Sunday, May 24, 2015

PG Red Frame - WIP 4

Time to go our separate ways
 
After blogging for 8 WIPs for the PG Astrays, I decided to use different names for the post title. I will be splitting it to PG Astray Red Frame and PG Astray Blue Frame as opposed to PG Astrays. This might seem redundant because both kits are PG Astray Red Frame but in the long run it will make an easier reference.

With the completion of the legs and waist of the ABF and only the feet for ARF, it is fair to start work on the ARF. By the way, I have been given a dateline by my missus to finish both kits and tidy the room. Dateline: 30th November 2015.

Instead of starting with the legs, I went and start work on the katanas instead. This is the main reason I fell in love with ARF in the first place. What is sexier than a mecha with katanas. I am planning to make one of the sheath to be a darker color scheme (hopefully) than the other to differentiate between the Daban and BanDai version of Gerbera Straight.

Started working on the Daban Gerbera Straight.

Pieces of the Gerbera Straight
 
The idea is to try and make the red a bit darker than the metallic red. I plan on painting a layer of Candy Red over the metallic red. I hope this will produce the red I'm after. I stuck to the original color for this part because this will be for the Red Frame. The only color I changed are the handles of the katana. I changed the grey to Gunmetal color.
 
I really love the details they included at the guard and the pommel. The details at the guard are 2 demon heads with both horns touching each other at the middle. From what I see on the net, most modellers don't panel line the gold parts of the katana and I feel it a waste. You cannot really see the details on them. I do admit panel lining them is hard because of the light reflected off the gold pieces. With time and patience, all things are possible.
 
Details at the guard
 
After painting, decaling, shading and panel lining the pieces, they are ready to be assembled. For the Daban model, I used the grey words of Gerbera Straight words on the scabbard. The BanDai model will have a red word across it. This is another way other than the red to differentiate between the Daban and BanDai's katana. I did this also as a precaution in case the reds comes out to almost the same color.
 
Pieces before assembling
 
The first thing to do was to assemble the hilt first. The assembling of the black sections to the handle was a pain to the hand. I had to use a lot of force just to get it to go in and the worse thing is that it doesn't really fit together. There is a small gap at the side. Another part to take note of is the pommel. This is also one hard piece to get into place. When you are forcing it in, do be careful not stress the pommel and break it.
 
Completed hilt
 
Mentioned earlier, the pommel also has the demon head as a design:
 
Details of the pommel
 
After the hilt is done, attaching the blade into the hilt is easy. There is a small hole at the back of the blade which (luckily) aligns nicely with the hole found at the hilt. All you have to do after that is insert the small golden pin into the hole and it will hold the blade to the hilt.
 
I told myself to be extra careful to not lose the pin when I was removing the nub marks on it. Guess what happened? Yep, I dropped the pin but luck was on my side. The pin was at the edge of the table. The pin was hard to insert into the hole because it is small and I have huge stubby fingers. I used a tweezer to assist me. That is when it happened again. The pin dropped onto the floor. I was so devastated and worried that I had lost the pin for good. Luck was again on my side and I found it right away. Should have taken a picture and see you can spot the pin but I was not thinking that far ahead.
 
After much hassle of inserting the pin into the hole, you will get a completed katana. The assembly of the scabbard was a breeze and in no time, you will be awarded with a completed scabbard.
 
Gerbera Straight and the scabbard
 
Gerbera Straight in the scabbard
 
There is a section in the scabbard where you will require to attach 2 small rubbers in it. The purpose is to have a bit of friction when the katana is in the scabbard so it doesn't fall out. The first time I inserted the katana, the friction was so strong that I was a bit worried that I might break the blade in the process. Once again with patience the katana was in and all was well(?)
 
After taking out the katana, something black came out along with it.
 
Something came out from inside the scabbard
 
The thing that came out is one side of the rubber. There was no way I was going to open the scabbard to put this rubber back in without risking stressing the other pieces and the paintjob. I had to make do with one rubber and hope it does it job. Only one way to find out if it works.
 
Testing the katana
 
From the above picture, you can see that the katana is securely fasten in there with one rubber. If I had known that we are only required to use one side of the rubber, I would have used BanDai's rubber instead of Daban. What is done is done. As long as the katana doesn't fall out I'm fine with it.
 
With all the panel lining and shading done, the only thing left to do was to coat the katana and scabbard with a layer of Future.
 

Scabbard waiting for the Future to dry

I did not only coat the handle and guard with Future but also the blade.

Close up on the details of the guard.
 
Not sure if it can be seen in the pictures, I used a normal pen to panel line the line at the top of the blade. Remember the discoloration I had when I was putting a layer of Future on the RG RX 78-2? I happened again when I was working on the katana.
 
Left: Discoloration at the base of the blade
Right: Reflectiveness of the blade once the Future has dry
 
Here are some measurements of the completed Gerbera Straight (for those who are interested):
 

Scabbard: 25.3cm
 
Katana: 33.5cm
 
Katana in scabbard: 35.5cm
 
Now that one of the Gerbera Straight is done, time to complete the other and I will try to do a little comparison between the two.

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