Kit Information :
Scale : 1/20
Grade : N/A
Made by : WAVE
Completed : 2nd May '09
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Ma.K A.F.S Mk II
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Building a kit taken from the Maschinen Krieger 'universe' has been on top of my 'to-do' list for a long time now. There are many kits out there now (compared to a few years back), so lack of products wasn't a good reason to hold off any longer. A few months ago, I attended a model Swap Meet in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne and managed to pick up this little kit for next to nothing, making it an ideal start to get me into the Ma.K universe!
Assembly was easy and it took very little time to get it snap fitted together. I had a few issues with the glueing as the plastic that WAVE uses for their kits can sometimes be a pain to get to stick together with modelling glues. I encountered the same issue when I built the Tachikoma kit a while back. A little bit of sanding on the edges of each piece helped.
The other main issue I had with the kit was that the joints are made from vinyl material. I can get the paint to stick to this stuff fine, but as soon as it flexes, the paint flakes off. To get around this, I applied a thin layer of CA glue over the pieces after they were painted so help hold it together. While the paint didn't flake off, there still was a couple of cracks that I touched up by hand.
The main game plan for this kit was to weather it to within an inch of it's life - you know, make it look like it had been used a lot. I began by priming the pieces, then sponging on some more primer to give a 'cast iron' look. I've used this technique before to get some texturing done on the brickwork of the 'Target Secure' vignette. I then air brushed on a layer of brown in preparation for a new technique for me, the hairspray method of applying chips and scratches.
A decent coating of hairspray was added and, when dry, the next paint layer was added. Once this layer has semi-dried, I took a brush and water and began to remove the paint to show the brown below. This took a little while to do, but it is by far my most favourite way to weather something.
Decals from the kit were used and chipped according to the weathering already done. I also removed the tubing on the legs and replaced it with small diameter snake chain. I did this because the tubing that was removed was that vinyl stuff again (like the joints) and, well, snake chain is cool.
I finished up the weathering my applying a wash of Burnt Sienna which gave it an orange, dirty look, like it was on the planet Mars or something similar. Because of that, I made the base to match the weathering. I stuck down some sand using PVA glue and spray adhesive, then added some larger rocks and ballast when it had dried. The base was then painted with brown, then red, then a light misting of light orange, then a light misting of red again to blend it all together.
Overall, this was a simple build. Everything went good and I learnt a few good techniques for future builds (including the best one ever - the hairspray method), so in the end I'm quite happy how it turned out and I'm looking forward to getting some more Ma.K kits and giving them similar treatment.
Update 8th June 2009 :
This build was entered into the 2009 Australian Plastic and Scale Model Championships and I am proud to announce that it managed to take out 3rd place in the Sci Fi Vehicles and Equipment Category!
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