Call-sign ''Sphinx'' of the 7th MS Battlion: MG Jesta Ver. Hummingbird.

Back in June 2014, I received a surprise gift from two of my friends. It was the fantastic MG Jesta and their thoughtful gifts was really appreciated and made me happy to no bound. 

Little do I know that I would be using this Jesta to be a part of a great team build with some fine gentlemen of the gunpla world, two of which are responsible for the gift; Simon/GundamUK (Link), Derick/DX9902 (Link), Darren/The Anglian viking, Jeff/Effael (Link) and Justin/Justinius Builds (Link). Simon and Darren were the two guilty for giving me this wonderful gem of a kit. [Don't forget to sub and like my friend pages]

After I got the Jesta, we got to talking and we decided on a desert themed team build to spice things up among our mundane gunpla lives. I really could use some spicing up as you all you know how much I have been losing interest in gunpla.

Anyway, we decided on a desert theme and I suggested we put ourselves as part of the 7th Mobile Suit Battalion and we agreed on naming our unit the '' Howling Coyotes ''. Everybody chose for a role within the team and I went for the artillery role. I gave this baby the call-sign ''Sphinx''. 

Since we decided on a desert theme, the hardest for me to do was to decide on a colour scheme. I decided to go for a variation of the US MERDC's Red Desert colour scheme ( Link here - the pattern on the bottom of the page). Instead of 4 colours, I went with 3 colours. 

The main colour I used are all from Tamiya; Desert Yellow, IJA Grey and JGSDF Brown. The small and minor colours are from a different; Mr. Hobby Aqueous and Vallejo. The entire frame is base painted in VMA ( vallejo model air) Nato Black and dry brushed by VMA Steel, which was then given a liberal amount of MIG production Blue Steel pigment. The pigments were sealed with a layer of Vallejo Clear varnish.

For the finishing, I wanted to show it with moderate amount of weathering. Yes, this is moderate. Come to my other world of Scale modelling ( plamo ) and you will see what heavy weathering looks like. Anyway, I made the chippings in what I called layered-chipping. There is a layer of base colour on top of the camo patterns which depicts lighter chips and scratches that only takes off the paints of the pattern leaving the base paint intact. Within the smaller patches, I applied Tamiya Metallic Grey to depict the bare metal of the parts. I did not do any rust of any kind as Jesta are made from either Gandarium or Titanium alloys.

The materials used for the weathering effects were oil in the colour of Burnt Serpia, pigments from Pinnacle Model Supplies in the colour of Light sand and desert sand and a light layer of MIG production neutral colour wash. The upper body received very little sand effects while the feets and lower shins are very dirtied from the constant usage in the desert. The chippings was also done in the same sense, with the head getting the least amount of it. 

Oh and a little fun fact, The entire body is lightly modified by sticking on tiny left over spare pieces of random shapes and sizes from my tanks. Even the barrel of the cannon is from the French main battle tank, LeClerc.

Since this is a team build, I think it would be most appropriate to start with this photo -

Now, the all around view -

and here's some of the close up -   

Per the norm from me, here's a number of poses -

I am my own harshest critique and there are some aspect of it that I could have done better. I did get rid of the seams on the guns but it wasn't enough. I can still see a little bit of seam on some places on the gun or was it a panel line? I don't know :(. I could have put more sand collected on the nook and crannies of the machine but I got bored of it so I just said enough. Also, I totally regret using black for the back ground. A total failure. :(. I could nit pick myself for some of the chippings as well. Not happy with some of them. 

There may have been some mistake ( big or small ) that I made but still  this is a little bit better then how I usually paint Gunpla... LOL ( I suck at painting in gunpla). Even with the flaws, I am happy to see this came out like this.

My heart felt thank to Simon and Darren for sending me this great gift to keep the gunpla flame alive within me. Thank you so much guys. How could I ever repay you ? 

My sincerest thanks to these people for the continued support on my gunpla works and pushing me to finish this -
Simon Curry, Darren Ling , Derick Siu , Pawel Zynk, Fransiska, Jeff and Justin. Love you guys.

Thank you dear readers for taking your time to read my posts and your continued supports.

Until the next gunpla... yes, there will be more.