Just finished building this yesteday, my much long delayed non grade 1/100 Gundam Arios of Allelujah Haptism from Gundam 00 second season. English translated color guide and construction manual for the 1/100 non-grade Gundam Arios are already available. I started a build diary for this but didn't really follow it through.
In Gundam 00 first season, Allelujah was flying the Gundam Kyrios, that was destroyed and he was captured in the season finale of first season. Season 2 opened up with a fantastic break out storyline where Setsuna F. Seie and crew worked to get Allelujah out of the maximum prison that he was staying in.
Everytime I build a 1/100 non-grade kit by Bandai from the Gundam 00 series I have to say that I am not disappointed. Great design, nice large size and complementary color scheme.
Then of course there is the great storyline for season 1 and season 2 that makes the fan easily attach to the said mecha. I specifically mentioned season 1 and 2 and left out the movie because all I can say about the movie is "what the heck was that???"
Paints used to color this were Pylox Caterpillar Yellow for the orange yellow parts. Pylox Flat White for some of the white parts. Pylox Smokey Black for the GN Rifle. A little Tamiya Red acrylic to color the underside of the clear parts of the forehead. Bosny Dull Lacquer was also used to give it a matte surface.
After the first coat of Bosny Dull Lacquer was applied and had dried, I used my trusty mechanical pencil (yes the one you find in a office and school supplies store) to apply the panel lines. For the post shading I used a my wife's left over black eye shadow and applied it on the edges by means of a soft round brush.
Whenever the eye shadow went to a part that wasn't supposed to be covered, I just used an ordinary rubber eraser to remove the eye shadow and start all over again.
When I was contented with the weathering I had applied, I then sealed it in with another matte coat of Bosny Dull Lacquer. The melting effect of the pencil and eyeshadow when the matte coat is applied adds a gradient effect to the surface of the Gundam Arios.
I love this kit because of its superb design and its large size. I wish Bandai would release more 1/100 non-grade kits, because for me its the sweet spot in size and affordability. I find 1/144 High Grades too small and 1/100 Master Grades too expensive. Also adding to my affinity to this model is my appreciation for the demure and soft spoken character of Allelujah Haptism from the Gundam 00 series.
Related Products
