Girl's Rider - Hasegawa 1/12 scale resin figurine [Primed for Paint]

 As I have alluded to before in one form or another, the year 2021 has turned into a series of 'prep and prime' projects. And while I have set myself up to start painting soon, there is still one figurine left to prep and prime before I do. That figurine is none other than the Hasegawa /12 scale Girl's Rider. 

Hasegawa 1/12 scale resin figurine Girl's Rider [work-in-progress: primed; front view]

Hasegawa 1/12 scale resin figurine Girl's Rider [work-in-progress: primed; back view]

 As with after every priming session, the details on the miniature figurine tends to stand out more ... for me at least. You should be able see this at a glance from the series of photos below showcasing the figurine after it had been primed by a light grey hue of the Tamiya Fine Surface Primer.

For a figurine is that is based on a minimalist concept ...

... of  a female bike rider clad in a simple tight-fitting white t-shirt ...

... and denim jeans as well as an all leather ensemble comprising ...

... accessories such as black gloves, belt, and riding boots ...

... there is a rich tapestry of little details ...

... ranging from her facial features and elaborate hair strands to ...

... the myriad of creases and folds on both her t-shirt and jeans ... 

... to the straps of her riding boots.

 One thing I love about Japanese sculptors is their approach towards miniature figurines in making every day situations extraordinary by exploiting tiny little details. This is not too different from how anime is made especially by two of my favorite directors namely Hayao Miyazaki and Makoto Shinkai. Let me explain. For example, the concept of a girl clad in a simple t-shirt and jeans ensemble is made remarkable by small details such as the myriad of folds and creases on her clothing which serve to accentuate the body's sensual s-curves. Add to that excellent facial features and you have a winner. 

Each sculpture will invariably have its own distinct racial facial features ...

... and it's no different for Girl's Rider which to me looks distinctly East Asian ...

... meanwhile strategically placed creases and folds on both the t-shirt and jeans ...

... serve to further accentuate the already sensual s-curves on the figurine's body ...

... which is displayed primarily by the figurine's model-like pose ...

... helped of course by the figurines natural body shape ...

... which is shaped like an hourglass.

 Personal workflow of the painting process for this figurine necessitates that I paint her main body (e.g. legs, torso, and face) separately from her arms and hands. However, I am still in two minds whether to paint her using a combination of lacquer basecoats followed by either oil or acrylic paints; or maybe just stick mainly to acrylics. Knowing myself, I will likely try something I have never done before which is the former. If I do so my initial challenge will be to mask the appropriate areas before block painting the separate areas e.g. t-shirt (white), jeans (blue), hair and belt (black), and face (skin tone). Masking is one of the things I hate doing in the painting process, hence my indecision.

In order to make the riding boots look a tad more interesting ...

... I am thinking of painting anthemion-like designs on the shafts.

As for the figurine's hands, the right hand is holding on to a glove ...

... while the left hand is open-palmed and will eventually rest on her hips.

 Suffice to say I have already prepped a fair number of miniature figurines to keep me occupied with painting in the months ahead. This is in addition to my ongoing assemble-prime-&-paint-as-you-go projects that involve working on sub-assemblies before they are put together as a greater whole. An example of this was the RX-78-2 Gundam scale model kit project. And top if off, I finally get to do show better quality hobby-related videos and photographs with selected Corel creative software I had gotten on the cheap. Things are looking up hobby-wise even if they are looking worse pandemic-wise as hospitalization cases shoot up yet again. Will this nightmare never end?

For Fellow Hobbyists on a Shoestring Budget who are in need of Digital Creative Tools

 In a departure from my usual posts, I would like to bring to your attention a website that sells digital content such as ebooks, audiobooks, software, etc. at attractive prices in aid of charity. Some of you may already be aware of this website but for those of you who are not, then you would be remiss not to check out Humble Bundle. I myself first found out about it via Warhammer Community which was selling a bundle of its ebooks and audiobooks via this site.

 How attractive a bundle can be is largely subjective because it all depends on how much you need or want the items included in a particular selection. So far, excluding the bundle that I will talk about later, I have only purchased two bundles. Both were from Black Library i.e. one an eBook bundle and the other an audiobook one. I am, if you didn't know already, a huge fan of the Warhammer universe. 

 But this particular deal I am highlighting in this post is more relevant to the scale model/miniature hobby. What I am talking about is of course digital tools to edit and compile hobby-related content for consumption via photos or videos. To my delight, a software bundle currently being made available in Humble Bundle (expected end date is about 18 days from the date of this blog post) includes software such as Corel Painter 2021, VideoStudio Pro 2021, PaintShop Pro 2021, AfterShot Pro 3, Particle Shop, and Multicam Capure. It also includes a significant amount of brush packs, paper packs, video overlays, scripts for use in the list of COREL software.

 In case you were wondering ... no, I am not getting any commission for recommending the above website. It's a site that I have found a few good deals on, and I just thought I would share it with any of you whoare still unaware of the site. If you know of similar sites like Humble Bundle, please do not hesitate to let me know in the comments below as I am always on the lookout for a good deal. With the weekend already upon us, I can only hope you are having a good one. Cheers! 

Girl's Rider - Hasegawa 1/12 scale figurine [Assembly]

 Painting sessions are likely to resume again, sooner than later, thanks to my new folding hobby table. But first I plan to prep and prime one last figurine before I set about putting paint on miniatures. This project is that of Girl's Rider, a 1/12 scale resin figurine from the Hasegawa Real Figure Collection. Previously I had done a quick unboxing and dry fit of the figurine. In fact, I had made some videos of that process but I guess now I'll now only upload them as a "looking back video" at a later date.  

Hasegawa 1/12 scale resin figurine Girl's Rider [work-in-progress: assembly; front view]

Hasegawa 1/12 scale resin figurine Girl's Rider [work-in-progress: assembly; back view]

 During the assembly process, there were only two things of note. Firstly, there were some visible gaps between certain joints after assembly. And because this is a resin model, the glue used (which in this case was a low viscosity cyanoacrylate (aka super glue). Unlike the application of plastic glue on plastic parts which will melt the parts together and in most cases seal the gap at the same time. This does not happen with the super glue. As such, any gaps were filled with putty. Secondly, brass support rods were inserted into the main body and both arms (see below) to allow the figurine to be held without obscuring surfaces that are going to be painted later. 

Girl's Rider figurine: after holes filled with putty and brass support rods inserted (front view)

Girl's Rider figurine: after holes filled with putty and brass support rods inserted (back view)

 Below is a series of photos taken at staggered intervals when the figurine was spun 360 degrees. This view of the main body sans arms clearly shows up the figurine's sensual s-curves, from both the front and back as well as her sides. This is brought about by the figurine's pose i.e. her stance which accentuates the natural arch of her back and the curve back inwards via her rear to her legs.

Main assembled body of the Girl's Rider resin figurine (front view) 

Just from the main body of the figurine itself, it's fairly visible that ...

... her pose is dynamic with sensual s-curves highlighted by ... 

... stance of one foot forward and the hips tilted slightly to the side

Main assembled body of the Girl's Rider resin figurine (back view)

Sensual s-curves on the figurine are also augmented by ...

... before flowing back towards her thighs and legs

Girl's Rider figurine assembled sans her arms/hands, which will be primed separately

 While there are other ongoing non-figurine projects yet to be prepared-for-paint such as vehicular scale model kits like the Neon Genesis Evangelion EVA 01 unit and the Sturmgeschütz III, these will require a multitude of parts and/or sub-assemblies to be painted before being fully put together. As such, the assembly/prep/priming steps tends to alternate with the painting process. Unlike figurines, vehicular kits rarely get fully assembled and primed prior to the painting process starting.

 So the hobby-wagon is slowly juddering back to a start after a long inertial loop of assembling, prepping and priming. No actual painting yet per se, I admit, but more importantly a significant mental hurdle has been overcome by the creation of a temporary work space via the folding table. My mind is now awash with painting possibilities again. And that's always a good thing. Cheers!