Firaphex

Gundam Wing Zero vs. Gundam Epyon.
My inspiration for this build was the final fight in the original Gundam Wing Anime, where Heero and Zechs fight it out in the broken section of the Libra. Of course some liberties were taken, mainly with the setting where I went for look more to what I imagine a massive pieces of a space battleship might look like when breaking apart.

I think it turned out well enough. Pretty much anything that could go wrong these last few months did, so while it's not my best work, it's the best I could do under the circumstances so I'm fairly satisfied with the result. I did wire it all up with LEDs, which I of course managed to break while taking the final photos so the pictures I have of that are from the previous submission. But the painting turned out OK I think! Silver linings and all. And the base was a lot of fun to build. There will absolutely be more scratch--built scenes in the future for me. Lots of lessons learned and things to improve but that's the point I believe.

So here it Is, the final version of my somewhat over-ambitious project, ready to get put away so I can start planning for next year.

I know it probably sounds bad, but this extra week was a lucky break for me. I would not have been able to finish on time otherwise. I still had to skip a lot due to the my hand being all weird, but it's close enough to count as a result i'm decently happy with. It's not my best, but far from my worst too so... Silver linings and all.

So what have actually happened? I finished up the wiring, put it all together and did some experiments with poses. Not sure I'm happy with those yes, but there is still time (procrastinators unite! ... tomorrow ...)

Also the lights are a bit too brights so Imma see if i have time to fix that or if I just leave them off.

So this will be the final update, just under the wire before final submission. Fingers crossed!

So this week was meant to be the start of painting the Zero. Unfortunately the hand that I injured at the start of this has been acting up, so I haven't gotten as much done as I wanted.

The Zero is broken down into the pieces needed, so a little cleanup and sanding is next, followed by painting. Also the inspector showed up again after some sick-leave, and seemed to approve of the progress so far.

Hopefully this following week I will be able to get more done, but at least the boring part is done.

He's back! With added flare.
Not entirely complete. I noticed i missed some panel lines and will do some chipping still but I will get to that. Also ran the LEDs through the frame (but forgot the sword so will have to redo some of it).

All in all I'm pretty happy with it. Paintjob turned out like I wanted so that's a win in my book.

Next up will be the finishing touches, and then it's on to the Zero and starting to figure out the mountings for the base.

So I completely forgot that today was Sunday and that I needed to get some pictures to upload.

This week i've been putting the final touches on Epyon and working some more on the electronics. And by final touches i mean clear coating and panel lining. Once that is done it is going back together so by next week I expect for it to be done and for me to start working on the Zero.

It's all coming together *insert Mr.Burns finger meme*
Finished painting the frame parts, the last of the red parts and started on the blue ones for Epyon. Just the yellow left and then I can finally start putting it back together before the final weathering.

So all in all, lots of silvers and gray, some sparkly red and faded blues were my progress this week.

Another week with slow progress, but now it's vacation time so I can finally start getting more done. Got the final tone of red done on most of the pieces for the Epyon. The White parts are done too so now its just the blues and grays left.

This week I had to bust out some of the ol' miniature skills to start adding some details to the base. Kept working on the lights as well, but I think I underestimated just how rusty I was at electronics. Anyhow, started adding some tones to the tiles and brightening them up a bit. Also finished some of the beams and a little more of the weathering. Far from done but it's getting there.

Only a small visual update this week. I started blocking out the colors on the base. Its very colorful at the moment, but with weathering and washes I expect it get toned down so this is mostly just to figure out what color goes where.

Other than that I started working on the Arduino code for controlling the lights that's going into the scene. I haven't done any programming in a long while so that is fun, albeit slow. Also not sure if that counts as progress? Really hard to show in pictures if nothing else. Lines of code isn't really photogenic... at all.

More painting for Epyon this week.
I actually finished most of it, then promptly remembered I forgot an important step and had to redo most of it. Oh well. At least the room smells good.

Other than that not a lot of progress. It's a lot of small parts, a lot of layers and while I do think the bade red turned out good, It is going to need some highlights and shading. Saving that for when all the parts are at the same stage though. It wouldn't be the first time something gets finished only to have that "Oh noes" moment when you realize you forgot a part or two.

Bonus point to anyone who know what the hairproduct is for.