Metal Earth

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Since I mentioned it earlier in the thread a couple of months ago, the number of models available on Aliexpress has exploded. Dozens there I hadn't seen before, including many that are now colored. Searching 'metal 3d puzzle' seems to hit everything. But THIS, is too much. A model of the Bismark about a foot long. Incredibly tempting. There's also a colored Bismark, but it's a bit much.

Personally...I would rather see the Arizona...in Honor of the fallen. Not of one that represents what the Bismark creators represented. But that's just me...Because my Father served as a Marine in the Pacific Theater in WWII.
Enuff said.
 
Still cranking through the space models that Metal Earth has. The latest one is the Lunar Lander. It is a 2 sheet model, and is fairly challenging based on the sheer number of parts and sub-assemblies. It is quite an impressive little model once completed. There is a picture of the tools that I used in this build. It has joined the other space models that I have at work.

There are still two more space related Metal Earth models to build, Kepler, and Voyager. Hopefully I can get them done pretty son as my backlog of these little beasts is growing.

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Still cranking through the space models that Metal Earth has. The latest one is the Lunar Lander.

Great job on that one!! I also like your lunar rover, I need to get that kit soon.

My latest finished kit was a Huey and I need to post pictures, but then I got halfway through another locomotive and stopped because we needed to clean up the house for company and I never brought it all back out.

The wife is a good egg and lets me build in the middle of the living room. Luckily we have a super sturdy, old, beat up, huge, black, coffee table that I can ding and scratch without worry. I need to post a picture of my tools and setup for making these too. I like what you did there.
 
Luckily we have a super sturdy, old, beat up, huge, black, coffee table that I can ding and scratch without worry.

How frustrated do you get while making these? I'm having a hard time imagining Anything getting dinged or scratched in the process (except my fingernail, that one hurt)
 
How frustrated do you get while making these? I'm having a hard time imagining Anything getting dinged or scratched in the process (except my fingernail, that one hurt)
HAHA! I'm not spiking the pliers into the table in frustration. The post did make it sound like that though. I meant that it's already dinged and scratched from years of being used and lived on.

Kids play on it, toys drive across it, people sit on it, we sometimes eat dinner on it while watching TV, and if I happen to scratch it slightly on accident when setting pliers down nobody would even notice. It's a huge square coffee table and it's awesome.

If I had a new pristine coffee table I wouldn't dream of setting a half dozen metal tools with sharp edges/corners on it to build a metal model.
 
Finally finished this guy:
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I have to say it was a pretty good challenge, especially for my aging eyes. Gotta get a magnifier to work on these.

I invested in a few tools to help, based on recommendations in a YouTube video that I don’t have at my fingertips. Having the right tools greatly improved my experience.

Weirdly, I’m uncertain how much I *enjoyed* the build, but enough that I’m going to try at least one more.
 
On to the Voyager, it was a little scary with the long boom, but it went together fairly well, and the boom was pretty easy. This is a 1 1/2 sheet model, a little different than the more typical 1 and 2 sheet models. The model looks really nice once completed.
I did get a picture of the tools used, the paint brushes have nice hardwood handles that are slightly tapered, so they work very well to size the round pieces. One item that is not shown is the swing-arm light and magnifier, which is a great help with all of those small pieces.

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I did get a picture of the tools used, the paint brushes have nice hardwood handles that are slightly tapered, so they work very well to size the round pieces. One item that is not shown is the swing-arm light and magnifier, which is a great help with all of those small pieces.

One additional thing I did which I learned in this great video (shown right at the beginning):
[video=youtube;xjzBW2cqRjs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=xjzBW2cqRjs[/video]
is to use a magnetic sheet to hold all the cut parts, and then a "push pin magnet" to lift them off. Works fantastic. Unlike the video, I did not need to ever worry about lifting up the magnetic sheet to grab large parts; for those if necessary I just use two of the push pins and they've been able to grab everything I've tried so far.
 
I use a collapsible magnet for fishing auto parts out of an engine. It can hold your parts and the different decreasing sizes of the “handle” can be used as multiple mandrels to bend around. Voila!


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What's the purpose of the magnetic plate? I usually just pop out the pieces as needed. Never had a desire to do otherwise lol
 
I found that cutting out several pieces at a time, then focusing on assembly, was more enjoyable than cutting each individual piece as needed. The magnetic plate holds the cut pieces nicely, also works well (usually) on folded pieces waiting to be assembled.

Obviously it is all personal preference.
 
Still cranking through the space models that Metal Earth has. The latest one is the Lunar Lander. It is a 2 sheet model, and is fairly challenging based on the sheer number of parts and sub-assemblies. It is quite an impressive little model once completed. There is a picture of the tools that I used in this build. It has joined the other space models that I have at work.

There are still two more space related Metal Earth models to build, Kepler, and Voyager. Hopefully I can get them done pretty son as my backlog of these little beasts is growing.
How did you enjoy the LEM? Those were some tiny nozzles to bend!
 
I've found an "OptiVISOR" to be really helpful for old eyes.
Yeah, I really gotta get something like that.

R2D2 was fun to build, eh?
Yeah. It was my first one so a lot of learning. Right now I'm building his companion (C3PO) which brings another set of challenges. Annoyingly the metal used in that one is not magnet-friendly, so my magnet setup is useless.
 
Enterprise-D was a fun one. Only about a two-hour project vs the six it took me to build the lunar module. It is a little nose-heavy on the stand, close to tipping over, but on a hard surface it holds.

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Enterprise-D was a fun one. Only about a two-hour project vs the six it took me to build the lunar module. It is a little nose-heavy on the stand, close to tipping over, but on a hard surface it holds.
Nice work, haven't done that one yet - though I do have a Klingon bird-of-prey waiting to be built. The most difficult one for me was the lunar rover, though the LEM was close. Trying to bend the compound curve into the fenders caused a few choice words to be uttered!
 
I finished the Steam Locomotive tonight after letting it sit in a drawer for months. It took about a half hour to finish it. Now that I've spent a little time on one I want to start another soon.

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Two nights ago I finished the Wright Brother's plane. I was very surprised that it was only one sheet with how complicated it looks. It was fairly easy except for a couple of long pieces that go from under the top wing to the back elevators. I thought I'd never get those in. But it turned out well. I decided that the next one I built would be the Black Pearl.

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It took a couple of hours to build this one. It definitely looks like the rigging would be complicated but it's one piece. The hardest part was the hull, it's in two pieces that you pretty much have to shape by hand but I think I got it.

It's highly recommended. If someone asks you to skip this one tell them you are disinclined to acquiesce to their request.


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I've always avoided those little shippy ones. I'll try and give them a closer look next time I see some on the shelf.
 
My son and I just finished these 2 - he built the Apache, I built the Hubble. He builds faster than me, but since mine was a single sheet model, I finished first this time!

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Last night I did the Darth Vader TIE fighter in one sitting while watching TV. I'm pleased with everything except the tabs on the outside edges of the wings. I should have bent them toward the middle instead of the outside but at the time the outer wing pieces were flat and I didn't realize how it would look when finished.

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I'm thinking of ordering this next:
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I read that the instructions allow for you to build C3PO with two gold arms and not a red one if you choose. I think I'll go with two gold so I will recognize him.
 
Before I tackled R2D2 and C3PO I decided to build the Batmobile. It was super detailed and when it was finished it was more sturdy than any other Metal Earth model I've built so far. It's like a matchbox car.

I did break two tiny pieces, one of which I had to resort to a bit of epoxy to fix, one of which I left because I doubt anyone would notice. I also lost a tiny piece on the right side and never found, so I didn't take a picture of that side. Haha.

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The detail on the bottom of this one is insane.

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In this kit the R2-D2 is built first. I love that this one uses blue printing on the metal. The stand alone R2-D2 is all silver colored. I also love the amount of detail on the legs!

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C-3PO is a neat model too. As I mentioned in an earlier post this kit gives you the option for a red or a gold left arm.

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I don't like the lighting in these pictures. Usually I take pictures under my table mounted lighted magnifying viewer but I put it away before I remembered to take pictures.
 
Is that larger than the regular R2-D2? Love the detail on the bat mobile!
 
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