Painting Gundam Pilot Skin Tones with Vallejo Mecha Color

This is part of my Painting Gundam Pilots with Vallejo Mecha Color Part 1 at Youtube. 

The Priming Blog article is HERE. 

I decided to paint the base color of the skin tone as I did not want my Youtube video, to just have the Zenithal priming. The 10 minute video is now at least filled with information from Zenithal priming with Vallejo Mecha Primers to painting the base skin tones with Vallejo Mecha Colors.

I think I will no longer mention paint and thinner RATIOS here in my blog articles, as my videos will show and try to explain how I miss Vallejo Mecha Colors for airbrushing. 

I use Vallejo Mecha Colors mixed with Vallejo AB Thinner and Flow Improver for airbrushing. 

I clean up my airbrush in between spraysduring painting. My Harder&Steenbeck Silverline airbrush is the easiest airbrush to clean that I ever had ( I have other brands of ab, but I no longer use them ). 

THE COLORS

I used Vallejo Mecha Color Pink for the base color of the skins of all the 3 Gundam pilot figures. I sprayed in thin even coats ( 3 times ). 

I then highlighted the base color with Vallejo Mecha Color Light Flesh mix with a bit of Off White. Thinned the misture with thinner and V Flow ( Vallejo Flow Improver ). I then sprayed on the upper right side of the figure to simulate lighting. 

I like subtle lighting with anything I paint these days. Flat painting is... errr... is fine, but I like models and figures with simulated lighting. 

THE PAINTING

Always test spray on a piece of paper ( I use thick vellum cardboard ) before spraying on the actual kit. Add paint if you over thinned, and add thinner if the paint is too thick. I can write thin lines of around 1mm before attempting precision airbrushing. 

CONCLUSION

I love Vallejo Mecha Colors! LOL

Seriously tho, this was my first time painting skin with the Vallejo Mecha Color paints. I usually paint skin tones with my Vallejo Game Air "Skin and Leather Set" for my miniatures.

Overall, I think the painting went well. Albeit I had to add paint on the highlight colors as I over thinned them. I could have painted deeper shadows with my airbrush and more highlights, but decided against it. Including a complete process of airbrushing skin will make my video too long and difficult to upload already.

Anyways, I hope you found this blog article and my Youtube video informative or at the very least inspiring. 

Thanks as always for dropping by! Just enjoy the hobby!

Cheers! 

MY PARTNERS

I only paint my Gunpla, Miniatures and Action Figures with Vallejos - Acrylicos Vallejo official website

I only use Harder & Steenbeck airbrush - Harder&Steenbeck Silverline Airbrush

I get my tools only from HobbyMate Singapore - HobbyMate at Facebook

I get my Vallejos and Miniatures only at Neutral Grounds - Neutral Grounds Philippines at Facebook

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Thanks! 

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Priming the Full Armor Gundam RX781 with Vallejo Mecha Primers

First off, I paint outdoors in my tiny red paint booth. Even though I am using non-toxic ( Eco friendly as branded by Shoppee ) acrylic paints in Acrylicos Vallejo. 

Sometimes I also use gas masks, but was lazy to wear one today, as it was steamy outside. 

Also, not seen here in the photos, I clean my Harder&Steenbeck ( which is so easy to clean ) in between sprays. I blow a couple of drops of airbrush cleaner in between sprays and dump and blow air through the airbrush under a pale of water. 

Anyways, I got this beautiful GSB Masterwork Full Armor Gundam RX 78 1 way back, from a close Gunpla friend in Omar aka Aor_or_die of Italy ( Italy Gunpla Champion 2008 ). 

I took apart the kit and cleaned it a bit with Vallejo sanding sponge ( 800 / 1000 grit ). Altho it is still not the cleanest resin kit in the world, I think it will do. I wanted to paint already.

After sanding and clean up, I then primed the pieces ( large ) with Vallejo Mecha Black Primer. 

Vallejo Mecha Black Primer

RATIO

40 parts Black Primer : 10 parts thinner : 10 parts flow improver

I actually thinned this a little more than needed, as I sprayed from a distance than usual. Some areas are hard to reach as I cannot disassemble the main torso part. Thinning a little more ( 2 drops each of thinner and flow improver ) allowed me to produce a smooth finish as the primer is not drying mid air. 

To be honest, I do not really stick to certain ratios as I also paint on canvas. Meaning as a fine artist ( sometimes ), I am used to varying opacity ( and sometimes consistency ) of acrylic paints ( I use only expensive professional brands ). Part of being an artist is mastery of your medium of choice anyways. 

So I do eye tests when thinning. ( My youtube video should show this more ). A silky milky consistency is a must. It should be creamy enough to stick to the glass cup ( a bit ). Glass cup I use to mix paint. But smooth or silky enough to slide through the glass when pouring to the airbrush cup. Also it is very important to have a piece of test paper in front of you, to test spray on, before spraying on the actual kit. 

 The Vallejo Mecha Color Black Primer is a gift from above. A couple of my social media posts shows the durability and adherence of this primer to the resin kit, during priming. The Black Priming went super smooth as expected. The consistency of the Black Primer was ready for airbrushing ( I personally thin all my Vallejo paints when airbrushing tho ).

Vallejo Mecha Sand Primer

The Mecha Sand Primer was my choice for sketching instead of the usual white. My experience in illustrations ( both digitally and traditionally ) made me choose this color for my sketching ( pre shading for older modelers ). 

The Sand Primer should give the Greens later on, more depth. The Sand primer should give a richer tone to the painting later on. 

I thinned the Sand Primer a little more than usual ( I lost count of the ratio ), as the paint was thick. Creamy thick like Model Color paints. More thinner, but not too much allowed me to control the paint as I was sketching. Control is most important when sketching. 

I did adjust the rear knob of my Harder&Steenbeck to limit the paint flow and lowered the air pressure to around 15psi ( I was black priming at 20psi ). 

Overall the priming went well! Albeit I had to thin the Sand Primer a bit more than usual. 

Conclusion

I love Vallejo Mecha Color Primers. LOL. 

I am editing the video tutorial of this priming tonight. I cannot commit on when I can finish my Youtube video as of this writing tho. But I hope you still found this article informative.

Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! 

Cheers! 

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Zenithal Priming Gundam Pilots with Vallejo Mecha Color Primers

Cleaning up these Pilot figures are... hmmm... different ( difficult for me actually ). The material is more rubber than plastic. The material is difficult to sand and clean up.

I practically sculpted or sliced thin strips of flesh colored rubber to remove the mold lines. The slicing  is very visible on the Youtube video. I was able to sand the other areas with Vallejo sanding blocks. I used 1000 grit. If you use a grit lower than 600, the rubber becomes rough. Anyways, you have to try to clean one of this to know how to clean it up.

I super glued the foot to a cork. Needed to add more super glue than usual as the cork was absorbing it. After around 10 minutes of letting the glue cure, I then primed the figures with Vallejo Mecha Color Primers. I have been using Vallejo Polyurethane primers for 10 years now, but it was my first time to use the Mecha Color Primers. I thinned the MC ( Mecha Color ) Primers as usual.


RATIOS - These are very rough estimates. My videos at Youtube better shows how I dillute Vallejo Mecha Color paints for airbrushing.

20 drops Black Primer : 2 drops Thinner : 5 drops Flow Improver

20 drops White Primer : 1 drop Thinner : 5 drops Flow Improver


I thinned the White Primer less than the Black Primer, as it is thinner than black primer to begin with. It spray well. I only use Harder & Steenbeck for airbrushing tho. But my thinning worked well with my airbrush.

The Vallejo Mecha Color Black Primer has great coverage as expected. It went smoothly through my airbrush without hiccups. I will not add thinner ( or just one drop of Flow Improver ) to the White primer next time. Less primer should give it a better coverage. My airbrushing of both went well.

I clean my Harder& Steenbeck Silverline airbrush with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner ( thinned 50:50 with water ). Then I blew my ab under a tub of water. Then blew another good few drops of Vallejo Airbrush Thinner, for the mechanism.

Done. I blew some air to the primed figures with my ab, before packing up.

I like letting Vallejo Primers for a day ( or at least overnight ) before airbrushing again or hand painting. A strong Vallejo priming ( and painting and varnishing ) is all about following curing times to ensure great adherence and durability.

I hope you find this post informative. Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post guys!

Cheers!

Shout Outs

I only paint my Gunpla, Miniatures and Action Figures with Vallejos 

I only use Harder & Steenbeck airbrush 

I get my tools only from HobbyMate Singapore 

I get my Vallejos and Miniatures only at Neutral Grounds 

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