HGUC 1/144 RGM-79C GM Type C

Woot!

Finished my first model of 2015.

Now I have achieved my target of finishing at least one model a year! 

Will try to get a light box or better booth setup before finishing another model.

Most of the pics I took are barely usable.

After at least an hour of shooting, deleting and uploading pictures, I decided to take more pictures under the nature light.

It was a cloudy and raining day but the pics still turned out ok.

Can't beat the nature light!

You can see some chipped paint and scratch marks here and there from first round of photo taking.

Wish I paid more attention and handled it with more care :(

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These following photos were taking after following some advice from a broad member on TFW2005.
Manual focus and automatic depth of field really make a huge difference.
Now I can get some half-decent photos even with my crappy setup.

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The visor has been coated with the Future floor wax.

 

Laser foil tape for the sensor on weapon.
A thin layer of semi-gloss coat helps toning down the colour and making the sticker less out of place.

Comparison with the OOB kit.

Fairly satisfied with how the main colour turned out.

I am tempted to use the leftover to paint a desert colour GM II. 

with HGUC Zaku F2

Aesthetic aside, GM Type C still doesn't measure up with its Zeon counterpart in term of accessories and construction. 

 

HGUC RGM-79C GM Type C WIP pt. 5

Never expected to do another WIP update for this, but forgot preping the bazook and did a little mod on fists so here are some more WIP photos.

So here is the runner HG MP-1 E that comes with GM Kai.  

It was a decent attempts in 2010, the open palms are good (better than the builder part's open palm anyway) and the closed fists are usable.

 I grew tired of the tumor like thumbs and here is my mod.

While still a bit unnatural, they don't look as awkward now.

HGUC RGM-79C GM Type C WIP pt. 4

The handles on the shoulders were not done when the pictures were taken.

 The rest of the body should be close to the final work.

Compared with OOB GM kai

This pic was taken back in May 2013. 

 I still have quite a few WIP projects before this one and I do want to finish them. 

Don't usually like doing base coat, but the Tamiya acrylic paint I mixed is not strong enough to cover the colour differences on modified areas.
So I switched to black paint instead of applying primer, saving me the hassle of cleaning airbrush.

HGUC RGM-79C GM Type C WIP pt. 3

More WIP pics and comparison shots with the stock model

HGUC RGM-79C GM Type C WIP pt. 2

More WIP pics for HGUC GM Kai.

Contrary to legs and arms, the stock head actually looks quite decent.

The vulcan gun barrel could be a little smaller and the forehead sensor should be larger and extended further down the head.

These problems don't bother me as much though so I just left them as is.

I did change the angle and shape of the mouth plate to be more in line with the original design and sharpen the side exhausts.  

  

Next time I do a GM Kai or Powered GM, I won't separate the head  like this again. 

Much easier to just mask the visor... 

I am having hard time deciding the head antenna look.

I first used brass wire but not very sure about it.

 

Then I sharpen a spare antenna but still looked a little off.

So I just put the stock one back...

Still can't decide between the last two choices.

Will paint them both and decide later then.

BTW, you can find this spare antenna for GM Kai/Powered GM/ GM Striker in HGUC GM Striker, GM Custom and GM Cannon II kit since they all share the same runner for joints.

HGUC RGM-79C GM Type C WIP pt.1

No, this is not a new project that just started.

I began working on this 2 or 3 years ago but 

paused for a while due to laziness and lack of enthusiasm technical difficulties.

The GM Type-C is noticeably shorter than other 18 meter height MS in HGUC so extending the leg actually makes it more in scale with other HGUC kits.  

These long feet work fine on Powered GM but not so much on GM Kai, 

though I wouldn't mind if Bandai gave us giant-ass feet like in HGUC GM Quel.
They look way better and are closer to the original design.
IMO, the ideal shape for these Katoki Hijime designed GM feet would be the ones in HGUC GM custom, GM II or GM III.

Additional ankle swivel to make the standing pose more natural looking

Got this idea from some Japanese modelers