Kamado Tanjiro | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅の刃) - Plastic Model Kit Figure Completed

 Finally photos of a fully-assembled Bandai Namco Kamado Tanjiro plastic model kit figure, which I had retouched to enhance color accuracy, have been successfully uploaded to my blog. I hope you will enjoy perusing through the photos below, and at the same time get a sense of whether you would like to have this model kit figure in your own anime figurine collection.

 One of my key complaints for this particular figurine is that his feet does not attach to the legs in an exact manner. Let me explain. After attaching the feet onto the legs, I noticed there is a little bit of give on the connection point between each foot and leg. This gives rise to a problems whereby if either foot is oriented wrongly relative to the leg, there is a possibility the figurine may fall face down due to the resulting instability. My guess is this may in turn cause the blade to break in half if you're unlucky.

 Apart from this minor complaint about Tanjiro's stability, everything else about this figurine makes it one of the best budget ones of the Demon Slayer protagonist. It's on par if not better than most pre-painted figurines of Tanjiro. But this claim comes with a caveat: be prepared to do some retouching for color accuracy whether it be in the form of sticker decals (which I don't recommend) or through painting. This is to ensure the final form of the figurine you have on display is the best that it can be.

 Actually there is one other thing that isn't ideal for this figure. I didn't think to mention in at first because most of the time you would normally be looking at the figure from a slightly top down view, which means you wouldn't then notice the runner/sprue markings on the back of Tajiro's cloak. However in the photos here (see above), the camera lens was located slightly lower than the actual figure itself. Moreover you would most likely pose Tanjiro so that you're viewing him from the front, in which case the back of his shirt becomes hidden from view anyway.

 If you would like to know in detail what I had done in the retouching process for the Tanjiro figurine, please refer to the previous post as I won't be repeating them here.

  Below is the YouTube videos of the Kamado Tanjiro plastic model kit figure from Bandai Namco, chronicling its progress from start to finish. If you like the videos, and would like to see more of the same kind of content, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel i.e. FourEyedMonster Miniatures.

 Although Tanjiro is now completed, my project to work on Demon Slayer plastic model kits hasn't ended yet. Not only does Bandai have more model kit figure releases planned for characters from this anime series, there is actually one existing one that I have yet to work on, namely Rengoku Kyojuro from the Mugen Train story arc. In fact I already have him in my collection, and plan to work on the model kit figure of Kyojuro eventually. However, he will not be my next project as I'll be taking a break from my Demon Slayer projects to instead work on my first ever model kit! Stay tuned if you want to find out what that is. Anyway, that's it for now. Until we meet again, be well and be happy.   

Kamado Tanjiro | Demon Slayer (鬼滅の刃) - Retouching to Enhance Color Accuracy of Model Kit Figure

 As expected the retouch work needed for Tanjiro wasn't as extensive as that experienced for his sister Nezuko. Despite my adversity to sticker decals in general, there were some really good ones provided with this Tanjiro model kit figure. So much so that I didn't hesitate to use some of them, for example the earrings, the kanji on the back of the shirt, and the handle/hilt of the katana. These sticker decals were a good complement to the enamel and acrylic paints as well as dry pastels I had used to enhance color accuracy on this Bandai Namco Kamado Tanjiro plastic model kit figure.

Kamado Tanjiro plastic model kit figure work-in-progress: parts & sub-assemblies retouched

 One of the best things you can do right of the bat to improve color accuracy on a model kit figure is to apply shadows/highlights to the figurine's facial features. This I had done using Tamiya Weathering Pastels (i.e. a chestnnut hue) on either side of Tanjiro's nose. In addition I also used a fine permanent ink pen to draw out the design on his hanafuda earrings, which is the image of the rising sun over a mountain. This design has drawn criticism for its close resemblance to the rising sun symbol synonymous with the Japanese Imperial Army during WW2. In reality the hanafuda earring design is actually symbolizes the Sun Breathing Style fighters as told in the lore of the Demon Slayer story.

Before: Tanjiro's head prior to pastel dry-brushing, but earrings' design had been marked

After: Pastels with darker flesh hues were dry-brushed on both sides of Tanjiro's nose

 Unfortunately what I envisioned for Tanjiro's hair didn't quite pan out as well as I wanted. The original plastic molded colors for the hair was in reddish brown. To spice things up, I added enamel-based violet filters to brighten up the colors of his hair. To the naked eye, there is a subtle difference in how the hair looks overall. However this doesn't translate as well to the digital images you see below.

Before: Tanjiro's hair in its original plastic molded color of reddish brown

After: Violet filters were applied to some parts of Tanjiro's hair, especially ends of the strands

 Other flesh colored parts like the hands were given a combination of panel-lining with enamel paints and painting of the fingernails with acrylic paints (see below). Because the surface area on Tanjiro's hands were fairly limited, I didn't do any dry-brushing with pastels to add highlights/shadows.

Before: Tanjiro's hands in their original plastic molded flesh hues

Before: Fingers were panel-lined with enamel while his fingernails were painted with acrylics

 Meanwhile for Tanjiro's shirt and pants, I did a number of things. Admittedly results aren't obvious in the photos because again, the subtle changes didn't translate well into digital images. But to the naked eye, the differences are apparent. At the very least, the application of a lighter brown enamel paint hue onto the raised areas of the shirts and pants made it look less monotone to the naked eye.

Before: Front of Tanjiro's shirt in its original plastic molded color of dark brown

After: Front of shirt, with lighter brown enamel paint applied for highlights and white acrylic paint applied to from stripes around the collar as well as on the left breast area 

Before: Back of Tanjiro's shirt in its original plastic molded color of dark brown, but with the sticker decals of the kanji 滅 (metsu, meaning extermination) already applied

After: Back of shirt, with a lighter brown enamel paint applied for highlights

 As for the bottom half of Tanjiro's clothing, work done on his trousers was similar to his shirt, with some extra effort needed. In addition to the lighter brown enamel highlights, I had also panel-lined the belt with gray enamel paint as well as painted the belt buckle in metallic silver acrylic paint. The ankle wrappings were also panel-lined with gray enamel paint, and the buttons on it painted in metallic silver acrylic paint. Lastly, the straps of the sandals were painted in the red acrylic paint.

Before: Front of Tanjiro's trousers, belt, ankle wrappings, socks and sandals in their original plastic molded color of dark brown and white

After: Front view with the trousers/socks highlighted with a light brown enamel paint; the belt panel-lined in gray with buckle painted with metallic acrylic paint; the ankle wrappings panel-lined in gray; and the sandal straps painted in red acrylic paint

Before: Back of Tanjiro's trousers, belt, ankle wrappings, socks and sandals in their original plastic molded color of dark brown and white

After: Back of the trousers/socks highlighted with a light brown enamel paint; the belt panel-lined in gray; the ankle wrappings panel-lined in gray with its buttons are painted in metallic acrylic paint; and the sandal straps painted in red acrylic paint

 Now I could've used acrylics to paint the katana's hilt, but in the interests of time management I had used the sticker decals provided with the kit (see below). This was one of the few times I didn't regret using sticker decals because the end result looked great to me. On the other hand, both ends of the scabbard were painted with acrylic paint in a silver metallic color because the stickers looked lame.  

Before: Katana and scabbard, both in their original plastic molded colors

After: Katana with metallic pastel layered along its cutting edge and sticker decals applied to its hilt, while the scabbard has both ends painted in metallic acrylic paint

 Below is a teaser photo of the completed Kamado Tanjiro model kit figure. More photos will be uploaded in the next blog post, which will showcase Tanjiro from different angles.

A teaser shot of a completed Kamado Tanjiro model kit figure; more photos to follow in the next post

 So by my next post, I should be posting the final photos of a fully-assembled Kamado Tanjiro plastic model kit figure that has been retouched for color accuracy. I'll also be embedding YouTube videos on my second Demon Slayer model kit figure project then. Because I usually upload the YouTube videos before the blog posts, you should probably be able to watch them by now already if you want to (please click on the middle banner below to get to my YouTube Channel). And with that, as is now customary, I'll end my post with my usual wish for you dear reader to be well and happy. またあとで!

Kamado Nezuko | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅の刃) - Plastic Model Kit Figure Completed

 If you have been following my YouTube Channel - firstly thank you, followed by the inevitable shameless plug: please click here => FourEyedMonster Miniatures - then you would have already seen the completed Kamado Nezuko plastic model kit figure from Bandai Namco. Recently, my blog posts have started to lag a little bit behind my YouTube video uploads thus causing this to happen. Regardless, the final photos have been edited, and are on display below. 

 When I first started out in this hobby, this Nezuko figurine was one of those type of model kits that I would have arrogantly, but wrongly, pooh-poohed the authenticity of showcasing work that's 80% or more pre-painted. The ego in the old me wouldn't have stood for it. But times change, and I've gotten older and (hopefully) wiser. With that comes a realization that there isn't enough time left for me to do all the things I want to do. (Sorry if this sounds morbid!) So I reassessed my main goal in this hobby, which is to have beautiful model kits and figurines displayed as my personal collection. With that goal in mind, I no longer care how I get there. If I have to paint everything from scratch than so be it. The same if I can get a good figurine that is 100% pre-painted as well as everything in between.  

 Because I've mentioned in somewhat detail the work I had done in both the previous blog post and uploaded video, I won't be describing much of what was done for this Nezuko figurine in this blog. You can see the embedded YouTube videos below, near the end of the blog post, for details of what I did.

 All that being said, I'll still do a short recap of what I did in as few words as possible. Essentially what I did was to ensure color accuracy of this model kit figure via a retouch process. And in this process I used enamel and acrylic paints as well as pastels. So in a nutshell, that's about all I did, apart from doing a straight out-of-the-box build/assembly of the model kit figure. Not much but enough, I reckon.

 Although I had previously included the relevant videos in my previous blog posts about Nezuko, I will put all the said videos below for ease of viewing. Just click on the embedded videos to view them.

 So that's Nezuko completed. One key word I can use to sum up what I think of this model kit figure is "dynamic" as in how dynamic her pose is. Next up is her brother Tanjiro, who is the main protagonist of the Demon Slayer anime series. Less work seems to be needed for him. So my initial expectation is for the second Kimetsu no Yaiba project to be completed in a shorter amount of time. On that note, I'll end this shorter than usual post with my usual wish for you, dear reader, to be well and happy.