Weekly WIP - Full Armor XN Raiser (Part 8)

Short update this week. Didn't get as much done as I would have liked. Managed to clean up some parts, re-primed the parts, and laid down the base coat. For the most part, I think they've turned out really well. Blue pieces have a bit of dust. Not sure how that happened. But it looks minor. Just need to blow some error on it and I think I'll be good. Seam lines are gone. Quite happy about this. Black doesn't look as smooth as it did when I was painting. I think the gray and clear coats will level this back out.

Well that's all for now.

Weekly WIP - Full Armor XN Raiser (Part 7)

Sorry about last week. Just sort of forgot to post. Been doing a lot prep work. Getting ready to do some painting. Managed to prime a lot of parts. This should be everything to make the 0 Raiser and a few of the weapons.

I have them separated by color. Below are images of the white, gray, and blue parts. The parts on the right look good. Parts on the left need some more work.

What kind of work? Well the glue didn't hold on some parts (see below). But for the most parts it's just cleaning up scratches and filling in imperfections in the plastic. Tried to photograph those, but I couldn't get the camera to focus on such small details.

Once all that is done I can get to painting. All paints are Model Master Enamel paint. Here is the color pallet I'll be using:

For the white parts, I'll be using Light Sea Gray for the base and Classic White for the highlight. I've used this combination on my 00 Gundam - Reborns Colors as well as my SD Unicorn and I'm pretty happy with the results.

For the red parts, I'll be using Insignia Red for the base and Guard Red for the highlight. I used this combination my 00 Gundam - Reborns Colors and I think it looks pretty good. I'm a little worried it's going to be a tad bit dark, but there's less than 10 red parts, so I think it will work.

For the blue parts, I'll be using Blue Angle Blue for the base and French Blue for the highlight. If you follow the build on the MAC Forum, you'll know that I had an issue with the blue since the blue in the decals didn't match the color of the plastic. So after some advice (thanks again for the help guys!), I decided to try and find paint that matches the decals. This is as close as I can get without having to mix paint. 

For the gray parts, I'll be using Classic Black for the base and Grun Rml 72 for the highlight. So the gray is kind of tricky. Under really bright light it appears much lighter than the gray of the plastic. Under normal lighting though they look almost identical. 

For the yellow parts, I'll be using Go Mango for the base and Cadmium Yellow Light for the highlight. Had a really hard time capturing the actual color on camera. This is pretty close. There are only 3 yellow parts so I' not really concerned with it.

What else I'm into...

If you haven't already done so, check this game out. It's a blast. Really cool art style. Really in depth fighting. A pretty decent story mode (which is rare in fighting games). Need a little more convincing? Check out the trailer below.

My favorite character so far is Valentine. She's a ninja nurse. That's right a ninja nurse. I don't really know what I'm doing in the game (as I'm not a hardcore gamer) but she was easy for me to figure out. Well the basics anyway.

Weekly WIP - Full Armor XN Raiser (Part 6)

Got back to work on this kit. Nothing too interesting to show. Mostly just been sanding. There is a surprising about of flash, a few uneven surfaces, and even parts that just don't fit right. Maybe this is fairly normal, but I'm trying much harder to be a better modeler now. And part of that is paying attention to detail. So now I'm noticing more of the defects than I use to. With that said, let me show you some of those details.

First up is the GN Sword II Blaster. For the most part Bandai did a good job covering up the seam lines. So I think it's odd they didn't do anything about the area above the clear green part and the part by the handle. There's also one on the inside of the part that attaches to the forearm. However, given the way it attaches this will be covered up.

There's also some flash all the way around the handle. A little tough to see but trust me it's there.

There's also some flash right in the middle of the blue piece. I can't explain this one. Maybe it's suppose to be there, but I doesn't look right to me.

Next up are the GN Katar. So there's a seam line on both sides of the blue piece. I have no simple fix. I think this part going to be tough. There are some gray detail parts that show through the blue. I think this is going to take some masking and hand painting to get right. Not looking forward to that.

Next is the GN Sword II Long. Much like the GN Sword II Blaster, there's seam line above the green piece and by the handle. There's also the same flash issue on the handle.

The biggest issue is the seam line that goes all the way around the blade of the sword. There are too little openings for a gray piece to show through. This is for the gun mode. Masking seems like it would be tough. Probably going to require hand painting.

Lastly are the fins on the 0 Raiser. As I mentioned in a previous WIP, there's a nice seam line all the way around these. So to get around that, I opened the white parts up, marked how the blue piece fits, and then cut away at it such that the opening wont show. Since I don't move my kits once posed, this is a great solution for me as I'm sacraficing articulation. Once glued, I noticed that it's a bit of a tight fit. Definitely going to scratch once painted. To prevent that I'm going to do a little sanding on the opening. Need to be careful to not sand away too much.

Notice something unexpected when I glued these parts together. They don't fit nicely. On both sides they just don't line up. Just needs some putty, but it's a bit disappointing to see this. Plus I've had such bad luck with putty. I was really hoping to avoid it on this kit.

Well that's all for now.

What else I'm into...

Baseball. Specifically Indians baseball. Ok so I know the Indians really have no chance to make the playoffs, let alone win the World Series, but I enjoy the game and they're my team. But it's early and I can be optimistic. So, GO TRIBE!

Completed! - SD Unicorn

Here is my SD Unicorn Gundam. After completing my 00 Gundam - Reborns Colors, I felt like I need some more practice with shading. I also wanted to try Mr. Mark Softer for applying decals. It works so much better than Micro Set and Micro Sol. I also wanted to try a different flat coat. Model Master Flat Clear Acryl works ok, but I'm not really happy with it. Based on the recommendation of from the guys at Depot Train and Hobby (my local hobby shop), I tried out Testors Spray Lacquer Dullcote. I was told, "it's the only flat coat." I think I may have to agree. I'm really happy with the results.

Here is the list of products I used:

• Alcald II Lacquer Gray Primer & Microfiller
• Model Master Classic White
• Model Master Light Sea Gray
• Model Master Cadmium Yellow Light
• Mix of Model Master Classic Black and Model Master Cobalt Blue
• Tamiya Dark Grey
• Apple Barrel Neon Green
• Apple Barrel Neon Red
• Pledge Future Floor Acrylic 
• Decals from Samuel Decal.
• Mr. Mark Softer
• Testors Spray Lacquer Dullcote

Here is the finished product.

Since I used neon colors, the kit glows under a black light.

Thoughts on the kit...

I like this kit. For an SD there aren't that many seam lines. I like the addition of clear parts as well. I think the beam sabers are the only hollow parts. Even underneath the shield has details. The only real criticism I have, is the lack of a good Unicorn mode. Half the kit is always in destroy mode. After seeing all of the swap-able parts with the SD AGE-1 kit, I would have liked to see that with this kit as well.

Thoughts on my work...

Not sure this is better than my 00 Gundam. Shading looks pretty good. Neon colors didn't spray real well. Took a lot of time to get them to spray decently. Once that got sorted out, all of the painting went pretty well. Because they spay so lightly, it's easy to apply shading by just coloring over the white/gray shade. Decals went on perfectly. Parts got scratched a bit on assembly though. Because there were so many layers of paint on the neon parts, they didn't fit very well. Especially the chest. The chest construction is different than most SDs because of the transformation. It's a pretty tight fit normally, but when you add primer, gray, white, a few light coats of neon red, and a gloss coat, it's not going to fit together. Had to do some sanding. Had the same issue with the face mask. Unfortunately with that piece, I scratched the chin pretty well. Even though I don't like redoing parts, I had to with this one. Heads on SD kits are the focal point and having a very noticeable scratch really stands out. I painted both face parts however, the unicorn one will never be seen. As I mentioned in my thoughts about the kit, I really don't like the look of the look of "unicorn" mode. 


In all, I think this kit is good, but not my best. It's not significantly worse than my 00 Gundam, but I think all the issues with the neon paint really show up under black light. Still don't have a kit that's showcase worthy yet, but I'm getting closer.