Bandai 1/12 Stormtrooper

[jkim]

I was afraid of this consensus. I think I will have to consider doing a weathered trooper. It will be more in-line with my sensibilities as a modeler, although I was intrigued by the possibility of producing a high gloss finish. I'm gonna take a stab at separating the head pieces and adding some wear.

[speedgraflex]

Hi John!

1/12 blasters. I think the consensus amongst the SW Bandai Bendu crowd is "Heavy Iron" from Mr Hobby.

[jkim]

Oooh... those guns look nice! Maybe I'll do a little dry brush or graphite rub to enhance what I have.

I've managed to separate the head pieces with minimal drama. Broke off one locating pin but shouldn't be a big deal.


I've started the "weathering" process on the head parts by replicating what I did with the body armor: polishing with coarse grades of Micromesh until the primer grey starts showing through.

[jkim]

Before I jumped over the Dora full bore again, I wanted to do a little more work on the guns. Inspired by the photo that Bruce posted of someone else's 1/12 scale Stormtrooper weapons, I rubbed some pencil lead over the guns to give them a more gunmetal finish. It's very hard to capture in photos. I'll have to try a darker background next time.


The Micro Krystal Klear dropped into the ends of the gun scopes turned out really bad so I dug the gunk out and replaced them with punched pieces of clear acetate. I sprayed the little discs with clear blue/green to give the lens a tint. Looks much better but will anyone notice?

[speedgraflex]

The Force is exceptionally strong with you, John Kim! Your paint skills are off the charts!!!! Those guns look great, and I apologize for not crediting the guns from the Bandai Star Wars Facebook Forum. The guns were built and painted by Lionel Kong from Singapore.



Check this guy out for inspiration!

http://www.callahanvisual.com/galacticwarfighters/

[jkim]

Apologies for not keeping up with this build! With my energies focused on the Dora build, I've only dabbled here and there on the Storm Trooper. Most significantly, I've roughed up the head and torso pieces to portray a used look instead of the shiny trooper look that I was going for initially.



With the head attached. I can't say enough good things about these Bandai kits! Even without any painting, this would look great!

[jkim]

My daughter made a surprise visit this Friday evening. Showed up at the middle of our fish party after a 10-hour bus ride from the Bay area. What a great blessing! I wanted to show her some progress on the Trooper so I've gone a little further. I've painted and attached the hip assembly. It's really cool how this kit is engineered for movement. The upper torso and hip assembly are attached with a ball joint allow movement between the two.



The torso of the Trooper is pretty much done, not including accessories. Next are the legs and arms!

[speedgraflex]

Great progress, John!

[tigrazor]

Very nice!

[mostrich]

I'm glad you opted for the battle worn trooper at the end, John. It' s so hard to prevent a super clean model or figure from looking like a toy. Looking forward to the coming steps.