Crossframe Girl GaoGaiGar build retrospective

This was a buddy build with Anubispla. I’d like to say thanks to him for giving me the motivation to do this kit otherwise I’d never have gotten around to building it. As a result I finally learned how to do flesh tones and it’s unlocked a whole new world of builds for me.

To commemorate this build I spent some time creating a “movie poster” using shots we took:

On the surface, this is a very feature-rich kit with multiple forms and play options for the casual builder. However as a modeller, it’s a pretty tough build and I had little confidence at the end that the final product could survive all the parts swapping.

We encountered several issues during the build and as such I now have this kit firmly on my “cursed” list. As such I didn’t really get as many poses as I wanted.

The kit has a long list of seamlines:

The entire cross frame girl is pretty much 90% seamlines with the entire leg being one giant seamline.
The forearm has a pretty deep gap which you’ll need filler to fix.
The lower torso has a seam, which if you want to fix, you’ll need to do some modding to allow the side hardpoints to slot in after painting.
Her “corset” has a seam down the side, in order to fix this one you’ll need to cut some pegs inside to allow it to slot onto the lower torso
The Liner Gao has a seamline in the middle. You can cut the pegs on the blue part and then slot it in after it’s painted. The plastic has some give and white part E9 can be inserted afterwards by slightly flexing the plastic of the Liner Gao.
The sub arms for the Liner Gao also have 3 sets of seams
The Stealth Gao has a seamline but it’s on an edge so not too visible.
The treads on the Drill Gao
The Dividing Driver also has 2 sets of seamlines, one on the black barrel and the other on the orange part.
The mechanical fist parts are molded in an extremely weird fashion with the fist being cut in half (WTF!)

The plastic feels a bit thin at times and assembling the kit felt like I was treading on thin ice. Regretfully I skipped the Galeon and Gaigar forms.

As for issues that we encountered during the build, Anubis broke the hips joints twice on both legs, whilst I broke several pegs while assembling the Drill Gao.

Painting

White – Mr Color 306 base coat, Gaianotes White applied for shading effect

Flesh tone – White Primer, Mr Color Lascivus Peach preshade, followed by mist coat of Mr Color Lascivus Pale Red (60%) + Mr Color Lascivus Pale Orange (40%)

Gold – Mr Color GX Red Gold

Black – Mr Color GX Ueno Black (100%) base coat, added white and Propeller Color for highlight

Red – White primer, Starter Orange (orange highlight in the middle), Light coats of Mr Color GX Harmann Red to blend in

Metallic details – Gaianotes Starbright Iron

Light Blue – Gaianotes

Hair – Mr Color Orange (80%) + Orange Yellow (19%) + Propeller Color (1%) . I can’t remember the exact mixture, basically you are aiming for a slightly dark orange.

There’s also plenty of detailing needed to make this kit box accurate:

The threads in the middle of the corset either come in white or skin tone, so you’ll need to either paint the skin underneath or the threads white.
There are various panels on the cross girl which need to be painted red. There’s also a small ribbon on the underwear which should be red.
The mane on Galeon is molded entirely in Gold and the recesses need to be painted red. This was absolutely the worst part of this build.
There are some pinstripes on the skirt which should be red (or orange depending on what you see).
There are 4 circles on the Protect Shade arm that need to be painted a grey or metallic colour
The body of the Liner Gao is molded in the light blue plastic and the blue stripe/windows need to be painted in
The white shoulder parts of the Gaigar/Galeon form need to be painted black
There are some triangles on the skirt armor that should be red
Four panels on the thigh armour that need to be painted grey
The underside of the Stealth Gao has some panels that should be painted grey
Galeon’s nose needs to be painted black
Galeon’s teeth need to be painted white