Destiny's Frame

Finally have some updates on one of the Gunplas that I've been working on.

Here is the inner frame of the Destiny Gundam after I've finished painting and detailing it. I did more detailing that I expected, but if you notice the shoulders, you'll see that this is the clear version of the MG Destiny Gundam that I got during Gundam Fiesta here in Singapore. So hopefully, all this work didn't go to waste :)

At first, I couldn't decide on how to paint this. I wanted to have a silver-ish look on the frame, but if I sprayed silver on it, I won't be able to highlight the pipes using silver. The solution came to me when I was looking at Dalong's review of the MG Destiny Extreme Burst Mode. In that kit, Bandai painted one runner - the parts that will mostly show peeking out of the armor (like the elbows, knees and shoulders) in a lighter metallic color. The other runners was the usual dark-grey color that they usually use for the inner frames.
It so happened that I had a can of gunmetal and light gunmetal lying around, so I painted that runner with light gunmetal, and the rest with gunmetal.

Next was to decide on which details to show. While looking for tips and reviews on this kit, I came upon Ngee Khiong's review and how he did it. As you will see, I patterned my work on this.

The torso doesn't use the more common ball joint to connect it to the waist. Instead, it splits the torso into two, where the abdominal (or lower torso) area is a separate section. This uses a joint that allows the torso to twist forward, backward and from side to side. The red piece follows this movement. This stomach area connects to the waist using the usual peg that allows it to twist from side to side.

The upper torso contains the joints that supports the shoulder movements. Again, it is more complicated than I'm accustomed to and is quite difficult to describe. If you look at the picture of the back, you can see that there's some piston-like things. This actually moves whenever you twist the shoulders up, down, forward or background (and I wish I took a pic of it doing that).

I seem to have been overzealous in my painting on the upper torso and the paint got too thick. While I was playing/testing it out, the peg that holds the joint of the right arm snapped off ^^;;;
In the pics, you can see that I'm only moving the left arm. I can still move the right arm, but I just have to be more careful about it.

I don't remember where I saw that kneeling pose, but I guess it's from one of Dalong's reviews. It's quite helpful in showing off both the leg and arm articulation in one pose. And since I'm a bit lazy when it comes to taking pics, I find it quite useful :)

I didn't actually use gold/silver. I used Mr. Metal Color Aluminum for silver parts and Brass for the golden parts. Apparently, these are airbrush-only and you need to buff them after use. I, of course, handbrushed them in and didn't buff after. Also important to note is that you must prime your parts first before applying these. Luckily, I always prime my parts before painting and nothing bad happened...

Gotta love the leg articulation.
There's a piece above the knee that would let the armor move while you bend the leg. That should help in preventing armor pieces from blocking each other.

Nice to see the pistons on the ankles actually move - unlike in the Freedom and other MG kits.
I seriously doubt that the front half of the feet will still be able to bend like that once you put the armor on though...

There's a lever below the waist piece that lets you spread the legs even further apart. I suppose this is for when you want to pose the model in the same manner as in the anime.
You can notice that I didn't push the legs all the way in yet. After the shoulder joint broke, I became extra careful with the other parts.

That's it for the inner frame. Next up is connecting the clear armor. Hopefully, all these details will still show...