In-Progress : Anti MS Squad Diorama (page 2 of 2)
07-11-07 : Priming and other preparation chores...
Took the time to prime the arm pieces a couple of days ago :
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There were a couple of small flaws where the sprue nubs had left a small 'scar' in the piece. I've remedied it with some more primer brushed on and lightly sanded back to level it out with the rest of the piece.
Also, I've got the pieces of rubble ready for priming. This is going to be a bitch too. I'm going to have to prime one side, then when dry, remove the pieces and flip them over and prime the other side. Then I'm going to have to repeat with the painting process. I'll probably take the time and add some texture to the brickwork like with the wall. I'm planning on adding 'brick dust' as well. Whether it comes from an actual brick, chalk or pigments, I'm yet to decide. |
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18-11-07 : More work on the rubble...
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I ended up using a mixture of gray ballast and real brick dust for the rubble base. I marked out the area where I wanted the majority of the rubble to be and then poured on some white glue. The glue was then smeared all over the area where the rubble was to be. I ended up getting a small piece of old brick and crushing it into dust using my good ol' hammer. This dust was then sprinkeled over the same area as the ballast and then left to dry. Once it had dried, I air brushed the area with brown and then lightly with red to try and match the brick color of the wall. Next step was to add the debris from the wall. This included brickwork, guttering, roofing and parts of the window that was there. I made the windows out of a clear plastic sheet and balsa wood. Once I made the window, I cut it up using scissors, making sure the 'glass' looked jagged and broken. It was finished with a sprinkling and brushing on of shaved brown pastels from the Tamiya Weathering Set. |
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I have also painted the arm completely now and have begun to weather it by removing paint and adding dirty spots. I will post pictures of it once it is all done.
21-11-07 : Finished the arm ...
Added decals, a brown wash, and dry brushing to the hand and elbow joint (in Tamiya Dark Yellow) and also to the elbow damage (with Tamiya Sky Gray then with Mr Metal Silver) :
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The picture above to the left is a close up of the damage on the elbow joint. I've added some wires because I figure that there would be some in there somewhere sending command signals to the fingers and power to the beam saber. I frayed the ends out a little and dabbed the ends with metallic blue to give that electrical discharge look.
The picture on the right is how I'm securing the arm into place. I drilled a small hole in both the arm and wall and slid a small piece of brass rod into it with some CA glue to hold it in place. I have done the same with the hand and the road so it doesn't pivot on the one rod in the wall.
Finally done with the figures :
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Painting went as follows (all Tamiya paints) - primed with Gray primer; Black base coat; Dark Yellow for the uniform; hand brushed Flesh for skin, Flat Earth for the packs etc, Dark Gray on the belts, Brown on the boots, Red on the cuffs and collars.
The buckles on the belts and straps where done with Mr Metal Aluminum.
Once the figures were painted, I gave them a good Clear coating and then applied several washes and decals. The first wash was Black enamel to highlight the edges of the uniform near the straps etc, the second was Brown to flow into the deeper folds of the uniform to highlight it more. Decals were added after a quick dry brush with Tamiya Deck Tan.
They were finished up with a flat top coat. I've applied the flat a little thick on some areas and it has dried white. A little scraping will get that off hopefully.
I've also added a few more little details to the scene, including a power box and power line that powers the house. Of course since the arm has fallen through the house the power line has been severed and is now without power.
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Time to start sanding back the beam saber now.
15-12-07 : Working on the Beam Saber...
The Beam Saber was a bit of a pain to work on. It took me a little longer than I wanted due to puttying up holes and removing seam lines off of the top and bottom piece. The cut around the panel lines is a little uneven and rough and I have cleaned it up as best I can (as you can see between the two pictures). Once the painting was done, I applied a black wash to the panel line areas and then scratched the paint away like I did on the arm.
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19-12-07 : Most likely the final update ....
This will most likely be the final update for this build before I declare it finished. Apart from pinning the Saber to the base (see I've decided to add a small number to the door, and that number being '79'. Have a guess what the hidden meaning behind that number is! I used a technique I saw in a Gundam Weapons Mook (the 08th MS Team edition) which used old pieces of sprue with the part numbers on them. The numbers were shaved off and attached to the Gundam in the book, but I have cut a small section of plastic off and glued the numbers to it. The glue, once dried, will give an added texture to the backing plate (kind of like a cast iron effect). See the picture below to get an idea of how I did it. |
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