Valvrave I – part 1

I began with Valvrave I, but after looking carefully at the kit and stickers I decided to go with a full paint job. I know this will mean that I can’t really use the logo stickers, but I reckon the end result will still look great.SAM_0064 And I forgot to take my little camera to the craft room, so I’m a fair bit into the build.SAM_0063 For the main frame, I painted it with Tamiya gun-metal (mainly to pick up in the recessed regions) then Alclad chrome on top, followed by Tamiya clear smoke. This leaves a metallic looking effect, but not too bright and chrome-like, almost like steel – I quite like it.SAM_0062 Here’s the legs masked and painted. The black is Alclad gloss black (with some Finish on top as otherwise it picks up fingerprints way too easily) and then masked with Tamiya masking take for the red and white. The white is Createx white. I experimented with thinning it with Finish, which worked well, but it also went on great without thinning. The red is Createx pearl red with a top-coat of thinned Tamiya clear red. All the red pieces were painted white first for ease of masking and for consistent look throughout the model.SAM_0061Here’s my messy desk with all the pieces that I’ve done so far. Lots of masking to go, but it’s going to be a fun looking kit!

Has anyone been watching the Valvrave anime? We’ve really been enjoying it, but season 1 has just ended and it’ll be autumn before we get season 2. I’d very much like to see more of the mechs as model kits. The Mechanized Annihilators would be awesome – and large too. The Valvraves themselves are great insect designs that really deserve 1/100 MG treatment. Bandai, are you listening?

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