Arthur's Horse and Mini Mayfair Completed!

 First of all, my stream is going well, although I do believe I will need to purchase a better web cam for my main bench. I believe the smaller details are a little difficult to see. Apart from that, things are working out well. While on stream I have been working on my 3d printed Arthur Morgan, well his horse in particular. 

I have filled the gaps and been working on smoothing and sanding, so far looking ok. I had to primer it once done just to check and it wasnt quite as smooth as i suspected so a finer filler will be required. Here is the progress so far:

Getting there but joints are still visible after priming, so a little more detail work is required. This is, however, one of my side projects. My main project is building my Mini Mayfair. 

After my last post on the Mini, I had some issues with the black under paint coat for the chrome, I thinned it too much and ruined part of the main body paint. After trying a few ideas, I had to grind  back the paint in that area and re-prime, paint and gloss. 

The chrome paint i was using was new and I have never used it before. It is an incredible chrome but I had to learn how to use it. It doesnt take a gloss and can't really be touched once dry other wise it rubs off. Great colour, very chrome but needs to be handled with care.

I finally finished the reworking paintwork and put the Mini together on stream and this is the result:

  Lots of great pictures and I am very happy with the result. There are a few little glitches but then I will always find fault with my own work. Well I hope you enjoy the pictures and have been enjoying my streams. 

The display case will be coming tomorrow so It will be safely dust proofed soon enough. 

Twitch Streaming!

 Hi there! 

I have recently managed to get my model bench all tidied up and ready to stream! That's right, I have a bunch of cameras all pointed at my bench and I have a Twitch channel to stream what I do on that bench. From showing you my tools, tutorials and methods. It'll be a video version of this blog. So be sure to follow my channel and watch out for my model making streams. I also stream video games but I am very much hoping my model making streams take off and gets some interest. 

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3D Printer!

 I been working on my mini but it's slow going as there were some issues with the bodywork paint and I have paint and wait but it's coming along.

In the meantime: I purchased a 3d Printer and a wash & cure machine not so long ago and I took this opportunity to get it going. So here is a few pictures of my 3D Printer working on the test print. 

 Here we see the printer just set up and ready to print. It's a UV resin printer. This means it has a 4K black and white UV screen facing upwards in the base. Then the transparent bottomed resin vat is held firmly above the screen and the build platform lowers into the resin. Then the screen flashes for 3 seconds each slice of the 3d print and as the platform raises, the build slowly appears. 

 Here we can see the test print slowly emerging like the terminator from the resin vat, sticking to the build platform. 

Here is the finished print, upside down on the build platform. I have to let it drip dry for a while so excess resin can be removed but once that is done, I can scrape the print from the platform and head it into the wash.

The wash machine (not pictured) contains a container full of cleaning alcohol and it sits on the wash platform. It runs for a time set by the user and a fan spins the fluid around using a magnetic fan inside the container, washing off the excess, uncured resin. Once dry the container is removed from the machine and it is converted over to cure. A plastic table and reflective plate is added once the fluid container is removed, the light lamp directed and the print set on the platform. It then spins slowly for a set time bathing in UV light to cure hard. You can then bath the print in hot water to easily remove the stabilisation pegs, printed in the printer.

Now the printer is set up, what shall I build with it? Well, it just so happens there are plenty of websites online the offer 3D print files to download, many for free. While looking for what to print I found one I just had to print!

 

Here we can see the print being made, along with the stabilization pegs....

Some of you may notice this looks a lot like a saddle for a horse and a horse's ass. Well you would be correct, So I'm printing a horse? Yes, but it belongs to this guy!!

That's right, it's Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2. An amazing western game from Rock Star with the best and most loveable story I have ever seen in a video game...

 

These are some reference pictures I will be using when printing my (no so) mini. After a few prints and multiple hours the prints were finished! The first print I done, the saddle and backside of the horse took 8 hours to print! The horse's head took 11! This is because no matter the detail or how much resin it uses, the time taken to print is all balanced on the number of slices, so the taller the print, the more slices, the longer it takes. 

Once all the pieces were cleaned up, I set about gluing them together. I havent glued them all together as it will be easier to paint in pieces but I did glue the horse together and Arthur's legs. I had to file down some areas so it would fit perfectly and there are still many gaps between pieces that will need to be filled and smoothed off before priming. Not a problem for a model maker. 

Once the pieces I wanted to glue were set, I placed the rest together to get a look at the finished print.

and just for scale..

Keep your eyes open for more posts regarding this model and others because there will be others. My 3d Printer is awesome! So easy to use and super easy to clean. I love using it.

Recent Activity On My Mini

 Busy busy busy! I have been working hard on my Mini. I finished putting together the chassis and wheels. Not a lot to say about these. The chassis and wheels are often the easiest part of the model. Be that as it may, here is a picture of the Chassis and wheels for my Mini Mayfair. 

Next I painted the main bodywork. This was going to be a new thing for me as I wanted to paint a Union Jack on the roof. The mini was well known for being user modified and many owners had a Union Flag painted on the roof, seeing as the old mini was a British Icon. So sure, this isnt what my Mayfair looked like but it was how I would of liked it to look. 

So once the primer was painted I laid down a base coat of white paint on the roof. To paint multiple colours, always start with the lightest colour as the base, so white it is. Once that was painted, I masked up the roof again to allow for the red to be painted on top. Once dry, masked up the red and opened up ready for the blue. The red was Tartan Red and the Blue, Racing Blue. 

Once it was painted I had to gloss it. Trouble is, paint has a thickness. Running my finger over the painted roof, I could feel the edges of the paint. If I glossed this as a finisher coat, the edges would be easily seen when hit by light. So the roof had to be exceptionally smooth. So firstly I applied a 'levelling' coat of gloss. I sprayed mostly over the white areas of the roof as these were the lowest point and would fill the gap, then, after painting over the entire roof and leaving to dry for 24 hours, it was time to sand. 

I sanded down the roof so the ridges were smoothed out and the gaps were filled in. Although there was still a slight ridge to the white areas. I then masked up the roof and painted the rest of the car with the Tartan red. After applying the decals, I then applied a full finishing gloss coat over the whole car. Once sanded and polished, the roof was perfectly smooth, as was the rest of the car body. The diagram below will help visualize the problem I had with the roof. 

 So now the body work was painted, decaled and glossed. 

There are a few areas that need touching up after polishing but those will be handled later. Over all, I am pleased with the result. 

The Mini had metal work visible on the inside as well, so I had to paint and gloss those with body colour. The seats painted with textured charcoal paint and the floor and parcel shelf  coated with black carpet flock. Once put together, the result was very pleasing. 

I also used my new Chrome / Mirror paint I got from Culture Hustle This was fairly expensive but I have been looking for a good chrome paint for a while and thought it was worth a try and so far, I am pretty Impressed but I will wait and see how the main chromed parts turn out before giving a better review but so far, it looks amazing. 

Once my main body was sanded, polished and dry, I masked it up ready to receive the black paint for window rubbers and the chrome trim. It takes so long to mask up the details but in the end, this is the result. 

Next up, painting the rubbers and chroming the trim. The work is going well so far. Look out for the next update. 

What Have I Done?!

 So, I may not have been actively working on models but that hasn't stopped me from browsing my model websites for potential new cars to add to my miniature garage. 

To start with, I purchased a VW T1 Camper van. A friend of mine always wanted this camper. It reminds us of a simpler time in the 60's when you could pack up and head to the beach for a few weeks and live on the road. Bonfires and beer out side the van on the sands not to mention the girls and the lingering smell of something herbal in the air. I just have to think of a great colour scheme that will suit this icon.

 

It was my birthday in May and my mother said to me, "It's difficult to buy for you, I never know what to get you for your birthday." my reply was simple and, of course, sarcastic; "Yeh, it's not like I have a well known hobby or anything like that." The result was my mother giving me one of those looks and a couple of weeks later a familiar shaped, gift wrapped gift for me. Upon opening it I found a beautiful Shelby series 1. A convertible. "You spend so much time and effort on the interiors of your cars and yet, it's so difficult to see, so I thought a convertible would be a good idea!" Thanks Mum! 

I hadn't bought a model for a while after that. My depression hadn't allowed me to want to work on any models or even look at new ones, which is probably for the best because when i saw on facebook that Heroboy had new stock in September, my mood had lifted enough to want to check out new models. First on the list was the Subaru Impreza WRC 2001. My friends and I loved this car when we were in our early twenties it was second only to the Nissan skyline. Although this isn't the model we drooled over, It's still a great car.

Then came the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren or as we used to call it, the McMerc! It looks just so aggressive and the real life engine sound is something to behold, Not only that this was one of the very few hyper cars (yes hyper car, not just a super car but a HYPER car!) I could actually drive in real life as it was an automatic. The fastest Automatic Transmission road car in the world! Those gull wing doors are a call back to the 300SL and I love every inch of this car. 

I also can't resist a fast Ford. a fast, aggressive, working class hero of a muscle car and there is none better than the Ford Mustang. I saw the road car version of the GT4 on the 'Grand Tour' and it is pure muscle. I found a racing version and it looks amazing. 

However there is only ONE fast Ford that every petrol head thinks of when it comes to motor racing. Trouble was, every model of this car I looked into was astronomically expensive. So imagine my surprise when I saw it on Hiroboy for a very reasonable price! ADD TO BASKET! This car is a legend when it comes to motor sports, born out of petty vengeance and American thick-headedness it was, and so far still is, the ONLY race car that was given a blank cheque to develop. Sure, race cars are expensive to develop now, but there is always a budget, this car had NO budget it had every resource of the Ford motor company behind it including it's huge fortune and it's soul purpose? To destroy Ferrari at Le Mans! That car was the Ford GT40 MkII! 

When Ferrari rebuffed Henry Ford II's attempt to buy the bankrupt company, only to have Fiat sweep in and purchase the company themselves HF2 was furious and set his vast fortune squarely on the seemingly unbeatable Ferrari in the renowned Le Mans 24 Hour race. 

Ford Teamed up with Carrol Shelby and Ken Miles to produce the GT40 and with Ken at the wheel, the car was unbeatable! In the year 1966, Ken drove that car to it's limit and became the hero of the race only to have the lead stolen from him for Ford's pride when HF2 demanded that all three Fords cross the line together because it would be a great photo op! Because Le Man is an endurance race, the car that does the most laps wins, which was Miles, until he slowed down to left the other 2 Ford's catch, as requested. When they crossed the line, it was deemed that the number 2 Ford had travelled further so won the race by 8 meters! 

Ken Miles died later that year in a horrific car fire while testing Ford's next Le Mans racer. Ford vs Ferrari is the epic motorsport motorsport battle ever. It was immortalized on  film with Christian Bale portraying Ken Miles and Matt Damon as Carol Shelby in the film "Ford vs Ferrari" and  if you even have the slightest interest in this battle of Titians, this film must be on your watch list. 

Starting the Mini Mayfair

 It's been some time since I have done any work on any of my models. Depression can be a terrible thing and for a few months, I was in a bad way so no work got done until I started to bring myself back up. 

However, before then, I managed to get started on my Mini Mayfair. This happens to be the very first real car I ever owned and I loved that car. It was so much fun and holds a special place in my heart. I am hoping to modify this slightly to reflect how I wanted my Mayfair to actually look. 

To start with it's unpack and prime the parts. I have to admit, this is going to look much smaller next to all my other models but that was the appeal to the little mini. 

Once primed, time to add the basic coats. Firstly, black for the floor pan and sub frames, seats and other details. 

It's now October, I will admit, some time has passed but I am eager to continue modelling so look out for new updates.