Gonna go through and point out all the flaws I’ve identified with my GBWC Dijeh diorama.
1. Primer too dark
I mixed up a custom dark grey primer mix which also worked as the colour of paint chips; but I reckon it’s a little too dark, so there’s not enough contrast with the dark green painted on the main armour. It’s not terrible, but I think I would have gone with a lighter paint chip if I had known how it would turn out.
Should have done a paint test.
2. Joints too weak to hold desired pose
Obviously it’s very important when doing a diorama to check the model can actually hold the pose you want.
Easy problem to fix by doing a proper lay out test.
3. Base is too big and bland
Here’s another area where doing a lay out test would have helped. Looking at it now, it feels like the base is just too big. This could have been fixed if I cut down the size of the base, or filled the empty space with something. I had the idea of putting in a polar bear abandoning a seal carcass. to escape the Dijeh. It would have added a sense of scale and helped fill out the diorama, but I ran out of time sadly.
4. Custom parts could use more sanding
5. Diorama should be based with veneer
6. Should have applied hair spray between green and yellow paint &…
7. …the yellow stripe above is a bit wonky
8. Armour dents could use more black enamel paint and some silver dry brush
All over the armour I’ve added scratches and dents. I was supposed to paint them with black (with enamels) and then dry brush with acrylic silver.
9. Realised that the blending brush I was using for weathering was too wet
So a big part of weathering with oils and enamels is using a dry brush to blend or streak the paint onto the surface. This only works though if the brush is dry enough to not erase the paint entirely. Turns out that I have been working with a brush that’s way too wet and ruining my weathering.
This video shows what I should have been doing to unload or dry the brush (or not, I need to test this as the brush may need to be even drier!)
10. Needed to attached model to the base better
I attached the Dijeh to the base with a brass rod through the foot, the clay and into the styrofoam that is built up over the wooden base; this suffices if the model is barely moving, but it’s very wobbly so I’m not going to make it my standard practice. Next time I pin both feet into the wood.
11. Could have blended the feet into the base better
This is a big one. Mobile Suits are massive!! The Dijeh here is listed at 51.8 tons! So whenever a MS stands anywhere, you can expect it to sink a little ways into the ground. I totally missed this out though, which makes it seem really unnatural. Next time I will make an epoxy putty mold of the MS feet that I can build into the base.
12. Snow applying method needs practice
This is simple enough to spot, the snow isn’t dispersed on the Dijeh in a natural way. Part of this was inexperience, another big part was the deadline. Either way, I need to do some research and practice how to do snow properly for future projects.
13. I’d do the muzzle flash in different colours
This is relatively minor; the core of my muzzle flash is red, and the outer parts maroon. Looking at it now it would make more sense to use lighter colours, for example a light pink core and red edges.
14. Ran out of time for :
Finally, there are a couple of things I just ran out of time for. The main 3 are: