Cooking on the Workbench

It’s an interesting time of the year for scale models at the moment. The Cerulean project for this year kicked off about two weeks ago. IPMS events are coming up. There’s also the Kampfer build-off that I have to finish for the Built Sideways Podcast discord event. Add to that several other hobby events such as comic cons (in Manchester, NH) and Beyblade events (the BIG E in MA). It’s been a rush to get stuff done.

This also means I’ve hit a small, rather annoying roadblock with some of my builds.

A major one involves my newer prisma builds. I want to separate colors between the kits and the veiny growths on the kit all while using the rattle cans that I normally use.

Inspired by the pool scene in Annihilation

I’ve come to hypothesize a few methods that I’d like to try. The first is to mask off the kit with liquid masking tape; that way, I can spray it one color. Then I mask it and spray the veins. The second attempt would be decanting some rattle paint into a jar for hand painting. It’s an easy method to do, and it seems like it would be faster than masking.

I like the color changes on the vine/veins but not the matte look of the quick speed paints

I did attempt to hand paint them with speed paints and it wasn’t an enjoyable outcome.

My Cerulean project is going smoother than the others so far. This year I decided to use a USAG mascot kit, the Apex. The only thing I need for this one is a paint color that matches the grey-blue of the secondary color.

I ordered two additional Apexes because they were on sale and I still can’t find many haros. One remains unsnapped. The other is being used for a 3D pen project. A work friend handed off a spool of silk filament that was driving them insane. I can understand why it was frustrating. The filament is tricky to use on my pen. The flow is weird and gives an off texture.

The Kampfer Build-off project is almost done! I just have to add some additional details. This should be done by the end of the week. Hopefully.

I just need to clean up the display sides and so on. It’ll be an exciting time wrapping all these up, including the Nightingale. It’s at about 75% done at this point. All that needs to be finished are the hips.

Then it’s just the Goop build, which hasn’t given me many issues. I did use UV resin on it, which was a first for me. It was pretty easy to use and made less of a mess than normal resin.