To kick me right back into model building I bought an airbrush (the local art store had a fabulous sale on), paint booth (with extractor to the outside world) and the Astray Red Frame Perfect Grade 1/60. I’d always wanted to try a Perfect Grade, but new that given their expense, they deserved to be built with patience, care, skill and finesse.

The main white armour was panel-lined direct onto the plastic, and then a good coat of Createx Pearl White was added on top. This softened the panel lines so they didn’t look stark black-on-white, and added a great sheen, although it’s not too visible in these photos. I later found that the Pearl White worked best over white or grey (if you want to see the pearl effect), and I’ve used it consistently on later models.

The red details and frame were airbrushed with Alclad black gloss, then Alclad chrome followed by a good few layers of Tamiya clear red (thinned with Tamiya thinner).

Out of all the kits I’ve built recently, I think the legs of the PG Astray have got to be about the most satisfying. They articulate great, have superb inner detail and the design look is just superb.

Painting the inside of the shoulder vents was tricky, and involved spraying in the Alclad chrome, then thinning some Tamiya gloss black and running it into the lower areas like a thick wash, leaving the chrome shining above, with a Q-tip to remove excess. This was repeated a few times until the black density was built up.

Black panel lining with the Micron pigment pens was done before the Tamiya clear red was sprayed on, which nicely integrates the detail in, and it doesn’t stand out as un-natural. I used this technique more extensively on the MG Sinanju where some of the contours were enhanced with the pen before the clear red layer was added.

The grey sections were sprayed with Alclad grey primer, and then I slowly built up the desired tone and shading with some clear black acrylic that came with my airbrush kit.