HG 1/144 The O ver. OwYeah WIP 3

At long last...Some progress!

It's been a while since I posted any plastic modeling updates from my end. My last update was the lovely Warhammer Christmas gift and the upcoming Real Grade - GP01. Since then, I wasn't able to share anything. That's because I've been busy...seriously busy and to keep the story short, life happened during the past 4 months. January 2013, my first baby girl was born. That was my ultimate creation. A Perfect Grade! LOL. The joy and happiness brought by our new family member was priceless. Including the sleepless and exhausting nights.,but that didn't stop me. There were times when I grew really tired during the first week taking care of our first born. I got lucky if I was able to get a full one-hour sleep. Exhausted...but happy. It was worth it. As the days go by, we were able to get more sleep. More sleep means more energy restored. And with more energy, I can now allocate a little time for my hobby!

All I can say is the year 2013 gave me a good start.

So, here I am working on a project that was started over a year ago. It was intended to be part of the Mecha Contest from MAC forums. But since it was ultimately delayed, I decided to shelf the kit, skip the contest, and entertain life. A year later, after all the dust settled, I went back and began working on "THE O".

During the last WIP, I was able to add minor modifications to the armors. Check this link to see where I left off.

I forgot to take photos of the remaining mods I made. Apologies for that. As soon as the mods were done, I began priming the kit. I used the Vallejo Primer - the best primer I've used so far.

After the priming session, I decided to create a realistic paint-chipping effect and not just a plain paint job. In order to do this, I must create an undercoat paint which will be visible after all those scratches. I have a Vallejo Model Air - Rust, which would be perfect but I thought won't be sufficient enough to cover the kit entirely. So I decided to use a cheaper alternative - Tamiya acrylics! I got the Hull Red mixed with acrylic thinner at a 1:1 ratio.

I waited for approximately 4 hours to let the Hull Red fully dry. Then using a hairspray (that says Strong Hold), I applied a single coat to cover all "rusted" pieces. Hairspray will create a protective armor over the Hull Red base paint.

I also painted the other parts that doesn't require paint chipping. Again, this is done using Tamiya Acrylics.

Next, I applied a coat of Tamiya Acrylic Desert Yellow on top of the Hull Red base.

The color was too dark for a desert scheme so I decided to apply a light coat of Tamiya Acrylic Buff to lighten things up.

To create the paint-chipping effect, I used an old toothbrush dipped in lukewarm water. I thought it would be as easy as doing chipping with Vallejo but I was wrong. Tamiya Acrylics dry really fast I had to exert more effort scratching those parts.

See the sample image below. The one on the left was the original paint job while the other on the right has paint chipping.

As soon as I was done chipping paint off, I let it dry for a full day.

Inspection time! Everything looks fine! The scratches landed just where I want them to be.

Everything went well on the Desert Yellow so I decided to apply the same effect on the torso. The same sequence - Hull Red, Hairspray, then Gray.

For the internal mechanism, I used Hull Red, Hairspray and Gun Metal.

I was aiming for a rusty metal on these parts.

Detailing! The pipes were colored using Vallejo Liquid Metal - Copper. One of the best metallic paint I've used. It was very easy to use esp. by handbrush.

Detailing - using Vallejo Model Air - Chrome.

Here's my weapon of choice when it comes to Gloss Varnishes. Winsor and Newton Gloss Varnish. Based on my experience, this Gloss Varnish is the easiest type to use without sacrificing the gloss effect. No pigments to shake, just at Distilled water and you're good to go. It can be applied using an airbrush or a hand brush.

In preparation for an oil wash, I used 30:70 water to varnish ratio.

Here's a sample of a piece with a gloss coat. Ready for Decals and oil wash!

For the oil wash, I promised to stay away from enamels. So I chose another artist-grade product and I found these. Winsor and Newton oil paints to be thinned (and cleaned) using mineral spirits. It is non-toxic and very easy to use.

Sample wash. The shoulder piece on the left has no wash yet; Oil wash already applied on the right. Notice the difference.

Mineral spirits can be used to clean up the excess oil wash.

After the cleanup, I sprayed Vallejo Matt varnish on all the pieces in preparation for the pigments. I want to add some sand-like dust on some armor pieces especially on the lower portions. I was able to do this using Tamiya Weathering master.

Sample pics. Left - no pigments yet. Right - Sand was applied on the edges of the armor.

And that's it for the WIP. Everything looked fine and I'm very happy I was able to finish my first customization/kitbash. I will post the finished product soon.
Thanks for dropping by,