Building A Gundam: Bandai’s HGUC RX-78-2 Part 10 – Chipping

When it comes to the process of painting and weathering models, I’m fairly comfortable with most of the processes and materials I use. While I am no expert, I can generally envision a result in my head, and come within a reasonable distance of acheiving it.

One area, however, seems to always elude me just a bit. If there is going to be part of a build that I feel I missed the mark, it’s always a the same step. I don’t feel I’m bad at it. And the results don’t look awful. But it is akin to Coleridge’s albatross… it’s just hanging there, around my neck.

That albatross, of course, is chipping.

It’s not that I’m not able to do it. I know quite a few techniques, and am comfortable applying all of them. I can use multiple mediums, and application tools, and when done, it looks like something that has been chipped.

My struggle though is in feeling happy with the amount of chipping I add. When I want just a little, I either end up feeling like it’s too little, or too much. When a “medium” amount is desired, I have the same feeling – I’ve either overshot the mark, and vastly fallen short. And while heavy is a bit easier, even that often feels far too heavy.

I suppose the real struggle is not so much the application, but rather the density and distribution.

In this video, I spend the first half or so focusing on just that – the “theory” of chipping. I think I know what to do, at least enough to pass along something helpful. Now if I could just figure out how to follow my own advice. 😉