So the Heavy Arms Gundam model is coming closer to completion:
Here you can see the model is nearly complete. It only lacks the forearms, the Vulcan cannon arm, and paint on the back mounts.
I've used a variety of paints to change the color of the Gundam. The white was achieved largely by use of Tamiya white surface primer with the occasional touch up made with Citadel Ceramite white. The Red covering was achieved with 3-4 coats of watered down Mephiston Red, again from Citadel Paints. The Yellow on the skirt armor is Averland Sunset, a yellow foundation paint from the Citadel range. I was originally going to shade up to a brighter color palate, to give the model an overall more cartoon-y look, but once I saw the coloring at this stage I changed my mind, and decided to keep the grittier tones of the colors.
Painting with the Citadel paints over the Tamiya primer was an interesting experience. The Tamiya provides a very smooth, almost gloss finish to the surface it is applied to. At first, I thought that this would make applying the Citadel paints over top of it more of a challenge. In truth, it was the opposite. I had to do multiple coats of the color with more water in the mix, finally settling on a 3:1 water to paint mixture. As you can see, it provides a solid finish that holds its’ color well.
The metallic blue detailing on the chest and shoulders was achieved much like how I did the special coating effect on the Wing Gundam. I put down a layer of Tamiya’s flat aluminum and then, with that dry, I tinted it using a thinned down layer of Tamiya’s Clear Blue. Unlike the Wing Gundam, I only wanted to partially tint the silver, not outright change it to a solid blue.
I had originally used Citadel Purity Seal to seal the head of the model following assembly and a little touch up paint on it. That turned out less than optimal. Remember how the head was turning out last time I talked about it?
Well, the Purity Seal had some very unwanted effects to that:
I couldn’t find a lot of info about what caused this particular effect. Some people mentioned temperature being too low would cause that effect, as it would cause more aerosol to be sprayed compared to the amount of sealant causing the sealant to dry over top of bubbles of aerosol that would then evaporate. Others said that the humidity being too high caused it, reasoning that too much moisture would cause a similar effect to the cooled aerosol described previously. Still more stated that the Citadel Purity spray itself was the problem.
Whatever the specific cause of the crazing effect was, it still occurred. So, I can’t do much about it at this stage. If anyone has any suggestions about this, please post in the comments below.
It was recommended that I switch to Testors dull coat, which I was able to pick up a can of for about $6 at Hobby Town. The Dull coat went up much smoother and seems to be free of the crazing effect caused by the Purity seal. I did encounter one small issue with it, though: dropping the piece before the sealant had dried.
Here you can see what happened after dropping the leg only a minute or so after the dull coat had been applied. It caused a smearing effect, all but ruining the panel lining I had accomplished prior.
My thoughts on this? Citadel Purity Seal? Not using that stuff again. Testors dull coat? The jury is still out on that one. We’ll have to see how it works out later on with a different model.
I've used a variety of paints to change the color of the Gundam. The white was achieved largely by use of Tamiya white surface primer with the occasional touch up made with Citadel Ceramite white. The Red covering was achieved with 3-4 coats of watered down Mephiston Red, again from Citadel Paints. The Yellow on the skirt armor is Averland Sunset, a yellow foundation paint from the Citadel range. I was originally going to shade up to a brighter color palate, to give the model an overall more cartoon-y look, but once I saw the coloring at this stage I changed my mind, and decided to keep the grittier tones of the colors.
Painting with the Citadel paints over the Tamiya primer was an interesting experience. The Tamiya provides a very smooth, almost gloss finish to the surface it is applied to. At first, I thought that this would make applying the Citadel paints over top of it more of a challenge. In truth, it was the opposite. I had to do multiple coats of the color with more water in the mix, finally settling on a 3:1 water to paint mixture. As you can see, it provides a solid finish that holds its’ color well.
The metallic blue detailing on the chest and shoulders was achieved much like how I did the special coating effect on the Wing Gundam. I put down a layer of Tamiya’s flat aluminum and then, with that dry, I tinted it using a thinned down layer of Tamiya’s Clear Blue. Unlike the Wing Gundam, I only wanted to partially tint the silver, not outright change it to a solid blue.
I had originally used Citadel Purity Seal to seal the head of the model following assembly and a little touch up paint on it. That turned out less than optimal. Remember how the head was turning out last time I talked about it?
Well, the Purity Seal had some very unwanted effects to that:
I couldn’t find a lot of info about what caused this particular effect. Some people mentioned temperature being too low would cause that effect, as it would cause more aerosol to be sprayed compared to the amount of sealant causing the sealant to dry over top of bubbles of aerosol that would then evaporate. Others said that the humidity being too high caused it, reasoning that too much moisture would cause a similar effect to the cooled aerosol described previously. Still more stated that the Citadel Purity spray itself was the problem.
Whatever the specific cause of the crazing effect was, it still occurred. So, I can’t do much about it at this stage. If anyone has any suggestions about this, please post in the comments below.
It was recommended that I switch to Testors dull coat, which I was able to pick up a can of for about $6 at Hobby Town. The Dull coat went up much smoother and seems to be free of the crazing effect caused by the Purity seal. I did encounter one small issue with it, though: dropping the piece before the sealant had dried.
Here you can see what happened after dropping the leg only a minute or so after the dull coat had been applied. It caused a smearing effect, all but ruining the panel lining I had accomplished prior.
My thoughts on this? Citadel Purity Seal? Not using that stuff again. Testors dull coat? The jury is still out on that one. We’ll have to see how it works out later on with a different model.
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