A while ago, I finally scooped an SD Cross Silhouette Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex kit.

Not sure what all those possible words mean? No Problem! Just know that it's a small Gundam kit like the ones I've been building lately.

Anyhoo! I wanted it for two reasons: I liked the design and I wanted to test some paints on it. Paints I plan to use on a different version of this fictional machine - the Gundam Barbatos - that's in a much larger scale.

You can find the final version on my Instagram. -> [Gunpla LinkTastic!]

Here's the rundown on what all I did:

- I wanted to lean into the name a bit - the Lupus Rex (Wolf King) - so I went with a fancier paint job than it would've been likely to have in the show its from (Iron-Blooded Orphans). It's going from workhorse war machine to something akin to fancy trailer queen from the custom car world.

- I used metallic paints to either replace or enhance details. Pistons and whatnot got a copper and silver touch. The palms and fingertips got copper to reflect the "Wolf" part of the name. The large areas colored the classic goldenrod-type Gundam Yellow were painted a hand mixed metallic Antique Gold.

- I used metal flake/metallic versions of the black, navy blue and a crimson red to play off the "King" part of the name. Navy and crimson tend to scream Royal while the black added a bit of extra bling to areas.

- I looked up a larger version of the kit and scrolled through the cartoon itself to add in basic details that the tiny kit just simply didn't have. I also went a little overboard giving it extra details 'cause I liked the look better.

Note: This kit isn't even a one-to-one for the larger version I plan to use these paints on. I did figure out what all I want to do on the larger kit when I build it later, though. Me going overboard wasn't my initial intent but Hot Damn! Did it feel good to get into the weeds on a model again. I missed this. = )

As per usual, I'm off to eat and stretch and hopefully not at the same time. Here's hoping everyone has a Happy New Year and that things are better and WAY More boring than the last few. I've been done living in "Interesting Times". I down for quiet and even a bit boring times for a while.

Remember: Stay Safe. Wear a Mask. Get vaccinated if you can. Get a booster if you're already good on that.

'Till next time! = )