1/48 Bad-Azz Advanced Cylon Raider

nicholassagan

sippin on gin + juice
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
2,013
Finally got this bad boy in the mail after waiting a little over 2 months!! (shipped from Poland). It was totally worth the wait. This is a really well detailed and engineered kit. The parts fit pretty much perfectly and ALL the detail was nice and crisp. A few under surface bubbles appeared on the trailing edges of the ‘wings’ and ‘head’ but otherwise good casting.
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A couple of construction notes, though:

1.The BIG task was rescribing all the panel lines. A few of them were OK but many were way too shallow and eligible. (post on left, pre on right)
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2. The joint for the wings wasn’t completely square so I added a couple of steel bar supports
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3. The left wing was a little warped, or flattened rather, so heat from a desk lamp was applied and the wing was bent upwards to shape
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4. My kit came with 2 left engines (they are engineered to fit at an outward canted angle) so some trimming was needed to get the odd one in line
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5. I replaced the main barrels with brass rod and carefully drilled out the rest of the length of the cannons so brass runs down the entire assembly
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Before the black primer went down, I did scrub the parts really well. However, it must not have been enough because the primer still mottled slightly. Turns out that’s OK because the actual appearance of the Raider has a mottled look!
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Moving on to the next steps, I have a 5.25″ circular mirror base that I will be placing laser cut green pentagrams onto, courtest of Matt from LaserFire Creations. I won’t be drilling into the mirror OR the kit for mounting. Instead I’ll place the mirror on a wooden base (maybe pentagram shaped?) and a clear acrylic support rod, bent to fit the underside.
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PAINTING wise, I won’t really be using much paint, save for some detail work. The bulk of the metallic look will come from AK Interactive’s new True Metal rub-n-buff/wax material. I picked up four shades and this Raider is the perfect test bed for all of them. Stay tuned for more!
 
Well the first round of True Metal wax is going really well! I started with aluminum and it really shines. Dark aluminum really isn’t that different in tone…and then gun metal is only slightly darker. In order to get that wider variety of tones, I added some AK pigments (smoke) to darken it. A little bit of spirits helps to smooth out the wax and make it easier to apply with a brush. I still have to do the bottom, and I think I’ll add some details with Tamiya’s gunmetal. Anyway, coming along nicely…

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looks great. This is a really good looking model. I'm interested in how your rub and buff came out. I
just got my rub and buff sample kit from Amazon and I'm going to use it on an upcoming build.
Was there any problems or tips you can share on your experience using rub and buff?
 
Hey Tex, I'm using AK Interactive's True Metals.
http://ak-interactive.com/v2/?product=true-metal-x10-todos-los-colores

You don't want to buff too hard because it can buff out and get down to the primer. Also, it can be thinned with spirits but if you thin it too much it will rub off completely. Conversely, I added some darker pigments that caused it to clump...which I then thinned down with spirits. It got tricky with the mix because it dries differently than straight out of the tube.

Here's a couple reviews of the product:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylBZ-vtMq6o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBLLLZUjvLo
 
Thanks for the links. The AK product looks to be easier to work with than the Amaco rub and buff. I will try
the brush on method and see how it works. Thanks again for the response.
 
So it's been a few days since I applied the finish...and word of caution to anyone who uses it, SEAL IT SOONER rather than later. Some of the luster was lost to the air. I'm going to have to reapply small amounts and re-buff....

IN THE MEANTIME: I got my laser cut parts from Matt @ LaserFire! I also lucked out and found the perfect sized circular base to mount the mirror to! I still have to trim the dried glue but it looks the part.

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That base is looking great , loving the green pentagrams .
All in all ...... coming along really well mate .
 
It turns out that not sealing the True Metals shortly after application causes it to loose it’s luster. This time around I dabbed some dark aluminum over the entire body of the Raider and polished it up. Once it was dry I sealed it with Tamiya clear coat, which causes it to loose some of the reflectivity as well. It also blended the tone variations a little more so I started going back with the brighter aluminum on the lighter panels. Just as a test, I only applied it to the wing tips, polished (waited 10 minutes or so) then sealed with Future. As it turns out, the Future retains the glossy effect and DOES NOT interact with the wax as the Tamiya clear does so it retains it’s luster.

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I brushed the future on since it's self-leveling. The pattern is partly from the primer mottling and partly from uneven wax rubbing :D
 
Finished up the metal look. Last steps are bending the acrylic rods and assembling/painting the base.

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