I bought 2 materialforce figures today and I have no Idea what to do with them. I kinda want to make customs but with how hard it is to come across blanks I think I'll save em for a rainy day. 

Shadow Spallow.

AGE-1 Spallow (Dragon Momoko)

I recently purchased 2 of this kit while visiting Divisoria, One with the intention of kitbashing with an Adele, and the other to build as-is. It's been mentioned on the internet before that this particular bootleg line has made adjustments to each of the AGE-1 kits released, the best examples are the RAZOR and SPALLOW that we have here. 

One of the best features are the additional weapons for customization that were taken from other kits (HG Astraea-F, HGUC Zee-Zulu, and MG Blue Frame). As well as new parts  such as the sharper looking face,  heel blades, the forearm and shoulder adaptors, an adaptor for the claw weapon to be used for the AGE-1 Normal, new open hands which include a hole for a wire-rig thing, and clear parts for all his weapons (except the shoulder knives). It also comes with un-modded parts so you can build the spallow in a similar way to the original Bandai kit. 

overall, it's a great kit, easily of better quality than most bootlegs, suffering only from fit problems with the head parts and the polycaps in the torso. 

I immediately found a repaint use for this extra spallow, by doing a Shadow of G homage. Had to mod the face and the chest plate though lol. 

El Dorado

Finished this Vagan Dorado kit today. The overall design of the kit is pretty cool and makes me motivated to try more of them. The colors came out a bit darker that I'd have liked, and a tad too flat. I think glossier finishes are better fitting these sorts of mobile suits. 

Finished this under a "paint while you build" approach that left me with a huge headache and a short temper. guess I'll try a minimal paint method for the next kit since they don't really need an overall paintjob that's similar to the base colors anyway. 

Also this kit is hella tall. Significantly larger (and hence more menacing) when compared to the federation suits of AGE. Me likey. 

Oyumaru Troubleshooting.

Recently someone messaged me on facebook asking if using oyumaru for molding around an existing face sculpt would damage the paint.  I replied that it was relatively safe for painted parts and I decided to test that theory out. First of all I needed some assistants.

And of course, the Oyumaru.

Generally speaking Oyumaru is a sort of clay compound that becomes malleable with the introduction of heat. Interestingly enough, when the heat factor is removed the clay-like material retains it shape rather rigidly, resisting any deformations until it's heated again. as such it's an excellent material for 1-part molds, though some modellers have had success with 2-part molds themselves.

Now that that's out of the way we can mo--

...Stop it you two.

Okay, now you'll need hot water.

Dip the Oyumaru into the hot water and wait for it to soften. You can hasten the process by putting the water and oyumaru into a microwaveable container and heating it in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

that should make it soft enough to knead into shape. Now to mold the original part you'll need to be very careful to get all the contours around the part. This is somewhat difficult to do with anything that isn't a flat shape, but we're too far into this post to let that in the way of showcasing comedic situations now, aren't we?

Right, ladies?

*PLOP* 

Let the oyumaru cool on its own (or run it under cold tap water to harden it) before removing the original part. Once the part is removed you'll have a useable one-part mold, but in this case it won't replicate the entirety of the part, only the front.

There is zero damage to the object you'll replicate so we should end this post here, but I wanna tackle the other part of the process.

Now the recasting material comes next but I lack any usable resin at the moment so we'll have to MacGyver our way on this.

Welp. Beggars can't be choosers.

whatever material you choose, make sure to mix it thoroughly so it sets in the proper way. For molds like this it's always recommended you use pour-able materials in order to get the best results.

Once the material sets it's just a matter of removing it from the mold. If you intend to make multiple copies you should be very careful in extracting the recast from the mold. Ideally, you will have designed the mold in a way that makes it easy for you.

If not, then simply re-heat the oyumaru again and peel the softened mold from the recast.

So did it work?

NOPE.

Here's why:

1. Recasting material: In this case we tried material that wasn't appropriate for the mold design, that's something to consider. the effectiveness of the recast relies on this. Polyester Putty which is in the form of a paste has been used for molds like this by other modelers though it usually dealt with parts of flatter contours and hence easier to push into place. though you can succeed in face sculpt replication with polyputty over repeated tries. This tutorial was only a one-off thing.
2. Mold design: We essentially made a pour mold for the piece what's more is the small entrance for the recasting material makes it difficult to get into nooks and crannies. In instances like these it's best to design the mold in two parts, so you replicate the front and back halves of the piece as separate parts and just assemble them into a single piece afterwards.
   
   
   There are many ways to go around this method of parts replication and success is 50/50. don't get discouraged by failing the first time because that's part of the process of refining your approach.
   
   
   I've had marginal success in replicating other things from oyumaru, such as this leg armor part for the Liger Zero:

See how that's a two-part mold above, and the material was epoxy resin.

The trick here is to study the object you're recasting before going forward, and since oyumaru is reusable with just a dip in hot water, you can keep trying without having to worry about wasting too much material.

I'll do a proper face replicating tutorial in the future but for now, I've filled my quota for Shinki abuse today.

AGE-1 UBE

Got around to taking pics, a few places needed some retouching but not heavily. also added some lighter purple panels since last time I took his pic. Calling this build done. It was a fun experience, and really shows me I've sorta diverged a lot from painting figures to painting kits like I used to with my SD gundams. Hopefully I have better luck with my second build, which is the AGE-1 Razor. 

AGE Razor

Out of town for the rest of the week, so I decided to get busy. Bought and built this kit today, tools also procured on the fly, unfortunately there's only so much you can do with just a nipper and a hobby knife. The kit was actually pretty messy while building and requires minor cleanup I can't  achieve away from my workshop.

Buuut, I already have a color scheme in mind, something inspired by the Blitz gundam, which I think will match this look.

looking forward to working on this more when I get home.