The parcel from Germany

After the two events this morning (NERF & 'Horse vs Bull' GB), I discovered that there was a package from Germany waiting for me at home.

This is a very big package. I would not blame you if you have asked if I ordered a Pizza from Germany.

My very one 'complete' Preiser figures. They are expensive when compared to 'normal' model kit figures. But hey, with eBay, you can find them cheaper. And moreover, this is the first time I have seen modern US Army in 1/72 scale.

You get two trees in the box and yes, you can sort of combine to make your own figures.

Just look at the figure on the right. Its a Female, right?
But if you scroll back up to the box package, 'she' was painted as a Male.
Its the third figure from the left on the top row.

Different manufacturers have different scale, which I do not mind as long as the margin or error is minimal. Here, it is being compared with a Revell 1/72 (left)

So, now I have some US Army, I wonder if i can convert them into German Paratroopers for the C-160 Transall ....

What? You did not know I was building a plane? If you need to know, its here:

SFTPMS Forum, and/or the ARC Forum. They're both more or less the same unless you want to read the stories 100%.

Horse vs Bull 2012 @ICW

And so, right after my Airbrushing session, it was time for me to leave. But not before I managed to snap a few photos and hung around a bit for the SFTPMS 'Horse vs Bull' Group Build. This event was headed by Vince Yong (aka bombervince) where the main aim of the Group Build was to showcase different builds of Ferraris (Horse) and Lamborghinis (Bull).

Some last minute touch-ups...

Most of the Horses are here...

Whoa... the Aoshima Lamborghini Aventador!

I wanted to participate on this GB but because the only Aventador available at that time was the 1:10 radio controlled car, I could not enter. I mean, I can display it but it would not mean anything since its classified as a 'toy'. Then again, I did not realise I would have an Airbrush so soon either since I was planning on hair-brushing the models and then use sand paper on them.

Yeah, I had plans for it; from the lighting to the engine sound and the animated rear spoilers. Oh well, next time, then.

More blowing at ICW

This is the second time I am here and its been a few days since I last struggled with the Airbrush. (My finger is OK now, thank you).

Like all forms of Art, I realised that Airbrushing is no exception. You cannot just go in gung-ho and/or use brute force too.

I have airbrushed the surfacer in the cockpit. You won't see any difference because the model kit's plastic is grey. And rayloke was right that you need to use the light's to see where you have airbrushed the surfacer. It tends to leave a sheen when its drying.

The manual says to mix 80% Olive drab with 20% white. So, I just got a some aircraft green and mixed a drop of dark green instead. Hey, whatever colours available, I just get.

Later on, there was Olive Drab and White at ICW... shucks.

If I read the the instruction carefully, it said to shake and stir for 45 seconds which I did and this is what happened when I opened the paint for the first time.

Although the graphical instructions on the container said its can be used on an airbrush, I added some water just in case. Even with maximum pressure, its still very hard to push the paint out. Maybe I should add more water...

 

Well, the final result is brilliant. A smooth silvery surface. Alas, I am not looking for this result, so I forced myself to be disappointed.

 

 

22092012 NERF @SS2

I was late (again) this morning for the NERF Damansara session. This time, it was at SS2 and the turnout was very good.

Natalie (right) bought two pouches from Daiso which serves as her new Maverick holsters.

A shy new boy came with his Mom after hearing about us on Facebook. We let him try out one of the NERF blaster instead of waiting for him to go home and get his Recon. Yeah, we also let him play one of the games (w/o the parental consent form. Oh-oh). But he could not stay long since he has to study for his exams.

We were discussing on the shotgun grip for the Longshot and with some huge PVC pipes, they have done theirs. Me? I am still busy with the SFTPMS Group Build so this will have to wait. Also, if I want to sell it now, I do not have the capital to start the R&D and casting.

The HDD

Man, this is taking me days. What we have here is my former Toshiba Notebook 3.5" hard disk and it was plugged to some USB-to-IDE adaptor. Years ago, when I plugged it onto my Windows XP Notebook, everything was hunky-dory. But now, after digging it up from storage and transferred 45GB of data on another Windows 7 system , it became unreliable.

I am not sure if the USB connection was the cause and I really hope its not since the cable cannot be unplugged or replaced And I also hope that it was not the Hard disk either (because I have no money nor the intention to get a 32GB flash drive just to transfer stuff). But then, I am happy as I got most of the important Data out which I thought was lost but was in there for a very long time.

Alas, for those waiting to access the Zarjaz issues, the Thrillsuckers got to it first. And it took me DAYS to transfer from the HDD to the NAS via Wifi. (NO I don't have a long Network cable, thank you)