Weekly WIP - MG Strike Freedom (Part 12)

What I'm working on...

Made some actual progress with the Strike Freedom this week. Was even warm and sunny this morning, so I got a little more than expected finished. 

Flat coated and panel lined all of the armor parts for the leg and arm armor.

Unfortunately, I had some issues spraying the flat coat. Not sure what the deal was, but it came out uneven in parts. Left some very noticeable white spots. Going to have to play with it a bit to see if I can get them removed. 

Since the gun has no gold parts, I put it together. Too bad I temporarily misplaced a piece. It's pretty noticable that the nose of the gun is missing. Found the part, just need to paint it.

Since I finished all of the armor I had enough skewers to do the frame. Got all of the parts painted black, then gold, then with a gloss coat of Future. I think the parts looks pretty good. Just need to do some panel lining and then I can assemble.

What else I'm into...

Video games! Still playing  Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Battlefield 3. I know I've had both of these on here before, but I can't seem to put them down for long. Biggest reason I haven't finished the Strike Freedom. If you haven't played either, you really need to. Very different games, but both are a lot of fun. 

Oakland Raiders! Big game today and they're big underdogs going against the undefeated Packers. I'm unrealistically optimistic about the Raiders chances, but I can't help it. I'm a fan. Well I'm off to watch the game. See you guys next time.

Weekly WIP - MG Strike Freedom (Part 11)

What I'm working on...

Have another short update this week. Progress was a bit slow as the temperature has been in the mid 30s this week. Could barely feel my hand after 30 min. After a few sessions, I did manage to get some armor parts painted. For the most part they look pretty good. I would have painted the frame parts, but I've apparently run out of skewers. I had over 100, so I have no idea where they all went. Going to need to get more. 

Also managed to get a gloss coat on so I could start decaling. Decals are looking ok so far. The process is taking longer than I would like though. I keep getting confused because I'm putting together the right arm and left leg. Since there are side specific decals, I want to make sure I do it right. I think I'm doing it right so far but I would fully know until assembly. 

Hopefully in the next week or two I'll have the body done and just need to do the wings. 

What else I'm into...

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. I love this series. I'm not terribly good, but I love playing. There are a ton of recognizable characters, many different play styles, and a lot of chaos. 

Weekly WIP - MG Strike Freedom (Part 10)

What I'm working on...

So after I week off, I got back to work the Strike Freedom... and it's been a nightmare. Every little bit has been fighting me. First, there are tons of seam lines on the wings. Been trying to figure out how to do the frame for the wings. There are a lot of different pars for the movable wing gimmick. So far everything is going ok, but I worry they wont be able to hold the weight. Might use crazy glue instead of the normal modeling glue.

Started priming the armor for the left leg, left arm, and some of the left wings. 

The painting started off great. Primer was spraying real nice on the first funnel. 

Then I got to the second piece, another funnel. As you can see below, that one didn't go nearly as well. 

After a lot of playing around with the airbrush I discovered the problem was the primer drying on the tip of the airbrush. I have no idea why it was doing this. Never happened before. Tried a few different things to fix the problem, but nothing worked. So I wiped the tip of the airbrush every minute or two to help prevent this. For the most part this worked. Took FOREVER, but it got the job done. Now I've just got to clean up before I continue painting. Fortunately, not all pieces are as bad as this one.

Well that's all for now. Hopefully things will go better next week and I can get the arm and leg done.

What else I'm into...

Hanna. Saw the movie this week and I found it to be surprisingly good. If you haven't seen it, give it a shot.

Do not try Southern Comfort Fiery Pepper. It is terrible. It may be the worst drink I've ever had. I can't believe there was someone somewhere that tried it and said "WOW! They should sell this!" 

Weekly WIP - MG Strike Freedom (Part 9)

What I'm working on...

Finally got to do some final assembly (probably my favorite part). Finished the chest. 

Not to happy about the deacls, but I'm pretty pleased with the rest. It's not perfect but it's probably some of my best work to date. 

Next up, I got to assemble the leg. From the front it looks pretty good. The gold paint is thicker than normal paint so a lot of the frame parts are very stiff. I broke 2 parts trying to get them to fit together. Also makes it hard attach the armor. On the plus side, no glue necessary. Those parts are not coming off. 

From the front it looks good. Just noticed that the ankle armor isn't right. There is some gold that needs to be added. Looks like I'll be doing that by hand. The back needs some work too. Need to do some seam line removal on one part. Once that's done I think I'll have something pretty nice.

Since I only have one leg done, I can do before/after shots.

I'm pretty pleased with this. The red, white, and blues look really good, but more importantly is the gold. Looks great shinning through the flat armor colors. The wash brings out a lot more detail too. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. 

Currently sanding and cleaning the one of the arms, one of the guns, the other leg, and the back pack. Lots of seem lines on the gun and a huge one going all the way around the back pack. But I'll go into that next week.

What else I'm into...

Great Lakes Christmas Ale! So it's pretty tough to find. You can only find this in north east Ohio and even then it sells out pretty fast. But if you can over come all that, give it a shot. It's really good.

Weekly WIP - MG Strike Freedom (Part 8)

After a little unplanned hiatus I'm back at work on the Strike Freedom!

What I'm working on...

Got the inner frame for the chest and one of the legs painted. Still need to gloss coat, then panel line, then gloss again before taking pics. Also got the armor for the chest and one of the legs mostly painted. The dark blue looks bad in the photo, but that's actually the paint catching the light. The purple is actually a semi metallic purple. When it's hit with a flat coat, the end result should look good (check out the base below).

Gloss coated and did the decals too. They're setting better than they did on the waist section, but it's still not going on right. Micro Set/Sol worked with the decals I got from Samuel Decal, but they don't seem to be working with the Bandai ones. Going to take a trip to the local hobby shop before I do any more decals to see if there are other solutions.

The leg has one bad seam line. My plan is to paint the frame, paint the armor, attach the armor, mask off the exposed frame, remove the seam line, and lastly repaint the armor. This is the best solution I can come up with.  

On the positive side, I finally got the base done. My masking skills need some improvement, but with a little touch up, I think it looks ok. Since it's the base, I'm hoping it wont draw too much attention. At a distance, the base looks pretty good, but up close the defects are pretty noticeable. 

What else I'm into...

The Walking Dead. Both the show and the comic. I love the show. Lots of exciting twists and turns. That being said, the comic book is better. More zombies, more surprises, and Michonne! She is awesome. If you haven't checked out the Walking Dead, you really should give it a shot.

Weekly WIP - MG Strike Freedom (Part 7)

What I'm working on...

Sorry guys didn't make much progress. It's been one of those weeks where life gets in the way of model building. Started painting the base. Got the white, gold, and dark blue painted. Unfortunately, the white and gold are masked off and the red and lighter blue still needs to be added, but you can get an idea of what this will look like.

Also painted the stand part of the base. I'm pretty happy with the concept. Hopefully after I do the cleanup it looks as nice as I want it to.

Here's a bit of preview about what it will look like with the waist attached. 

What else I'm into...

Fireball! It's delicious and with the weather changing, it will help keep you warm... sort of ;)

Weekly WIP - MG Strike Freedom (Part 6)

What I'm working on...

Before getting started, I'd like to thanks those from the MAC Forum that have shown their support and provided some valuable advice. 

Finished the waist.

Not very happy with the results. Decals silvered. Panel lines don't look good. There's scratches. Paint didn't on on very well. Just overall, I'm not pleased. So to hopefully prevent this on the rest of the kit, I decided to take a step back. 

Snapped together a NG 1/100 Exia.

Snapped together a SD Unicorn Gundam

Lastly, I pinned together a resin kit for the first time. It was a fun experience. Resin is a very different plastic than what bandai uses. If you're looking for a different challenge, I highly recommend trying out a resin kit.

After all of that, I got back to the Strike Freedom. Sanded down all the nubs on the chest and legs. Other than two parts on the legs, there no other seam lines to remove. But I'll be covering all that in more detail next time.

What else I'm into...

The League! I love this show. Very funny. Even for those that don't like fantasy football (or sports in general), I highly recommend this show.

Great Lakes Oktoberfest. I believe it's only available in northeast Ohio, but if you're in the area check it out. One of my favorite beers.