RG Freedom WIP #2 + New Items!

It's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post, but I'm back with some more updates. Before I get into the Freedom, I'd like to show off a couple great items. First is /r/gunpla's secret santa gift exchange over at reddit:

After getting home late, a box from modelgrade was waiting for me in front of my door. It was too early for the Nu Gundam Ver. Ka to come so I knew it would be from my secret santa. I excitedly opened the box as soon as I got in and saw my nicely wrapped gift (good job on the wrapping modelgrade!). I decided to leave it wrapped until Christmas, but the next morning I couldn't wait so I unwrapped it as soon as I got up. Here's my thought process:

Nicely wrapped. I wonder what it is!

Is that what I think it is...?

No way! It's the Age-FX!

All those funnels... maybe I should put the Freedom on hold...

I'm very pleased with my gift and would like to give many thanks to Pitchdark2999. So thank you very much Pitchdark2999! I was planning on building my HGUC Unicorn Destroy Mode after my Freedom, but the AGE-FX just cut in line. Hope you guys look forward to it!

The other package I received was January's Gundam Ace issue and the Zeta Head Display Base. I missed out on ordering through Hobby Link Japan, but luckily Tatsu Hobby has a couple in stock.

The base comes in 2 runners in a small cardboard box like shown above. All the pieces are white, so painting is required to make it look decent. Until I get my RG Zeta, I'm planning to keep it sealed up. The Gundam Ace is filled with several Gundam manga chapters, making it pretty thick and heavy. I took a quick glance through the pages, but since I can't read Japanese, I don't find it too interesting. Maybe it's time to learn.

That's all for my new items. I'm looking forward to next week when my Nu Gundam Ver. Ka arrives. Also my Gaia paints should be arriving anytime now. On to my Freedom!

It took almost 2 weeks since my last post, but all of the pieces are painted and clear coated. I was very pleased with how most of the colors came out, but there was a color that I decided to redo. I'll get into that later.

70% Mr. Color Black (2) + 30% Mr. Color White (1)

60% Mr. Color Red Madder (68) + 40%  Mr. Color Shine Red (79)

Rifle's lens painted in 100% Mr. Color Clear Blue (50)

On the dark blue wing pieces of the freedom, there are 3 ovals on each side of each wing. The kit comes with some shiny foil stickers that you place onto those ovals, but I decided to paint those silver because I don't like using those stickers. Here are the steps I took:

Tamiya Primer Grey + Mr. Color Silver (8)

100% Mr. Color Silver (8)

Taped on a strip of masking on each oval

Used the pointed end of a skewer to outline the ovals.

Carefully cut out the excess using the outline as a guide. 

Painted the piece and stripped the masking.

Group shot of the wings

Clear coated and panel washed to cover any excess silver.

Here are some other pieces I painted using Silver. They are the chest vents, back thrusters, leg thrusters, and the rear vents and cannon tips from its 2 hip rail cannons (MMI-M15 "Xiphas" Rail Cannons). Hopefully, these pieces will be noticeable. I haven't done another mock build after clear coating since I would have to take it apart again when I decal it later.

Don't worry about the excess silver on the rail cannon vents. It'll get covered up by other pieces.

Next several pictures show the steps I took to paint the eyes.

100% Mr. Color Silver (8) base coat with 100% Tamiya Clear Yellow over the base.

I used Tamiya Clear Yellow instead of Mr. Color Clear Yellow (48) because I didn't have Mr. Color Clear Yellow. If I wanted to get it, I would've had to drive a bit to buy it from Robot4Less. The Tamiya was more accessible since my local hobby store carries them. I was a bit afraid of how it would turn out if I use an acrylic over lacquer, but surprisingly the end result wasn't too bad. 

Clear coated

Painted over the eyes with Model Master Classic Black.
One eye has already been washed using Ronosol lighter fluid.

Both eyes are washed.

End result. The camera is 100% Mr. Color Clear Blue (50).
Note: That's my index finger

How it looks with some assembly. I'm going to redo that panel washing.

Earlier I mentioned that I wasn't satisfied with a color. It was the color of the hip rail cannons. In my first attempt, I followed the paint mixing guide on mech9, but it came out too blue. I didn't mind it at first, but the more I looked at it, the uglier it got. So I redid the paint mixture. In the picture below, my first attempt is on the bottom and my second attempt on top. I was very pleased with how the new color came out. The paint mixture percentages for these pieces are based on a total of 1 ml of paint.

Top: 50% Mr. Color White (1) + 50% Mr. Color Medium Blue (72)  + 4 drops of Mr. Color Purple (67)
Bottom: 50% Mr. Color White (1) + 40% Mr. Color Medium Blue (72) + 10% Mr. Color Purple (67)

Time for some panel washing! For the white pieces, I used Model Master Gunship Grey. I included a couple pictures to show what it looks like for those who are interested. For every other pieces, I used Model Master Classic Black. 

All panel washed pieces with assembled rifle and shield

It took 2 days to wash all those pieces in the box. It's a very tiring and tedious step, but worth it. I still need to clean some parts and panel wash the rail cannon pieces, which I'm hoping to get around doing so tonight. Once that's over, it's decal time. However, I need to wait several more days more for my 3rd party water slide decals to arrive from China. Quick question: Do you decal your kit individually piece by piece or by assembled segments (i.e. arms, torso, legs, etc)?

Questions or comments are more than welcomed!

Thanks for reading!