The "Predator" work: Vinyl recast 1/6.

12:54 PM | Labels: ,

Another Sci-Fi saga I love. The creature designed by Stan Winston is one of the aliens with the most personality in modern science fiction. The figure is a recast vinyl kit that I made years ago for a commission diorama with a bunch of Predators. It´s an old mould based in the Predator 2 movie; I never knew the name of the brand that originally produced it but you still can find the recast kit in some online shops, I think it could be an SFX release. 
This was the central figure of the scene so I made some transformation to get a fierce pose by rising arms and head, and adding the skinned skull and the ritual machete. The Predator’s skin was entirely painted with airbrush and Tamiya paints, including the spotted zones. Everything else is hand painted with Vallejo acrylics.
Is healthy to feel like the prey from time to time...

Diego Quijano.












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The "Winter Storch" work: Academy-Heller 1/72.

2:17 PM | Labels: , , ,

Another fast build, a winter scene with a tiny 1/72 Fi156 Storch. I used two kits to make this model, the Academy kit for the main work and the Heller kit to get the control surfaces, front piece of the nose and propeller; the skis are from scratch. Painted with Tamiya paints. The quick weathering effects were made with oil paints and colour pencils. Finally I applied a Tamiya Smoke shading to enforce the light effect. The satin-matt finish is done with Model Air satin varnish.

Diego Quijano.










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The "Captured X-Wing" work: Fine Molds 1/72.

1:50 PM | Labels: , , ,

Another Star Wars work. Yep, I love this saga. The Fine Molds kit is excellent, so easy to assemble that I felt the necessity to add some detailing. The scratch job is mostly made with styrene pieces, as usual. Painted with Model Air acrylics, I pre-shaded before the white paint. The red markings were painted using masks instead of using the decals, I think paint them is easier. The panel lines were marked with a sliding pencil. I think that the trick for a nice finish of this kind of ships is to make a sharp profiling of the raised elements, this is especially important on the panel behind the R-2 unit, I used black oil paint diluted with enamel thinner for this task. I wanted to display the ship with the wings in attack position so I needed to build some jacks to support the ship. Probably the Rebels would have a better system to do the maintenance of the ships so this gave me the idea that this subject might be a captured fighter being examined in some imperial facility. I add an imperial pilot in the cockpit to enhance that idea though in some picture you may notice that he is kind of distracted.

Diego Quijano.












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The "Persian Connection" work: Fujimi 1/48.

5:34 AM | Labels: , ,

After the Anglo-Iraqi war in 1941 the Germans gave their military support to the Iraqis against the British. The Luftwaffe created the "Sonderkommando Junck" to oppose the RAF forces. The aircrafts carried Iraqi insignia but were flown and maintained by German crews. This subject is a Messerschmitt Bf 110 D3 assigned to the Sonderkommando Junck in 1941; the Iraqi insignias were painted over a layer of RLM 02 primer that was previously used to hide the German markings. The German camouflage remains the same including the shark mouth and yellow cowlings of the 4./ZG 76. This was a funny exercise of guerrilla modelling, almost OOB, besides the antenna wire I only added the panel lines and rivets in the wing zone between the engines and the main fuselage. The camo was painted with Tamiya and Gunze acrylics diluted with lacquer thinner. After the decals were applied I added a gentle weathering with blended oil paint and some post-shading effects with Tamiya Smoke. Finally I added small chips and scratches with crayon pencils.
A quick build of an interesting subject.

Diego Quijano.










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Detailing a Fujimi F-18 1/72 (Part IV, Final)

12:20 PM | Labels: , , , ,


The rear section: Airbrake and engine bays:
La sección trasera: Aerofreno y bodega de motores:

47: The first thing I did was to relocate the engine´s cooling grilles a little rearward.  After hollowing the plastic I made the grids with styrene stripes, then Fujimi´s grilles were eliminated with putty. The airbrake housing was detailed in the usual way; the thicker pipes were too curved so I used copper wire instead of stretched sprue.
47: Lo primero que hice fue  rehacer las rejillas de refrigeración de los motores en una posición un poco más retrasada. Después de ahuecar el plástico hice las rejillas con varillas finas de estireno, entonces eliminé las rejillas de Fujimi con masilla y lija. El emplazamiento del aerofreno está detallado del modo usual; los tubos más gruesos eran demasiado curvos para hacerlos con plástico estirado así que utilicé alambre de cobre.


48: The two halves of the kit are not separated exactly on the access doors hinge line so I had to cut a section of the lower half of the kit and attach it to the upper one, then I eliminate the join with Tamiya putty. The next step was to make the firewall that separates the two engine housings with thick styrene sheet.
48: Las dos mitades del kit no están separadas exactamente a lo largo de la bisagra de las puertas de acceso así que fue necesario cortar una sección de la mitad inferior del kit y pegarla a la mitad superior, entonces eliminé la junta con masilla de Tamiya. El siguiente paso fue construir el muro que separa los dos habitáculos de los motores con lámina gruesa de estireno.



49-50: The interior detail was built using the arsenal of styrene and stretched sprue. The pieces with panel lines and round rivets were marked before gluing them in place. The port side bay is less detailed because is where the engine will be located. The access doors are from the kit; before detailing the structure I first thinned the inner side with a curved blade, files and sandpaper.
49-50: Para detallar el interior utilicé todo el arsenal de estireno y plástico estirado. Las piezas grabadas con líneas de panel y remaches se marcaron antes de colocarlas en su lugar. El habitáculo de babor está menos detallado porque será el que albergue el motor. Las puertas de acceso son las del kit, antes de detallar la estructura adelgacé el lado interior de las piezas con una cuchilla curva, limas y lijas.


51: The General Electric F404 turbofan engine. First, the main shape was made with plastic pipes, and then I detailed the slightly raised elements and made a resin copy. Over the resin piece I built the complex elements mainly using styrene pieces although you can also see some elements from metallic wire. The exhaust nozzle is also made with pieces of styrene sheet.
51: El motor General Electric F404 turbofan. Lo primero fue hacer la forma principal con tubos de estireno y luego añadí los detalles con poco relieve, a continuación  hice una pieza de resina. Sobre dicha pieza de resina añadí los elementos complejos usando principalmente piezas de estireno y plástico estirado aunque también podéis ver algunos elementos de cable metálico. La tobera también está hecha con piezas de láminas de estireno.

Putting the things together / Juntando las piezas:

52-53: Ok, the main detailing phase is completed so is the  time to assemble the model. Nothing exceptional to mention: styrene cement, some putty here and there, sandpaper...the usual. As you can see I removed the rudders to relocate them slightly moved. I also added the structural strengthening pieces from styrene sheet.
52-53: La fase de detalle principal por fin está completada así que llegó el momento de montar la maqueta. No hay nada excepcional que mencionar: pagamento para estireno, algo de masilla aquí y allá, lija...lo usual. Como podéis ver separé los timones de las piezas de la cola para recolocarlos  un poco girados. También añadí los refuerzos estructurales hechos con piezas de estireno.


54: The F-18 has slotted-flaps. This type of flap has a gap between the wing and the leading edge of the flap. In order to locate the flaps in the proper extended position, I used sections of copper wire to ensure a strong flaps-to-wing assembly.
54: El F-18 tiene flaps de tipo "slotted" o ranurado. Este tipo de flap deja una separación entre el ala y el borde de ataque del flap en posición extendida. Para colocar los flaps en la posición correcta usé secciones de alambre de cobre para asegurar una unión firme entre los flaps y las alas.



55-56: In these pictures you can see the correct position of the extended flaps and the slot between flaps and wing.
55-56: En estas fotos podéis ver la posición correcta de los flaps extendidos y la ranura entre flaps y alas.


57: The air intake interiors must be painted white before they are assembled. It is also advisable to paint the camo-coloured zone in front of the air intakes before attaching the deflector panels.
57: El interior de las tomas de aire deben ser pintadas de blanco antes de ser pegadas en su lugar. También es aconsejable pintar la zona camuflada delante de las tomas de aire antes de pegar las piezas de los paneles deflectores.


58: This is the end of the detailing and assembly process. I have avoided the pictures of the cockpit painting in order to focus the article only in the detailing and assembly. The only zones painted at this moment are the cockpit, the cannon bay, the air intakes and the zone in front of them. In the picture you can see all the pieces that must be painted before assembling them.
58: Este es el final del proceso de detallado y montaje. He evitado las fotos de la pintura de la cabina para concentrar el artículo en el detallado y montaje. Las únicas zonas pintadas de momento son la cabina, la bodega del cañón, el interior de las tomas de aire y la zona delante de ellas. En la foto podéis ver todas las piezas que deben ser pintadas antes de colocarlas en su lugar.

I know that there may be some steps that I have not explained too well, so if anybody has any questions or observations don´t hesitate in contact me.
For me, adding some detail to a model is really gratifying. I hope this article will help other modellers to find it gratifying too.
Finally I would like to thank Ralph Riese again for his help in the translation and making this text comprehensible.

Sé que puede haber algún paso que no está explicado demasiado bien así que si tenéis alguna duda u observación no dudéis en preguntar.
Para mí, añadir algo de detalle a una maqueta es realmente gratificante. Espero que este artículo ayude a que otros modelistas también lo encuentren gratificante.

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