Alien 3 BD409 EEV Completed

The final touches to the weathering have been completed. A flay coat of Gunze clear flat was applied to the model to seal the weathering so far. Oil paint streaks were applied to the underside of the vehicle using both 501 Abteilung and windsor and newton oils.

 Some metallic shine was added to the docking ring area using a 6B lead pencil.

Once I was satisfied with this effect I added some grimy staining on selected areas to match the reference pictures using Mig Productions Industrial City Dirt pigment. This effect was also concentrated on the areas around the mounting prong holes to suggest the dirty mechanism used to attach the EEV to the Sulaco.

This was again sealed in with clear flat.

Some additional detail painting was done using Citadel acrylic paints.

The entire EEV was now ready to be wired up and mounted to the flight recorder base.

I passed my wiring through the Aluminium tube and then passed the tube through the mounting holes in the EEV and the flight recorder.

The wiring was soldered together and tested, all working well (phew)! which was a relief.

All that remains to do is to capture a quick video of the lighting effect for you to see.

So stay tuned for a video post of this soon.

Until then,

Cheers,

Weathering Part 1

The decals were sealed in with another coat of Tamiya clear acrylic to protect them and then the weathering could begin.

The whole vehicle was given a pin wash around the raised and engraved details using Mig Productions dark wash.

Once this was dry it was tidied up with a cotton bud dampened in odorless turps.

It was now time to add the remaining few details on the panels with the numbers and hand paint black and yellow areas with Citadel Acrylic.

More soon,

Cheers,

Markings Part 2

I feel that this model would just not look right without some kind of tiny stenciling on the hull. To this end I discovered a sheet of red stencil decals that are inteded for Gundam models.

These were place on hatches etc following my reference pictures as well as some artistic licence of what I thought looked good and appropriate.

Many of the tiny stencills were added around the end access hatch doors.

Stencilling was also found on the top cryotube entry hatches. Some of the raised hatch parts were touched in with some Citadel blood red acrylic paint and a fine brush.

These decals are from HiQ Parts, the decals themselves are tiny and were printed by Cartograf and they performed flawlessly - a very impressive quality product, you can actually read the tiny lettering with a magnifying glass.

Finally I needed to add my home made custom decal, I carefully cut the decal to the exact size of the panel onto which it goes using the paper templates used to cut the actual parts as a guide. The decal went on very well and settled quickly. Because the decal is the same size as the raised panel its film edges are invisible.

More soon,

Cheers,