New pics from an old kit.
After a longer break from the subject, this is another Dorvack OAV kit, re-issued in 2007 by Aoshima. These Powered Armor kits seem to be an infinite source for creative variations, and this one here is no exception - even though I will admit that it was just a stopgap to keep myself busy while waiting for ordered parts for a German model kit contest.
But back to the kit again: This PA-36N Nove Commander Powered Armor suit is authentic, but not available as an Aoshima model kit. It is, as far as I know, an original OAV design and livery, and the personal PA of one of the series' main characters: Masato Mugen. This PA-36 is rumored to appear in the late TV series, but I cannot confirm it. Anyway, this specific PA-36 is also available as a die cast toy in 1:24 scale (as well as a red/white livery version), and pictures of this toy and its box were the basis for this kit.
The Aoshima kit was built almost right out of the box. The kit is easy to assemble, but (still) bears some flaws that were designed by Gunze Sangyo into it 25 years ago. Its main problem zone are the legs, which make assembly and painting very difficult - they are not modular, like modern kits, but have to be built step by step until you have the complete leg. While the parts are molded very well, making them fit needs some putty and creativity.
Based on the die-cast kit, they only changes were the addition of a second R2 hand laser (leftover from another kit) which was "mirrored" to fit onto the right lower arm. This double weapon feature is a common choice in the OAV, but no standard option in the PA-36 kits. Looks mean, though.
Another added authentic detail is the radar/radio dish on top of the PA, which seems to be a commander PA's detail. The dish is also an original Dorvack kit part, it comes from the PA-58 "Halk" kit. The only thing which is hard to define is the piece's exact location on top of the PA-36's hull: the die-cast kit box shows it in a very rearward position, but on the kit there is actually no space in this area to fit the dish console. The place where it ended up in my approach is plausible but can not be correct, because the dish is now located exactly on top of the gap between the hull's front and rear half section, which splits up so that the pilot can enter it... well, another puzzling anime technology feature ;)
Other enhancements include opened air intakes for the jet pack on both shoulders (instead of just painting them black), a fine grate which covers the ugly jet exhaust at the PA's back, a modified air hose on the right shoulder (I just used the original part's front and and piece and replaced the molded hoses with flexible cables), an antenna on the left shoulder and transparent lenses in the lasers' nozzles - these are clear LED tops, painted in neon pink from the back side and glued into place.
Additionally, the lasers' triple power supply cables were added. Since reference pictures and sketches indicate that these flexible cables actually lead into the air intake on the shoulders (they are pretty small, though...), I decided to add extra attachment hatches on both weapons and the PA's hull, cut from polystyrene profiles.
For painting, the choice of colors was tricky, since I only had digital pictures of the die-cast kit and its box art, with dubious light and quality. Anyway, these references indicate a basically dark blue and white livery, with upper arms and legs in silver/blank metal.
I made some color combination experiments and finally ended up with rather murky tones, because I wanted to avoid a bright, toy-like look. Consequently, the blue is of a very dark tone. The basic color is called "Oxford Blue" (Humbrol 104), but on top of that I added a cloudy coat of dry-painted "Blue" (Humbrol 25), which is a very strong and deep blue tone, almost like ultramarine. The result is a worn look, as if the brighter blue had been the PA's original color but suffered well from heavy duty - a trick which works great on tanks.
The white for the "helmet" section became a very light grey ("Lichtgrau RAL 7035", Humbrol 196, respectively), since pure white would look much too bright on the kit and not allow any further highlights with color tricks. Anyway, after the basic color was laid out, I also added here a dry-painted coat of a very light mix of Lichtgrau and White (Humbrol 34), just to keep up the "cloudy" look of the blue areas.
The blank metal parts on arms and legs as well as on the main hull were painted in three tones: basic color is "Aluminium" (Humbrol 56), but to add some visual appeal the parts were trimmed with "Gun Metal" (Humbrol 53), which is slightly darker. The round joints on arms and legs were painted with "Chrome Silver" (Humbrol 191), which is brighter than the greyish Aluminium tone.
The thin yelllow stripe on the lower legs is actually a beige tone ("Light Buff", Humbrol 7), which was also used for some other small markings all over the kit. As en experiment, the visor was laid out with a piece of thin purple/deep pink metal foil instead of silver plus a coat of translucent paint.
After a wash with black ink and some dry painting with shades of the basic colors the decals were applied. These are original and come from various other PA kits, and in contrast to the Gunze Sangyo decals of former times the new Aoshima material can actually be used! Only problem (on any PA) is the spheric surface on the knees, where the plain decals can hardly be applied at all. Here, decal softener and delicate knife cuts helped - but you can still recognize folds... :(
Finally, the whole kit received a matte finish - except for the joints and the upper arms and legs, which were coated with semi-matte varnish to enhance the metallic look. As a last step, Mugen Masato's PA was carefully weathered with silver and grinded soft pencil mine, and it also received some dirt and dust weathering with acryllic paint in sienna brown, black and ochre.
Since I had all parts and paint at hand, the building time of this kit was about 3 days. Voilà, and there are still (a lot!) more Dorvack PA's to come!