I don't have any pictures at the moment, but I can say this for certain right now - painting Natsume's 'feathers' or whatever they are is a massive pain. I don't know if it was the primer I used or the soft plastic, but even after I let it sit overnight, firmly gripping it causes it to come off in blotches. I fixed this with most of the other parts with using a topcoat, but it doesn't work for the feathers.

Right now I'm sanding everything off, roughing up the surface a bit, maybe that'll let the paint catch and stick on. If not, I'm probably going to go with a vinyl dye.

Mobius wrote: If not, I'm probably going to go with a vinyl dye.

It will make your day. I was amazed how well and fast it worked. See my thread for how uniform it looks.

Status Update: Finally got the red to stick onto Natsume - decided to see how her hair would work with pink bangs, essentially inverting that part.
Unfortunately one of the spues snapped on me, thereby making it very difficult to impossible for me to actually pose her with everything - also explaining the odd height of the wings. I'm trying to see if I can get it out, but so far... not looking good.

Debating turning the gray areas into pink, as well as debating if I should paint the body itself. Thoughts?

Lookin good! I think you should go for it on the paint. That's essentially why you got her right? I'm about to paint the body of mine here shortly.. I need to figure out what I'm gonna do with my Juvicy's head now too.

MrHolister wrote:Lookin good! I think you should go for it on the paint. That's essentially why you got her right? I'm about to paint the body of mine here shortly.. I need to figure out what I'm gonna do with my Juvicy's head now too.

True, true, and pink/red (for the lighter and darker grays respectively) would be good to break up the monotony of the flight unit.

SPEAKING OF - I apparently made the left wing joint (where the feathers, the large wing, and the shield area connect to) way too tight and both the wing connector and the connector to the backpack as a whole snapped off when I tried to get the wings to move. However, I saved it with strategic use of pins. Still not going to be perfect, but hey.

Edit: More problems with the wing joints - I messed up and tried using it too soon, not letting the glue dry efficently and wound up spending a good half hour pulling out the severed joint from the backpack socket. As of now, I've decided to use a couple of the Crank parts (namely, the two small squares) to act as new attachments for the backpack to wings.

While I'm letting those sit and dry, Natsume finally selected the colors she wanted to be painted, and I got to work.
Good enough for a first coat given I had no painter's tape. Now Natsume kinda reminds me of a rose or something.

Man, I wish I had this kind of talent. Not to mention the balls to mod something as expensive as a Shinki. I love what you did with your Arnval. Those legs look so sweet. The butt-thrusters weren't bad either.

Oh, god. 'Butt-thrusters' sounds so wrong...well, you know, the rocket booster thingies...

Raffi von Lederhosen wrote:Man, I wish I had this kind of talent. Not to mention the balls to mod something as expensive as a Shinki. I love what you did with your Arnval. Those legs look so sweet. The butt-thrusters weren't bad either.

Oh, god. 'Butt-thrusters' sounds so wrong...well, you know, the rocket booster thingies...

Heh - I actually got away with not modding Charlotte herself for the boosters - quite a few MG kits seem to have the right sized attachment pegs or holes for Shinki. Boosters were modded further, no longer as horrendously big-

Charlotte: THANK GOD

Me: I'm sorry, okay?!

But yeah. Natsume, as I'm painting her, I can't exactly get away with not modding the body, but she looks better on camera, I'll tell you that

And after about three days of having to sit and be patient to let glue and molten plastic sit, Natsume's wings are 'whole' once more.
I like how it came out so far, despite the difficulty some of the parts gave me. Guess I have to learn from my mistakes, eh?

I know you mentioned it before, but I would strongly recommend painter's tape. It's really the only way to get straight lines unless there's an actual molded line in the piece (and even then, painter's tape is better). The wings look like they could use it the most; the red/yellow border is jagged.

Klinkin wrote:I know you mentioned it before, but I would strongly recommend painter's tape. It's really the only way to get straight lines unless there's an actual molded line in the piece (and even then, painter's tape is better). The wings look like they could use it the most; the red/yellow border is jagged.

Thanks for that, and I've been meaning to pick some up for a while now. I can't seem to figure out where I put my old roll.

Meanwhile, I'm not dead, I just haven't been that active crafting lately. However, with two more girls coming, that's going to change. In the meanwhile, I seem to have obtained a platform of sorts that I can use for them, for a sort of diorama.
I'm going to be attaching a back to it, so there's a sort of wall as well, though at this point I don't know if I want to go and paint it or use some sort of cloth covering. Also, I've seen some papercraft-ed accessories before on here, do you all recommend any places to get them?