on the reference

The pylons were made from a mixture of DAP plaster and “grit”. The grit is a mixture of concrete sand (the stuff with the fine pebbles included) white, brown and black fine ballast from Woodland Scenics and medium buff ballast. I used about 1 cup plaster, 1/2 cup grit and 1/2 cup of water and poured that into my form which I made from styrene. It takes a few days for the plaster to fully cure and stop feeling wet to the touch, but sets up and can be removed from the mold in about an hour.

My first largest pylon broke in half todaywhile I was drilling a hole so I poured 2 more just in case. I’ll have to wait a few days to deal with them now. The small pylon was scrubbed to remove the smooth finish (as seen in the untouched round leftover pour). I used a scotchbrite pad and toothbrush. Various tools were used to do the chipping and cracks.

I tried several methods for the paint, but what I found worked best was Gouache which is like a dense watercolor paint. I used thin washes of it to tine the raw plaster. The grit shows through and adds to the scale concrete texture. The lime(salt?) seepage stains were done using thicker washes at first initially, then followed up with a putty knife and full-thickness white gouache. You can see the thick streaks on the left and the thinner initial background stains on the right.

Once my larger pylons dry, I’ll scrub them and start painting them to match.

Sorry for the long absence from modeling updates. My work on Industria Mechanika has been keeping me very busy. However now I get to start building and painting the fruits of my labor! The Remora will start shipping from iMech in a few weeks and to help the anticipation go by I started on some cargo. I know… that’s a LOT of cargo for one little ship… that’s because it’s for two ships! One for me and one I’m doing for Ian McQue, the designer of the Remora.

The wooden crates and pallets were made from basswood strips and plywood. The pallets are really easy to make.Each pallet has 12 thin strips and 3 thick strips of basswood about 1.25″ long. There are 7 strips on the top, 5 on the bottom and the 3 thick strips are inbetween. They’re glued together with super glue gel then stained with black india ink and various paints. The large crates are also made from strips and sheets of basswood. The sacks were made with super sculpey with the texture made by pressing the sacks with hockey tape before applying them to the stack.

Brass chain is fairly easy to deal with if you wish to make them rusty. I usually use Rust-All for this. First you want to prime the chain, let cure, then work the chain to unstick any dried primer connecting the links. Next you shake the chain in some of their #4 dirt. This dusts-up the chain and adds texture. Afterwards you dip the chain into the #1 rust liquid. The solution soaks into the dirt which in turn keeps the coating of rust more uniform. Let dry and repeat as necessary. I just did one dirt shake followed by 2 dip and dries in the rust solution.

I purchased a couple of brass bells used for wooden ship models at my LHS. Instead of painting them, I decided to patina them for a more natural weathered look. Simply suspend the brass above some ammonia cleaner in a jar. The ammonia in a few hours will create a very nice dark patina on the brass. If you find your brass not changing, there’s likely a clear-coat applied to prevent it from weathering. Just soak it overnight in some lacquer thinner to remove the clearcoat then do the ammonia jar. This dark patina is also great for photoetch to darken the metal before priming/painting.

AK-Interactive recently sent me some of their chipping fluids to try out. The fluid works the same way as hairspray so if you’re unsure about what hairspray to get, don’t bother as this works the same way and is very uniform. The fluid comes in 2 flavors… Heavy Chipping and Worn Effects. I decided to test them on some barrels.

First I primed the barrels with some self-etching, then dark gray Duplicolor auto primer.

Next I sprayed on several rust-colored random coats of Vallejo Model Air. I coated the barrels in a gloss (mistake!) coat of Future. I should had done flat, but I’ll explain in a bit. Once the clearcoat dried I airbrushed the Heavy on one and the Worn Effects on the other.

When that dried (5-10 minutes) I sprayed on some white, then some blue Tamiya Acrylic.

After the paint dries to the touch you can start removing it with soft toothbrushes or brushes and water. As you can see I got two different chipped looks. However at this stage, it wasn’t because of the difference in the fluids. I did the Heavy Chipping barrel first (right) and when I started on the “Worn” barrel I noticed quickly that it was chipping just as heavy as the first. It only looks less chipped because I didn’t brush it as much. This was due to the gloss coat which I figured out later thanks to some tips on the AK forums. Always use a flat-clearcoat with these.

The rest of the barrels had the gloss clearcoat so the heavier chipping results were the same even thought I used the Worn Effects liquid.

However for the other objects I used the flat-coat AND the worn effects and had much better results. What you see above is after the chipping AND a light sponging of Vallejo rust colors (and lighter thinned base-tones) to get the REALLY fine chips and rust and mottling. Currently I’m waiting on some oil-paint discoloration to dry to further enhance the look and tones.

I had some random parts that I wanted to be really rusty to place on the decks. These were desert tire strips to get tires unstuck from sand and some brass dot-mesh from mechaskunk. I did the same steps as above for the wheel strips, but at the end I sponged on some more thinned yellow (and blue on one) followed with some Vallejo rust sponging and some rust pigment sponging. For the brass mesh I simply sponged on rust colors over the dark gray primer. Then when that was still wet I sponged on a mixture of Vallejo and AK/Mig rust colored pigments. The results are amazing. The white was painted on using water-thinned white pigments. Then I airbrushed on some pigment fixer to seal the pigments in place. Below are all the products I used to get the above 6 rusty panel parts done (except primer and the chipping fluid)

Next update will be more progress on the barrels and other cargo bits.

Here are the final images for the Hornethopter. It was a fun kit to design, build and paint and I hope the hundred of you that purchased one of the first edition releases enjoy building it up. Watch for the second edition to be on sale at Industria Mechanika.