Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

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Darwin
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Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

MSN-06S Sinanju Project: Day 1

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Yeah, I'm a total Zeke.
Cracked this open today and got started. As usual for a build like this, I ignore the instructions and jump to the interesting parts first: The weapons. Got out the noted trees and got to work. Unlike many *cough* of my other projects *cough*, I plan to do this one right from the start. Just for future reference, I'm planning on priming/basecoating black and doing a white gradient preshading underneath my colors, which is one of the well-regarded Max Watanabe techniques.

The rifle: This is a pretty sharp piece. of course a lot of mold lines to carefully scrape off, and with all the curved parts (barrel, optics) this was a lot of "fun". In total the rifle (with grenade launcher) has about 17 parts. The plastic though is a good consistency and this was reasonably easy to do. It consisted of two halves, wrapped around a barrel and internal action, with muzzle and buttcap as additional parts, and an ingenious swivel-latch to hold the grenade launcher (which pivots out for reloading!) Parts cleanup was easy and they went together well except for the rear portion of the optics, which pivoted too freely. A tiny drop of plastic cement in the hole tightened things up nicely. Some sanding was necessary on the bottom of the forestock to even it up, but afterwards it looks like a single piece. This rifle is long and mean-looking. about 1 hour. optics (2 clear pieces) will of course be added after I paint.

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The shield: big and substantial looking, it's actually quite thick, unlike some Gundam shields out there. There's a base piece in grey to which everything attaches. There's 4 main armor panels, 3 red and 1 black, and they easily attach to the front of the shield. There's an ABS retainer piece for the beam axes, and another 2 piece assembly for the arm attachment. The beam axes can be stored here, or can be flipped and swung forward to make an impressive weapon. the axes themselves are 4 pieces each, entirely ABS, though the handles and blade holder appear to be a harder formulation. The handle attaches to a slider which rides along the back of the blade holder, and at the bottom is a socket for attachment to the shield. The're rather skeletal and plain in appearance, but I suspect paint and decals will really spice them up.

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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by generator_g1 »

Are you planning on painting the gold trim of the Sinanju or will you be using the stickers?
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Darwin
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

generator_g1 wrote:Are you planning on painting the gold trim of the Sinanju or will you be using the stickers?
I've never seen good results from the stickers, so.

I briefly courted the idea of using gold Bare Metal Foil, but I don't think my skills are up to it.

So paint it is.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

MSN-06S Sinanju Project: Day 2

As usual, image heavy, though I fiddled with the compressions and it should load a lot faster now.

And I'll form the head!

Head goes together today, and also I give the mono-eye my usual treatment. pieces were very well cast, the only mold lines were on the antenna, and were easy to remove. Sprue marks were well placed and easy to remove or hidden. There's a nice gear assembly inside the head, that lets you pivot the mono-eye by twisting the head off-center with the neck. A nice touch, though really, the visor lies so close you can barely see the darned thing when it's assembled.

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I paint the color of the mono-eye on the inside, and silver over that to improve brightness.

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Then I paint black over that for the outer casing.

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The technique really makes for a nice looking mono-eye, given it gets enough light.

Because some folks asked, here's some size comparison. Sort of.

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On to the body. The Linear Cockpit. oh boy. Guess I've gotta paint up the pilot and everyone's favorite Char clone, Full Frontal (Yes that's really his name, or codename, or something) so I clamped him into my locking tweezers and got to work.

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Sonovabitch that was hard.

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Are all men from the future so.. small?

Just me, baby. Just me.


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I painted the linear seat in muddy olive, which fits with other late-anaheim designed mobile suits.

Blank screen, or BSOD?

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Insert hamster joke here, alternatively, joke about balls. Also any joke regarding my doing all this work for a piece that I will 1: paint entirely in grey and 2: be hidden within the body of the model. At least that should be it for the paints today.

Of course I need something to attach the head to, so, on to the body.
Went together pretty basic, with decent shoulder articulation. Nice that the main pieces are ABS, which lets them be assembled and taken apart a bunch without damage.

First bare,

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And now with all the armor.

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It wouldn't be a Zeon suit without armored external cables! These are a bitch to do as each individual armor ring

needs to be cleaned up.

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Tomorrow: Finish the cable armor, get that painted up. Paint the cockpit ball while I'm there. Then get started on the legs.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Ford Prefect »

I just want to say 'goddamn you', because you have an MG Sinanju, and I do not. :D
What is Project Zohar?

Here's to a certain mostly harmless nutcase.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

Ford Prefect wrote:I just want to say 'goddamn you', because you have an MG Sinanju, and I do not. :D
I had to order it from Hong Kong. And like everything I've ever gotten from there, it arrived wrapped in thick green paper. What is with that?
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

Day 3

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After a long rest I went back, finished the cable armor for the waist and went on to the legs. the 'N' trees were all leg parts, so I simply disassembled those into a pile. It's okay, because with the sinanju left and right limbs are identical internally. Must simplify maintenance. ^.^ I'll clean mold lines and sprue marks as I assemble them.

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step 6.1, make sure to take note of the assembly order! oops.

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then I went and misplaced N-9, the piston that goes inside the heel assembly. I probably won't cut all the parts out at once next time.

Found it! Was on the sprue the whole time.

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Feet are done!

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This has one of the most complex armor for legs that I have seen on a mobile suit. 23 individual armor pieces, per leg. Yikes.

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The leg mechanism is quite nice, lots of sliding and gliding and such.

Hip has some neat stuff, like how the sockets for the legs can be forward or back independantly. Anyway, it's 2AM and I'm done for the day, after putting together one of those new action bases. The Sinanju comes with a special mounting plate for one of these. Tomorrow, more armor cables! \o/

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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

sinanju project day 4

16 armor rings. yay!
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I discovered they fit snugly on the handle of one of my needle files. This is helpful!
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The forearms have binders that hold large armor plates, as well as the backup beam sabers. They needed some cleanup of ejector pin marks. Sure, they'll be covered, but you understand.
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Arms go together. Pretty typical of the newer MG inner frame stuff, with some nice sliding bits just for show. Hands are the typical sliding thumb, articulated forefinger, half-articulated remaining fingers. Little sad that not all the fingers are individually articulated.

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In the assembly home-stretch now, with the backpack!

I butchered the fuel tanks a little getting them off the sprue, so I cemented the two halves together, hoping the melting action of the cement would help fill a few of the gouges. I'll probably have to use some filler here to even things out before painting. With well-fitted (and not butchered) parts, often cement and light sanding are all that it takes to get a smooth, seamess join.

Primary build done!
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I'll take a few days and get everything situated for painting. need:
lots of little stickysticks for individual parts painting, and something to stick them onto.
wash and prep parts for painting.
acquire proper paints, decide whether to go metallic or not
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by VF5SS »

I love how with every new MG, the old Perfect Grade kits seem more obsolete. And not that this has much to do with the model, but apparently Full Frontal really is Char. Just not the Char we know.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

VF5SS wrote:I love how with every new MG, the old Perfect Grade kits seem more obsolete. And not that this has much to do with the model, but apparently Full Frontal really is Char. Just not the Char we know.
I've never put together a PG kit, but I can see how this might compare against the early ones like the RX-78-2 and ZakuII. It certainly puts the early Master Grade kits to shame.

It doesn't make sense that he's the Char Aznable that Casval Rem Deikun took the identity of. Firstly, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin isn't canon with the animated UC works, second, the real Char would be pushing 40 at the time of Gundam Unicorn, and Full Frontal looks more like Char did during the One Year War, as well as having an identical voice. All signs point to him being the first Char Clone. They'd have to do some real twisting to make it the "real" Char.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by VF5SS »

Yeah I guess it was just a rumor. I suppose that makes as much sense as him being Job John.

With regards to the PG kits, I feel like most of them are too big for their joints. Imagine how a lot of early MGs used ball joints for everything but magnify that looseness to something even bigger. The PG Zeta is probably the worst model for its size. Everything is just so well realized on the new kits it's amazing.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

VF5SS wrote:Yeah I guess it was just a rumor. I suppose that makes as much sense as him being Job John.

With regards to the PG kits, I feel like most of them are too big for their joints. Imagine how a lot of early MGs used ball joints for everything but magnify that looseness to something even bigger. The PG Zeta is probably the worst model for its size. Everything is just so well realized on the new kits it's amazing.
I've heard very good things about the MG Zeta 2.0, and it's high on my list of projects to do next. The PG Zeta was very early, and basically an upscaled MG Zeta 1.0, and ho boy did that have problems.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by generator_g1 »

Speaking of PG's, have you guys seen the pics of the latest PG Astray yet?
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by VF5SS »

Darwin wrote:
I've heard very good things about the MG Zeta 2.0, and it's high on my list of projects to do next.
I have the MG Zeta 2.0. It really is as good as they say right down to it being solid in both modes. It's even better than the Zeta Plus kits. I must admit though, I totally stopped buying Gundam kits in favor of HCM-Pros. They're just sweet hand candy.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

VF5SS wrote:
Darwin wrote:
I've heard very good things about the MG Zeta 2.0, and it's high on my list of projects to do next.
I have the MG Zeta 2.0. It really is as good as they say right down to it being solid in both modes. It's even better than the Zeta Plus kits. I must admit though, I totally stopped buying Gundam kits in favor of HCM-Pros. They're just sweet hand candy.
I must say I have been tempted by those and the Robot Damashii figures.
I'm so so on the zeta plus kits, but if 2.0 is tighter than those, it looks like a winnar.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

So now I'm prepping for painting. I've got my:

floral foam

coffee stirrers

loctite blue fun-tak

Hopefully polly-s airbrush thinner will work fine with tamiya and model master acrylics. ^.^ Anyone have experience with this?

Additionally, I'm exploring what metallic paints will work best for the trim here. Obviously, Tamiya silver and gold are out of the question, as they're far too grainy. My Reaper master series gold is quite nice, but there's no way it's going through the airbrush. If I were to hand-brush the gold, I'd have a winner. I've got a model master acrylic gold that's okay, but it's fairly brown. What have folks around here used to get a good gold finish? Should I go all out and pick up some SNJ or AlcladII?

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These are the only parts that needed filler work, and the fuel tanks only because I butchered them. I have to hand it to bandai's engineering on this thing. I MAY still need to use putty on the back of the head and the wrist armor plates, but I can't till till after I've painted and assembled. =(

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Everything is washed, soon as they're dry I'll re-bag, and butcher a cardboard box to use as a makeshift spray-booth. Stay tuned!

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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Ypoknons »

I just got an MG Sinanju too, going to spray it metallic red (like in Dengeki Fobby Feb). No room for an airbrush though at this place, or else I'd so some shadowing. I'm just going to Gold Gundam marker the gold trim - my project is hardly going to be as serious as yours (you painted bloody Full Frontal. That is a 1cm tall! You painted both of them). Are you going to airbrush the red?
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

Ypoknons wrote:I just got an MG Sinanju too, going to spray it metallic red (like in Dengeki Fobby Feb). No room for an airbrush though at this place, or else I'd so some shadowing. I'm just going to Gold Gundam marker the gold trim - my project is hardly going to be as serious as yours (you painted bloody Full Frontal. That is a 1cm tall! You painted both of them). Are you going to airbrush the red?
I will probably bypass the metallics this time. My initial plan is to do the pre-shading with white over black, and then spray thin layers of Guards Red over the top. I plan on a semi-matte finish for the red, and gloss for the black and gold areas, should provide a nice contrast. Going to airbrush as much as possible.
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Havok »

Damnit man. Get this train rocking... I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!! :D
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darth Yoshi »

Oh, man. Most of mine are 1/144 HG (blasphemy!) Endless Waltz (double blasphemy!) models, except for a 1/100 MG Wing Zero and a 1/100 Ez-8. But man, the hands on this baby puts the MG Wing Zero's to shame.
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Darwin
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

Darth Yoshi wrote:Oh, man. Most of mine are 1/144 HG (blasphemy!) Endless Waltz (double blasphemy!) models, except for a 1/100 MG Wing Zero and a 1/100 Ez-8. But man, the hands on this baby puts the MG Wing Zero's to shame.
Funny you mentioned that.

The hands on this are typical of the 2.0 MG releases, in that you have a one-piece thumb, two piece forefinger, and the remaining three fingers are attached with separate second joints. It's not as nice as the Sazabi's fully articulated fingers, and they're just not strong enough to hold anything. I do wish they would include some detailed static pose hands like some of the older MGs.

Anyway, I expect to get started painting in the morning. yay!
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Ypoknons »

Darwin wrote:I will probably bypass the metallics this time. My initial plan is to do the pre-shading with white over black, and then spray thin layers of Guards Red over the top. I plan on a semi-matte finish for the red, and gloss for the black and gold areas, should provide a nice contrast. Going to airbrush as much as possible.
I was interested in that look too before my roommate and I decided to just go crazy with the metallics. With the layers, do you let it dry before the next layer? The contrast idea is definitely new - don't see that around much on the modeler forums. As for the gold, I'm just sticking with Gundam marker :).
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

Ypoknons wrote: As for the gold, I'm just sticking with Gundam marker :).
I've been warned away from gold gundam marker, apparently it doesn't age well. YMMV
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Ypoknons »

Darwin wrote:I've been warned away from gold gundam marker, apparently it doesn't age well. YMMV
I've heard that too in the sense that you have to use it all up the first time or else next time it looks crap. Usually I gold spray but I figure masking would drive us crazy so I'll try it with the marker - if not, I'll just use decal or spray it black and try again.

I figure you have quite some masking work ahead of you?
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Re: Sinanju Project (image heavy!)

Post by Darwin »

Ypoknons wrote:
Darwin wrote:I've been warned away from gold gundam marker, apparently it doesn't age well. YMMV
I've heard that too in the sense that you have to use it all up the first time or else next time it looks crap. Usually I gold spray but I figure masking would drive us crazy so I'll try it with the marker - if not, I'll just use decal or spray it black and try again.

I figure you have quite some masking work ahead of you?
It's at least a week away. I've got the gray for the internal frame painted. now all the armor needs a coat of black, white highlights, then red over the top. THEN I can worry about the gold. I've got some new liquid mask I might try.
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