hello guys. it's been a while since my last post in this thread. this is my current WIP:
mg zeta plus c1.

i repainted the whole body coz i didn't like the original grey that much. the inner skeleton was painted with metallic grey / gunmetal color. the armor plating color is medium grey. everything is painted using handbrush.



in this pic u can clearly see the diff of the original grey and the medium grey. medium grey color looks more like m9 armslave in the fmp series.



i'll post more pics when there's update in my work.

ok.. since this is a MG model so there's rarely gap that need to be puttied. the only place that i puttied is the head, to cover the seamline.

this is my method of painting:
1) cut the model from the sprue
2) trim the excessive plastic using nail clipper
3) sand the excessive surface using sandpaper (grade 400 then 600 and then 1000)
4) if the model is lower than MG, n there's a lot of seamlines, snap the pieces together using cement, make sure there's no gap between the pieces(try holding the snapped piece under any light source, n position it so that u can see if there's gap between them, there will be light passing through those gap. if it's perfect, no light shining through)
5) wait for the cement to dry and apply putty along the seamlines. wait for it to dry. usually left it for 1 whole day.
6) now take grade 400 sandpaper, sand the putty until it has smooth surface between 2 pieces, and gradually sand it with 600 and finally grade 1000 sandpaper.
7) if u have primer paint, use if u want to. let it dry.
8) all this time i've been using spray cans and acrylic paint. spray can is straight forward. spray from 30cm for better result. for handbrush, use this combination for good result: a) good paint brush( tamiya's is a good choice, nylon brush is ok but is not as soft as animal's hair. good brush = horse's hair, very soft) b)use paint thinner instead of water( i use mr. hobby thinner, normal water produce more bubbles when mix with paint) c) ratio of paint+thinner= 2:1 (i'm not sure about others, but that's my mixture ratio)
9) properly stir the acrylic paint in the bottle(shake the bottle if u want to). then using syringe (i'm using it), take the paint n put it in another any tray or bottle n then mix it with thinner using the 2:1 ratio. mix it well then soak the brush and start painting. dun apply too thick. 1 way brush stroke for good result. let it dry n reapply the paint. repeat the process until u satisfy. if the color is not even (some spot is glossy n some are very flat) dun worry. if u screwed up the layer(if there's bubble and it dried up, the layer wont be smooth, so use grade 2000 sandpaper and reapply the paint). tips: never paint in windy places, surely it will dried up very faster.
10) now since the color is very flat, u can use top coat to make it better. i use semi gloss top coat after i handbrushed the pieces. now u can have almost airbrushed quality paint for your model, except for the shading effect.

ok for the paint that filled up the panel lines, that happens becoz the paint is too thick.
my method of fixing it is by using razor blade or 'pisau lipat', carefully trace up the line, then using tooth pick, sharpen the edge n trace the line by applying pressure onto the line that u traced with the blade. works everytime. cheers

well most of the time it is true that u dun need to use putty if use cement and i know what u mean when u said it 'melted' the parts together.

but here's the case, the c1 has a big cannon. what i did was cement them together, wait for it to dry and sand off the excessive cement and then start painting. no light shining through the piece when i was checking for gap. but after the paint dried up i saw some just a little line maybe 2-3 mm that has gap between them. i swear that at 1st it looked smooth n perfect. so i had to clean the paint by sanding it and apply some putty to the gap.

so, right now i always use putty as an extra precaution


i'm not sure if your version got screws for the legs or not, but mine have 4 screws to tighten up the leg if necessary. now 1 more pic of the WIP c1, the other pics were blurry. just finished painting the head and the backpack

actually it doesn't really "melt". it's just a term describing how the chemical inside the cement reacted to the surface of the plastic. it binds the molecules of both surfaces using chemical reaction n harden it. it doesn't get soft or turn uneven.. later i'll show a pic of my model that i only cement and not putty. u can see a tiny seam line that can be easily covered using putty. i'll show both using just cement and cement+putty.

primer? depends. coz tamiya's primer is not cheap. there are other brands out there but for simplicity n availability i choose tamiya's. for the c1 i only primer large surface like the tail stabilizer. if u have good paint mixture and painting skill, it is not nessecary to use primer.

the thing is when u spray primer, it is easier to paint on it, that's all to it. some primer can also be used to fill up gap just like a putty, cant remember the name though.

when u said painting u mean handpainting or spraypainting? for handpainting apply light coating n let it dry and repeat. same goes for spraypainting, distance between nozzle n plastic surface around 15-30 cm, always shake well n dun spray the same area for too long, always move your hand back and forth to other area. n again, light coating, dry and repeat.

i think it should be "gloss". coz japanese.. u know.. cant differenciate "r" and "l" properly