Posted: 05.23.2024
Battle Suit Peko
Yet another custom Pekora?
Purusing my tried and true toy forums, I saw someone post this kit the other week.
Instant infatuation. I knew I must grab Tukirna as quickly as possible.
One dirt cheap yahoo auctions listing later, Tukirna is in my possession and ready to be peko-fied.
Bandai's 30MS Tukirna Diearth, fully built and ready to customize.
A stunning transformation, turning Tukirna into a Peko'd battle suit.
On this episode of How It's Made:
As always, project starts with the head and torso!
Gremlin mode
Another quick and easy 30MS build.
This full body took maybe 2 hours? Not bad!
Time to begin working on her alternate parts.
And after another 2 hours or so, armor pieces are finished!
I thoroughly enjoy the design of this kit although that hip gap is atrocious if not positioned properly.
While disassembling the figure, I took some time to sand her joints down to alleviate paint rub.
Let's talk about washing your kit!
In my opinion, this is THE method. All you need is one of these plastic containers typically used for nuts, trail mix, etc.
After removing the labels and cleaning the vessel, pop a few small holes in one side of the lid.
Dump your parts into the container.
Add hot water and a small amount of dish soap.
Let the parts sit in this water and soap bath for an hour or two.
Pour the soapy water out of the container through the holes in the lid. Continually add clean water to the container and repeat until there is no more soap left.
Once you've thoroughly rinsed the parts and removed all traces of soap, remove the clean pieces and let them dry overnight on some clean paper towels. Once they're fully dry, you can begin your priming/painting process.
Speaking of:
Here's all of Tukirna's parts, clean and ready for paint!
I had to use nearly every alligator clip I own. Over 100 parts had to painted for this one. Not the easiest project I've taken on.
Two of the custom paint colors I mixed for this model kit. A fun, bright orange and a more subdued periwinkle blue. My attempt at matching the colors of carrots and Peko's hair.
In this small photo, you can see the base coats of paint if you squint and look really close.
I used up the remainder of the pearl white I mixed months ago for Neverlia and Acerby.
Some smaller parts, painted by hand with a standard brush, still in need of some clean up.
And then back to more airbrushing!
One of Peko's battle legs, un-weathered but painted, sealed, and assembled.
That same leg, now from a different angle! Wow!
I don't know what to call these. Blades? Fins? Boot knives? Whatever they are, they've been painted and weathered to give a "used-in-action" kind of feel.
Starting the weathering process on the armor pieces.
Here's an early test fit for Pekora's head on the stock Tukirna body.
And a later test fit on the unarmored body. Coming together well!
And that's about all I have for work in progress information.
I didn't take as many photos as I usually do. Oh well.
On to the final product!
Battle Suit Pekora!
Looking down on your sad, pathetic existence.
Usagi the Megami
I don't have a whole lot to say about this one other than the figure was fun to make and I'm happy with how she turned out.
The weathering may be a bit heavy handed in some spots, but I enjoy making some battle suits look like they've been through hell (or the war on Pekoland).
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I'm going to take a hiatus from custom Pekoras for a while and try making something totally new next.
Thus concludes Battle Suit Pekora. Thanks for checking out this fun project; hope you enjoyed it!
Check out the full gallery for my completed figure using the link below.
