Introduction Scale 1/8 Sculptor ? Maker SOL Completed 10/17/99 Parts 19 Retail $24 Gina is a recent addition to the SOL Warrior Series. The box art depicts her leaving 5 trails of blood extending from her forehead to her waist, where her left hand is. Kind of spooky,and I didn't like it (actually I have no idea what the red stuff on the box art is until I'm half finished with the kit :) Anyway I decided to change the gesture of the left hand to that of a beckoning; I think it works better ("Hey, some one return my chest plate, it's not funny!") Having the hand on the waist is just kind of bizzare (it looked like she's bored and scratching her tummy :) As to where her body armor is, don't ask :) As with other kits in the series, the body is well sculpted, and the face is really nice (better than Ney's) The armor is very detailed - lots of texture and small belts and joins everywhere. [Update] This figure is sculpted from an original drawing by Luis Royo, who is a great fantasy artist (thanks to Jack who pointed it out.) The original piece from his art book "Women", has the 5 trails of blood, and don't have the garter belt. The stockings is all leather. The sculpture certainly is different from the painting, but I think it stands on its own.   Kit Review Seam lines: ?/5   Pinholes: ?/5   Casting: ?/5   Fit: ?/5   Part Break: ?/5   Help Typical SOL vinyl kit quality - well cast, well fit, little pin holes. The vinyl is a bit rough at spots, so a little sanding would help.   Building Assembly The only difficult part in assembly is the joint between waist and the upper body - have to keep heating and gluing at the same time to keep a tight fit. I also filled the lower body with plaster this time. I glued a pin to the loin chain mail cloth so that it's detachable... I also made a groin since there's no detail behind the chain mail... hentai desu :) Painting - What's with the blue armor? The box art painted the leg armor pieces blue - and very stocking like! It's so strange. Those are clearly metal. I wanted to go with pure steel like using my beloved Mr. Metal Color, but eventually decide against it because there are too many areas with texture on the armor. Anyway I thought blue armor is quite unique and would look good, plus I have some metallic blue mixture from Shiki, so blue armor it is. Black may work too, but with the naked front black would give too much contrast. Painting skintone is a breeze this time. I used to use mars brown to do shading but mixing a little naples yellow this time gives a subtle color that's very easy to blend. This time I tried a different gold mixture learned from Hobby Japan and it gives a brilliant gold that's really beautiful! First take a gold color and let the gold particles deposit. Then drain the solvent and replace with a mixture of clear yellow and clear orange. This mixtures gives a vibrant gold color that is unlike the stock gold colors which looks washed out. The chain mail is drybrushed on top of flesh color - gives a nice transparent effect :) Adding shading with black oils gives a nice weathered look. The face! By some random luck I made a few good stroke with her eyes and cheek blush, I think I fell in love with Gina! Hair - Blonde is very hard to depict. I tried the David Fisher receipe and didn't like it. I read Shep Paine's book on figure and he said add in very little bit of olive - didn't like how it turned out either... it just didn't look right. Finally someone sugzzested using a mixture of naples yellow, white and burnt umber; I have my doubts but I think it turned out better than other stuff I've tried. Overall I'm quite satisfied - didn't expect much initially, as the box art was not very attractive and during assembly I thought the head was too big and the legs are too small. But when all the colors are down, I completely changed my opinion. This kit takes only 4 days to build.