General malaise has slowed down my builds but I’m trying to ramp it up again by finishing this one.
I managed to lose the insert on the left torso so I scratchbuilt something out of plastic plate and Kotobukiya minus molds.
Painting begins as usual with a base coat of black.
My GP01 will have the default color scheme with the details picked out by hand. Per my usual practice with gunpla, I went very easy with the decals and they went on without any problems. The panel wash was done with Flory Models Dark Dirt Wash, which is a clay-based wash. I’ve always used oil paint with no issue with Bandai kits but I figured that I shouldn’t press my luck for too long now that I have an alternative.
The Flory wash is easily removed with water and like oil paints, can be ‘reactivated’ with water even after curing. I did the wash in subassemblies but adjusted the overall look with everything assembled together by re-activating the wash.
In the Stardust Memory OVA, the GP01 saw quite a bit of action while on Earth so I added minor chipping all over the kit using a sponge dipped in dark gray paint (Model Color Dark Seagreen in this case). I also added fading and streaking in random spots by working in some light gray and white oil paints. These 2 paints help to add subtle variations to the paint which I think adds to the overall look of the finish.
The feet and lower legs gets slightly heavier chipping and I also dusted the feet with pastels for some dust effects.
The fading and streaking effect is most obvious on the shield which also got a healthy dose of chipping. I have found that chipping with a sponge to be easier than with a paint brush which I tend to be heavyhanded with. It’s also easy to fix sponge chipping: just wipe them off with a cotton bud dipped in some thinner.
The last step would be a last coat of satin to tie everything together and then shining up the transparent green parts like the ‘eyes’ with a brush of Future.
Build Log
Pt. 1 – Construction | Pt. 2 – Painting & Finishing