Happiness Is Manditory

Wave Ma. K 1/20 AFS C.D. Type Polar Bear
(Ordered from http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/)

Instructions and Reference Pictures are available

I had never heard of SF3D or Maschinen Krueger Zbv 3000 (aka Ma. K). A few years ago I saw a kit build and it was the oddest looking armor. Looked like a retro-fifties armor, or Nazis in space or something. After I did a little digging turned out there was a Japanese book series by Kow Yokoyama called Maschinen Krueger Zbv 3000, which from some reason latter became know as SF3D and now is back to Mak. I really liked them so I started looking for kits, turns out they were way out of production. But know Wave is starting to release them again, and the old company Nitto sold the molds back to Kow Yokoyama, who is going to let someone start producing them again. Some of the Wave models showed up at starship modeler and I had some spare Christmas money so I decided to order one. I like one like the Fireball or Archelon better but they are out of my price range. The Polar Bear though looked pretty cool and I liked the weathered winter look so I purchased that one.

Finished 5-14-09 I really enjoyed this model. It was different from my normal models that I work with. Over all it was very easy to put together and paint in subsections. The Visor was a bit hard to get in place, but I inserted it after I painted the armor so that could have been the cause. I not quite happy with the chipping. It was not a problem with the technique it is just the way I did it. I should have kept the sand more to the edges especially on the legs. But I will continue to use hairspray and sand vs. water and salt. I think it sticks better and I don’t have to worry about odd reactions. I will probably use pump hairspray and brush it on rather than spray. I like Tamiya weathering kits more and more. I did weather it a bit to much so I will have to work on that on the next kit. I did a pretty bad job on the face but lucky it is hid behind the visor. I may take it out and work on it later, but will leave it as is for now. I am extremely happy with m y seem lines, you can’t see them at all. Mr. Surfacer is your friend. I have a base I need to work on making it look snowy but I can’t quite figure out what I want to do. I will move on to something else and come back to that a little later; I am itching to do my next kit. Over all I am happy with this model, and would recommend it to any one, as it was easy to build and fun to paint.

Open Box Review
The kit cam with 6 spurs directions and decals. The plastic seems a bit soft but it has plenty detail. I guess the transparent spur (E) is used for several kits as it has extra visors. This will come in handy for testing tints. Hopefully they are interchange able and I can test few to see which I like better. The “joints” spur though is a odd flexible material. I have come to see it referred to as PE (polyethylene) which is a type of PVC. I guess it makes the joints able to wiggle but according to everyone it will not take any paint. They really bad part is they are shinny. If they were flat it would not be that bad. It seems most people result this part. They don’t look that moveable to me, looks like it would have been better to make them out of plastic like everything else. Still the kit looks simple to build. I think painting will the fun part of this model.

Spure Shots

Planning
After looking at example of the way other people painted theirs, I still like the white and blue of the designer. I will do a few different things though. I will tint the visor a yellowish or orange color, much like a target shooters glasses. I figure if they are in cold snowy areas they would use something to cut down on the glare and make vision easier. A green or blue might look good as well, but I don’t think that would show up very well. I plan to weather the suite a great deal, and make it look well used and battle worn. I think I will try the hair spray technique to weather the edges. I am thinking about trying out oils or washes but I am not sure on that. I will also make a “mini” base for it as well. I was thinking it standing on the some ground with a bit of snow and dead grass. This would give me a reason it put a little mud on the feet as well. This should be a lot of fun.

Paints and Tools used so far.
Paints:	Spray Paint Air Brushed Model Master Acryl 4675Rust (Rust undercoat) Vallejo Model Color 864 Natural Steel (engine pipe) Vallejo Model Color 845 Sunny Skintone (Face) Vallejo Model Color 922 USA Uniform (Clothing base) Model Master Acryl 4762 Light Ghost Gray (tint base Coat) Model Master Acryl 4769 Flight white (Base Coat) Vallejo Model Color 981 Orange-Brown (Panel Lines) Hand Brushed Vallejo Model Color 818 red Leather (Head Pad) Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black (joint base coat) Tamiya XF-63 German Grey (Joint Midtone Coat) Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey (Joint highlight) Polly Scale F505204 Grimy Black (Wash) Other Future Floor Wax Dr Martins Yellow India Ink Mr Surfacer 500 Squadron Green Putty 91% Isopropyl Alcohol (thinner) Additives:
Tools:	Cutters Files Clamps Excato Knife

Things I have learned from this kit so far.
If you pass PVC over a candel it wil help it hold paint better.

Work In progress Shots

Special
After reading in the forums at http://www.maschinenkrueger.com/ they stated the PVC had problems holding paint. I did a few tests and they were right. Most suggested I use wire and re-sculpt the pats. I am not quite good enough to do that. Some suggested that in Japan they burn the parts with a lighter. I thought I would test it out on a bit of the spure. Turns out it helps quite a bit. It’s not perfect but it is a lot better. You can still rub the paint off but it takes a bit more pressure. Here is a picture, I left the large image be bigger so you could see more detail. I burn the right side of the sure with a lighter for a second let cool and fired it again. I did this about 2-3 times. I then primed it with Krylon Sandable primer. Let dry overnight and then ran my fingernail down spure with about the same pressure. The non-fired side peeled off very easy. The fired side took a bit more pressure. Enough that I think it can withstand hand brushing without any problem.

3-28-09 First I thinned some Dr Martin Inks with Future Floor Wax. I did about 15ml of future to about 5-6 drops of Ink. I dipped it solution, removed excess and let dry for a hour and then re-dipped it. This has about 4 coats to the yellowish I wanted. I will let the cure for a day or two then I will assemble the helmet. I have assembled the arms and legs and filled the seams with Mr Surfacer 500, and some with Squadron Green putty on a few gaps that were to wide for Mr Surfacer. So far the model seems to go together quite well. I am concerned about the helmet when I paint it and keep the visor proteched. So fare so good.

3-30-2009 Not much where other than an odd problem. The third pin did not have a pin hole to fit into. I checked and double checked and I build it wrong. I looked at the picture in the manual and showed a hole so either this is a mishap or design flaw. So to fix the problem I pulled out a pair of clippers and cut them off. Problem solved. I have applied Mr. Surfacer to the seams and will sand down later.

4-08-09 Thing special here. I just primed it with Krylon Primer. After it dried I decided to an undercoat of Model Master Acryl 4675 Rust, so I could chip away at it to make it look more weathered. I had planed on spotting with yellows and reds but decided against it as I don’t think the chips will be big enough to notice. I think I might regret that decision but hey I am just having fun. I also primed the engine in black and then airbrushed Vallejo Model Color 864 Natural Steel as a base coat.

4-13-2009 Sorry for the bad pictures. My Camera was out of place so I took these with my cell phone. This is the start of my first time tying the hairspray technique. I am going to try mix salt chipping with the hairspray as well. I coat the model with hair spray. Instead of salt, I used sand. I was worrying about the salt reacting with hairspray and doing something strange (earth shattering ka-boom) like eating paint or plastic. Someone suggested sand, seems like a better idea to me. I just sprinkled some sand a few spots and let dry. The hair spray holds the sand pretty well. Next thing to do is base coat.

04-16-2009 Again to the camera being out I missed photographing the base coat. But I just used Model Master Acryl 4769 Flight white with a drop of Model Master Acryl 4762 Light Ghost Gray to take the stark whiteness out of it. I don’t think I had my Ghost Gray shaken well enough though; it didn’t tint it as much as I wanted but it looked fine. The hair spray really held the sand one. Normally with salt and water bits of salt fly off while I air brush. It did not happen this time. I am going to paint a few spots blue and I thought it would look cool if had ships in both colors so masked off where the blue would go and I and hair sprayed it again and put sand on those spots. My idea is that when I remove all the sand I will have some chips going to the “rusted metal” while others just go to the white under coat. This part should work fine, but I am also going to use the hair spray on the blue to scrub some of it off as well. I am hoping for a light starches look with a few deeps ones. I went ahead and did the base coats on the head and “body”. I like both but I am going to use Tan/brown on the skull cap instead of green. I think it will look a bit more realistic. I also weathered the Engine a bit waiting on the paint to dry. I used the Tamiya Weathering Sets B & C. The Soot and orange rust colors to be exact. I will probably do a dark wash on it and then soot it up some more.

4-18-09 I have done the chipping and hairspray method. Chipping worked like I expected it but I don’t think it works on this model like I thought it would. I will live the chips as is though. The hair spray method did not work like I thought it would. The white did not peal much at all, most of the chips got bigger but the paint did not wear off. The blue wiped off very easy though, I wiped off a bit too much on the body. I can see how the hairspray method would work, I think I just did something wrong. I am not real happy it the chips something doesn’t look right, either the scale or too much. I think the placement is most of it. I think I should have gone with just dry brush scrapes and chipping in just a few spots. But I do love the chipping on the blue area. I do believe I will use sand instead of salt for all chipping in the future. If it sticks well enough in water, I will use it, but I might get the pump hair spray and brush it on the area I need much like water. I will just have to try and see. Coming up next is to Gloss seal the suit and decal it, then start the weathering. Should start looking good soon.



This is where I rubbed the sand off.





This is I forgot the bend the knees and paint under the knee armor. I will brush primer this with Mr. Surfacer 1200 and the paint white.

4-25-09 It was not a lot of work but took some time. I added all the decals I wanted. First I gloss coated with krylon Clear gloss. I used Mr. Mark Setter to set the decals to the model and after they dried I used Mr. Mark Softer to smooth the out and take out the sliver. I picked the J group due to the fact my first names starts with a J. Most of the decals are placed as the instructions say, but I just had to place the polar bear decal on the back pack. It just looked cool. Now I will weather my decals by either sanding them a bit to chip them or dry brushing a bit of the base coat over the decals. They draw back is my base coat is a custom mix so I may not be able to reproduce it. Sand papering it may be enough though.

5-4-2009 First thing I did was weather my decals. I took a piece of sand paper (about 400 grit, not sure I just game a piece off my desk) and very lightly rub the decals. If they would have been motion in the area I tried to move my sandpaper so it would “scratch” like it would in the real world. This worked very well. Some of the decals like the text looked more faded than chip which is cool. Once that was done I wanted to do some panel lining to bring out some detail. I almost used a black but thought that would make it look to cartoonish. I thought a bit about it and decided that sense I wanted a hard worn and torn look, probably rust and other junk would be in all the cracks. So I thought I need a rusty orange-ish brown color. Looked in my paint box and lo and behold I had a paint called Vallejo Model Color 981 Orange-Brown. My lucky day. Worked very well I think. Odd thing is this color could not be thinned with alcohol I had to use water. After I had panel lined it, I took a paper towel with just a bit of alcohol and rubbed it on the model remove the rust off of the high spots. It looked pretty good. I thought I needed to start working on the head so I just put a base coat of Vallejo Model Color 818 red Leather. It looks ok but it still needs something to make it stand out. I may do a dark wash on it and do some highlights to make it look a bit more real.

5-12-09 5-12-09 I assembled the model. I left the visor out so I would not have to worry about fogging from the clear coat. Looks better when put together. I then started the painting the joints. I did a base coat of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black with a heavy dry brush of Tamiya XF-63 German Grey. The I just did a light Dry brush of Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey. They turned out pretty well. I then did a clear coat with Krylon Matte to seal the paint. Once this dried I have the whole model a thin wash with Polly Scale F505204 Grimy Black thinned with alcohol. It worked pretty well but I had a few blotches. For some reason it took forever for the wash to dry. I went ahead and did a wash on the head of the figure. It turned out pretty good. I also did a heavy heavy dry brush of German Grey on the hand. I then used Tamiya weathering sets (gunmetal) on the hand to make it look more like worn metal. That’s it for tonight.

5-14-09 To help with the blotchiness of the wash I used Q-tip with alcohol and lightly rubbed the dark rings to smooth out the look. It help but not as much as I wanted. So I used Tamiya Weather Set (Soot) to dirty up the model a bit. This really helped even out the darker areas. I used the rust on a few spots around the engine and backpack. I then edged the feet with the gun metal. I figure they would see a lot of use and would be a shiny metal. It looked pretty good. I had to shave the paint of the shoulder pads so they would fit in place. I just used an excato to scrape it away. I then started back on the face. It did not go well at all. I can’t paint a face to save my life. I did found a good lip color though. I will post it when I get on and write them name. I use flat white for the eyes which looked awful. I went ahead and place the visor in the helmet and put the head and helmet on the body. The visor hid the face but you could still see details so it looked ok. Over all I am happy with the model. I plan on making a base but not sure when I will get to it. I will give my final review of the model at the top of this page in my finished section.

Contact me at josborn@happinessismandatory.com