A Whale of a Tale About a Little Kit [GK Shinobu Oshino by Moineau]

Hi, everyone!

Today I’ll tell you about a kit that came to me after Winter Wonder Festival 2018 thanks to G_rave’s efforts. At that event, I really wanted an original Yamashiro, while Shinobu was my backup option in case that failed, so I wouldn’t come away with an empty basket, as they say. Yamashiro didn’t work out that time, though E2046 later made a recast—for which I’m grateful—but that isn’t the kit we’re talking about today.

So. Shinobu. Small and simple at first glance, but I had to approach her in several rounds because of a fairly long sword that stubbornly refused to straighten and a dress that I couldn’t get to fit together.

The kit. The sculptor included the red thread, and since it had made such a long journey together with the kit, I decided to keep it.

And right away, this happened with the dress. “Well, usually you can straighten this sort of thing with boiling water!” I thought at the time.

After several failed attempts, I put the kit away for about half a year.

After some number of further attempts, I managed to achieve this fit, which was good enough for me to start painting.

As for the sword, I only managed to straighten it after boiling it and then leaving it beneath a pack of ceramic tiles for a week

Those last few sentences are easy to write and read now, but oh, how much raging went on in our cozy corners while I was trying to finally get it right :’)

This was the first kit where I managed to do post-shading (or at least I think I did) And the first one I painted with Lascivus.

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The hair and bow were painted easily and enjoyably with some newly arrived colors from Gaia’s MechaTRO line (Lemon + Ivory + a little regular yellow), topped with Topaz Gold.

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Naturally, I couldn’t wait to assemble whatever was already painted, and I paid for my impatience: I had to tear the glued-on arm back off because the kit couldn’t be assembled in that order :’)

Next came the eyes, and my first try with Gaia’s little cleanup stick, which is now my one true love for this kind of work.

Then I covered the eyes in clear UV nail topcoat to make them livelier and shinier

You can admire the cast-off only once, because the dress fits onto her permanently.

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The problems were entirely predictable…

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…but I carried on. The plan was to preserve the transparency, and it seems to have worked)

And this is how she went together)

And everything actually looked pretty good!

But then I decided I was about to make it all look beautiful. Instead, I ruined everything by mangling the seam with clear gel and epoxy

The collective mind suggested a solution involving decorative strips, which turned into long bow ribbons to replace the original ones) I carved them out of Mr. Hard Clay, which is an excellent material, I have to say.

I repainted the sword because I wasn’t happy with the sharpened edge. The final version is in the last photo.

I decided not to get clever with the mask and simply followed the artist’s version.

On this Shinobu, I decided to try Citadel’s blood, and it’s magnificent!

Yes, the bloodstains may be poorly planned, and their shape, size, and placement may be debatable, but they were so much fun to make! Ooohhh

And she’s done! These two photos were taken at dawn on Sunday, when I was racing to meet the E2046 contest deadline with another kit (I’ll definitely tell you about that one later), and finished this beauty at the same time.

And now I invite you to look at the result and a great many nearly identical photos

Overall, I’m happy with how she turned out :3

That’s all, and thank you to everyone who stopped by!