### Metadata ![[ff68448d9953aa233df4470094f2210d_MD5.jpg]] - **Figure:** 1/6 Komaki Manaka Christmas ([e2046](https://www.e2046.com/p/7078)) - **Completed:** March 2024 - **Focus:** Just a relaxed build specific for holiday season. Most years I've thought about building it in December and never did - **Hours Spent:** ? ## Intro Every year as Christmas season begins I think to myself I should build a holiday figure. I purchased one years ago and it's sat in the backlog. I admit I'm not familiar with To Heart or Komaki Manaka, but it was one of the few Christmas kits in stock and most are a bit too adult for my preferences. This year I decided I would finally get it out and build it. Of course, I work slow and inconsistently these days, so while I believe I began in December, I didn't actually finish this build until March. Overall the build was not hard. The primary area that caused a little trouble was the Santa bag. Somewhere along the way, after pinning and building the girl the bag wasn't tall enough for her hand to rest on it (or close enough to it) so it looked odd. I had to go back and use milliput to build out the base of the bag and make it taller. There are also a couple fluffy ball looking things that should go on her boots that I left off. Not purposefully, but I had glued her down to the base before I got to attaching them and once glued down I was unable to slip them under her legs into place. Not a big deal though. It's been a while since I did eyes, but I was extremely pleased with the paint job I did on her eyes. I'm sure others can do it better, but for me this is one of my better paint jobs. It certainly helped that they were larger anime style eyes making it easier to work with. It's probably also the first time I did blush on the cheeks, and I am also pleased with how that turned out. Unfortunately I don't quite remember exactly what I did and I'm writing this two months after finishing. I believe it was just dry brushed with similar color applied to lips, however. Blonde hair is still very challenging for me. I've tried it on a few different kits, and so far I have not been too satisfied with any of them. The base color I think is ok, but the highlights/shadows/variations I can't seem to get looking right. For this one, I tried following [How to Paint Blonde Hair - HC 406 - Vince Venturella](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFh3KMHx2aw) for the most part, except substituting some of the colors for other brands due to availability. I think my color choices / matches from other brands are close enough and not the issue, just the application. I found substitutes using the **PaintRack** android application. ## Photos [[ff68448d9953aa233df4470094f2210d_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4293.jpg]] ![[ff68448d9953aa233df4470094f2210d_MD5.jpg]] [[24bcd1055515ee7f9a872579825c62a6_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4289.jpg]] ![[24bcd1055515ee7f9a872579825c62a6_MD5.jpg]] [[9f636781f6969e59126d322dc67d2513_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4290.jpg]] ![[9f636781f6969e59126d322dc67d2513_MD5.jpg]] [[f9e71ccccac137565e58a91787240c66_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4291.jpg]] ![[f9e71ccccac137565e58a91787240c66_MD5.jpg]] [[645036e5c25795cca2052638270a2790_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4292.jpg]] ![[645036e5c25795cca2052638270a2790_MD5.jpg]] [[bb160337d241f79d569827335f0731f9_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4294.jpg]] ![[bb160337d241f79d569827335f0731f9_MD5.jpg]] [[18262c9e2934978f03137ba08ea79041_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4295.jpg]] ![[18262c9e2934978f03137ba08ea79041_MD5.jpg]] [[399d032bd63fe4f264d9500e554db61f_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4296.jpg]] ![[399d032bd63fe4f264d9500e554db61f_MD5.jpg]] [[cffe1e2ecc21c4aedcfbae7e3a5d242f_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4297.jpg]] ![[cffe1e2ecc21c4aedcfbae7e3a5d242f_MD5.jpg]] [[dfe3ac61847f6a96a3e71487d01d7ad5_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4300.jpg]] ![[dfe3ac61847f6a96a3e71487d01d7ad5_MD5.jpg]] [[485eea0467072488dee50aa37e953ba5_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4301.jpg]] ![[485eea0467072488dee50aa37e953ba5_MD5.jpg]] [[0be947aa001acead67736479703bcf0e_MD5.jpg|Open: IMG_4302.jpg]] ![[0be947aa001acead67736479703bcf0e_MD5.jpg]] ## Lessons Learned - **Double check access to final accessories prior to gluing larger parts together:** Be careful when doing final glue that you double check order and if any problems will arise with accessories. For instance, on this kit the white balls on her boots I had to leave off. If I glued them into place before gluing her down to the base, I likely would've had them on the kit. The same applied to some of the gold buttons. I managed to get them into place but it took a little work for a few of them due to arms/etc. I had already glued. - **Blonde Hair Hard Even Following Tutorial:** I found some resources that seemed like they were very detailed and good at blonde hair - surely I can't get it wrong if I just follow the step by step guide. Well, I still do. Blonde hair is just really hard for me. I guess I just need more practice.