Second part of the Jesta WIP. Last time I wrote about how I spent a lot of time on two modifications (heels and shoulders) and wasn’t very fond with the result. My lack of experience in plaplating is showing here, and I should probably have done that last after messing around with the other parts first. Hindsight is 20/20, right ?

Next (big) modification is body lenghtening. The Jesta already has pretty long legs, like all Katoki’s mechs, and I added a bit more length with the heels. Taking a page from Ifan Cusianto’s book, I sawed the body / waist peg, added some sculpted plaplates and made a new peg from scratch (not really, I just used some spare parts from my junk box).

Sawing that thing was nerve wracking, there’s no turning back and I don’t have a spare MG Jesta around if I change my mind. On the right there’s the future peg : a polycap of the right size with a bit of runner stuck in it (perfect fit, too). Why silver plated ? Because I can.

Here’s the end result, glued and everything. Now that I think about it that was a pretty big modification, but oddly enough I didn’t encounter any problem making it… That body is now 4mm thicker and will help making the Jesta have a more imposing prescence.

While waiting for the plaplate used in the body modification to cure, I detailed the legs :

For now, I cut a detail from a plaplate and glue it using cement to the actual part. I then cut and sand the plaplate to fit the part’s contour. When I get better I’ll try cutting two or more details and waste a bit less plastic that way (not to mention add more details !). On that pic you can see that the outline is still very rough, especially on the foot closer to the bottom right hand corner. I’ll probably need to come back to it and sand it after the first layer of primer.

Trying some basic multi-layering on the thigh here. If you check the arm on the left you’ll see some modification on the biceps that I haven’t talked about. And oh hey, there’s a pic of almost all my detailing tools on the right.

I haven’t started the mods on the gatling guns to allow the Jesta to hold them, and I’m not sure where to start… The handles are a bit too small for the Jesta’s hands and it will be too heavy anyway. My best bet is to drill a hole in the gatlings, another one in the arm and stick a runner in both of them. The hard part will be to make it look good 🙂

Anyway, some more modifications to the waist area with these :

I have a bunch of metal parts I ordered a while ago and I was eager to use them. It’s very easy to use and DAMN ! Does it look cool ! I’m particularly fond of the small metal detail on top of the part. For the bottom part, I’m wondering if I have to drill a bigger hole to make for a smoother transition. Then again, a drill bit that big will probably wreck my parts…

Stay tuned for the next post and the next level in plaplating (not really) !