KASTOR-78 ''Fuel Addiction''

[Bill76]

Gray paint to finish the painting process. Paint has to be removed then weathering.

Georges.

[Bill76]

The weathering process needs oil paints and rust effects. I use some from AK.

The lights are half-spheres of glass and I paint them in yellow / clear yellow from Tamiya. These will give to the Kastor some gloss touch.

For the sign panel on the left side of the turrel, I use smaller lights and some are painted with clear red / Tamiya. And so on for the rear lights at the back of the hover tank.

Georges.

[Bill76]

The back side of the hull gets some new colors.

Georges.

[Ray Dunakin]

The paint and weathering effects are really coming together nicely!

[Bill76]

Thanks Ray.

Pictures of the finished railgun. Very cool inspiration of Kallamity's design.

[Bill76]

Last part on the workbench : the engine.

The rear side is nicely detailled and gives me the opportinity to paint burned metal. The three reactors need this particular effect that will contrast with the whole engine.

For the external part, I start with :
- a coat of gloss black for ''primer'' ;
- a coat of drak to light metallic gray with shading ;
- a shade of clear blue, red and yellow (acrylic Tamiya) ;
- differents oils to tone the details on the tailpipe.

For the inside part,
- a coat of matt black ;
- Black Smoke pigments / Mig Productions for the soot.

For the engine, it is painted as the hull. New details as hand wheels are painted in red to give some light colors on this dark part of the hovertank. The pipes need some brass / copper tones.

The rear light are clear half-spheric balls of glass. A layer of Clear Red / Tamiya is applied to paint them with a gloss effect.

Georges.

[Bill76]

Two figures are delivered into the kit but I'm going to use only one for the Kastor. Painting figure is not my favourite part of the painting for the moment. But I work on ...

A long work when you are not skilled enough ! GGrrrrrrrr ...

Georges

[Bill76]

The Kastor is finished and ready to land on the tarmak. Still have to fit the railgun.

Georges.

[finescalerr]

Satisfactory. -- Russ

[Bill76]

It's time for the diorama. I use a compressed sheet of wood and the floor is made with a 1 millimeter sheet of Evergreen. The scene will take place in a space station where the Kastor used to stay for maintenance and refuelling.

I engrave joints with a knife for the first work. Very easy and just need some inspiration.

The size is about 20 centimeters (7,87 inches) x 29 centimeters (11,42 inches).

A coat of light gray primer is layed on the floor and I preshade all the panels with dark grey paint to underline them.

Georges;

[Bill76]

Here is a view of the overall display and the fuel pump is primered. Get it far from a Gulf or Texaco unit !

All the pre-shading process is over and wearthering operations can start with light and dark stains with sponges of different sizes and brush. Jsut need some acrylic paint for that step. Random inspiration for the moment.

Georges.

[Carlo]

Is it just me, or...
Is this work (and others) by "Bill76" are way overdone, garish and too bright and contrasty?
It seems he does very good builds, but when it comes to finishing up and weathering, he follows
all the right steps, but the result is "overdone". He needs to learn some subtlety and finesse.
Just my 2 cents,
Carlo

[finescalerr]

No, it's not just you. I was wondering whether it was how the camera records color or whether a light overspray or two would help to unify and tone down the colors. -- Russ

[Bill76]

I agree that when representing a true model as I did for the Cat D4C, trying to catch the real colors is very important and so you need to respect the real thing. For that I'm OK.

But concerning the Sci-fi items, what reality do I need to respect ? My answer is my own inspiration.

Or maybe our screens are certainty not the same. Go to a TV shop and compare a Sony, Panasonic, Samsung TVs and look at the difference ...

Or try a normal iPad to a Retina iPad : the same picture won't look the same !

Georges.

[Bill76]

I apply some decals on the tarmak and they still look new. Somr are waterslides ones and some are dry tranferts so very easy to scratch with a little knife.
Ready for weathering. First, I use two coats of blue filters thinned with odourless white spirit. The blue filter / AK for gray paint is perfect and starts to ''link'' all the panels together softly.

Next step : adding stains and dark filters in the joints and details.

Georges.