January 2014
Here's another model painted up with Tamiya spray cans, Testors enamel paints, and pastel chalk for weathering. The main body was painted with the Tamiya spray can AS-20 Insignia White. The spray cans for the metallic red and blue were TS-39 Micha Red and TS-51 Racing Blue, respectively. The can of TS-51 was leftover from my Honda Fit build. Some Testors Silver enamel was used to represent chipped paint. I also used my X-Acto knife to scrape away some of the red and blue paint.
Because of the exposed engine parts, my strategy was to first build the fighter in sections, paint, then assemble later. This worked well, and I didn't need to mask much. There was some trouble, however, once I put the side pods on and the "wings" didn't want to attach properly. There was a gap. Also, on the underside, I could see the backside of the pegs of the side pods. Uh-oh! I considered just leaving them alone, but I decided to try puttying up those cracks, sanding them, and painting them. I sprayed some AS-20 from the can into a paint try and tried brushing it on. It wasn't perfect, but it looked a lot better. Now that I am wiser, I will try applying some Mr. Surfacer 500 and then 1000 in conjunction with the Tamiya putty before painting.
Panel lines were done by gray-colored Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color. I used the black version for the red and blue-colored areas. I used Testors silver enamel to drybrush the engines and create paint chips. The one cool thing about this model is the sheer amount of decals! Different retro video game-looking insignias can be chosen (VERY nice touch!) and I really like how the decals include those "kill marks" designating how many enemy bugs have been shot down. The paint scheme I chose was different than what the box suggested, with its splotchy gray-colored top coloring. I chose a paint scheme to make it closer to the game sprite. I envisioned this great space war with the Galaga aliens, with the "UGSF" ("United Galactic Space Force," I presume?) constantly outnumbered by these fierce swarms of attacking alien bugs. I pictured this fighter as only having its engines and weapons maintained, while it just looks dirty and beat-up. I have blast points as well as claw scratches on the hull.
I used the Nouvel Carre pastel chalks to really dirty up this ship. I carved some blast points into the surface of the model before painting, I dotted those with Testors silver enamel before the matte clear coat, and then applied the chalk. The color of chalk I used for rust didn't really stand out when applied, until I got it wet. (I actually didn't use water because I didn't feel like getting up. I admit that I just used a bit of spit. :D ) You won't see that in the video though. I'd feel silly showing that in the video of the build.
I am rather proud of how this turned out. I did a much better job than with the Gradius Vic Viper from a year past.
Here is the build of this model on my YouTube channel:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
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