MG 1/100 Chars Gelgoog

This build is a follow up to my MG Rick Dias done earlier this year. WIP post available here. I wanted another shot at an OOB build with a clean paint job. This time around I spent a lot more time trying different things regarding the finish, top coats, polishing, and so on trying to get that really clean shine other modelers seem to pull off, using what I had learned on the Rick Dias as well (such as ensuring a good gloss black base).

I also wanted to spend a lot more time focusing on detailing, primarily on the inner frame. I really liked some of the pistons available on this kit and the inner frame in general, and while it’s still a bit tricky to pose (especially once you put outer frame / armor on it starts to stiffen up), I think it’s a decent inner frame (better than Rick Dias anyways, but this is only my second MG so maybe newer kits are even better).

Update:

New photo shoot using a different camera

After my original post, I did hear a couple comments that the image quality could be better. Above was all shot with a Samsung S7 Edge. I retook some photos (also added on some more armor) with a Canon Rebel T4i. They are below. Both I ran through a resize / compression script that I have setup in Photoshop CS5 (shrink, convert to JPEG 80% quality). I will likely look into the compression script, as well as getting more practice and better at lighting in general, in my next post.

Things learned:

• Alclad II paints are not brushable. They are too thin in bottle and run too much. Brushing unthinned (or even slightly thinned) Mr. Color works better. Mr. Metal Color Chrome Silver brushes pretty well out of bottle. Testors enamels brush decently well out of bottle but a little thinner (maybe 1:1 ratio max) can help prevent from clumping/drying on brush too fast.
• Sanding Alclad II is basically impossible. Sanding with 12000 grit doesn’t really do much but does have the possibility of sanding paint away from edge lines. Going to lower grits just sands paint off right away basically even with little to no pressure. Using polish doesn’t remove the paint, but also may not do a whole lot either. Hard to say (Alclad II gloss black base or stainless steel, both had minimal changes after polish by hand)
• Airbrushing Quick shine and then sanding / polishing is also not a solution to get a really good shine. Quick shine and paint still gets stripped too easily. Brushing quick shine seemed to get a thicker coat. I’m not sure if I tried to sand that yet, but do need to be careful about uneven distribution when brushing as some parts seem thicker than others.
• Also on quick shine, don’t rush it, and spray in thin coats like everything else. I put too thick of a layer on the shield and ended up getting bubbles and splatter due to the PSI / spraying too fast. Luckily this was on Mr. Color clear red, so sanding with 1200 grit, 1500 grit, then heavy scratch remover and up to polish worked well enough to get the major blemishes off without repainting. Quick shine also tends to start clogging my AB if I try to do too much at a time without running some thinner through, probably due to my sticky trigger and thus constant airflow running through brush.  Doing half AB container at a time and then a little thinner in between helped a lot.
• For super slick and perfect surfaces (probably mostly for candy coats or mirror finishes), it’s probably ideal to actually use putty or surfacer 1000 to fill and sand the plastic molds smoother. The small mold unevenness becomes more apparent with the gloss coats (at the very least, they don’t cover it up when starting with Alclad gloss black base).
• If painting inner frame and around joints, be sure to sand where parts may rub together first prior to painting, and probably avoid painting parts that won’t be visible if possible near joints. Otherwise the joints get stiff and model gets a lot harder to pose, and the painted parts will rub/scratch on each other and ruin the paint finish slightly anyways.