### Metadata ![[20170401_170621_001.jpg]] - **Figure:** Rick Dias 1/100 MG - **Completed:** 2017-03 - **Focus:** first mecha in years. Focus on candy coat finish. - **Colors Used:** Mr. Color: Metal Gold (217), Copper (10) Alclad II: Gloss Black Base, Steel, Chrome, Transparent Red ## Intro Well, it’s been a long while (like 7 years) but I’m back with another. I’m sure it’s rough given the years off, but here goes. I decided it was time to build one of my MG kits sitting around – I have several in boxes but had yet to build any of them. This is the first. Since I hadn’t built in a while (especially gunpla), I opted for a regular out-of-box build with custom paint, but that was all. My main goal was to get a candy coating, because I tried a long time ago on the Astray Red but didn’t get the effect I wanted. For this Rick Dias, I used Alclad II paints heavily for the first time. I also used floor cleaner for a top coat (not Future because it doesn’t exist, and not the pledge version because it’s also hard to find in my area, but instead “Quick Shine by Holloway House”) At first the red wasn’t as shiny as I had hoped. It took several rounds of testing and sorting out to get something at least somewhat shiny (will add WIP), but it’s at least improved over the Astray Red. ## Photos ![[20170401_170513.jpg]] ![[20170401_170519.jpg]] ![[20170401_170557.jpg]] ![[20170401_170606.jpg]] ![[20170401_170623.jpg]] ![[20170401_170703.jpg]] ![[20170401_170706.jpg]] ![[20170401_170739.jpg]] ![[20170401_171006.jpg]] ![[20170401_171013.jpg]] ![[20170401_171032.jpg]] ![[20170401_170342.jpg]] ![[20170401_170353.jpg]] ![[20170401_170359.jpg]] ![[20170401_170412.jpg]] ![[20170401_170440.jpg]] ![[20170401_170445.jpg]] ![[20170401_170505.jpg]] ## Lessons Learned 1. **Candy Coats Are Hard.**  The main learning here was on candy coats. The trick seems to be get the best, shiniest black base you can get. If you don’t have that, then the chrome base won’t be as shiney, and the color (red for example) on top of that also will not be super shiny. For the black, you need a good thick coat done over many layers, polishing applied as needed, and the piece you start with also needs to be really cleaned up, polished, and smooth. Once you have the black, put a few lighter coats of chrome (it shouldn’t take much to get the chrome effect), and after that move on to color (also doesn’t take much, just a few thin layers). 2. **Floor Cleaner Is My Go-To Top Coat**  Every now and then you will here modelers talk about using a top-coat with Future floor cleaner, the de-facto standard for a clear coat due to low cost and good shine. Well, Future isn’t sold anymore. Pledge bought the company. Pledge essentially renamed the product, changed the formula, and people say it’s not as good. But more importantly, it’s also not much easier to find than Future, at least in local big box shops around here. Instead I found a similar product “Quick Shine” by Holloway House, cheap and readily available at my local big box. It seems very similar to future, and it worked fine. People say don’t top coat Alclad, but in this case I tested a small area and it made no noticeable impact. 3. **Skim Milk Consistency On The Paint**  Always remember that. I think when I was doing the copper it was too thick at first, but it was also just very hard to work with. It was old, and the copper seems to have some texture to it (which looks great), but it didn’t spray easily at all. I knew it was old so I tried to restore and thin, but still had a lot of trouble for a long time, always clogging the AB. Once I hit skim milk consistency it was usable but not for too long before AB got clogged. Could just be this particular color or jar, but it was trouble.