We had some decent weather on Saturday, so I sat down to knock out painting another batch of parts. I did all the black parts, followed by a majority of the red parts. All that’s left is about 15~20 of the small red pieces, the waist and head piping, thrusters, and weapons. Actually, saying that, I realize I’m still not anywhere near done, but today I’m going to go ahead and do the big reveal on the colors, or at least the main ones.
So for the materials, I’m using the following colors:
- Red pieces: Tamiya Color Spray TS53 – Deep Metallic Blue + TS13 Clear Glossy
- Black pieces: Tamiya Color Spray TS64 – Dark Mica Blue + TS13 Clear Glossy
- Gold pieces: Tamiya Color Spray TS30 – Silver Leaf
- Inner frame: Tamiya Color Spray TS42 – Light Gun Metal
Additionally, I’ve used the Metallic Silver Gundam Marker for some additional areas, mainly the little cylinder pipe that is used in the back of the foot. Having near finished the leg parts, I’m debating on going back and highlighting the back of the knee as well as the tiny little thruster outlets on the left/right side of the calves with it or the Silver Leaf.
I’m planning on using the following colors as well for other parts:
- Thrusters (outer bell) Tamiya Color Spray TS71 – Smoke
- Thrusters (inner bell) Haven’t decided, maybe silver leaf
- Weapons Tamiya Color Spray TS38 – Gunmetal
- Power cables Haven’t decided, either silver leaf, light gunmetal or smoke
- Booster tanks Haven’t decided, probably light gunmetal or gunmetal
Looking back, I think I could have used Mica Silver or Metallic instead of Silver Leaf Silver since my other main colors are metallic and mica flavored, but I was really impressed by Gaijn Gunpla’s Silver Leaf Shin Musha Gundam that I wanted to give it a go.
A few notes about the colors I’m using. Metallic Blue really needs a few layers of coat on it to bring out it’s shine. It’s good to also throw a coat of glossy clear on it afterwards as well to help make it glow. The Dark Mica Blue on black is really close to black so it may be hard to tell in the pictures, but up close it has really nice sparkles as well. I’ve put a coat of glossy clear on these pieces as well. Overall, the biggest problem with these two main colors though is they tend to be affected by humidity. I discovered that painting on a humid day would make the colors come out flat, which would require more coats to get it up to spec. Unfortunately the summer weather has not been so summer like, which means I’m facing 90% humidity some days. Saturday afternoon it dropped down to around 65% so I went for it, and managed to get great results on just the initial coats of color. I let them sit and taking a look in the evening and man don’t they look nice.
Next up is going to be the painting of the silver lines on the black pieces. I decided to hand paint because masking would drive me insane. I may end up masking though because I really my brush technique sucks completely though. I went and sprayed a bunch of silver leaf into a spare jar to pool it up, and tried painted a few pieces, but it’s kinda eh. After having the main armor come out really nice, I don’t want to have the look ruined by a crappy hand painting job.
Anyways, all together the feet, arms, back thruster set is done. The legs are done save for the knee parts. I’ve been putting waterslides on parts as well as I’ve gone, but that’s going to take a while in itself. So, now that I’ve revealed the colors, let’s see how what I’ve got done looks.
From the front
Side angle
Back thrusters
Back shot
Unfortunately it looks like crappy weather this week (yay, typhoon, fun for all) mixed in wtih the summer holidays means that most likely nothing else is going to get done this week painting wise. Guess that will give me some quality waterslide application time!
——- E D I T ——-
Just to give you guys a clearer idea of the metallic blue, here’s a closer up shot of the boosters I took last week.
An American Salaryman in Osaka 
Wow! It’s looking totally mean! Great colour selection. You might consider investing in a hygrometer for summer month painting ^u^~~
Consider mixing your silver paint for the details with some lighter fluid and applying it several light layers at a time with a fine brush. Any mistakes should be able to be wiped off with a q-tip, soft cloth, or your finger if you have applied gloss to all the parts in question already. Test it on an inconspicuous area first, but this may be an option if you have trouble with really fine stuff. It also helps to steady you if you rest the wrist of your brush hand on something.
Good luck! I look forward to seeing this bad boy.
Thanks for the tip on the lighter fluid, would thinner work as well in that case?
Looking great. I like that Deep Metallic Blue u got there. Although I cannot tell exactly from the image. But does this metallic paint gives off a glitter look or metal shinny look? I mostly stayed of metallic paint in the past because they look glitterish. But I wasn’t sure if that is the case with all metallic paint. And looking at your photo, it just look shiny.
Anyhow, my other half is going on a biz trip this coming 2 weeks. Going get some kits done for sure.
Btw, when is the next HJ (w/ XN Raiser) coming out? I eagerly awaits your shipment. =)
GunGuy: Thanks for the comment. I think it’s a great color, but I’ll be the first to admit it just seems to absorb the light. If you look up close, you some some metallic flecks, but it’s no where near glitterish. It’s really hard to tell though with the current pictures. Still that’s part of the appeal of this color as well.
If you look at the second parts picture, you can actuallyy make out some of the “mica flecks” for lack of better wording on the black piece. The metallic blue is a much calmer more uniform color version of that.
Lucky you on the other half biz trip, wish mine would have some of those, haha, ahem, it’s a good thing she doesn’t bother to read english there.
As for the HJ with XN Raiser, I think it’s 8/25 or 9/25.
GunGuy: updated with a better picture I think, what do you think?
Yes the detail are much more visible. Thanks. Man I like your new camera, is super sweet.
On a side note, my wife’s biz trip was suddently cancelled today…. my massive gunpla building plan was foiled. So back to the norms..meaning I will need to spend at least a couple of hours watching TV & talk to her, before I can safely ask, “may I retire to my gunpla building room now?” LOL
ANyways, can’t wait to see your finished Sinanju with your new camera.
Wow that’s a big block of comment text after reading all of your GBE posts… Short of actually reading it I’ll just say that NO – thinner won’t work the same as lighter fluid. Reason for the lighter fluid is that using thinner will eat the paint around/below. Napatha based lighter fluid like zippo will not.
I want to ask a permission to re-post this one, can’t I?
Reblogged this on The Painter And The Engineer.
Howdy hey, sorry to necro this post but I’ll be working with the Deep Metalic Blue on a Gundam Wing Zero Custom once the humidity goes down here.
Anywho, did you sand and prime the red parts first or just paint the blue over the red. If you did use a primer, do you remember which base color it was?
Thanks in advance, and hope you see this!!
Davis Wheat