That looks really slick; I'm glad that it's in scale with figmas and shinkis. I'm hoping kotobukiya decides to make a HUcast and HUcaseal kit, and hopefully less recolors.

Also I notice she comes with a shot, saber, but does she come with a handgun?

Yes she has a handgun she also has a second saber.

By the way since you seem to be knowledgeable in this area if I where to paint her what do you think would be better to use a clear coat or pledge?

Clear coat or pledge both pretty much accomplish the same thing of giving off a nice shiny gloss clear coat. However, there are noteable differences on how one should be applying it.

To start pledge:

1. Pledge is interesting since it's much much thinner than your typical model clear coat solution. Despite that; usually 1 coat is enough maybe 2.

2. If you mess up with pledge you can fix it, but like with any sealant after you apply let it sit for a good day, maybe 2 days to make sure.

3. 9 bucks for 27 fluid oz of substitute clear coat is a steal; and I love it for being that.

4 . For more in depth look at pledge; refer to this fellow's website on pledge. http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html I have to admit this guy really did his research on this stuff.




Now for clear coat:

1. Compared to pledge, some the really nice clear coats can seal a thing with one coat. I usually do 2 coats. (I don't know which brand you plan to use )

2. The option of being able to pick between gloss: (the type of coating most SHFs use), matte: (the non-reflective coating, SHF kamen rider Joker and I believe all nendoroids are applied with this kind of finish), lastly the lesser used satin: (which is inbetween gloss and matte, only figure I own that is remotely close to a satin is SHF kamen rider Skull Crystal)


3. Most clear coats require a longer time for it to fully dry/cure and as in longer I mean at least 2 days, I would give it 3 or 4 even per coat. I remember painting my first gundam and sealing; it had a semi-uneven touch to it.
I also got hasty once and applied two coats within 3 hours of the first one on something, when it dried it had a rubbery touch to it afterwards.

4. Paying 2~12 bucks for a clear coat that comes in a small container about the size of a eye drop container is somewhat expensive.


I would suggest pledge if you don't have clear coat already, also can be used for other things. If you are going to use a model clear coat I would suggest vallejo clear gloss.

One last thing is to test out your pledge/clear coat on a separate piece of plastic or painted cardboard just to get a feel for it. best of luck man

Thanks for the advice!

I've got another question (It might be kind of silly but) should I apply the clear coat before or after the model is completely assembled?

It's a perfectly valid question; I would apply clear coat after you put it completely together.

However, I would do it something like: completely put together leg then apply clear coat to leg, completely put together body then apply, and so on. And then snap the legs, arms, to the body.

Other things to keep in mind is, the placement of the joints, obviously you want to be careful with clear coat around those areas. If it's too difficult it might be better to clear coat only the pieces near or attached to the joints first before putting it together, and then applying clear coat to the rest.

Pardon me, for not being able to give you a definitive answer, but use your best judgement.

(I'm curious, I kinda want to see if you painted it already or still in progress or still planning

I actually just got the extra kit today and I still need to get the paint and stuff, I'll probably put in progress pics up on my twitter page.

Another quick question how many cotes of pledge do you recommend?

I would suggest 1 or 2 coats if you're going with pledge. I would, however, try coating pledge on a separate piece of plastic or something you don't mind testing/messing up on to get familiar with it. For example if 1 coat seems just fine, stick with it, most of the time I do one coat anyways.

One fairly large note, if you're doing 2 coats, I would maximize the cure time (the time it takes for the coat to completely dry). (Longer the better in most cases, some people argue one should wait a week for each coat to dry, I usually do 2 days between each coat if I had to apply a extra coat)

All this talking about makes me want to finish a particular model I've been putting off to complete.

Good to know I've already started some of the painting and assembling so I was curious.

So, if I'm reading this blog right, paint and glue isn't necessary?

The only thing that needs gluing is her weapon holding hands that tend to pop apart when holding something. The instructions also suggest gluing the "bow" parts on the back of her skirt.