Friday, December 27, 2013

1/72 Transformable VF-25S Super Messiah Valkyrie Ozma Lee's Unit Part 3

1/72, 1/100, what's the difference?

The slow progress on the detailing of 1/72 scale Transformable VF-25S Super Messiah Valkyrie Ozma Lee's Unit continues after the previous posting. ^^


The cockpit canopy and two other parts on top of the nose, all molded as clear parts will have to be painted.


Referencing the components on the instruction manual, clear purple is the obvious color for all three parts, but the cockpit parts have black frames on them as well.


Painted the parts using Gaia Color 047 Clear Purple.
The paint was purchased almost exclusively for this kit, but it was used in the work on 1/1 HoiHoi-san first. ^^


Once the paint has dried, panel lines were added to the cockpit parts to identify the frames.


While the centermost frame outside the canopy part can be painted pretty easily, its appearance inside the part would be extremely difficult to detail using conventional paint method with such smooth surface.


Instead of painting it, the inner canopy frame is realized using foil sticker piece, from MG Figurerise 1/8 Kamen Rider W Cyclone Joker to be exact. ^^
Simple, fast, and the height of the sticker piece, however minute it may be, gives the frame a pretty realistic protruding look. ^^


The sticker was applied very carefully so that it's aligned accurately to the frame as seen outside the canopy part.


The frames, and edges of the cockpit parts were painted black using Gaia Color 022 Semi Gloss Black.


The half-pilot figure of Ozma, and the cockpit itself are going to be quite a challenge to paint and detail. ^^;


The tab behind the figure was chipped off to ease the connection between the part and the seat.


While gray, the figure part's molded color is indeed the most dominant color of Ozma's suit, its white shoulder and chest area, plus yellow details are going to be quite difficult to paint onto the part due to the dark base color. ^^;


(Left) Added two layers (at least) of white paint to the area above chest level using White Surfacer from Mr. Hobby.
(Right) Panel lines added to the helmet once the white paint has dried.


(Left) A ring of gray paint (Gundam Marker) added to the back of the helmet using sharpened toothpick.
(Right) Patches of yellow paint (Gundam Marker as well) added to the designated areas on both sides in front of the helmet. The amount of yellow paint needed for such details is supposedly minor, and while part of it will be covered up by the gray paint coming in next, the yellow patches painted are much wider than that in my original plan. ^^;


(Left) The center area on top of the helmet was painted using Gundam Marker Gray. Some of the gray paint was supposed to cover up the yellow patches on the side, but for not wanting to risk damaging the yellow paint, I painted the gray portion so carefully that it avoided the former almost completely. XD
(Right) The neck area and an emblem on the left shoulder were painted yellow using Gundam Marker. Again, the actual amount of yellow paint used far exceeded my original plan. ^^;


(Left) Panel lined the chest area, and added red paint (normal sharp-tipped marker) to the left badge.
(Right) When the red paint has dried, the tiny golden details on the badge were added using a normal gold pen.


(Left) Panel lines added to solidify the appearance of the chest and shoulder details.
(Right) Panel lines appended to the details behind the figure as well. The back is painted using Gundam Marker Gray to cover up the chipped off area of the tab.


(Left) The visor was painted using metallic blue pen at first, but I wasn't pleased with the result. ^^; The metallic blue paint was later removed slowly and carefully using a toothpick.
(Right) Both sides of the body were painted black using normal marker, stating from the back.


In front of the figure, black paint was added for both sides of the body as well. The visor was painted purple using normal pen.


The pens and markers used for the entire work on the pilot figure alone. ^^


Last but not least, Ozma's skull emblem on top of the visor was fabricated using a normal silver pen, which bore no resemblance to the actual design whatsoever. XD I'm glad that this last, extra bit of detailing didn't ruin the work on the entire helmet that was done before it. ^^


The detailing of the cockpit area was slightly less stressful than that for the pilot figure I think, as some of colors and details were added following my own idea using painting tools most convenient to me. ^^
The entire part was panel lined using Tamiya's Panel Line Accent Color (Black) first.


Gundam Marker White, gold and silver pens were used to realized some of the pipe and other details on the part.


The empty dashboard area looks overly plain to be left without any detailing. ^^;


Foil stickers of different colors and sizes, and a tiny clear sticker piece with textual detail were added to the dashboard, all which were done according to my imagination. ^^


Test fitting the two painted parts to see how the cockpit module would turn out when assembled. ^^

Despite being a 1/72 scale model, the painting and detailing of the pilot figure didn't feel any less stressful and troublesome when compared to the same work for Master Grade (1/100 scale) Gunplas. ^^; The intricate suit design for Ozma Lee made the work seem even more complicated too. ^^;

Paint work and detailing for another batch of targeted parts coming up in the next posting. ^^

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