1/144th Gelgoog WiP part 3

In part 2, I took you through the head modifications and the arm joints. In this part, I'll concentrate on the primer and minor fixing of overlooked mistakes made during building.

I'm currently painting these with Mr. Surfacer 1000, thinned with Lacquer thinner and sprayed through an airbrush. Doing this means I get generally smooth surfaces and a chance to see where the mistakes I made in regards to seamline filling and sanding.

 Here are the various parts in primer on my makeshift parts holder; a styrofoam block, which I can stick my steak skewers into (these have w/alligator clips on the ends to hold onto the various parts). A must have for any Gunpla-painting session! I'm primering this one right along with a Gundam and a Zaku Marine type from ZZ. Stay tuned for these in upcoming posts!

 The Gelgoog head next to a Gundam head! These look damned awesome in primer! Now if I can just finish painting these... 😅

 It sometimes takes two or three sessions in the primer stage to get everything covered. Some are way more efficient in this stage. Not me! I have to take my time, if I rush this stuff, it tends to look bad in the end. 🙀

 Above you can see the various lighter splotches of light grey primer in various places. This is the "touchup" I do using Mr. Surfacer 500 with a brush, I go over the very fine seams and cracks that tend to show up in these models. It's impossible to see everything when just building, a process I did not use before, and usually guaranteed lousy results in my finishes. Hopefully doing these in primer will help me in that regard.

What it looks like now! Very happy with how it's coming along, and I've got most of the mistakes fixed. There are a couple more, but hoping to get some painting done on this very soon!

A preview of the shield... 😁

~Sean "Zakuformer" Kneeland

1/144th Gelgoog WiP part 2

In part 1, I discussed several items I had to chop up on this kit. So far it's been a trial of patience and error, trying to see what would work and what would not. Unfortunately I did not create "working" elbow joints, but may be able to tear it back apart later and figure something out. The best part of this so far has been the head, or more specifically, the "nose". This will become easier to see in part 3 when I show off the primered parts!

The head was the easiest part to fix so far. The original kit part was merely a "beak", which just doesn't cut it for a Gelgoog! Above you can see the original styrene shapes glues into place, below shows what they look like after sanding and in place on the dry-fitted Gelgoog!

 Above, before sanding and drilling out the "vents", below is after;

You can also see the nasty kit "elbows" above. Just little ball joints, and don't allow for any articulated bend at the elbow at all. The only good thing it allows is a "swivel", which I took care of on the right arm only, with the help of some styrene rod and a spare PC cap;

The above photos are basically my "failed" attempt to recreate any sore of working elbow joint that becomes hidden when the arm is straight. You can also see where I cut the upper arm at the rounded shoulder, basically separating into a shoulder and bicep. These would become the swivel joint bicep!

Above, the workings of the upper arm swivel bicep on the right arm, as well as the faux elbow joints. These are glued into place for now. Below, the look of the assembled arms on the dry-fitted (and primered) Gelgoog!

I had quite a bit of sanding to do on the added styrene parts. But it came out beautifully, which was amazing because I eye-balled everything on this! Usually I can't get results that look this sharp! 😅

Next post will be the primered parts and the various degrees to what I'm going through to get this thing back together. If I'd have known it was going to be this bad, I probably would not have bothered! 😨😅😴

In part 3, I go through my primer process. 🙀😹😷

~Sean "Zakuformer" Kneeland