Always great to see something different.. Will be following so will simply say good luck with the comp....

Regards

Alan

Hi metal mech,
you beat me to it! I was thinking of this kit , but I am going to build Randys Time Machine instead for 2016.Are you going to use Randys upgrade kit and the paragraphics detail set or scratchbuild?

Apparently voodoofx will be making a lighting kit too.

I have been following Randys build of the MLEV using his detail kit and it is jaw dropping as usual.

I will be following this build very closely to see what great ideas I can steal from you !!!!!

Good luck with the competition.Great to see a USA entrants this year.

Carl

I am going to buy the paragraphics detail set, and was planning on using their led strips and connectors to do most of the lighting except for the outside flood/spot lights. Those I was just going to scratch build. However I may look into the voodoofx kit things if its gonna make it easier. Never done lighting before so this will be a new challenge.

I was unaware that Randy had an upgrade kit for this. I will look into it. Been so busy with the holidays and getting my work area set up I haven't touched the kit since I bought it until now.

I am upset with myself though. I had these red leds with a battery pack that all they did was blink. I kept them for a long time and then recently threw them out before I got this kit thinking I hadn't used them and never would. Now they would be perfect for blinking marker lights. Oh well.

While this build is all me, I do discuss ideas and building techniques with a friend of mine. He has a better imagination when it comes to using scrap parts lying around. So there has been some talk of doing a bit of scratch building, but nothing planned as of yet. If we do anything it will be on the fly as we think of it.

Holy crap, I just looked up the upgrade kit. First its expensive, almost as much as the kit. Two, one of the scratch build ideas we talked about was making opening doors. Damn, I may have to buy this.

I usually keep all that stuff too. However, with a 4year old we are amassing lots and lots of clutter. It has gotten over whelming for me and I have decided to cut back on things. Not just extra bits and bobs, but I reduced my miniatures games down to my two favorite, and trying to cut back on model buying until I get ones done that I already have.

Ok so back on topic. I have a few photos of test fitting the main hull together. I was trying to get a sense of what viewing angles there are. I would hate to go do a lot of trouble wiring up and lighting certain details if they are never seen. I contemplated customizing the roof to be removable, however that creates a lot of hassle and issues that its really not worth it. Especially now that I am aware of the upgrade kit. With the upgrade of opening doors, the rear door can now be opened to view any light up details that can't be seen from the front window. From what I can tell from my test fitting, pretty much 90% of the interior is viewable from the front window. I may even consider making the front window removable with magnets for better viewing, and in case I need to get inside the cockpit for some reason.

I did see that the upgrade kit comes in two forms, I will be buying the cheaper one since I am not interested in the upgraded boosters. If I really want boosters like that I can build the detail on myself. Also I will probably sell off one of the EVA suits. I don't plan to put both in the lockers as I plan to use the one astronaut wearing an EVA suite out side the model.

I didn't see information about the voodoofx lighting kit. Guessing its still in the works. Though I have my own ideas of how I want to light things, I am mostly interested in a kit for lighting the exterior flood lights.

Also, while I originally planned for a dio-base as an add-on if I have time, its looking like it may actually be important for the way I want to set up the lighting and the wiring so that has moved up a notch on priority now. I have never done any baseing or dio stuff yet so any input as far as was to do things, or even places to buy material. I will want to try and make it look like its on mars.

Photo time.

Did you buy the full $110 set with the boosters, or just the $70 set? I am going with the $70 set.

So I came up with another way to build and display the model. I am gonna stick with mine landed on mars. I usually like to do something different then suggested, or how others are building, like with my MFalcon. This time though I really want it to be a mars hopper.

Anyways my other idea I thought I would throw out there in case you are interested. The hopper has a airlock door/hatch on the ceiling. How cool would it be to removed those doors, mount the hopper to the bottom of a space ship, or maybe even a rocket Apollo style, and have the astronauts boarding the hopper through the upper hatch?

Well my update tonight was a partial bust. I decided to paint up and assemble the window frame. Its a basically simple paint scheme and I had decided already on the colors, so figured why not. Well I ran out of black paint in the middle of painting the parts. The two large curves need another coat, the two small parts that are in primer need to be painted and I need to mask and paint the sides of the frame.

One thing I am not sure of are those hollow parts on the back side of the small frames. Usually things like that are hidden, but the way they are mounted on this model they are exposed. Gonna paint them black and see if they "disappear" more. If not I may fill, or mount some greeble on them.

Also take note of the small pegs on the two curved parts. You will see I have already broken one on the large one, and two on the small one. Thankfully they are not needed (but do help) to get the parts glued together properly. This is a well engineered kit and 95% or the parts have amazing fitment with each other. There are a few parts (bunk bed frame) that are a little wonky to get lined up correct but over all this is a well done kit.

For those that are curious I used the following.

The Army Painter primer in Wolf Grey. I use Uniform Grey as well, but local store keeps this color in stock so its just easier to get.

Tamiya TS-42 Ligth Gun Metal

Tamiya TS-6 Matt Black

Also another item I want to point out. I use Tamiya's file set for cleaning up sprue nubs. I have gotten pretty good at filing without leaving marks. On the odd chance it happens, which it does, I will buff or sand as needed to clean up. I won't be doing that on the exterior of this model. If any over filing results in scratch or gouging I will consider it weathering and damage from the harsh environment of space/Mars. It will go nicely with some of the intentional weathering later.

Photo time.

Hmm, I could have sworn that the picture of the parts pack includes everything to make both doors open. If it's the case that you only get one door then I am doing the rear door. Much more interesting detail to look at through that door.

What movie are you talking about?

I also surprised he didn't design and upgrade kit to open up the roof hatch. There is some cool engineering going on but sometimes I wonder about the parts. He made the outside hatch on the roof a sperate part that's easily removable but not the hatch on the inside. Had he included that and a round shaft to connect them too we could have some cool display options

What movie are you talking about?

The Martian.





I also surprised he didn't design and upgrade kit to open up the roof hatch. There is some cool engineering going on but sometimes I wonder about the parts. He made the outside hatch on the roof a sperate part that's easily removable but not the hatch on the inside. Had he included that and a round shaft to connect them too we could have some cool display options[/quote]

I will ask him about this.Maybe he will do one

Carl

Not sure how i missed this one but glad to have found your diary as this looks a really interesting model.

From what i can see looks well detailed and well moulded.

Hope you enjoy your build.

I also surprised he didn't design and upgrade kit to open up the roof hatch. There is some cool engineering going on but sometimes I wonder about the parts. He made the outside hatch on the roof a sperate part that's easily removable but not the hatch on the inside. Had he included that and a round shaft to connect them too we could have some cool display options[/quote]


I asked Randy if he was planning an upgrade kit to make the top hatch open and he cant do it because he has already built his model.

Carl