Archive for the ‘Crafts’ Category

More Plastic

Thursday, April 28th, 2016

I received a lot of model and craft kits – of several types – for Christmas. This past month I’ve spent weekends building a few of them. 

 
KLS got me the above Gundam since I had told her I’d build any kit she bought me! I don’t know anything about it, and the design tends a bit too much toward the standard Gundam type for me but… this kit has a secret!

Here it is finished: 

 
Flashy isn’t it? Almost all of it is metallic gold, and it’s quite garish under a bright light! It’s one of the small kits (1/144 scale) and was an easy build, only taking about two hours. 

 
The above was from Joyce and Jim and at 1685 pieces is the biggest Tie Fighter Lego has ever made. I’d had my eye on this for a while and was very much looking forward to assembling it. Note the size of the box, photographed for scale next to one of the world’s largest silver sausages.

The kit was great fun to put together and took much less time than I expected. This is perhaps due to me having built only technic kits recently. Once completed, it looks great: 

 
It’s massive! The mini figure on the base gives you an idea, but I’d say the panels are about 40 cm high. I had to make space to display this one, which meant the Lego Death Star II had to be put in storage (after about 9 years).

Lastly another model kit, this time of a girl: 

 
This isn’t the first in the ‘Frame Arms Girl’ series, but I didn’t much like the previous. It’s by the same company that released the Etrian Odyssey kits I’ve blogged about previously, and features the same level of detail and wealth of options (such as weapons, armor pieces, hands and faces). 

 
She was a slightly challenging build – I’d say harder than Gundam but easier than a Zoid – but I think I did a good job.

Amusingly I bought this from Japan, and it was shipped simply wrapped in transparent bubble wrap with an address label attached! Despite the lack of a shipping box, it arrived in perfect condition πŸ™‚

Burning With Talent

Thursday, March 17th, 2016

As you all know, I am a man of great creativity and artistic talent. So when KLS received this for Christmas… 

 
…my interest was piqued!

The kit contained a woodburning tool, two pieces of wood, a sheet of instructions, a sheet of designs and some carbon paper to transfer the design. Here’s the tool: 

 
And here’s some of the design ideas and instructions: 

 
As you can see, it’s all very helpful to the beginning pyrographer. Me though, I don’t need design ideas! The very suggestion is a slap in my face! 

No sir, I knew precisely what I’d be burning into the wood.

It didn’t take me long to master the variety of lines and techniques possible with the tool: 

 
And I wasted no time in the creation of my first ever woodburning masterpiece. Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you “Herald of The Dark Star”

 
Takes your breath away doesn’t it? 

The bold line work. The subtle shading. The dramatic blackness of the sun. I’m sure you’ll agree that in only about ten minutes I created something truly unique in the world of burned art.

Some detail of the shading process: 

 
Three coats of varnish and a wall mount later and this has now become a permanent display in our home: 

 
And with woodburning mastered, I wonder what I’ll turn to next?

Crafting +3

Monday, February 29th, 2016

It’s time again for a craft upgrade. I’ve made a few things since Christmas, and some will wait for their own post, but here’s a few of the others. 

 
That’s all the parts for Gundam G (Self Perfect Pack) which is a 1/144 scale, not particularly expensive (<$20) kit. It’s a not particularly attractive version of the basic Gundam design that I bought because it has a gimmick. See this photo: 

 
Yes, it (intentionally) glows under UV light! Sure it’s garish and unsightly, but at least it glows!

Jokes aside this was a quick and easy build with the typical high quality Bandai brings to all Gundams. While it doesn’t require glue, I put a few drops in a couple of places to make it more secure. For the price, this is a good kit.

The next item was this: 

 
It’s a 3D sculpture made of cardboard! KLS got me this for Christmas and although it was very quick to assemble I was impressed with the precision and how nifty it looks complete. Here it is hanging in our kitchen (it’s about 2 feet tall): 

 
Lastly, another model kit: 

 
Yes, another Zoid, namely Cannon Tortoise. As with the others I have purchased, this was expensive, complicated to assemble, and very impressive once complete: 

 
It’s not much bigger than my palm, has articulated feet, a rotating (and rising/lowering) cannon, and a head/cockpit that can retract into the shell. 

It isn’t a kit for beginners, and it’s a little drab unpainted, but I greatly enjoyed making it and suspect it won’t be my last Zoid!

Pong

Friday, November 27th, 2015

For my next electronics kit challenge, I made this:

IMG_2890

Yes, a TV Pong kit, in component form. It was cheap (about ~$10) and looked easy to assemble. Could it be any good?

Here it is ready to be put together:

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Not a bad amount of pieces. The PCB is very clean and easy to solder onto, and compared to some other kits I have made this one was extremely easy to assemble. All told, it only took about an hour. Here’s the finished product:

IMG_2913

What you can’t see: my impressive soldering πŸ™‚

But the true test was to come. Skeptically, I connected it to my ‘TV that exists just for old game consoles” and turned it on…

The ball moves so quickly it’s almost impossible to hit it, even in the 1P mode. But whether it is playable is immaterial: it worked first go!

Even if you’re not impressed by that, I was πŸ™‚

Construction Time Again

Monday, November 16th, 2015

 
That’s the latest robot model I’ve built; this time another from Bandai’s Valvrave series (Valvrave VI to be precise). I know nothing of the manga or anime, only that these kits were cheap (~$20) and look distinctive.

Similar to the other one I made a while back, this is heavy in the sticker and transparent plastic department, but was quick and easy to assemble and looks pretty snappy assembled! 

 
My next project was this LED Christmas tree kit, assembled with a bit of solder and gumption from the pieces shown at left. It rests on a 9V trunk, and flashes prettily when pushed down on. (SFL would recognize this as a slightly larger ‘blinky thing.)
 
It was extremely simple to assemble – especially after the nixie clock from earlier this year. A fun little project for my desk at work! 

 
Lastly one of the new metal miniature Star Wars kits, this time the ‘Special Forces Tie Fighter’ from The Force Awakens. I love the new Tie design and was looking forward to making this kit.

But the difficulty was as high – higher even! – than any of the other kits of this type and I hated putting it together! Before you consider buying this one yourself, make sure you have high precision tools, superb lighting, invulnerable skin and the patience of a saint. Even then you’ll make unfixable mistakes like I did….

But it looks pretty great doesn’t it?