Gundam Age 3 Orbital

Luna Shift Custom

Waddup Gunpla Gallery! It is I, UniPla! Back with another build.
Age 3 Orbital is one of the rarest kit to find in the market. It is another variant of the Age 3 Normal which coincidently a lot easier to find and buy. Don't get me wrong, this is not PBandai. But based from my observations, bandai doesnt do reprints of this kit often compared to its counter parts.

Build Process

The approach I want for the customization for this kit is a mix of adding part separation and giving the impression the it has some inner frames poking out. I got this Idea from the kit itself, as the wing binders include a separate part for the details for the structure and from the forearm part aswell.

The exposed inner frame details are achieved by simply adding some shapes ( the goes well with the whole structure of the part) and painting it as the same color as your inner frame. I mainly did this details on the shoulders, some on the legs, on the weapon and underneath the core fighter (the part that is visible when attach to the MS).

Basically, I just wanted it to look that it has more parts than it really has. I also added some minor pla plating inside the hollow shoulder details. Though it cant be seen on the final photos, I just wanted to give myself the assurance that its there and its detailed. Poorly detailed but detailed.LOL

Painting Process

I am not well versed in this department. Please note that I did not use an airbrush for this. But Ill be getting one soon! I mainly used Tamiya cans for this build.
I learned alot from my previous build, for starters, I applied a base coat on the parts to be painted white to neutralize the greyness of the primer. I applied a thin coat of Tamiya racing white first, then paint over it with the Tamiya pure white second. I let the first coat dry thoroughly before applying the actual white. same goes with the yellows. I based them with tamiya orange first then aplied a layer of tamiya Camel yellow next to capture the yellow I wanted to match with the purple. For the Purples and Violets, i used a combination of tamiya Purple and Blue violet to give it some subtle color separation (subtle for me haha). as for the greys I went with Tamiya rouyal grey, IJN grey, and gundship grey.

Results

To be honest I did not expect this build to come out like this. In some parts I could have done better, the other parts Im quite happy with but all in all Im very surprised and satisfied with this. I added a few processes in my workflow like using gloss coat first before pane lining ( this made a HUGE Difference, no cracked parts!), using a 2mm masking tape to mask edges of the are first, a good guide tape (DSPIAE is best tape) for scribing, and actually enjoying the build process and stages and not rushing it. This build is my entry for the Gunpla Builders Contest Phillippines 2021. So yeah, Homing Crit Bananas for everyone.