Been awhile....
Been hard to access the freakin' Blog for the past couple of months. Wanted to post something but either the server was down, bandwith is too thin, no time to linger long outside a cafe just for a decent WiFi, and the usual busy schedule.
Anyways, I've been busy juggling my life as a monotonous drone and trying to complete some work-in-progress plastic kits with the usual Vodka and Beer in between.
One of my recent purchase (heh... its been 3 months since I got this kit) - is the 1/100 scale MS-04-2 NIGHTINGALE plastic scale model kit from China manufacturer Regulation Center (RC). I was the first ones in the region to receive this kit. Was expecting it January, then February until finally release March 10.
Did not do any reviews...I don't have time for that either. In a weeks time since the release, so many have done it already, and the reviews as such comes with an unspoken warning - "Buy at your own risk".
For me, even with the pre-release news leaks and rumors on its crappy make - I still went ahead with the buy. I've always dreamed of having this monster on my collection. I dont have the money to buy a resin kit - this is the nearest I can have it. I am still at a loss tho why BANDAI released "The-O" and not the Nighty - many collector feels that the Nightingale (with its brother|twin Sazabi) is more iconic
(never knew that "The-O" was that big when I watched the anime only when the Gunpla kit was released did I realize it.).
For the most part as of this time, I have completed the paint job and "repair" (so many!) of the kit. Planning on modding this thing but with the amount of clean-up and "fixing" I need to make this kit fit....well, that has already ate up my precious available time, so I decided just to straight build this for the meantime (and still took me 3 months)
Unfortunately, before I had the chance to fully do the finishing touches of decal works and gloss coating, another big set-back. Around 6 or 7 pm I was applying gloss coat on one of the wing binders (the one with the thrusters) and i noticed some "white" specks building up on the paint job - kinda like molds. Now I am not a veteran painter and I am using only spray cans (Tamiya & Mr. Hobby), so I was not very much aware of the "humidity factor" when spray-painting especially outdoors. I was tired and so I easily got frustrated. I decided to paint another layer of Metallic Red on the part to hopefully cover the "molds"....alas... I seem to have worsen the case, I watched in horror as the paint slowly parted from the mold areas (like detergent on dirty water) creating pockmarks on the paintjob.... simply put... the paint was totally ruined!... and as a final outburst, I took a rag and wiped hard the paint in frustration, walked in the lavatory, washed the kit with warm water and proceeded on wet-sanding the freakin part. So much for my finished kit.
Lesson learned? Yep... I need to learn more about this "humidity" effect on paint works. Here in Vietnam, the weather is like back home in RP, hot and humid, but in Hanoi...I have to tell you, the humidity is so high that you can feel the difficulty of breathing on the thick air. A minute on shade while the sun is up @ 36°C will sweat you up in no time. The sweat is sticky and makes you feel "coated" with thin sludge. That's how it is in the dry months from March to mid November, the rest of the months is biting cold.
Now we need to move to a new house the next day, one nearer to the project site I work in so I have to pack up and that includes this unfinished kit. I havent got around opening the box yet, still have to adjust to my new surroundings, If before I was alone in my room so I can just go around and throw my things anywhere, now I share the room with one of our guys.
To date, I guess I have to settle with showing some of the WIP images I took during the course of my struggle with this kit. If resin kit building is somewhere similar to the effort I did for this kit - I believe I have the skill enough to tackle expensive resin-kits. The glowing factor that makes this "plastic" kit sucks big-time is the accuracy of the molds|parts, well, I don't want to give my take on it anymore, just Google the thing and you'll see.... (here's a link of one of the better reviews from Gundam PH - pics are in Chinese - but the pictures will tell the tale >>> http://gundamph.com/2012/03/16/rc-1100-nightingale-potential-flaws-defect-and-problems/)
Most of the images here were taken later and just using my phone-camera so pardon the poor quality. I have had good images but I left my external drive back home when I took my vacation....so, yeah... lets just get on with it...
The Box... nothing impressive...
Whats inside...
.....runners (crappy ones)
.....the only bit of redeeming item.... Metal Thrusters to go with the plastic ones... (free gift daw)
>>> Some developments...
The Work Table - Paints and scrappy tools used on this makeshift work table.
Lots of Spray Cans...
Some Weathering Pastels I used for some internal parts esp the "pseudo-canvas" joint cover. Did not do weathering on the body of this kit. I want it shim sharp & shiny like a brand new car out of the factory. That is how I like my MS... brand new :D
Enamel & Acrylic brush paints for minute details,
Now some of the assemblies...
>>> Nub parts that are overlapping... have to cut the rod spruce that go into the slot to align the piece together... then sanded the overlaps and applied small plas to even out the seams.
Notice the overlapping parts... bad, bad, quality.... :(
Have to remove the nubs to align the 2 pieced together
Finished Shield (without decals)
Some finished painted parts....
....lots of auxilliary parts
...the top torso...
Legs and torso :D.... love the finish...
I don't want a glaring shine finish on this kit.... reason why I dulled the shine somehow by applying an undercoat of industrial grade SuS spray coat to give it a more metallic texture.
Well... been awhile....Hope to finish this kit soon, took me already too long and the expenses I put out for this is mind-boggling already. I did two (2) finishes already - first one did not work out way I planned, the second was just too dull, the third try I nailed it as you see it now, but I have to be very careful so as not to damage the paints, did too much already to ruin this
(like what I said above). Scrapping off the paint with remover-sandpaper-file & lacquer thinner was too much work, time consuming and expensive. Good thing the plastic of this kit is amazingly thick. The panel lines lost from sanding was of no problem, just relined it again.
In a month I hope to put this in display... till then.....
Open source:
> http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/MSN-04II_Nightingale
> http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Gundam:_Char%27s_Counterattack_-_Beltorchika%27s_Children
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack - Beltorchika's Children (機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア―ベルトーチカ・チルドレン Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushu no Char - Beltorchika's Children, 1988)
