BOME 1/4 SCALE - MAYO RESIN KIT (work in progress) First step, I lay out all the pieces. This is an original model I won from Yahoo Japan and the casting is excellent. However, like all Bome kits, the surface is a little uneven and will need fixed. Next I start removing all the large flash pieces, as circled in the second image. Next up is cleaning the pieces of any mold release that might have been left over. Any good degreaser will do fine, but this time I am using Castrol Super Clean. I soak the pieces overnight. Fast forward to the next day when I take the pieces out of the degreaser, using heavy duty rubber gloves. I then rinse them well and scrub every piece with a toothbrush and some Soft Scrub. This step may not be necessary but I like to make sure everything is clean. Now I let everything air dry. Now comes the part I don't like... sanding all the seam lines. For this I use a number of tools, depending on the size of the seam/mold line and its location. I use files, the back of an xacto knife, sandpaper and my trusty dremmel. I then connect any pieces that make sense. In this case Mayo's pillow. Here I am using Tamiya Epoxy Putty. I put a small amount of putty along the edges to be connected, then press together, removing any excess putty. Once the putty dries, I am using some automotive bondo paste to smooth things out. I put the bondo on, wait to dry, then sand it smooth. Bondo dries very quickly, in about 15 minutes. I also use Bondo on other small pinholes or imperfections in the resin, like you can see on Mayo's shoulder. You can see the before and after sanding difference. More spaces and imperfections where I use Bondo. For larger areas, I use in this case Magic Sculp, a two part epoxy. It is of PlayDoh hardness but can be smoothed to a paste with some water. I usually wet my fingers, apply it to the surface, then with my wet fingers, I smooth it as much as possible. Magic Sculp takes about a day to dry. After that, I sand it to be even with the resin surface. In the above pictures, I used it on the leg and on part of the hand. Now everything is visibly smooth, so I do a final pinning to make sure everything is in order. Looks OK. So now I prime the surface, in this case using my airbrush and Mr. Surfacer 1000, a lacquer based primer. I thin the Mr. Surfacer 1000 50/50 with Mr. Color Thinner. Both can be purchased only from Rainbowten.co.jp. Once the primer dries, I airbrush a coat of Mr. Base White, thinned with the same Mr. Color Thinner. Anime figures look better if the paint is applied over a white surface. The colors just look brighter. One trick I do after everything is painted white is to mask the eyes. This way I won't have to repaint them white at the end. Now it's time to start painting. For Mayo I am using Mr. Color lacquer paints. First the skin tone is applied and all the shading and highlights. Next I work on the hair and also the pillow. In the first picture, you can see that I masked the skin parts of the legs, that I had already painted. Now I will airbrush the dark blue socks. In the second picture, again I masked the skin color and will paint the creepy looking doll. Picture 3 shows the finished model from the waist down. Cute tail! Work on the creepy doll... painted the eyes, masked them, painted the skin, masked, then painted the hair. Of course I also shade is portion before I mask. One reason I love Mr. Color paints is because they dry so quickly and they form a tough surface which doesn't even need to be sealed! Almost done! In the first picture, you can see the completed model, minus the head. Second picture shows the steps I take in order to paint the anime eyes. Remember to make the eyes glossy. You can do this by using glossy paints or brushing some Future Floor Finish on. Future Floor Finish is a great clean glossy acrylic! Ah, the finished model. You can see more picture of Mayo in the Gallery section. Really cool looking model, a great center piece for any display. Some people think the doll is creepy, but I like it!