Well, the title of this post is a lie, as there really aren’t any steps that are truly essential when you make models. However, I’d argue that these steps are what would be considered the minimum needed for a competant Ma.K Super Armored Fighting Suit (aka SAFS).
Cleaning up the joints
Removing seam lines
There are a lot of seam lines on this kit. <_<. 3 per leg, 2 per arm, 1 per tank, 1 per scope, and on and on; however, it’s nothing we can’t handle.
Now many of the joints (which we covered above) NEED to be installed before you can fix the seam. No biggy, we will just paint them in-situ later. If you need a reminder of how to fix a seam, please refer HERE.
Essential Mod 1 – Periscope
The prowler has a small periscope behind the cockpit hatch, which you can see on the box art. While fixing the seam on this piece, however, I sanded away the extruded part of the periscope. Now you can omit this step if you are able to sand around the detail, or you can glue on the little rings A runner label above. Or you can do what I did, which I reckon looks better. I’m going to replace it with a piece of styrene tube. First step, take the end of the tube, hold it against a knife at the desired angle and rotate the tube. This will champfer the edge which looks real nice. Sand it a little to ensure it’s smooth, then cut our champfered tube to your desired length. Second, we drill a hole within which we will install the tube. I’m going to use a needle to place the initial guide hole. I start with a small drill … … and if I’m happy with the result I move up to progressively bigger … … and bigger drills, until I reach the desired size. Using progressively bigger drills helps me ensure the hole is in the right location. Here are our completed pieces, ready for gluing. Ta da! The restored periscope!
Essential Mod 2 – Feet cables
If you look at official Ma.K promo art, you will see that there should be cables connecting the heel to the back of the leg. There are no such cables provided with the actual kit, so we will have to custom make our own. These are the tools we will need to add cabling. I’m using an old set of earphones for the cables. There are a pair of tabs on the back of the feet which indicate where the cables should be. I mark the centre of them with a pin to act as a guide. Then I drill them out with a pin vise. Next I cut the earphones (of course, you can use your own alternative) to the desired length, testing to ensure the length and thickness of the cable are suitable for the pose(s) I want. Here’s what this all looks like after painting. While I’m happy with the look, I’m definitely open to using thinner cables in the future.
That’s it for the ‘essential’ stuff. Next week I’ll cover the mods I added in, before we move on to painting. That’s for stopping by!