Magnum G.I.

[Shermy]

Great work, golf! In addition to the moments already mentioned, I love how Rick 'tips' his hat!!

[Sparkle & Fizz]

Amazing video! So creative.

S&F

[Miss Q]

Excellent job!!! the car explosion seen thurned out really well....

I think the doll should be Dana Delany's character, its the right hair cut... can you die it darker???

Miss Q

[golfmobile]

Hey, Miss Q,

Thanks! I'm working on a Dana Delaney type. I have one but I would need to cut the doll's hair to give her the rather trademark bangs, and I haven't decided yet whether it's a good idea to "damage" the doll by cutting her hair. It's a rather nice doll. I may just keep an eye out for a cheap Barbie on eBay. There seem to be a LOT of them there!

golf

[Sparkle & Fizz]

That doll could be the daughter from "All Roads Lead to Floyd."

S&F

[J.J. Walters]

The problem with the snorkel shot is that MGI's head moves only side to side, NOT up and down, as MA Higgins' does (go up and down), for example. The only way to make him look down is to tilt his entire body. That would then require a THIRD person to hold his arms in unmoving position, holding the snorkeler, while someone else moves his hips back so it looks as though he's looking down and someone else is filming in the swimming pool. That would put too many hands in the pie, so I had to settle for the head turn alone. Some GI Joes have heads that do move up and down (but I think those are also the ones with the less moveable elbows and knees); this model doesn't. I'd rather have the arm and leg movements than the neck. My TC can move his head but his arms and knees bend only to about a 160-degree angle (based on straight being 180 degrees). MGI's knees bend to close to 90 degree and his arms to about 100 degrees.

So one does what one can with what one has to work with. Our community pool is closed for the season, so I couldn't get another shot like that even if I could figure out how to do it. But I'll keep it in mind in trying to work it out.

Gotcha. I didn't realize the heads on G.I. Joe's don't move up and down. Maybe you can remove his head and put in some bionics, or something - A Bionic Magnum G.I.! Hehe, just kidding.

Again, superb job on the video. I love, love, love, love it!

[N1095A]

Great work Golf !!!!!
I can't wait to see the next entry. You're the best.

[golfmobile]

Hey, guys,

I gotta share this with you! As you may know (or not), I'm trying to paint the GI Joe/Ultimate SoldierLittle Bird AH-6 helicopter (1:6 scale for GI Joe) as TC's Island Hoppers. I'm NOT doing well. People spend YEARS learning how to paint models perfectly and this is the first thing I've tried.

The other night, we were watching the second half of "Memories Are Forever" and I was criticizing Michelle for the way she acts at the end when Magnum gets shot. She just stands there on the sidewalk with her hands on her cheeks -- "Ohhh, Thomas!" Doesn't rush to help him or even duck when bullets are flying all around her before he's shot. This has always annoyed me. (I had read on another MPI forum that people generally don't like her -- I didn't know that -- I thought I was the only one).

Anyway, I was whining to Larry (spouse) that I wasn't doing well with painting the Little Bird (I did better with the mini-Little Bird!), and he sent me an encouraging email (since he gets home after I go to sleep) and he said:

I want to put light on it and use it for a Christmas decoration when you finally get it done.

and

If nothing else, we can film the final episode of Magnum GI with TC, Rick and Magnum going up in a ball of flames with the Higgins going " Ohh, no, Thomas!" (as he covers his eyes) . Of course then we can't use it for a Christmas decoration

and I just cracked up!

Amazing!! He actually was LISTENING to me when I was complaining about Michelle!

Larry is really nice to indulge MY Magnum Mania, isn't he?

golf

[N1095A]

A little unsolicited advise from a highly experienced model builder here, Spray cans work better for painting bodies. Especially on large models. Air brushes are okay for detail work, but trust me, you want spray cans for the brown, orange, and yellow.

As for Michelle, I never cared much for her either. She used TM, plain and simple. Although she claimed that she loved him like no one else, she dragged him around through the s**t because she knew he'd do anything for her. Even later when she was free of Hue, she picked some other dip***t to marry. True she led a very dangerous double life, and I'd like to think she was misguided because of years of being used by both sides, but every time she had the chance, she screwed Magnum over. He was definately better off without her. Also, for roughly five years she kept Lilly a secret from him. Was Lilly in fact TM's daughter, a result of their brief time together in 'Memories Are Forever"? Or was she Hue's daughter? I don't remember because I last saw season 8 when it was on CBS, first run. Was this ever resolved?

[golfmobile]

Mike,

I am using spray cans. I even sprayed with a primer first. I think the plastic of this a/c is just not meant to be painted (though I've seen custom jobs on it on eBay occasionally, but those were probably done by pros, which I am NOT). I prime, I paint, I sand, I do second (or third coats), I touch up. Maybe if I photograph it from a distance . . . . . Part of the problem is that it has no doors, front or back, which cuts into the appearance of the pattern of stripes significantly, so it's going to look more like this picture:



than like the heli we usually see TC and Magnum in. Also, it has low skids further back along the fuselage so my heli's front skids have to be the orange of the second orange stripe (the back can be the correct brown). But let's just say it will be "representative" of the Island Hoppers heli.

Here's what I have so far -- consider this a "work in progress" and that's just sloppy tape in the holes where the doors should be, so I didn't "track" the pattern of the stripes on the bunched-up tape:



And, yes, I know, my front orange doesn't go back far enough, but I think this Ultimate Soldier heli isn't exactly to scale so my stripes aren't either. Remember: "REPRESENTATIVE"!!

I think it has been pretty well established that Lily was TM's daughter. I mean, the show never did a blood test or a DNA test, but TM accepted her as his.

[N1095A]

It looks good to me. My stripes are slightly off. My first yellow stripe is a little too wide. Mine has doors, but I had to paint them seperately because the previous owner cut about 1/2 inch off the bottom of the rear doors. They require extensive bondo work to repair. I notice on the 1/6th scale bird, the front skid struts are a little far back. Nothing you can do about that. It's just the way it is designed. I didn't like the skids themselves on my 1/18th. They are too curled in front. I'm replacing them with brass rod using the same struts. Yours looks great. Keep us posted with updates please. I consider myself a pretty good modeler, and I love seeing this stuff.

[golfmobile]

Mike,

Here are the latest efforts. I'm at the point of doing the clear-coat finish now, so the tape over the windows is still in place. I'm having the devil of a time with the vertical stabilizer on the tail rotor -- the plastic simply will NOT hold a coat of paint. I've primed, I've sanded, and every time I paint a stripe and then tape over that stripe to paint the next stripe, when I peel the tape off the painted part, the paint comes with it in huge flakes!! I'm thinking mayble this plastic is a different "composition" from the rest of the a/c? It's drying from one more effort even as I type, and I'll see what happens in a couple of days -- letting it REALLY dry, in theory and practice. I usually wait a couple of days before trying a new stripe and I usually peel the tape off after about 12-18 hours, so it doesn't stick to the paint so much. But I'm running dry (ho, ho, no pun intended!) on ideas right now. I've tried three different kinds of tape: (1) what is sold as the "hobby" tape for exactly what I'm trying to do; (2) the Scotch blue "painter's tape"; and (3) plain old masking tape, which for right now seems to be the least offensive. I'll report on my latest efforts in a couple of days. I need to do one more try at the yellow stripe on the tail and hope the orange will hold while I tape over it to do the (hopefully) final yellow stripe.

One thing, though (well, in addition to the above . . . .), my final clear-coar is not very smooth. Part of my problem is that the aircraft itself has all these little bumps, which are supposed to be rivets. So if I try to sand in between coats to get it really smooth for the next coat, then I sand the paint off the "rivets." So I stopped sanding between coats. Is this something I'll just have to let go as is? Will enough clear coats ever get the surface really smooth and glossy?

I still need to do the final orange coat on the front struts and brown coat on the back struts and skids, but I'm waiting till I have all the rest done, so I can rest the heli upside down as the struts and skids dry.

Anyway, here it is as of this evening:



Oddly enough, one thing I noticed about my stripes' pattern was that, even though the individual stripes measure exactly the same width at the top of the fuselage and the bottom (1.5 inches for the first yellow and brown, and 1.0 inches for the second orange and yellow), an optical illusion seems to make them look as though they are widening at the top (due to the shape of the fuselage?) so there is sort of a sunburst effect as the stripes go up from bottom to top. However, I went back and looked at some pictures of the real IH a/c, and it seems to have the same optical illusion, so I'm not particularly concerned about that anymore. Interesting, huh?

But remember this is my first effort at doing anything like this, so it's FAR from a professional job!

golf

P.S. Here the same view with the flash on the camera. The brown isn't quite as dark as it looks without the flash, nor as reddish as it looks with the flash -- so sort of somewhere between the two:

[N1095A]

That looks AWSOME!!! I'll be ashamed to post pics of mine now
Higgins' "Flying Easter egg" remarks are for a reason. The Hughes 500 series were an odd shape. Imagine trying to lay out the stripes on the real thing. Try using fine steel wool for your between coat sanding. It doesn't require much work, and it will get around those body details. just don't rub too hard. Don't over do the clear coat either. It tends to make the model look to "Plasticy" I usually only do two coats of clear with a light steel wool sanding in between. Be sure to wash the model with mild soap after using steel wool. It tends to leave little bits of steel wool on the surface that clear coat will only magnify. The stabalizer, if it is like mine is a different type of plastic. I haven't tried painting it yet, but I will rub it with steel wool first, then use an automotive primer. I mask all my models with Scotch invisible tape. You get a nice thin line, and you can rub down the edge you want to mask while leaving the other edge not so "Stuck down". Make sure if you try this, you use Scotch brand, and the invisible (flat finish) tape. I also (very VERY carefully remove the mask within 10 minutes of painting. While the paint is still kind of wet. This keeps the tape from setting on the model too long and pulling paint or ripping the tape.
Your helo looks absolutely fantastic.
Mike

[golfmobile]

Mike,

Thanks for the compliment! But I'm sure mine is not as well done as yours -- you're the pro! I'm eager to see pictures of yours, so do please post them when you have it to the point when you want to show pictures. I'm happy to see a "work in progress."

Thanks, also, for the advice on the fine steel wool and use of the Scotch invisible tape. I will definitely use those two tips!

So maybe another week's worth of work (once the exterior is done, I have to clean up the inside where I made some boo-boos when spraying on the primer).

Interesting that the tail stabilizer on yours is a different plastic too!

Thanks again! I don't know if I could have done this without your help and encouragement.

golf

[N1095A]

The skids, Tail, doors, and rotor blades are all a different plastic.
Hey, If you want, you can check out some of my models at my photobucket site.
http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa221/TX23_MCB/