The Great Flash Gordon Invitational Community Build

[kevtk135]

FWIW, my Flash arrived from CultTVMan this afternoon -



He's smaller than I was expecting.
I'll be diving into the kit tonight. I originally joined up on the build from the IPMS forum, but since I'm here more, I'll post my progress here.

[Mark McGovern]

Keep us posted, roktkev (sp? )!

[kevtk135]

Hi Mark and all,
Kev is fine.
Diving right in to the kit I put all the major subassemblies together. The first thing I noticed was this huge piece of flash on his shoulder. (I'm just adding links as I'm behind everyone else so most all have seen these pics in other guys builds) -

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mD_QvCJ81Sc/ ... 20/004.JPG

Taking that off, it left a big hole in the shoulder of the model -

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AR39VKrwN4g/ ... 20/002.JPG

Evidently, from looking at the other side, that big flipped up piece was part of the epaulet. So the next thing to do is break out the Aves and replace it -

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LtwVHay-4Mk/ ... 20/005.JPG

I'll smooth it down more when I get rid of the seam lines in the next step. While I had the Aves out, I added blobs of it to his feet as I plan on creating a new base for Flash. These blobs will let me anchor the figure to the base -

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aWBsdKGnIKU/ ... 20/003.JPG

Here he is so far. Thanks for looking.

[Mark McGovern]

Yeah, ran into the epaulet thing myself. It wasn't a huge problem, though, as I was removing the air tanks straps anyway. What out for Flash's left hand - it's easy to damage when getting it off the sprue. Sometimes it seems to have been poorly formed.

[kevtk135]

Yeah, ran into the epaulet thing myself. It wasn't a huge problem, though, as I was removing the air tanks straps anyway. What out for Flash's left hand - it's easy to damage when getting it off the sprue. Sometimes it seems to have been poorly formed.

Will do.

[kevtk135]

Nice job everyone!
Diving right in to the kit I put all the major subassemblies together. The first thing I noticed was this huge piece of flash -

Taking that off, it left a big hole in the shoulder of the model. Evidently, from looking at the other side, that big flipped up piece was part of the epaulet. So the next thing to do is break out the Aves and replace it -

I'll smooth it down more when I get rid of the seam lines in the next step. While I had the Aves out, I added blobs of it to his feet as I plan on creating a new base for Flash. These blobs will let me anchor the figure to the base -

Here he is so far. Thanks for looking.

[kevtk135]

Almost done -
Helmet Futured


Face done except for gloss on the eyes


The Martian - still not sure if I'm going to use him


Uniform front -


Uniform back -


Thanks for looking

[Mark McGovern]

Kev,

Saw your post over on the IPMS/USA forums. Your model looks just as good over here, budz!

[Scooke123]

Looks pretty good Kev. I like the colors. Your Martian looks good too - I like the purple in the belly area.

[kevtk135]

Thanks guys. I haven't been up to my hobby area in a few days nor looked at the box art in a while, but IIRC the purple was shown on the box art. All I did was add purple to the belly - Vallejo- but forget the actual name, and then added a bit of white to create the the highlight for the segments. Looks ok so I think I'll leave it at the one highlight vs. adding a second to the top of the segments like I want to...

[kevtk135]

Ok, all done.
But picking up from where we left off last it was just a matter of getting his head on his shoulders and then tackling his helmet. Finally the base was done.

I was glad I checked as I was going to put the head on and then put the bubble helmet together and just simply slip it over his head. Nope won't fit. So, the head went on and then the back part of the helmet was fixed onto his shoulders. There has been talk of what to do with the seam line. Some have bought an aftermarket helmet. Others simply said they are not going to worry about it. I fell in the not worrying about it category. But what I did was put a black edge on the front part. I had previously taken a little piece of lead wire (from Bass Pro Shops, I think) and put a dot of PVA glue on the tip. This will mimic a microphone. I then attached the front piece to the back part.


Looks good but there's no real support of the microphone. It just sorta sits there inside the helmet. The blackened edge didn't really show up as I had planned. I needed to do something else. In the end I too the simple route. I took another length of the solder wire - which is incredibly flexible - and curved it around the outside of the helmet from where the microphone was to where the helmet met the neck ring. A touch of superglue wicked the glue along the length of wire. I then took a file and VERY gently sand the tip so that it looks like it's angling into the helmet. Some black paint finished off the illusion.

Next I turned my attention to the base. The one that comes with the kit is actually two small bases. One for Flash that has a large crater, and the Martian had a tiny one, with a tiny crater. I didn't like this. But I wanted to include the craters. I cut them off and arranged them on the base -


Those other marks are just where I scored the wood so the Celluclay would lock down. The Celluclay was next -


I made it a little uneven for variation, but had to keep it level enuff for the two figures to stand.
Once the Celluclay was dry I added some sand around the base -


Color was next. As It's Mars I added various orangy browns and oranges. Pics of Mars always show few rocks that look black - so I added them in as well -


The next was how to get Flash to stand on his base. I didn't thing the wires thru the feet would do it - tho it worked for the Martian. Since Flash is pretty lightweight except for where I put the Aves in his feet, I ended up getting out some magnets and adding them to both the feet and the base. You can see some circles (magnets) in the base. Once all the magnet glue was dry I added him to the base. I took the supplied sign, chppoed off the feet, added wirelegs and then after a black primeadded two tone lettering. A coat of satin clear on the sign and the model is finished. Here's my Flash Gordon. Thanks for looking -

[Scooke123]

Great job Kev. I really like your base and the stains on Flash's uniform are a nice touch. Did you remove the O2 lines and add new or just paint the molded ones?

[kevtk135]

Great job Kev. I really like your base and the stains on Flash's uniform are a nice touch. Did you remove the O2 lines and add new or just paint the molded ones?

Thanks!. Those are the molded in lines. I was thinking about changing them out, but with the deadline of the build approaching I didn't know how much of a mess it would have been to replace them. It looks like an easy change, but those have to be "famous" words somewhere.

[Mark McGovern]

They are, Kev, I uttered them. To my regret...

[billikenmonster]

Great job on this Flash Gordon I like the colors on the suit and I like what you did with the helmet and mike communications

[kevtk135]

Ugh, thats too bad Mark. I'm sure you'll come up with a work around.

Great job on this Flash Gordon I like the colors on the suit and I like what you did with the helmet and mike communications

Thanks. Re: the hemet, I saw on a video somewhere that the guy said somethingt like When you can't hide a flaw make it stand out like it's not an accident. I prolly could have gone a little further with the helmet, but was afaid of ruining it, if my thought hadn't worked out.

[Mark McGovern]

Kev,

The only thing you have to fear is, fear itself. Nothing to worry about with your model, unless inspiring the rest of us bothers you...