Build Diary

My secondary work desk is topped with dry erase. So I use it to make notes or plan a build out. I knew I wanted to do a non-weathered candycoat for this build.  

The Shin Musha has a lot of fiddly bits. This is just one leg, and just the exterior pieces. 

Torso prepped for paint. I normally paint by batches of the same color, to reduce airbrush cleaning cycles. This time I took the opposite approach, and worked on each unit in series. 

Seaming what was possible. There were A LOT of seams I couldn't seal/fill due to re-assembly. It's a weakness in my workflow I need to improve. 

June was very wet and very humid in Philadelphia. I put a second moisture trap at the compressor, and a third one at the brush. Very necessary with a hose that long. 

Between the shields and the gauntlet covers, these arms have a pretty restricted range of motion. 

Head in the dryer. Instead of using the included green foil, i wanted to clearcoat the eyes in blue, hoping that they'd pass light better. 

Pop Quiz: what's missing from this picture? 

Yep, I lost the hose piece from the inside left knee. I was considering ordering a replacement runner, but decided to try to cast a copy from the other leg.  

Mold on the right, positive was cast from milliput. 

While the replacement was curing, I painted the rest of the leg. This shows the interim step where the primer and metalics are down prior to clearcoating.  

This was the winner of 3 different experiments. The 3 colors listed on top are oil paints over a tan/yellow acrylic basecoat. 

Closeup, and I was very happy with this once applied to the weapons. It is super delicate, so give it a couple days to dry, and apply topcoat liberally. 

I toyed with a few ideas on how to make the katana hilt something special. I figured I would paint it, and cut some studs from styrene rod that I could paint to add some contrasting detail. 

I rummaged around the local crafts store to find some tiny beads that I could paint with Testors Pearl. This was also a big fail. When airbrushed the paint didn't really stick to primed ball chain. Strike 2. 

Oh, so maybe I shouldn't be thinking about attaching stuff to it. Lets bore the sockets out... 

... and then fill them with liquid epoxy. I was thinking I could use the clear green like I did with the head gem, and it'd pass light when lit from behind. 

It worked as designed, but now I have a really tough masking problem. I bored the same side hole into that scrap piece, forced through some funtack, and then put that over the epoxy fill. 

Frisket mask to apply the kanji to the shoulders. One says 'SAMURAI' the other says 'SWORD' (katana) 

Thats a photo of the board from the gameplay session. This is just a test piece. 

And here is the final, printed in color, adhered to cardstock, and sealed with a UV protectant. 

Also made a box for transport, and some custom pillows to keep him comfy. I intended this trophy to change hands as new people win games that challenge for the trophy.