BlrwestSiR

Ok, here's probably my favourite mecha from the Gundam universe. It's the A.E.U.G. version of the RX-178 Gundam MkII. As part of Bandai's Perfect Grade series of kits, it's in 1/60 and has the most moving features ("gimmicks" they like to call them,) in the kit. Also the highest price tag. This one came out in 2001 and has been lurking in my stash since about that time. Here's the box. It's about as big as one of Tamiya's 1/32 jet kits so a decent size. Most sprues are moulded in colour so it could be built OOB without paint. In fact there's a subset of Gundam builders who do exactly that. For the rest of us, Mr Color makes matched paints in both acrylic and lacquer. Shortly after I picked up the kit, I started on building the kit but only got as far as the frame for the arms. Time to pick up from there. First thing was airbrushing all the parts in their respective colours. There's more but these are the ones I needed to finish the arms.

The intake splitters look great. A nice sharp edge like you said. The burner can section is excellent. The toning down has helped tie it together nicely. As for the reinforcement plate on the stabs, they were not always there. Some planes had them, some didn't. They could even be mismatched.

Those bomb racks look fantastic! Glad to see progress on your build.

Talk about a gloss finish. I only wish I could get something with that sheen.

Doesn't it?

So here's the wrist piece removed from the sprues. And the movement available. I didn't notice at first but there are piston rods inside that can extend as well.

If you have either Tamiya or Mr Color lacquer thinner, you can use either one to wipe the paint off. They're cool enough that they won't harm the plastic. Don't use their tool cleaner though as that will eat plastic.

Fingers! Somehow Bandai manages to mould fingers in 1 piece from two different types of plastic so they can move once you cut them free from the sprue. Here's the wrist joint. On the other side, you can see the pivots to allow it to articulate. Now if we could get them to do some tank tracks using this technology that would be awesome.

I think the paint is drying too quickly. This can happen with lacquer based paints if they're too thick or if the pressure is too high on the compressor. The first one would be odd with Alclad though as it's fairly thin. @ScottsGT would probably know best as he used to be a paint guy.

Like Peter said, nice to see a Spitfire in the Med scheme. I should do one in this camo one day.

The slats are correct as Hubert said.

I've got one sensor that cuts in and out on our '07 Element. Might have to bite the bullet as well and get them swapped out.

Haven't seen those in years. Along with the trucker girl ones.

Carpet Monster!!

How about Cutlass? Congrats on the puppy. We wanted a 40-50 lb dog but Jimmy wasn't having any of that and decided to aim for triple digits. He's 115 lbs.

They've gone on sale a couple times so the last time they did, I also broke down a grabbed one.

Threw a coat of primer on. I think the cloth I used to wipe it down was a bit static-y (is that a word?) as I had so much dust and fur stuck to it. It's going to need another sanding and some small areas need touch-ups but it's getting there.

I got both ailerons made and scribed in some panel lines. Next step, I mounted them to the wings. The wing tips will need a bit of aligning once the main joint dries but otherwise the fit is much better than my first try. With the tail surfaces dry fitted, it's really looking the part.

Great job on the figure. I stay away from them as much as possible. The eyes are always a challenge to me.

Incredible work as always.

Westley's Bleech White was never available in Canada so I've been using Castrol Super Clean. Comes in a purple bottle and is a degreaser. So far it's worked well for me. Hopefully the seat is salvageable.

That's a bunch of rain. I'm glad at least you don't have any flooding.

Thanks guys! After getting the ones due done, I noticed that I hadn't dealt with the small gap by the wing root. Combined with the gaps around each aileron, there was also a notch at the wingtip that would need dealing with. So rather than having possibly 7 parts per side to deal with, I decided on a new approach. I cut the wing and made a single straight line. I then trimmed back the wingtip. Using sheet styrene, I made new ailerons. These are a single piece top and bottom so much less seam work and a better fit. You can compare it to the first side I did. To give it shape and the thickness needed, I made an inner structure from various thicknesses of sheet styrene. From the end showing the profile. Dry fit in place. The fit is a lot better. It holds in place without glue and the thickness is a much better match to the wing. Now to make the other side and replace the original ones I did.

Two Border Lancs and two HK ones. Yeah, slight overkill on those.

That's a good price. Sadly I don't think I have room for a 5th Lanc kit. At least not without finding a place for me too.