PRETTY IN PINK: Ma.K 1:35 PKA Kangaroo.

Hey friends, I wanted to share how I painted my 1:35 scale PKA Kangaroo from the Kaiyodo ArtPla line of Maschinen Krieger kits. I went for a desert pink color way inspired by the original Fujiyama Arts Brothers release of the 1:20 scale resin kit. I believe it was LOVELOVE GARDENs Saito-san who did the one featured on that kits box art, and I have always really liked it. The scheme is derived from WW2 British ATVs used in desert combat, as it was very effective at camouflaging during dusk missions. Military buffs please add more context in the comments section. After texturing the model, I Then applied a loose-ish layer of Mr. Surfacer 1000 Mahogany, followed by a pass of Tamiya LP Flat Black in selected areas. The Mahogany base works well with reds and pinks and you could jump straight into painting the Desert Pink from here but I felt that it needed a little more variety. I did a very loose under painting of Mr. Hobby Aqueous Russet. It’s quickly become one of my favorite reds and I really need to make it a feature color in a future build. The cool thing about the Aqueous line of paints is that they also work very well with Mr. Colors self leveling lacquer thinner. They are very similar to Tamiyas paint line being I believe an alcohol based solvent? I have thinned them with water, the dedicated aqueous thinner, and self leveling thinner and have had good results across the board but, I do recommend using the brand specific thinner for the best results with them. After the undercoat, I jumped straight into applying the pink color. For this I used my favorite worn brush. It’s an old Tamiya brush and has been used in many of my past projects. Again I am painting pretty loosely here since I want to have the underneath colors show through in areas. I am also keeping the pressure on the brush light, giving it a twisting motion while I gently stamp the models surface. This helps reduce bubbles in the paint though, they will still form in areas. However, we can take care of any bubbles in later steps. Once I have finished with hand brushing the desert pink, I then decided the overall paint job needed some cleaning up. I didn’t want to break out my spray booth and compressor so I opted to use my HobbyMio portable compressor and Olympos 0.2 needle airbrush. The goal isn’t to completely cover the brush strokes but to slightly smooth out areas and also add variation however, This step is up to your tastes and can be skipped if desired. Next were the ID bands. I used Mr. Hobby Off-White straight from the bottle. White tends to be painful color to hand brush and these paints are already on the thinner side so thinning further didn’t feel necessary. I used some 3mm masking tape in certain areas to help with guiding my brush but in other areas it was freehanded. The ID bands are supposed to appear like they are hastily field applied so making them perfect and even isn’t necessary and will save some time during the weathering steps. The kit comes with a nice sheet of decals and since I got this at its initial release from HLJ it came with a bonus sheet. It may be a little on the nose but I love the kangaroo decal that came on the bonus sheet. The manual also keeps caution and general purpose decals to a minimum so I followed its lead. Prior to applying the decals I save my progress by spraying a layer of MR. Color GX Gloss. This helps the decals lay down smoother and prevent any silvering. Microsol and Microset were also used to slightly soften and melt the decals into the surface. To finish this section of the build, I give a light pass over some imperfections in the paint, and decals. I used a damp 1500 grit sanding sponge and gently rubbed the surface. This helped to create some physical chips to take advantage of in the weathering steps, and it also helps to buff out the decals film and makes them lay a little flatter. Please stay tuned for the next video where I will go over the weathering steps and creating the desert groundwork for the base. Liking, subscribing, and if you feel inclined, commenting helps go a long way for a small channel like mine. Thank you all very much and I will see you again very soon. Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/fe77a/inebriatd License code: MBZA62ZPUKUS33V8