Color Tests and Blu-Tack!

The MAN over at the Evil Cow Forum was gracious enough to send me some Blu-Tack! I call him the MAN because he's the man! You can't get this stuff here. I can now work on painting the thrusters. Like so:

I have also begun colour tests. I painted a thruster half silver and the other half silver and then smoke. I think the smoke turned out too dark so I will go with just the silver.
And I have sprayed a spare piece of pla plate one half gold and one half semigloss black covered with gold. Can you guess which side is which?
I think I will opt for the semi-gloss black then gold. This means I will have to spray most of the small black/gold parts three times! Well, more than that if you count topcoat... and if I choose to use primer...

I have also spent some time this weekend doing.. yup, you guessed it, more masking.


This:

Becomes this:
And once this typhoon goes away and the sky clears up I will paint this as well.
The armour is all primed except for the parts with the panel lines. I did a test spray on the main colour I will use for the armour and it came out looking well. I think it will take several coats, but that is why I bought 6 cans of the stuff. Onwards and upwards!

So maybe I need some help.

Or some medication.

Instead of A.D.D. I might have O.A.D. (Over Attention Disorder) (or would that be Attention Surplus Disorder?)　　I spent far too much time on a part that I don't think anyone actually does anything with. The black piece on the lower part of the torso has some raised sections that look like the gold sections elsewhere on the Sinanju. So away I went...


I sprayed a coat of Mr. Color Gold and masked off the parts that shall remain gold.
Here you can see how I laid out the tiny bits of tape. Well, they weren't so tiny to start with so I cut them in strips with my design knife.
Then used the knife to cut away the excess tape leaving the upraised design.
Then sprayed two coats of TS-29 semi gloss Black. Once tape is removed... tuddah!

The result is pretty good, although I had to use my Gold Gundam marker to clean up some spots. I also will have to spray a gloss-coat and then fix it with black somehow. Whether I do a wash or use a marker I haven't decided yet.

Up soon, those pesky seam lines!

And this arrived today.. woot!

It worked! I knew it would!

The Hands!

These, too, turned out as I hoped they would. I sprayed the Gloss Aluminum on the joints, micro-masked (once again!) and then sprayed the German Gray. Some touch up was required but now they look somewhat like moving pistons and resemble the movable pieces on the arm and legs. I will save the 'punch-you-in-the-face' fist photograph for the photo shoot upon its completion.

Blades

The handles were painted in Gloss Aluminum, German Gray, and Gun Metal, just like the rifle was (and the Bazooka will be). The yellow transparent parts were painted over with Clear Orange to darken them up a bit.

The Frame!

Sorry for the lack of cool postures. It was some effort just to make this guy stand up by himself as I didn't 'snap' everything into play when I assembled it. I don't want to move him too much because the German Gray seems to come off fairly easily if I handle it too much with my sweaty hands. The 'wings' are still drying at home before decaling so they aren't making an appearance either. Most of these details will be covered up by the armour, but I still am glad I did it.

It's a gun!

It's a very sleek looking gun!

I am hopping back and forth between the frame and the gun and the final detailing and painting of both. Apparently, I am really reluctant to move onto the armour. All things in their time, I suppose. Last night, not having much time I opted to apply the waterslides to the rifle and finish it once and for all. Here are the results. I think it turned out really well after all that effort I spent masking and painting.

Now to finish that frame!

Some odds and ends before I head off.

So I am off to the tropical island paradise of chichimjima (父島) for a week. Where I won't have access to my gunpla (although I am tempted to bring along the eco gundam I picked up at Shiokaze.

I have done some more painting to the weapons and upon my return should be starting on the armour. A week seems like a long time when away from the plastic...


More micro masking. I sprayed this intitally with the silver aluminum and then masked off the part that I wanted to stay that colour.
after the Dark Gun Metal...

This piece was sprayed with the German Gray that I have used on the frame and then masked and sprayed with the Dark Gun Metal.
And assembled.
The picture doesn't show it well, but the three colours look pretty good together. I have top-coated it and will apply the decals when I get around to that part. That part I am not looking forward to. It will take a long time.


And the seam lines have been eliminated so I will need to prime this before painting it.

And I am off! 行くぜ。

So I think I may be obsessive/compulsive

Or is it anal-retentive?


I just spent hours masking tiny, little, almost unseeable pieces of the gun. I wanted to paint it in Dark Gun Metal with some other colours used to break it up somewhat.
See what I mean? Micro-masking.
And again!
The pictures make it look pretty big but trust me, it is not.

But the results speak for themselves　（except for the crappy lighting in my room at 11pm).
I used some more of my aurora stickers for the scopes.
I am really impressed with how the rifle is turning out. I can see it coming together. Which is something I can't do with Sinanju itself right now as I haven't even finished the frame.

But....

There is one part of the frame that I finished tonight that will look awesome once I assemble it. I am really proud of myself actually. I will assemble the frame without armour and then take it to work for some good quality shots before I start putting the armour on.

Look forward to it!