MG Sandrock WIP (legs)

Before 2011 ends..I wanna share my latest update to my Master Grade Sandrock that I'm currently doing now. It took me some time to finish the legs because I had some problems painting the right leg. I almost ruined a part of it. I even broke a part on it's knee. Those mistakes taught me the dos and don'ts when it's time to paint the left leg.

For the feet, I mixed Tamiya XF53 neutral grey with Tamiya X4 blue. I also add a liitle Tamiya X1 black and Tamiya X2 white unitl I got my desired color. For the yellow parts, I simply used Tamiya X8 lemon yellow. The white parts which makes the most of the parts for the legs had a couple of coats. First after putting primer, I painted them with TOA Spray paint white. I then painted it with RJ Clear Metallic.

Once all of the parts have been painted, I gave them some panel lines using 0.1 pigment ink. The next step was putting the decals and stickers to their respective places, and dry brush some parts with Tamiya XF20 medium grey enamel. I top coat them with RJ Dull Lacquer. I then built the two legs. However I also found some flaws in my work..it scratched the inner frame causing it to expose the original color of it.

Building gunplas is fun and exciting, but sometimes upsetting especially when you don't get what you really wanted. It is a continuous learning process wherein you can apply the lessons that you've learned from your previous work to your next project.

Happy New Year to everyone!!! Let's keep on building gunplas! :)

MG Sandrock WIP (inner frame)

Last mid of November, I got the latest addition to my gunpla collection - the MG Sandrock. This kit is the fourth Master Grade installment for the protagonists of Gundam Wing series.

I started building it at once. I started with all the inner frame first. I wanted to make it look more real by making it metallic but I don't have anymore Mr. Hobby acqueous steel so I just decided to prime it with Tamiya gloss black and followed by Tamiya gun metal. I love it's new and improved color. Below is the comparison.

Painting the parts hides their original plastic look

The painted leg (left) vs the unpainted leg (right)

I also repainted it's weapon. For the beam machinegun and the handles of the heat shotel I used Tamiya flat black for it's base coat and applied Tamiya gun metal after that. As for the heat shotel's blades..I primed it with Tamiya metallic grey, and topped with Tamiya titanium silver.

Sandrock's main weapon - the heat shotel (handles not yet painted)

 After couple of days building and painting the inner frame...here is it's new look :)

1/100 Endless Waltz

These are my 1/100 Gundam Wing Endless Waltz collection. I bought them way back 2007. I was afraid that they might get out of stock again so I bought all of these five kits in just two sets of purchase when I saw them on a hobby store.Since then, I never made any customization to them..just built them and pose. Here are some of their pics.

1/144 HG Providence Gundam (WIP)

This is my first time to custom paint a gundam model kit. The lucky guy would be the Providence Gundam. This kit is my latest addition to my collection but the first one to have a nice "shower" :)) I will just stick to it's anime version/color.

I started with the body first. I cut the parts needed from the runners and sanded them. I then used alligator clip and barbeque stick as their stand.

Parts of the torso getting ready to be primed.

All white after being primed.

I used TOA plastic primer as my primer paint. At first I decant it and put it on my airbrush to have a fine result on the gundam parts.I was not happy with the result. It's like spraying spider web to them. My friend then told me that I should thin in with a lacquer thinner. At first I had a good result but later something unwanted happened..it clogged my airbrush :( I thought that I have to buy another one for that. Good thing that I was able to fix it within the day.

Going back to my project, I painted every part according to it's respective color indicated. For the yellow part I painted it with Tamiya X8 (Lemon Yellow) using an airbrush. I was satisfied with the result.

Painted this part yellow with Tamiya X8

 For the other parts..I used Tamiya X7 for the red ones, Tamiya XF16 (flat aluminum) for the silver, Aqueous Paint H18 Steel by Hobby Color  for the grey, and for the blue parts..Tamiya X4 (blue) with a little mix of Tamiya X7 to make it darker. After painting and assembling them, I put a topcoat on it to have a smoother look and to protect the paints from scratches.

Finished product of the body (sorry for the blurred image)

I followed the same procedure for the arms, but this time I used the plastic primer directly from the can. I just sprayed it several inches away from the the part being primed to avoid too much texture on it. However I noticed that there's uneven paint on one of the arms, even if I sanded it a couple of times.

So this time I decided to paint the parts without any primer, and according to their color scheme to save time. I painted first all of the blue parts to avoid having different shade from the first one. Next is the grey and some of the silver parts. Lastly are the rest of the silver and the red parts.

Grey and silver parts being painted first

Some of the silver and red parts being painted

When all have been painted, I assembled the different parts of the providence gundam. Here they are and all that is left is some detailing and panel lining. :)

Providence Gundam parts ready for final assembly