Jazz up your old model kits with candy coat hues

 Gunpla technology has come a long way, and nowadays you can find molded plastic parts with bright, vibrant colors as well as excellent finishes that can look as good as painted pieces. But for older scale models kit, it's not unusual to find either dull color schemes or a very plasticky finish on the molded parts. All is not lost though if you aren't one of the collectors/modelers who do not fancy the old school look of a model kit. You can always jazz up these old kits with coats of metallic candy finish.

Bandai LM-HG Evangelion Unit-01 Test Type with a candy metallic finish ...

... seen here in a squatting pose, against a white background (front view) ...

... and here is the same squatting post seen from the back view.

 In this 'jazzing up project', the old kit in question is the Bandai Limited High Grade (LM-HG) Evangelion Unit-01 Test Type scale model kit, which was released way back in 1996 or nearly 25 years ago. While the original out-of-the-box color scheme isn't too bad, the hues were fairly muted, and the parts had a plasticky finish to them (see unboxing post of the kit). As such this kit was deemed a good candidate for the aforementioned project.

Evangelion (Eva) Unit-01 Test Type custom candy metallic finish (closeup view)

Fully-painted individual parts/sub-assemblies of the Eva-01 Test Type, prior to final assembly

 So what is a candy coat? Well it's layer of paint resulting from a painting technique in which a clear vibrant color is airbrushed over a chrome-like metallic basecoat. The specifics of this technique is beyond this post, so if you're interested in the hows then by all means check out this blog post by our resident painter FourEyedMonster => Candy Paint Finishes - A Test on Plastic Spoons.

When a black background was used to shoot photos of the Eva-01 Test Type ...

... it was found that the candy metallic finish will partly reflect/mirror its dark surroundings ...

... thus accentuating the overall dimness of the surroundings the Eva-01 was posed in ...

... this was especially true if the candy metallic hues were the darker purples and blues ...

... but a white background reflects its brighter surroundings thus showing the Eva's details more clearly

 Shown here is the fully custom painted Bandai Evangelion Unit-00 Test Type - in candy metallic colors - against either a black or white background. Because the painted candy metallic hues consisted largely of dark blues and purples, it was noted that the details on the kit were more visible against a white background. This could be because the shiny candy metallic surfaces will partly reflect its surroundings. As such, darker backgrounds will tend to obscure the kit's details (see above photo for comparison).

Eva Unit-01 Test Type (isometric view, front left)

Eva Unit-01 Test Type (back view)

Eva Unit-01 Test Type (isometric view, rear left)

Eva Unit-01 Test Type (isometric view, rear right)

Eva Unit-01 Test Type (isometric view, right side)

Eva Unit-01 Test Type (isometric view, front right)

Eva Unit-01 Test Type (isometric view, left side)

 So don't fret if you have an old kit that you deem to have dull, muted colors, and a plasticky finish to their molded parts. One way to overcome this is to repaint the kit in question in a candy metallic finish. It's not the only way, but a good one if you wish to have a vibrant, shiny color scheme in the final finish.

 Well, that's it for this post. If you're a collector in Malaysia who wants someone to custom paint your old kit, don't hesitate to contact our resident painter Kuan Hua aka FourEyedMonster at shireworks@gmail.com for details as terms and conditions will change depending on the project requirements. And as always, be safe, be well and be happy.