Since I returned from Malaysia I’ve been working on the MG Barbatos as a side project.
I’m not well known for my work on the internals of my builds , but the Barbatos has a pretty amazingly well engineered frame so I thought I might just try put a little bit more effort into it for once. There is quite a significant amount of parts separation on the frame, and with some careful planning you can achieve some pretty nice results just by using a few various shade of metallics. I think I read once that Meijin Kawaguchi recommends about 6 different colours on the internals, so here’s what I ended up going with:
- Gaianotes Star Bright Iron
- Gaianotes Star Bright Duralumin
- Gaianotes Star Bright Silver
- Gaianotes Gunmetal
- Gaianotes EX Gold
- Mr Color GX Red Gold
- SMS Stainless Steel
I was toying with the idea about using Gold for the piston covers like the High Resolution model but in the end I decided against it. I wanted something closer to the official version, and I think it kinda looks more Terminator-ish like this.
The cables on the legs, hands, hips, shoulder ball joints, the “ball” joint on the foot, inside of the Ahab Reactors and all of the pistons are painted using a light coat of SMS Stainless Steel over a gloss black (Gaianotes EX Black).
The insides of the knees and elbows (the circular parts) are also done with SMS Stainless Steel, but a heavier coat, giving it a slightly brighter “silverish” look.
Various energy cables etc were hit with a slight highlight of Gaianotes Star Bright Silver.
The thighs, legs the “chest T bar”, the cuffs on the arms and the shoulder pauldron connectors were done in Gunmetal.
The silver pistons were left as is from the runner, but I did touch up the nub marks with some Tamiya Silver Leaf.
The gold part on the chest and ankles were done in Gaianotes EX Gold with some post shading using Mr Color GX Red Gold.
The gold part on the hip joints were done using Gaianotes EX Gold.
The rear ankle guards were painted with non-metallics since decals had to go on them.
Anyway this build is still a couple of weeks away from being finished, so check back then for more pics!
