1/1 HoiHoi-san Part 2

Just make sure the knife is sharp
The work on 1/1 HoiHoi-san after the introduction in the previous posting starts off with a part that is actually missing in the kit. ^^;



The lace around the bottom of HoiHoi-san's dress, although clearly shown on the box art and in the manual, is not included with the kit. ^^;


Given the smooth bottom face of the one-piece dress part, appending a DIY lace edge to it shouldn't be a difficult issue.
The main task would be making one then. ^^


Initial test using old calendar page.



Refinement with more accurate measurements.


Tested again with (poorly done ^^;) lace cutouts to get an idea of how many pedal needed for the entire part.





The final lace part to be used is designed using Adobe Illustrator.


Printed the pattern on a sheet of 120gsm paper.


The lace pattern is cut using scissors.


A few pedals will have to be cut away though, as they are overlaying on each others.


Just about right to begin the actual cutting process I think. ^^


A new sheet of the lace pattern is printed.


And then it's just a matter of primary-school paper artwork practice XD
The printed pattern is secured on the cutting board using paper tapes and all the little ovals and boxes in the middle of the pedals are cut away using a pen knife.


Once all the ovals and boxes are cut away, the outermost edge of the lace pattern is cut to "release" it from the paper. ^^


Double-sided tape is used to secure the lace pattern to the bottom of the dress part.



All done. ^^
Some of the cuts are evidently not smooth, but for something optional which isn't going to be seen very easily on the completed model, I think I can live with the flawed result. ^^;


All the discarded pieces from the entire work.
The lace pattern for HoiHoi-san's dress is something that kept bugging my mind ever since I got this kit back in September 2009. ^^; I consider it a "self-imposed obligation" to produce the lace pattern. Since it's part of the actual character design of HoiHoi-san, I must realize it on the model kit. As a result of that "self-imposed obligation", to make or not to make was not the question at all, but rather what material to be used. Magazine samples and online reviews have the lace patterns produced using either pla plate or actual fabric. Either one seems really troublesome to me so I decided to go with the easiest material (to find and to process), which is paper. ^^; The end result is not perfect, but I like it. ^^

Now that the lace pattern for HoiHoi-san's dress is done. I can ease my mind of what to do with the same part on Heavy Combat and Heavy Combat Nightmare versions. The image file can be reused, and I only need to find paper with the correct color to match the model kits. ^^

Moving on to some "conventional" painting and detailing next. ^^