We ended Part 1 on a downer, so I tried my best to make the rest of the build a little bit happier and a little bit better looking.
Backpack
We start off with quite a few parts:
The backpack is basically made out of a bunch of smaller sections. You’ve got these “top” sections that hold the beam sabers:
These “bottom” sections:
And then the middle section that binds it all together:
I didn’t realize just how weird the backpack is until I built it. It’s really large, oddly shaped, and on its own, it’s doesn’t do anything. It has no thrusters, nor fuel tanks. It’s main purpose (aside from holding the beam sabers) is to be a sort of harness for the GUND bits. But when the bits aren’t attached to the Iflrith, the backpack is just kinda … there.
And you know what? I think the design is intentional. This is exactly what you’d expect to see on an early prototype, when the engineers are far enough along to test the use of the GUND Bits, but aren’t far enough to care about aesthetics. It may not be pretty, but the design tells a story.
Feet
When I first saw Ilfrith and Aerial, my initial take was that they reminded me a lot of the mobile suit designs from Iron Blooded Orphans.
Since then, I’ve come to realize that they’re not actually that similar - except for the feet. Those are IBO all the way.
It’s the same kind of construction - a separate toe section and a separate heel section connect to a center frame. For comparison, here are two different IBO feet:
And here is Ilfrith’s:
In terms of detailing, the grey vents on the heel, as well as the strip of grey on the bottom of the toe were all hand painted. Up until now, this kit hasn’t required too much in the way of color correction, but that changes from here on out. And while this particular bit of painting was hardly egregious, I still feel like they could have avoided it with just an extra part or two.
Legs
This is probably the most complicated part of the build. We’re going to have to go through it in stages.
First, the ankle. It’s just just three parts sandwiched together. Stick it onto the leg, and it looks pretty good, if not a little dainty:
Now for the thigh. It’s not much in terms of parts:
But in terms of detailing, this might have been the most arduous part of the build. It needs a lot of work:
- You’ve got a lot of panel lines to deal with
- There is a recessed section in the back where the thrusters go, which is supposed to be painted grey
- There are some spots in the front and the back which need to be painted green for color accuracy
- There’s some cabling molded into the inner frame, which you can choose to paint
- There are thrusters in the front and back of the leg that you can optionally paint
Don’t forget these clips for the ankle armor:
Lastly, we have the hip joints:
Put it all together, and this is what you get:
It’s all quite impressive, especially considering how few parts we’re dealing with here.
Arms and Shoulders
Like the legs, the shoulders require a bit of metallic green paint:
Meanwhile the arms go together like you’d expect:
This was the one part of the build where I finally let up a bit when it came to the panel lining. I think they look better that way:
And look at that! The Ilfirth is complete! Or at least the body is. We still have to work on the weapons.
Beam Rifle
The main body of the rifle is made out of two halves, with a few additional pieces running along the top and bottom to hide the seam lines.
Personally, I think the gun looks a bit silly, though once again I’d argue that it’s fitting for a prototype unit that’s still focused on function over aesthetics. Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t try and spruce it up; I chose to add some weathering compound to give it some texture:
It’s not much, but I do think it helps.
Shield
This is the reason I gave up on this build back in December. The shield, more than anything else, scared the heck out of me.
The pieces are all white. And yet if you look closely at the photos in the manual, you will see that there is supposed to be a lot of grey on each GUND Bit:
That means a lot of color correction in a lot of different places.
But wait! It gets worse! These Bits are supposed to fit together. What if the connection is too tight? It’s possible that you’d scrape off some of the paint, even if it’s sealed with a layer of topcoat.
This required strategy. First, I’d paint and topcoat each GUND Bit individually. Then I’d take photos of Ilfrith psoed alongside the Bits, using the Weapon Display Base I bought.
Then I’d take the Bits and photograph them attached to Ilfrith’s rifle and backpack. Finally, I’d assemble them into the shield and take a final set of photos. By doing it in this order, I could ensure that the Bits looked as pristine as possible before doing anything that might scratch the paint.
Here are all the individual GUND Bits after painting:
This was harder than it looks. I’m still not sure if I missed any spots.
Here they are all assembled:
Despite the fact that it is lacking in color, I think this is a cool looking shield. It’s extremely tall, and thus legitimately protective. It also has an incredible amount of surface detail.
Conclusion
The build is complete, but we’re not close to being done. We still have a ton of photos to take of the finished model.