Here’s a progress update on the Quattro Custom Rick Dias! With this being my third build, I opted to build everything in stages as opposed to haphazardly jumping around the project.
The actual model actually turned out really well and the colors don’t quite pop-out as I had originally feared. The only problem is that…well…It looks like a toy.
What got me excited for this project is the was that this will be the first time I’ll be applying a matte coat primer. Perhaps it’s just personal preference, but I want to strive for realism. When you think from a hypothetical viewpoint, and consider the resources available in the creation of a mobile suit such as a Gundam or Zaku II, a military organization perhaps won’t be too concerned about making sure the mobile suit has a nice plastic or glossy finish. In the real world especially, most countries are more concerned about a matt, flat look (although playing devil’s advocate, most countries wouldn’t paint their armament bright red/blue either :P).
There’s been a bit of hesitance when using something that can drastically change the look of a model. It wasn’t until I decided to ordered some of the Gundam Real Touch markers for some of the weathering detail when I came across a easy-to-ready diagram from Gundam Planet:
Seems easy enough?
I used the “Mr. Super Clear” Matte spray (Lesson of the Day: つや消し, or “Tsuyakeshi” in Romanji means “Matte”). Applying was easy, just spray and let dry. I strongly urge to pick up a set of goggles, gloves, and a face-mask though, and use a well ventilated space (or outside) to spray and dry since the contents are known to cause cancer and some other crazy conditions.
After I set to dry for about 45 minutes, the results were immediate.
There were a few mistakes to be made though. I had a bunch of the excess “nibs” (or however builders refer them as) that had to be filed down after the initial coat dried.
I also forgot to sand down the model before spraying it, so there were a few cases where the plastic was a bit too smooth and the matte coat didn’t stick. Combined with the colder weather outside it made some nasty looking jizz-like splotches that had to be sanded down and resprayed. I’m using a 600 grit sandpaper since that was the finest grain they had at Ace Hardware, although I’ve been told if I can find 700-800 grit, it works even better.
Looking at the before/after pictures, and you can tell how drastic the change was.
After assembly, the model looks pretty damn awesome!
Next, I’ll be doing the lining, weathering, and detailing process. So at this point the kit is still not quite done yet. 🙂
Something About Scott 
awesome gunpla! could you tell me how you did the painting? thank you
I use a Q-Tip and real touch markers and/or a fine-tip black lining pen. The key (for me at least) is to make everything extremely subtle. It’s easy to go crazy and make every panel lining pure black, but it’s better to stick to similar dark colors for the shading for your first few projects. The idea is that your faking real world shadow effects.
The real touch markers are great because they can give a smudgy, weathered feel to the model and more authentic fades/transitions for the model. It’s about $20-30 to order on Amazon for two sets that should give you enough color for most of your projects.
With that said, unless your working with a custom build, painting metallic parts, or covering up nub marks, you shouldn’t have to paint the kit with anything else. MG kits usually are pre-painted, so aside from doing the line-work, you can apply either a gloss or matte coat, depending on preference.
As for the matte coat, I applied this before I added the line-work. The next project I am working on (Gundam Mk. II) I’m going to experiment with applying it after I do the line-work. I just hope I don’t mess up and cause the line-work to “bleed” out, which happened on my Char Zaku II Variant (I used several different paints plus over-sprayed the matte coat on that project, so that may have been the cause).