MG Gundam Epyon "Wyvert Basilisk" WIP part 11

After the completion of the model,i have been woking on the diorama for it.
Basically,the concept is to make a volcano,because i think what better place for a dragon to fly over than over the top of a volcano with gushing lave.And also the orange lava will suit the Epyon's color scheme nicely.
So first,i have to make the top of the volcano which is the crater.And to make that,i'm trying out a new technique using plaster cloth.

First,i make out the rough shape of the crater using styrofoam blocks and secure them using masking tape.

Second,i applied a layer of plaster cloth to strengthen everything so that modeling clay can be applied easily.

Modeling clay is applied next and molded.

Lastly,i applied more layers of plaster cloth to give it the rocky,mountainous look.

I want to make it look like the volcano is erupting,so i've been trying to made some lava splashes using modeling clay.This is my second attempt at making splashes.It is a simple technique,molding the clay with tweezers,but it definitely need practice and a lot of patients.I not quite sure whether it will look like lava so i'm really hoping it will turn out the way i want.Fingers cross...

Here is a little tip.Some of you guys may know that the modeling clay tends to crack after drying because too much water was applied when molding.So to solve this problem,i apply silicon gel to fill the cracks.

The next step will be to paint the diorama,but my compressor just broke down the other day,so i'm not sure when i will be able to finish this.Sigh...

MG Kampfer(Completed)

I have finally finished the MG Kampfer for the "Universal Century vs Alternate Universe" group build on Gundam Eclipse forum and i'm so glad that i managed to finish it before the dateline.MG Kampfer is an awesome kit,the design looks cool and it has tons of weapons.My only problem was its frame,since it uses an older frame design some of the joints weren't very strong which make posing it a challenge. My original concept for this model is to make it into a machine that have gone through many battles,however i wasn't able to completely stick to that idea.

I've made 2 mistakes during the work process,the first mistake lies with the damages i've added.It wasn't enough nor sever enough to give the impression of a war machine.Aside from adding more big slash marks,burn holes and bullet holes,i also should have added some cast iron effect on the kit.

Secondly,i've overlooked the importance of "washing" during the weathering process.The washing technique is very crucial if you want a nice weathered kit,because if done correctly it helps to show the age of the machine,by introducing rust and other weather elements to the kit,just like a real old machine would have.I skipped this step because to prepare for the washing process,another clear coat must be added after panel lining to seal the panel lines.However,the weather was bad and i couldn't spray that layer of clear coat in time.I thought i can achieve the same effect by using pastel but i was wrong,it was really a shame.

Although i wished that i could have avoided these mistakes,i am still very proud of this.Everytime i finish a kit,i always get this "wow" feeling,i'm sure some or all of you will understand this.Maybe its because of the effort i've put into the kits or maybe its just how different the kit look after it has been painted.I hope you guys like this kit as much as i do and i can't wait to get back to my Epyon gundam.Cheers:)

WIP MG Kampfer Part 1(Damages)

My overall concept for this model is that i want to make it into a gundam that have gone through many battles,and to do that adding damages to the kit is a must.If i have the time to make a diorama i would make it as if this kampfer is the last machine among his squadron,still standing and battling its way out.Thus i went a little light on the damages,just a few scratches and slashed marks.So as to make a significant contrast to his fallen comrades when the diorama is done.However,i won't be able to make the diorama in time for the group build since i started this project quite late.

Anyway,here is what i have done for the kit over the past week.

Let me show you guys the tools i used for adding damages.There are these mini tools that you can attach to a router to make realistic damages by scraping plastic off of parts.I used them for slashed marks and small cuts mainly.Next is a corse sanding tool that i use to scrap the edges of the parts to show bump marks that is creating during melee fights and also the age of the machine.Lastly,to create burns holes created by beam rifles or cannons,we need to first make a hole and using soldering iron,melt the plastic around the edges of the hole to show the beam melting through the thick layer of metal armor.If you don't have a soldering iron,you can also use the fire from candles,but its harder to control the radius of the burn.So i only use direct flame when i'm making big burn marks.

Here are some useful tips that i would like to share with you guys.Take a photo of the kit after assembly and plan out the damages on your model by drawing them on the photo first.Also i found it useful to fully prime the kit before adding damages,so that you can roughly see how the damages will look like after painting.

I hope you guys learned something from this week's update.I will start painting tonight and the color scheme will be the same as the one in the manual,only the blue will be a little different.Thank you for viewing this post,cheers:).

Gundam Epyon "The Hydra" Week 6

The things that i ordered arrived on monday,which made my week a lot busier but it was fun.Sometimes,i think i work too slow so a change of pace is refreshing.Before i start breaking down the things i've done,i want to tell you guys i'm thinking of changing the color scheme to that of the kshatriya.Since i want green as the main color,the color scheme look like its best suited.For the previous color scheme,my main concern wad the dark grey so i have been looking around for its replacement.Also i decided to not use the light grey too.I will post some samples when i've done mixing the colors,i hope that it will go well.

Now lets get on to the actual topic.i sanded and clean up the spikes for the sword guard and superglued onto it.

I modded the backpack to accomodate the extra shield on the back and make space for the fifth head's neck to be secured.i "kinda" combine the 2 backpack from shenlong and epyon together.But most its still epyon's backack because if i were to mod too much i may have difficulties attaching the wing.

I had to mod the connector on the shenlong's dragon fang so that i can attach them to the arms of the epyon and here is what i have modded.Epyons arm is a little bulkier than shenlong's so i had to remove the piece at the side.

Picture from dalong.net

Here is how the leg look after i added the spikes to the upper portion of the leg.

My extra metal thrusters also came together with the 2 boxes of shenlong,so i was finally able to fix them onto the booster.

I wanted to show you guys the primed version of the fifth dragon last week,but something broke so i remove it from the previous post.As you guys can see there is still a lot work to be done,also I'm quite concern with the curve panel lines that i want to draw on it.This will be my first time drawing non straight panel lines.so i'm a little nervous.

For the diorama,i have started scribing tiles patterns on the front of the pantheon,andi will continue this with the sides of the roof.I will also add more details in the following weeks.And for the pillars,i've made small steps for them to make them look as realistic as possible.

I'm finally at the half way point,and like i said last week i'm going to start painting next week.I will probably start with the light green parts first and separate them into 2 batches,as there is too many to be finished in 1 go.Thats all for now,please stay tune to the next update.Thx:) .

Gundam Epyon "The Hydra" Week 4

Wow,1 whole month have passed by so quickly.I wonder if i really can finish this in 3 months,that means i only have 2 months left...I always doubt myself when there is a time limit,i got to change that mentality and enjoy the build to the fullest...Ok,time to stop my whining and lets talk about the progress i've made this week.

Most of you may be wondering how is the wing doing,so lets start from there.The epoxy work on the wing is almost done and i'm currently focusing on cleaning the boomerang spikes up and duplicating them.And for the extra booster,i'll have to wait for the metal thrusters to arrive in order to progress further.The next step for the wing will be to use pla plates to beef it up.

I have also mixed the colors which i want to use,the main color is dark green and dark grey.For the yellow,i'm going to change it to yellow/orange which looks nicer with the green.For the light grey,i'm still thinking whether i want to change it into another color.Finally,i will be using metallic yellow for the eyes and orb.Tell me what you guys think about the color scheme,ok?I'm still a noob at choosing colors:(

I didn't show any pictures of the body that i have detailed up last week,so here is how some of the parts look after priming.

Here is one mod i did this week on the wing.I putty up the part highlighted in black and cut out a portion of the red part.I did this to cover the frame(which is the red part),now there is a clear separation between the red and dark grey part at the side.
This is how it looks before the mod.

 Picture from dalong.

I hope you guys like what i've done so far,and please stay tune for the next update.Cheers!

How to do pre-shading and highlight on your gundam

Before applying any color paint be sure to spray a coat of primer(i use mr hobby 1000 grey primer),this will help the paint to stick better to the surface and also reduce the risk of "flooding"(too much paint at one area causing thick and ugly paint marks).(Primer also help to find faults on your model)

Base paint-This will be the first layer of color paint and it's usually a darker tone of the final color.For example,if you want to paint light green on your model,your base color would be dark green.

For this piece here,I used dark grey as base because I will spray dark blue next.

Shading-How well you shade,comes with practice.The more you practice,the better the result.Shading is basically leaving a darker color tone on the edges.Make sure that the top color is vivid.(For example,when spraying white,there will be a lot of instances when the white is a little grayish. Thats because the white coat is not thick enough or the base coat was too dark causing the white parts to look like very light grey parts.)

Blending-This is an important step to blend the darker parts with the original color,and to do so,we need to thin the main color more by adding thinner.Spray it at a distance,and see the base color getting closer to the main color but still remaining its darker tone.

Highlighting-Add white paint to lighten the color tone more.Lightly spray this at the center of the pieces,do not go too close to the edges or it would erase the effect of the previous shading.