Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

[Darwin]

At least they didn't make it a B-Club exclusive kit. They're the only guys who can make you spend 2000 yen on a hand set for your 2100 yen Master Grade model.

hey, the B-Club 'high detail manipulator' kits are pretty nice. If there's one thing I don't like about master grade kits it's hinky loosy hands.

>.>

[Darwin]

Okay, bazooka is painted, still needs details.



The bazooka rockets are painted as high explosive dual purpose. I don't like how they turned out, deciding to paint them by hand was a terrible idea.

Thrusters are painted, still need to be cleaned up a little and detailed. Most of them are really rough around the masked edge. This will probably take a good deal of cleanup.

Shoulders



Hips



Back



Wings



Legs



Sadly I misplaced the thrusters that go on the calves, just found them, and they need painted separately. *sigh*

[Havok]

Are the insides of the thrusters supposed to be painted... because the rough edges give it a realness that looks cool.

[Darwin]

Are the insides of the thrusters supposed to be painted... because the rough edges give it a realness that looks cool.

It'll look better once I've gone over them with a polishing cloth. I don't see how the inside of the thruster bells could really be realistically painted. I'm figuring it's some sort of ceramic coating for heat reasons. ^.^

Really though I did it cause it looks cool, and I don't like the look of bare aluminum thrusters. I'll probably still shoot the outsides with some smoke.

[Ford Prefect]

I like how it looks. I guess you could say that they're suppose to make it look as though the Sinanju has just performed an acceleration burn, or something.

[Ypoknons]

Wow, low depth of field with a compact? Now THAT is macro capability.

[Darwin]

Wow, low depth of field with a compact? Now THAT is macro capability.

I got the Coolpix 4800 specifically for its macro capabilities. It did not disappoint.

I'm a bit stalled at the moment, need to finish up the thrusters, then, finally, I'll be ready to spray the red armor.

[Darwin]

Okay, got the thrusters sorted out. Calf thrusters are painted, and the best looking job of
the bunch. I sprayed them all with tamiya smoke on the outside, and it's a pretty good look.
I modified the calf thruster mounts as the new mechaskunk thrusters are a few mm too
long. This was easy because there was a panel line at just the right spot, and I could saw
right through with my xacto razor saw blade.

Thrusters: DONE!



Fuel tanks: DONE except for decals and black



Weapons: DONE except for decals and clearcoat



I swear the next thing I do will be the red armor. I'm still trying to decide whether to go with
clear red or guards red. I've got to make sure my preshading work shows through, but isn't
too obvious. augh.

[Darth Yoshi]

Is that the add-on that came with the novella? The ammo looks really good.

[Darwin]

Is that the add-on that came with the novella? The ammo looks really good.

Hopefully it will look better with flat clearcoat. the shine really makes it look weird.

Yeah, it's the Gundam Unicorn novella extra. I've got a spare I need to unload. >_>

[Darwin]

Just an update to show I'm still making (slow) progress.



Yes, it CAN hold the Monster Gun O' Doom!

[Ford Prefect]

Whoa, I didn't realise you could attach the bazooka to the beam rifle. Looks good, though probably too heavy for it to support one handed.

PS. Hurry up!

[Darwin]

Got my primary painting done today.

First, I shot it with just thinned Tamiya Clear Red.



That just wasn't covering my rather heavy-handed undershading. So I added most of a bottle of MM Guards Red.



There we go!



I'm gonna need to temporarily re-assemble the head again to get the faceplate alignment right. A couple of tube beads are going into the gun ports up here, I've already got them widened.



Primary painting: Done! I'm gonna let this cure so I can hit it with some Future tomorrow, and then, decals and dry transfers! Aiiee.

[Darwin]

Masked the zeon winged crest on the chest and shield with BMF



FFFFFFFFFFffff That was hard!



I'm going to spray these then forget I ever wanted to do this.

The rest of the gold trim will be hand-painted.

[Ford Prefect]

You are totally crazy, my man.

[Darwin]

So the masking experiment was a total failure. Not only did it produce results worse than if I had just hand-painted, but the old BMF left behind residue, and the painters-tape I used on the shield pulled up the paint. I'm never going to combine masking and unprimed painting again. I'm pretty sure I'll have to re-do the red shield completely, the black parts might be salvagable if I can clean the adhesive residue off without marring up the paint too bad.

[Havok]

DUDE! SWEET!! Don't give up on the Gold!

[Darwin]

I think I can salvage the gold as long as I can clean up the adhesive residue. Goo Gone (if I can find my can) is supposed to work, or baby oil and a number of things, so I'm feeling good about my ability to salvage.

I've already stripped the shield bare (with this stuff called Amaze) and primed it. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.

[Darth Yoshi]

Too bad about the sprayjob. Other than that though, it looks really good.

[Darwin]

After I got the adhesive off, the gold actually cleaned up quite well with a little lining with a gundam marker. yay!

About half-way done with decals now, and damn.

Forget about using the white line dry-transfer decals. Just forget it. They'll partially attach while you're positioning them or the piece will just be too sharply curved or something, but you'll be lucky to get half of them down. Just get the waterslides. My total decal success rate is about 85%.. 50% with white line ones.

Other than the white lines though it's fairly successful.

up next:
Finish Decals
Hand Paint Gold
Hand Paint Details
Gloss Coat All Again
Blacklining
Dull Coat Red Parts
DONE

I hope to be finished before July. >_>

Tomorrow I get the stand and waterslide decals.

[Darwin]

Got another couple of hours into decals, about 100 left, I think. About 6 moure hours should do it.

Got my Sinanju base too, opened it up and sprayed the base with the same red mix the Sinanju is covered with.

Then I tried to decal it.

After the decal wouldn't release from the backing after 5 minutes underwater, I started to wonder.



NOBODY TOLD ME THE ACTION BASE HAD STICKERS, OKAY?



Once that was sorted out, things went swimmingly. but.. stickers? Really?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Wow, master grade kits have come a long way since the last ones I bought (I think the Zeong and Version Ka. Ball).

Your work on this kit is great. Can't wait to see the thing finished.

[Darwin]

Some pics.



Turned out pretty good. I've still gotta give it a layer of future, and flat the red, to match the Sinanju itself. red on top of red gave it a bit of a different tone from the red-on-preshaded b&w of the sinanju, but I call it close enough for an action base.





Shield crest cleaned up quite well with just some gundam marker. I had to scrub a lot of the Future off to fix some oopses, but a fresh coat on top and I think it will look *fine*

[Phantasee]

Oh wow, that shield crest looks crisp.

[Darwin]

Redid the gold, putting reaper gold over the top. I still need to do some touch-ups, and I kinda boneheaded it a bit, but it's a lot better now.

before:


after:


Using the toothpick technique to insert the tube beads, 1mm and 2mm. Here's a 1mm in the heel.


I had to modify this piece, as to install it after filling the seams on the hip pieces, the bottom part had to go. It doesn't hurt a thing.


Just got some touch-ups left to go. The dull red and shiny black really do look nice together!