I’ve been pushing to have the Hakuheisen ready in time for Granitecon – due to various circumstances that didn’t quite work out. First I had to give up on the idea of having a display base ready to go with the kit, then I had to put off completion of the leg wiring, then I had to delay the weathering phase of the project – then I had to finish up the basic paint chipping and wash as an all-nighter just prior to the show. But in the end I had a pretty good model to bring with me to the model show – I am always happier at these things when I’ve managed to get a project ready to bring…

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I have a day left before Granitecon and still lots to do to get this project ready… The good news is that the basic painting is done. There’s touch-ups and paint chipping and washes and weathering to be done, but all the basic colors are on, and where they should be.

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There have been a few delays, but I’m finally making real progress on the Hakuheisen again. Recently I painted a metallic basecoat on the parts as well as a couple layers of Future gloss. Now I’m getting started on painting the final colors on the parts. This project will feature a lot of “paint chipping” effect, and this time around I’ve decided to create the effect using the “hairspray” technique – spraying the parts with hairspray, painting the final color, and then using water to weaken the hair spray to make it easy to chip away bits of the newly applied color coat.

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So, work continues on the MP Guncannon… Since last time I’ve replaced the wrist joint with one that looks better, and I’ve begun the work broadening the feet and shortening the lower legs…

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I’ve been working on an Armored Core project lately – unfortunately I’ve been unable to get anywhere with it lately because I’ve run out of Mr. Color black paint… So while I wait for my paint to arrive in the mail, I’m working on some other things. For the last couple days I’ve been working on the HGUC RX-77D Guncannon Mass-Production type. This is the version of the Guncannon which appeared in Gundam 0080. The HGUC kit is pretty good overall but as with most of the Gundam 0080 HGUC kits its representation of the original design is a bit distorted… Since getting the kit I’ve been a bit unsure about how to go about correcting the issues with the kit.

Inspired by Hobby Japan’s recent re-release of their “How to Build Gundam” books, I decided to finally take on the challenge of building the kit, and trying to correct its deficiencies.
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I had been trying to finish this up for Otakon in mid-July but that didn’t work out… When I first resumed work on the project there was more that needed to be done than I had thought: the planned wiring was unfinished, some parts hadn’t been sanded or even glued, and so on. In the weeks leading up to Otakon I was almost able to get the model ready for paint: with a few days left before the convention I decided I wasn’t going to be able to hit the deadline.

Now, with the convention behind me, I’ve resumed work on the project. At this point I’m returning to aspects of the project I’d had to skip in my attempt to hit the Otakon deadline and setting up the kit parts for painting.

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I’ve finally gotten back to work on my Armored Core “Hakuheisen”, hoping to finish it for Otakon. I think this is basically a reasonable goal at this point: most of the parts are paint-ready, the only hold-up is wiring for the LEDs that are being installed.

I’m not going to have the microcontroller board or its software ready for Otakon – and I don’t know if I’ll be lighting the thruster LEDs when it’s on display at the con – but I also don’t want my rush to finish the model for Otakon to compromise my goals for the model, so basically the lighting work is proceeding as planned, the only difference is that for any parts of the process I think might put my deadline in peril, I’m finding ways to work around those things such that I can return to the project later and complete things the way I intend.

So for the most part things like the microcontroller board are on hold: however, I was in Chicago for the last several days, so while there (and on the train rides to/from the city) it was impossible to do actual model work – so instead I revisited my “Raven” PCB design to try to improve it.

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I dullcoated the old Zaku and put some pigment powders on it… Really haven’t got the hang of powdering models yet, but I’m OK with screwing things up a little on this project… After the first round of powdering I dullcoated it – and unfortunately didn’t mix the flat base into the future adequately, and got a bunch of nasty white spots on the model – I sanded most of those off, then did another round of powdering, some spot-painting on the bullet holes and near the thrusters, and another flat coat.

I think once I put lenses on the weapon scopes I’ll call it done, move on to other things for the Otakon model contest.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update to my Zaku Kai project: much of that time has been spent on other pursuits, but there’s also been a fair bit of work done that I simply haven’t found time to document fully. Most recently I’ve been working on the shoulder joints and the arm parts.

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Since I missed the MMC deadline I’ve been working on the Zaku when I could – at this point the decal work is done, and I’ve given it one coat of flat and an overall dark brown wash. I still need to handle a few bits of detail painting (like the bullet-holes I added to the shield and torso) and I’d like to go a bit farther with the weathering effects – possibly add caked mud to the feet and ankles, among other things, but overall it’s very nearly done. I am starting to consolidate assemblies to reduce the number of parts – things like the knee armor, now attached to the knee, the backpack, now attached to the back, and the snout power cables now attached to the snout…

In the photos the Zaku is mostly assembled – it’s really too soon for that still, but I wanted to take some pictures of how the thing will look when it’s done.