HoolioPaulio

Finally got around to getting some decent pictures of the finished Gundam Gouf, although I forgot to dust it off again. The dust only shows on the pictures when viewed on the monitor, by which time I'd packed the camera and gear back away. Build thread here:

Thanks guys. Progress so far, masked and painted the darker grey square at the front of the canopy (I'm going to mask and paint instead of applying the decals for the grey markings), and did some pre-shading on the engine assembly before attaching. Will weather more as a whole so it all blends nicely at the end. The rear is darker than it should be I think, because I intend to weather it with lighter greys on the edges, so it should look darker and mucky down inside. That's the plan anyway, if it works out. I'm also seriously tempted to have the tow rope deploying out of the back (it comes with one), even though Luke and Dak never actually got to fire theirs, because it'll look ace I reckon in the pose I intend to have it in when completed.

Really happy with how the canopy turned out, as I've never masked and air brushed clear before. You can actually see most of the detail I've put into the cockpit and pilots

Cockpit installed... And then the colour coat on the hull, fuselage, body whatever you want to call it. This thing is hard to paint, because the colour is near enough the same as the grey primer, which is near enough the same colour and the base plastic. So to a simple man it all the same, and hard to tell where you have and haven't painted!

Ahhh, of course. That would make sense. I get so wrapped up in the Snowspeeders I forget about X-Wings, thanks.

Yes, I think they look better now.

Ha haa, no promises I can get them done and returned before Christmas . Many thanks for the kind comments. Another first for me, albeit a small thing. I'm going to try my hand at masking and painting the clear canopy instead of using the 2 piece one where the clear fixes inside the painted frame. And if it doesn't work out too well, then I'll use the plan b parts... Also, after a minor faux pas with the boots, I'm pretty happy with how Luke and Dak turned out. I've going for screen accuracy as much as I can, so have been working from screen caps from my Empire Strikes Back DVD, and for the pilots I was working from a group shot where all orange jump suit pilots had black boots. Then looking through the instructions I saw they had Luke and Dak in white boots. Re-checked ESB, and sure enough Luke and Dak appear to be the only 2 in white boots. Quick couple of coats of white and they're good. Quite happy with how I made the helmets look grubby, painted them a dark ready brown, then just 1 light coat of white over the top. Boots might be a bit too clean looking now, will give them a quick grey wash to bring out some detail.

OK, now the Gundam is finished I've been making some progress on this. Slow going, because rather than use the waterslides on the interior panels I decided to hand paint the detail. Partly because there was so much raised detail on the parts I didn't think the waterslides would settle right, even with micro sol. But mainly because I wanted to push myself. They won't win any awards for neatness, and as always the macro photography really brings out the scruffyness, but I'm happy with what I have so far...

Right, I'm calling this one done. I'll get some better pictures tomorrow in natural light for the completed gallery, so just a couple for now. I think I'll need to dust it too...

This looks ace, nice work chap

Excellent work sir, making me want to add a TIE to my ever growing want list. I had the same issue. Vallejo German Grey was the perfect grey for my Gundam internal frames. When I needed some more (I get through a lot with the Gundams) I went to my local hobby shop and asked for 'German Grey'. Luckily he was on the ball and advised me that the name 'German Grey' had been moved to a greenish grey paint, and my grey is now called 'Anthracite Grey'. Its the same shade, and part number 71.052 as German Grey was. Just a heads up, as 71.052 for me is a really good base neutral grey, and will work well on Star Wars kits, and will lighten and darken really well

I'm still here, just a bit of work life stress lately. No pictures but I have all the final parts primed ready for colour. This one should be finished soon. Hopefully.

Hi guys, so my model time has not been as frequent as I'd have liked, its been a troubling couple of months at work, as the company I have worked at for 18 years was bought by a rival organisation. Its been a lot of stress and worry, and my mind has not really been in the right state. But things seems to be settling down, so to gee myself on a bit I thought I'd treat myself to some new model files, as my current ones I've had for 20+ years and they are showing their age. Picked up a set of these on Ebay, and they seem to be spot on so far. The file is a little coarser than I expected, but they are nicer to use and a bit smaller for fine work, so its no biggie to spend a little more time finishing with fine sandpaper afterwards.

@Corsairfoxfouruncle Dennis you do what you need to do, family should always come before models. I hope she makes a good recovery, these are never easy things to go through. We will all be fine here, we'll carry on throwing paper and passing notes like we do when you're not looking I only popped on to say my Blue Angels decals had arrived for the Curtiss Hawk, but I've done no modelling myself since I last posted that the Gundam was almost finished.

Thanks, it Vallejo Model Colour Royal Blue, with a touch of White to lighten it. The darker blue is the same Royal Blue, with a splash of Black.