Mech kitbash

[Steve-the-Duck]

That’s the lies-to-children explanation, of course :smiling3: It actually means “walking on your toes” — what people often think of as a cat’s or a dog’s knees are actually their ankles, what they think of as the ankle is where the toes join the foot, and the knee is almost inside the body due to them having a relatively short thigh bone.

What he said :tongue-out3:

[Steve-the-Duck]

I've always liked that term 'lies to children.'

"Actually" pushes glasses up to bridge of nose "I think you'll find it's more complicated than that"

There MUST be a single German word for it.

[scottie3158]

Andy, simply outstanding mate very very neat work.

[Andy T]

Thanks Paul, a great compliment coming from you.

I've been doing a bit more and I'm blatantly copying the method of a guy I follow on YouTube. He does his first round of detailing then primes the assembly to get a better look at it, before another round of finer detailing.

To that end the gun is in its first layer of primer. Perhaps because of my job I've gone OTT. The mixture of plastics gave me the jitters so I gave it a coat of plastic adhesion promoter (which does what it says on the tin) before a coat of Halfrauds plastic primer. Probably unnecessary but I'm used to providing finishes that'll last for decades in all weathers:







I'm really pleased with how it looks so far but now that I can get a better look at it, I can decide whether to go further with the bits & bobs.

[Guest]

Adhesion promoter — I didn’t know it existed, but it sounds like something that might be worth trying out under, say, water-based acrylics?

[Andy T]

It's used a lot in my industry, where some of the low surface energy plastics really don't take paint or primer well.

I have a couple of versions to go through a spray gun but the rattle cans are more convenient for us in our hobby of course. Many come with a small amount of silver in them so that you can see where you've sprayed, but this one is completely clear.

If I find the time I'll do a bit of testing over the weekend and see if it helps with kit plastic.

[Steve-the-Duck]

Being entirely scratchbuilt, that gun is a work of art

Okay, so I use the various shades of Halfords Primer for all my undercoating needs, but I don't think I've ever seen the Plastic Primer before

[Andy T]

That's very kind of you to say Chris.

The plastic one doesn't come in as many colours, or at least my local doesn't stock them. Normally I can only find white or grey but landed on a tin of oxide red the other day, which will be perfect for the sceme I have in mind for this.

[Guest]

It's used a lot in my industry, where some of the low surface energy plastics really don't take paint or primer well.

It has me wondering if it would be useful for polythene figures, which also have a tendency to shed paint after a while. Of course, I would have had the most use for it when I was about ten years old and, between my brother and me, had all of the Matchbox 1:76 and 1:32 scale sets of those …

If I find the time I'll do a bit of testing over the weekend and see if it helps with kit plastic.

Thanks, that kind of knowledge would probably com in handy. Though if I look up prices for it, it looks rather more expensive than primer, so even if it does help water-based acrylics adhere to plastic, it would probably not really be worthwhile. Still, if you have the time to do a little test, just the knowledge will be good to have.

[Tim Marlow]

It has me wondering if it would be useful for polythene figures, which also have a tendency to shed paint after a while. Of course, I would have had the most use for it when I was about ten years old and, between my brother and me, had all of the Matchbox 1:76 and 1:32 scale sets of those …

Not so much of an issue with acrylics as they tend to be more flexible than the enamels of bygone days. One school of thought is to give the poly figures a dilute coat of PVA glue first, so they are, in effect, coated in a flexible plastic film. Me, I just stopped using them, moving over to hard plastic or metal figures

[Tim Marlow]

This is another interesting flight of fancy Andy, being carried out with your usual excellent build and finishing techniques.

[yak face]

Superb work andy , the gun looks amazing , cant wait to see what happens next ! Cheers tony

[rtfoe]

Amazing piece of scratchery on the gatling Andy. The turret reminds me of an ant head, shape wise that is. Very interesting...have always liked Sci Fi done this way.

Cheers,
Wabble

[Jim R]

That gun looks superb Andy. That Plastigrip stuff sounds as if it may have benefits. I've never heard of the stuff. Your results will be interesting.

[Andy T]

Thank you all so much. If I'm managing to impress such a distinguished crowd, I must be doing something right :smiling3:

I've been adding some more pipes & wires, and channelling my inner Steve Jones with a few rivets here & there. If I work like this on the rest of the build I can see this being a long term job, fitted in between the group builds and regular model kits.