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HGUC RX-79(G) Diorama Part 2

When we left off last time the kit was still being built, but after a long painting process the kit is finally done and we can move on with the rest of the stages in our diorama. With any good paint job it is better to take your time and not to rush because trying to hurry will only end badly, do it right the first time and you wont have to start over. The kit was painted straight with some panel lining done in the necessary places such as the accented white and yellow triangles throughout the kit that you can see in some of the close ups. I used stickers provided with the kit for the numbers on the shield and the eyes and head lenses. Some people disapprove of stickers but if you use them the right way they are barely even noticeable, simply cut off the excess clear edges of the stickers with a hobby knife before applying and seal with a top coat. In case anyone was wondering, the colors of paint i used are as follows:

Tamiya royal blue, sea blue, flat white, and light gun metal.

Model Masters flat black, and euro 1 gray.

Testors flat yellow, and flat red.

And finally an overall dull topcoat for protection.

The kit overall really surprised me, i guess it has been a long time since I’ve built an HG kit but the quality has really improved since i last built one. There is some very nice pose-ability to this kit and really great detail. I still remember the days of poly cap rubber hands with the older kits.

Now onto the next stage in our diorama. This time we will be creating the dirt base coat for our scene with a technique I’ve picked up over the years from some fellow modelers. This mixture involves using actual dirt to create the groundwork for our scene. For this mixture we will combine finely sifted dirt, matte gel medium, dry plaster, and a mixture of water and glue. The resulting mixture will dry to a plaster like consistency but with the texture and visual appearance of dirt or mud. You can further customize this mixture for your own applications. For example, the finer you sift the dirt the finer your mixture will be, also if you want to achieve the look of fresh wet mud use gloss gel medium instead of matte. The mixing ratio is roughly 3 parts gel medium, 2 parts sifted dirt, 1 part dry plaster, and 1 part water and white glue mix, you may also do like i did and add some cheap acrylic paint for a slightly different color effect. I have added dark brown to darken the color of my mix. Keep in mind it will dry darker than it appears. Combine and mix all parts in a separate container and it should look something like this.

Notice I have masked off the base of my diorama so i do not get any unwanted mess on the sides, then the mixture is applied with a stiff brush for the first coat. This process will require more than one coat, make the first coat somewhat thin and allow it to dry completely. When you add the second coat later it will go on much smoother and fill in any rough spots or cracks that might have formed. Keep in mind if it is applied too thinly or dried too quickly it may crack. If this happens simply apply another coat and it will fill in any gaps. After i have applied the second coat, slightly thicker than the last coat, I smooth it down with a scrap piece of flat plastic to minimize the appearance of brush strokes which will look more realistic once dry.

I will allow this to continue to cure and next time we will begin adding the foliage so keep watching !

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4 Comments

  1. Cool can’t wait to see the result

    Reply
  2. What do you do to stop the sides cracking when you remove the tape from the base?

    Or is it not a problem with your mixture?

    Reply
  3. Pull the tape off before the mixture dries, you can always retape later when it dries.

    Reply
  4. There was no problem with cracking when pulling off the tape for this mixture. If it is on too thick or overlaps with the tape too much it may crack but you can run a hobby knife along the edge and that will help. There were some delays with weather ( we had a huge snow and ice storm in Georgia ) but the final product should be up in a few days.

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