Rockem & Sockem - MWO Hunchbacks 1:60 Scale

Just in time for #HunchieHalloween, I have a trick and a treat for you.

'In the yellow corner we have Rockem 

and in the blue corner we have Sockem'

Specs;
Machined on a Roland MDX40A 4axis mill
Cast in resin
And painted buy your host
Photographed by some one who wished he hasn't bought such a complicated camera.
Sucked out of the digital ether and made real into the physical realm
1:60 scale
Standing at just under 17cm tall 
Seen sporting the classic AC20 candy dispenser that's bound to make your foes weak at the knees

Click for full resolution

Click for full resolution

Good fright good night mecha-minions

HBK - Last little touches for these two

Just finishing off the last few touches (lasers n lenses) left to dry over night. In to the mini studio photos tomorrow.

Hoping to get my camera set up right for the studio, always seem to have focal problems kinda wish I bought a more automatic dlsr, I don't use them enough to become competent :/

Two mechs one post

Here are two mechs ones blue and ones yellow. Why blue, because my son likes blue. Also I'm covered in masking tape.

I'm running out of things to say can you tell? I should let those AC20's do the talking.

Are you bored yet? #hunchiehalloween

Sacré bleu

Nop I didn't repaint Mr. Banana this is another HBK (are you sick of them yet?). To save time/mess I'm painting them as a pair the only difference will be the main colour weathering shading are the same.

French blue this time if you haven't guess these are painted to stand out so you can see the details. I'll add the stencil work tomorrow. Hey the blue covered up all that yellow on my desk :)

ps can you guys spot the 2 bits of masking tape I missed pealing on Mr. Banana in the last photo? (I noticed while masking up Monsieur Bleu)

Mr. Banana I hope you have sunglasses!

Red ones might go faster, but yellow ones go bananas!

I love pulling off masking tape. Its like Christmas day, opening coffee and fishing out a booger all rolled into one. It takes considerable will power not to pick at it. Impatiences drives me and it itches my brain to leave the masking tape alone, so it's a good morning when you get to pick it all off!

After the euphoria of pulling the tape,  I can't help feel a pang of panic. The colour at this point always looks fake/plastic. But I have to remind myself with shading, weathering the colours will subtle and blend.

Yellow for the first time

and probably the last time.

For a while I wanted to paint a yellow mech. But I know how weak yellow is as a pigment is so I've avoided it for personal projects (where I'd was a lance in the same colour).

I didnt want to put a white or red base coat down as i would be using solvent to weather the paint (since my chipping medium was delayed). I used citadel yellow base as a base and model air yellow to get it to pop

 

I think in the end its was 4x yellow base and 2/3x yellow to get the pigment down so for that I'm glad this is a one off.

Didn't help that it seems all the new citadel paint pots happen to dry out in under 12months and I need to save it with paint thinner and strain it (not happy about that).  Seems GW has designed shelf life now where some paints (bright accents etc) might happily sit for 10+years GW decided to force people to rebuy. The main reason I've been replacing my paints with Vallejo.

Masking - HBK

Its probably been written about before but after the base coat goes on the bits I want to stay metal are masked off. It takes some time (about an afternoon) but its less frustrating than trying to get paint out of all the crevices its also faster/crisper than repainting on the metal.

To help me out I make a guide for myself its easy to get lost on a big model and nothing sucks more than realising you've painted something you wanted to keep bare metal.

I use the MWO textures as a guide but personal preference I don't like to much metal on show so often I'll paint it.

I use tamiya 6mm masking tape since its semi transparent and comes in a handy dispenser. I also have some normal size low tac tape (the blue stuff) and a few 2mm and 3mm for detail masking (personal tip get the paper versions not the vinyl it bleeds). Sharpe blade trims the excess, tooth pick/dental probe for poking and back of a brush to press it home. Also if you don't tape to stick to you or your tools wet/damp them.

If you're wondering the colours I use for the base coat I've change it some;

• Black spray primer
• Tin bits, gunmetal - dry brushed
• "Lifecolor Acrylics LC-CS10 Dust and Rust Paint" - 1-4 rust airbrushed on
• Clear coat

I moved away from orange washes, since I bought a more reliable airbrush (less jamming) and washes can be hard to control, takes while to dry and make a mess.

So for the next week I'll be finding bits of yellow masking tape stuck all over me.

HBK leg comparison

I've be putting together 2 more HBKs for paint and I thought I'd take a quick snap to show side by side comparison of how the lower leg articulation works.

The hunchies legs are made with ball joints for the hips, ankle and an arch for knee. The basically lets you set a pose in however you like. Above you can see one it more classic robot straight the other is more at ease I'm not that adventurous what leg posing I'm more concerned with stability and a level hip joint with a forward rake.

Most of my designs use this method of leg design and after making a few I thought I'd write out what process I found to be best. You should find a hard flat surface that's out of the way to do this for me its the far corner of my pc desk as its not likely to get bumped or knocked. I also like to glue the legs just before bed time. I'd like to say its because it means the kids are out of the way but to be honest its because it stops me from tinkering with it while the glue sets.

• First I like to test fit everything and compare it to how the in game models stand. A lot of the MWO designs don't have a locked knees but stand with the leg bent so its good to check. I design the legs to stand in this pose more or less with as much articulation as I can get without chopping out large sections of model. On legs that are really counter intuitive I add reference pencil lines
• Then I drill pin wholes in the alignment I want then counter sink those holes to get some wriggle room. I put wire into the hole and bend the wire until it all sits correctly, the pins and friction should hold everything together at this point and you can make tweaks to get it how you want it.
• I glue one leg together first (2 part epoxy glue) and let it cure for 24hrs. this gives it a pretty good bond and you're not likely to break it when handling.
• Then I glue on the hip. Now my top tip is to have it side to level with a small rake to the front 2-5 degrees. I found if you do have a a big tilt it might look fine in the intended pose but as torso rotates it'll look awkward, I guess that because in reality the hip moves to compensate. Prop the hip and leg up gingerly and allow the glue cure.
• Last to be glued is the other leg. I do a second dry fit to make sure it fits into the hips ball joint with out pulling up or down. Then working on the hard flat surface I glue the knee and ankle at the same time you could glue the hip ball too but I like to leave it unglued from painting. I put the leg assembly together propped together with hip/leg assembly.
• This should net you a wobble free set of legs with a level hip joint. However things can go wrong parts might get knocked while setting etc. You have some options break them apart which is risky, if you going to do that do it within 24hrs given the glue bond can actually be stronger than the resin. The other is heat the legs with a hair dryer/hot water resin with soften you should be able to bend them into the right shape (you can see it here with the elementals they are all the same model just been bent into different poses)

Its much better than trying to glue everything at once and having to prop up a big wobbly game of jenga and hope for the best. If you're really a masochist and wanted to drive yourself mad you could make a balanced jogging pose you'd need to shave some parts down and section the front foot, I reckon it would stand up with out the need for a base.

I know updates are a bit slower the kids both came down with something at more or less keep one or the other up at night crying/vomiting/coughing/fever for nine days at the same time are child care ran for the hills all of which kinda turned me into the weeping dead. I also have to remake a 3 moulds for the HBK because they became torned up super quick (silicone was too soft) and I also have to fix the seal (read make a new seal from scratch) for the vacuum pot all extra time not accounted for.

Back from holiday - update

So I'm back from my holiday (first one in years). I had alot of non model stuff to catch up on hence my absence. I'm really happy to see the great reaction the HBK received it was very flattering.

I'm just starting to get back into modelling and felt like doing something for myself to get my intrest going. I decided paint the mini's I had made a while back the mechs are printed and the plane were the first thing I made on the CNC

None are super detailed (the 3D prints were fudgy and the plane was a low detail design) they were made as of amusement for me.

The planes are waiting to be sealed, some gloss for the canopy's and water effect finished. The mechs just have their base colours.