RG Exia - WIP 6

 A change of heart

 

This will be the first time I will be assembling the inner frame for the RG line.

 

Inner frames ready and waiting

 

The inner frame when put together makes Exia looks anorexic.

360° view of the inner frame

 

The only interesting part about this frame is the way the hands are attached. The method used makes the hand harder to pop out thus making Exia more flexible without having any worries.

 

Now that we all know how naked Exia is without the armor, we better put it out of its misery and armor it up. The feet will be the first part where the armor will be assembled.

 

Both left and right feet with their respective armor pieces

 

There are no major issues with the assembling of the armor to the inner frame. The only problem encountered is the blue plastic at the shin area. According to the manual, you are suppose to push the part down while assembling the shin armor.

 

Part of the instruction where it instructs you to push the blue strip down

 

I did as per the instruction booklet and assumed that when you push down the blue strip while assembling the armor, the armor will hold the strip in the contour at the shin. I was so wrong to think that. When I released the strip, it bounced back up to the original position making the pushing the part redundant.

 

Once all the armor are assembled on one leg, rinse and repeat for the other side and soon you will have 2 completely armored up legs.

Completed legs

 

The interesting thing about RG are the way the armor moves when the parts are bent. The split between armors are almost identical to the PG line.

Showing off the movement of the armors when the leg bends

 

Remember I mentioned when I was assembling the head that I was going to give this kit a gloss coat? I had a change of mind. I decided to give this kit a matte coat instead. I recently got this product from Ace Hardware.

 

Krylon Matte Finish | 1311

 

I read in forums and found some videos in Youtube that gave contrasting opinions about this product so the best way to find out if it is suitable is to try it out myself.

 

Since I finished assembling the weapons, head and legs I used those as my test subject. Since I have assembled the clear parts on the head and the plated parts for the weapons, I was afraid that spraying a matte coat will dull the mentioned pieces.

 

I was able to remove the plated parts for the GN Blade Long and Short but the GN Sword was another problem all together. In order to remove the plated part, I will need to nearly dismantle the entire GN Sword which I was not looking forward to. So I took this opportunity to try out something which I have been wondering some time ago: Is it possible to return the shine of the gloss coat after using matte? The answer is no.

 

I did not take any before and after pictures of the parts which was matted. All I can say is that I'm satisfied with the end results. I finally found a cheaper alternative matte finish than the ones sold at hobby shops.

 

However, there is one bad news. Ace Hardware does not have this product in stock. I do hope they restock because I foresee using this a lot on all my future kits. If I were to come across it in future, I'll surely buy a few more to keep as spare.