Kampfer Part3: Feet Etc.

It doesn't feel like I am getting anywhere with this kit. This week I spent most of my time patching up various parts of the Kampfer's body. I decided that I wanted to change the feet in order to loose the two claws in the front. Unfortunately this isn't as simple as I thought because of the way the top and bottom of the foot fit together, so I had to take a chance with some new techniques that I have never tried before.

I used Aves Apoxie to fill in the big gaps on the upper portion of the Kampfer's foot. I didn't want to have to so any sculpting myself, so I tried to use plastic card where ever possible so that I had something to go off of. I was afraid that the putty would eventually break out, so I used some plastic card to back it up and give it some support. I guess that the trick is to make sure this card backing does not interfere with the lower half of the foot. This also takes allowing for the plastic card used to back up the lower portion.



Again, I used plastic card for the lower portion of the foot. I had to shape this backing so that it would fit in the upper half. After I was sure that the foundation was well fitted, I used more plastic card to make up a sort of step design on the bottom of the foot. I used .5mm card so that the top of the steps was even with the bottom of the foot. Ultimately this card will help when adding the Apoxie so that the foot looks complete.





After the plastic card was installed, it was time for the Apoxie. Before I could start filling the gaps though it was important to shape the top part of the foot further so that it had a sleeker look. The Kampfer has ridges near where the toes poke out. You can see these ridges in the first two pictures of this post. I simply used a knife to smooth out the ridges and finished the job with a file and sandpaper.

After prepairing the foot, I added the Apoxie to the model. I didn't want to do too much sanding, so I went easy on the Apoxie. I used the surounding plastic to float the Apoxie even with the rest of the model. After the Apoxie dried, I hit it with a file and sandpaper in order to blend the putty with the plastic. It is often hard to see if you are on the right track when sanding any putty because of all the color variations and what not, so I like to prime a piece to see where what areas need more work.



As you can see, the imperfections are easy to see after the primer was added.




Here are some pics of the shoulders. I hit them with primer too because I am totally out of my depth when it comes to shaping these larger curved surfaces. The primer really helped on these and I see that I have a lot more work to do to make these look good.