Here is my paint up of Jediguy fantastic VP70 kit. This was a really fun build and i got to try out some cool techniques that i havnt used before.
The VP70 is part of a larger project in which i made a theoretical "personal transport case" full of Hicks personal belongings. You can see that thread here:
www.therpf.com
The first step was to construct the lower composite gripframe. From reference online, this has a subtle texture which I knew I had to replicate to make the gun look right. For the most part this 3d printed kit was ready to paint right out of the box, the resin build lines were super minimal and I did very little cleanup. It was funny starting with a neon green gun but in the end I really like seeing the difference once the paint was finished. I washed all the parts in soapy water then wet sanded with 600 just to rough it up a bit for the primer.
I used the wonderful Tamiya primer which goes on silky smooth.
After the primer I decided on "krylon fusion textured granite" spray paint, this gave a great fine texture which was almost perfectly in scale with reference. Before i sprayed the texture i masked off the "HK" logo on the grip so that i could get the two texture contrast of the original.
Here is the result with the masking removed ready for the matt black. i got pretty excited at this point imagining what the grip was going to look like.
After the texture had dried over night i sprayed the whole lower in tamiya matt black (ts-6). I had thought about using a satin finish that seemed to match reference but the matt black has the perfect sheen on its own.
After the grip frame I started working on the steel parts that make up the rest of the lower, they include the trigger, screw in the grip, safety, and clip above the trigger guard. Unfortunately, I didn't take any step by step images of this process but ill describe the paint-up which was repeated for the slide.
The parts got a coat of primer then were painted with Tamiya Gunmetal (TS-38). After drying overnight the parts all got a couple washes of raw umber oil paint thinned with Abteilung odorless thinner. This gives the part a slight brownish tint like old steel. I sealed this in with a really light coat of tamiya flat clear. Next I used tamiya flat black on a toothbrush to add a little discoloration and stippled rust texture. Finally I dry brushed chrome silver onto the parts sparingly to add a little more depth to the weathering.
Next up was work on the slide. There were a series of cris-crossed build lines that needed to be sanded down then I primed with my favorite sandable primer from duplicolor. I gave it a few coats, waited for it to dry then had to sand out the build lines again before the final coat. This stuff goes on so fine that there was no worry about filling in the text or fine details of the slide.
Next came a coat of tamiya silver (TS-17). In the end this wasnt really necessary. sometimes the oil washes lift up the tamiya base coat revealing the paint below, which is a nice effect, but it didnt end up happening this time. Next time i wont bother with the silver underlay. The stuff went on really smooth though, i cant say enough good things about tamiya spray paint (except that its really expensive).
After the silver came the base TS-38 gun metal coat.
Next I worked on the bolt and barrel. I didn't even bother with primer on this one and just sprayed on a few coats of model masters "stainless steel buffing metalizer". This stuff is great. it goes on pretty thick and rather flat, but after it dries you can buff it with a paper towel and it transforms the surface finish into a beautiful dull shine. I went over this with a raw umber wash the dry brushed with tamiya chrome silver to bring back the shine on the edges. I ended up with a mottled, old looking texture which I thought worked really well. I was pretty happy by the variety of metal colors and textures at this point and was looking forward to weathering the slide.
Like before, next came the raw umber washes followed by a flat clear coat over the TS-38. The flat clear seals in the color but unfortunately destroys the nice satin finish resulting from the oil wash over the gloss base coat. After the clear I decided on another raw umber oil wash to try and bring back the satin sheen. It came back a little but not enough and now the slide was overly rusted looking so I went over the raw umber wash with a wash made of equal parts Prussian blue, lamp black, and a touch of raw umber to give a more "blued" appearance. The wash shifted the color slightly and I really liked the finish so I stopped there with the paint. Next I hit the raised edges with chrome silver to make the finish pop a little. Finally, I rubbed the whole slide down with AK pigments "dark steel" which is basically graphite powder. This made all the difference and really brought out a wonderful and realistic metallic sheen. Its a delicate finish that cant really be handled but for this piece which will only be displayed, I'm fine with not sealing it which would ruin the finish.
Here are some final WIP pics. Ill follow up later with some in better lighting.
Thanks for looking!
The VP70 is part of a larger project in which i made a theoretical "personal transport case" full of Hicks personal belongings. You can see that thread here:
Hicks - Personal Items Transport Case WIP
What started off as a way to display my Aliens watch collection morphed into something a bit larger once i started digging into some of the other colonial marines/Hicks gear. I thought it might be interesting to create a fictional personal transport case that Hicks used to stow his personal...
www.therpf.com
The first step was to construct the lower composite gripframe. From reference online, this has a subtle texture which I knew I had to replicate to make the gun look right. For the most part this 3d printed kit was ready to paint right out of the box, the resin build lines were super minimal and I did very little cleanup. It was funny starting with a neon green gun but in the end I really like seeing the difference once the paint was finished. I washed all the parts in soapy water then wet sanded with 600 just to rough it up a bit for the primer.
I used the wonderful Tamiya primer which goes on silky smooth.
After the primer I decided on "krylon fusion textured granite" spray paint, this gave a great fine texture which was almost perfectly in scale with reference. Before i sprayed the texture i masked off the "HK" logo on the grip so that i could get the two texture contrast of the original.
Here is the result with the masking removed ready for the matt black. i got pretty excited at this point imagining what the grip was going to look like.
After the texture had dried over night i sprayed the whole lower in tamiya matt black (ts-6). I had thought about using a satin finish that seemed to match reference but the matt black has the perfect sheen on its own.
After the grip frame I started working on the steel parts that make up the rest of the lower, they include the trigger, screw in the grip, safety, and clip above the trigger guard. Unfortunately, I didn't take any step by step images of this process but ill describe the paint-up which was repeated for the slide.
The parts got a coat of primer then were painted with Tamiya Gunmetal (TS-38). After drying overnight the parts all got a couple washes of raw umber oil paint thinned with Abteilung odorless thinner. This gives the part a slight brownish tint like old steel. I sealed this in with a really light coat of tamiya flat clear. Next I used tamiya flat black on a toothbrush to add a little discoloration and stippled rust texture. Finally I dry brushed chrome silver onto the parts sparingly to add a little more depth to the weathering.
Next up was work on the slide. There were a series of cris-crossed build lines that needed to be sanded down then I primed with my favorite sandable primer from duplicolor. I gave it a few coats, waited for it to dry then had to sand out the build lines again before the final coat. This stuff goes on so fine that there was no worry about filling in the text or fine details of the slide.
Next came a coat of tamiya silver (TS-17). In the end this wasnt really necessary. sometimes the oil washes lift up the tamiya base coat revealing the paint below, which is a nice effect, but it didnt end up happening this time. Next time i wont bother with the silver underlay. The stuff went on really smooth though, i cant say enough good things about tamiya spray paint (except that its really expensive).
After the silver came the base TS-38 gun metal coat.
Next I worked on the bolt and barrel. I didn't even bother with primer on this one and just sprayed on a few coats of model masters "stainless steel buffing metalizer". This stuff is great. it goes on pretty thick and rather flat, but after it dries you can buff it with a paper towel and it transforms the surface finish into a beautiful dull shine. I went over this with a raw umber wash the dry brushed with tamiya chrome silver to bring back the shine on the edges. I ended up with a mottled, old looking texture which I thought worked really well. I was pretty happy by the variety of metal colors and textures at this point and was looking forward to weathering the slide.
Like before, next came the raw umber washes followed by a flat clear coat over the TS-38. The flat clear seals in the color but unfortunately destroys the nice satin finish resulting from the oil wash over the gloss base coat. After the clear I decided on another raw umber oil wash to try and bring back the satin sheen. It came back a little but not enough and now the slide was overly rusted looking so I went over the raw umber wash with a wash made of equal parts Prussian blue, lamp black, and a touch of raw umber to give a more "blued" appearance. The wash shifted the color slightly and I really liked the finish so I stopped there with the paint. Next I hit the raised edges with chrome silver to make the finish pop a little. Finally, I rubbed the whole slide down with AK pigments "dark steel" which is basically graphite powder. This made all the difference and really brought out a wonderful and realistic metallic sheen. Its a delicate finish that cant really be handled but for this piece which will only be displayed, I'm fine with not sealing it which would ruin the finish.
Here are some final WIP pics. Ill follow up later with some in better lighting.
Thanks for looking!
