MG Deathscythe Hell 3

Alright, this is really coming together now! I feel like I'm almost done adding details and ready to start painting. I'm happy with the legs, arms and I think the chest may be good to go so that basically makes the wings the last pieces to detail before I start to paint, and I may not have much work to do there. Maybe.

I wanted to add some different details and when I came across a tutorial by Tim Harkins on circular details, I wanted to try it out. His website is sort of down for renovation right now, but you can still get to the tutorial sections if you google them :) He describes a method where you use brass tubing to make a circular scribing tool and it works great! Basically you cut a small piece of tubing and put it in a pin vice, then with a triangle or diamond shaped file you file notches in it until it makes sharp little teeth. You use it by pressing it into the surface and rotate it until it makes an awesome looking circular detail with a raised center. I also came up with a way to make little dymo tape templates to make symmetrical and mirrored panel lines. All this and more, in the pics below!

This is how the circular details look, pretty great! 

This is what the tool I made looks like. See the little teeth?  I filed the teeth, sanded the outside, and used a small circular file to ream out the middle.

Panel lines! Yay!!!! When scribing, I like to make the first few passes with the Tamiya scriber because it's very sharp, then dig in with the Trumpeter which is not so sharp, but shaped better. I was using only the Trumpeter and it was difficult getting a good groove started so I thought the Tamiya scriber might be better. After trying it out, I like using both. You could probably do the same thing by starting with a hobby knife, then digging in hard with the Trumpeter scriber.

This is the dymo tape I used to scribe this line the first time. I want this same line on both sides of 2 identical parts so I need a template.

To make a template, I put the shape on fresh tape, then cut the new tape with a sharp hobby knife. 

This is he result, the same angles and shape as the first line. 

In order to make the same template for the other side of the piece, I stuck the template to the back of the dymo tape, cut it out and... 

Boom! 2 mirrored pieces of the same dimensions! 

The result: the same lines on the front and back of the same piece that connect at the top. 

Scribed lines for the upper arm.

I used the same technique to get a mirrored template for the other side of the arm piece. 

More panel lines using the mirrored template method.

I made a little template to chisel details on the hand guards. This ensures I get the same distance between them on both hand guard pieces. 

I filed a little notch in this waist piece, then angled the edges with my hobby knife.

Arms done! You can see most arm details here: the circles on the grieves, panel lines on the grieves upper arms and shoulders, and the notches on the skirt and center armor.

Check out those circular details and panel lines! I also chiseled a small detail on the upper arm.

Here's a good shot of the hand guard chiseled details. 

I cut a little notch on the inside of the arm to expose some of that sweet sweet inner frame! 

That's it for now. There are less than 2 months until GBWC here in Dallas in June, and I plan on entering this kit. I'm gonna have to ramp it up and start painting soon! My goal this year is just to participate for the experience, and next year I'll be setting my sites on being competitive and work year round on a diorama. Not that I'm sand bagging it, but almost everything I'm doing on this kit is a new technique that I'm using for the first time so I don't expect to place, but I want to push myself and get the experience of an official competition under my belt. Local competitions have been a good experience too, thanks to Hobby Town USA in Lewisville!

For now, I still have the wings to detail, then for the whole kit I'll be painting, applying decals and painting in details. I also have some gnarly seam lines to remove on the shoulders and head that might mean painting those pieces in phases because of how they assemble. For the paint scheme I'm thinking candy glossy red for the big pieces of armor and wings, an orange fade to yellow for the pointy toes and knees, and metallic red and metallic purple for the frame partsts. I also want to do a custom base, maybe something with black and red rocks. Wow, that's a lot of work left! Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Until next time, keep building!