**The Magic of Model Making: A Journey of Surprise and Delight**

As an enthusiast of model making, I've always been on the lookout for that special something that sets a project apart from others. For me, this elusive quality is known as "magic." It's that moment when you least expect it, where your carefully laid plans are surpassed by the unexpected, and what was supposed to be a straightforward build becomes something entirely new and surprising.

I'm not exactly a seasoned pro in the world of model making. I don't have years of experience under my belt, but I do know one thing for sure: when it comes to creating something truly special, there's no substitute for a little bit of magic. It's that intangible quality that makes you go "wow" – whether it's a beautifully painted finish, a cleverly designed mechanism, or simply the way a particular detail catches your eye.

For me, the pursuit of magic in model making often starts with a hunch, a vague idea of what I want to achieve. Sometimes this involves researching different techniques and gathering inspiration from various sources. Other times, it's as simple as taking a deep breath and trusting my instincts, hoping that somehow, someway, things will come together to create something truly remarkable.

When I find myself at the point where I'm wondering if I'll be able to achieve what I've set out to do, whether it's with a wash, dry brush pass, weathering powder, or some other detail, that's when the real magic happens. It's like the model itself has taken on a life of its own, and all I can do is sit back and watch in amazement as it transforms before my very eyes.

In this particular project, which involved building and weathering an ornithopter, I experienced just that kind of magic. From the moment I applied the primer coat, followed by two base coats, I couldn't help but feel a sense of uncertainty about how everything would come together. But as I added more details – a wash here, some weathering powder there – something strange happened. The model began to take on a life of its own, and before I knew it, I was standing back in awe at the finished product.

Of course, not every project turns out this way. Sometimes things go according to plan, and other times they fall apart in spectacular fashion. But even when things don't quite work out as expected, that's still a kind of magic – the discovery of something new, something unexpected, that can be learned from and applied to future projects.

For those looking to get started with model making, I highly recommend tackling a project like this ornithopter. It may not be the most ambitious build, but it's certainly one of the most rewarding. The end result is nothing short of stunning, with a beautifully weathered finish that seems to glow in the light.

If you're new to model making, don't be intimidated by the prospect of tackling a complex project like this. Start small, and work your way up as you gain confidence and experience. Remember, it's okay to make mistakes – they're often some of the most valuable learning experiences you'll have. And who knows? You may just discover that magic for yourself.

**A Word from Norm**

I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to all of you out there who watch my videos and engage with my content. It means the world to me, and I'm honored to be able to share my passion for model making with so many like-minded individuals. If you're interested in exploring more projects like this one, I've got some excellent recommendations for you.

**Recommended Resources**

For those looking to tackle a project like this ornithopter, I highly recommend checking out Mang Models. They offer an impressive range of scale models, from beginner-friendly kits like the 172-scale model shown here, to more advanced projects that will challenge even the most seasoned modeller.

If you're interested in learning more about weathering and finishing techniques, I've got a few recommendations for you. The first is Tamami, a company that produces an incredible range of weathering powders and other detailing products. Their Master series is particularly noteworthy, offering some truly stunning effects with minimal effort.

Another resource I'd like to recommend is Adam's, a well-respected figure in the world of model making. His blog is filled with valuable tips and techniques, and he's always willing to lend a helping hand or offer words of encouragement to those who need it.

**Merchandise**

And finally, I want to remind you all that we have some fantastic merchandise available at Tested Store.com. We've got a range of goodies, from demerit badges like "I hung it off of level" and "I built the chair backwards," to more humorous items like the "Stapler in my finger" badge.

So why not check us out? We've got something for everyone, whether you're a seasoned modeller or just starting out on your modelling journey. Thanks again for watching, and I'll see you all in the next video!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everybody it's Norm from testin and today I got another model kit build for you today this is of course a ornithopter from the movie Dune it's a har Conan version of the ornithopter and this model kit is a snap fit kit uh made by mang models me n I've never actually built one of their kits before it is snap fit which means it's super easy to put together no glue required all you need is a pair of Nippers maybe an X-Acto blade to clean up some edges and some fine sandpaper or a sanding stick um but the build of this took about 2 hours to assemble all the parts uh everything came together very tightly uh if you clean up the seams you don't see any of those sprew marks uh and the model itself at 172 scale is beautiful uh we'll have links to where you can find the her Conan version and the atres version of the ornithopter in the description and comments but keep in mind if you're looking for it online there are two scales there's a smaller version that m models release this is the larger one at 172 scale I did all the assembly beforeand got through it quick because there's nothing much to it it's very simple to do um again a 2hour build something I really liked uh in putting this together is all the articulation and the display options not only do you have it on the stand like in this flying mode get two versions of the landing gear so you can also have this on your tabletop with the uh The Landing ramp deployed as well the wings of course all articulate so not only do the six wings here on the Haron version fan out it's a massive wingspan but there also is mechanism on inside that allows them to Pivot up and down and the wings are locked in together geared together so that they do move in lock step so lots of display options um one of the reasons I did this assembly part off camera is because I want to focus on the my favorite part of this which is going to be the painting and finishing part now uh out of the box the paint finish the uh the the plastic color does look pretty good I think it's fine to display on its own without paint um but I chose a couple different base coats to just give it my own take on it I went with a gunmetal uh for the wings and for the hardware the landing gear the armorment so just the Tama gunmetal uh and then for the main body uh which is brown in the plastic I went for a little more of a green tint if you look at the some of the concept art for the ornithopter uh done by concept designer George Hull who actually did the box cover art or at least mang models chose his art for the box covers for their models um some of his original concept art had the ornithopters a little more with a greenish tint more like a militaristic style so that's why went with and for that I tried this new Vallejo hobby paint new for me at least typically I go with the 100ml small Tama rattle cans but this one four times capacity went on super nicely real thin coats dried real fast um and I'm going to be looking into more of these for future model builds but next up if you this looks a little maybe flat and maybe a little too bright for the grittiness and dirtiness of the haronian the the oracus Sandy world of uh of Dune uh that's because we haven't done the favorite part my favorite part of these builds which is the weathering so we're going to start with a black wash a brown wash uh and then dive deep into a new weathering compound that I haven't used before again you guys are familiar with Tama weathering master um so let's get these brushes dirty and get this model gmed up okay so the wash is done and I'm going to be honest I am much happier with how the ornithopter looks now after applying some acrylics and some oil paints frankly I was uncertain about the paint color choices I had for the base coats uh that kind of olive color for the body and even the gunmetal for the metallic Parts I thought maybe was a little too silver the body was maybe little bit too green um but all is corrected with a healthy application of just some uh burnt Umber and some matte black acrylics and really the oil paints are what come tied it all together um my next step and really the core of what I wanted to do here was experiment with this finishing pass the weathering pass uh and this is tamama weathering master um it's been used for a long time for over a decade I think in the uh Gundam building community and I've only started using it uh with my own model kit builds so it kind of looks like a makeup kit and honestly that's kind of what it is uh in the past we've used things like cinnamon or Fuller's earth to create the dust and rust uh for a model kit uh and this does effectively similar to that but there's a little bit of a waxy backing to this powder as well that helps it better adhere to the models um before we do a final clear coat on top so when we pop this open I have version a and version B they're in little pallets of three colors a piece I believe there a whole set uh this one version a is sand light sand and mud seems pretty appropriate for oracus and you pop it open three tones of colors here it comes with a little tool so on one end you have have almost like a makeup brush and the other end it's more of a sponge uh the sponge is supposed to be used for smearing some of this uh maybe on like the uh wheel wells or the wheels the tires of a tank you might be building uh or the brush to really get into some of the nooks and crannies to make it look like sand has settled into place or snow or rust depending on the color you're using I'll be using a combination of sand light sand mud I also got for uh version B snow soot and rust I think soot is the one I might be pushing into some of these crevices as well um the tools are kind of small and they only include one per palette so I have some brushes have some makeup applicators that Kate savaker told me about uh and also just as a makeup sponge you can also use and reuse you can wash these or cut them to size to to use to different pieces uh so let's give you a closer look and start with the weathering pass okay so this is our starting point and one of my goals with the wash was just to one of course get into all the recesses and panel lines um but also to change the tint of everything darken the places so that this final weathering pass uh has some contrast um so I'm going to start with the foam side and I've scraped a little bit of here's that sand you can see it on the foam and we're going to try some smearing on the bottom part here so you can see that's a little bit of a smear so they're lightening up you can see it's very light right there you can use your finger to move it around but already can see how much it looks like sand is now sitting on that spot now if I go with the brush see what happens see the brush can pick up some let's try just brushing here ah there it goes you can see it's present but a different effect that's the foam for smearing lightens everything up has a little bit that subtle dimensionality of like of sand or powder and then here is it being brushed and notice I went straight for the areas I did the black wash on because that's where I'm going to find the most contrasts I think I'm going to start with foam across the whole thing maybe I'll go with a little bit of that light sand as well and see what happens if I get some light sand around some of these areas where is sand going to build up and then spread across the entire build entire model and then go with a second pass of getting the brush on and brushing some of those colors on here oh this is very exciting already you can see some differences lot of grease a lot of heavy soot and then a yes it's going to be a very heavy coat oh one of the fun things about this project is the weathering yeah you have to have some motivation behind it like this thing is be flying forward so maybe the sand piles up in a certain place but in terms of where sand is going to be it's going to be everywhere the sand gets everywhere it's flying through sandstorm worms Oh already I'm having to choose whether I want this more orangey sand or more of the lighter white sand I'm going to start with the orangey sand or as timia calls it sand let's try on some of this gunmetal as well I love how it's piling up over here yeah it's like the difference between sand that has kind of calcified in place versus sand that is fresh from it's sitting fresh sand or calcified sand that's how I'm going to think about it oh yeah now let's get this across the whole thing the panel lines are a place where the wash has darkened what's on the inside of the line so it's my job now to highlight that contrast by rubbing the sand right around the outside like a shading pass it's also helping blend some of the blend some of the the wash the edges of the paint where it looks too much like a paint brush and I didn't get to wipe it off properly hiding the crimes oh yeah look at that right here green black wash and then sand it's very similar to a dry brush effect trying to hit the edges with a dry brush sometimes you're left in the mercy of the brush you're using and you see brush marks the foam pad here little smoother with that blend got to make sure it covers all this gunmetal as well let's go with some of this mud here oh wow look at that you know often times when I say often times every time I'm working on a model kit what I'm looking for isn't necessarily the most perfect build at the end of it I'm not that talented I don't have that much experience but what I I'm looking for is a little bit of magic and what I mean by Magic is I'm looking for something that's going to surprise me in a in a good way and whether that's because I'm I go down a path and I have an idea in my head of how something could look or supposed to look but I always reach that point where like oh I don't know if I can get there or I'm close maybe 70% of the way there and then whether it's with a wash a dry brush pass weathering pass or with lighting something in the way physics affects how paint mixes how powders fall how light casts I'm surprised by it I'm looking for that's the magical moment for me in model making and comes too predictable if I if what I have in my head is exactly how it ends up I don't think that's magic oh look at that using a brush and just peeling away that weathering powder can here it's motivated by the direction I think the ornithopter would be flying in and where the sand would pile up let's go front to back front to back you can see in the back is maybe too even with that foam take another look at it all right need some powder need to hit the edges with a little more contrast oh look at that build up build up build up oh liking the brush liking the brush all right now I've worked just on this left side here uh I'm going to go turn this around so we can take a look and see how this side Compares with the unweathered side there we go with just a wash and now with the weathering powder wash weathering powder take a step back yeah all right let's continue this is this is Happy making so if you're looking for a fun relatively low risk easy model making project to get started on you get all this magic and the weathering reveal I'm going to recommend this one mang models 172 scale ornithopter they do have a one 144 scale one half the length you don't want to go as ambitious but to be honest this is not this is not a difficult model to build highly recommended links in the description and comments below I'm so happy with how this weing powder is working tamama you've done it again who would have thought maybe your thousands of customers over the years how about you how you feeling about this yeah that's what I'm talking about and there we have it wow for me a roller coaster of satisfaction uh when this not knowing exactly how this model would come together really happy with the fitment and the quality of the mang model kits how easy everything was to assemble I got the primer coat got these two base coats on maybe feeling a little uncertain about my color choices but wow that wash and these Tama weathering Master uh powders really tied the whole thing together not too difficult to use uh ended up using the included tool a little more than I expected I went back and forth between liking the foam or liking the brush and my final final pass on it mostly foam don't be afraid to press a little hard to get some of those streaks like in the front here on the sides there to make it really look like there's been sand that's been kind of calcified into those spots added at Adam's recommendation just a little spot of black oil wash or a black oil paint in the back there just give it a little bit more contrast um and I'm going to call this model done haran ornithopter 172 scale model kit there is an at trades one as well maybe we'll put that together in a future video maybe add in some lights um but thank you so much for watching all the materials I use including the model kits are linked in the description and comments below if you have techniques experience building these model kits or have thoughts on how you would tackle this paint approach this kind of sand uh weathered approach let me know I love love learning about new materials love learning about new processes and hope you had fun watching this one until next time time I'm norm and see you thank you guys so much for watching that video I would be remiss if I didn't tell you we have some excellent merch we have a five-pack of demerit badges for sale right now at tested store.com we've got the I hung it off of level demerit badge the I built the chair backwards demerit badge the I hit my thumb with a hammer demerit badge we've got the stapler in my finger demerit badge and my favorite I stuck the duct tape to itself Dem merit badge get yours now tested SL store. store Dash store tested Dash store tested it's right here there just click there\n"