This post should have been written at least two months ago. Soon after completing the 2014 Refurb Contest, I built and painted this kit, but I did not take any photos (aside from the one in the last blog post). Instead, I decided to immediately start working on the Weiß Hund Zulu. With the frustrations of trying to paint Magenta plastic a consistent White (among other personal issues that required my attention), I decided I would take a break from the hobby. I am, in a way, still on that break, but I decided I would at least tie up some loose ends with the little bits of spare time I have. With that said, I am proud to present the second of five custom mobile suits in my project, Space Mercenary: Specter GM, the supposed lead protagonist of the group, RGM-79-S 'Specter GM!'
Like the Jegan Sniper Type, the Specter GM was painted with Testors enamel Flat Gunmetal and Flat Sea Blue, however, I decided to mix it up a little and use Testors enamel Brass for the accent color instead of Silver. Some may recall that I ran into some problems on the Jegan when painting - I had forgotten to paint the insides before gluing the pieces together. This time, I learned from that mistake and painted some inner parts with Tamiya Flat Black before removing seam lines and gluing parts together.
To finish it off, I used Rust-Oleum Matte Finish as a top coat. As discussed on reddit, the top coat is very gritty. I like the texture in some parts, but other parts, like the Beam Spray Gun you will see later in the article, I was not a huge fan of the grit produced by the Top Coat. Since then I have picked up the Krylon Crystal Clear top coat and have had much better results.
The only part that does not belong to the kit is the shield - its the Jegan's. I got inspiration from the second episode of Gundam Unicorn where a GM III is holding the same shield. Later on, in episode 7, a converted Geara Zulu is also wielding this shield.This lead me to believe that this shield was so common by the UC 0090s, that I could do the same and it would not seem so far fetched.
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| Gundam Unicorn, Episode 2 |
The shield on the GM normally uses a ball joint connection whereas the joint on the shield for the Jegan uses a straight peg. I had to shave the ball joint on the adapter down so I could mount the Jegan shield properly. It looks pretty crude, but it won't be seen 99% of the time, so I decided it would be good enough.
I was debating whether or not I wanted to use the Beam Spray Gun. It is considered a very weak weapon that can pretty much only be used in short ranges. I ended up coming to the conclusion that to give up the Beam Spray Gun would be to give up everything that is iconic about the original GM. In keeping the Beam Spray Gun, I decided to put a little color separation in the detail. I wanted sort of a vintage look to the Spray Gun, kind of like an old S&W revolver - gunmetal with wooden accent.
Testors Flat Gunmetal takes the majority color for the gun, and Testors enamel Brass and Silver was used as accent colors. For the handle, I mixed brown black and yellow in an unknown ratio to give me a decent wood color, similar to the wood color on my Nemo's rifle from the 2014 GoodGuy Competition.
Because the GM does not have a proper mount for its Beam Spray Gun, I decided to make my own. I thought of various way to holster the gun, but the most practical way seemed to be at the calf, very similar to Conroy's Jegan ECOAS type.
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| Gundam ACE, September 2014 |
Instead of having a peg on the gun, I figured it would be easier to put a peg on the calf and friction fit the gun on its trigger guard. I used a section of runner for the peg and filed it down to the shape I wanted - snug without the ability to rotate. Then I glued and puttied it to the calf. Once strong enough, I mounted the gun. I am not sure how durable this is, but the first time fiddling around with the Spray Gun, I ended up snapping the peg clean off. I remounted the peg and have not touched the gun since.
Overall I am happy with how this mobile suit turned out and how it looks with the Jegan Sniper Type. Then again the pieces were a lot easier to paint than the Jegan - smaller simpler pieces - or am I just getting used to painting the same color scheme?
Coming up on the Specter GM project, Weiß Hund Zulu! The project is stuck at a point where the kit might look okay to the common eye, but to the critical eye, even to the smallest degree, would see many faults in the kit. The Geara Zulus (and pretty much all the Sleeves kits) are so much harder to paint: so many little details and trimmings! Hopefully I can finish it before I get any kits for the GM Quel Semi-Striker. I would end up putting the Weiß Hund Zulu off until the very end (then again, with the weather getting cooler, I may not have a choice but to put it off). Until next time, may your cuts be clean and your sand paper rough!
Want to see more? The Specter GM project page is now open!
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