Every once in a while I decide to take a lot of step-by-step photos and make a tutorial out of them. I figured that this small jeep kit from the Gundam UC Hard Graph line would be a great piece to test out some techniques and write about the armor painting techniques I’ve picked up. So let’s get started!

1: First up of course is the pre-building of the kit. In the stage you cut, sand, and figure out how everything fits together, what will need masked, and what can be glued to start. Once done, parts can be attached to skewers and whatnot to hold them during the painting processes.

2: Primed jeep via airbrush with Mr Surfacer 1000 thinned with lacquer thinner and a few drops of Mr. Retarder Mild.

3: Sprayed jeep with gray then random swaths of Nato brown and a rust mixture. All Tamiya Acrylics. Later this will show through as random rust and primer coats under paint chips.

4: Clear-coated and sealed jeep with Future Floor Acrylic (FFA) thinned 50% with Tamiya Thinner.

5: 24 hours later 3 thin coats of hairspray (hair lacquer) were applied.

6: Jeep was sprayed with Olive green then parts were highlighted with JGSDF Olive Green which is a little lighter.

7: A few hours later, using clean water, various brushes were used to wet the model and loosen the water-soluable hairspray undercoat. This makes the topcoat of greens unstable temporarily so that they can realistically be chipped away with the wet brushes. Other implements (toothpicks, styrene card shards) can be used on the unstable surfaces to create line-scratches. Larger areas of paint can be removed as well as I did on the fenders. Remove as littler or as much as you want.

8: Now that the chipping is done, it’s time for decals. Normally I would coat the whole kit in gloss Future Floor Acrylic. This time however I just brushed a few thin coats where the decals would end up. Note the gloss on the front fenders.

9: Decals were applied and tools, dashboard, seat cushions, and other hand-paint-necessary bits have been painted. Mirrors and lights were painted with silver. Later clear Tamiya was applied where necessary based on the light color.

10: Now a satin coat of FFA was applied. This seals the topcoat from firther chipping attempts, accidental or not and seals the surface for the solvent-based weathering apps.

11: Next up, three applications of filters have been applied to all the jeep parts. Filters are kind of like a wash, but not really… they’re hard to explain, but add a lot to the depth of a model. For this filter I mixed up a pale blue-green oil-paint mix with some turpenoid. This alters the color slightly and blends colors together between the various colored parts. It also “seasons” or tooths the surface slightly for the next step, discoloration. Note also as I go, more and more of the jeep gets put together. This is based on what needed painted when and with minimal masking.

12: Once the filters have dried/cured for 24 hours, it’s time for the discoloration. This technique involves applying small dabs of various oil colors then blending them in with a thinner dampened brush. This gives the surface more variation in color and a more realistic and deep appearance.

13: After the discoloration has dried, about 24 hours, a wash is applied. This wash is a mix of oil paint to a dirt-color then thinned with turpenoid. This thin wash is applied to the whole vehicle and all external parts such as wheels, seats, etc… While it’s drying you might notice pools or water (thinner)-lines. These can be blended out with a stuff soft brush before the wash fully cures. Another 24 hours.

14: Next up is pre-dusting with the airbrush. For this I’ve mixed Tamiya Flat Earth with Flattened FFA to make a semi-transparent dirt-mix. This is sprayed in very light mistings where larger amounts of dust would collect. Side skirts, underside, and the rear pannel. More specific dusting effects will be added next with pgment powders.

15: The windshield was masked off where the window wipers would hit. Then the windshield was lightly sprayed with my Tamiya Flat Earth + Flat FFA mix.

16: The tires were painted in flat black then had a satin finish applied. Pigments were dusted onto the wheels and then rubbed off with rubber gloves. This removes all the pigment except for what’s around raised edges and in the treads. A little bit of pigments were then brushed around the road-hitting edge of the tire since it’s been running on a dirt road and would pick that dirt up.

17: The machine gun was painted in flat black and given a flattened FFA coat. Powdered graphite was rubbed over the weapon to give it its gunmetal sheen. After it was attached to the jeep it had just a little disty pigment applied since the weapon would generally be removed and kept very clean and maintained.

18: Pigment powders were applied dry with various brushes. Thinner was applied to these dry pigments to affix them to the surface better. The end result is still fragile and should not be handled much, especially not with bare hands as that could leave fingerprints in the finish. The underside and rear panel recieved a lot of pigment, while the rest just got dust added in specific places. A little powdered graphite was rubbed onto the floor grates and sides where the crews feet would rub/polish the surface.

19: And that’s pretty much it. Different colors and conditions would call for different pigments but these techniques can work for just about any armor/robot subject. I hope they can help you and as for me, this tutorial will help me remember what I did for next time!

About The Kit »

Another of the kits I snagged from the Amazon clearance sale on gunpla. I always wanted an MG Kampfer, but until I had the opportunity to get it for $10, never picked one up. It’s a wonderful kit even if it’s a little older in the MG line-up. The design is sleak and fast and it’s armed to the teeth which is always nice.

For my Kampfer I wanted to do it in such a way as to show off the aluminum thrusters from MechaSkunk.com and Ako Creations. MechaSkunk makes a fantastic set of machined aluminum thruster bells for the Kampfer. The replace all the thrusters on this kit. The only thing I didn’t use was the K-Baffles for the shoulders. Instead I opted for some small bells from Ako Creations since I loved how they looked there. The dark gray (German Grey from Tamiya) with a light airbrushed camo pattern really sets off the shininess of the metal I used throughout the kit. I used actual metal parts where I could and the rest is painted with 3 coats of Alclad 2 metal lacquers. The first is Jet Exhaust followed by Magnesium and finally Aluminum to make it pop. Same set of paint I used on my Gally fig. Below is a list of modificatons/additions I made to the kit:

• Made new neck connection from aluminum tubing to set head lower.
• Replaced all thrusters with machined aluminum ones. These were painted internally with Tamiya Clear Blue then buffed on my drill with steel wool to clean up the paint and polish the bells.
• Scratchbuilt rack for chain of mines.
• Replaced much of shotguns and parts of bazooka with polished aluminum tubing.
• Replaced neck and waist tubes with steel springs.
• Added aluminum thrusters and detail under feet.
• Replaced monoeye with parts from Wave.
• Added various small screws (minus-mold) details aquired from MechaSkunk.
• Base is acrylic magnetic frame from Michael’s ($10) withhole drilled to add Clear Acrylic rod to support Kampfer.

07.19.2006 » Concepts / Intro

I kinda wish Gundam would get big then die again in the US so
I could pick up more super cheap Master Grade kits from Amazon.com.
This Kampfer is one of my stash of kits I got during the now
legendary sale.

This Kampfer is from the Zeon Special Forces
[Black Ops Unit 6]. This unit specializes in attacking fortifications
deep in enemy territory where most sane soldiers would dare
not. They usually utilize suits that are either stealthy like
the Z’Gok, or fast like the Kampfer.
This particular Kampfer will be outfitted for taking out the
larger command ships in a fleet of Earth Federation vessels.

Build-wise, I’ll be doing more of my “heavy-metal”
style modifications using Alclad 2 Lacquers and brass/aluminum
tubing. I’ll also be adding my usual array of MechaSkunk
option parts such as balls, beads, and screws. The color scheme
will be a very dark gray camo with a flat-coat and all-black
decals, even warnings. This will make the natural metal parts
really pop. While not a totally stealthy look, it’ll be total
eye-candy when done which I love.

07.19.2006 » I got Shotgun!

So far I’ve just been cutting and sanding the
Kampfer while planning out modifications, so there’s not a
whole lot to show off. I did however start modifying the shotgun.
I’m replacing all the “barrels” with aluminum tubing.
I’ve even hollowed out the “pump” so that it actually
slides back and forth along the shaft. Here’s a pic:

07.21.2006 » It’s all MINES!

Since the Kampfer has no holder for its mines,
I decided to create one. This 1/2 circle rack was something
I had planned for a while, but later found pics from hobby
mags where other modelers had made racks similar to my plan,
but much better. So the following is based on those. My Kampfer
will sport 2 of these racks stocked with 12 mines each. The
K comes with 13 mines, but that’s an odd number for the rack.
Plus 6 makes a very nice 1/2 circle. Here’s a pic of it slapped
together so far. I have a lot of clean-up to do.

07.22.2006 » More Mine Rack

Here’s more shots of the mine rack for the Kampfer.

10.31.2006 » Shotgun!

Here’s a shot of the shotgun progress. I’ll
be adding some extras to them of course likie a shell rack
and scope. I also have add a shot of my woven tube replacement,
a very thick spring from a decorative plate wall-hanger.

11.04.2006 » Screws and Kart

I started on the Kampfer Kart even though I’m
waiting on some parts. I was playing around with making something
that the Kampfer would stand on to ride, but am not 100% sold
on that idea yet. I’ve also been playing around with ideas
to make these large propellent tanks/thrusters a backpack.
Same puropse though… it would just mount to the back on
the bazooka mount polycaps and be easily removable/ejectable
once the Kampfer reaches its destination. Regardless of which
route I go the tanks will stay the same. There will be to
tanks with bells on the the ends with an armored cover over
both. The armored cover was actually a paint to do. To get
the right shape I wanted I needed to first make the shape
from brass sheet, then cover it with thin sheets of styrene
to make it sandable and workable. Here’s some pics:

Also I drilled out most of the holes for the
MechaSkunk
screws I’ll be using. Here’s a shot of them.

11.05.2006 » Kampfer Kart

Here’s a few shots of the bare-bones Kampfer
kart. I adjusted my plans a bit based on a lack of spare Ball
Stands, but nothing major. Below you can see it with and without
the armored covers. The covers will be removable and have
hard-points for the mine-racks and bazookas. I may even make
them workable as removable shields too. There will be smaller
Co2 tanks underneath as well on the ends closest to the large
tanks. The center underneath will have some various boxes
and missile launchers from the MG Guncannon. Like I said,
this is barebones, but will look much much cooler when detailed.
The bells will be detailed like the booster image below. The
Kampfer Kart is meant to be a cheap disposable unit. A one-way
trip so to speak so it doesn’t need a lot of armor and such.
So the simple design works well.

11.08.2006 » Kampfer Kart Part
Deux

Here’s another shot of the Kart. Sorry for the
vertigo… I rotated the image so that the kart is right side
up. There will be many more tubes, wires, bells, etc added
later. The small tanks are from Walmart. I emptied the Co2
from the so they would be “safer” to work with.

09.14.2007» Been a while…

Here’s the Kampfer parts with some paint on.
Love how the black decals look low-vis. Right now I’m in the
process of finishing this up… adding screws, steel balls,
thrusters, etc. I decided to skip the Kart for now, but have
it set aside for a later project. The biggest reason was that
I’d need to create more Kampfer decals for it. But I’ll probably
use it with a Zaku 2.0 or something of the like. Definitely
Zeon! You can also see the mine rack is painted and in the
process of having the mines and cables added to it. Expect
pics of this finished kit early next week.

About The Kit »

Several damaged Earth Federation GM mobile suits were captured and salvaged by the Principality of Zeon. These GMs were  combined to creat a few dozen workable units. These units were used for testing against Zakus and other Zeon MS and MA. The Zeon would use both EFSF and their own weaponry in these tests. This particular Z-GM is outfitted with an MMP-80 machine gun, Zaku bazooka, Gelgoog shield, and beam saber.

About the Build »

This is another of my cheap kits found at Amazons clearance sale. I picked up 2 of these GMs for $5 each. Not too bad! The kit itself is not up to the level of detail one would expect from MGs. There is very little internal detail. As such, I decided to make more Jeep
styled mods so enhance the look. Looking back I should had made some mobility mods for posability, but that’ll be a task for my next one. Below is what I did to modify the original kit:

• Painted visor with clear yellow-orange with Alclad chrome on the internal part.
• Added 2mm MechaSkunk bead to forehead visor to simulate camera.
• Added 2 small MechaSkunk screws to chest for detail. Added various 1mm MechaSkunk beads to detail the armor and  simulate small vernier.
• Modified ankle pistons with Aluminum tubing. Removed molded in plastic pistons.
• Spun all thruster bells on my drill (used like a lathe) and sharpened the edges with a razor to create thinner looking walls.
• Used 2 bells from other GM kit to make a 4 booster backpack.
• Added details to all verniers in the way of additional bells, beads, and tubes.
• Drilled/cut open soles of feet to detail thruster bells.
• Bazooka sensor/scope modified using large wave-eye and round vernier.
• Cut apart Bazooka and made it seperable using aluminum tubing and magnets.
• Modified Ruck Mount to attach Zeon Bazooka with magnets.
• Replaced gun barrels on MMP-80 with aluminum tubes.
• Added minus molds to shield interior to cover up injector pin-marks.
• Modified shield handle with Aluminum tubing
• Made new shield mount on shield and forearm using magnets and aluminum tubing.
• Added 1mm MechaSkunk balls to shield face for detail.
• All aluminum tubing polished to a shine using drill and steel wool.
• Custom Color Scheme
• Custom Decals designed
  by me.
• More!!!

06.29.2006 » Concepts
/ Intro

Since
I wasn’t using my Gelgoog shield for my Gelgoog and had a
bunch of MG Zaku weapons lying around, I decided to make a
Zeon-Use GM out of one of my $5 MG GMs from Amazon’s legendary
sale. I’ll be doing the scheme up in green with yellow decals
and highlights. I’ll also be detailing up this piece with
lots of aluminum and option parts.

First up is the weapons done up
in the “Jeep”
style. I’m beginning to love my electric drill
for polishing crappy aluminum tubing into high-polished
eye-catching upgrades. I use very fine steel wool,
then a make-up wedge “borrowed” from
my wife. You can see below the difference between
the polished and unpolished pieces.

For the MMP-80 I removed the baller
and the round “back” of the barrel with
my scribing saws. I then drilled out the holes
to make the barrel one piece that slides all the
way through. Smaller aluminm details were added
afterwards.

For the 280mm Bazooka, I have been
making it seperatable using more telescoping pieces
of polished aluminum tubing. More on this later
as I’ve gotten further with inserts.

07.09.2006 » More
In-progress

Here’s some more progress on the
ZGM. I decided to add 2 more thrusters to the
backpack. I used them from another GM kit that
won’t be needing them. I painted them with Alclad
Polished Aluminum and painted the insides with
Tamiya Clear Orange. The clear orange actually
looks a little golden which is cool. To attach
them I mounted a ring magnet onto each side of
the backpack internals. Then I glued steel bearings
to each of the 4 bells. An extra magnet attaches
the lower bells to the top. The feet bells are
small Wave option parts painted the same way and
inserted into holes I drilled in the feet. For
the face, I painted the inside with chrome and
the outside clear part with Clear Orange.