ED-209

Torsten
Yeah, a classic, nice build, I will follow this😎

Spanjaard
looks really good 🙂

Nathan Dempsey
Follow this build you have 30 seconds to comply.

Steve
Very Cool... Nice job.

Black Baron
Thanks guys. I'm pondering what to do to this fracturing Pledge situation. Coat with more "Future" to prevent possible reaction to the flat top coat. Seal the PFM with something like the Gauzy agent and then top coat? I'm guessing the culprit here is the MM universal acrylic thinner.

JD
This build Rocks! You now have 5 seconds to comply...

Torsten
Great detailing😎

Spanjaard
nasty cracks.... only on that piece, or all around? i wish i could offer a solution.....

Black Baron
Only on that single test piece. I decided to use AK's Gauzy agent to prevent the same from happening elsewhere. Haven't gotten around to that yet. Still doing shadow washes. I can see many hair fractures at least in the legs.

Spanjaard
When you applied the couture, did you use thinner or straight from the bottle?

Black Baron
I was testing the sheen of Model Master semigloss acrylic top coat, thinned with MM universal acrylic thinner and the hair fractures I'd seen in the PFM aka. Future aka. Pledge opened up to canyons! 

Spanjaard
good that you only did in one part

JD
Excellent! So much fun to watch and learn...

Sparky Rogers
This is really cool

Black Baron
Well this was a learning experience. I treated the elbows with Gautzy. It is so thin that the cast texture like surface stayed rough and porous. Made a new batch of sludge wash and didn't test it. As a result the wash sticks like a mother fu... Dry, wet with water or ammonia has little effect. Hard brush with IPA (rubbing alcohol) and serious scrubbing can only remove the wash from the rough surface.

Black Baron
Head and arms 98% done. Hip part needs the most work. Probably will do some highlights on the guns.

Dominik Weitzer
Awesome and different! Good work so far! Did you Count the drilled holes?

Black Baron
Thanks. If you mean the flush hex bolts, no didn't count but I know at least 2 are missing. I just redid all that were on the model. Still have the tool I made to create the hole and bolt head

bat-213
how big is this beast

Black Baron
It's 27cm tall, 25 wide and 31 deep (leg rail to gun)

bat-213
that is so cool

scaleghost36
great job

Black Baron
It's a re-do on the shoulder pads. Might need to build the insides too. Will see when they come out of stripping bath.

Black Baron
Started on the "inside job" References leave room for some artistic interpretation

Black Baron
Inside inserts starting to take shape

Black Baron
Now the engineering part is done and the artistic begins. I have all possible screen captures of the insides of these shoulder / elbow armor plates but they leave quite a bit of room for interpretation. Some of screen / production photos of the stop motion puppet armor would be great but I can't find any.

Black Baron
Elbow armour underside completed. Next up re paint and the lot. Getting some Aqua gloss to test.

Black Baron
Back in the sadle!

Spanjaard
👍

Torsten
Yeah😎
Looking forwar to more

Black Baron
Old Model Master Acryl fuuu..! Even with 2/3 MM thinner it turns to glue in the airbrush! Anyone have experience what to use as thinner for a bit aged MM paint as the brand stuff can't keep it from curing or causes it to cure? Or do I just chuk all of'em in the bin? I have 30+ years old Tamiya paints and they work fine.

Spanjaard
I do not now that case in particular, but i would suggest to mix it with more thinner, and shake for a very very long time. i have been thinking in buying ond of those nail polish shakers. this may be a good application for one of them.

JD
Hey Black Baron, great to see you back at this monumental project. I like using MM Acryl too, in fact I recently spilled an entire bottle of flat clear... it was brand new.. I just stared at the puddle ebbing across the floor for awhile

Black Baron
Third repainting for the shoulder pads.

Black Baron
Now I know that MRP gloss is one tough mother... Unaffected by almost all paint strippers so should do a fantastic job promoting paint from weathering etc. Providing a "save game" you can revert to if things don't work out.

Black Baron
Some progress. More testing off model so there wouldn't be anymore nasty surprises.

Torsten
Interesting to see all the testing 👍

Spanjaard
if you want to reduce the shine of Future, i have read that you can add a bit of Tamiya Flat Base (X-21). i have never tried myself. use it with a test mule first for sure. too much X-21 with make it look white-ish, something that you certainly want to avoid.
my experience with Future? extra thin coats, straight from the bottle. works like a charm. but test before just in case😉

Black Baron
ED is currently gloss coated with Pledge, but I'm not a fan. I'll experiment to see if MRP or Gauzy will have the same tint or it's irrelevant. I dont have good skills in gloss coating but since that is a required skill I must practice, practice practice.

Black Baron
I did a bunch of tests and was preparing for an airbrushing session when my AZTEK A470 trigger broke. Fuuu...! Dug out my first double action brush and did a test spray, if I could at least do the gray painting. Leaving the gloss work for when I had a proper brush again. Test was successful but the Ab clogged and I couldn't get it to work properly. Fuuu..! Did a warranty reclamation to Testors. Not expecting any answer. 2,5 days of obsessive research and I had ordered a H&S Infinity 2 in 1 and a bunch of extras. Making it a 3 in 1 as I have the 0,15, 0,4 and 0,6mm nozle sets. This was the only, single airbrush capable of doing 90% of what the Aztek could. As there is nothing that can do 100%. I almost bought 2 Iwata's but this H&S solution was more sensible. First test. Everything was OK. Next I need to redo those gloss varnish tests with a 0,6mm setup.

Spanjaard
I went to airbrush shop with the idea of getting an Iwata, after testing the H&S I did not even think about it. And never regreated it after!

Black Baron
I can't agree with Iwatas philosophy of having a separate airbrush for everything. Well Badgers high end stuff is the same. Can't have multiple nozle sizes in 1 brush, or it's not a supported configuration. I'm suspecting that this could be a reason people can't get Alclad ot gloss varnish to work. 1 general purpose nozle size won't work.

JD
I've been using my Iwata Neo for years now, with its 0.3 nozzle , and although your paints really need to be thinned just right, and it's difficult to keep clean, it works well for me and is cheap to maintain. I have also recently added a Paasche Talon with a 0.5 needle. The difference is huge! It's nozzle is much easier to clean and handles thicker paints better, and is better suited for covering larger areas.

Black Baron
I recogniced a problem in my model muild documentation or actually the lack of it. Need to document with more detail, what colors and varnishes are being used where. So thet if touchups, repair or another one is built I dont need to figure it all out again.

Black Baron
Now I have surpassed the point where things went FUBAR. Learned that a ready mixed sludge wash doesn't necessarily last for 1,5 years in storage. The shoulder armor underside detail looks great. Before applying the varnish I tested off model and after success applied on model. The Alclad2 varnish has been the best out of the bottle product I have tested so far. Also did a re test on Alc 311 varnish, thinning with MRP thinner. Result was better, no more air dried fibers but still is useless. Will do 1 last test thinning with pure toluene, as I have a little left, to see if it can be revived or is just ruined / too old and unusable.
Next I will do the topside of the shoulder pad's and make a map of sheen's & plan on how to apply them in a smart sequence.

Black Baron
2 of 5 sub assemblies are completed!
I also learned 2 valuable things:
Don't do primer layer touchups by hand.
Wear something else than natural fiber clothes and work gloves, as cotton etc. tend to shed fibers that will end up in the varnish/paint. Polyester Robocop shirt and NyCo mix pants and not a single fiber anywhere ?
Also had the time to test Alc 311, thinned with 25% toluene did the trick. Slightly shinier than alc 312 and dries silky smooth. Needs only 1 good pass for a even surface. Me likes!

Spanjaard
in picture 148 it looks ready to go down the stairs, just like in the movie!!

Alexander Grivonev
The nostalgia for the original Robocop movies hit hard 😄

JD
Absolutely! Well worth all the time and effort..

Black Baron
Some vanishing pictures. Rubber parts and torso underside done.

Alexander Grivonev
I am curious about that spray booth of yours, is that a commercial one?

berni
Looks like a light cabin 🙂

Black Baron
berni is right. It is a Just normlicht image pro 5000 xl di viewing booth I rescued from going to trash. Using it upside down for a couple of years, that can bee seen in the older pictures. I finally converted the back wall to be straight and getting more "table area" and being able to turn it right side up. You can still see the black marks on the side walls from the original angled position. Made a ventilation hole/connection duct to be able to attach it to our houses ventilation system. The glass is from an old fridge. The dimmer is helpful at times. Works well. Put up a couple of pictures.

Alexander Grivonev
Awesome 👍

Black Baron
Just a quick update, that's been waiting for some time now. Torso is varnished. Did majority of the hands too. Going to re do the black part as its too shiny. The rest is ok. the lesson from this is that color has a direct effect on how we perceive sheen. Need to take this into account in the future.
I love the Alclad varnishes. Waiting to get the missing sheen's from my inventory but thanks to brexit even this is affected.

Black Baron
The layers under the top coat started to form cracks. FUUU...!!!
Since then I've been on a quest to test all kinds of acrylic varnishes, to see if I can get them to work and what are the sheens. Ive found the AK 2gen stuff to be really good. Vallejo or Mig are harder to work with and don't give as smooth surface as AK does.
I tested AK 3gen matt on the black dome, some time ago and it hasn't started melting. Encouraged by this but afraid to proceed, time has passed.
After months of anguishing I just committed varnish to model. Tested the AK 2gen satin on the lower torso, just to find out it can't hold up to the cracks, that form back to the surface. FUUU...!
"Why not the 3gen?" They have a soft/leathery/stickyish surface which I don't like, but that's what I'm trying next.
If that doesn't work then it's hard decision time.
Accept the cracked finish or redo the entire paint job😑

Black Baron
AK 3gen seems promising. Sheen is glossier than gen2 equivalent. Thinning 2,5/1 +5% retarderi sprayed great but the layer is too thin to completely overcome the cracking.
Tomorrow I'll spray another coat thinned 2/1 +5% and hopefully that's the solution. At least it is in the acceptable range of results and I can move on.

Torsten
I keep my fingers crossed 🙂

Black Baron
I've had very little time for modeling and that was spent on varnishing, working on the gun's and then sludge washing and finetuning the wash on the legs. Now working on the second leg, that is maybe 60-70% finished. Progress has been made but no time to update here and the photos I have aren't good.
AK 3gen varnish did the trick and doesn't react with the layers under it. My only quibble is that it's a bit soft / skin like and not hard like the, now discontinued, AK "2gen" varnish.
This build will be completed this spring! Finally!