In a sea of red, yellow, white, and blue, the HG Hyaku Shiki certainly stands out in the world of Gundam. The elegant design enhanced by that shiny gold finish.
Wait… Isn’t gold supposed to be shiny?
Unfortunately, metallic colors and Gundam have a bit of history, and it hasn’t always been the greatest.
Out of the box, the “gold” pieces are more similar to a fast food honey mustard colour.
But with a few simple steps, even without an airbrush, we can make them look much better.
The first step is to remove all pieces from the runner. At this stage it’s important to keep the pieces organized.
I’ve chosen to keep the parts from each runner together, but you could also separate by sub-assembly (torso, arms, etc.)
You’ll also want to pay extra attention to any undergated pieces.
After the pieces are clipped and cleaned up, the next step is to spray paint everything black. Gloss black will work the best for this.
Once the black has dried, we spray in light coats with our chosen metallic paint (in this case gold.)
You can see the difference, and how much nicer this kit will look when it’s assembled.
The absolute key step with these paints is a gloss black base, it really helps add depth and dimension to the color.
After getting everything together, the last step will be to finish with a gloss coat to really nail down that shine.
Here’s something interesting though: a flat coat over the metallic colors can really give a great look.
It is not reflective anymore, but there is still a lustre to the paint that remains metallic.
If you want to see the gold really shine though, you’ll have to check out part 2 of our segment on using metallic spray paints.
From all of us here at hobbylink.tv, I want to wish you happy painting, and don’t forget to wash your hands!
Check out more quick & easy tutorials with the Happy Little Robots series!
