And I really wasn’t satisfied with how Velvet’s eyes came out, so I dunked the entire face into some Mr Color thinner and ran the ultrasonic cleaner and scrubbed all the paint off. Time to start from the beginning. This was done over the past weekend while my friend was out here for a diving trip, so down time after each dive day was spent working on our respective kits. And this allowed me to be fairly patient with Velvet’s eyes.
Stripped, primed with Mr Resin Surfacer, then sprayed with Mr White Base.
The eyes are drawn in with a lead pencil then inked with a rapidograph filled with blue ink.
The main eye color is painted in using tamiya enamel blue.
Light eye color highlights are painted in, white highlights are added, and after drying for a night, a final clear gloss was sprayed on Saturday morning before we headed out to the Catalina Express ship for a full day of diving.
Work resumed the following afternoon allowing the gloss clear to cure for a full day and a half. Blue sticky tac is used to mask the eyes off so that the rest of the face can be painted. A side note, I think I liked painting in the eyes prior to spraying on the skin tone. For future project, I think I will alter my build steps and do the eyes prior to painting the face skin tone – mistakes with the eyes will at most remove the white base and resin primer. I don’t have to worry about dealing with the shaded skin tones.
Base skin ton is sprayed, light highlights are sprayed, and finally, a mid tone is sprayed on to blend everything together.
After the paint has sat and cured for about an hour, the sticky tac is carefully removed.
The eye brows are painted in, eyelid details are painted, and lipstick which almost completes the redone face.
Final details are added in and the head is put back together. I’m much more satisfied with this rendition, however I’m annoyed that I managed to make one eye larger than the other. This is an issued that is a root problem – as it started when I first drew in the eye using the pencil. The mistake should have been fixed then, but I missed it. Apparently, doing 3-4 dives each day takes a toll and I really shouldn’t be model building as a means for winding down. I blame Brian for this. :D But regardless, I am much more satisfied with my current result than the previous. For past build progression, the repetitive nature of rework and redoing stuff is glossed over, rarely mentioned, and detail pictures are usually edited out or just ignored. I feel it is important to show that with anything, any mistake can be returned to and fixed. Sometimes is a small mistake and can be easily covered up or fixed; and others the thing needs to be stripped down and started from the ground up. Running through the progress posts for Velvet, one can see I’ve tried both.
Other than working on the face, I did some work on Velvet’s crystal. The crystals and left over resin parts are sanded, and thrown into purple power. Soaked over night, they are taken out and scrubbed in the ultrasonic cleaner. Once dry, the small scratches from the sanding process make the crystal cloudy and unclear. A base coat of clear gloss fills in the small scratches and the crystals become clear.
After the priming it with the clear gloss, they are painted with clear red then another layer of clear gloss is sprayed to sandwich the clear red as well as give the crystals a nice clear glossy finish. Only a few more pieces need painting and thie kit will be completed.
