antampatz

This week I moved on to the arms, continuing the clean-up and preparation work across the kit.

As with the previous sections of the build, I started by using a marker to highlight gate marks, mould lines, and seam lines. This makes the areas requiring attention easier to identify and helps track progress throughout the clean-up process.

The parts were then worked through using the same approach established across the rest of the build: a combination of sandpaper, metal and glass files, scraping tools, and a melamine sponge. The arm assemblies are relatively straightforward compared to some of the previous sections, but cleaning up the gate marks and mould lines now should help prevent these areas from becoming more noticeable once primer and paint are applied.

Unlike many of the other assemblies, the arms contain very few visible seam lines. The only notable examples are found in the poseable hands and in a small section of the shoulder armour.

Following the same philosophy used elsewhere in the build, I chose not to permanently remove these seams through cementing. Instead, they were refined and treated as panel lines. This maintains access to the internal components while helping the joins appear more intentional as part of the design.

For the poseable hands, keeping the assembly serviceable may also prove useful later in the project. One modification currently planned is the installation of magnets to improve weapon handling and allow for more secure attachment of the various handheld weapons. Preserving access to the internal parts should make this process considerably easier.

The seam within the shoulder armour was treated in the same way. In addition to maintaining access to the assembly, keeping the armour separable should simplify painting and finishing later in the build.

While this stage does not dramatically change the appearance of the model, it continues the process of preparing each section for the modification, detailing, and painting work still to come. With the arms now cleaned up, another major section of the kit is ready for the next phase of the project.