Hey everyone and welcome back to the Gundam build log! This time, I will be finishing up all of the preparation of the parts, so that means we will finally get to see some painting next post! Last week, I was just cutting out all of the parts and removing the extra nubs. For this post, we will look at how to sand the pieces and wash them so that they are ready for the paint primer.
In the above image, you can see me sanding one of the parts. Normally, I wouldn’t do this as sanding can take away the natural gloss of the plastic, but since I am painting, this will not matter. It is also better to sand parts when painting so that they are as smooth as possible for a nicer looking finish. To do this, I use 600, 800, and 1000 grit sanding sponges (as seen in the photo).
Once all of the parts have been sanded, there is one final step to prepare them for paint: giving them a wash with soap and water. The reason it is recommended to do this when painting gunpla is because out of the factory, the parts have industrial oils that would affect how the paint goes onto the parts. If I was just straight building the kit however, I wouldn’t need to wash.
I let the parts soak in warm, dish soap water for about 30 minutes here and then scrubbed them with a toothbrush before giving them a rinse. I only did the red ones for now because those are going to be painted first. One thing that is really important though is that natural body oils can still affect the parts, so it is recommended that I wear gloves when handling them from now on.
The next thing I did was put all of the parts on these gator clips that you’ll see below. Now they are all ready to get that first coat of paint!
That’s all for this week, and I will see you guys next time!