Been a few weeks since I touched this or updated, but I wanted to show the progress so far. Since the last update I first applied about 5 layers of Future then after a week of curing I used 6000, then 8000 grit micromesh to wet-sand it to a nice glossy polish. After the polishing of the clearcoat I applied the decals then another 5-6 airbrushed payers of Future. 2 weeks later (today in fact) and I repolished it with the 6000 and 8000 grit micromesh then polished it with Tamiya Finishing compound. The end result is almost glass-like, looks wet and impressive to me. I did accidentally go too deep with the sanding in a few spots, but it was on raised edges and I plan to ding and chip it during the slight weathering process. I want this Markov to look like it’s in the middle of a very tough race.

Today I also masked the canopy with Parafilm “M”, then spray painted it with cheap gloss black spray paint from Walmart. < $1 a can in fact, but nice stuff! ‘Color Place’ brand I think. Weeks ago I masked and sprayed the top three panels with clear blue as a sun tint.

I also painted the thruster today using various Alclad II lacquers, oil paint, and Rub-n-buff.

Markov progress continues with paint and primer. I initially primed all of the parts in Duplicolor Self-Etching primer in order to bite into the resin better than normal primer. Then I buffed that with some very fine steel wool. Once nice and smooth I applied a Mr. Retarder’d layer of Mr. Surfacer 1000 for a fine smooth finish.

Once that was cured I sprayed all of the areas and parts that would be red, orange or yellow with white Tamiya as a base coat. That was followed up with the bright colors. and a thin layer of Future (FFA) to help seal it for masking. I painted the interior first with Neutral gray then weathered a bit and applied red, white and green to the lights. An ejection bar system was made from brass rod and extra PE panels were added for more interior detail..

Again, let it cure then mask for more paint. The next color was a khaki-like color to match my website and another coat of FFA. Once cured I applied masking tape squares and triangles to mask for the black fractal pattern also seen on this website.  I painted the black and applied another coat of FFA. Next I’ll paint the black around the outside of the cockpit hull and the canopy along with some metal parts.

Okay, I’m back at it. While waiting for oils to dry on another kit I started assembling the VERY nicely casted and designed Markov Racer from Alb Labs. You can see an in-prog of his kit master here and can buy it here.

The kit has very little clean-up so as far as resin kits goes this one is relatively low-resin-dust from sanding which is a concern of mine these days. The fit is very nice as well and just required minimal Aves Apoxie Sculpt in a few spots to fill gaps. My only disappointment is the large thruster which was made in two halves. The detail makes it hard to clean-up and the halving it seems unnecessary. Aside from that it’s awesome. I haven’t touched the vac-form canopy yet or have ever tried one so that should be interesting. The female pilot is very nicely sculpted and a great change of pace.

Mine will have a custom decal scheme depicting a racers whose primary sponsor is none other than FichtenFoo.com. Jinkies! So expect a khaki drab base color with black fractals, orange and blue highlights and some cool little worker pillbots. Other sponsor logos were either sent to me in vector from the owners (Kallamity.com and Alb-Lab) or downloaded from SeekLogo.com to use on my custom decal sheet.

I’m waiting for Aves to dry then I’ll start cleaning up the seams and thruster. Until then, here’s some pics.

Here’s the final images of the BergeLuther.

Progress continues on the BergeLuther. I’ve applied the oil discoloration using the 502 Abteilung oils paints. This time I used the colors German Gray Highlight + Faded Navy Blue, Light Rust, Dark Mud and UN Faded White. These were dabbed on as usual then blended in with clean odorless turpenoid. Before this I attached a fuel barrel/mount, tools and extinguisher to the main body. The rust of the barrel mount was done with a rusty base coat followed up by sponging on lighter and darker rust tones. More pics below…

I also began work on the Mig Productions Burned Out Modern Car kit which arrived a few days ago. After cleaning the resin and constructing the wire seats using the supplied jig and a soldering iron, cleaning up the kit and painting has been a fun and relatively quick process. I used an SBS at the Mig forum by vsuarez666 seen here. It was a great tool for getting great results quickly. I’ve still a bit to go on it, but here’s where I’m at so far.

After priming the kit with self-etching primer I followed up with a coat of flat black spraypaint. Over that I sprayed a dark overall rust tone using the black base as shadows to show through, followed up by two lighter rust coats mottled on with my airbrush.

Over this base coat I used cheapie acrylics and stippled on yellow, brown, gray, blue and red with a damp sponge. This adds more color and variety to the rust and will add more depth in the next steps.

Over this stippled coat I sprayed a flat layer of FFA to seal the base coats. I let that cure overnight and the next day I sprayed the kit down with hairspray and generously sprinkled kosher and table salt over it.

After the hairspray dried I sprayed on some neutral gray, white, then a light mint color for that “classic” car feel.

I removed the salt by rubbing and with water and a brush removing some of the hairspray layer as well to re-expose the rust. Rubbing the salt off took some of the base coat with it resulting in some dark spots, but those actually add to the overall rustiness and look great IMO.

Then I took some rust-colored oils, some dark brown and some ocher and blended them into the surface to enhance the color. I then took some white and Faded German Gray which is a very light bluish color and enhanced the leftover paint spots of the vehicle.

Once this layer of oils dry I plan to go back with some grays and whites and dirty the car up as it’ll be sitting in a pile of building debris.

And speaking of debris, here’s the start of my base for the Berge. The Berge will be plowing some debris off a road and into an open crater. There will be corrugated steel, barrels, building rubble, the car, a fridge, chair and vacuum, girders, pipes, bricks and more.  The base is foam and thin plywood for now, but all that will be covered. The exterior in basswood and the foam in Bondo, Celluclay, and a Sculpey road surface (made, but not pictured)