Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Jagd Doga Storm Vanguard WIP

 Content
1. Introduction
2. Building Processes
  2.1 Getting the basic shape
    2.1.1 Head
    2.1.2 Chest Piece
    2.1.3 Left Shoulder Piece
    2.1.4 Shields with funnels and round shield
    2.1.5 Side skirts
  2.2 Detailing
    2.2.1 Pla-plating
    2.2.2 Scribing Panel lines
  2.3 Masking and Painting
  2.4 Panel lining and Decals
  2.5 Base
3. Conclusion



1. Introduction
This project is meant to polish up my basics and to challenge myself to create a model based on an existing design which Bandai have not released yet in 1/100 Scale. I chose Jagd Doga as it is a very unique design. In order to motivate myself to complete the project, I will be entering this work to GBWC Singapore so that I would have a deadline to work with.

2. Building Processes

2.1 Getting the basic shape

For starters, I need to find a base model that resembles Jagd Doga which Bandai had already released so logically it would be Geara Doga. Next I looked into the main differences between them and I found that their main differences are head, chest piece, symmetrical shape, side skirts, legs, backpack, weapon and shields. After some deliberation, I decided to keep Geara Doga's legs and backpack as they look better than Jagd doga's.

 2.1.1 Head
The head is the most obvious difference and also the most difficult to make as it has a very unique shape. I used Geara doga's head as the base and added tamiya eproxy putty (smooth type) as the smooth type takes longer to harden so more time to sculpt the head. When working with eproxy putty, it is best to add a bit of water to it to make it less sticky and also use a glove so that the putty will not be full of fingerprints. Since I make the front part of the head protrude out, I have to shift the connection along with its mono-eye forward. As it is my first time sculpting putty, I end up having to sand it smooth and did not managed to make both sides of the head symmetrical. To make its antennae on its head, I cut out the shape on 0.5mm pla plate and pasted it onto the head. 

 2.1.2 Chest Piece
I had to lengthen the chest piece so I added epoxy putty to it and tried to make the surface even using the flat side of the ruler. I used cling wrap on the upper torso of the kit so that the inner side of the putty will be shaped conforming to the contours of the torso and not stick onto the kit itself. However due to the angle difference between the putty and the plastic, it makes it impossible to sand off the line connecting them so I had to add pla plate over it to cover it.

 2.1.3 Left Shoulder Piece
As you know Geara Doga's left shoulder piece has spikes on it so I had to remove them and fill the holes with putty and sand them down. I had to add a connection point for the shield by using Kotobukiya MSG ball and bearing set.

Section 2.1.1 to 2.1.3

 2.1.4 Shields with funnels and round shield
The two shoulder shields were made by cutting out the shapes from 0.5mm pla-plate and gluing them together. Next I used 0.3mm pla-plate for detailing and added funnels onto it. The round shield is taken from another kit and I added pla- plates along the circumference to form the iconic shape.

 2.1.5 Side skirts
The Jagd Doga being a new type mobile suit needs more thrusters so there are thrusters on the side skirts. I had to saw off the magazine storage rack of the Geara Doga and add pla- plates to form the shape.

Section 2.1.4 to 2.1.5

2.2 Detailing
 2.2.1 Pla-plating
For pla-plating, I used 0.3mm pla-plate for detailing. I find it easier to stick the masking tape onto the place you want to add pla-plate, draw the shape on the tape itself, remove the tape and paste it to the sheet of pla-plate for cutting out the shape.

2.2.2 Scribing Panel lines
For me, this is the hardest portion of the entire building process as you need to come out with the panel lines design and Geara Doga, being a mono-eye suit, has many curved surface which makes it very difficult to scribe panel lines. 

Front View

Back View

2.3 Masking and Painting
Originally, I wanted to paint it using leftover paint from the tieren project but I was inspired by another person's work which uses a lighter tone of color so I decided to mixed the leftover paint with a lighter color to form different tones of lighter color. However, this also result in the need for more masking as a single part would have at least two colors. For the inner frame, I painted it gunmetal mixed with silver.

  2.4 Panel lining and Decals
I attempted various ways of panel lining. For Gundam Marker, it produce a darker line but it is hard to remove if mistakes were made. For Tamiya Accent color, it works well for most part but due to my scribed panel line being shallow, the resulted line is lighter in color and risks being wiped away if I apply more force. For mechanical pencil, it allows any mistakes to be erased easily so a top coat is necessary to seal it in. I used water slide decals but since I did not gloss coat prior to adding decal, there are some silvering on it.

2.5 Base
For the base, I wanted to create a scene in space where Jagd Doga is flying out of a destroyed base. I painted an action base 1 with gun metal and aluminum for the piping. I created some rocks using plaster and saw through some supporting structures to create debris.


Top View of the base


3. Conclusion
Considering that I started at December but went on hiatus from January to April, this project has took me at least 3 months. Hopefully, this is good enough for the competition. I attempted writing this blog post differently with words first before adding the pictures so it could be a bit wordy. There is also a shortage of wip pictures as I only took pictures of it before painting. I will post the pictures of the completed work nearer to the competition deadline. Thanks. 

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