Kit Build:
This is a project I built for the MaK Forums Unmanned Spoon Group Build. The idea was to design and build a MaK inspired design that used spoons as part of the build. Kow used spoons as part of his original scratch builds and this was a fun way to honor that creativity. I had an initial idea for some kind of flying scout but couldn't get anywhere with what I had on hand so I went to a big box retailer to purchase some spoons, scoops, and other suitable kitchen utensils for this build. I brought the pieces back and started playing around with the shapes. Finally something gelled but it wasn't going to be a flyer, I had the beginnings of a hover tank.
The basic shapes are a soup ladle and kitchen scoop. I then fished through the spare parts bin until I found enough bits to fill up the hull using a 1/72 Sherman hull, an SD Gundam NeuZwiel kit torso and skirt armor, more spoons, a pair of 1/35 T-62 front fenders and the wings from a 1/48 Me109 which also comprised a large part of the head assembly. Oh, and another spoon.
I glued all the larger pieces with CA, I used Bondo Polyester Putty or Aves Epoxy Putty to fill in gaps and blend contours until I achieved MaK-ness. The main assemblies required a lot of clean up and sanding, partly because the Bondo wasn't sticking very well to the miscellaneous plastics being used. Numerous applications of water thin CA and spot sanding were required to fix the cracks that would pop up while working on it. A couple reared their ugly head after painting leaving me with hairline cracks in the paint.
Once the model surface looked OK I applied a final coat of Plastikote Sandable Primer. I placed the hull in a home made jig just for this project to help draw straight lines on the complex surfaces. These lines were used as guides to glue thin strips of styrene as added surface details. I then added the little details like exhausts and sensors and misc. little bits around the surface.
The model was painted with Tamiya Acrylics. All paints were a custom mix and I didn't keep track of color formulas only to say I toned the contrast down to achieve some “scale effect”.
After painting, I applied a clear coat of Future Floor Polish to seal the surface and provide a gloss finish for decals. After decals I applied a top coat of PollyScale Satin to provide a good satin surface for weathering. I'll keep the weathering brief because I've done it so many times. First I applied filters of thinned artists’ oils to shift the base colors and cut down on the contrast between colors. Next I applied several washes to accent panel lines. I then post shaded some of the details with thinned Tamiya Smoke applied with an airbrush. I next applied simulated paint scrapes and chips but didn't go overboard and kept them pretty small. I used Burnt Umber oil paint straight from the tube to accent shadows and make some details pop. I airbrushed very thin Tamiya Buff as a light dust coat. I then followed this with thinned tan oil paint as a fine layer of dust on the lower surfaces and the top surface. Some additional oils were added to represent dirt and wear simulating the maintenance crew walking around on the head.
Tarmac:
The tarmac posed some issues because I was not use to working in 1/48. My prior experience with a tarmac surface was using white glue and sand but this was going to look out of scale. First I tried Textured Gel Medium, this applied easy enough, but the texture was all wrong for what I was after. Next I mixed up Durham’s Water putty but the result was very inconsistent and every attempt to smooth out the surface created further drag marks. I finally had success with drywall patch. I smoothed this out with a damp soft brush and when dry, smoothed this out with fine sandpaper and scribed in the sections with a dental tool.
The tarmac was primered with a good coat of automotive primer and airbrushed with Tamiya acrylics varying the shades of warm gray to create some variety in the sections. The tar lines were made with Vallejo Model Color (VMC) Black Grey applied with a syringe. The tarmac was masked and the yellow stripe lightly airbrushed with a custom mix of Tamiya acrylics. The small section of dirt was textured drywall mud painted with Polly Scale Dirt. The grass clumps are a mixture of static grass and H&A field grass painted with Tamiya Olive Green and lightened with Dark Yellow.
The equipment is a mixture of Tamiya 1/48 figure and equipment sets. Thanks Lincoln. The fuel drums are Legend Productions resin fuel drums with one or two Tamiya fuel drums thrown in. The work table is scratch built from sheet styrene as is the compressor sitting on top. All equipment was airbrushed with Tamiya acrylics, detail painted with VMC, filters and washes were applied with thinned artists oil paints and dusted with MIG pigments.
The scene needed a figure to complete the sense of scale. I had this Monogram ground mechanic which came with their Me262 kit sitting around for 17+ years and now it was time to use him. I made some minor modifications to his pose to work with the ladder and snout. The ladder was built from basswood strip and plastic rod. The water bucket is a white metal casting from the model rail road store. I tried numerous attempts to achieve realistic clear water in the bucket, but nothing was working. Finally I sculpted the water with epoxy putty and painted the water based on some advice from Timelines Forum – a great resource for all things figure painting. The tarp is a piece of pewter foil folded and creased. All items were painted with VMC.
I finished the model in time for the Web Compe, an online competition for traditional (That’s MaK) and original (Like MaK) models. I recieved a Certificate of Achievement Award - see image below.
