WIP – MG Jesta – 09

So the 1/144 IBO Rocket Launcher doesn’t look too good on a souped-up 1/100 Jesta, I’m not that surprised, actually. After giving it some thought, I settled for a nice alternative that makes sense in the overall build : I’m giving my gun-totting Mobile Suit a melee weapon, namely a combat knife. Since I have one lying around in my spare parts box, I’ll be using an Astray Blue Frame Armor Schneider. The spare one I got with my Astray Red Frame, in fact.

Nice details. There will be some masking involved, but I should be able to squeeze 2-3 colors on that knife. At the very least dark iron as the main color, chrome for the blade and light grey for the handle. Maybe some accent red on the three thingies at the back of the blade if I feel confident enough.

WIP – MG Jesta – 08

I know this is kinda confusing, but parts 1-7 of the WIP lead to the Jesta Scorpius Completed build, while parts 8+ will lead to another Completed build post titled “Jesta Scorpius Kai”. Bear with me and my messed-up organization

 

With the “Playing with Plamo 2017” competition behind me, my sights are set on the Gunpla Builder World Cup 2017. For the first time since the beginning of this competition, France can participate !

I’m planning on entering my Jesta but, for obvious reasons, I have to switch some parts around. I mean, I don’t expect a Bandai competition to rank very high a kit that uses a lot of its main competitor’s parts… So the plan is as follow :

• Finish building the Bandai’s gatlings
• Replace the Skell Formula main cannon
• Replace the backpack-mounted rocket launcher
• Finish those damn shoulder radiators
• Repaint some parts
• Build an acrylic base

I have no idea how much time I have for all that. I’ve tried searching for info regarding the usual schedule for other participating countries in 2016 but didn’t find anything. Oh well, better expect the worse and get to it !

First things first, I have to finish building the gatlings. I had to settle for a mix between Koto and Bandai parts for my entry but this time that won’t do.

WIP – MG Jesta – 07

Next up : decals. A dreaded step for a lot of modelers for several reasons. Firstly, water decals are a bit hard to handle when you’re not used to it. Secondly, it’s tedious as hell. I usually put a dozen decals or two in a single session while watching TV, so for a build that big (and detailed) I’ll need about a week.

I have several decal sheets. Some Bandai ones (MG and HG), but recently I’ve been using some HiQParts decals and they are pretty cool. Since I bought white, red and black ones, I can get a coherent look on the kit. The quality is good, too, not like the ones I used for my 00Q GN-Sword.

Enough talk, here’s some pictures of the decaled-up parts :

WIP – MG Jesta – 06

It’s painting time ! As I usually try to do, I’ve put on “paper” several color scheme before settling for the one right below :

 

 

This will prove to be VERY helpful when disassembling the kit and separating it into different colors. I’ve mentioned it before but the deadline is a bit too close for comfort so I’ll have to paint a bit faster than usual. This means I’ll have to be extra careful not to paint a part (or worse, a bunch of parts) the wrong color ! Once everything is primed it’s very hard to tell the parts apart.

WIP – MG Jesta – 05

As the deadline comes ever closer, I’ve taken less pics while working and I’m regretting it a bit now. I don’t have the WIP for the inner legs nor the chest, but I took some pics of the shoulders detailing. I started as usual, with some big pieces of 0.5mm plaplate cemented to the parts :

 

After letting it cure for the night, I cut and sanded the plaplate into shape :

WIP – MG Jesta – 04

After wondering for a very long time how I would go about detailing the lower legs exterior, I finally settled for missile racks to be mounted on, much like I did with my HG Jesta (see first WIP for reference picture) :

 

I gouged them a bit when I de-nubbed them a year ago, but that shouldn’t show too much I hope. The already have a 3mm peg so I only had to drill a bit of the leg and the missiles swivel around. I’ll try not to scratch too much paint when I pose it…

 

I really like the way it widens the lower part of the kit. It kinds of strengthen the suit as a whole. The warheads will be painted red, so hopefuly it will also bring some much needed color separation to the legs.

WIP – MG Jesta – 03

As time passes I’m getting a little bit more comfortable with my tools and my plaplate sheets. So I decided to start adding small pegs to (some) plaplating work in order to ease the next step : painting.

As you can see here, instead of gluing the basic shape to the part and cutting / sanding the excedent, I already cut it into shape (a simple one for starting up). I then drilled some very small holes in it and in the corresponding part. I then added some small styrene tubing I’ve had in stock for a while to hold it into place. The process is a bit longer than what I’m writing but it’s actually pretty easy. Don’t mind the asymetrical holes, it’s on purpose (cough) and will help me differenciate the right part from the left. The goal here is obviously to paint the plaplate with another color than the parts to add some details through color separation. Since masking can be hard with some shapes (and I suck at it), it’s easier to get good results that way.

WIP – MG Jesta – 02

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).

WIP – MG Jesta – 01

This WIP is kinda special. I’m writing it on January 30th but I won’t post it before May. I’m making this custom especially for the “Playing with Plamo 2017” competition, and the rules explicitely say :

“Anyone who enters this competition with a model kit or kits that have appeared on the internet, which includes but is not limited to blog posts, work in progress, forum builds, competitions, review builds, social networks, youtube.com, online video sites or promotions, will be ineligible to enter.”

So I’m writing it as I go, documenting my failures progress to post it later.

As you may have guessed from the title, I’m going for my favorite grunt unit : the RGM96X Jesta. I buit an HG Jesta Cannon when I started the hobby and it remained one of my favorites for a long time.

WIP – MG Jesta – 00b

I’m done ! I’ve just now submitted my entry to the Playing with Plamo competition and boy am I relieved ! The WIP is mostly written and you’ll notice I whined quite a bit about being late. SPOILERS : I ended up being on time.

Competition results are schedulded for May 22nd, so I’ll start posting the WIP as soon as we get the green light. Fingers crossed !