When I first started out gunpla one my greatest fear was actually painting the whole kit. Not only was paint expensive, but the time and skill to do it right daunted me. Further more, sometimes I am just bloody lazy lol ^^. Nevertheless I found this very old article by Danny Choo called the no paint method. Sometimes when there isn’t the urge to paint I’ll just use this method but modified to through my experience.

Reading the article, the key thing is the sanding and how it will help to get rid of the shine. So I tried on sanding on the various parts first. Lets start with red.

This is the original red colored waist part.

After sanding with 600 grit, followed by 1000 grit and lastly 1200 grit sandpaper we will get a nice looking matt red by eliminating the plastic shine.

One problem I find with the no paint method is that after sanding, panel lining will result in smudges as the surfaces are no longer glossy. So instead I will panel line the parts first.

Followed by the sanding.

One point to note, I find that for white colored parts, sanding with 600 grit is actually very nice, no need to go to a higher grit. Give a very flat looking white ^^ (wee no need to paint white!! Toughest color to handle!)

Seam lines must also be dealt with for the kit. Left side, seamlines glued and sanded with 600 grit ^^. Right side, unsanded.

Putting my RX78 all together(okay its just the upper half for now….) Now the only spots where I painted are the vulcans on the head. The blue part was sanded from 600 to 1200 grit. Interestingly, the yellow orange parts are sanded with just grit 600. 😀

Summary

Eliminate the seam lines Panel line Sand parts from 600 to 1200 (red, blue, grey), 600 only (White, yellow, orange) Use a toothbrush to brush out the dust (best is to do outdoors!)

Hope you guys find this useful. The next part after all this sanding is the weathering which I won’t cover. (Probably in another post if possible) One point to note however that this method might not be suitable for those who want to put decals. I seldom decal me kits so the surfaces being rough, the decals will not adhere properly onto the surface. Then again, hope this will provide another alternative when you build your kits.

Update : 09/03/10

So after all that sanding this is how the kit will turn out after a nice coat of top coat

Till then! Happy building!