While I didn’t show this kit during the build completion post for my HG RX-78-02 Gundam [Early Type/Middle Type] double build, I already had these next two kits in mind. Primarily due to the upcoming series Mobile Suit Gundam THE WITCH FROM MERCURY and I really wanted to at least finish the lead mobile suits from the previous series, Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS. I already built the HG Gundam Barbatos around the same time as the series came out, so why did it take so long for the HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus/Lupus Rex?
This kit has all the nuances of a modern High Grade kit, at least back in 2016. The head alone is built from a lot of pieces that it is remarkably color accurate out of the box. Unfortunately, and this is also why it took so long for me to build both the Barbatos Lupus/Lupus Rex, the same color separation isn’t found on the hand parts. As you may know, the Barbatos Lupus has white ends of its digits while the more feral-looking Barbatos Lupus Rex has huge yellow tips, as seen above. Both of these parts require handpainting, and I really dislike handpainting.
I managed to get away with the Barbatos Lupus and some janked masking work, but the same won’t do with the Barbatos Lupus Rex which is definitely needing some manual color application. As you can see, it’s not the best of paintjobs but for small hand parts, they look the part. The challenge here is mainly cleaning up, especially in the inner side of the digits. And a challenge it is as I basically spent a good day of my Saturday doing the clean up, but I managed to make it look acceptable, at least to me.
In any case, with both sends of hands done, I’ve now started building the actual mobile suit, and it has been quite smooth. I should be able to show some real progress in the next update.
