Activity

(first photo is at the end of the photos, based on how the forum organizes things, sorry for the inconvenience – the Imgur link above makes life easier)

After a few more rounds of chipping, and adding some enamel steel to bigger chips, and some moderate fluids/pigments, I’m calling Cherno Alpha done. If my friend for whom it’s being built wants more, I can always do more later.

A final coat of Vallejo satin varnish sealed everything in, just handbrushed on. I realized that thinning this stuff was a bad idea – when I did it on my test spoon, even perpendicular strokes after the first coat dried didn’t hide the brushstrokes. Going straight on fixed it right on up.

She liked the satin finish on some test paints more so than flat or matte.

The panel lining was standard Model Masters enamel burnt umber pin washing.

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I used some very minimal drybrushed enamel steel on heavily chipped areas. The vents just above the cockpit got some Tamiya Weathering Master soot rubbed in the direction of whatever was being blown out of the vents.

The little openings got some Ammo of Mig streaking grime and engine grime. It ended up being really subtle but I’m thinking this wasn’t going to sit around dirtied up for too long after a mission.

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You can see the edge wear on the upper arm edges, and on the apertures just in front of the wrist. There’s also some soot to indicate exhaust gases from the three holes in the back of the hand.

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You can see the enamel in the chip and some of the streaks under the vents a little better in this shot.

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I drybrushed the knuckle circles and edges of the knuckle just behind the fingers with enamel steel. You can also see the chips and soot from the three holes too.

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The sponge chipping on the upper legs – indeed, the entirety of the speckled sponge chipping job – was done with a cheapo sponge brush that was at my in-laws when I was doing the chipping. I had bought a coarse artist’s sponge to supplement the existing chips done with medium density artist sponge before, but forgot it when we went up to hang out there. They had an old sponge brush and I tore it up enough to make do, and it did a pretty good job.

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The vents on the hands got some Weathering Master. This was my first time using it – I used to just use ground pastels, but the Weathering Master was light years easier to apply.

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More vents getting sooted. These also got a little enamel steel drybrushing.

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Showing off the lower legs.

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The hatches, mesh grille, and fans were painted in Model Master aluminum enamel paint. After drying, they were given a gloss topcoat, and then a wash with flat black enamel in a pin wash.

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Lights on, and striking a Tetsujin 28 pose. My wife says she needs dumbbells to lift.

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More lights goodness. I really do like how the orange side lights are very subtle. It indicates something’s working and venting, not necessarily illuminating.

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A close up of the torso and torso lights.

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MOTHER RUSSIA STRONK

Thanks for checking out my WIPs. This was a fun build and a good learning experience. I feel like I expanded my skills and learned a lot of good things by doing so, and I can’t wait to apply them to more Gunpla and plamo builds.