RK Designs On Hold.

Hi everyone!

Sorry there hasn't been any new postings lately. There's a bunch of reasons, but most of all...

The birth of my newborn daughter.

Now, my daughter was born on the 8th of November 2013. She was born prematurely, at only 6 and a half months. Her arrival was supposed to be next February 2014, but I guess she wanted to come out early.

She's currently still in the hospital. Thank God that everything is okay, except that she needs to gain as much weight as well as learning to breath without a machine. She's a pretty strong little girl, which I am so thankful.

My wife and I are travelling to the hospital every night since the day she was born. She's kept in an incubator, so holding her has been to a minimum. Even I haven't held her in my arms, except for my wife.

So this is the reason of this posting and update. Due to this unforeseen factor, I have to HOLD all RK Designs projects that are currently in progress. I haven't found the right time to work on them since I work in the day, and as soon as I get home, rest a bit and head out to the hospital.

I hope that all my clients would understand my situation and be patient until I can get back to work. It has been a tiring emotional, mental and physical ride. But my priorities are to my newborn daughter. And I hope you all would truly understand what I'm going through.

As soon as my daughter comes home, and everything back to normal (which I'm not sure what normal is anymore...heh) RK Designs will be back in business and hopefully better and motivated than ever.

Thank you so much in advance and God bless.

Neca Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Update!

Everybody remembers the Ninja Turtles right? Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and my all time favourite, Michaelangelo. I remember watching the cartoon shows and was so into it. Since my family weren't well off, I saved up some money and bought only one figure, Mikey. With that one figure I made a skateboard and was close to building the Party Wagon. Later my dad bought me the compiled and colored version of the comics from the 80's...which I loved very much.

The memories...

Now, a friend of mine manage to get hold of a new release of the turtles. The version that was made by Neca was based on the comic versions. Which looks really good, but the problem was...each turtle had the same color scheme for their head bands, wrist, elbow and knee guards. So my buddy did a request to give them a more identifiable which was shown in the cartoons.

Each turtle was painted by hand, to simulate the texture of fabric. Then I gave it some weathering to give it continuity with the whole figure.

Here are the new turtles.

Leo and Raph.

Before:

After:

Donny and Mikey.

Before:

After:

Leonardo

Michaelangelo

Raphael

Donatello

There you have it. The newly revitalised Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! (How's that for a long time of no updating? Heh...)

Till next time!

Hasbro Movie Ironman Mark 5 (Repaint)

Update!

Yeah...it's been awhile right? Actually I've done a few things, but I'm gonna lump it all in one posting. This one is a different story. You see, after the Ironman 2 movie I sought out as many of the figures that I could get. I was lucky to get the Mark 5 at one of our retail stores. But sadly, the paint applications on the figure was...horrible.

So I told myself, I'll fix this guy up.

I did.

I know that the movie version was more shiner and had the 'bling' effect. But as usual, me being the person I am...not that keen on bling...(that sorta rhymes doncha think? heh) So I gave it a much more down to earth color to it. Red as red as it can be and the silver on more of a humble side. Here's the finished work...

Hasbro Ironman Mark 5

This is how he actually looked like...before the repaint.

Until another update!

(PS: This entry was backlogged for quite some time...and the project was started...erm...the same year as Ironman 2...you do the math...)

Hasegawa 1/72 VF-11B Thunderbolt

Update!

Hey guys and gals. It's me again. Heh. Of course it's me! I mean who else would be here right? Hookay...so what I have here is Hasegawa's 1/72 VF-11B Thunderbolt. It's a really decent kit but non transformable. The VF-11 was introduced in the Macross Plus series, which was one of my all time favorite animes.

When I first got the kit last year, the feeling was mixed. I worked on Macross fighters before but model kits are a bit on the challenging side. But I still took it in and did a lot research. Thankfully my client was helpful in terms of getting the feel he wanted and shared with me sites and photos.

The first paint scheme didn't make me feel that happy. Maybe I was trying to finish it before moving, so I didn't manage to get the right feel to it. Again my client was kind enough to say that no need to rush...(Thanks Arshad for the understanding)...So once the studio was set up, stripped off the first paint apps and fixed it up a bit and worked on a new one. Did some trial painting to find the right scheme...

And it's all done. I present to you the...

VF-11B Thunderbolt

Yeah, it was really good thing I worked on this guy...now I'm ready to build and paint my own VF-25S...heheheh...

Alriteys then...till next time...see you all soon!

XTRA 'IN PROGRESS' PHOTOS CAN BE SEEN HERE!

G.I. Joe Jungle CAT

Update!

Another work completed a while back.

Story goes, I had this guy for a time...which is the Wolf Hound. From the G.I. Joe Rise Of Cobra line. Then I sold it off. Don't ask why...

Then later I got hit by the Joe bug again and felt the need to have this guy again. Traded with a friend of mine and was suggested by my best friend to paint it with relevant colors. I thought about it and yeah, I don't really need a Joe snow vehicle. Here's how it originally looks like:

So after some color decisions, I took the original idea my best bud gave me. (Thanks Reza!)

I present thee...

The G.I. Joe Jungle CAT

So that's it for the moment. Until I finish up more works...I'll definitely smack in more.

Cheers!

Hasbro X-Wing Red Two

Update!

Now how long has it been? Awhile right? Yeah I know it is...Well, I've been busy with moving and all, which actually took more time than I thought. Hahahaha...

Anyhoo, just a couple of weeks ago I managed to set up my studio. FINALLY! Actually not fully, since my toys are mostly still in boxes. Just had to make sure that my airbrushing area and all the equipment are ready. And sure it is. So, once it was all done I had to tackle the job that I left quite awhile back. Thankfully the owner was cool with it, maybe I was burning out since I wasn't as productive as I used to be...

Okay, so what did I do? Read the title? Yep...another Hasbro X-Wing. This time around it's Red Two, or Wedge Antilles personal fighter. Now as we all know, the new X-wing's are pretty awesome. Close to being accurate to the real thing, but not as good as any Finemolds kit. But beggars can't be choosers right?

So, after some planning and instructions from the owner...I got to it! (well it was already primed and pre-shaded...heheheh) One of the reasons this project took a long time was designing the cockpit. The owner actually wanted me to design and if it was possible to create a light up cockpit with all the details. I made a few prototypes but it all got messed up as well as trying to smack it in the fighter, it didn't work. It took me months. When I finally decided to just give it details in the cockpit.

For a detailed look at the 'Works In Progress' for the cockpit area, check out my Facebook page for it at: 'Red Two's Cockpit Details'.

Once it was all done, went to finalising the body. Gave it a different feel this time around. All the black or darken areas were given the drybrushing treatment.

Here it is, finally.

Hasbro X-Wing Red Two

Alrights. Looks like this guy is done. After showing some preview pictures to him, he was pretty excited to get it. And when the day came, let's just say...I was a happy painter, he loved it!

So till next time, keep on customising people!