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Some years ago, my wife built this Airfix 1/12th scale model of Queen Adelaide. I think she did a marvellous job for a person who has little to no experience building models.
From the basement on the "shelf of doom" back to the light and revived to be eventually completed: a kitbashing I did in the early 90ies, in the wake of watching the Patlabor 2 movie!
For those who don't remember: there is an opening sequence where a UN squad gets beaten up by a guerilla commando, probably in Cambodia (reflectiong real-world events at the time of the movie's production and release!). The "Hannibal" powered Armor whoch can be seen in the sequence is actually available as a kit from Kotobukiya (excellent piece!), but there's also a walking tank involved in the mess, and I found it very inspiring at that time, due to its realistic/serious design.
I just caught a glimpse of that tank when I saw the film actually at the movies during a festival in 1993, hence this model - or better a kit bashing - just breathes the spirit of its cinematic inspiration and bechmark, and it uses parts that were available at that time. If I were to build it again, it would probably look different. But I love the nostalgia and the fact that I started this so many years ago - and now I just got in the mood to work on it again, finishing the original idea and concept. ^^
This is, or was, an Abitate F35C 'Blizzard Gunner' from the Dougram TV series, originally produced by Takara in 1984 or so and distributed here in Germany by Revell in the later 80ies under their infamous "Robotech Defenders" label, as a set together with an 8-wheeled tank. The original kit was built with juvenile enthusiasm and much less skil, and without any clue where the mecha belonged to.
To be honest, the Blizzardgunner model is not that great. It is very clumsy and toylike - but functional and agile. Since its upper side was very blunt from the start and, through the course of time, incomplete (the gun was gone, the rocket launcher found its way onto the hand of a Dorvack PA which also has been waiting for finalization since 15+ years...), I decided to revive the Blizzardgunner's chassis and build something that looked like the light six-legged mecha tank that appears in Patlabor 2's initial war scenes, just from vague memory, because I did not have reference material or internet access at the time I created it.
That said, I transplanted a modern day (at that time) tank onto the four-legged chassis: an M1 Abrams from ESCI in 1:72. The original top of the Blizzardgunner was cut off, just wide enough to hold the M1's upper hull plate, including the turret ring. The parts actually went together surprisingly well, the M1's upper hull was only a little too narrow for the F35. The M1's front was too long, though, so the glacis plate had to be built from scratch, just in front of the driver's hatch. The result is a bit steep (from a ballistic point of view), but after the implantation stunt the resulting proportions were very good. The flat, broad turret also goes well with the lower hull, and reminds of the movie tank. Et voilà: the JGSDF's fictional 'Type 95 タラバガニ (Tarabagani, "King Crab")' was born.
It's a vehicle in it own right, though, and the what-if model has only slight resemblance to the movie tank: the paradigm has six legs with added wheels, the turret is smaller - I suppose it is a light reconnaissance tank. Today I'd use a different tank for transplantation, though, since the round F35 and the edgy M1 are very different in style. I suppose that I might have used a modern Russian tank like the T-72, or a Merkava from Israel.
After major bodywork was done the kit rested in the basement for years, catching dust, and now finally faces finalisation. I did not change much more about the kit. The only newer additions are "skirts" made from tissue paper and white glue which hide the rather ugly original joint covers at the legs, and since it was supposed to be a PKO vehicle, I would not add much external equipment or additional weapons. I also had a diorama built for it in the meantime (pics and comments still to come) for display.
Consequently, painting was quickly done: since I wanted an all-white UN PKO tank as seen in the film, the kit received an overall flat white coat from the rattle can. I checked real UN vehicles for reference, and they generally seem to be all-white, with very few markings. Anyway, I wanted to add at least some contrats, so I added a blue band at the turret (painted with Humbrol 48, Mediterranean Blue - a glossy paint, but the tone is very close to UN markings' blue and the tank would receive a matte varnish coat, anyway).
The joint covers were painted dark gray, with dry-brushed olive drab and some lighter brown and grey tones to emphasize the textures. With the bright basic color, weathering, dirt and dust would add much character to the tank, so it received a thorough treatment with a black ink wash first and "splashes" in various shades of grey, ochre, sienna and umbra with water-based acryllic paint.
Next, the UN markings were applied, they come from an aftermarket decal sheet for HO scale military vehicles.
Finally, dry painting with flat white, very light grey and silver was done, as well as some rubbing with grinded soft pencil mine. The tank now looks more beaten than a "real life" UN vehicle (at least more than any I have seen during research), but who knows where this Type 95 has been used? After a matte varnish coat, a driver and commander figure were added, and work was done!
All in all I am very happy with the result - even though I will admit that my model ha snot much to do with the movie tank, which was/is, for instance, 6-legged and much more compact (LOL!). But it is a personal interpretation, and it looks good! Esp. the PKO livery is something completely different to usual camouflage paintings, and a worthy tribute to a great mecha movie with more depth than "pure action": Patlabor 2!
20 - Gaideroru Class Space Battleship.
Category: Model Kit.
Name: Gaideroru Class Space Battleship.
Scale: Non.
Series: Mecha Collection.
Origin: Space Battleship Yamato 2199.
Brand: Bandai.
Material: Styrene plastic.
Release Date: Nov 2015.
Condition: Unassembled.
*Note: This is a Model Kit collected by my BB.
More in My Collection Corner.
This is my first commission job for Gundams. I'm happy with the results, although it was a pain to assemble. Paint work went all right, however, there were some incidents of Spider web spray phenomena with Mr. Hobby paints. I suspect the wrong cleaning detergent used to prepare the air brush before the actual paint work.
This kit box in particular had lots of incident of plastic breakage. I suspect its a manufacturer defect.
Never the less leaving all that aside, right now we have it here, not much of a pose i must say (^_^).
I'm worried for the health of the people around me. It has been a while since i assembled a model-kit.
Italeri Military Armed Pickup. Originaly this started as military kit, but I converted to civilian. Painted in matched Apple Green Factory color by custom mxing various Tamiya Acrylic paint. Wheels from Aoshima Hilux Lift up, tires from Tamiya1/32 4WD kit. Suspension is slightly raised to make it more realistic. Canvas top is scratch build using pla-plate and Tamiya Epoxy Putty, finiched in Dessert Yellow.
POW !!! BAM !!!! It's my completed restoration of my Aurora model kit of Batman. This was the 70's version of the kit as the base says 1974 Aurora on the bottom. I tried to make him look more like the 40's Batman rather than the Adam West Batman.
I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a space based unit. But i was on a rust everything up kick at the time.
So i just say it's covered in those hate plague spores from transformers g1.
012: AT-M6.
Category: Model Kit.
Name: AT-M6.
Scale: 1/550 scale.
Origin: Star Wars.
Brand: Bandai.
Material: Styrene Plastic.
Release Date: 27 Jan 2018.
Condition: Mint in box/Unassembled.
*Note: Pics not by us. It's just for reference.
This is a Model Kit collected by my BB.
More in My Collection Corner.