{"id":1373,"date":"2023-06-16T21:15:42","date_gmt":"2023-06-17T02:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2023-06-16T21:58:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-17T02:58:04","slug":"hiatus-gonna-hiate-147-days-to-scgmc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/?p=1373","title":{"rendered":"Hiatus gonna Hiate (147 days to SCGMC)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A long time ago I build the <a href=\"\/?page_id=102\">Hasegawa VF-1 Battroid<\/a>, a mecha kit so well-proportioned and nicely detailed that, at the time, I dubbed it &#8220;the greatest injection-molded mecha kit of all time, space, and alternate dimensions&#8221;. These days there are maybe a few other kits I&#8217;d rate higher, but it&#8217;s still one of my all-time favorite kits. Earlier this month I was trying to decide what to work on at my model club meeting and I decided it was time to build another one, this time the &#8220;Strike&#8221; version with added fuel tanks, missiles, etc. With SCGMC only a few months away I&#8217;m a bit worried that I haven&#8217;t got more done already, but this is a project I&#8217;d be really happy to have there.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_overview.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_overview_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"The Strike Battroid, so far... It's a gorgeous kit and still easily one of my all-time favorites.\"><\/a><br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I started out with a little bit of basic clean-up, some ejector pin marks in a mostly difficult-to-see location, but I still wanted to fix it properly:<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_ejector_pin_marks_1.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_ejector_pin_marks_1_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"I sharpie'd up the ejector pin marks to make them easier to see. These are locations where ejector pins pushed the completed part out of the mold in which it was formed, it's common to find features like this on injection kits.\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_ejector_pin_marks_2.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_ejector_pin_marks_2_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"After a bit of sanding the marks start to disappear, but I'm not there yet.\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_ejector_pin_marks_3.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_ejector_pin_marks_3_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"At this point they're really starting to clear up, but they're not gone yet\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_ejector_pin_marks_4.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_ejector_pin_marks_4_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"Finally, the marks are basically gone.\"><\/a><br \/>\nWhile I love this kit it does have its shortcomings. These parts from the knee didn&#8217;t align quite right when I assembled them. It&#8217;s easy enough to fix by removing the snap-fit pegs and aligning it manually.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_knee_joint_1.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_knee_joint_1_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"Prior to aligning the parts there's a clear misalignment of the part edges and etched lines. It's important to correct this as I build...\"><\/a><br \/>\nOne of the distinctive design elements of the Valkyrie is the round thrusters scattered around the surface of the craft, with the bracer-bars in front of the openings. On this kit the thrusters are flat and shallow, really just meant to be painted black. I&#8217;ve always wanted to do a little better with these details but never got around to actually trying it. I decided to experiment with a spare part, try drilling them out and then recreating the bracer bar with styrene strip. It looks promising so far..<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_thruster_port_1.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_thruster_port_1_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"The thruster port is visible here on the test part, just a flat circle with a line through the middle\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_thruster_port_2.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_thruster_port_2_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"I took a crack at drilling out the thruster to make more of a thruster-bell shape inside. If I can get good results this way it should help give the model a greater sense of depth in the surface.\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally, I&#8217;ve spent a lot of time on this seam on the chest. Unfortunately the construction of this part is one aspect of the kit I&#8217;m not really happy with. Hasegawa chose to make the top section of the front of the chest a different part. On a lot of common Valkyrie color schemes this area is painted with stripes, and the part is colored to match one of these colors from one of these schemes, and it has an etched line marking the boundary of the stripes&#8230;  I don&#8217;t like that. The etched lines shouldn&#8217;t be there and the seam goes straight through some fine detail in a very prominently visible area of the model. I took my time to align the two parts as carefully as I could to minimize the damage as I sanded down the seam. Unfortunately some panel lines were lost and I&#8217;ve had to rescribe them. It&#8217;s a challenge but one of the things that I love about this kit is that it has these kinds of fine details in the first place.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_1.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_1_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"The initial seam before all my work. I sharpie'd in some of the lines to help them show up on camera.\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_2.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_2_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"I added some styrene plate to adjust the location of the part and cemented it in place, and began smoothing the seam with putty\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_3.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_3_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"Unfortunately I think my fine-tuning of the flat portion of the chest insert caused the rounded part to wind up out of alignment...  So I cut it off, adjusted it, and cemented it down again.\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_4.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_4_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"After adjusting and reattaching the rounded portion of the chest insert, it's starting to shape up\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_5.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_5_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"I sharpie'd up the seam lines and panel lines so I could see them better. This also helps me see if I'm starting to sand the lines away\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_6.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_6_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"After more work the unwanted seam and panel line are starting to go away, but there's more to be done\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_7.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_7_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"I started to lose some of the original panel lines so I had to re-scribe them...\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_8.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_8_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"More work, more panel lines getting lost...  In retrospect I should have scribed all this stuff deeper before I began work, that would make it easier to preserve them as I work on sanding seams and stuff.\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_9.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_9_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"Almost there, still see just a little bit of those stripe boundaries...\"><\/a> <a href=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_10.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/model-data\/1_72_Strike_Battroid\/thumbs\/strike_battroid_20230616_chest_seam_10_thumb.jpeg\" title=\"Just about wrapped up, added some CA glue as a filler for some of the stubborn seams\"><\/a><br \/>\nI guess I kind of lost steam on the Zakus I&#8217;d been working on, but I&#8217;m excited to be working on another Hasegawa Battroid. SCGMC is looming, and there&#8217;s a lot I want to get done for the show, so I really have to get crackin&#8217;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A long time ago I build the Hasegawa VF-1 Battroid, a mecha kit so well-proportioned and nicely detailed that, at the time, I dubbed it &#8220;the greatest injection-molded mecha kit of all time, space, and alternate dimensions&#8221;. These days there are maybe a few other kits I&#8217;d rate higher, but it&#8217;s still one of my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[90],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1380,"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scope-eye.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}