[WIP] MG Nu Ver. Ka X LED WIP 4

Next up would be the main body.

Good thing the kit is designed in a way that lets me remove and install the armor pieces without disassembling the inner frame. That way I can finish wiring this kit first, then paint the armor parts.

I forgot to mention that I've actually already painted the inner frame before doing the LED mods. I used a custom mix of Zurc gunmetal for this. I say custom mix since it's just regular Zurc gunmetal mixed with either pearl white or metallic black to get the shade I wanted.

Since I'm almost already done with the LED mods, I've started on painting the armor parts.

I'm using Zurc paints here. The white is pearl white, the blue is Zurc's "Exia Blue", I actually wanted a darker shade simillar to the original color but I really like the finish so I'm going along with it.

The two-tone whites were done by first spraying a layer of primer gray on the desired parts then spraying pearl white all over the piece. 

I'm still undecided on modding the fin funnels. I want them lit up if I'm going to do some dynamic posing but if they're just going to be placed at the back then I don't see any reason to light them up.

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[WIP] MG Nu Ver. Ka X LED WIP 3

Continuing where I left, I started working on the lower body.

The feet was one of the simplest parts to do. but since the clear part goes around the feet. I had to put 2 LEDs on each side for it to be lit properly.

The legs would be the hardest part since it's built with lots of layered and interlocking parts. Not to mention there are moving pieces for the psycho-frame gimmick. 

I wouldn't try explaining it here in detail because that will be really hard. But hopefully you get some idea with the pics here.

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[WIP] MG Nu Ver. Ka X LED WIP 2

On to the harder parts of the project.

One thing about this kit is the complicated joint mechanism on the elbows. 

For the elbow joint, the best that I could think of was to go around it instead of embedding the wires within the joint. 

For the shoulders, I had to use 3 LEDs just to spread the light evenly across the clear part. The 0603 SMD LEDs' size really help in embedding the LEDs into the parts. The downsize would be that it only illuminates a smaller area. 

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[WIP] MG Nu Ver. Ka X LED WIP 1

So I scrapped my previous MG Nu ver.Ka project and started a new one.

My last MG Nu ver.Ka was ages ago and I've learned quite a lot since then. My WIP posts from that time are still here so we can compare what's changed and new with this one.

One notable difference would be the 0603 SMD LEDs and the 30AWG magnet wires I'll be using for this project.

Since the head is actually designed to be lit, everything in this part makes my work a bit easier. In the end, I decided to put the LED onto the neck piece so I can maximize the space originally designed for the LED module. plus this way, the head can still be removed for whatever reason necessary.

Next up would be the backpack. I think this would be one of the simplest parts of this project to work on. Wiring was pretty straightforward since there was plenty of space on the backpack part.

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[WIP] DM MG Exia(Repairs) WIP 1

So after much planning,  I finally got around to working on this.

Much of the work on the head was on where and how to light up the clear pieces on the heads' side. The 0603 SMD LEDs I used was just perfect for the space on the sides. 

I was actually surprised with the amount of space inside the arm inner frame. Those areas really made passing wires through easier. 

The Exias's knee design actually made it hard to pass wiring through that area. There were a few overlapping pieces that could cause mobility problems if not addressed properly.

Also, I had a pair of wires go out the foot so that I can hide the wiring into a display base when I want to display the kit on a standing position. I will also be putting connectors into the crotch area if ever I want to display it in more dynamic/ flying poses.

Since majority of the wiring will be meeting at the main body of the kit, that's what I built last. 

1st, I didn't use the included LED units since I needed to make some space in the chest area for my wiring. Same with the arms and leg parts, the main body was quite spacious so wiring wasn't really complicated.

The final section for wiring was the waist area. Instead of the wiring going around the waist area, I had the wiring pass through the waist area so it looks cleaner with the wiring less obvious. 

I really enjoyed this project. With enough planning I was able to finish this in a week, working for a few hours every day.

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