Progress Report - SD Alteisen Riese (9/29/20)

Workstation

To avoid all the ashes from the wildfire and all the bug bites on my leg, I decided to move my workstation indoors.

I got myself a new spray booth with a stronger fan and a quieter air compressor.

Repair

I noticed few of my primed pieces didn't have a nice smooth glossy finish as they were supposed to.

These are the parts that were very poorly sanded with 600 grit. I've been reading that 600 is generally fine but I suspect the cheap sanding sponge I was using was probably little more coarse than its labe. So I decided to try re-sanding them.

Here is what the piece looked like after re-sanding with 400 grit. This was mostly to remove the primer layer off of the plastic.

I then took 600, 800, 1000, 2000 grit sanding pads and lightly sanded off the surface from low grit to high grit.

And here we have what it looked like after I finished with the 2000 grit. For most glossy finish purposes, 800 grit is supposed to be sufficient but since I'm doing candy coating (where small flaws are extra noticeable), I decided to go up to 2000 grit.

Here is a comparison shot using another piece:

On the left, we have a piece that was coated with glossy black primer after sanding with 600 grit. You can see it has lot of bumps and the surface does not look smooth and glossy.

On the center, we have a piece that was sanded with 2000 grit. Even before adding primer, you can see the piece looks much smoother than the piece on the left.

On the right, we have the piece from the center coated with the same primer used on the left. The surface is smooth and glossy enough to see my own reflection on it.

Airbrushing

For base color, I divided the pieces up in two categories: chrome group and gunmetal group.

First group consists of pieces that will be candy coated red and yellow along with pieces that will be coated plain chrome. This first group will be painted chrome for base layer.

The chrome color from Vallejo Metal Colors series came out very nicely. It had a much nicer metallic look than the generic silver color from the model color line. It didn't have the nice mirror-level sheen like lacquer based paints (i.e. Alclad II) but I imagine this was the best I was going to get using acrylic paints.

The second group is the darker pieces that will be coated gunmetal. Aside from some parts that needs to be masked and have split colors, these pieces will only have the base layer and the top coat.

The gunmetal color from Tamiya didn't have a nice metallic look like the chrome paint I was using for chrome. I'm contemplated on whether I should stick with glossy black finish but I decided to just see through the gunmetal finish to the end.

Scribing

I just want to take a moment to show how badly scribing failures show up once you start coloring metallic colors.

This is the piece that I tried to cover up the scribing mistakes by just sanding it off during the last progress report. In fact, this piece was one of the pieces I had to undo my first primer coat because it didn't have a smooth surface. I even went through the effort to lightly repair the scratches using a super glue (still have no epoxy putty). Everything looked ok after I primed it again after the repair but this is how it looked once I applied the chrome layer.

Hopefully I'll get some more practicing with scribing and can improve for next time.

Today I Learned

• Always be diligent with sanding - no skipping out!
• Scribing failures can be really bad on metallic colors

Progress Report - SD Alteisen Riese (9/22/20)

Disassembly

The Kotobukiya SD Alteisen Riese was a kit I build very long time ago. As such, it was covered in dust and needed some cleaning. So I started with disassembly.

When it comes to parts that are hard to pull apart, I used a sharp model knife to press it gently against a seam line.

If the blade was dull or if I applied too much pressure, I ran the risk of cutting through the plastic as well.

Once the pieces part across the seamlines, it was just a matter of twisting the blade very lightly to pull them apart.

After pulling all the pieces apart, I washed them with water and dish washing soap.

Once it was laid out for drying, it was quite a lot of pieces... Why does a SD kit have so many pieces?

This was also a nice opportunity to go over all the pieces and review which pieces needed to be painted in what order and which pieces required extra sanding before I can start the painting.

Seam Line Removal

First thing I wanted to tackle was removing seam lines. This meant I had to re-assemble a few pieces.

But before I started re-assembling, I decided to make some fixes to the pieces to make them fit more loosely. This process is very helpful for two reasons. First, it makes disassembly much easier (which is probably not going to be necessary anymore going forward). Second, it makes applying force to the contact surface between two pieces easier, making the seam line removal process much smoother.

The most obvious way to do this is making the inner holes bigger. I used a pointy file or a round file to cut the holes slightly wider so that the male pieces can fit through without any resistance.

I had to be very careful with this process to not accidentally make the holes too big or even destroy the plastic surrounding the holes.

The other way is to reduce the size of the male pieces. I usually achieve this by cutting the pointy nubs diagonally. This reduces the amount of contact surface against the hole significantly, making it much easier to press in the pieces together or pull them apart with little to no effort.

Like the other method, I had to be careful here. If I accidentally cut off the entire nub, it would cause problems with alignment when I reassemble.

Actual seam line removal process was same as before. I dropped a drop of extra thin cement glue between a slightly cracked open seam line (this process feels a lot like panel lining) and then used something like a paper clip to apply pressure.

After a few minutes, melted plastic oozing through the seam lines hardened and was ready for sanding.

I started sanding with 320 or 400 grit to make the surface flat. I then used 500 or 600 grit to make the flat surface smooth again.

I've heard some people prefer to further sand at this point with 800 to 2000 grit to make it even smoother but I chose to just move on.

Scribing

I didn't plan on adding any new panel lines but I noticed some of the existing panel lines were very shallow. I learned from the last kit that these shallow grooves are going to be hard to work with later so I took a few scribing tools and started cutting them deeper.

I didn't have any scribing guide tape so I tried cutting by just following the existing grooves. This turned out to be a mistake as I ended up making lot of scratches and cuts outside the existing panel lines. Normally I want to fix this with super glues or putty but I didn't have any of those on hand either. I ended up just sanding the surface and hoped it would be enough to hide the scratches. Note that the sanding process was also necessary for making sure the plastic that was cut out by the scribing tool did not jut out, making a rough surface.

Sanding

For candy coating, I want to make sure every surface is uniformly smooth as possible. While this is the rule of thumb for all paint jobs, candy coating requires extra care since flaws can become even more visible than other painting process. This means getting rid of gate marks but also injection mold lines as well.

The photo above is an example of an injection mold line. These are much more subtle than things like seam lines and are often hard to see unless you shine it against bright light. After candy coating, these parts will come out like a slightly dented car surface after someone dinked you at a parking lot. I fixed this by lightly sanding the surface with a 600 grit sanding pad.

Again, this is where lot of people suggest sanding further with 800 to 2000 grit to make it even smoother. And once again, I decided to just move on.

I completed prep work for about 1/3 of the entire kit and decided to start airbrushing.

Airbrushing

Since lot of the prep work involved sanding, I made sure to wash the pieces again in water and dishwashing soap.

This part is important because I want to make sure all the newly created dust from sanding was clean and any grease from my hands were not left on the surface of the plastic.

I dried the pieces overnight and I was ready to prime.

Instead of priming with grey and later painting gloss black paint afterwards, I decided to just prime with a glossy black primer. As always I started by misting on a thin tacky layer first.

The tacky layer helps so that the wet layer does not pool. Again, it's important to remember that any flaws on the surface becomes painfully visible once the candy coating is finished so I have to take extra caution.

Once the tacky layer was evenly applied, I painted the wet layer.

I made sure the wet layer was applied evenly on the surface and did not have any splatter texture.

Unfortunately, this is where my lack of diligence with sanding started really showing form. Once the paint started drying, some of the surfaces that were sanded with 600 grit became slightly visible. The primer did help hide a bit of the scratches but there were definitely visible ones that were not getting filled by the primer. I am hoping that the clear coat I will apply later will help with hiding the scratches.

Today I Learned

• Always use guiding tape when scribing (even when cutting existing ones deeper)
• 600 grit sanding isn't enough for perfectly smooth surface after priming
• The standard 2-1-1 thinning ratio for Vallejo paint is not suitable for primers (makes it too thin)

Next Project Preview - HG Delta Plus and SD Alteisen Riese

Preview

For my next project, I decided to work on not one but two kits at the same time.

To kit to the left is Kotobukiya SD Alteisen Riese from Super Robot Wars. I plan to use this one for practicing candy coat and high gloss finish. As such, I expect there to be lot of waiting between waiting for metallic paint and glossy top coats to cure.

The kit to the right is HG Delta Plus. I plan to use this one for practicing shading give it a matte finish. I will most likely be working on this kit while waiting for layers for Alteisen is curing.

Complete - RG Wing Gundam Zero Custom (9/15/20)

 Assembly

Now that all the paints have cured, it was time to piece everything back together.

Right leg complete.

And the other leg.

The waist.

Torso.

Arms.

Shoulders.

With the head, I completed the assembly of the main body.

The twin buster rifle.

Re-assembling the wings required a bit of work. I had to sand down some of the joints because the joints wouldn't fit with paint over it. I also had to use glue to make sure some of the pieces to stick together.

Finally all that was left was the expansion set base but then I noticed this.

Some of the joints were shattering where the alligator clips were holding the pieces. These feather pieces are actually made from a different material from the regular model kit pieces. They are less flexible and very brittle compared to the regular materials.

Fortunately, the joints weren't completely broken to the point where I couldn't still place them onto the stand base.

And there we have it! RG Wing Gundam Zero Custom complete!

Click here to see the full album of the completed kit

Today I Learned

• If a part feels brittle or a piece is made with less flexible material, take extra caution while handling (e.g. avoid using alligator clips)

Progress Report - RG Wing Gundam Zero Custom (9/13/20)

Decal

I completely forgot until yesterday that I was originally planning on adding decals to these pieces.

I wanted to put some assortment of alphabet decals across the wings. The application process wasn't particularly hard but arranging them properly took quite a lot of effort.

That is one side done. The other side was a bit easier.

When applying decals to a curved surface, decals often leave folds that do not perfectly conform to the shape of the surface. To fix this issue, I used Micro Sol - a solution used for softening decals - by brushing it lightly across the top of the decals.

Spray Can

The glossy top coat I applied to the feathers dried up nicely but I wasn't quite happy with how the gloss finish looked on the feathers.

So I decided to give it a matte finish instead.

I didn't have any airbrush-ready acrylic matte varnish so I had to use a lacquer spray can I had laying around instead. Usually, there are some concerns when applying a lacquer-based layer on top of acrylic-based layer. Lacquer is a more "hot" chemical so it can corrode through acrylic paint when you apply lacquer on top of it. Fortunately, we have a layer of clear top coat protecting the layer of actual paint. This usually helps because the lacquer will only be able to eat through the clear coat before it can reach the paint layer and cause any visible damage.

Before using a spray can, it's usually a good idea to leave it in warm water for a while first.

This allows the propellant to become more active (heat makes molecules move around more), making the spray can easier to spray with high pressure.

Applying top coat with spray can isn't very different from applying top coat with airbrush. I applied just enough coating to give it an evenly distributed wet and glossy surface.

Once the top coat dried, the glossy wet look disappeared and it started giving a nice matte look.

The semi-transparent color did not look very good with the matte finish but I was overall happy that it gave off a softer feeling that fits a feather better. Next time, I should make sure the paint job is completely opaque before applying matte finishes.

Airbrushing

I've been a bit hesitant to start the airbrush work because there's been lot of ashes floating around in the air from the wildfires. After some contemplation, I decided to give it a go since it did not look like the air quality was going to improve any time soon.

All I had left was to apply top coat on the 2 lower wings (which I just recently applied decals to) and the 2 upper wing pieces to give them a gloss finish.

And with that, all that's remaining in this kit is to reassemble them a couple days later.

Progress Report - RG Wing Gundam Zero Custom (9/10/20)

 Masking

It's finally time for the hard part. It's time to paint in the details for this sucker.

My goal here is to paint in the hexagons with metallic blue. A smart man would hand paint them with a regular brush. Unfortunately, I am not a smart man.

I started out using the 6mm tape and cut them into small rectangular and triangle pieces. I then applied them one by one to the edges of the areas I don't want the paint to get on.

With each piece of tape, I felt my soul shedding away...

After I covered all the edges, I masked the general areas using bigger and cheaper generic brand tapes.

After about 3 hours working on this, both pieces were ready for painting.

Airbrushing

I first wanted to start out by top coating the feathers that I painted last time. I've been trying to decide between a glossy finish and a matte finish but eventually I decided I'll give glossy finish a try first. If I don't like the glossy look on the feathers, I can later add the clear matte varnish on top.

The photo above shows how the feather looks before the top coat. When applying clear coat, the transparent color makes it hard to tell if you've applied sufficient amount. If you apply too little, you get a bumpy splatter texture. If you apply too much, you can end up with drippy texture. The goal is to apply the top coat just enough to make the surface look wet and glossy. The right balance is a bit hard to find at first but I think I got it right this time.

At first, the wet layer looked like it's a bit much and is covering the detailed textures but it dried out in a much more thin layer and with an event texture.

The feathers look nice and glossy but it doesn't feel like it has a visible overbearing layer of coating on top.

Now, it was finally time to move on to the disaster that was just waiting to happen.

As mentioned previously, our goal here is to have these details painted metallic blue. For metallic colors, however, I don't want to go straight into painting with the metallic paint. I first want to paint it with Tamiya black (glossy).

Oh boy, there's no turning back now...

After the black paint on the actual piece I'm working with dried, I painted it with Tamiya metallic blue.

The reason I colored it black first is because having a glossy black surface underneath helps emphasize the reflective properties of the metal flakes in the metallic paint (think about how windows into a dark room looks like a mirror if you shine light on the glass from the outside).

In the photo above, the plastic spoon is painted black before the metallic blue is applied. The part that has been marked on the photo is where I've accidentally rubbed off the black paint before it was fully dried. You can see that the metal flakes inside the paint are less visible on the patch of area without black paint underneath.

Once the paint dried, it was time to see how everything turned out.

I took some tweezers and started slowly unmasking one piece of tape at a time.

Surprisingly, that didn't turn out so bad. There were some smidges on one side but all in all, I was pretty happy how it came out in the end. It much cleaner than I expected.

On to the other piece...

CLEAN AS F$@#!!!

I may consider trying to fix up that one imperfection by hand brushing but I don't think it'll be too bad if I left it as is.

Today I Learned

• Even if the stickiness of a masking tape seems a bit questionable (as in it moves around if you apply a little pressure to it), as long as the tape is properly covering the edges with no bubbles and openings, it will do its job
• Gotta make extra caution sealing the gaps and bubbles where two masking tapes overlap or the paint will seep through