By Ray H.

Basic Finishing Techniques

This is a "raw" untouched Gundam, its just been assembled. So, it's time to dress it up!

Inking: The process of inking - or lining, as it is sometimes called - is really simple; you just get a pen and go with the groove. Stick the pen in the sculpted lines and follow along, then wipe off any excess with a rag or what ever is handy. As far as pen recommendations go, there the official Gundam Marker pens, which work good or you can try certain brands of regular pens. The type of pen I used for this example was a Staedtler Pigment Liner .01. Test the pen on a scratch piece of plastic before you use it cause certain pens don't work very well, like Sharpe's.

Charcoal: This is a good way to add a more beat up look, and its really simple. Get some charcoal shave some powder off of it with a razor, and then proceed to apply it using a dry paintbrush.

Wash: This is a modified way of "inking the lines" but instead of a pen you can use a watered down paint wash. Get it in the grooves then wipe away the excess. You can also "muddy" up areas too.

Below is a before and after shot. Before was just raw with no ink or stickers. After is with ink and stickers.

Advanced Techniques

This is the pro way of doing things. First, you'll want to putty any unwanted lines where the pieces of your Gundam is put together. To do this you need some putty, glob it on in there and let it cure, then sand it down till smooth. Next to gear it up for painting, spray some surfacer on it. Try not to get any on the polycap joints, you might want to tape those off. Next, using water based paint and an air brush do a coat of black. After that dries add a coat of dark gray on the edges, followed by doing the final light color. The purpose of doing all this is so you can get a color gradient, you can do this with any color as long as you use a dark medium and light version of the color. If in an area you needed it really dark or really light, you might want to skip one of the colors and opt for two similar colors. When finished, spray with a clear coat sealer of your choice.

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