After god knows how long the damn WZC is finally completed!
17th May update: some better non-posed pics added.
18th May update: Write-up added.
So, my thoughts on this kit. For one of the later MGs, there’s some No Grade 1/100 design issues, like the hollow forearms. The arms also don’t connect very well to the shoulder joint. The rest of the kit is basically the same as the Wing ver.Ka.
As you can see the colour scheme isn’t the plain WZC one. I thought there’s too much random blue parts in the original colour scheme, such as the crotch plate, and the entire back skirts are blue. I’ve made it slightly more traditional Gundam like, using white with blue highlights. I think the result is a more balanced look.
Anyway, the feathertips of the wings are not plastic, but some kind of rubber. I originally thought there would be issues painting them, but the Gunze paint I’m using seems to be holding on them so far, but I’ve decided not to bend them, just in case.
At the end of the kit I was getting lazy and impatient and ended up using the stickers for the eyes (which didn’t end up that bad) and the forehead sensor (which is a terrible mistake 🙁 )
What I’ve learned:
- When doing the Gundam head mod, place the head polycab before gluing the head together. I had alot of trouble getting the polycap into the head after assembly, and it caused some paint chips on the head
- Paint will NOT cover up your crappy sanding. I was using low grit paper, and not smoothing it out, the result is very visible scratches, even after painting.
- Need to perfect the head mod. When I put the faceplate on, I didn’t shave off enough of the insides, and thus the side of the faceplate became scratched.
- Painting over ball joints is a bad idea as it makes the joints too tight
Overall I’m quite happy with the final result. For my first kit in 3 years, I believe that I’ve managed to trump my last effort my quite a bit, as well as now being confidently be able to mix and preshade the so called Gundam blue.
Hey! I wonder why noone commented.. Very good job! I’m learning to paint and do shading on gundam and WZC is one of my favourites which I would want to make it look best. Do you mind giving me some advice on paint job when I come to this piece of work? 🙂
@nathan
Practice on some other kits first, ones with similar colours so you can get the hang on how to mix the colours you want.
The trickiest part of this kit is probably where the 2 straight wings connect to the backpack, some seam lines need to be cleared up and masking for paint.
And rememnber, nothing is more important than patience in this hobby 🙂
Thanks for the tips, sure will help me to avoid some trouble.. As you suggested I have been practising my painting on other models.
Just a quick question, are you using airbrush? Because when I tried spraying Tamiya flat white on the model, there was this ‘flakes (or powder like effect)’ from the airbrush and I ended up having many small dots on my model. Do you by any chance know the reason behind? I thought I might not have mixed it well but I have already given it quite a stir.
Patience is indeed the number 1 factor in making a good model 🙂
@nathan
Yes I use an airbrush. Sounds like you are not thinning your paint enough. Is it like 5-E in this image (https://www.saint-ism.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/max_technique_tutorial_6.jpg)?
Are you using acrylic or enamel? If you are using Tamiya acrylic, don’t use water as thinner, it doesn’t work very well. Buy the proper acrylic thinner and use that.
Also getting the right ratio for thinning takes a fair bit of practice. I used to have a lot of problems where I used to put the paint in my airbrush and then add the thinner in.
What would happen is that I would get really thick paint coming out for a while, I’d add more thinner thinking it wasn’t thinned enough, then I’d end up with over thinned paint because it wasn’t mixed properly to begin with.
Make sure you mix thoroughly, and before you load into your brush. Or if you have a gravity feed airbrush and want to mix in the cup, you can use the backfeed method to help mix (pull needle out slightly, cover the front hold and pull trigger. Like what this video does http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=mx-J7ILjabU&v=6BP3bUTSxsw . Make sure you reduce your pressure a lot, otherwise the paint will explode everywhere).
Hope this helps, and let me know how it goes.
Oh my… that’s very quick reply, thanks for that! 🙂
Yes that’s exactly what I’ve experienced (the picture 5-E). I think I’ll just have to thin it more then, I’m currently using methylated spirit (tamiya thinner is too expensive and I’m afraid that water would just corrode the metal in airbrush in long term, couldn’t find 91% Alcohol in Perth) to thin Tamiya acrylic and yes I’m using a gravity feed airbrush. The pressure generated by my mini compressor is always quite low, somewhere between 12-20..
Thanks for the tips on mixing the paint thoroughly before adding to the airbrush, because what I’ve done was adding the flat white directly to the thinned blue which is already loaded in the brush as I wanted to continue brushing the lighter colour on the dark blue parts to create contrast (shading), even though I’ve also used the toothpick to give it a stir. So I guess its recommended to mix it in a container before I load all of them into the airbrush?
As for the video, I use that method to clean my airbrush, didn’t know it could be used to mix the paint as well! 🙂 Would it have any side effect though, like the paint gets jammed in some small gaps in airbrush where we won’t be able to clean due to back flow of the air pressure?
Again, thanks for being so helpful… Hopefully I’ll be able to finish all my models (I have 7 MG kits sitting in the box!) this year and start a website like yours, and we can probably exchange ideas. 🙂 Have you joined any competition?
I can suggest a cheaper and safer alternative…good ol’ Windex (the blue version). To the best of my knowledge the blue colouring of the Windex doesn’t affect the paint at all (except maybe ever so slightly for whites), and it’s dirt cheap. Google it and try it out if you’re interested. It also works well for cleaning the AB.
Ideally you should thin paint before loading into your airbrush to get the most thorough mix possible. Well I also say this because when you mix in the cup, there is still the paint in between the cup and the nozzle that isn’t affected, which may lead you to wonder why your paint is still thick even after adding the thinner.
Although in reality lazy people like myself mix in the cup (and usually I need to spray a bit before the thinned paint starts coming out of the nozzle). Just make sure you give it a good mix and spray a bit to get rid of the paint that was ‘in transit’ if you get me.
Yeah, paint may go up the shaft, but I don’t think there’s any small gaps where paint could get stuck where you can’t clean. Just spray some thinner afterwards for clean up. I do this method myself, but I do notice I have to lube the trigger/piston area a bit more often. Maybe google this.
No problems man, always like to help out a fellow modeller 🙂 Haven’t joined any competitions as I’m not aware of any in Melbourne.
Thanks for all the suggestions, they make sense… I’ll have a try and tell you the result. 🙂
It’s ashamed that Gundam isn’t that popular in Australia, though in Perth we’re lucky enough to have a Gundam store (tokyo underground) which sells wide range of Gundams at reasonable price. (http://www.tokyounderground.biz/) And they managed to hold the first competition here last month.
Their forum: http://www.evilcow.net/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=12
Hopefully they’re useful for you!
hi, im just new to gundam world… my question is, is there any other option how to paint gundam without using airbrush? i want to know if its ok if i will use GUNDAM MARKER and cotton swabs as my paintbrush. i like the color of your item may i know what color did you use… tnx
@eddiejr
You can use spray cans or paint brush, but they won’t look as nice as using an airbrush (there are alot of tutorials on the internet). If you want to know the colours I used for this kit here https://www.saint-ism.com/2009/05/mg-wing-zero-custom-build-part-4/#more-26