MS-07B-3 Gouf Custom

A real throwback here - this was one of the very first kitbashes and builds with "serious" modifications that I ever did as well as an early experiment with oil paint weathering. Although I kind of look back at it now and am a little embarrassed at the final product, it was a really important learning experience in how to make "realistic" looking models - well as realistic as a 60 foot robot with a sword can be.

I was inspired by the Gouf Heavy Arms Type from the original MSV designs and added the head mounted gun. I wanted to keep the sword though however as I always liked the massive cleaver style sword the Gouf Custom had - as a compromise between the two designs, two smaller gatling barrels were used to replace the 3-barrel arm gun.

The decals were 3rd party and they were absolutely atrocious. They were not pre-cut and thus all the small stencils and warning seals had to be cut very arduously, additionally they were EXTREMELY fragile and would often fall apart or flake when being handled. Also at the time, I did not realize that it was important to seal decals before applying oil paint weathering as the thinners for oil paints would destroy the decal film of waterslides... a lot of cursing and anger at the time but it was worth it to learn these lessons the hard way in the long run!

The reason I used the terrible 3rd party decals was it was the only place at the time to get the markings for Visch Donahue, the pilot from the Dreamcast Rise From the Ashes game.

When I look back at this kit, what sticks out is how the weathering is far too extreme and out of scale for the kit. 1/144 is a very small scale and at life size, these rust spots and streaks are much heavier and far too intense - they would look fine on a 1/35 kit but definitely not here. Also, the weathering simply sits on top of the paint and there is no color modulation added with the oil paints which is something that I find essential now.

An old WIP pic I dug up of this build - the one thing that has completely stayed the same in my process from this build after all these years is using thinned down Tamiya white putty for cast texture on armor. This build was on display at a hobby shop and since has been lost to the winds of time!