Let’s wrap this build up.
Shield
The shield is a simple build, and isn’t noticeably different from the Tallgeese’s:
Gun
This was by far the biggest challenge of the build.
I didn’t mention this in the intro, but the Leo’s gun is another thing I dislike about the mobile suit. Specifically, I hate the ammo drum. It is way too big:
It looks more like a spraypaint gun or something. It isn’t very threatening.
My idea was to shorten the barrel, in hopes that it might look a little more realistic that way. Of course, I wasn’t sure if I could actually pull it off. I fully expected to destroy the barrel in the process.
In the end, I did pull it off, though the result doesn’t look pretty.
First off, here are what the ammo drum pieces look like normally:
So we have a peg at the top, one at the bottom, and a gap in the middle. My plan was to cut out the middle, leaving me with four pieces that would connect together via the pegs. Then I would glue them together, paint them up, and (hopefully) be done.
I tried using a number of cutting instruments, including a straight box cutting razor, gardening shears, and wire cutters. None of them ended up working out. In fact, I almost hurt myself with the razor, as I somehow managed to break it in half. The rest of the tools were simply big to do any sort of precision cutting.
Ultimately (and ironically), the best tool for the job were my nippers, which sliced clean through. Unfortunately, due to their shape, they don’t cut cleanly and evenly. I had to do a lot of sanding to get straight edges on all the parts.
Once the cutting was complete, I found that the pieces actually glued together easily. I used rubber cement (which I haven’t touched in years), and it actually did a tremendous job. Then I filled in the remaining cracks and gaps with museum putty, and this is what I ended up with:
No, it isn’t pretty, but it definitely looks closer to what I had in mind.
Finally, it was time to paint up the entire thing:
Does the gun look better with the shorter drum? Yes. Does it look a lot better? No, not really. Turns out that the drum is not only comically long, but also comically wide, and there’s not much I can do about that.
But it isn’t just the ammo drum that looks goofy. So does the sight, and the side grip. And beyond that the gun is also extremely plain. It has no stock, no bolt, no scope. It reminds me a bit of the old British “grease gun”, not so much in regards to its shape but its style. They both look like simple tubes that spew bullets (or in the case of the Leo’s gun, a simple and yet ridiculous weapon that spews bullets).
Ah well. Nothing I can do about that. All I can do right now is give you a sneak peak at the fully finished model:
One more post and we can put this one to bed (can you tell yet how I feel about this build?)