Ma.K AFS II 11.15.10

I added some joint covers with 'green stuff' putty.  Next thing i'm planning to do is rebuild the hand.  The old Nitto hand sucks compared to the recent Wave version. (Nitto = old manufacturer, Wave = current btw)  Plus the hand on mine is broken anyway.. I'm also still deciding on the setting, and if I want to put a pilot head inside the suit or leave it empty.. decisions, decisions..

Next Up! Ma.K AFS MkII with female mechanic.

I got a few Ma.K, or Maschinen Krieger, kits from someone that were partially assembled, or broken, or just scraps for free.  I don't remember who it was.. but the one that's most complete is this AFS MkII suit.  AFS stands for Armored Fighting Suit btw...

Check this link for more info:
http://www.roboterkampf.com/html/mak/index.htm

So, I bought this female mechanic, from the company Brick Works.  She's made specifically for the Ma.K universe, I think she's on the Mercenary side (good guys I think).  It's a nice sculpt, and I can't wait to paint her, but she needed something to go along with her, and what's better than a mech suit?!  (Answer = not much)  Enter the AFS MkII.  Since it was built already.. mostly anyway, and then some pieces lost or broken, it's going to need some work.  It's missing the pilot's head, but not a big deal since i'll probably just make it an empty suit anyway.  Like I mentioned before, most of it's there, so it shouldn't be difficult to get it up to specs.

I still have to figure out a layout for the base/vignette, but in the meantime, here are a couple of in progress shots.

First up is the overall pic

These are some of the armor parts that I started putting texture on with some Mr. Surfacer 500 and the smashing up and down technique.  http://www.bhop73.com/models/texture_tut/smash.gif

1/35 U.S. Tank Commander - Complete

I started this at one of the local model meets, maybe the Sept. meet.. dunno.. anyways, I was trying to get it done for Orangecon, but never did because I didn't want to rush it, so I took my time. I finally finished it today. Sadly this is the only model i've finished this year.. but I think i'm back in the mindset of model building now.

The base (cobblestone sidewalk) was made with green stuff putty. The leaves in the gutter were cut out of metal foil from a wine bottle. That's pretty much it.. painted with Vallejo acrylics.

Back Into Modeling

Scale modeling that is.. Building scale models used to be a big hobby of mine, before I got my bicycles and increased my camera collection.

A couple years ago, I seemed to lose interest, well, maybe not lost interest, but just didn't have the motivation to build stuff. I still bought a few kits to add to my pile, and I did build a couple things within the past 2 years, but not much, a figure of Cammy from Street Fighter, a Tie Fighter from Star Wars... that might be it, I can't remember...

Well, it seems i've finally got my motivation back. Maybe it's the cooler weather. Anyways, a few posts down is the Tiger tank I was building, but i'm putting that on hold for a while. I'm almost finished with this U.S. tank commander, from Alpine models. 1/35 scale. I plan to make a gallery page for my models with a link on the sidebar, but I have yet to get started on it. In the meantime, i'll try to update this blog with my progress. After this figure is done, I have some other stuff I plan to start on.. I actually have already, but i'll get into that later.

Rode In An Ambulance Today

Luckily it wasn't a bike accident, but it was bike related.

Basically around 11:30-ish, sitting at my desk at work, I felt dizzy, clammy skin, weak legs, little tingling in my left hand.. same symptoms as a heart attack/stroke, and heart problems run in my family, so i freaked out and probably got a panic attack from that... felt like i was gonna pass out.

The boss called 911 and the ambulance came. EMTs did some tests and my blood pressure was through the roof, blood sugar was low, around 50ish. (normal is 80-100). I told them about my bike ride to work (13 miles) they asked if I ate breakfast, apparently they don't think a muffin is enough.. So they gave me some sugary stuff in a tube, then took me to the ER, where I saw the doc (who was super cute btw). She made me eat a ham sandwich and some apple juice. As i laid around, my blood pressure and blood sugar went back to normal. They did an ekg test for my heart while i was there, said it was good... must be the bike.

So basically it was dehydration and not enough food for the amount I ride. I had only eaten a muffin and drank most, not all, of my water bottle during the ride, then followed that by a large coffee.. My body just reached its limit I guess. I just need to eat and drink more when I ride to make up for the energy burned.. just glad it was nothing big..thought i was a goner.

Bonus is the doc said i'm fine to ride home.. just have to eat when I get there. :)

1/48 Early Tiger - Tamiya

So, i've been building again. It's been awhile, I think I only finished one or two things last year. I need to start digging into my closet pile.. it's around 150 deep.. probably more actually.. dunno.. but anyways..

Here's the kit.




So far i've shaved off some of the molded on hull parts and i've been replacing them with eduard photoetch. Time consuming and annoying. Everything's so damn small.. I lost a couple things and had to make stuff from scratch, but you can't tell in the pics.

Here's what i've done so far.



That's it for now. I think this post will be taking my blog into a new direction, mostly updates for my model builds. I should update this damn thing more often anyway..