I needed a break from reality so I put the mostly-finished Apache aside until I can airbrush it and grabbed my neglected R2 kit. I started on this last summer and then got distracted by other kits. Now, however, I’ve dived in to finish this one before building another. We’ll see.

I don’t feel like bothering with the airbrush right now so this is all spray paint. I didn’t like the slightly yellow-tinged white plastic color and found the blue to be very plastic-y looking, so I painted them with Tamiya spray paints. White parts are getting white primer followed by glass clear while blue gets an under coat of aluminum followed by a dark metallic blue that looks reasonably close to the “real” R2. Once the blue started to dry, I went at corners and edges with a toothpick and dinged him up like we always saw in the films. It came out pretty well just from putting the dome together.

I had to devise my own way to build the dome as I cannot abide the seam that runs from one side to the other. I found that most of the dome parts could have the various tabs and pins removed to enable fitting them together later. Granted, this requires glue so it’s not meant for beginners but the dome looks so much better with the seam filled and coated with buffing Metalizer aluminum (if I do say so myself.)

The one problem I didn’t anticipate – because I used Metalizer on my Cylon – is how much of the aluminum accidentally rubs onto the blue as I finagle the parts back together. I have Metalizer sealant but as it fills the effect, I’m hesitant to use it. And, of course, the blue parts are already integrated and I don’t know what effect sealant will have on regular paint. Going to have to test on some scrap and see…