{"id":1714,"date":"2005-05-05T20:08:19","date_gmt":"2005-05-06T04:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fichtenfoo.net\/blog\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2009-02-11T20:09:34","modified_gmt":"2009-02-12T04:09:34","slug":"in-progress-%c2%bb-neighborhood-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fichtenfoo.net\/blog\/in-progress-%c2%bb-neighborhood-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"In Progress \u00c2\u00bb Neighborhood Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

11.02.04 \u00c2\u00bb The Story…<\/p>\n

The boom town had seen better days. In recent years
\ndue to its ideal location, it had become a hub for trading and business.
\nIts population grew and it was on its way to becoming a sprawling
\ncity. That was before the revolution.<\/p>\n

Fighting between the Strahl Demokratische Republik
\nand Earths mercenary army had reached their borders almost without
\nwarning. Much of the civilian population was caught up in the opening
\nsalvos. Many did not escape with their lives.<\/p>\n

In the end, the SDR took control of the area. Instead
\nof vendors, shoppers, and laborers, the driverless assault scout
\nlight tanks known as Kr\u00c3\u00b6te now roamed the streets. Its electronic
\neyes watching for any signs of life, then killing without prejudice.<\/p>\n

11.03.04 \u00c2\u00bb This Tank Was Made For Walkin’<\/p>\n

Perhaps it’s my feeling of repetition and boredom
\nwith Gundams these days, but I’ve been really getting into the MaK
\ndesigns lately. For the past several months, I’ve been researching
\nwebsite after website for information regarding the series and have
\nlearned a great deal about it From doing my own research, I have
\ndeveloped a respect for these unique designs. Check out Roboterkampf<\/a>
\nand Krueger’s
\nKrieger<\/a> for more info on the series.<\/p>\n

For my Kr\u00c3\u00b6te, I’m modifying it to have the tank
\nbarrel similar to the Kr\u00c3\u00b6te
\nAusf PaK<\/a>. However, I am leaving the gatling gun on mine as well.
\nI will also be adding the smoke dischargers and extra armor similar
\nto the K\u00c3\u00bcster<\/a>.
\nI want it to have an armed to the teeth look about it.<\/p>\n

To add the tank barrel and keep the gatling, I’ll
\nneed to modify the kit a bit. I’ll also have to scratchbuild the
\nbreach on the back of the Krote. The smoke dischargers will need
\nto be scratch-built as well.<\/p>\n

The first camo scheme was inspired by a bottle of
\nMIG pigments called “Brick Dust”. It gave me the idea
\nto do an urban camo scheme based on bricks and mortar. I decided
\nagainst the grayness of it though since I’ve been doing a lot of
\ngray kits. Instead I went with a drab camo. The setting for the
\ndio will be the devastated streets and walls of a city ravaged by
\nwar. I’ll probably design another poster or two for one of the walls
\nas well.<\/p>\n

Below is an image from the manual which I colorized
\nand added the tank barrel to. The kit will be weathered and the
\nmain shell of the Kr\u00c3\u00b6te will be given a cast iron texture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

11.07.04 \u00c2\u00bb She’s a Brick… House…
\nShe’s Mighty Mighty…<\/p>\n

First up on my to do list for this project is
\n1\/20 scale bricks and rubble. There’s a place online that
\nsells 1\/18 scale bricks and rubble, but it’s pre-painted.
\nPlus it’s more fun to do this stuff yourself.<\/p>\n

So first off I made a measurement of a brick.
\nThen I used the scale
\ncalculator<\/a> made by John Huff (tazman3) to get the correct
\nmeasurements. A scan of my notes is below.<\/p>\n

Next I drew a grid on some old cover stock so
\nI would know where to make my brick cuts. After that was done,
\nI made a batch of baking soda
\nand corn starch clay<\/a><\/strong>. It’s an easy to make clay
\nwhich works great for stuff like this. I used two pieces of
\nwood as runners for my rolling pin and rolled out my clay
\nthe exact thickness I needed. I then used a ruler and an exacto
\nand made the cuts to separate the bricks. I also made a small
\nbatch of larger bricks. These are now drying.<\/p>\n

The last time I made the B&C clay, I had
\nsome leftovers. I rolled it out to about an 1\/8 inch thickness
\nand let it dry. When it was dry I broke it into chunks to
\nuse later for rubble. Well, later is now. I broke the rubble
\ninto smaller bits and left some of the larger chunks. I cut
\none piece to be the size of one of my drying bricks for a
\ncoloring test.<\/p>\n

I colored the test brick using a mixture of
\nbrown and red Higgins ink. I got a great brick color and the
\nclay soaks up the ink nicely. Watercolor or thinned acrylic
\ncan also be used. Later I will shake the bricks in a bag with
\ndark gray, then white powders to simulate dirt and crushed
\nmortar. I’ll spread some extra white clay on some of the bricks
\nto simulate mortar that’s still stuck to the brick.<\/p>\n

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11.08.04 \u00c2\u00bb Slip Sliding Away<\/p>\n

So I learned an interesting thing in 3rd grade
\nscience class about acids and bases and their reactions and
\ndecided to try it again for kicks. Bricks made primarily of
\nBaking Soda are a base. Now take an acid… I used vinegar.
\nAdd a few drops and watch the hilarity ensue. The second pic
\nis of the pile of painted bricks. Basically, I used the mixture
\nof red and brown ink which soaked into the bricks nicely.
\nI just used a paintbrush to apply the ink.<\/p>\n

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11.11.04 \u00c2\u00bb Gatling Change<\/p>\n

With the addition of the tank barrel on the
\nfront of the Krote, the gatling gun needed to be shrunk. I
\nsaw a tri-barrel design the other day on a MaK page someone
\nshowed me. (Thanks BK) So last night I took an hour and started
\non the gatling. Here’s what I’ve got so far. I still need
\nto add to it and modify the shape of the triangles, but it’s
\nshaping up nicely.<\/p>\n

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03.27.2005\u00c2\u00bb Not back on it, still
\non it.<\/p>\n

It’s been a while! SInce I can’t paint the ball
\nand got to see a fantastic Krote in person, I decided to get
\nback to my Pak Krote. There’s a lot to be done with this kit
\nas nothing fits, aligns, or whatever else makes for an easy
\nbuild. It’s okay though since I’m learning a lot.<\/p>\n

At the IPMS show I found a fantastic aluminum
\nbarrel for a King Tiger. I basically have nothing to do to
\nit as it is a one-piece thing of beauty. It’s got some nice
\ndetails as you can see below. I also decided not to go with
\nthe gatling as well since it didn’t fit. I’ll be adding misc.
\ngreebles into the front area as I get further along.<\/p>\n

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I found while building this that much like the
\nFliege, the Krote’s got some big holes to fill as well. These
\nare inside the front of the turret. Now once I put all the
\nsensors and stuff into there, the holes would be less noticeable,
\nbut still noticeable none the less so I decided to cover them
\nwith sheet styrene.<\/p>\n

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\n\"\"<\/p>\n

The next pics are of my progress on the breach
\n(back end of the cannon) and of my weld beads. I tried a bunch
\nof methods to do weld beads such as thinned putty and stretched
\nsprue melted with glue. Neither was working for me. The glue
\njust made a horrible mess on my test parts. So I recalled
\nthat lacquer thinner will melt styrene. I placed some small
\nbits of thinly stretched sprue into a jar with a bit of the
\nthinner. In about 2-4 minutes I had a soft thread of plastic.
\nI placed the wet strip onto the kit. The remaining lacquer
\nthinner melted (glued) it to the kit. I then took a needle
\nand made the groove marks simulating the weld beads. If the
\nplastic started to harden while I grooved it, I just brushed
\non some more lacquer thinner. This technique worked really
\ngreat.<\/p>\n

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Next you can see where I had to replace the
\nrod for the light since it’s plastic rod was too long. I merely
\ncut off the old rod, drilled a hole with my pin vice where
\nit used to connect and inserted a properly sized piece of
\nrod left over from my Fliege. The white polygon is covering
\nthe old hole for the light support. That hole was too big.
\nI cut a correct size hole into the styrene and did more weld
\nbeads where the support connects to the plate. I’ll add some
\nWave option bolts to the white part later to give the impression
\nthat the support was bolted down.<\/p>\n

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I have most of the kit cut out. I need to start
\ncutting the legs next. That’ll be a tricky part since I’m
\nnot sure if I want the Krote to be fixed in a standing position
\nor a walking pose. I also need to put on the rough cast texture
\non the main hull pieces.<\/p>\n

04.23.2005\u00c2\u00bb Blowing Smoke!<\/p>\n

Now that the MG Ball is gone, I can finish up
\nmy Krote. My first task today was to make my smoke dischargers.
\nI waited to get my Gans so that I’d have some reference, but
\nI really didn’t like the first gans-like pair I made. I didn’t
\nwant them connected to a rectangular bracket after seeeing
\nit on my Krote since I wanted them closer to the front.. (still
\nlooks great on the gans though) So I found some greebles from
\nan M8 Greyhound to use for the racks. The tubes were 3\/16
\naluminum tubing cut with my newly acquired razor saw. (just
\nbought it today) Fulcy was right… cuts metal tube like a
\ndream! They’re attached with sticky-tack for now, but I’ll
\nmake proper mounts for them (and smoke grenades) later.<\/p>\n

I also ditched the supplied plastic bars\/d-rings
\nand opted to make them from the copper rod supplied with the
\nkit. Took a while to shape them correctly, but they look much
\nbetter than the styrene.<\/p>\n

Anyway, next up is finishing the breach and
\nadding the texture.<\/p>\n

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\n\"\"<\/p>\n

04.26.2005\u00c2\u00bb Texture and Pose<\/p>\n

So I’ve been working at a good pace on this
\nkit since this weekend. I have added the texture to the lower
\nbody, feet, searchlight cover, and 1\/4 of the turret. Here’s
\na pic of the texture 1\/2 way through the lower body. I still
\nneed to give it a very light sanding with 1000 grit just to
\nremove some of the spikes. To achieve the texture, I merely
\nstippled on Mr. Surfacer 500 (from the jar) with a flat stiff
\nbrush till dry and textured.<\/p>\n

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I also finished my breach by using extra leg-piston
\nparts to make the spring shock.For the most part, I just shortened
\nit. I couldn’t cut the pen-spring I had so I used coiled wire
\ninstead.<\/p>\n

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And the last pic is of the eventual pose of
\nthe Krote. I’m going to have him walking slowly as if it is
\nstalking its prey. You can see where the right foot is missing
\nthe back half. I cut that part off to reposition it hanging
\nwhile the foot is lifted up. I also detailed the underside
\nof the foot with a tank wheel and some minus molds. More pics
\nof that later.<\/p>\n

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04.30.2005\u00c2\u00bb Painting Time<\/p>\n

Now that all the construction is done, I started
\non the priming and painting. First I primed the while kit
\nwith Tamiya Fine White primer. This was the first time I used
\nthis primer and I really liked it. It left a very smooth finish
\nand didn’t wash-out any of my texture like a heavier primer
\nwould. The white surprisingly covered really well too.<\/p>\n

After the primer dried, I painted all the engine
\nparts a dark gray and the rest a mixture of Tamiya field gray
\n(like a dark gray-olive), white, J.A. green, and medium blue.
\nI then freehand camo airbrushed on a dark gray + my green
\nmixture, then a mixture of white + yellow + brown + base green
\nmixture. Next I’ll clear-coat it and add the decals. That
\nwill likely be followed up with some filters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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05.01.2005\u00c2\u00bb There goes the neighborhood…<\/p>\n

So yesterday I started on the basework. I wanted
\na rundown destroyed city scene. A while back (see beginning
\nof page) I made some 1\/20 scale bricks. I glued them to a
\nscrap of particle board which I had cut with varoius saws
\nand dremmel bits. I then took a plastic bag with modeling
\npaste tinted gray, cut off the very tip of the corner of the
\nbag, and like decorating a cake, squeezed mortar here and
\nthere inbetween the bricks. I wanted most of the mortar gone
\nas if it was shaken loose when the building was blown-up.<\/p>\n

Next I took that same modeling paste, tinted
\nit with a very light brown (which I later regretted), mixed
\nwith some sand and smoothed it on for stucco. I took my exact
\nas it was drying and cut cracks and picked out the edges to
\nmake it look broken and old.<\/p>\n

For the window frame, I used balsa wood which
\nI first gave a wash of dark gray applebarrels to to give it
\nan old wood feel. As that was drying, I gave it successive
\ncoats of white apple barrel acrylics as a whitewash. I left
\nit pretty gray since it’s supposed to be old and very dirty.
\nI did the same for the stucco and inside plaster.<\/p>\n

I wanted wallpaper inside that was torn and
\nruined by rain. I made my own design in Photoshop and printed
\nout a large piece of it on my printer. I then cut it into
\nstrips since that’s how wallpaper really is. To weather it
\nand make the yellowish glue look, I took yellow and brown
\nacrylics and washed them on the back of the wallpaper. This
\nsoaked through to the front giving it an old yellowed look.
\nI used a white-glue wash to attach it to the wall. More yellow\/brown
\nwash was added on the wall to simulate the glue left behind.<\/p>\n

Next is attaching the wall to the base, rusting
\nthe rebar, adding piles of rubble, and dusting it all with
\npigments and pastels. Here’s some pics:<\/p>\n

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05.03.2005 \u00c2\u00bb Light and Rubble<\/p>\n

Yesterday I gave the kit a wash and today a
\nsatin coat of Future. The wash was oils thinned with Klean
\nStrip (walmart) oderless mineral spirits. That thinner worked
\ngreat!<\/p>\n

Today I clear-coated the kit in a satin finish
\nand build some of the parts that needed built before final
\nweathering. Basically there’s only 5 parts now… the 2 legs,
\nturret, gun, and body. Once that was built I wired up the
\neyes and searchlight. The searchlight contains just a 3mm
\nwhite LED. The eyes were pin-vised before painting. I ran
\npre-stripped fiber-optic through the holes and taped them
\nin a tube with either a red or blue LED. All the wires were
\ntaped up and shoved into the turret cavity never to return
\nexcept the 2 leads.<\/p>\n

The second pic shows the rubble in progress
\non the window seal. I still need to add glass and brick shards
\nand more dust. The rubble was fine talus ballast mixed with
\nwhite glue. Then over that I added more fine talus that had
\nbeen pulverized to be dust and soaked it with a white glue\/water
\nmixture to set it into place. I need to do a light second
\ncoat of dust after I add the glass and brick pieces. I also
\nneed to dirty up the window glass.<\/p>\n

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\n\"\"<\/p>\n

05.04.2005 \u00c2\u00bb More Rubble<\/p>\n

First off for todays update, I took a pic of
\nthe turret after paint chips and flat coat + dust were added.
\nThe flat coat was flattened future with a tamiya acrylic custom
\ndirt color I mixed in. Paint chips were done with a small
\nbrush and a dark gray primer-colored paint.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Next is the base progress. I mixed up a small
\namount of celluclay and built up a mound along the wall. This
\nis my “bulk” for adding debris to make it look spilled
\ndown the side of the bldg. I pressed bricks, ibeams and wood
\ninto the wet celluclay. Then I brushed white glue all over
\nthe celluclay and poured on my crushed talus muxture. I did
\nthis on the street and building too. After it dried I shook
\noff the excess onto paper so I can reuse it. I’ll need to
\ndo some touch-ups in spots. Rust was applied with MIG pigments.
\nThe white blob is a blob of miliput that I pressed the Krotes
\nfoot into. Along with the pinning, gluing it to that impression
\nshould hold it pretty well.<\/p>\n

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05.05.2005 \u00c2\u00bb A little rusty<\/p>\n

Pigment time! Todays progress consisted of adding
\nrust and dust using MIG pigments. Here’s some pics. Great
\npigment tutorials are here<\/a>.
\nAll of the rust is done and now I’m in the process of making
\neverything look dusty.<\/p>\n

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Feet before dust:<\/p>\n

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After initial dusting. Will be adding more…<\/p>\n

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