HG OZ-06MS Leo - Mobile Suit Gundam Wing [WIP: Painting tiny parts and slightly bigger sub-assemblies]

 While there is no denying the very thought of a Gunpla painting project usually gives rise to a sense of trepidation in me, it is however becoming less of a concern the more I attempt such projects. My biggest headache has always been in planning how to most effectively paint the Gunpla, in other words how to get the model kit looking its best in the shortest time possible. Of course what one considers as best can be subjective so I'll just define it as minimizing the plasticky toy-like look of straight-out-of-the-box builds. In the case of the Bandai High Grade 1/144 scale OZ-06MS Leo, this meant painting almost off the model kit's individual parts or sub-assemblies.

Individual parts and sub-assemblies of the HG 1/144 OZ-06MS Leo; painted and panel-lined

 Before painting even started, first I had to work on the Leo's mono-eye in order to make what I believe to be an essential improvement to a prominent detail on the grunt suit. The objective was to place a layer of reflective material behind the clear yellow mono-eye piece. This is done in order to increase the level of reflectivity when light lands on the mono-eye piece, which in turn makes it look like the Leo's eye is shining from an internal power source. It's like a poor man's LED lighting kit. And while I could've painted a metallic chrome to act as the reflective layer, I instead utilized the shiny foil sticker from my earlier Toy Story Woody project (see below).

Step 1: Evaluate the size and shape of the eyepiece's background area behind the lens

Step 2: Select material of choice to be used as the background area behind the lens

Step 3: Paint or in this case cut out an approximate size and shape to constitute the eyepiece's background behind the lens

Step 4: Place the clear eyepiece over the newly created reflective background, and check if it works

 In cases where it couldn't be avoided, I had to paint individual parts that were tiny in size. But whenever I could I would always try to put the parts together in a larger sub-assembly before painting them. Doing the latter saves me the trouble of having to handle and fumble with tiny parts. It also helps to not paint areas where painting isn't needed. Sometimes this can be hard to visualize when you are painting pieces that make up a greater whole. But before the first coat of paint was even applied, I airbrushed a thin coat of light gray primer using the Mr.Finishing Surfacer 1500 Gray.    

Parts/sub-assemblies to be painted with the primary color were primed with the Mr.Finishing Surfacer 1500 Gray

Primary color of the OZ-06MS LEO comprised the semigloss Mr.Color #320 Dark Green

Parts/sub-assemblies to be painted with the secondary color were also primed with Mr.Finishing Surfacer 1500 Gray

Secondary color of the OZ-06MS LEO consisted of a brownish olive green hue

 For the Leo's primary color I used semigloss Mr.Color #320 Dark Green. For its secondary color I used a mixture of semigloss Mr.Color #43 Wood Brown, semigloss #15 IJN Green, and gloss #1 White to create a kind of brownish olive green hue. While the primary color covers almost all the armor pieces that cover up the Leo, the secondary color is focused on sections of the feet, knees, shoulders, and wrists (see above). Meanwhile, the only other non-metallic color used was the reds on the sides of the Leo's head. In this case I mixed up a combination of glossy Mr.Color lacquer paints such as #79 Shine Red, #3 Red, and GX4 Chiara Yellow for a vermilion-like hue (see below).

Parts painted in metallic hues as well as the sides of Leo's head painted in a vermilion-like red

 For the metallic sections, I first primed the parts/sub-assemblies using Mr.Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black before airbrushing them with Mr.Color SM203 Super Iron 2. Following this, all the metallic and non-metallic parts were then panel-lined using Mr.Weathering Color paints. Different panel-line colors were used depending on the main color in question. For example, black was used on the metallic and brownish olive sections while dark brown panel-lining was used on the dark green and red areas.

View of all the Leo's painted parts and sub-assemblies painted but yet to be panel-lined

 As of the time of writing, the parts/sub-assemblies have been readied for assembly process. While I'll be posting closeup photos of the aforementioned parts/sub-assemblies, the actual assembly process itself will be a FourEyedMonster YouTube Channel exclusive, and links to the video will be provided once it has been uploaded to my channel. For now it's time to end yet another blog post and bid you farewell for now. As always be useful, be well, and most importantly be happy!    

Bandai High Grade After Colony (HGAC) 1/144 scale OZ-06MS LEO [Unboxing & Pre-Assembly Review]

 Grunts are the backbone of any army and it's no different in the make-believe Gundam universe. As I understand it, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing was the anime that introduced the world of Gundam to Western viewers. And the Bandai High Grade After Colony (HGAC) OZ-06MS Leo model kit unboxed here is a 1/144 scale representation of a grunt mobile suit in the Gundam Wing series.

Bandai High Grade After Colony (HGAC) 1/144 scale OZ-06MS LEO plastic model kit

 This Bandai kit is actually my first High Grade (HG) project from the Gundam universe. Of the various plastic model kit grades that Bandai produces, the HG line is one of their simpler ones to work with. So far I have also worked on their 1/100 scale Master Grade (MG) as well as 1/144 scale Real Grade (RG), which to me are a lot more complex than the HG line. Because this particular HG kit is not really that old - it was released back in May 2018 - color separation is good albeit the fact that it's a grunt suit helps. Color schemes for grunts tend to be on the more basic side of things.

OZ-06MS Leo is Bandai's 211st regular High Grade release

Side box art showcasing both a painted and unpainted version of the Leo

Other side box art displays a backstory snippet for the OZ-06MS Leo

Unboxing of the Bandai HGAC 1/144 scale OZ-06MS LEO begins, and ...

... at a glance what you get is an instruction pamphlet and two bags of runners/sprues.

 As I mentioned earlier, putting together a HG scale model kit is supposed to be much easier than the MG or RG kits. Based on my initial impressions of the instructions (see below) for the OZ-06MS Leo, I believe its assembly process should be a fairly straightforward and complication-free one. Of course when you're planning to paint the mobile suit, then the instructions look a little bit different from a painter's point of view. In that case, I'll be looking for ways to ensure both the assembly and painting process are in sync and synergistic. For example whenever possible, I would look for ways in which I could put together a sub-assembly before painting rather than paint the individual parts then put them together. I will only do the latter if the former is not an option for me.

Back and front pages of the instruction pamphlet with the former containing a paint color guide

First two pages of the instruction pamphlet are also in color ...

... however the rest of it are in plain black and white ...

... with clear instructions both in English as well as the Japanese language.

 In terms of runners or sprues, there are only three mid-sized ones and two small ones. So it shouldn't take long to work through all the parts and put them all together. And ordinarily this would indeed be a super quick build. But the existence of rather severe plastic warping means this Leo will be a fully-painted build. And since I plan to paint the Leo, things will become a little bit more complicated as I try to figure out how best to proceed with the assembly in order to maximize the painting process. By my next update on this HG Leo project, you should be able to gauge how I did on that score.

Runner/Sprue A: Green parts for the shield and the armor on the feet, legs. body, arms, hand, head

Runner/Sprue B: Brown parts for the feet, back of knees, hands, shoulders, and connector/joint pieces

Runner/Sprue C: Mulit-colored parts for the head, eyes, feet, rocket verniers, weapons, etc.

Runner/Sprue SB6: Clear reddish pink parts for the saber blades

Runner/Sprue PC7: Polycaps for use on the joints and connecting pieces

 With the unboxing done and dusted, the OZ-06MS Leo will now proceed to its sub-assembly and painting stage. Painting becomes more difficult when working with tiny 1/144 scale parts hence why I always try to sub-assemble parts before painting if that's in anyway a possibility. Updates to the HG Leo project should be online by next week if all goes well. Meanwhile, it's time to end this short post. And as I'm wont to do, I leave you with wishes to be useful, be well, and be happy!