WIP: 1/48 G-system RX-78-2 Eiyuu Tan Ver. Part 1

I began work on this in January - it is my first large-scale resin project.  I've been working on it, and it really isn't too different from a regular 1/100 project - the pieces just require more time to paint.

Casting is phenomenal and I'm going to be entering this into the MAC forum contest (though I am more doing this solely for fun).  Painting will be once again majority Plamo Colour. 


Here's a pic of the pinned project next to a 1/100 model for scale.


Priming the gigantic shield


Added some details to the skirts (see GB 101: Plamo Plate Modification)


80% complete with the gun - have to flat coat it after I add some more details


Painted the lower half of the torso (only showing 1 leg here).  Almost done with all of the white and red, next is gray, then blue.

More to come!

Gundam Building 101: Re-Bending Bent Resin Pieces

I love resin kits.  I love their weight, and just the sheer fact that the majority of the major resin kit manufacturers seem to proportion their kits much cooler looking than the stock Bandai HGUC or MG (or even PG) kits.  And their selection of jaw dropping kits is amazing as well.

However, no caster (or re-caster) is perfect, and when you receive your pieces, you can find many different errors.  One of them is bent pieces.  Typically these happen on smaller and thinner pieces - especially prone is the v-fin.  Historically, I've just ignored it, or tried to re-build the v-fin altogether.  However, fixing the bend is an easy 5+ minute job with steady hands and patience.


1. I received a particularly bent v-fin.  This picture doesn't quite show exactly how bent it was, but it was pretty significant.


2. Get a cup or bowl large enough to hold a part of the piece, and fill it about 60-70% full.  Microwave it until it boils.  I microwaved a coffee-cup sized amount for 2 minutes.  Being careful not to burn yourself, dip the part into the scalding hot water - but don't fully immerse it unless you have to.  Only dip the part until just past the bend.


3.  Keep the part in there for about 20-30 seconds. Gently push and guide the piece into the position you want it to go once you pull it out.  Once that is done, make sure you rest the piece on a flat surface, or one that adheres to the intended shape.
Note: Depending on how thick it is, you may need to dip it longer.  You want the piece to warm up to be almost like a very hard putty.  The way to test this is to SLOWLY and GENTLY bend the piece to how you want it to bend.  If it doesn't budge with gentle pressure, stick it in the water for longer.


4. Voila!  Make sure you leave it alone for about 30 minutes before you mess with it again.  It should be ready in a shorter amount of time, but I err on the side of caution - especially when it comes to v-fins!

I'm sure there are going to be more complicated projects than the one I have demonstrated here for various projects you  may have, feel free to post here for questions.  The process really isn't that scary, and the resin doesn't immediately become doughy or liquidy - it takes some time. 

Gundam Building 101: Plamo Plate Modification

As most of the Gundam Building 101 series goes, I will make this a simple, approachable tutorial. There are certainly more advanced techniques to do, and different ways to approach this, but this is the method I've found to be the easiest. Adding plastic styrene sheets (plamo plates) can put depth and highlights in otherwise boring or flat areas of your model. Choosing the right shapes is entirely dependent upon your own creativity (or that google image you just saw haha).

Materials needed for this tutorial:

- Model
- Plastic Styrene sheets (I buy the clear kind, I find it is easier)
- Super glue/Epoxy Glue
- Pencil
- Scissors


1. Choose the piece you want to add depth to. Pencil in ideas of what you want to add here. Keep in mind a few things: the theme of the particular design of the model, the color scheme, and how complex you want to cut shapes. The simpler the pattern, the easier the cut.


2. Using your (hopefully) clear sheet of plastic, place it over the piece and trace an outline of the shapes.


3. Once finished, double check your outline to make sure you can distinguish the lines.


4. Cut out the shapes. When you do this, make sure you don't shake, and try to cut straight lines. I use heavy duty fabric-quality shears. They cut straight with relatvely little power required.


5. I check here to make sure I like the shape, and how it looks. Re cut lines if they aren't straight, or start completely over if you have to. However it looks is EXACTLY how it will look when primed.  Note:  The blue on the left is just a static protective cover.  I removed it on the piece on the right.


6. Super glue/epoxy glue the shape onto your model piece. Make sure once you set it that it stays in place the entire time the glue is drying. MAKE SURE YOU USE ONLY A DROP OF GLUE, don't glob the glue on.


7. Sandpaper the newly added pieces before you prime, then prime that bad boy and enjoy your hard work!


Voila!

Finished: 1/100 AGX-041 Gerbera Tetra

So after months of learning and fun and some stressing out, I have finished this bad boy for the end of my 2011.  I learned lots of techniques for weathering on this, and while it's not as 'realistic' in some areas as I would have liked, the overall feeling of this model is what I was wishing to achieve.  I appreciate everyone's feedback on this kit, the comments are always worthwhile.  This kit was a ton of fun to build and was a design I feel in love with when I first dove into the hobby. 

I have a diorama planned for this guy, but I won't be starting it for awhile.  I'm sort of burnt out on this particular style of weathering for the moment (as you can understand haha).  I'll be starting that one after a few kits.

Onto the pics! 











Some close ups:













Comments are ALWAYS appreciated and welcomed!  Feedback is helpful too!

Finished! 1/24 Hi-Nu Bust (SMS Version)

I've finished the 1/24 Hi-Nu Bust (SMS version), my first bust ever. I started it on May 7, and took about 4 months to finish. I took ~1 month off to move and play video games though, but I've put ~100 hours into this bad boy, and I could be way off with my estimate too. The hardest parts were a broken vfin and loose wiring that had to be re-wired. Decals are 80% from samuel decal, the rest are stock.

All airbrushed paints were done using PlamoColour's paint line. In summary, the Plamo paint line is very nice, and he provides a lot of paint, even in the 60mL size. The price might be the same as a large jar from another company, but the size of the bottle is about 3x larger than that. Even more value is in the 100mL bottle. The quality of the paints speak for themselves - the primer is GREAT for both resin and plastic, the paints are buttery smooth, and the matte spray leaves a VERY nice finish, and goes a long way to boot (covering this whole kit with a matte coat only took up ~40% of the bottle). My only recommendation - buy lots of paint in one order if shipping overseas, and pay attention to all of his thinning ratios!

All details were painted using a mixture of Testor's line of lacquers and enamels, Model Master's enamels, and Mr Super Metallics. I did an enamel wash using Model Master's gloss black, and as mentioned before the matte coat was provided by Plamo Colour. Decals are a mixture of the ones that came with the model and some samueldecal.com decals.  Great stuff!

I added a 1/24 size astronaut (approximately), just for scale and coolness factors. If you look on the arm, you can see I put an AE decal there for further immersion :)

Onto the pics! Shot with a Nikon D80, 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8, spot lighting with a daylight-frequency bulb.




















Closed vents:


Night shot:




A size comparison - note: the model on the left is on a stand.

C&C always welcome! I had a lot of fun building this bust! Thanks to all for the valuable feedback, and a HUGE thanks to Plamo colour for letting me try out the paints!

Lesson's learned: do NOT use liquid masking solution. Period.

Unrelated note: I have liquid masking solution for sale.

1/24 Hi-Nu Bust WIP - Part 3

Details, details, details.... LOTS of handpainting, this is sort of the highlight of it, but I've had to handpaint a lot of silver details in.

Once I finish with these last few phases of painting, it's onto clearcoating and decals.

1/24 SMS Hi-Nu Bust WIP - Part 1

Onto my next project!!!

Cleaned and pre-fit and pinned most stuff.

The person I bought this from sold it because he didn't want it (bought it second hand), but a couple pieces were damaged either from his handling or the shipping process.







And here's the broken v-fin. If you have any ideas on how to fix this, please let me know!!!! I have a couple ideas, but I'm interested to see what the pros here have to say haha.



Any ideas you all have on color schemes, please let me know too! I'm considering blue and orange, but still unsure.

Gundam Building 101: Reverse Wash and Paints

Some models have raised parts that usually are different colors - on gunpla these usually appear on the chest and sleeves. It would be tedious and hard to either mask or hand paint these details with little margin for error. Thankfully, using the natural properties of the different types of paint and thinners available, we can create a natural reverse wash that makes crisp lines and a great finish.

Materials needed:
- model part with raised accents
- primer
- either acrylic or lacquer paints (I use Tamiya's synthetic lacquer spray cans in this example) This will be your accent color
- Acrylic or lacquer thinner
- enamel paint (your base color)
- Enamel thinner
- zippo lighter fluid (turpenoid-based)
- q-tips
- gloss top coat (future is excellent for this). Make sure it is NOT enamel-based.
- Airbrush

As I try to write to include everyone, I'll start off with some basics. If you know about the different properties of paints and thinners, feel free to skip this section.

In general there are 4 major types of paints used in all of model painting. There may be more, but I will be writing on these.

- Acrylic
- This is a plastic polymer paint that is the 'lightest' of all paints I will be describing. It dries in about 20 minutes, and cures in about 24 hours. It is 'water-based' - meaning it can be thinned with water. For airbrushing, we use an alcohol-based thinner that is lighter and dries faster than water.

- Enamel
- This is a paint that usually dries to a hard, glossy finish, and takes usually a few hours to dry, with 24-48 hours curing time. It requires a stronger thinner than acrylic to be thinned properly. Enamel is special also in that a turpenoid-based lighter fluid - like zipppo lighter fluid - can also thin it out (not for airbrushing).

- Lacquer
- This is the 'strongest' paint as far as pigment goes. It is relatively fast drying (around the same as sprayed acrylic) but requires the strongest thinner. Lacquer thinner is dangerous and should be used only in controlled areas with proper breathing precautions taken.

Note: Lacquer thinner can thin all 3 paints listed above, enamel thinner can do both enamels and acrylics, and acrylic thinner can only thin acrylics. However, I would only use the proper thinner with each paint. I use cheap lacquer thinner to clean out all my parts after using them.

The final type of paint is Oil
- This is a very slow drying paint where pigment is put into a type of oil. As a result, mineral spirits is usually used to thin oil paints. Oil paints are not airbrushed and useful for creating weathered washes.

What is a wash?

A wash is a cover-all term used to describe any process where you go over a model in two different types of paint, and use the different properties of them to work in harmony for a desired effect. The most common type of wash is for panel lining - after a model has gotten a lacquer or acrylic coating, lighter fluid and enamel paints are used to fill in panel lines. I will have a tutorial soon.

For this tutorial, we will be doing what is called a 'reverse' wash. It is the same basic concept as with panel lines, but when we take away the enamel paint using lighter fluid, we will be showing another paint layer beneath the enamel - either acrylics or lacquers. This is how it is done:


1. Choose your part.


2. Prime your part.


3. Paint your entire part the color of the raised ACCENTS in either lacquer or acrylic ONLY. On this wristband, I want the emblem to be white; on a Sinanju, you would paint this gold. Here I am using Tamiya's synthetic lacquer spray cans. I went lazy and just did spray cans because I had them lying around. You usually want your paint to be glossy here.

4. Once it dries, spray a glossy top coat on. I used Future floor shine (which is acrylic-based), but you can use anything non-enamel.


5. Spray on your enamel paint for the fill color (here it is black, it would be the same on the Sinanju). Gloss helps a lot, but it is not totally necessary. It really does help though.

6. Let the part dry for 12-24 hours.



7. Using your q-tip, get it damp/wet with lighter fluid and GENTLY rub it across the raised emblem surfaces. Watch as the enamel just comes right off! Be very careful not to press too hard, and don't be afraid to change out your q-tips. I use about 5-12 swabs per piece depending on the work needing to be done.


8. Clean up the remaining paint on the surfaces once your are done with CLEAN, lightly damp q-tips, and voila, you are done! Add your flat or gloss coat to protect it.