Sinanju Build Project Review and Theme Explanation.

Warning: Text Heavy (no beer! work tomorrow.)

Well, it's finished.

My involvement with the Sinanju Group Build Project (SGBP) over on the Evil Cow forum is drawing to a close. Aside from my decal guide and Gallery #3 this will be my last post concerning the build.

I am sure everyone is wondering why I chose yellow. When I was pondering what colour I was going to use (red was definitely out) I came up with an idea to have my Sinanju's look roughly follow that of another piece of machinery that I very much like.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...

The Yellowbird

This is the RUF CTR or Yellowbird as it has been famously named. Without going into too many specifics RUF, a German company that started out tuning porsches and now is a manufacturer in its own right, produced this car in the mid 80's and it quickly became an icon. I fell in love driving this car in the Gran Turismo series of video games, so much so that I came up with this!

I felt that if I could import the characteristics of the car into the Sinanju project that the results would be very intriguing. Of course, when you work with yellow the potential for disaster is there too.

So, for a project review, let's look at things I felt turned out great, what was fair, and what could use improvement.

The Great (Things that turned out as/better than expected)

1. The Rifle

The Aurora stickers, the masking, the decals all came together and produced a really nice result. I was quite pleased how the rifle looked even in large images. The three colours work well together and nothing seems out of place.

2. The Hands
During the build I decided I wanted the hands to stand out. As I was doing internals in an aluminum colour it made sense to me to paint the hands so it looked like it had moving parts. As you can see I painted all the joints aluminum before masking them and painting the german gray. If you look closely at the hand it may seem a bit odd, but if you take it in as part of the mecha, for instance in this image, I think the result turned out exactly as I had envisioned it. Yay!

3. The Head
The use of the green Aurora sticker and the metal part in which to hold it worked very well. I am also thankful my idea to cut off the vulcans and paint them separately from the rest of the head worked out. Some people have already noted the German decal. All part of the German car theme. ;)

4. The Thrusters and internals
I put these together so I can have an excuse to put this picture somewhere again. I really like this shot. You can see the aluminum used on the piston on the heel as well as the circle on the ankle. You can also see the gloss black inside of the thrusters with the silver ring. The same effect was used on the backpack and it turned out really well, too. In my humble opinion of course.

5. The Decals

I really like working with decals but even this tested me. Having to create all the markings in black was a real challenge but the result is better than I could have hoped for. One of the best things about modeling is having to come up with a solution to a problem. This time my solution worked. Detailed decal guide up soon!

The Good (nothing bad happened)

1. The Yellow

I was really wary of working with the yellow. From experience I knew that primer would be needed as well as multiple coats. Sure there are some parts that seem a little faded than other parts, but you don't really notice in the pictures unless you look really closely. The yellow keeps growing on me. It can change depending on the light. At work there are flourescent lights as well as muted sunlight coming in through the windows. The Sinanju looks awesome in yellow!

2. The Bazooka
I didn't spend as much time on this as I did on the rifle but it still came out well. There are sections that I didn't mask well and had to touch up and those areas are noticeable, especially to me. The overall look, I feel, is really good and it goes very well with the rifle.

3. The Beamsabers

(Is that what they are called?) Again using the three colours of german gray, dark gun metal, and aluminum achieved a nice effect. That the weapons are all consistent in colour scheme works well. The clear orange on the blades also came out well.

4. The Shoulders
Look Ma! No seam lines! I haven't detailed this procedure before now because doing so would have meant I would have had to show the colour. But I will elaborate here. In order to remove the seam line from the shoulder I had to glue/putty the seam line after the armour pieces had been attached to the frame. What I did first was prime and paint the underside of the shoulder armour then I glued the shoulder pieces in place covering the seam.
After sanding it down some seam line remained.
So I broke out the Mr. Surfacer.
After sanding, applying more surfacer, and sanding again, it was ready for priming and painting. But first I had to mask off the frame.
The result is no seam lines, but I could probably have done more with the seam removal and made it a little more smooth.

Could use more work (not bad, but...)

1. The Fuel Tanks
I put this as here because I didn't do a complete job on the seam lines. If you know where to look or see it from a certain angle you notice what's left of them.

2. Paint

Certain areas ended up with orange peel, and although I gently sanded down to paint again, I could not get rid of it all. Most noticeable on the right shoulder.
3. The Black and Gold Trim and the Shield

In the pic above you can see how the emblem came out. Not particularly noticeable except up close. Still I should have done better. This is also somewhat noticeable on the collars and the emblem on the shield. Laying down a coat of gloss black before applying the gold was a good idea, though. It did darken up the gold so it contrasted well with the yellow. The leg/knee pieces and wrists look decent.
For those wondering how I did the trim on the shield.. That was the easiest part of all (mostly because I became lazy). I took the gold foil stickers, removed the unused foil leaving only the pieces for the shield.
Then I primed, gloss black coated, then gold coated. Application was simple.


I think that's it. Almost three months after starting this project I am bringing it to a close. Looking at it sitting on my desk and in the images I think I may have outdone myself. Could this be my pinnacle?

I really want to thank everyone who participated in the build and the encouragement I got from them and the others on the forum. We did good work guys!

Buster's Sinanju can be seen on his blog. He got the ball rolling and really set the bar high! It's a beauty!
Lupes got an amazing result in the most gorgeous blue I have ever seen. More at his blog.
The American Salaryman came late to the project but we got to see his progress and the excellent final result. Check out his stuff on his blog.
and we still have Gundam Guy and Sonar (if he can ever get through his current projects) to go!

I already have planned what I want to do for my next project but it may be awhile before I start it. I have something else occupying my time right now.
And, yes, I have already purchased the Yellowbird.