After finishing the Mig I was looking for something different than a plane. Looking into my stash I decided to build the Tactical Pod. It’s going to be my first Macross build so far, but hopefully not the last one.
The kit seems to be of very good quality at first sight. The parts come in the correct colors already for the modellers that don’t like painting. I’ve decided however for this kit that I will give it a Alclad Aluminium undercoat. The reason for this is that I want to build a Mech that looks used with heavy wear. I don’t know what base I will build for this one if any. I will adopt a different approach for this kit. All the parts that build gear will be assembled prior to painting.

I’ve decided not to stick to the color scheme on the box. I’d rather go for an Army look.. It will be mostly painted in NATO Green. I’ve also decided to add bullet impacts, as I’ve never done that before.

<Here’s a picture of the box for those who don’t know the kit.

Here a few of the parts that I’ve already glued together and worked on. I’ve decided to give the whole model an Alclad Aluminium undercoat. I hope by doing this that the weathering will become a lot more realistic. So here’s the prep to get everything airbrushed. That’s how it looks like after the “Alclad” Treatment The same different angle. I am quite amazed actually at how easy it is to clean the airbrush after using Alclad. I expected a lot more work there. I want to realize a Mech that was in combat, heavy combat before. I used a soldering Iron to create these Impacts. Some more work will be needed afterwards though. Another two impacts.I filled up the Impacts with Maskol in order to keep them shiny after the paintjob has been applied. I prepared the next parts for the next airbrushing session. I applied a coat of future on all of them. These are parts that I want to look worn afterwards. I will have to “chip” the final paint off. The Future layer will prevent the Alclad layer to be chipped of along with the original color. I’ve started with the “arms” as I will have to paint the guns black. I figured it will be easier to mask the arms afterwards than paint the guns and then mask the whole thing off. Anyway I’m quite happy with the result. Here’s the joints painted Black. I will add a list of all the paints I’ve used. I am not sure yet if I will be happy with this one. At first sight it seems great. I matches very well the Nato Green . At this point I had to let the color dry and decided to start with the base. There’s minor work to be done, so I figured I’d start now. I want to have a simple display base that will show the POD on a field. Learning from past mistakes I’ve build a small frame which I nailed to the base. Then filled the gaps with Putty.Some different angles.At this point I’d like to talk about cleaning the Airbrush. It’s a discussion that comes up quite often amongst modellers. Here’s how I clean the “Thing”. I use those tiny brushes that are normally used to clean gaps between your teeth. Combined with water or thinner depening on what kind of color you used it works very well. With this little tool the airbrush cleaning time has been reduced to a reasonable amount of time. I primed some parts with Alclad Aluminium before painting them with the final color, in order to chipp the paint of and give it a used look. I am really pleased with the result. The only thing I should have done is put a coat of future on the Alclad before the final paint, as the chipping (if used to harshly) will often result in the paint chipping off until you see the primer. The chipping effect a bit closer. How much you apply is up to you. I just went on until I was satisfied. I tried to adjust the amount of chipping to the exposure of the area.Here’s the main part of the POD painted and ready to be weathered. But that’s for the next modelling session I’ve just finished assembling the legs of the POD. They look BIG!!!! I just need to apply some chipping to the legs themselves now and they will be ready to be assembled. I also think I’ve fund the method I will use to make the marks in the mud. But I will have to run some tests. A close up of the feet assembled. First I thought I might have gone too far with the chipping. But it looks good to me. I’ve realised that I forgot to paint the foot-leg joint. You can see it here on the left blurred foot. It turns out that I like the effect, for I don’t think that any paint could resist in such a heavy weat environment. Some of the bullet impact areas, and the start of some weathering. They still look a bit clean, but that’s nothing that can’t be resolved. It will be done in the next weathering stage. I need to determine what color the Cockpit panel will be. Since it’s supposed to be metal I am thinking about the same black that I’ve used for the joints on the POD.Here’s the base after painting it black and filling it with Plaster. After that I’ve painted the plaster with water colors. Brown overall and muddy brown (black and brown mixed) in the foot prints. I like the results. Next I will cover the whole base but the imprints with transparent glue and add grass to it. I might add some rocks as well. The finished POD. I was a bit lazy on the pictures I have to say. But I had 30 mins to take them and really wanted to finish. Another angle…. Overall I am happy with the result. I think I did a fine Job on the details of the POD, especially weathering. I can’t wait to use the techniques on a plane