1/60 Patlabor Helldiver part 4

Almost every section of Helldiver has a seam line, and the fit between the two halves is often such that it really needs to be removed.DSC09135Continuing  on with the legs, I’ve masked the inner section that’s already painted and glued the leg halves together with some liquid solvent plastic cement. I’m using the Tamiya putty again, which is my go-to filler for seam-lines.DSC09136There was no good way to glue these pieces together and still keep the model reasonable to paint properly, so I’ve painted them separately to assemble in at the end. For the “lights” I’ve cut small pieces of sticky chrome foil and added a drop or two of Tamiya clear orange and blue on top. This makes a really great effect as the light catches the pieces. The small grille section was hand painted with Tamiya gunmetal and then had a black oil wash added to bring out the detail.DSC09137 Masking off the rubber section was very tricky, but the rubber section is reasonable to touch up by hand afterwards, so I just did the best I could.DSC09138The shoulder pieces masked well, but the seam-line removal was tricky due to two panel lines crossing the seam. I used the scalpel to deepen the lines before using the Tamiya scriber to thicken them. Then I used the edge of a sanding stick to tidy up the result. DSC09139 The torso section went pretty good, just requiring careful application of the Tamiya putty and lots of sanding. I built in the pre-painted neck section and carefully masked it so as not to ruin the paint job on it.DSC09140 For the folded parachute I used the same beige as I have used for the rubber sections, but I used some black paint to pre-shade where the bands go. I masked the piece to airbrush in the gunmetal parts at the front, and then hand painted the bands also in gunmetal. Some thinned Tamiya smoke worked well as a wash to bring out the details where the parachute is held in place by the bands.DSC09141 Here’s the feet with their new treads, painted with Tamiya gunmetal.DSC09142And the seam-line removed on the legs.DSC09143Now it’s time for the green paint. DSC09144 DSC09145 DSC09146 But before the legs can go green, I need to mask the gunmetal sections on the feet.DSC09147 I used paper cut-outs to the protect the painted soles.DSC09148 And here’s the pieces getting some top coat.DSC09149 There’s lots of line detail on the parts that are not really panel lines, so the oil wash wouldn’t really work on them, so I went with the thinned Tamiya smoke to enhance the three-dimensionality. And yes, that’s snow you can just see out of the window.DSC09150 Putting some pieces together, it’s nice to see how it’s all looking.DSC09151 The torso has lots of hand painted details. I’ve used silver Gundam marker, hand-painted to bring the details out, with some Tamiya smoke around them to increase the contrast. Adding Tamiya clear colours on top will make the lights and windows work great.DSC09152 Here’s a mostly painted leg, and you can just see around the lines where I’ve added the Tamiya smoke.DSC09153 DSC09154 The torso now has the Tamiya clear added on the details, and some smoke on the beige sections.DSC09161 A rough initial assembly looks great, and ready for a good coat of Future Finish to seal in all the oil wash and protect the detail work.DSC09162Next up after this will be weathering!

Leave a Reply