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Building
Preparation - Using the filler/primer, I sprayed a few heavy coat so
that all holes are covered. Then I use 400 grit sandpaper to smooth the
surface and remove filler that obscure details, all in all works pretty
well. On the mid-limb parting lines, I cover the mating surfaces with
epoxy glue and squeeze the part together so that the glue oozes out, and
when they harden I can sand them away, so that less puttying is needed.
However I found that my epoxy mixing is sometimes uneven, so a few areas
don't cure and are extremely soft, and got sanded away all the time. So
I took all the soft ones out and fill the gap with superglue. It's really
not too bad. I also tried SSP-HG II for the mating surface between the
right leg and the body, since I was planning to glue this after I paint
everything. I tried epoxy and bondo for this kind of filling but they
don't stick to resin well enough to withstand sanding, but SSP-HG does.
I think this stuff is actually superglue + filler powder. It is works
like polyster putty except it has better shaping and sticking properties,
and it doesn't stink as bad.
Painting - Painting large kits with artist acrylics is a pain since they
don't stick well, well I had to spray overcoat (Krylon matte finish) quite
often. I also resist the temptation to paint parts completely in one pass,
so that I have something to hold on when I paint - it is difficult to
hold on to this large parts with just a stick. This time I use a very
light flesh tone, and it turns out great and very anime-like. The base
I painted with silver with clear red on top, but it doesn't look too reflective;
may I put on too much clear red. I also tried to paint in hair grooves
with a deeper hair color first, and later spray on the hair color. I thought
this turns out quite well too, accentuating hair flow quite a bit. Finally
I was going to paint in the anime hair reflection with oil, but it was
just too harsh;eventually I settled with a little blending. The bikini
top was also giving me some grief; I didn't want to settle on pure white,
but grey doesn't work either. So I tried a little flesh color for shadows
and then top coat with white to give a little transparent effect. It kind
of works. Would've done better if I planned this in advance. I also change
the shape of the eye after the first try, since I don't have a big photo
to copy this time. Finally I spent quite a few hours on the cleavage to
get the shade just right... it was frustrating but well worth it :) The
Krylon matte finish isn't matte enough so I sprayed some Gunze super clear
flat... viola, the skin looks really soft! The bikini piece I just leave
them in the matte finish and it looks semi-glossy.
Disasters - 1. Joining the figure with the base is a huge pain - it doesn't
balace well at all even with 2 pins. In retrospect I should use thicker
brass rods than 1/16" ones. I used SSP-HG, epoxy and superglue to
make the bonding and after a lot of work and ruining the base with glue,
it seems to hold the figure. Time to fix the base now! 2. I think I either
put too much glue in the neck/head joint or something just went terribly
wrong, the head didn't get into the neck like itdid in the prep-assembly.
So I had to dremel away the dried epoxy and remove some resin from the
head for a better fit. This isn't too bad and no too much paint was scratched
off. 3. The sideburns almost touched the body - I was foolish not to prep-assemble
these! Eventually the side burn scratches off quite a bit of paint and
left 2 depressions. After a few hours of moaning, filling and repainintg,
it looks ok again and this time I'm a lot more careful with the sideburns.
In summary this kit isn't really as painful as some of my earlier ones
in terms of disasters, and by using the filler/primer the pinholes didn't
take me as long to fill as the Tira Misu
kit. This is the bigzzest kit I've built yet and it's a lot of pressure,
but I think it's worth it! Takes about 2 1/2 weeks.
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