I left this guy basically finished but in a pile of limbs and guns when we went off to have a baby, so now that we're back I've slapped him together and took a few pics. Coming from the Witch from Mercury kits I've been doing this guy's articulation is a little funny--more like the little small mobile ensemble guys than my big kits. It limits his poses somewhat, but his multiple bazookas and shoulders certainly give him some presence regardless.
I did a buunch of little spots of paint on this guy; I greatly regret not taking some before photos cuz he just looks so Normal it's hard to be like, "yeah I actually did a lot of painting on this guy" without that reference to compare to. I'm most proud of his torso--that lighter blueygreen on his... ribs? I guess? is all me; it was grey there before and now it's the exact same color as the greenyblue plastic 😌 I used to find color matching and mixing an intimidating concept for painting but it turns out I have an excellent eye for it from all of my various other art escapades.
I have learned, in falling down this mecha model rabbit hole, that the V fins on the gundam foreheads are molded with extra bits of plastic on the tips to... stabilize them? Keep them from being an eye-removal tool? Regardless: people sand them down to pointy/flat bits, so I decided to try it, and it turned out good! I was a bit worried I would sand them in a way they would end up having an extra facet to them, but I managed to grind them level to the facets that already existed.
I also tried mixing a matte acrylic base in with the acrylic based floor polish I used as a clear coat on my last guy. It worked good! I used Vallejo's matt base since I like their primer a lot. Finding a balance between the two substances was tricky--too much matte and you lose the self leveling of the floor polish, but too little and the gloss wins out--but it turned out nicely.
