Thank you in advance. I love your work!
Of course painting the inner frame also has the not insubstantial benefit of increased bad assedness.
But lets be honest... You're going to spend all that time painting the frame and it's just going to be covered up with armour anyways. What's the point really? Especially considering that the joints and moving paints may stick together or break in the process.
I decided to take a different approach with my Sinanju and just paint the joints and other exposed areas. This was less time consuming and the result was satisfactory.
So on a whole I'd say that painting the frame might not be worthwhile unless you are the perfectionist/completionist type or are planning on leaving some of the armour off OR you are planning on using clear armour parts.
If you insist on painting the frame for whatever reason I'd suggest you just paint the exposed parts (usually the joints and ankle pistons) but be wary of:
1.The type of paint you're using. Lacquer is the most corrosive, then enamel, the acrylic. (If I recall correctly.)
2.How complicated the joint mechanism is .
3.How much of it you're actually going to paint.
4.If the painting will interfere with joint movement or parts sticking together.
It worked out with the knee of my Sinanju but not the elbow or the wing joints. The knee joint was sturdy and thick enough to deal with the enamel paint I was using (no primer) but the elbow and wing joints weakened significantly.
I did a light frame paint job on my PG Red Frame/Strike Frame project to give it more of a metallic look but that was a 'conceptual' project and I painted the frame on principle. The PG frame was easily sturdy enough to stand up to the relatively light paint job I applied to it. There were no problems as all.
So I've had both good and bad experiences with frame painting from full paint jobs to partial. While it's troublesome at times I can say concretely that I've never been disappointed with the end result and have no regrets about doing it at any time. In my opinion frame painting can be that one detail that separates a good model from a great one
So I hope that answers your question! Thanks for taking the time to write and for your kind compliments.
What do the rest of you think about frame painting? Worth while? Not? Do you do it? Personally I just can't leave the frame completely alone if I'm planning on finishing a MG. The knee/elbow joints and ankle pistons at the very least.
At most i'll just give my inner frames a light coat of silver dry brushing. Other than that, unless you intend to expose the frame, i'll go with what you did for your Sinanju :D Minimum effort, maximum coolness haha ^^
ReplyDeleteThen again this is a very good question I think we need to ask when doing an MG. Perhaps that is why i do 1/144 kits more often, no worries about the frame.
While I sprayed the entire frame of Sinanju, that was a matter of convenience since I already had the whole thing put together anyhow. For the most part I much prefer the method of only painting what will be seen (Like the white strips on the legs and arms of my Exia) since it's not a huge burn on paint.
ReplyDeleteI've not had any problems with paint damaging the parts of the model, but you and I use different types. Sinanju was the tamiya synthetic lacque, but others like my Sword Impulse where done via hand brush.
I agree Entirely about the extra work being done to the bones of a kit can bring it up a notch- Our Sinanju, Impulses and my Kampfer certainly benefit from being more diligent and going the extra step to paint the frame.
I painted my Blue Frame's Frame recently with lacquer based paint and I have no problems with it. If any, it did stiffen up the joints... which in my case is a good thing cause I don't play around with my kits ^^
ReplyDeleteI've never painted an MG inner frame before (plus don't have the stuff needed to do so) so this is good info for future references. ^^
ReplyDeleteI think its quite worth it especially if you paint the right parts if you decide to put the armor on. If you got the MGs being released currently under the clear part campaign, it will be even more worth it. =D
I also use lacquer based paint for my work, and the paint holds on quite well. But my personal belief is to never play around with painted gunplas too much, even when I pose them, I do it very slowly and carefully to avoid any damage.
ReplyDeleteAs for whether to paint the inner frame or not. Since I usually finish my kit with a flat clear coat, I would give the frame a flat clear coat to give it a painted flat look (without using any color paint). The benefit is that it make the frame looks painted and is hard to notice any damages done to that flat clear coat.
Paint, paint, paint, paint, paint, paint, paint. (unless of course, you spray paint and the weather is blustery and wet. and you have a deadline. and your wife doesn't want you building these things so you are up at 6am to do it while the house sleeps.) paint!
ReplyDeleteI would just like to note that it is definitely recommended to prime all the parts you're going to paint. If you had primed the inner frame, the lacquer wouldn't have weakened the plastic or eat away the joints. Primer is your best friend.
ReplyDeleteyes indeed i learned that one the hard way. i ended up doing that on my musha mark 2
ReplyDelete