MΔ - VF-9

[Xigfrid]

Why am I so bad at painting... here I am with my first copy. This is so difficult to paint white other red that any mistake may take you back to primer 

Edited April 6, 2019 by Xigfrid

[sketchley]

5 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

Why am I so bad at painting... here I am with my first copy. This is so difficult to paint white other red that any mistake may take you back to primer

 

2 suggestions that resulted in more successful results for me:

1) masking.  While there *may* be a little bit of bleed through under the edges tape, it'll prevent overspray or the dreaded paint drop.

2) paint it before assembly (in this case... is it possible to disassemble?  If not, partially transform it, and mask whatever you don't want painted).

 

.... and while it is a pain in the a$$ at times*, go slow.  Work on one part at a time (if you can't disassemble it and work on a batch of parts at the same time).

* especially when cleaning the brushes, etc.

[wmkjr]

I'd paint the other way around,  darker colors over the lighter ones due to being harder to cover white over red.

[Xigfrid]

Hi yeah, great advices there. To be honest, that’s the first time I am trying an airbrush and the Gundam marker airbrush system, and still learning how to master both. 

I wanted to paint it fast with few masking but the Gundam airbrush wasn’t as precise as expected compared to the airbrush. 

Well lesson learnt and painting over a white area is even more merciless! 

[chyll2]

I mostly use spray can but if you are investing on airbrush, why not go for a proper one. It allows you to use lot of paints.

 

I am seeing bleeding, by any chance you are painting a white over a red? If yes, do it the reverse and plan. White is notorious hard to paint on, it will be a lot harder if you are painting it on a strong / dark colors.

 

If by any chance you really need to paint a white over a red, dont go straight to white, use gray as a first coat.

[Xigfrid]

4 hours ago, chyll2 said:

I am seeing bleeding, by any chance you are painting a white over a red? If yes, do it the reverse and plan. White is notorious hard to paint on, it will be a lot harder if you are painting it on a strong / dark colors.

The bleedings appeared when I tried to prime white over a red gundam marker that I have airbrushed in the wrong place. I think the primer can was finished and there was too much solvent and it reacted with the red!

I think I will start over, removing the paint and apply grey primer first, then go white everywhere and red with proper disassembly and masking.

Does anyone already painted his VF-9 ? I would love to see a finished one, that would motivate me a lot

[Jasonc]

It's been awhile since I worked on this project. I've been trying to make sure I get enough paint to mix the right shade so I don't have an issue of needing to remix. I'm also going to use lacquer paint, as it's quite strong, and should survive the transformations a bit better. I did start with priming pieces in a white, but only because the final color is a lighter color, and using grey, which I normally use, would make the yellow shade too dark. I am using a grey primer for the red and darker parts, but yeah, those are great tips. This thing is a bit tough to paint before assembly, especially the wings. I can never get them to sit properly as they're supposed to, and with painting them, that only makes it much harder.

[Xigfrid]

I have tried to follow all the advices and when back to grey primer then white primer, masking and spraying TS-8 lacquer red with an airbrush. 

I have to say that I LOVE airbrushing (my double action system at 30$ Including the pump is just 100 times better than spraying directly from the can). This is only the third time I use it and I think I have mastered it now. 

 

[sumyumgoy]

Looking good!  You definitely get a lot more flexibility with an airbrush.

[valhary]

Gonna test magnets for the landing gear I hope can handle the weight

[nightmareB4macross]

Try boring a hole in the area you want to rest the magnet and place the magnet flush to the exterior surface. The final result would look cleaner.

[Bolt]

5 minutes ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Try boring a hole in the area you want to rest the magnet and place the magnet flush to the exterior surface. The final result would look cleaner.

Also, the magnet doesn’t pop off after a few uses...

[Xigfrid]

I don’t know if the small round magnets would be strong enough. If they are not, you can take larger rectangles and glue them inside the leg at the surface level. You have up to 2mm clearance inside the leg for the magnets if I recall well. 

The outside magnets would be easily hidden if you make landing gear covers in open position

[Chronocidal]

7 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

I don’t know if the small round magnets would be strong enough. If they are not, you can take larger rectangles and glue them inside the leg at the surface level. You have up to 2mm clearance inside the leg for the magnets if I recall well. 

The outside magnets would be easily hidden if you make landing gear covers in open position

I would vote for this sort of approach as well, making an exterior part that mounts the landing gear doors and gear themselves. 

While there may not be room inside the leg for a full landing gear well, you could make a piece that attaches to the underside, and just hides the lack of landing gear wells from any casual observers.  You'd have a lot more surface to support the gear if you used the entire size of the gear bay, instead of just mounting the bare gear strut.

Bandai did the same type of thing with their original Hi-Metal VF-19s, and didn't include landing gear initially, but later sold a display base with stationary gear that the plane rested on, acting like pedestals.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Chronocidal

[valhary]

in deed the weight is too much so I'll have to think about something else:(

[valhary]

meanwhile the arcadia acrylic stand works good

[Xigfrid]

This is nice to see others’ work in progress! 

On my side, I have done all the masking on the remaining parts and now I am just waiting to have some time to spray them in one time.

I just realise that I haven’t pictures, will post them later 

[nightmareB4macross]

On 5/9/2019 at 10:35 AM, valhary said:

meanwhile the arcadia acrylic stand works good

Looking good! Can’t wait to see it all painted!

[Xigfrid]

Getting slowly there but the excitement is rising!

 

[nightmareB4macross]

6 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

Getting slowly there but the excitement is rising!

 

Wow! That looks great.

Does the VF-9 have no knee covers? Or are the legs over extended?

[Xigfrid]

Unfortunately it doesn’t. 

I have tried to put a cover in the first prototype but it wasn’t very efficient so I have removed it in the V2 though. 

[Xigfrid]

No finished yet, but it is already looking nice to my eyes

[DarkArchon3000]

Wow!  That is a beauty!  Congratulations!

[Bolt]

Looks awesome 

[Sanity is Optional]

That looks great.

[Xigfrid]

Hey thanks  I need to apply a few decals and phosphorescent paint before taking picture of the fighter mode. Then touching up the battroid mode, pictures and after that... I will paint the second VF-9!

[sumyumgoy]

Looks great!

[derex3592]

Wow! Looks fantastic! 

[nightmareB4macross]

Looks incredible!

[valhary]

I still working in the sticker sheet for the M3 version

[nightmareB4macross]

7 hours ago, valhary said:

I still working in the sticker sheet for the M3 version

Looking good!

[Jasonc]

Wow, all these look great. Great work, Xigfrid. That is looking like it was a toy that you bought. Have you tried transforming it into Battroid with the paint on it? If so, how does it hold up?

 

[Xigfrid]

Thanks Jason, I think the paint reflects how much I like this model  I haven’t transformed it in battroid yet because I need to finish the fighter other colors: metallic and black color.

Thankfully I got a second that I can transform while waiting.

Concerning your concerns about the paint scratches, there will be in some tight places I will need to sand a bit and make it looks like standard weathering. Although my main concern was that the head paint wouldn’t hold but it holds just fine in fact

[Xigfrid]

Here are a few battroid pictures

There are a few places where the paint has been scratched, but I think it gives a natural weathering that I don’t dislike, I need to paint the scratches a little darker though. 

[enphily]

WOW [WOW] !

Edited May 24, 2019 by enphily