Delays and Progress

Hey look I painted the entire exterior! That's pretty neat. Now I need to put down a gloss coat (probably future) panel line it, apply decals, and do a final top coat. Yaaaaay

Update

Okay, so I haven't just been endlessly fucking off, but I haven't made as much progress as I would like. The Unicorn project is on hold, the Anaheim RG Strike Freedom has to wait for the re-release of the RG Strike Freedom Deactive mode, and I have made a good bit of progress on the MG Build Strike Freedom.

Adding to my list of projects is:
Gouf Troupe (4-5 different heavily modified goufs)
RG Dark Matter Astraea F-Type
MG 00 Seven Sword Test Type (just painting a regular MG 00 SS cause it's only like 50 bucks instead of 80+)

SO ABOUT THE MG BUILD STRIKE FREEDOM

I've sanded/modified/primed the entire body and booster, but not the frame. That's it. I need to work on the frame separately because it's made of ABS, and that will be a special project because I'm using Alclad Pale Gold. So there is a good chunk of work done, but if I started painting the rest of the body right now it would probably be done in two weeks (because of acrylic drying times).

I've been competing for painting space in my garage, and for time against the evil Houston summer humidity. I'm waaaaaay behind schedule, but I'm only slightly behind where I could realistically be at this point. If I can get my housemate to clean his shit out and reclaim my space I can realistically finish in ~10 days. Except for the double hyper beam rifle. God damn that is giving me trouble. The way some of the parts line up just flat out doesn't work, so I had to buy two more Universe boosters just to have parts to work with again. It feels like an endless process of : design > size > cut > try to fit > stupid fucking problem happens > try to fix with putty/plaplate > strip all the work and keep trying until the part becomes unrecognizable.

I'll take pictures probably next weekend (4th of July so I might actually have some time because I get a 3 day weekend from work) and share my progress.

Change of Plans

Okay, I'm a dumbass. I really want to be the first person to make the Build Strike Freedom MG custom. This project is officially bumped up to #1 priority. As such, I have separated my parts into individual bags by final color, and they are ready for priming. This is what little progress I can make with all of my paint in the mail. I'm also planning on checking out a hobby shop on Monday to see if there is any way I can bypass some of the waiting on more obscure paints. Anywho, here is the final color scheme, a list of paints, and other modifications. Here is the color mockup:

Ignore the shitty MSPaint skills. This is just a mockup because the lineart doesn't have accurate part separation as compared to the MG. I took some liberties as compared to the many Freedom colored Build Strikes to make it a bit more interesting overall in my opinion. Yeah yeah, the dick isn't gold even though its frame. I'm doing it to make it more true to the original Strike Freedom. Same with the black on the legs. Now for the kitbashing part.

I'm planning on stealing everything circled in green.

The backpack should be easy, as it uses the same connector type. If the recess on BS' back is too deep I can always just add plastic to the tooth of the backpack to make it fit. No big deal, if any at all.

I'm not super hellbent on making this one work, but it would be nice. I'm planning on just carving out the area where the A26+A27 parts would sit. I could then put BS' forearm mounts on top of that, or just forego the underside of these pieces and glue them on. We will see how the parts actually size up.

Well, I have a male balljoint on the frame, and a male balljoint on the sideskirt gun. This has one of three good solutions and one bad one, in my opinion. I can either...

1. Just trim the BS side skirt until I only have the necessary connector and glue it to the sideskirt. (I would like to keep the sideskirt intact if possible, so its not really my style)

2. Recast the BS sideskirt in resin and do the steps above with the resin clone.

3. Form a new female balljoint in epoxy putty. This would take guesswork, so I'm not to keen on it.

OR

4. Just fucking glue the sideskirt to the waist and sacrifice all articulation of the legs. 

I'm going with option 1 or 2. It depends on how lazy I am, and how much time I have.

BUT DANIEL, WHAT ABOUT THE STUPID COMBING STRIKE FREEDOM GUNS?

this has had me thinking for a long time. I could just use the guns from Strike Freedom. Easy enough! Right?

OR I COULD NOT BE A BITCH

Here is my crazy madman plan for creating new combining beam rifles. If I can get this to work I will be so proud of myself.

Holy shit I'm crazy. This would be so much fucking work, but so satisfying. Obviously I can't get retracting pieces in something like this, so I'll have to put a hole in the back of the rifle and plug it, or make the front end of the rifle pop off. The only problem with the latter is having a way to secure the rifles to each other then. Maybe I can create some kind of lock, or magnetic snap in place thing using the added butt in the purple box and the hollow area in the yellow box at the front of the rifle.

Maybe I should try airbrushing for the first time before I set my hopes so high.

Nah.

Several Unicorn Displays

Okay, so I'm planning to own 3 Unicorns and 3 Banshees. One each to display in Unicorn Mode. One each to display in NTD basic mode, .nd a pair in green NTD mode. I'm planning on them being in several permanent displays.

Unicorn Mode, posed in struggle inside hangar, maybe with destroyed Delta+:
MG Banshee OVA Ver. (Railgun + Claw) [OVA colors, being black, navy, and dark blue w/ basic decals]
MG Unicorn OVA Ver. (Beam Magnum + Shield) [Gray shading and details on off white w/ basic decals]

I'm either going to be a huge dumbass and paint the psycoframe frame color, to prevent neon bleedthrough in the cracks of the armor, or straight up switch the red and yellow for shiggles. Oh, and I'm going to repaint all of the gold accents on banshee to be a more traditional gold.

NTD Mode, posed in battle, probably with 1/100 particle effects and forearm sabers drawn:
MG Banshee Norn (Beam Magnum w/ grenade + Armed Armor DE)
MG Unicorn + full weapon set from MG FA Unicorn Ver. Ka

This will be the busiest looking display, because it will be the only one with direct combat. Same armor colors and details as above. When this is painted, the pink psycoframe will be a light red, and the orange will be closer to a bright yellow. (Think of how the frame looks on the Damashii figures)

Green NTD Mode, symmetrical or identical pose facing same way:
MG FA Unicorn [Pure white with grey shading + full set red waterslides]
MG Banshee Ver. Ka [Pure almost-black with grey shading + full set gold waterslides]

All of these will be painted, and the psyco frames will be metallic. For the green mode, I'm thinking either bare handed, or w/ beam magnums. If they release a non FA green OVA UC and a green norn, I'll buy them as well, so I can have a set to durdle with, or they may replace the green set outright.


*Edit for paint planning

Both:
Gold Details: Vallejo Old Gold OR Gaia 124 Star Bright Brass
Abdomen and Frame: Mr. Color Grey [24] 80%, Black [2] 20%
Green Psycoframe: Tamiya Metallic Green OR Mr. Hobby Mr Color GX 205 Metal Green OR Mr. Hobby Clear [46] 50%, Clear Green [138] 40%, Clear Blue [50] 10% on Metallic Silver
Beam Energy Packs: Mr. Color Navy Blue 30%, Blue, 30%, White 20%, Green 20%
Weapons: Mr. Color Navy Blue 60%, Grey 30%, Mahogany 10%

Unicorn:
Eyes = Green Psycoframe
3 Base White: Gaia Ex-01 White
Red Psycoframe: Mr. Color Metallic Red GX OR Mr. Color Clear Red on Metallic Silver
1+2 Base White: Mr. Color White [1]
1+2 Accent Grey: Mr. Color Light Skull Grey [11]
Feet + Backpack: Mr. Color Blue 75%, Clear Red 10%, Silver 15%

Banshee:
Eyes = Red Psycoframe
3 Base Black: Gaia 22 Semi-Gloss Black
Yellow Psycoframe: Mr. Color Metallic Yellow GX
1+2 Dark Blue: Mr. Color Intermediate Blue [72]
1+2 Body Blue: Mr. Color Black [2] 40%, Blue Grey [337] 30%, Blue [5] 20%, Purple [67] 10%
1+2 Accent: Mr. Color Light Skull Grey [11]
1+2 Feet + Backpack: Mr. Color Black [2]
3 Feet + Backpack: Mr. Color Midnight Blue

More Brainstorming

I have a Build Strike obsession. It's obvious.

Maybe not on a Gouf, but I really want to try this on a symmetrical Zeon suit.

Okay, so this might be a bit of a task, but I want to create my own "Build Custom" style mech. The Mk-II is one of my favorite suits, and I'm planning on doing a super kitbash using Build Mk-II, several Hazels, and a Gaplant. I want to use the Exam Efreet Kai color scheme, because I saw someone use it on a Evolve RX-78-2 to a great effect. We will see how this one goes.

Ideas for Customs

Here are some of my ideas for customs for this summer. Info for what kit I use included.

MG 1/100 Red Frame Astray (Webshop)

Something feels off on the upper part of the torso. The color separation on the torso feels wrong. I added some white to the chest, but I might change my mind on that. Inspiration is from a Japanese modeler who did the same thing on a 1/100 NO Grade. It was cool enough to make me like an Astray so I thought I'd try it.

RG 1/144 Strike Freedom (Deactive Mode)

First of all, I'm a huge fan of this color scheme. I want to use the deactive version so I won't have to worry about painting the RG frame, which would be a super big hassle. I also want to use the RG because I like the proportions quite a bit, and I think this color scheme will look stellar with the "Wings of Whatever" particle effect.

MG 1/100 Build Strike Full Package (Body) + MG 1/100 Strike Freedom (Backpack)

I've seen all the Freedom color schemed Build Strikes out there, and really dig them. This is my take on a semi-original custom based on those. I want to try to recreate Strike Freedom using the Build Strike, and paint the frame like a few people have done to simulate the RG system. I might tweak the colors a bit depending on how it looks with the backpack. The guns will be modded versions of the Star Build Strike's Hyper Beam Rifle. I'll try to get them to combine for the long rifle affect of the original Strike Freedom. Also, this will have the Star Build Strike leg bits. Depending on how I feel I may mod the side skirts to have the folding guns on them

*Edit for paint colors*

White: Gaiacolor Flat White

Blue: Mr. Color Bright Blue OR Cobalt Blue

Black: Gaiacolor Flat Black

Red: Gaiacolor Premium Red

Gold: Gaiacolor Star Bright Gold

Grey: Mr. Color Aircraft Grey

Green: Alclad Candy Green

MG 1/100 Build Strike Full Package (Body) + Destiny Impulse Regenes (Backpack)

First of all, I would like to say I'm not a Seedfag by any means. That doesn't mean I don't like a lot of the mech aesthetic used in the show. I thought the Destiny Regenes' Wolf-bullshit beam cannons were really cool, and what better to slap them on than good ol' Build Strike? The Destiny Backpack will be done up in black/grey/green. The color scheme is meant to resemble that of Double X as it is one of my favorite Gundams. I'm also gonna paint the Universe Booster Plavsky Wing particle effects in Alclad Sebaceous Blue/Green.

I don't know of any decent Alex kits, but Goddamn I want to try this.

More Nu Color scheme. What can I say? It looks good.

HG 1/144 F91 Gundam Harrison Mardin Custom

Okay, this is meant to be my first real challenge as a painter/builder/modder. Like everyone and their mother I watched Build fighters, and this was one of my favorite customs from the entire series. It's just so simple and classy! I am intentionally using the HM custom to try to see if I can efficiently mask the blue. I also need to remove the "F" and "91" detailing from the shoulders, and scribe new lines for the white detail near the fins. This is hopefully going to be my first real project.

 HG 1/144 Stamen GP03, or HG 1/144 Dendrobium

If it isn't horribly apparent already I put way too much cash into this hobby. I'm seriously considering buying a Dendrobium and customizing it. Stamen has always been awesome in my book (Katoki rules), and green is obviously my favorite color. This is the least likely of any custom I've thought of so far, but it isn't ruled out entirely. I'm going to try to remove the backpack, and give it a "ground type" MS feel (hence the color scheme).

 HG 1/144 Gouf R35 + HG 1/144 Gouf Custom

I LOVE GOUFS. I'm planning a huge series of custom Goufs in the future once I have some serious modding skill under my belt. I want to smash this together with 2 Gouf Customs and give it double gatling shields, a modified head with an angular cut out of the mono eye slot, and various other proportion tweaks.