Pimp My Zoids

Immediately after MCON08 exhibition was over, I laid out my tools and roll up my sleeve again :) This time I'm hell bent on working on the interior and what I started out to achieve: The human interface.

Then.....After trying for days, I finally give up to try to access the interior through the opened hatch and the detachable left side armaments. I even tried to cast the interior and succeeded in making the replicate of the side wall... but to create what I had in mind is still too difficult.

So in order to improve the situation... I have to dissect Kaiten into two....after so much had been done....Seen here is the back half undergoing masking for some putty work.

Next comes the exciting part :)
I wanted to create a padded environment like the Ma.k suit to safely cocoon the pilot. So I used blue tac to doll up the side wall.

Originally, all I wanted was just padded side wall but then I started to enjoy myself and moved on to putting panel pieces into the idea. After finalizing the cockpit side panel design, its back to the tappy tray to engrave and accessorize.

After fixing up both side:
































Here's after pre shading the padded side panel :)

Now come the moment of truth.... can this fit my idea of a cockpit... The Head-Up Display spanning 180 degree~! I finally found a part that can do this. And its a plastic soda bottle...Final touch with a little glow in the dark paint to make the screen comes alive :)

For the flooring, I cut a capsule egg into the desired shape and use the remaing bolts to seal up the holes.

Phew, I still remembered I gotta take leaves just to make it and rush to the exhibition on the last day... When I reached the place, the hair on my neck was standing.... Its amazing how many entries there were. The registration, the entry label, the display area, etc... everything was well planned and executed. So this is how official exhibition is... And to see people from all manners of life together in the hall, discussing about models and techniques. All my hard work was worth it just to be able to be in the hall.

In order not to conflict with ZPCC, I chose another name for Kaiten.... Its Hades SDV. Well...there is a 1/24 Neptune so another greek god will make sense :) SDV means Seal Delivery Vehicle. Hee, I wanted to be more military to miggle into the crowd.
























Pretty Kaiten or I meant Hades....

























Some Bling Power~! Hee, this is what I meant by "Dark but Shinny~"

























Some of my personal favourite:














More MCON08 pic here

The Paint - I wanted something dark but yet shinny...
Well, I finally put my pearl paint brought during my Japan trip into good use.

First, I primed the model with Mr Hobby's 1200 Gray primer-in-a-can. Then I coat it with Gaia's Semi-gloss black.





Finally I poured my unnamed pearly goodness into a dispenser and dilute it with Mr Color Thinner till "milk" fluidity and spread away~. Shown here is the picture of the part after one coat of the diluted pearl paint(Left).

Note: This is just my way of spraying pearl paint as I did not understand the Japanese instruction to get the proper ratio of colored paint vs pearl paint....

Next, I wanted a secondary color to be having the same characteristic as the primary color. Dark and Shinny. So I have to use some clear color to overlay onto the primary color. So I chose clear purple. As Purple is a deep but still vibrant color.

Unfortunately, there is no clear purple on stock... So I improvised and used clear blue + clear red. Yes, that's a bird nest bottle that I recycled to store the mixture. And to make it more air tight, I taped around the cap and the brim of the bottle :)
Tips: Don't throw away your used masking tape! Use them to cover your paint during breaks to prevent dust from settling in.