4.4.09

395# Perfect Grade Strike Gundam - Final touch up

This took longer than I thought. I planned to finish this during the semester break. In fact I did, but for the Strike Gundam itself only.

Spent 2 days to continue building the Aile Striker backpack. Yesterday started to apply the stickers and herein I declare the end of this project.





My toughest work so far. Started since end of December last year, and after 3 and a half months of working and delaying and finally it is completed.

Master Grade models will usually take me around 1 week, if I work on it everyday. But this Perfect Grade model is way too complicated to build thus it can't be compared. Plus I work on it on and off, due to our tight schedule in the university and in the hospital.





So this morning I woke up and get ready for the final step - top coating.

Removing the armor pieces from the frame piece by piece could be a pain. Extra attention needed because failure of knowing the orientation and direction of the attachments can easily break the pieces apart, if strong forces are being applied.





Unfortunately there were some casualties where I broke 3 pieces on its poles. Poles in holes attachment is the worst. If there's a slight deviation of force, the pole will just stuck in there with the broken piece on your hand and guilt on the other hand.

Semi gloss coating for the armors and weapons, dull coating for the internal skeletal aka the frame. I should have get a can of gloss coat as well for the chrome plated "Grand Slam" weapon, but I guess that is not worthy so I just skipped it.




Removing the armor pieces to reveal the panel lining and markering I have done long ago was quite satisfying. I really spent a lot of time to marker the inner frame especially the hydraulic pipes. I only used the markers without the aid of brush so it was a great pain for me.




Panel lining the inner frame was a pain too. Not only I was lining the hard to reach parts, when I think of those details will be covered by the armor pieces, it somehow gave me the feeling that it is not necessary to ink them.

But anyway, these details will only be seen if you cast the armors off. External detailing isn't as impressive as the interior ones.





Alright, after an hour of removing the armor pieces, time for coating. The weather was not that great as I expected. The sun went off and wind started to blow. I had to find a spot outside my house where wind speed was minimal.

It got me worried. I had to wait for the wind to stop blowing, and take that instant of seconds to spray before the wind started to blow again.




I placed the armor pieces in order so that I won't confuse with the left and right. But anyway this mobile suit's design is somewhat symmetrical so it doesn't matter if it got mixed up though.

Left at left and right at right. Middle compartment for the pieces from the torso and waist. Surprisingly huge number of pieces to be arranged before spraying.





Wanted to hang the Aile Striker to spray it but in the end I just placed it on the ground to spray, and flip it over to spray the part beneath.

Same goes to the beam rifle and sheild where both sides need to be covered. The inner part of the skirtings were well markered too thus I turned it over to cover those parts with dull coat too.




For the frame, I just place it on the stand and spray. I somehow forgotten to cover the medial parts thus the inner lower limbs and shoulder were not well coated. Too late when I realised it.

I sprayed the stand as well at the same time with the dull coat. I have a big issue with the stand where it comes out easily from the base thus losing its stability. The model might just fall off if it gets too lose. What a pain.

By the way, I think I am addicted to the toxic fumes of the top coat.





After about half an hour of spraying, I brought them back into the house and let them settle down. Until now, I am not sure how long should I let them untouched so that the coating will dry up completely. However I still can't help it and touch them here and there, in the end having coating particles on my fingers.

The number of armor pieces was overwhelming so I did not bother to arrange them in symmetry while I took the photo above. It still did not fail to impress me anyway.





Final touch up, done.

Applying the armor pieces back to the frame. I took this shot inspired by dannychoo. But the way I shoot it was not as great though.





Perfect Grade Aile Strike Gundam, assemble and completed by a casual collector. Although I did not apply any extensive skills like seamless, sanding, or air brushing, but I am quite satisfied on how the final product turned out to be with my limited modeling skills.





Stupid camera died again and my photo shotting stops there.

Will continue the review next time.


Proportion: 10/10
Articulation: 10/10
Details: 9/10
Poseability: 9/10
Price: 14,900yen (PG Strike)+ 5,000yen (Skygrasper + Aile Striker) - 1/10


Overall: 5/10 - Not something that I could collect. Its price is the biggest issue.

Edit: More photos here.

15 comments:

Ngee Khiong said...

Great work for your PG Strike, has gold and silver painting for the hydraulic pipes on the inner frame too ^^ - I skipped those on my PG Strike Rouge because I was too eager to finish the work. ^^;

Ya, agree with you, the armors can be hard to remove. I removed them once after completing the Strike Rouge, and never bothered to try again because of the trouble. ^^; For me, the armors on the shoulder are very troublesome. When I want to display the armor opening, the whole piece would come off instead.

But overall, this is still the best PG released (inclusive of Astray Red Frame in the evaluation).

Mike said...

Best PG so far, including the Astray Red Frame since they are both sharing the same frame.

Oh ya I also have the same problem when I wanna cast open the shoulder armors, they came out just like that =.="

I missed the painting of the left calf, doesn't matter la. I purposedly left the inner aspect of the shield unlined, bcoz i'm too lazy to do so. I saw you did lined yours huh.

Now I took it off from the stand and took out the Aile pack so that it could be fitted into my glass cabinet. I'll only be at home once in a while so it's better for it to stay as light as possible.

stinchan said...

hm actually i think it looks better minus the backpack...backpack looks like school boy's bag

:) said...

errmmm.... how did u spray it? stick it on a tootpick and spray it onr by one? of just spray it by arranging it all on the paper thn spray by few layers like tht? tq

:) said...

oh ya... wht brand of spray u use? spray after or b4 applying decals? tq

Mike said...

Chan @ I think it looks better with the backpack on la, more massive and and more visual info. But without backpack it still look ok nonetheless, can feel the agile feeling from it.

:) @ I detached the armor, spread them out and spray them all together at once, and for the frame I sprayed it in one piece. You can refer to the photos #6 #7 #8 #9. I use Mr. Hobby's Mr. Super Clear Flat coat and semi gloss. It's acrylic based. Better than water based.

:) said...

tq tq... :). hope u can get more MG and PG this year.. :)

Mike said...

I got MG Sinanju pending. About PG Astray Red Frame... I want it so badly but its price is like RM800+... I can't make it, but I really want it. Somebody buy it for me pls. :P

:) said...

oh ya...1 more... it is adviceble to respray the colour parts? i also jsut receive the both PGs....

Mike said...

you just got this PG Strike and PG Skygrasper? Why not get the PG Astray (i want this PG so badly, April reissue of this PG comes without first press extra parts so sad). Ok erm, for me I have no enough budget to go into respraying the whole kit. Can sprays will do but not advisable according to experts, air brushing is still indeed the choice of painting.

I don't know your modelling skill level yet so it's rather difficult for me to tell you to paint it or not. But for me, i'm happy without painting, although painting it will be so much more better. I'm just lacking the money for air brush set and the most importantly - the time to do so.

Anyway it's up to you, as long as you're happy while building it :)

:) said...

oic... coz i saw at dalong mar...thy say the pose is limited compare to the astray... thn someone i see the sword sticking out like tht..look like so pelik... anyway tq ya... oh ya.. for u, if u interested to buy the astray in malaysia..the shop is in melaka...http://www.teencom.com.my/cgi-bin/index.cgi/gundam_page/shop-product-view.go?productid=5770&return_url=http://www.teencom.com.my/cgi-bin/index.cgi/gundam_page&return_url=http://www.teencom.com.my/cgi-bin/index.cgi/gundam_page

:) said...

aiya..sorry..i mean astray pose limited compare to strike..

Mike said...

ya i do know bout Astray's restricted articulation due to its fat lower limbs but it's ok to me because I don't leave my models in extensive poses, I usually leave them in standby mode to avoid joint wear and tear. The long gerbera straight sticking out isn't an issue to me either, prove that it is LONG ma.

Checked out the link you posted. No more first press, sigh. However, someone is selling the first press parts at ebay http://cgi.ebay.com.my/Gundam-PG-1-60-Astray-Red-Frame-Clear-Parts-Not-ForSale_W0QQitemZ120404455296QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item120404455296&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A835%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

crazy. I don't think I am generous enough to pay for that now.

Anonymous said...

Heum still a noob and i've yet to find an answer to my query, so one just applies top coat to improve the looks of a gundam,or is top coat for when one paints the gundam? and what's the recommended types of top coats I already did panel lining on most of my models... And finally what's the result of clear top coat

Mike said...

Hey anon, top coat doesn't paint the gundam. Ok, these are the top coats that you can find;

1. Clear/Gloss - For sport car models.

2. Semi gloss - What you can see in Bandai's official photos are using semi gloss, my personal favourite.

3. Dull/Flat - Least reflective coating. Preferred by most.

What top coat does is that it protects the painting and panel lining. But if it's a straight build, it protect the plastic and give it a "pseudo painted" look and less plastic like. Top coat is highly recommended. Not only it protects, but it gives a final touch of your gundam.

Besides, there is water based and enamel based top coat. Former is better because the enamel will make ABS plastic to be brittle and crack. I'm using enamel ones btw...

I'd recommend you to go for water based Semi gloss first.

Have fun coating them :)

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