1/100 Astray Red Frame Part 2

A red day, a black day, and the windows open
Started working on my 1/100 Astray Red Frame, with the usual painting and panel-lining first.


Molded entirely in white following the shoulder armor, its side plate should be in red.


Side plate painted, but just that part in red seems very awkward there. ^^;


Checked the manual and found that the top portion inside the armor should be in red as well, much like the part extending from the red 'verniers' behind the armor.


No clear separation between where should be in white and where should be in red makes the paint job quite confusing ^^;



Red for a small part protruding at the end of the leg near the ankle - seems like the extension from the red bar above it.


Interior of the knee covers - completely white as opposed to ...


... black as seen in manual.
Supposedly the shadow for the unseen interior of the armor, the part is too big for anything to be kept in the shadow though. ^^; You'll need to create "artificial shadow" for it if you want to follow the paint scheme XD

Gundam Marker Black is good for the job, but quite a lot of paint is required, and I'm not exactly keen in using so much from the marker for a part which won't be shown much when the model is completed. I'll use something else instead:


Refill ink for whiteboard marker and a toothpick as the painter is good enough for the job. The trick is to use the toothpick to drop drips of ink from the refill to fill up the interior of the knee cover. The toothpick can be used to distribute the ink more evenly around the corners as well.

I used normal permanent marker for the edges of the parts though - easier than using the toothpick and refill ink.


Painted the knee covers from both legs at the same time - they are the same for either leg.


No matter how black the interior of the cover is, the front portion is not affected at all ^^
The refill ink and toothpick trick is best to be used for tight spot where even panel-liner like Sakura Micron 0.05 can't reach. There are a few really tight spots for this 1/100 Astray Red Frame, the first one coming up is:


Black interior behind the red cap for this particular part of the leg.


One drop of the refill ink and you get to see the ink flows furiously around the part. filling up all the spaces you require.
A few reminders for you if you're thinking of using the refill ink mentioned above though:
- you can't really control the flow of the ink once it hits the surface of the part you intend to paint. Unless you're really sure that those parts can be covered in the color of the refill ink, else don't use it.

- Spillover from using the refill ink is even more unavoidable as compared to Gundam Marker, but the good thing is, the dried ink is much much easier to scratch off as well. So for spillover paint, just wait till it's completely dry, then use your art knife to scratch it off.

- the refill ink is alcohol-based and the fume can become quite unbearable after a while if you're using it in a closed room. Do open the windows for better air ventilation.

- I only see the basic colors of black, blue and red released as refill ink at the moment. So not many fancy colors you can think of for using this method. Use only when necessary then I suppose. ^^;