HOW TO Paint a Zoids Gusock at Youtube

I just uploaded my recent video ( I think just my 23rd video ) at my 4 week old Youtube channel. 

The video above is the complete painting process of a quick fun project of a Takara Tomy Zoids Gusock, painted with Vallejo Mecha Colors and other Vallejo Paints. ALL with Vallejo Acrylics as usual. 

This was just a quick "demo" project painting with Vallejo mecha Colors. Although I love my Vallejos for a while now, I am really amaze on how strong the Mecha Color paints are. Although I am very bias, you will see in the videos how I handle ( mishandle ) the pieces even during painting. 

The adherence of these Mecha Color paints are insane even without curing time ( drying time is different than curing time ). 

I used to paint with Vallejo Game and Game Airs, also with Vallejo Premiums... which have strong adherence too. but I let those paints cure for a week before handling. Before playing or before posing ( Gunpla ). The Vallejo Mecha Colors should need a nice curing time, but I do not notice it. They dry fast and with really strong adherence to the material ( plastics ), even on a moving Zoids toy. 

Crazy stuff to be honest. 

I did not even varnish ( Mecha Color Matt Varnish ) the armor parts of this Gusock. 

I find the colors ( color selection ) of the Vallejo Mecha Colors a bit limited ( as of now ), but nothing a good filtering or mixing won't fix. 

CONCLUSION

I love my Vallejo Mecha Colors. LOL

HAPPY 2020 EVERYONE!

I plan to blog ( ramble ) everyday this year. Nothing important, just my way of sort of converting this blog, into a diary of a full time professional scale modeler. 

People specially the younger ones, might be curious how it is to be a full time artist / modeler in the third world. 

Anyways, I was sooooooo tired a couple of days ago ( December 31 ) and yesterday ( January 1, 2020 ), as I migrated from my little corner at the ground floor of my art studio ( Blue Brick Art ), to my old work area at the second floor. 

Imagine climbing up and down a staircase with Gunpla stuff the whole day, and painting the walls the next day. 

I was crazy tired I failed to blog on the first day. But it was worth it!

A couple of days of NO modeling or painting was not very fun, but the logos of Vallejo, my logo and my eldest daughter's on the big white wall turned out nice. It is not perfect as it was hand painted ( with Vallejo Acrylic Studio of course ), but it really turned out nice.

I will have to retouch some errors and blemishes next time. But pretty happy with the logos so far.

I will need to invest on a nice glass cabinet ( 8 feet wide and 4 feet tall ) for all my painted builds this year. I will be painting like a madman this 2020, I am sure I need more cabinets than this area can hold. But a nice 4 x 8 feet at the back of my Gunpla area would be a nice start. 

Anyways, a ton of painting and Youtube Videos this year ( and beyond ). 

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

Saludos! 

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Weathering Without Painting a Rubber Zaku Figure

Just finished this quick weathering project. This project was basically a test, a sort of experiment that you can paint the Vallejo Mecha Colors on kits and figures ( any model surface ), even without priming. And that the paints when dry, will even look like the material of the kit / figure. 

Vallejo also claims that the Mecha Color range were formulated to withstand regular handling and wear and tear of articulated kits like Kotobukiya, Gunpla, StarWars, Transformers and the like.

So I tested the paints! 

I weathered this rubber ( rubber plastic of some sort ) Zaku figure without priming and painting the base colors. I used a ton of Vallejo Mecha Color Paints, but you could reduce the painting to around 8 to 10 colors. I really have to practice painting with sets of 6 to 8 colors ( limited palette ), so that I could share it with other modelers easier. 

MECHA COLORS

• Mecha Color Light Green
• Mecha Color Green
• Mecha Color Dark Green
• Mecha Color Pure Black
• Mecha Color Grey Sand
• Mecha Color Chipping Brown

WEATHERING WASHES & INKS

• Mecha Weathering Black Wash
• Mecha Weathering Eng Soot Wash
• Mecha Weathering Dark Rust Wash
• Mecha Weathering Light Rust Wash
• Mecha Weathering Oil Earth Wash
• Game Ink Yellow
• Game Ink Green

MECHA COLOR METALLICS

• Mecha Color Light Steel
• Mecha Color Dark Steel
• Mecha Color Copper

MECHA FLOURESCENT 

• Magenta Flourescent 

AUXILLIARY 

• Mecha Color Gloss Varnish
• Mecha Color Matt Varnish
• Retarder Medium
• Airbrush Thinner
• Flow Improver
• Distilled Water

MY VALLEJO COLORS WEATHERING PROCESS ( in summary )

1. Hand paint Matt Varnish ( 3 thin coats )
2. Paint lighter colors with Mecha Color Light Green and Green 
3. Dry brush Light Green
4. Paint shadows with Dark Green
5. Paint the chipping with Mecha Color Chipping Brown
6. Hand paint Gloss Varnish ( 3 thin coats )
7. Apply Mecha Weathering Washes in varying ratios
8. Filtering with Game Ink Yellow & Green
9. Hand paint Matt Varnish ( 3 thin coats )
10. Paint Pure Black on details, then Metallics
11. Paint Flo color ( mono eye )
12. Paint rain streaks and armor stains with washes

Asmuch as I want to talk you through in detail. I think it is easier to just watch my Youtube video below. Saludos! 

CONCLUSION

The Mecha Color Varnishes are CRAZY GOOD!

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Heroclix DOTA 2 TideHunter verDC23

It took me a while to finish this commissioned work of a Heroclix DOTA 2 TideHunter figure as I had to wait for my "Kolinsky" brushes for hand painting I bought online. One of the secrets in hand painting with  acrylic paints ( Vallejos ) are the brushes! Crappy cheap synthetic brushes will deteriorate fast as the acrylic paints will eat up those plastic bristles during hand painting. " Kolinsky " or at least Red Sable brushes are a must!

Anyways, this little toy was made a little bit more interesting by removing the Heroclix base and re-painting it. This is fully hand painted with Vallejo Model Color paints, Vallejo Water Effects and sealed with Vallejo ( Resin ) Gloss Varnish. I tried my best to add details thru painting but the sculpt of the toy is just not as detailed as real plastic, resin or white metal miniatures.

It took me a couple of days ( maybe even 3 days ) to achieve the look of the custom base as I had to apply around 4 or 5 heavy coats of Vallejo Water Effects paints and let cure for at least 12 hours. Anyways this was a fun little project fully hand painted with my Vallejos. Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next completed build guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

Before re-painting photo below taken from - realminis.blogspot.com

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Star Wars Stormtrooper Figure verDC23

This is a project started way back April last year ( 2013 ) for a friend of a friend. My second out of retirement project that I was not able to finish on time. I would not be surprise if the client does not want the figure anymore ( Sorry Bro ). A couple of years of drama aside, I had fun working with this project.

The most challenging part of this build was the re-sculpting of the pose of the figure. I had to saw off the arms and legs and pin them in place. After pinning with copper rods, I had to sculpt arm pits and groin parts with Epoxy Putty and some Green Stuff. The painting was also a bit challenging as this was fully hand painted with Vallejo Model Colors and Washes. The hand painting was not a choice as my lone airbrush broke last year ( part of the reason I retired ).

The photo above shows the original state of the figure. I think I did a decent job re-posing it and an equally decent job hand painting this 12 inch figure. Hand painting white on such a big figure was not easy to say the least. Dang I need to get a new airbrush soon! The Vallejo washes worked like a charm! Would never trade those paints with anything else! Great stuff that produces better effects than the old enamel wash technique that dries in years!

 Anyways, below are more photos I took with my iPhone ( my camera also broke last year ). Hope you enjoy them. Thanks for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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DC23 Mecharts Gallery Updated

It has been so long since I had the time and the mood to update my gallery. Just added the links  of a couple of finished or completed builds last year ( 2013 ). 

The Ironman 12 inch statue I did for a friend which was basically a repaint of a statue last year was a fun build. I added the damages and paint chips and enhanced the overall finish of the statue / toy. A super fun quick build that ended up nicely.

I also added a link of my only painted kit last year, which was a beautiful Ma.K kit given to me by my old friend Kenny Lim aka TOYMAKER back in 2009. The kit has a bit of fitting issues but I did had so much fun hand painting the floral stuff on the kit. This kit is one of my fav display in my office desk these days. 

Anyways, do check them out in the links below...

 Gallery

 Commission Gallery

Thanks for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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Reposing the Starwars Stormtrooper fig

 

Just finished the Ironman statue a while back and so I have to work and finish this Starwars Stormtrooper figure soon.

I sawed off the arms, pelvis and the ankles to give the toy a more dynamic pose. The new pose will sacrifice the poseability of the toy. I will give it a more sophisticated painting to make it look untoy-like looking to match the new pose.

I pinned the arms to give it a stronger bond and reinforced the super glue with epoxy. I need to get meself some epoxy putty to fill up those underams, inner legs and ankles then will sculpt details using some Green Stuff.

I also need to create a circular base that would compliment the figure. I hope to make this look like an expensive statue eventually.

Not much update as of now as I wait for the epoxy to cure. Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post guys! :)

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Ironman statue repaint verDC23

 I just took some super crappy photos of my commission work Ironman statue repaint earlier today. My backgound is a couple of black shirts that looks really bad in the raw photos so I decided to stylize them to look decent enough. I will try to take better photos with a white background later today.

This blog badly needs fresh completed works and I am glad I finished this and the Ma.K kit to update my galleries.

Now that 2 quick projects are done and over with, I will now work on more complicated projects that will take time to finish. I have the MG Zeta Karaba, MG EX-S, MG Z'Gok ( Waylander vs DC23 vs Toymaker ) and the custom Starwars Stormtrooper.

Anyways I had fun with the repaint of this Ironman statue as I also added some battle damage effects in the process. The figure was painted with Vallejo Game Color, some Citadel paints and sealed with a Vallejo Acrylic Gloss Varnish.

Will make sure to update this with normal and better photos soon that are faithful to the look of the statue in person. Hope you enjoy these stylize photos for the meantime. Thanks for dropping by! Until next update guys! :)

 

 

 EDIT: BELOW are more color accurate photos of the Ironman Statue Repaint. :)

Thanks as always for dropping by! Until Next post guys! :)

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