Tyberos The Red Wake - Day 4

All right, now I'm starting to get into the part of the project where it actually looks like I'm making progress.

The putty filling on the actual model turned out really well - there's only one section I wasn't completely happy about - but there's not too much I can do about.  Thankfully, the flaw is in an out of the way place that won't be seen too much.  But would definitely harm my chances at a serious painting contest.  Good thing I paint mostly for myself.

After some sanding and general clean up, the model gets some black primer and gets to warm the bench for the next 24 hours.

most exciting picture ever.

A note on my system:  You'll notice that all the parts have a nice little section of wire sticking out of them.   This is a nice little two for one deal - when I trim them down it'll be a pin and before that happens, its a great handle so I can stick the piece in a hemostat for painting.  With models like this I usually paint the individual parts before assembly.  There's a lot of detail here and I plan on using an airbrush to get the base coat down.  basically, I get better access to all those hard to reach areas.  Once the bits are ready for assembly, I'll scrap the paint off the joints and assemble just before I seal.
Hobby pro tip of the day #1:  Hemostats are freaking great for holding odd shaped things (via a handy pin) for painting.  Being able to paint a part of a model without having to hold it in your fingers really opens up some options.  You can get cheap-o hemostats on ebay.

Hobby pro tip of the day #2:  Brass rod is a kind of gold standard material for putting pins in a model.  For my 1/16 in pins, I couldn't agree more.  But 1/16 inch isn't a one size fits all solution.  Sometimes you'll just need a smaller pin.  You could go out and buy some expensive, smaller brass rod.  OR you could steal from work get a box of freaking paper clips for much cheaper. 

More Resin Notes
Remember how I said, that I think resin is a fairly overrated material?  Well, let me go ahead and add two more things to that list of reasons why.

1) Depending on how smooth the resin dried during casting, there's a good chance paint - even goddamn primer - won't want to stick to it.  Running some extremely fine grain sandpaper over problem areas will help but is not without its detail harming risks.  Even if you do that, you're likely to need a second or third coat of primer.  Just remember, 'keep it thin to win'.  Do multiple thin coats rather than one ultra thick one - that may still not stick right in the first place.

2) If I can be allowed a bit  anthropomorphism... resin would have you believe that it is a plastic.  It's a tricky substance that wishes the inexperienced modeler ill.  True story.  It also hates puppies.  Here's the thing though - resin =/= plastic.  Plastic glue will not work on it since it can't break the material down to create that weld that you get on proper plastic models.  Super glue is good.  But not perfect and shares some of the pitfalls of white metal.  It's probably a good idea to rough up the surfaces between joins to provide a better grip for the glue.  And you'll probably still want to consider pinning for parts that are likely to see a lot of shearing forces.  Like the Tyberos' arms up there.

moving along

The big progress for the day was made on the base.  I'm going with a kind of two level thing and a water effect.  basic construction was finished on the base itself and the top plate that'll sit above the things. 

The area n the base with all the tubes is going to be getting a lot of gap filling done in the near future.  The joins around the pipes are crap as they stand now.  Plus, the area with the metal tubes is going to need to be pretty water tight since the water effect I use has a tendency to find any little gap and get EVERYWHERE.

The corner plate there will sit on top at an angle and really add some depth to the base.  For the most part its finished, but I still need to distress the edges a little more.

At that point, I was getting tried and a impatient with the glue.  It was time to step back and let things dry before I mucked anything up.