Brutish Dog 1/35

Leighbo

Active Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
1,033
Hi again Guys

Been driving me mad the last week or so, I ordered this kit locally and its only just arrived today!
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I thought I would have a change of scenery and try my hand at Sci-fi (gulp), perhaps not the best idea in the middle of a competition but hey ho!

I've been watching some builds of the Ma.k kits and love them, but there isn't that much choice of kits so I thought I would try something along the same lines but with a bit of a twist.

I found these kits from a manufacturer called Takara, from an 80's Japanese show called Armored Trooper VOTOMS (Vertical One-man Tank for Offense & ManeuverS).

Thats about the limit of my knowledge of the show and kit, but I thought a bit of imagination might bring this alive. So I plan plenty of greebles, stowage, wiring, realistic weathering, etc... I will finish the whole lot of with a simplish base, sort of post apocalyptic-ish.

The kit itself is very well molded if a little simplistic, the included figure for instance is a bit toy like, but after some detailing I am hoping to make it pop. Also it was only £12 for a 1/35 scale kit!!!

I'm sure I will be posting my progress very soon as I can't wait to get on with some modelling.

Catch you all soon
 
YAY!
I have never seen any of the VOTOMs series, but have liked the mecha ever since I saw some of them at a hobby store in Hawaii in 1987.
It will be good to see how you whip this bad boy into shape!!!
;D
 
Hi Guys

Been off work this week so I've been quite busy.

As I said before I wanted to take this simplish kit and add more details. I was planning to do this bit by bit and then put it all together but the way the kit is designed most of the elements are in two parts which leave a definite join line so I've had to build the kit up and do plenty of sanding to hid them.

Anyway, the power plant of the machine is under the cockpit and I wanted to show this so I cut out the front panel and first put in a grille with mesh, but wasn't happy with this so I took it out and added engine parts behind protective bars.
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To show the join lines that had to be sorted here are the feet before and after
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I am going to add a rocket launcher over the shoulder which I put together from the spares box. I may change this yet but we'll see
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To show the shoulder armour as cast metal I masked off the edge, used a drill bit to make pock marks and then using poly cement and an old brush cut down I stipled a texture on.
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I also cut off some bolt heads when I removed these parts from the sprues so I added these from styrene rod
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Also to add more detail I am going to put hydraulic hoses in the legs, by drilling holes and using rubber tube
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As there is a gatling gun in place of the right fist the kit suggests a little ammo clip, but for more drama I will construct an ammo belt, fed from the back pack. Also I want to add an area for crew stowage so I need to modify the backpack.

Here is the kit back pack
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Not very exciting so I cut out part of it and with some more spares box bits created an ammo feed box on one side...
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...and using wire and mesh sheet created the storage bin on the other side
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Heres what it looks like so far, with the back pack and also some details added to the front.
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I'll be adding some more details before deciding on the camo scheme and starting painting.

Any comments welcome, thanks for looking
 
As always thanks for the comments guys

Been busy again, firstly I needed to construct the gatling gun belt so I cut a strip of thin plastic and then with some spare pads from a halftrack I glued them using a strip of plastic as a spacer
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I think I will end up doing the same to the reverse side as well

Also for a bit of a break from the machine I decided to start on the base, which is going to be a simple post apolcalyptic scene to frame the Votom. I will have a cracked road with long grass growing up through it and a rusted hotel sign in the background, pretty tame compared to my usual diorama builds!

I've started with the sign by cutting HOTEL out of plastic card and then creating a rim around the edge with more card, to mimic a typical US neon sign structure.

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I then made the sign from, you guessed it, more plastic sheet
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The groundwork is a sheet of foam board on a small silver picture frame. I stripped the card from the foam board and scrubbed the foam with a wire brush to give it texture.
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I then painted, washed and dry brushed the 'road surface' before taping out the line markings and sponge painting the line markings in
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After this was completed I cut a template for the cracking before commiting to cutting the road
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Once the road was done I cut insulation foam for the underneath to give the finished road different levels, painted it brown and then stuck it down and added a bit of cat litter to give a stony texture, directly beneath the surface
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This will be tidied up and any gaps filled in before the long grass is added, but it gives an idea of the finished product. Its also helped me decide the final pose for the Votom
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As always thanks for looking
 
Hi Guys

More progress, it's amazing how much you can get done when work doesn't get in the way!

Finished up getting all the details added, the spares box has took a bashing!
First created some sort of laser gun thingy for the left arm
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Then a band from plastic around the Gat gun for more interest
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Then some rivety greebles for the blank arm joint
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and some exhaust outlets for the power plant
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Leaving this aside I moved onto the overgrown grass.
This was initially made from 3 ply jute twine untwisted and then 2 of the lengths painted in a watered down solution of green acrylic and water, the remaining length kept the natural colour.
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Once dry I put the 3 strands back together (2 painted and one natural to keep the grass from being monotone) and cut strips 5cm long and then using a wire brush fanned them out.
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Before sticking the tufts in the cracks with white glue
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While this drys I moved onto the sign which has been rusted up ready for hairspraying
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Once hairsprayed some faded blue was airbrushed
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And once dry heavy chipping commenced
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And varnished and left to dry for the next stage
So I turned my attention to the Votom camouflage, which began with a white undercoat (should have primed as the plastic didn't like the paint too much, but it turned out okay in the end)
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Glad to get rid of that pink plastic as well! Then I masked the 1st layer of camo and sprayed light grey
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and then masked the 2nd layer and finished with german grey
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And voila the camo revealed (along with the rear basket broken off whilst spraying)
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and displayed on the base after a little detail painting
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I hope you're all still having as much fun as I am in this comp, don't want to think that It'll all be over soon.

Thanks for looking
 
Hi guys, back again, been busy once again today so thought I would share as I shan't get chance to do any modelling tomorrow ???

Stuck on all the decals today and did some heavy chipping, also got the visor on finally
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Also couldn't resist filling up the rear cage with stowage for the pilot, most from the spares bin, but made a bed roll and tarp from tissue paper soaked with water based silicone so it holds its shape unlike using white glue, which makes the paper stick to itself when painted. First time I've used this technique and i'm impressed
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Next I moved to the Hotel sign and made a small concrete base from insulation board and then finished the sign with some oils to bring back the rust effect and painted and attached the letters
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And finished today with the first round of oil detailing, trying to highlight some of the creases, etc... (the pictures aren't great but you get the idea!)
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As always thanks for looking
 
Hi Guys

Not much progress to post this week, have been waiting for the last lot of oils to dry for days and all I have done is add the next lot of oils, a dirtying, streaking layer to make the Votom look weathered.
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It's definitely toning things down, but think it still needs more oils yet to give it a really streaked look, so I guess I'll have to wait a few more days for drying and add another layer. Tedious but necessary!

Catch you all later
 
Hi Guys

Finished the last of the details the last round of oils, the bullet belt and the hoses for the legs.
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Just some weathering on the base and that about finishes it up for this build!
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I guess thats it for the competition until next year, its been fun.

Thanks for looking
 
I love the pose of the kit! The forward leg is in such a natural, yet behemoth like position - it's perfectly executed!
 

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