That's just a light colour primer skye.

@GameraBaenre: That's pretty sexy so far. I love the hexagon vents. Adds a huge level of detail(not to mention hex's are my favorite shape so bonus points lol), as well as sets off the design you're going for.

Finally started working on my kits again. Adding leds and such. Waiting on a new needle for my airbrush. Something a little finer for HG kits, before I start painting these. I don't even have a design yet...
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I took these pictures last night, for the sake of time reference, and as further proof that the task is simple, but repetitive, seriously repetitive. I also realized that in my blog, I didn't really have much in progress pictures for the shoulder mod, so this is the best I could do at this point.

A plastic styrene frame was glue to the original shoulder piece first. That was sorta displayed on my blog. But, on the bottom side of the shoulder piece, I mixed some epoxy putty (tamiya epoxy putty quick type - yellowish green in color) and placed that inside. This served to fill in some gaps where the shoulder piece bends as well as a general filler for the styrene. I could have used less putty and more styrene, but that didn't occur to me at the time.

Once that fully cured up, about a full day. The excess styrene and putty is sanded down to form the shape of the shoulder flare. Once sanded down, there are noticeable gaps between the styrene and the original plastic, between the putty and the styrene, and putty and original plastic.

Not being in a rush, I used tamiya basic putty (grey in color). The stuff can be thinned with Mr Color Thinner, to sort of dissolve it a little more and make it easier to work and spread. This dries over night and shrinks a bit. But since this stuff works similar to styrene glue - in that it melts the plastic, you never want to use too thick a layer or you'll end up with a block of melted and warped plastic. This was cured over night and got the sanding treatment last night.

Once it was all sanded, there were still a few areas where the putty had shrank too much or there was till a bit of a gap between areas. Now, I'm in the middle of working and want to complete the part, so I use light curing putty (yellow in color). This stuff cures under direct regular light a minute of two, so it allows for quick sand and re putty sessions if necessary. All this was sanded down and the part you see below is now ready for priming.

this picture is a bit big
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Now on to the priming session. I've been asked how I get a smooth paint surface. I think this is a combination of proper thinning (which I absolutely cannot show here as there is no such thing as the "correct" ratio of paint to primer). Consistency of vitamin D milk is the closest I can get. It's all about consistency, and how it sprays out of the airbrush. You can hear it if it's too thick, and see it if it's too thin. Just one of those things you just need practice with to get better at.

The next thing to getting a smooth surface is starting off with a light misting tacky layer of primer over the entire piece. In the picture above, you can see that the part has some primer on it, but it's not fully covered, the primer has dotted up the surface. This acts as a middle layer between the dry plastic and the paint. Allowing this tacky layer to dry for about 20-30 seconds, basically creates a bridge for the next spraying session. I spray on the primer until I get a wet look. As soon as I get this look, I stop. Any more paint and it will pool. If I didn't spray on the tacky layer, the paint would have pooled well before this point. Now I just let the part sit and dry for a couple of hours. Once dry, it will not look as wet, but will be very smooth. Using this method with gloss paints or gloss clears will get you that ultra high gloss finish without the need of buffing.

Excuse me. Where i can find scans of HG and MG manuals? All the manuals of my yet to build HG and MG are destroyed thanks to flood :(

Dalong.net. for most of the kits, I believe he has scans of the manuals.

When I first got my Aile Strike Gundam HG, I was disappointed as the kit was too simple in terms of movements and that it didn't even have armor schneider x.x;

When the HGCE Aile Strike comes out, I want to combine it with IWSP pack :D

I hope the current updated HG building concept is applied to the previous Gunpla too...

Building HGs is still the same, only difference is more parts and better quality these days, some still require alot of work though (mostly painting, these tend to reuse old kits or design does not allow for separate parts without upping costs too much)

You are in for a treat building the HGCE :)

Our first good views of Exia Dark Matter and Miss Sazabi:

http://i.imgur.com/Aw2kilu.jpg

You can actually see how the Exia DM's hip-mounted swords are based off the GN Sword III. I'm gonna wait for a more "complete" lineart and color scheme for the Exia DM, but so far I do like it, even if it looks a bit busy. Then again, Avalanche Exia looked busy and it's still one of my favorite variants, so...

the backpack of Exia Dark Matter seems like Astray Gold Frame Amatsu.. something that can open and shoot those red dual blade thing...

Miss Sazabi is skinny and sort of "sexy"...

the secretary gunpla?

Damn, that exia looks ugly in red

Edgy much?

Astraea F color. It does look final boss material though

Miss Sazabi looks kinda meh. And it seems rather small size for the rather high price it carries

more like Gundam 1.5 ver Dark Type for the colour scheme for Exia Dark Matter

http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/CB-001....ndam_Type_Dark

*looking at Exia Dark Matter*

It seems Exia has married Gundam 1.5 Dark and Dark Matter is their love child :heh:. I can’t say I like that color-scheme.

And Miss Sazabi...not as sexy as I imagined it to be, but not bad.

Really need close-up pic and more finished look of the two before judging.

I do really like the whole look of Exia Dark Matter, which has a really aggressive styling worthy of enemy boss level. The color however, looks really tacky, like an FG kit with the red concentrated at the middle section. In terms of Red/Black scheme, the Astray Noir looks better at it.

But that's better than Miss Sazabi, with some weird vibe of Tallgeese III/Nu. Don't get me wrong, the design is quite alright, like a fodder Sazabi but there's some non-cohesive elements, like those boosters sticking out of the slender leg. I honestly expecting something refreshingly "wow!" based on the name MISS SAZABI and price tag, but instead, I guess we'll really have to wait for more information on this one.

On the other hand, the recent HG offerings by Bandai have been absolutely fantastic, despite the relatively lower prices than those from the Unicorn series. The Double X hid the seamlines well and the color separation was pretty good. Only some stickers was necessary for the Satellite weapon, eyes and lenses. Making the all-white guns are a chore though :(

http://i.imgur.com/AaqaP1k.jpg

Yep, IMHO Miss Sazabi and Dark Exia is... nay, so much hype aversion :(

Closer look at Exia Dark Matter:

http://i.imgur.com/t2zWmlJl.jpg

Wait as seeing it in action makes them look awesome :p

Do note that we have yet to see whether this is the complete color scheme for the Exia DM, given that this is an unpainted model of a converted kit no less, which doesn't have as much color separation as usual kits (see the Build Gundam Mk.2 or the Qubeley Papillon).

The Dark Matter is like Epyon in Exia cloth. That or the 1.5 Gundam Type Dark.

Plasky=GN?

Am I the only person who thinks that the exia DM looks too busy? The colour scheme is sweet though. I really dig the purple with the red and black.

^ I think it's those big swords on its hip. Once you removed them, it will look as sexy as Amatsu :p.

> edge
> edge
> ugly blood red
> emo black
> more edge
> giant edges

This is truly an unit worth for final boss in a children anime

You can easily change the colours. I just like the dark feel of it. It's called "Dark Matter"! I think it should have been called "black hole" instead lol.