HG 1/144 Gundam Barbatos Part 5

Special Zeon touch and cosmetic finishing
Continuing with the work on HG 1/144 Gundam Barbatos after Part 4. ^^

Despite grouping them into this particular posting, a lot of the work here, at least at the beginning would seem very similar to that in Part 4. ^^



The rear side of the calf and side skirt armors are painted black to emulate depth in those areas.

As with the elbow pads.


With excessive black paint on the edges scratched away using a knife, and additional detailing applied to the front side.


Like the mace parts in Part 4, the calf thrusters are panel lined using Tamiya's Panel Line Accent Color (Gray).



More work for the knife - painted parts from Part 3 ready to be cleaned up. ^^


For the narrow slits between the (fixed) rear skirt armor pieces, the excessive dark gray paint is scratched away using a sharpened toothpick instead of a knife.



Simple panel lining for the selected parts, including the weapon mount rack pieces and foot parts.

Refinement and additional detailing on some of the painted parts of HG 1/144 Gundam Barbatos. pic.twitter.com/YXhpylqOaS

— Chang Ngee Khiong (@Ngeekhiong) November 28, 2015

One of the most significant detailing for this kit is to paint those sunken emblems on the chest, shoulder and knee armors.


The color needed is not red like its feet and chin, and not fluorescent pink like how the parts are shown to be glowing on the box art as well. ^^;


Painted the parts using a Gundam Marker that is neither red nor pink (strictly speaking XD).


The marker used is GM34 Char Pink from the Zeon set. ^^


As usual, once the paint has dried, excessive paint spilled over the edges of the slits is rubbed away using cotton swab soaked with arcylic thinner.
For flat surfaces like the knees and chest, the work is simple, ...


... but for the curved shoulder armors, the normal cotton swabs I usually use for the work would just keep rubbing off some of the paint inside the slits. ^^;
A different cotton swab is needed for this work that requires accuracy in dealing with the excessive paint. ^^

A new tool appears for the work on HG 1/144 Gundam Barbatos. ^^ pic.twitter.com/aTfu8y2ts2

— Chang Ngee Khiong (@Ngeekhiong) November 28, 2015

While it's called "cosmetic buds" on the label, I prefer to just recognize it as sharp-tipped cotton swab. ^^


Only the sharp-tipped end is needed for the minor cleaning work on the two shoulder armor parts.


Comparison between this cotton swab and the regular type I normally use for my Gunpla work.


The shoulder armor slits are repainted, and then refined again using the new cotton swab shown above.
The sharp tip is able to go between tight spots and get rid of the excessive paint. ^^



Normal panel lining for the five armor parts, which isn't too easy given their curved design. ^^;

Detailing and paint work on the main armor parts of HG 1/144 Gundam Barbatos done ^^ pic.twitter.com/zvuNWz2ddr

— Chang Ngee Khiong (@Ngeekhiong) November 29, 2015

Elaborate panel lines applied to the body parts.


The chest vents are detailed using Tamiya's Panel Line Accent Color (Black).


The "tooth brush" on the V-fin and sideburns as mentioned back in Part 2 are painted using a normal red marker to guide the work on cutting them off.


The targeted bits are clipped off using nippers first, then trimmed using knife and cleaned using paper file.


Detailing for the helmet parts.
The slits on the V-fin are painted using Gundam Marker GM02 Gray with fine tip.


The sunken areas next to the sideburns are painted black using a normal marker to give the head a little bit extra details.
I'm not even sure if the details can be seen on the completed model later. ^^;


Excessive dark gray paint on the face and red chin parts are carefully scratched away before additional panel lining is applied.

Completed the detailing for the head parts, and all done with the work on HG 1/144 Gundam Barbatos. ^^ pic.twitter.com/QS0Nj7M40j

— Chang Ngee Khiong (@Ngeekhiong) November 29, 2015

And with that, the work on this new HG kit is all done. ^^ It certainly involved more work than I initially anticipated due to the detailing needed on parts with delicate molded details that are difficult to reach using a normal panel liner, and much heavier paint work needed for many parts. ^^; Still, it's a very interesting kit to work on, with a lot of exposed mechanical details that I imagine would look great on the completed model. ^^

Getting all those details out is most important to support the Gundam's fierce look, which I like very much. ^^

As usual, there'll be a bit of offset time between now and when I revisit all the parts again for the final assembly. ^^