Figure Modeling Part 1 - Supplies

August 17, 2007 on 6:02 pm | In Resin Kits |

About two years ago, I was very, very close to getting into resin kit modeling as a hobby. What stopped me was the horrible, horrible overload of girls in suggestive poses and the near lack of male model kits. I’m a girl, so stuff like this, for instance, just doesn’t appeal to me. I mean, I’d want some female models - Deedo or the girls from Rayearth or Wedding Peach would be neat - but it’s just that having to dig through tons and tons of scantily clad, big bosomed, alluringly and often anatomically impossibly posing girls to find perfectly normal ones can get sort of tiring.

As I said, there’s a near lack of male models, so I found one that I wanted. The real issue that then kept me from making this into a hobby was time - during the school year, studying keeps me from being able to do much more than keep up with fansubs, read for fun, and maybe play a video game every now and then. I simply just never got around to working on it.

That has changed, when the desire to at least finish this thing that I payed money for has surfaced, and I jumped into the whole process with vigor. I have about a week to do it before the new semester starts. I will record my progress in a series of posts and maybe even quasi tutorials, if anyone else cares. Read on for information on the basic tools I bought, which took much longer than I thought it would.

For my first kit, I decided on a 1/8 Kaworu (which is on the small side and more like 1/10). He seemed simple enough: no super detailed parts or anything of that sort. This is him in pieces:

(That thing on the left is a chair he sits on.)

This is him held together by some tape. I took this picture when I first got him:

On a side note, building a person is sort of weird. I’ve always liked putting models together (or else I wouldn’t want to do this, after all). As a kid I built cars and other random things (There was a plane and a big battleship!); later I built a few mecha. But people are just a whole different category, and while putting together a model of a giant robot may be sort of awkward in that it’s sort of geeky, putting a person together is sort of awkward in that it’s kind of creepy. At least I think so. Not that I’m bothered that much; what bothers me the most is that I’m putting together someone else’s sculpt. I’m obsessive about doing everything on my own if it’s at all possible.

Anyway, to carry on with the actual topic:

Supplies

This is actually the most frustrating part of the whole experience, or at least I hope it is. I will tell you where not to go to get stuff you would assume you could get there, and where to go instead. And yes, in 90% of the cases, I went to the place that didn’t have it first.

Pliers - To clip off flash. Get those that you can actually cut things with; cheap pairs should be readily available at Target. Don’t go to Lowes of The Home Depot unless you want to spend around $10 on a pair (Target ones are $5 and get to job done).

Sandpaper - You need something to remove mold lines as well as sanding down any putty you make use of. 300 or 400 is probably the coarsest that you’d want. I looked at Hobby Lobby, but they had puny, tiny little sheets that were expensive, and also nothing like, say, 600 grit. I headed to Lowes instead, where I found larger packets for less money. Here, too, they only go up to 600, but that should hopefully do.

Cleaning supplies For initially cleaning the kit. Detergent and a soft toothbrush should do the trick. You also need something to clean it in; i.e. to let it soak for a while. I used the plastic box that the model was shipped in, but if you don’t have something like it you may need to buy one.

Pin Vise and Drill Bits - For drilling the holes that you’ll need to pin the parts. I decided on a Hobbico one, since it came with drill bits small enough for what I need. Hobby Lobby etc. don’t carry these, for some reason. I’ve been to more than one, so it seems to be a consistent feature. Visit your local hobby/model store.

Putty for filling gaps - Putty is used for filling those gaps between pieces that don’t fit together absolutely perfectly. I went out looking for the Tamiya two part epoxy putty, but they were out, so I settled for some Tamiya basic putty. When I put together a few mecha models, I bought Squadron white putty, and that stuff is horrendous. I figured the Tamiya at least couldn’t be worse, and it’s not very expensive. Don’t bother looking for this at Hobby Lobby, Micaels, etc. Go to a local hobby/model store.

Bondo autmotive putty for filling pinholes - This stuff is supposed to be good for filling those small pinholes, and is also said to be quite affordable. I went to Lowes and The Home Depot, who both pointed me to the paint section for big tubs of the filler stuff. You do not want to buy the filler stuff; you want the “glazing and spot putty.” I have yet to find this.

Primer - So that the paint will stick! I wanted gray for an initial coat (It’s supposed to make pinholes easier to spot.) and white for the coat to paint on. If you want the cheap Krylon kind, you can go to Hobby Lobby. If you want Mr. Surfacer or Tamiya, go to a model store. I went for Krylon.

Wire - Your need this for pinning your model together. For the tiny chair, I will have to use a staple or something. I haven’t found this yet (the wire, not the staple).

Wire cutters - To cut the aforementioned wire.

Something to hold the parts off of the ground - You don’t want parts laying around once you start paining, so some method of keeping them off of the ground has to be devised. I’m sure there are many different ways, but here’s what I plan on doing: alligator clips gripping wire that’s stuck in the hole used for pinning the specific part. The clip is stuck on a skewer or toothpick and then stabbed into that green stuff that’s used for fake plants. Done. Now to find all of that.

Paint - I plan on handpainting, because getting an airbrush for a hobby I don’t even know if I’ll really get into seems pretty silly. There are many different kinds of pain that could be used - commonly you’ll hear about acrylic and enamel. Enamel takes long to dry, so I decided on acrylic. Don’t get the cheapo craft kind for $1 a tube that you can find at Michaels; wander into the art section and buy artists acrylics. I went for Liquitex basic, because I’m cheap. I then did end up getting cheapo craft paint, too, because I needed a metallic silver.

Paint Brushes - Hobby Lobby. I already had some because I’m an artsy type of person.

Masking Tape - If you think that you can find blue artists’ masking tape at Hobby Lobby or Michaels, think again! Lowes or The Home Depot carries it, but the roles are rather wide. I’m handpainting, so I don’t need to cover entire areas, just the edges next to what I’d be working on. At the model store, I found Tamiya masking tape instead.

Pastels - A model looks boring without shading. If you plan on handpainting, pastels can be a way to do it. Cheap chalk pastels should be fine. Can actually be found at Hobby Lobby as well!

That’s all for supplies, although I probably forgot something. Next up: removing flash and cleaning.