DONE @p.4 +++ 1:8 Urd (early, from Oh my goddess!/Aa Megamisama!; Volks kit)

[Dizzyfugu]

Early placeholder. With the recent success of the scratched Kotone Suzunami I was/am in the right mood to tackle another resin figure.

This kit/figure holds a special place because it is a piece of memorabilia from around 25 years ago when I participated as exhibitor and workshop instructor at one of Germany's biggest anime conventions at that time, the "Animagic". It was a VERY funny time over 5 years, including some personal highlights like meeting the Japanese composer Yoko Kanno in person and attend a concert of her.


AnimagiC 2002 - Model kit workshop/exhibition corner by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Animagic 2002 - Yoko Kanno in concert, together with 'Miyu Porando Musume' by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

I found this figure at one of the merchandize dealers during one of the conventions, before the doors opened for the public, and being a great Aa megamisama! fan I was ...tempted. The figure was quite simple and affordable (price tag was DM 79,-), and when I saw that a foot had broken off, I even negotiated the price down, IIRC to just DM 50;-, what would translate (w/o inflation) to roughly EUR 25,- today - a steal! It was, however, not certain where the figure came from, but it came with a clear blister pack and not in one of the typical pink or blank cardboard boxes in which cheap and shoddy recasts were sold at that time, and the seller also assured me that it was no recast. The internet was also not very common at these days to cross-check, so that research was not easy and had mostly to rely on Japanese magazines and collector catalogues.

However, once bought in affect I never had the real drive to build or better paint that model – mostly because it was/is a "single piece" model without much hardware challenge. That changed a bit when I recently received a unique birthday present: a hand-drawn (commissioned) illustration of the character. That reminded me of the Urd model somewhere in The Stash™, I dug it out and decided it was now the right time to tackle it!

More coming soon. Ah, nostalgia... 

[Dizzyfugu]

As a quick reference, this is the character I am talking about - actually in this outfit, even though not in that pose:

[PR19_Kit]

That hair-do is going to give you LOTS of trouble! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, it's molded and not as spectacular as in the illustration - but only as a single piece, with everything else! Have to add some pics of the figure soon.

[Dizzyfugu]

Here we are, this is what the fuzz is about:


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Concerning the figure I also became curious: what did I have here? Just a cheap recast, or something authentic? This is a real issue with these garage/short-run kits, esp. when you procure them online (totally dubious) or from merchants at fairs and conventions, where you can at least have a look at the parts, the resin and the packaging.

Good news in this case: With some internet legwork it seems as if it really is an original Volks model of Urd! Volks Inc. is a Japan-based corporation that produces garage kits and mecha kits as well as the Dollfie, Super Dollfie and Dollfie Dream lines of dolls. The company's headquarters is in Kyoto, with some 30 shops worldwide. Volks did a whole series of 1:8 scale Oh! My Goddess kits, and this Urd figure is apparently a special give-away model. What makes it odd is that it was not sold in the company's typical cardboard boxes, but rather in a clear blister box with just a b/w sticker (and maybe a metallized Kodansha license sticker). Thanks to the internet I found references for both figure and boxing, and both look authentic, even though it's still not certain. But I am inclined to believe that I really have an original Volks kit – these go for EUR 150-200,- these days, if complete and in mint condition (what my specimen is certainly not). Therefore, despite the long hiatus in the kit pile, a good deal, even 25 years ago! ^^

[PR19_Kit]

So she's all in one piece, not a kit as such?

[Dizzyfugu]

Correct. So, here we are after 25 years. The blister pack is yellowed, the sticker faded, and the figure's resin also yellowed a bit – but everything is still fine. There is hardly much to tell about this character model from a building perspective, because the figure consists only of a single massive piece – probably because it was just a quickly designed and produced special edition/give-away offering.
The only thing I had to do was glue the broken foot back again, and sand away some light mold seams and sprue traces around the shoulders and the feet. To make the figure look a bit livelier and more delicate I added a few hair strands, made from 0.5mm styrene sheet – simply cut out with scissors and glued to the forehead with superglue.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Another addition for later presentation is a home-brew display base for the figure, following my standard design (the same as for the Kotone Suzunami model). It consists of a square 4x4" melamine-coated press board base, flanks covered with edge-band. A custom adapter/holder made from soft 1.8mm iron wire that fits into a respective opening drilled into the figure's right foot holds it in place. Carpet tile material was used underneath to add some ground clearance. The whole thing will be painted black with matt acrylic paint from a rattle can for an even and neutral finish that does not distract from the rather flamboyant character on top of it.

I will later, once the model has been finished, post some more background info about the character and the manga from which it comes, for better context. 

[Dizzyfugu]

Like many garage kits, especially those from the Nineties, this model has been sculpted after a concrete illustration or after OAV/TV screenshots – and this helped a lot in the later/current age of the internet to find authentic painting guide references, because the Volks kit did not come with any instructions (O.K., there is no assembly required at all!) or the typical photoprint of the finished model that is normally part of an original GK boxing.

In this specific guise (see above) Urd appears in the OAV series (what, considering her hairdo, too, appears plausible, so I'd date the figure/mold to date from 1994 or 1995) as well as in some off-manga illustrations, maybe cover motifs. Her clothes tuned out to be quite colorful: a dark, deep blue dress with kind of tiger-striped lapels and wine red lining, a wide purple belt or obi, and low ankle boots (on some illu variations Urd  wears open sandals). Additionally, there is lots of bare skin with a marked tan/bronze hue, her curly and almost white hair, as well as some pieces of jewelry.

Painting started, after the few hardware steps, with an overall coat with white primer (Vallejo) to check surface quality and create a good basis for the skin. This became first paint layer to be applied, because I'd apply it with rattle cans – due to the relatively small scale of the figure I wanted to add a light shading effect, and this stunt as well as an even paint finish for the skin would hardly be achievable through brush work.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Finding proper shades for Urd's skin was tricky, though, and eventually I procured several Montana Gold rattle cans – primarily material for graffiti artists, but also great for models due to the acrylic paints' great and fine spray quality, their even finish, and the available color palette with subtle grading that allows to create refined transitions.
I came up with a basic tone called "Make-up", which is surprisingly close to Urd's skin tone on official colorized illustrations, and on top of that I added a thin directed layer of "Flesh". For reference, there's also a can with Vallejo's "Pale Flesh" in the foreground, which I normally prefer for such anime characters. It's slightly more pink-ish than the Montana tones, which themselves complement each other well.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

That initial painting phase ended like this:


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[jcf]

Montana paints are great.
Graffit/Street Artist materials and accessories have a lot of uses in modelling, the multiple types of spray caps regular, fat, super fat,
thinline, vertical fan, horizontal fan etc. 

[Dizzyfugu]

Yes, they are really good, very even finish, and with different caps you can do pretty nice things. For the figure I used a cap with reduced spray volume, due to the relatively small and poorly accessible areas, and it worked well. 

After the skin work painting continued with brushes and primarily with enamel paints. I followed a from-light-to-dark strategy and started with the hair. It was painted in two shades of grey and pure white Revell 374, 371 and 04), wet-in-wet to create contrast and shading.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Next came the tiger-striped lapels (Humbrol 7 and 9), the purple belt (a mix of Revell 350 and Humbrol 20 and 47) and her boots and fingerless gloves (both Humbrol 9 and 98).


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

That had to dry thoroughly again and then followed the burgundy red liner (Humbrol 20 and 51) of Urd's overcoat.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Again, this had to dry for while due to the glossy Humbrol enamel's tendency to remain wet for hours, if not for days... Next came the very dark blue outside of her coat (judging the illustrations it is definitively darker than the dress underneath) with Humbrol 104 and Revell 350 – again painted in a wet-in-wet technique to create shading effects without an airbrush – and finally the blue dress with Revell 350 and Model Master 2012.

And with this post the project's documentation has caught up with reality, because I wait for paints and decals I ordered, and I give the figure time to dry thoroughly.

[NARSES2]

Coming along really nicely   

[Dizzyfugu]

Coming along really nicely   

Thanks a lot.

[Weaver]

Montana paints are great.
Graffit/Street Artist materials and accessories have a lot of uses in modelling, the multiple types of spray caps regular, fat, super fat,
thinline, vertical fan, horizontal fan etc.

Agreed: they really are very high quality. They also cover extremely well, so you don't have to do the usual tricks like undercoating yellow with pink.

The only problem I've had with them on aeroplane kits is that the finish is water resistant, which causes water to bead and run off in a similar fashion to those coatings you can get for windscreen and motorcycle visors. This makes it difficult to apply decals, because you can't get a water film on the model for the decal to "float" on while you slide it around to get the position exactly right. Instead, the decal tends to "suck down" onto the model in the first place you put it, with nearly no time to tweak it.

I think the solution is to put a coat of clear gloss varnish by another manufacturer over the top of the Montana before applying decals and then matt coat it afterwards. However I havn't tried it yet, and paint compatibility is obviously going to be an issue. Plasticoat is the brand I intend to try when the issue next comes up.

[Dizzyfugu]

The weekend brings some more progress, and basic painting has almost been finished.:

Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Steel Penguin]

really starting to come together with the paint 
watching with interest as normal here