Ma.K Camel

[Grendels]

Thanks for the nice look at the kit. Off to a good start!

 

[MrNatural]

Off to a good start MrNatural. Details of this kit look sharp. Can't wait to see this one finished.

Thanks buddy! It really is a nice kit.

Thanks for the nice look at the kit. Off to a good start!

No problem bud, anytime, and thanks!

Just a quick one before I go to work. I got a general mock up of both legs without the hoses and joint covers of course. Now I feel more comfortable with what I'll have to do to run wire through the legs, and have decided to move forward with that option. I can also start to see just how huge this thing is going to be when all said and done.


All for now my friends. Later on

 

[Grendels]

Leggy goodness!

 

[JohnSimmons]

Nice pins!

 

[Solander]

Up to a good start, man!

 

[MrNatural]

Thanks fellas. So after hours of head scratching I actually got one of the legs wired up, nothing is glued in place yet. The second leg shouldn't take nearly as long since I have the first one as a guide. Probably start working on the cockpit next.



Thanks for looking. Later on

 

[java]

Nice work!.

 

[Junkie]

Nice work man. Gotta love robotic bipeds...I know I do.

 

[MrNatural]

Nice work!.

Java! Good to hear from you! Thank you so much sir. Your compliment is well received my friend.

Nice work man. Gotta love robotic bipeds...I know I do.

I was wondering what it was about this kit that made me appreciate the design so much, and now that you mention robotic bipeds, it dawned on me how much the camel reminds me of a certain Lucas-esque model

Cool. Conquered the first major hurdle with this build and got wire running through both legs. The second leg didn't really prove to be any easier to deal with But its done and im stoked



Thanks for looking my friends! so glad the weekend is finally here...

 

[JohnSimmons]

Really nice work mate.

 

[Tailor]

Great! These look sooo cool!
I am very much looking forward to the progress!

 

[MrNatural]

Really nice work mate.

Thanks John, much appreciated my friend!

Great! These look sooo cool!
I am very much looking forward to the progress!

Thanks buddy, glad you dig it my friend!

Ok, so been working pretty hard on figuring out how to light the main rear thruster. I sure did pick a heck of a model for my first lighting project Something tells me that these Ma.K kits probably were not designed with lighting in mind.

The main thruster is designed to have some articulation, and its pretty genius how it works but in order to light it up I had to gut all that out and have the thruster in a fixed position, this really doesn't bother me because I dont play with my models once they are done, they stay in that position. If I had a year to work on this kit I could have probably figured out a way to light it and maintain the articulation but, c'est la vie...

The housing for the thruster needed a lot of modification for lighting.




Had to connect a flat piece of styrene to the back of the assembly to help block light and give me some "meat" to glue the rest of the thruster parts on to.


View with the thruster which is just held in place with blue tac right now


Im still experimenting with diffusion and different lighting effects for the thruster. Im getting closer and closer to what im looking for. For now I have a clear piece of styrene as a filter which I've tinted with Tamiya clear red. I really like the effect this is giving, a little more tweaking and It'll be just right



Thanks for looking dudes! I appreciate it so much! Tell me what you think as I am totally new to lighting. Later on.

 

[ModelMakerMike]

Yes.... this is going to be awesome!!!
I really love the Ma.K stuff!
This will be one to watch!
;D

 

[Tailor]

Very inspiring!

 

[Grendels]

Nice got the wires all sorted out. Looking forward to the next update.

 

[MrNatural]

Yes.... this is going to be awesome!!!
I really love the Ma.K stuff!
This will be one to watch!
;D

Thanks you so mcuh I really appreciate that my friend ;D

Very inspiring!

Wow! Thanks man, glad you're diggin it!

Nice got the wires all sorted out. Looking forward to the next update.

Yeah, running the wire through those legs was one of my greater concerns with this build, glad thats out of the way.

Its been tough trying to divide my time between this and my other entry, job, life...when I'm not at the bench, all I can think about is the next time I get to do some building. Anyway, been working on the head of the camel, cleaning up parts, test fitting, and scratching my head a lot. Should be able to get a look at the lights in the model by my next update.

Started with taking care of the seam


putty is your friend


No more seam


Added some bolts from Wave's option parts



Still working on the back portion of the head, had trouble getting the detail parts to blend into the surface, so Im doing some Aves work..


Test fitting some cockpit parts



Primered up cock pit parts


Test fitting main hull





Outer detail parts cleaned up awaiting further notice


Other cleaned up parts and greeblie bits organized by sub assembly. I like to keep these little 1 oz portion cups on hand for purposes like this, mixing paint, and epoxy.


Here is the display screen for the cockpit. The directions tell you to just paint he screen semi-gloss black. I want to do something different.


So I just cut out the screen and filled it up with epoxy, to give it more of a bubbly glass screen look which I'll tint with some clear paint.


Well thats all for now my friends, hopefully by next weekend I'll have some paint down on the cockpit at least, and some light to show you guys. Thanks for looking. Later on!

 

[JohnSimmons]

Very cool!

 

[TRM]

Very nice progress!!!

 

[Grendels]

Very nice progress, and looking good!

 

[MrNatural]

Grendels, TRM, and John, thanks so much for the kind words!


OK, so been out of the loop with my posts for the last couple of weeks so Im just going to jump right into it.

A good solid hour of clean up work to get the figure up to speed.


Got him all glued together. He's definitely going to need some Aves work. Decided to leave the helmet removable.


Base coated all of the cockpit parts with Vallejo German Grey




Then did some detail painting and dry brushing. I used Tamiya acrylic bronze and gold leaf, Vallejo metallic steel and aluminum, Model Master acrylic aircraft interior black, a color I really like to use when instructions call for flat black as its more a dark grey which gives more of a sense of scale. Then dry brushed with Model Master enamel steel. I'll weather these parts a little further once they're dry and installed in the head.





Been wiring up my lights, I did a practice run before I fixed everything in permanently.


One last look at the wiring before I do the final seal on the hull and legs.


Definitely the most nerve racking part of the build so far was closing up the hull and legs and doing all the seam work with the electronics inside, I couldn't help but feel like I was going to knock something loose so I kept checking my lights periodically. But I got through it and now Im very happy ;D Still some rescribing to do, but that is small potatoes compared to sanding around all these complex curves.


This section was particularly challenging to smooth out


And we are all closed up, seamed, and light blocked, and good news, my lights still work. Hurray!


Still need to paint this thruster, it's not glued on yet


He's a pretty big boy


Alrighty boys, makin that home stretch towards painting. Thanks so much for checking it out! Later on my friends!