DONE @p.4 +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami (NGE Battlefields; Max Factory kit conversion)

[Dizzyfugu]

Wooden (!) clothes pegs are real secret weapons - hard to replace, esp. with plastic ones! 

[NARSES2]

Wooden (!) clothes pegs are real secret weapons - hard to replace, esp. with plastic ones! 

Exactly my view 

[PR19_Kit]

I just can't imagine the complexity of the mould to make that kit! It's MIND boggling

I agree about wooden clothes pegs, but they're available still in 'pound shops' I find. And when i Do find them I get a LOT, just in case! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Yes, the kit's construction and the resulting moulds are impressive - and it's not cheap, es. for an IP kit. O.K., a (legal) short-run/garage character kit would cost at least twice, but it's still a lot of money just for some plastic. But it's amazing concerning (snap) fit and the sheer ingenuity. And the IP hair is mind-boggling! 

[Dizzyfugu]

As an addendum, a few more impressions of the amazing IP hairdo of this figure - one can wonder how much ingenuity had gone into it and the respective moulds, to create this complex and tightly fitting 3D "mess" with more or less only 2D parts with limited depth. BTW, this "Long Hair Rei"'s hairdo consists of a total of thirteen(!) parts, while a typical resin garage kit would probably have 3 at best...
However, fit is excellent, as on the rest of the kit - while it's an expensive offering for an IP kit (apparently including license fees), you receive an impressive piece of kit and mould construction!
Things became clearer now, construction-wise: there is more or less a front and rear half of the "plastic wig", with the rear being attached to the skalp first and then the three front parts follow. This provides some direction how and where to cut down the hair parts, and then I have to add Kotone's "hair wings" over the virtual ears and scratch hairbands with the plugsuit's typical sensor clips (from the kit) at their base.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Still nervous about this stunt, I have never done this kind of job before, even though I have already scratched large scale figures' hair with different type of putty.

[Old Wombat]

"Firsts" are always scary, but, after it's been done, little old ladies with arthritis & two walking canes can do it!   

[Dizzyfugu]

Yeah, took a deep breath and went into action. Hair has been radically cut down to nape length, and I started to sculpt/shape that rear area to resemble Rei's original bob, which comes close to Kotone's rear (according to a PVC figure, the only reference I have found so far) I also reduced the locks around the face and procured parts that might become hair bands on the head's flanks. I also filled the holes that hold Rei's sensor hairclips, but this is currently drying and will require some PSR. Biggest issue at the moment is that I cannot really tell how much of the hair I can glue together, so that the hair will later still fit onto the head. The hair parts' attachment points go vertically into the skull, and you have to layer the parts so that they partly overlap, you have to keep a certain sequence. I might, similar to the arms before, simply remove the attachment pins, so that I might be able to complete the hair like a wig and mount it onto the bare skull (which will be left unmodified, even though I fear that I will have to fill some holes at the back of the neck that have become visible now after the long hair is gone) once it is completed and painted, too.

No fatal fail so far, though, which is good. 

[PR19_Kit]

It all sounds WILDLY complicated! I'm glad I only build aeroplanes! 

[Dizzyfugu]

It is... but it's entertaining, isn't it? Other people knit together 1:35 tank tracks from single links, so that THIS here does not appear too silly? 

However, some impressions from today's work and the previosu text-only post, this is the face half of the head, with the hair already cut dwon to a nape level, the back (with the afrorementioned holes now visible - they have to be filled, but also painted over:

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Here's the face with a further reduced hair frame; we get there, slowly, it's a real step-by-step work:


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Eveyrthing disassembled once again, and the holes are already filled with putty. I also already attached the headband rings on the rear half of the hair helmet - these were cut from the body of a ball pen made from styrene and will be PSRed into the hair, too.


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Finally, a portrait shot with the head on the body. Looks good, but there are lots of plastic hair parts to re-attach and the blue hair will have to become pink... I still hope that I can finish the hair and somehow put it like a helmet over the complete skull, but fear is growing that this won't work and I will have to finish and paint the hair when it is already mounted in place.


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Steel Penguin]

looking very good   
you can see the work youve done, and it looks pretty darn natural

[Dizzyfugu]

Thanks for your interest in this exotic project! Things became clearer yesterday eveneing:  The plan you complete the "wig" and then mount it onto the bare head will not work, the hair is too tight and has to be mounted in at least two section (front and back is possible, at least after my internal mods to gain space and flexibility). But my experience with some similar character figure builds over the years pays out, there are various assembly strategies: I will complete the head with the hair first, PSR the front/back seam away (while protecting the face!), and just then start with the scrathed braids/hair bushels that come through the headbands, the latter have also been completed with OOB parts and more PSR in the meantime.


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The nape area has to be painted, though, to cover the large white putty areas, but I think I have found a convenient solution that is neither too obvious nor too messy. And the two wig halves require internal paint before they can be mounted, since they fit so tightly that I will not be able to reach these areas later, esp in the dangerous vicinity of the face. Since I will add some shading effects the inside color is a mix of pink and wine red, which will also fill the recesses on the outside to emphasize hair streaks (much) later.


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

We make progress, but it remains a step-by-step affair!

[NARSES2]

looking very good   
you can see the work youve done, and it looks pretty darn natural

Very much so 

[Old Wombat]

Impressive work! 

[Dizzyfugu]

More things to show! I took another deep breath and a plunge into the uncertain... After having filled and painted the nape area (I remembered a rattle can with Vallejo "Pale Flesh", which is just a tad darker than the kit's plastic skin) I assembled the head, the face disappeared behind a protective screen of pan liner - adhesive tape or foils of any kind were ruled out, as well as latex masking, because I wanted a discrete separation between the hair and face parts while being able to pull the cover out later without residues or damage.


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Then the experimental journey into ... hairdressing began! I used what I had at hand: lots of leftover plastic locks, cut away from the OOB parts and then glued/layered into the hairbands, with more and more hair strings filling gaps and adding volume. While the result is not as solid as Kotone's "animation version" from the video game I think that this "!wild" style matches the rest of the figure as well as the basic hair well - the alternative would have been a full 2C hair sculpt, I thought that this recycling path I took was the safer method.


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Looks wild, but I think Kotone is recognizable? Still WiP, but I am quite happy how things unfold. ^^

[zenrat]

Fantastic piece of work there modifying the hair.