For the red pieces (and there’s lots of them) I’m going with a similar scheme to the darker red pieces of my Sazabi. I used the black gloss Alclad undercoat to begin with and then a very light coat of Createx pearl red.
When the pearl red goes on, it goes a bit purple, but it also leaves nice dark shadows because of the glossy nature of the undercoat….
…which preserves the detail and has a nice metallic shine.
Here’s the white pieces in their drawer all ready for the red pieces to be completed before assembly.
Now I add the top coat of Tamiya clear red. This is such a magic paint. I thin it with Tamiya thinner to help with the airbrushing and just carefully cover the piece. You can see how the end effect has wonderful shading and three-dimensionality and you’ve not had to work hard at all to achieve it.
Now onto some sub-assemblies.
The mask has got to be one of the best looking Gundam shields there is. I think it’s this shield that really attracted me to this kit in the first place.
The back is not quite as impressive though, although the detailing I did on the back section really helps distract you from the somewhat unfinished edges.
The waist section went together very easily. I’m pleased I did the masking and gold details on the armour pieces and I’m very happy that the gold works well.
Some of the pieces have a nicely excessive level of detail, which is something I always enjoy dealing with!
These shoulder sections are a bit strange. The large thrusters look good, but it’s hard to see the gold details.
I’ve not added the green clear sections yet.
These shoulder arms are quite strange. The don’t seem to go together quite right, with some gaps in the back of the peaks at the top where they join to the next piece. This seems like sloppy design. That said, they’re interesting in their design. I’ve got some Future Finish top coat drying on them to seal in the white oil paint wash I did on the edges.
The darker parts are really “plumy”, it’s a good colour.
Nice WIP. How did you do the oil paint wash? I tired to do it before but the the paint will not go into the lines.
For the oil paint washes I have some old Tamiya paint jars that I’ve washed out and use. I put a small amount of the oil paint from the tube (about as much as you’d use to brush your teeth if it were toothpaste) and then add some mineral spirits, stir and shake until all mixed up. You need to get the oil paint quite thin, but not so thin that there’s not enough pigment to make a decent line.
After painting the pieces I top coat with Future Finish to get a nice gloss surface, but not too thick as to fill in the panel lines. Once that’s nice and dry, the oil wash goes on with a small paint brush.
Sometimes panel lines are too thin for the paint to get in. For those you need to have the wash a little thicker and paint and press it in. Hopefully enough will go in so that when you let it dry and wipe of the excess, a line will be left. For panel lines that are thicker, a drop should spread via capillary action. But don’t be too afraid to just paint over the panel line, let it dry and then wipe off. If you have gaps you can go back and repeat. For complex panel lines (like on the Macross kit I’m currently working on) I’ve had to use all the above techniques.