Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Update 3.0: Finally painted Tactical Arms II L

Painted Tactical Arms II L

It took me awhile but, I finally finished it!

Phone pics for now... I'll update with some proper pictures in the future!

Mock-Up: RG MS-06F Zaku II MARPAT Desert

Mock up for an RG Zaku II Ver. USMC

Update: finished!

Update: quick snap fit

Update: painting

Color palette:

Vallejo Model Air: Flat Tan, Camo Light Brown, Camo Medium Brown, Camo Black Brown
Tamiya: Gunmetal & Gold Leaf

I may change some accent colors whenever I begin painting.

Update 2.1: Quick snap and some photos!

After I finished up painting the legs and swords today. I couldn't help but to take at least a few pictures of one pose!

I am almost done with the kit! Just need to paint the Tactical Arms II L, touch-ups and minor detailing, panel lines, decals, and finally matte coat.

Update 2 (More Painting): Gundam Astray Red Frame Kai x Ninja Slayer

Painting the legs and the katanas.

Up a level: Update 1.1

Airbrushing the second half of this kit took much less time, mainly, because I didn't need to get so caught up in having to do any marble effects having planned out the painting process beforehand.

Update 1.1: Gundam Astray Red Frame Kai x Ninja Slayer

Up a level: Update 1

This update is rather short, hence the 1.1. I mentioned the marble effects previously and today I had a chance to make a 2nd attempt.

Update 1: Gundam Astray Red Frame Kai x Ninja Slayer

Update 1: painting!

Colors I'll be using for this kit.

Tamiya: Chrome Silver, Gold Leaf, and Gunmetal (not pictured)
Vallejo Model Air: Red RLM 71.102, Hull Red 71.039, Grey Surface Primer

Up a level: MG Astray Red Frame Kai x Ninja Slayer mock up

So, for the main body I'm using the Red RLM. In this picture the pigment I wanted was brighter than what I was looking to get and later in the evening I added 2 extra coats to darken all of the pieces up!

For the "armor" I mixed the Red and Hull Red 4:5. For the Hull Red alone was barely too dark! I think it turned out to be right on the money.

I bailed on the water marbling technique... But not without attempting a plan B! There's another way to make marbling effects with acrylic paints and that was with the help of corn starch... Which I had none of :(

What I did was mix a small pool of white/red paint just enough to make a tie-dye(ish) pattern then I'd dip & slightly roll the piece. There would be a lot of paint on it and I'd blow it off with the airbrush at 40 PSI. I had to be careful though because if I did it too much it'd mix the paint into a pink. There's a bunch of other nuances that are difficult to explain, so, that's it for now.

(...I just decided to find a good reference now realize I should have used the damn Hull Red.

Guess I gotta learn an efficient way to strip Vallejo's primer... :[ )

And here I thought I could do a similar effect which eventually started to turn out kind of okay... However not without some horrible results as such these first... (shudders)

I tried placing small drop of paint to even out the pattern and then blowing it around with the airbrush...

I'm still waiting for the damn primer of these to strip.

It took me a few hours to hit my stride but when I did here is what I got!

And then I did the rest of the ~20 pieces

(Update on these pieces here!)

Wanted to show an example of the Tamiya Chrome Silver. It was my first time using it and it looks great!

And just an example of the Tamiya Gold Leaf.

PHEW! That's it for this update! I'll update again once I figure out what to do about the crazy tie-dye effect pieces. Stay tuned...

Sunday, July 5, 2015

WIP: Gundam Astray Red Frame Kai x Ninja Slayer

Gundam Astray Red Frame Kai x Ninja Slayer

Update 1: Started painting
Update 1.1: 2nd attempt at marble effects

So, this is my first Master Grade kit and will be my second time fully painting a kit!

I've made a crappy, best-of-my-ability mock-up in PS to give an example of what I had in mind.

RG Strike Freedom

Snapbuild of an RG Strike Freedom!

This kit was assembled about a month ago. It's such a cool model haha.

I'll start off with the completed kit.

I finished this kit about a week ago. It was dragged out for about a month since I had a wedding to attend in Canada! Anyway, there are a few problem areas because of my inexperience (which I'll try to comment on below), but regardless I'm satisfied with the kit!