1/6 Al Azif & Another Blood (Milky Doll)

 

 I believe this must be the most complex kit I’ve worked on yet. These two girls are really heavy chunks of resin given the scale (1/6). They’re only held together by a pin where their arms are interlocked (not glued) and I’m glad that it’s sufficient. I’ve taken many pictures from it’s progress so when I have time, I hope I can finish the GK building guide I’m working on.

There were many troubles with this kit and I’ve wrote the longest negative feedback at E2064. But now the kit’s done and all I can do is try better next time. I like the colors very much though, so enjoy the pictures!

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1/6 Penguin x Chocolate (T’s System)

 I like how T’s System always releases GKs in 1/6 scale so they’re usually really big. This Penguin girl however is only around 13 cm in height so she looks pretty good beside smaller scale figures. This kit was a pleasure to work with and that’s why I finished her so fast. I also got to use Mr. Crystal Colors for the first time and I’m really impressed about the slight pearl shine that were applied on her jacket and the penguin (but these effects are hard to photograph).

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1/6 Saber Alter Maid

No it’s not the PVC from ALTER 🙂 I actually always cry a little inside when a GK I’ve painted is released as a PVC figure. But this time it was because I couldn’t afford the exclusive (and elusive) PVC so I decided to paint the GK version. Now she’s being rereleased but oh well. I think mine didn’t turn out that bad either 🙂

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Tora Brindle – 1/7 Snow Miku + Sakura Hatchune Miku

I like Snow Mikus color scheme so much that I wanted to own a scaled figure of her. Even though Miku has thousands of figures and multiple Snow versions as Nendoroids, there’s no decent scaled figure. She was quite a challenge to paint, I’ve never used that much metallic color on a figure before and I’ve learned a lot in the process.

I entered the E2046 GK Contest 2012 with her since I finished her roughly around the time.

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Kotobukiya – 1/8 Yomiko Readman

Apparently there are two releases from Kotobukiya, one is a painted resin kit and one is the PVC version. I am not quite sure how to classify this one here because I painted it myself. However, it’s safe to say that it’s a recast from E2046 (from the painted resin kit, probably). She’s still preorderable but I haven’t seen her actually being released for the last two years or so. I bought her from an user who got one from her earlier batches. This kit caused me a lot of headache because her skirt parts just didn’t want to fit together at all, among other things like thousands of micro-bubbles on her coat. I was also forced to remodel her glasses because I lost those that came with it. It doesn’t make a big difference though, the included ones were also just printed on plastic (and not laser etched metal). Despite all the difficulties, I think she came out nice (especially her base fits her so well!). More pictures under the cut! =w=

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Purazuma Houriki Mokei – Aisaka Taiga

This is one of the kits I’ve always wanted (even before picking up painting GKs as a hobby). The sculptor Abira is really talented and has produced a bunch of Toradora (among others) figures that I all love to have. So more are bound to follow if I can ever get my hands on some kits of his!

Taiga here was painted using Mr. Hobby Colors and I especially like how her dress turned out. The many layers of frills have a little purple shading on them. I’m happy that it seems like I’m rally improving. 🙂 Usually I stick to round acrylic transparent bases but this time I sort of copied the background colors of the original artwork that belongs to this kit.

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Agnes Boulange 1/6 (Volks)

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When I pick a kit for myself to build and paint, you can be sure that I REALLY want to have it on my shelf. And although I know nothing of the character Agnes (from Shukufuku no Campanella), I love her elaborate design. Volks has created a Campanella GK series and they’re all very pretty. It’s tempting but I’ll probably refrain from getting them all. With about 5 kits I can finish per year, I have to pick them carefully. It’s not like I don’t want to build more, but winter makes it hard to sand and paint without catching all the poisonous fumes and dusts. And building GKs is very time-consuming.

This time around I tried to use laquer-based paint and I have to say I’m impressed how smooth the paintjob becomes. Which means my comprehensive GK guide will have yet another section on paint. orz I’ll never finish this guide… There’s so much more to learn and I’m faced with new challenges with each new kit.

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Chen 1/8 Trepang

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It’s been a while since my last GK gallery post but the weather is improving and I can finally work outside which makes it all more enjoyable. So mayble I’ll actually get something done. This time it looks like I’m running out of kits, there’s one kit waiting to be finished and a few preordered (no idea when they’re going to be released). I’ve waited for Chen about a year too, E2046 has a wide range of kits but that also means you have to wait quite long for a kit which is not so popular.

Chen is an easy kit with few parts but mind you, building GKs is a lot of work nonetheless so I’ve spend a full week building her.

A more detailed WIP post will follow tomorrow although I don’t have as many photos as I’d like to have. I just happen to be too lazy when messing with tools and paint to wash my hands and fetch the camera.

So today here’s Chen’s gallery for you to enjoy 🙂 Nyan~

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Tenshi Hinanai 1/8 Sakura Zensen

Although the ones who collect PVCs are constantly enraged by the release of a few kits per year which are *really* outstanding and kit only (no PVC version), it makes a kit builder proud to own those. This one is such a kit, a very light and still dynamic pose and also a very impressive one despite the scale (because of the sword and the extraordinary base).

My third kit (okay, technically the fourth) and I feel I still have lots to learn. She’s a very fragile one, when assembled and it is one of those things I still have no idea how to do it better: how to glue on those crystals or small ribbons you can’t pin and make it STABLE. My painting has improved with a more bold approach to highlights and shadows (I used the awesome prototype pictures of Sakura Zensen as reference), an attempt to manipulating different gloss levels for different parts (with which I’m very pleased) and my first time being confronted with clear parts.

I got new tools this time around too (so still not there to having everything for building kits). new wire, a clear plexiglas base that won’t distract from the figure (you can’t see it because of the “clouds” but it’s pretty) and beautiful colored inks which work wonderful on clears. Thus, I am still furiously writing on the article for a full garage kit building tutorial but it lacks pictures and well, I’m not done yet. Time to tackle another kit! I bet there are still many mistakes to make and to avoid.

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Alice Margatroid 1/6 (T’s System)

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The kit that got me into building GKs, it’s such a cute one 🙂 (especially with her dolls Shanghai and Hourai). T’s System has a lovely Touhou GK line and they’re still releasing more. Most of the painting is done with the airbrush, details were hand-brushed (I love doing details!).

She’s on display for quite a while now, I forgot when I actually finished her but she had been the reason for much frustration and headache. Every part of her decided to break off spontaneously until I had enough and pinned everything I could! One should still be careful with the dolls but other than that I think she shouldn’t be prone to falling apart anymore.

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