This Old Terminator

[NickM]

A friend of mine was selling kits and couldn't get rid of this Tsukuda Hobby Terminator because it was started and parts were missing. He gave it to me so I am trying to build the hell out of it. Just because it's an old kit and a couple parts are missing doesn't mean it's worthless!



The chromed version and the regular release have different box designs.



This very kit was the cover for the coveted December 1991 Hobby Japan. The diorama was built by the famous modeller Takuji Yamada, who has built a ton of critically acclaimed stuff. I scanned the relevant pages.











With my research complete I stripped all the chrome from the kit with Super Clean. Next I built the kit with Tamiya Extra Thin cement. It went together similarly to a Wave FSS plastic kit. Pretty difficult, but it looks very good, and luckily fewer parts. The left forearm parts are the ones that are missing. Rather than do a battle damaged T-800 missing an arm, I opted to rip off Robocop 3:





I built a small hinge on the back of the pulse rifle and connected it to the elbow joint. It was a simple job and looks relatively good. The kit was primed with Mr Surfacer and an airbrush. A black basecoat of Mr Color was laid down next, followed by a gloss clear.



The first round of Alclad metallics down.



More Alclad in an attempt to even out the dark spots. The centre torso became too highlighted, and takes away from the head I think. But not so much I am willing to repaint it. A Humbrol black wash went over the entire kit.



The teeth and eyes were painted with Vallejo acrylics.

[Sharkdog]

Nice! The hinge on the rifle looks like it was always there, excellent work. Fun to see an old kit like this :)

[joewhite]

The Tsukuda kits were very nice. I have an ABC Droid that I plan on modifying one day. The details are beautiful but I disliked the pose. The Terminator, on the other hand, was simply standing straight which I actually prefer. I like the paint!

Joe

[Hunter Rose]

Nice! Great start on this, the arm mod looks very authentic. I like the tsukuda kits the detail's are great, I've also got an ABC droid by them for my next project

[nico]

Nice kit for the age. I have a Horizon hobby vinyl one. All is warp but the head and chest are very accurate.

[Beork]

nice save, I love the terminator, it oozes evil
The gun attachment works pretty well, smart thinking.

[NickM]

Thank you for the comments. I have not worked on the kit much due to moving and a death in the family. Now I have my new workshop almost set up I can start to pick away at projects again.

The base was too boring, and I want to add some skulls. You can get resin piles of skulls, but the casting looks pretty bad one the ones I have seen. So might as well sculpt my own, except I am lazy.



I got a box of vinyl skull pencil toppers from Halloween.



They were cut individually to get a variety of broken skulls.



The black base is the stock one that comes with the kit. The white one is the replacement, which is stolen from a Core Fighter gashapon.



I am too cheap to waste expensive putty needlessly, so I used the much cheaper drywall spackle to fasten the skulls to the base. I am really happy with how it looks for a $1.49 box of pencil toppers. The noses are pretty bad, but I will try to hide it with my pro laziness in the painting stage.

[Hunter Rose]

Really neat idea using pencil toppers they look great on the base

[NickM]

Thanks Hunter, I am really surprised how well they turned out for something so cheap. I have been busy lately building a new spraybooth, which is now complete. This is the first kit I've worked on with the new booth and it is a great improvement.



I resprayed the kit with Mr Color black lacquer, and followed with Alclad Chrome. I didn't like how the finish was looking before because it was a mix of Chrome and Aluminum.



The eyes and teeth were repainted with Vallejo acrylics. The rifle was also painted with flat black Vallejo.

The base has a black basecoat now. This kit is almost complete, I just need to paint the skulls and do an enamel wash on the Terminator.

[Hunter Rose]

Nice looks like a much more even colour now, looking forward to seeing it on the base once painted!