I came upon this resin kit of a guardian robot and a feisty boy recently from Black Sun UK. Instead of the suggested sunny yellow scheme, I decided to try something different in muted shades of teal and vermilion. A traveling child with a mighty robot is a recurring theme in Japanese anime, so I decided to make this setting somewhat Asian. Goro (the kid’s name) exclaims to his guardian robot, “あそこで!” while pointing in the general direction. Guraden (グライ゛ン) was an agricultural robot with powerful limbs suited for moving heavy and large objects, but it ran away form the farm and became a mercenary robot. Unable to wrap its gigantic fingers around triggers, he uses his massive arms to swing a mighty scythe as a weapon. That’s my take on the odd couple. It’s just fun to build fantasy subjects ever so often.
Gallery
Construction Notes
The resin kit approximates 1/24 scale with the main figure of the Guardian robot, Sonny Boy (Goro) and his sleep capsule. The details are extremely good but some cleaning of excess flash and mold lines needed. One of the capsule legs was broken but that is inconsequential as the version slung on the back of the robot does not need them.
Getting the robot’s stance relative to the base is very important as there are no specific position guides for the joining of the legs to the torso. So I stuck the legs into the base, adjusted the torso’s alignment, and secured the joints with superglue.
The right arm holding the scythe also needed to be adjusted so that the base of the weapon rests in a hole in the base.
Once the robot’s parts have been cleaned, I primed them with Tamiya NATO Black XF-69.
I hand-painted each section of the robot’s limbs, using Citadel Ahriman Blue as the base blue color, and Citadel Squig Orange (actually a bright vermilion) for the highlights.
There is a large animal skin robe draped over the left arm. I painted the robe overall in Tamiya Red Brown XF64, and the arm beneath it in Squig Orange. I left off the decorative webbing for detailing later.
The right arm is mostly blue, and I decided to add some checkered white pattern on the shoulder piece. I carefully traced out the checkered pattern using a Prismacolor white color pencil. Then, I carefully painted the white squares using Citadel Corax White.
The scythe is painted with Model Master Burnt Iron, and then highlighted with Prismacolor gold color pencil.
The metallic parts of the robot at the torso and arm joints are painted with Metalizer Magnesium, and highlighted with Prismacolor Silver.
The animal skin coat is airbrushed with Tamiya Red Brown: Flat Black 50:50 mix for shadows, and Tamiay Buff XF-57 for the highlights. The webbing is painted with Buff, and then the metal trinkets are painted with gold, copper, and bright silver paints.
Once the left arm gets mounted onto the main torso, you can see the intricate details of the webbing spread around the robots shoulder and robe.
The right arm with the scythe is finally fitted onto the body, being careful to align the tip of the weapon to the hole in the base.
I mixed a lighter shade of 1part Corax White to 2 parts Ahriman Blue , and airbrushed over the highlights in the blue armor. I also painted in small patches of worn areas around the edges of the plates, and heavier wear around the fingers , using Tamiya NATO Black, and patches of silver paint for extreme wear. The whole robot is then sealed in a satin varnish (except for the robe, which is left matt).
Next, I work on the sleep capsule. This part is a bit warped on both halves and needed some soaking in warm water to coax them to fit together.
The resulting seam is still very wide and uneven. It took a lot of Squadron White putty and sanding to get some semblance of a clean joint.
After black priming, I sprayed the exterior with Metalizer Gun Metal, and then buff the sections to a shine.
There are details in the sleeping quarters, like a pillow, a stack of journals, cans of drinks, a game console, and a bag of personal effects.
The side door is attached, and then a wash of Tamiya NATO Brown XF68 applied.
More rust stains are applied with a fine brush using Burnt Sienna oil paint.
The paintwork is sealed with a satin varnish, and the top hatch is glued to the opening.
Now comes the trickiest assembly in this kit. Getting the egg-shaped capsule with the two big straps to be securely glued to the shoulders of the robot is a delicate operation. Alignment of the two straps to their attachment points is critical and fairly nerve-wracking.
Now we get to Goro’s figure. The arm joints have some gaps that need to be filled with Squadron white putty and smoothened out.
Once the figure is cleaned up, it is ready for some paint work. I use a different technique for the human figure as compared to the robot finish. Please refer to my tutorial on figure painting.
For Asian skin, I use Tamiya Wooden Deck Tan XF78 as a base, then a mix of Cadmium Yellow:Burnt Umber:Titanium White in 1:1:3 portion to blend with Burnt Umber for shadows and Burnt Sienna for cheeks and lips, and Ivory Black for the hair with Titanium white highlights.
The shirt base coat is a mix of Citadel Ahriman Blue: Corex White in 1:1 portion, and then highlight in Titanium White, while the blue jeans has a base of Citadel Hoeth Blue, with Titanium White+French Ultramarine highlights, and shadows of pure French Ultramarine.
The bandanna has a base of Tamiya Filed Blue XF50, with highlights of Titanium White+Prussian Blue, and shadows of pure Prussian Blue.
Belt details use a base of Tamiya Wooden Deck Tan XF78, and then a scrubbed wash of Burnt Umber+Lamp Black (apply a thick viscous wash, and then removing most of it with a brush, leaving only residue in the grooves and sunken areas). The boots are Tamiya Red Brown XF64, with a regular oil wash of Burnt Umber+ Lamp Black.
As a finishing touch to blend the figure onto the dusty desert base, a fine spray of Tamiya Buff XF57 is applied to the feet of the robot and Goro.
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