Many a painting project has been undermined by sloppy prep work on my part, and so lest I fail again at the first hurdle I thought I had better make a better go of it with the 1/24 scale Booth Bunny Companion Girls. This I approached using a two-pronged strategy. First was to re-base both girls by using a slightly larger pinning rod onto cork material instead of adhesive tack base. Second was to continue with the prep work after an initial light layer of primer coating before subsequently adding the final primer coat. To understand the rationale behind this two-pronged strategy, please read on.
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1/24 scale Booth Bunny Companion Girls primed and re-based (front view)
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1/24 scale Booth Bunny Companion Girls primed and re-based (back view)
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After assembly, there were a few issues that needed to be resolved before the foundations of an effective painting session could be established. Chief among those was to solve the inherent instability in both figurines's existing set-up. Not only were the figurines loosely rotating around the pinning rods, they were also tilting frequently because the rods themselves often sagged due to the blue tack's inability to hold them securely. This resulted in both figurines moving uncontrollably and unexpectedly when being handled, a situation that had to be rectified before painting began.
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Both figurines were re-based, first by attaching a slightly larger pinning rod into them ...
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... which was then inserted into a base made out of cork material (top down view) ...
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... all in all providing a more secure anchoring of the figurines for painting purposes
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To ensure both figurines did not move unnecessarily during painting I first replaced
the existing pinning rods with slightly larger ones. While more force was needed to push the 0.09 mm diameter pinning rods into the 0.08 mm holes I had drilled into the figurines, it could be done and resulted in a preferably tighter fit. This together with the insertion of said pinning rods into a firmer base material (namely cork vs adhesive tack) successfully eliminated the instability that was a concern to me.
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Booth Bunny Companion Girls posed facing slightly inwards towards each other (front view)
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| Booth Bunny Companion Girls posed facing slightly inwards towards each other (back view) |
It took me quite awhile to wrap my head around the idea that more than one layer of primer coat may be required, with further prep work in between the coats. But I am getting better at this with each project. In the case of the Booth Bunny Companion Girls, I initially applied a thin coat of primer to highlight possible areas that needed additional prep work. And lo behold, there was indeed further work to be done. For example, parts of the skin required sanding down with fine grade sandpaper to remove unsightly blemishes I had missed the first time round. Tamiya Fine Surface Primer is especially suited for this use. Subsequently I applied the final layer of primer, although technically you could still apply yet another light coat and do even more prep work before the final coat.
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| Booth Bunny Companion Girls posed facing slightly outwards from each other (front view) |
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| Booth Bunny Companion Girls posed facing slightly outwards from each other (back view) |
And maybe I should have done additional prep work over light coats of primer because even after all the care I took, there seemed to be a slight blemish that I missed (see below). But here is the weird thing. Try as I might, I cannot visibly locate the unsightly mark that seems so clear in the photograph taken using a macro lens. And at certain angles, the blemish cannot be seen even in the photos. What I suspect is that the molded shape of the figurine's face has too hard an edge that is highlighted under certain lighting conditions. How this will play out when I eventually start airbrushing paint on the figurines, well, your guess is as good as mine. What could go wrong? Right? Right?
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A potential blemish on one of the figurine's face remains elusive to detection via the naked eye
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As you may well have inferred from my insanely slow progress on my painting projects, nowadays the heart is not entirely in it when it comes to scale modeling and miniature painting. I suppose it must be the pandemic depression bleeding into my creative subconscious. The missus and I had registered for vaccinations way back in February but everyday it seems a new special interest group gets to cut queue. It's disheartening to say the least. Anyway this brings to mind a Valhallan proverb from the fictional memoirs of Commissar Ciaphas Cain ... 'Things can always get worse'. On that miserable note, I bid you au revoir and hope that you and your loved ones continue to stay safe.
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