Toy Story 4: Woody [Painting selected parts of the Bandai Cinema-Rise Standard model kit]

 Previously one of my major hobby no-nos was painting parts while they were still attached to the sprue. And while that still holds true in many instances (especially when the section attached to the sprue needs to be painted as well), it is no longer a hard and fast rule for me. In the case of Woody, almost all the parts that had to be painted could be done with them still attached to the sprues. This was possible because most of the painting involved simple tasks such as straightforward panel-lining, and the application of weathering pastels. Even when a part needed to be painted, it was only done on sections of it and not to the whole part. Here then is how I made Woody color accurate ...

Painting on the sprue ... a big no-no in most cases but acceptable for the Toy Story Woody project

 Easiest to paint were parts still on the sprue that required only panel-lining, for example Sprue B1, which comprises parts for Woody's checkered shirt. What requires painting on this sprue is the lines that make up the checkered pattern on Woody's shirt. In what I believe was a brilliant design choice, Bandai made these lines in the form of grooves. That made a potentially difficult painting exercise into a relatively easy one. Now instead of depending on a steady hand to paint the checkered pattern, all I needed to do was to apply generous amounts of panel-line-paints into the grooves.     

Before painting: Sprue B1 comprising parts for Woody's checkered shirt

After painting: Woody's checkered shirt parts panel lined with orange rust paint

Before painting: Parts making up the pelvic/groin section of Woody's jeans

After painting: Pelvic/groin section of Woody's jeans panel lined with orange rust paint

 Similar to the panel lining process, the injected-gold parts required only a wash for them to be considered painted. A dark brown wash helped bring out the details as well as add depth to parts such as the sheriff's badge, the belt buckle, and the bot spurs. Initially I was tempted to paint these parts in metallic gold paint. But I refrained from doing so because I wanted the injected-gold parts to retain a toy-like look to them. To me, a plasticky fake gold look to the sheriff's badge would be more in keeping with the fact that Woody is a soft toy than having the badge in actual metallic gold hues.

Before painting: Injected-gold parts making up the belt buckle and boot spur

After painting: Belt buckle and boot spur given a dark brown wash

Before painting: Injected-gold parts making up the sheriff's badge and boot spur

After painting: Sheriff's badge and boot spur given a dark brown wash

 Meanwhile certain sections of Woody's cowboy hat, gun holster, and belt were painted using acrylic paints. To be specific: (i) the band around the hat was painted in umber; (ii) the ribbon on the gun holster was painted a combination of red, gold, and dark brown; and (iii) lastly the belt loops on the belt had to be painted in the blue of the jeans because it was originally molded in brown (see below).

Before painting: Brown parts comprising the cowboy hat, gun holster, and belt/belt loops

After painting: Band on cowboy hat painted umber, ribbon on gun holster painted red/gold/dark brown, and belt loops on the belt painted in the blue colors of the jean

 And then there were the parts that needed to be cut from the sprue before any painting could be done. This was because the very sections attached to the sprue were the areas that required painting. That being said, technically the parts could still be painted on the sprues provided the aforementioned areas were completely hidden from view after assembly. Unfortunately in Woody's case the areas attached to the sprue won't be hidden from view after assembly, namely the pull-string ring, the white parts o the vest, and all four buttons found on Woody's shirt and sleeves.  

Before painting: White parts making up the pull-string ring and white sections of Woody's vest

After painting: Pull-string ring and white sections of Woody's vest given a black wash

Before painting: White parts making up the buttons on Woody's yellow checkered shirt

After painting: Edges of the white buttons (on Woody's shirt/sleeves) painted gun metal/black

 Finally I painted Woody's face, one of the three facial options anyway, using weathering pastels that came in skin tone hues. All I did was to give Woody rosy cheeks and add some color to his lips. Below is a comparison between a painted Woody face (middle) and the unpainted ones (left/right).

Woody face painted with pastels (middle) compared to unpainted faces (to the left and right)

 With the painting done, Woody is ready for his main sub-assemblies (i.e. head, limbs, body, etc.) to be put together, and following that for his final assembly process to begin. Because assembly of the Woody plastic model kit is expected to be easier compared with Buzz Lightyear, due largely to the lack of gimmicks for the former, I should be able to complete Woody as early as end of this week. Then it's a matter of writing up the process and uploading both the relevant blog post and videos. Looks like it's going to be a busy few days ahead. I better get to it then. Hopefully I'll be back with completed photos of Woody by next week or even before the week is over. Cheers! 

Toy Story 4: Woody [Unboxing & Pre-Assembly Review of the Bandai Cinema-Rise Standard model kit]

 Who would Buzz be without Woody? Rhetorical question aside, it was a no-brainer to continue with my Toy Story project and get Woody done up asap so that I can pair him up with the already completed Buzz. And as with all my projects, there is always the rather boring unboxing info to get through first (see below). While not everyone's cup of tea, I have always found unboxing posts and videos to be useful during the pre-purchase stage. It helps me determine whether a kit is one I would want to work on. Sometimes too much work is required - especially for kits with low quality parts - to justify the time and effort regardless of how fantastic the end result of a completed kit may be.

Bandai Cinema-Rise Standard - Toy Story 4: Woody plastic model kit

 In Woody's case, I'm glad to report it's a plastic model kit that's worth your while. Caveat being unlike the Buzz Lightyear kit, Woody requires painting for it to be color accurate. Not just minor painting too as I'll explain later. Also unlike Buzz and his jet-pack wings, Woody doesn't have any gimmick of his own. (In case you were wondering ... no, the pull-string ring on his back does not work.) And as with Buzz, the instruction pamphlet for Woody comes in a mix of colored plus black-and-white pages, and while largely diagrammatic it also has bilingual instructions in both English and Japanese.

Instruction pamphlet for Woody is similar to Buzz in that the back and front pages are colored ...

... while the pages within the covers are mostly in black and white print ...

... with diagrammatic instructions interspersed by a few lines of bilingual instructions ...

... but as with Buzz's instructions, the final two pages revert back to full color.

 Admittedly after experiencing Buzz Lightyear's excellent straight out-of-the-box plastic parts that had such beautiful glossy finishes which required no painting to look good, I was disappointed with what I got with Woody's parts. For you see, quite a number of parts are not color accurate. Parts to paint include the band around Woody's cowboy hat, the gun holster, the shirt/vest, the plastic gold-injected parts (e.g. spurs, belt buckle, sheriff's badge), the belt, the jeans, the neckerchief, and his face. For some of these parts I can get away with just panel-lining while others need a complete repaint.

Sprue A: Multi-colored sprue with parts for the eyebrows, hair (matte umber); spurs, buckle, badge (glossy gold); and hat, boots, belt, irises. (matte brown)

Sprue B1: Semi-gloss yellow parts for Woody's checkered shirt

Sprue B2: Another multi-colored sprue with parts for the mouth, neckerchief (glossy red); jeans (matte blue); and vest (matte black) 

 So in a nutshell, Woody will require much more work to look as good as his best friend Buzz. To be fair, the work required can still be considered minor compared to fully painting a mecha kit like a Gundam. But it's still significantly more than what was needed in the Buzz Lightyear kit. In other words, everything is relative. I for one believe the work required for Woody is definitely worth it. And while Woody doesn't have a fancy gimmick like Buzz's jet-pack wings, he more than makes up for it with a more vibrant color scheme as well as a host of tiny little details .

Sprue C: Semi-gloss flesh-colored parts for the face, neck, and various hand options

Sprue D: Matte white parts for the eyes, teeth, vest, shirt buttons, pull-string handle, and connector piece for connecting Woody to the base

Sprue ACB-BA: Clear base for displaying Woody plus a rectangle piece that connects two similar bases together

 Not being a fan of stickers in the first place, I wasn't too disappointed with the few pieces available for use. I'm glad Bandai didn't include a host of stickers to make the kit color accurate because that rarely ends well. Also with Woody being a soft toy in 'real-life', he doesn't really have a need for stickers like Buzz did for his space suit. So small sticker set (see below) provided with the kit is a non-issue.

Stickers for the boot sole, and for Woody's irises/pupils

Assembly instructions for beginners (included in some but not all Bandai kits)

 Unlike Buzz, Woody isn't going to be the type of kit that'll be a simple, straightforward build that's a relaxing weekend project. As I've mentioned there's painting to be done on Woody, and quite a lot of it too. So it's going to take me longer than a weekend to get Woody finished. I'll be starting on the project soon and hopefully some painting updates will be uploaded by next week. Until we meet again in the blogosphere dear readers ... stay safe, be well, and most of all be happy.

Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear [Videos of the Unboxing, Assembly, and a Full 360 View]

 While a photo is supposedly worth a thousand words, the few photos I posted of the non-scale Bandai Cinema Rise Standard Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear plastic model kit doesn't do it justice. You have to see this kit in person, or the next best thing i.e. vicariously via video, to appreciate just how cool this kit is. For that reason, I've embedded two videos about the Buzz Lightyear project, with descriptions about what each entails, so you can decided if they are worth watching.         

 First up is the unboxing and pre-assembly video (see above) in which we take a quick look at what's inside the box before proceeding to look at each individual sprues in detail. Here you can get a better appreciation of the excellent quality of the molded plastic parts, so much so that it negates the need for them to be painted in order to look good. Of the two, the unboxing video is naturally the more boring one. It's skippable if you don't have plans to get the model kit. But if you do, then you might want to take a look at what comes with the kit to see if it's something that you can work with.

 Secondly we have the assembly and post-assembly review video (see above) in which I put together the main sub-assemblies - head, helmet, torso, jet-pack, pelvis, arms, hands, legs, and feet - that I had assembled off-camera earlier. I figured a video of the full assembly process (i.e. from sprue to completed product) would take too long hence I shortened the on-camera assembly process to prevent the video from becoming a snooze fest. In this video I also show off Buzz's wing gimmick as well as provide you with a 360 degree view of the model kit.

 If you are interested in viewing videos of other projects, please do visit my YouTube Channel FourEyedMonster Miniatures by either clicking on the banner above or by clicking on the following link: => https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFKjSgN9sR4U2Lg5_wSFZhg  Soon I'll be working on Buzz's good friend Woody next. Until then, stay safe, be well, and be happy.

Buzz Lightyear [Completed: Out-of-the-box build of the Bandai Toy Story plastic model kit, with minor painting]

 Once in a long while, it's always nice to take on a relatively simple project that's not only easy to build but also looks good with almost no work done apart from what is required in the instructions. Such projects can give one a sense of accomplishment, a dose of natural dopamine if you will, in return doing the bare minimum to finish a model kit. In other words, the lazy-ass-projects that every modeler needs once in a while as a hiatus from more ambitious projects, which involve lots of painting. This Bandai Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear Cinema Rise Standard plastic model kit involved only minor painting, hence it's already completed following from the unboxing post two weeks ago.

Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear; a Bandai Cinema Rise Standard plastic model kit [completed, front view]

Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear; a Bandai Cinema Rise Standard plastic model kit [completed, back view]

 Buzz has only one notable gimmick and it's a good one. The wings on Buzz's back can be folded into the jet-pack, and then at the push of a red button located at the front of the spacesuit, flip open into an extended/flight configuration. I made a short video demonstrating this gimmick as you can see below.

 Below are photos of the main sub-assemblies - the jet-pack, body, helmet, head options, arms, hand options, pelvis, legs, and feet - that were put together prior to Buzz Lightyear's final assembly process. In hindsight, looking at the completed sub-assembles laid out together on the worktable (see below), the one and only thing I would do differently is to paint the three oblong buttons at the front of Buzz's spacesuit instead of applying the colored stickers that were provided with the kit.

Major sub-assemblies of Buzz Lightyear prior to the final assembly process

 Although this project is a straight out-of-the-box assembly, the one essential thing I had to do was paint Buzz's face. It's the minimum effort needed to make the kit look presentable. To show why Buzz's face required additional work, I painted just one for comparison to the other two unpainted faces. What I did was use pastels to apply a rosy blush on his cheeks as well as add shading below his lip. In addition I applied brown panel lining onto the swirl on his chin. Just this a little bit went a long way in making the face look 'alive'. Even looking at the faces now, one extra thing I could've done to make them better was to paint the lips. Something to take note of when working on Woody.

Buzz's face was painted using Tamiya Weathering Master pastels (note: only the middle face was painted, and here it's compared with the unpainted faces on the left and right)

 Another gimmick I thought that Buzz had had was the space helmet. Initially I had thought the helmet could slide open in one smooth action. But there is only two default positions for the helmet per se i.e. fully closed or half-open with the latter being simulated by just removing the front half of the helmet. There are however what I would call 'mini-gimmicks' on the body of the spacesuit itself. I term them mini-gimmicks because they don't really have the 'wow' factor, and don't really do anything. More on these mini-gimmicks later as I touch on the sub-assemblies concerned (i.e. the arms).

Buzz's spacesuit body and the two halves of the helmet (front view)

Buzz's spacesuit body and the two halves of the helmet (back view)

 But I am being a tad unfair in expecting lots of complicated gimmicks for a simple plastic model kit like the Bandai Buzz Lightyear one that you see here. For the one major gimmick that this kit does have i.e. the extendable wings, the spring mechanism for it is housed within the jet-pack (see below). This spring mechanism connects via plastic parts to the red button on the chest. When the said red button is pressed, the mechanism comprising plastic parts and metal springs work in tandem to allow the wings to flip out and extend straight out on either side, in a flight configuration. 

Jet-pack with wings, which attaches to the back of Buzz's spacesuit

Innards of the jet-pack with the spring mechanisms exposed

 Meanwhile, an interesting mini-gimmick consists of a simple thing like a red button on the right arm that can be depressed, but does nothing. Another is a wrist panel on the left arm that opens up to show a 'control panel', which is essentially just a sticker representation of a control panel. And as mentioned earlier, the spacesuit helmet does not slide open hence I do not consider it a gimmick at all, mini or otherwise. It can only be put in place or removed completely.

 And in case you were wondering, you cannot recreate the iconic scene from Toy Story in which Buzz's left hand is pressing on the red button on his right arm. This is because the left hand is too short to reach the red button. There is a box art image which shows Buzz doing just that. So what gives? To me it's just an optical illusion. If you photograph Buzz at a certain angle it would seem as if he was pressing on the red button. However, that's not possible for the reason I mentioned earlier.

Buzz's left hand options and arm includes a mini-gimmick in which the wrist panel opens up

Right hand options and arm; includes a mini-gimmick in the form of a red button that can be depressed

 As for Buzz's pelvis/groin area, legs and feet, everything is pretty straightforward with no gimmicks in sight. They comprise a lovely combination of white, green, light gray, and purple parts that look fantastic even as an unpainted, straight out-of-the-box build (see below).  

Pelvis/groin area of Buzz's spacesuit (front view)

Pelvis/groin area of Buzz's spacesuit (back view)

Legs and feet sections of Buzz Lightyear's spacesuit

 Lastly is the hexagonal clear display base included with the kit. It's a nice enough base to use with Buzz Lightyear. Also included is a cylinder-like peg that connects Buzz to the base. All in all, the base is functional, and serves the purpose it was designed for with minimum fuss. Unless you plan to display Buzz in a dynamic pose e.g. of him flying like Superman, this base should work just fine.

Hexagonal clear display base, together with a peg attaches Buzz securely to the base

 Of course as a Toy Story project, just Buzz by himself isn't complete when considering there is a Woody plastic model kit from the same product series i.e. the Bandai Cinema Rise Standarrd series. So following close on the heels of this project is one on Woody himself. It's a no-brainer for me to begin work on Woody next before I start with any other project. And until Toy Story's Woody is unboxed in the upcoming blog post - stay safe, be well, and be happy.