Aoshima PlaFig Godzilla Minus One

[Thunnus]

Hello everyone!  I'm temporarily halting my aircraft builds due to a couple of trips coming up.  But instead of stopping modeling completely, I thought I'd work on something completely different whenever a chunk of free time presents itself.

 

This figure is based on the most recent Godzilla that Toho released in 2023.  It's not a big figure... probably stands around 12" or so but it seems to be nicely detailed. The parts are are enclosed plastic bags, two sprues per bag, to help prevent part damage.

 

The head, although relatively small compared to the rest of the body, is the most complex assembly of the build and is comprised of six separate parts.

 

The prominent dorsal spines are presented in both solid color and clear sprues, giving the modeler some interesting options.  I've seen a few builds online where the clear parts were used in conjunction with LED lights to make the spine glow.  I won't be doing anything crazy like that!

 

Jumping straight in, I start the build with the torso.  Aoshima provides an internal structural element to provide positive fit and rigidity to the model.

 

This is my first Aoshima kit and I was expecting a snap-fit construction that Bandai uses on its Gundam and Star Wars kits. Although the beefy pin/receptacle arrangement aids in fit, the parts will not stay together without glue.

 

Fit is really good and most the seams will be hidden by the rough skin texture.

 

This iteration of Godzilla features really beefy legs.

 

Here is the aforementioned head assembly with all of the different parts.

 

The rest of the sub-assemblies have been glued together.  I've run some Mr Surfacer 500 putty into the joints but like I said, the joint lines should be well hidden by the skin texture.

 

Here are the major parts minus the head to showcase the nicely dynamic pose of this figure.

 

I was trying to find a way to reduce masking and cut off some of the tabs of the head parts but this lead nowhere and I'll have mask off the mouth and eyes after assembly to protect them from the body painting.

 

[scvrobeson]

Dang, that's really cool looking!  The internal structure is a really neat way to build the figure, and it looks like the fit is very solid.

 

 

Matt 

[Troy Molitor]

Oh no! There goes Tokyo. Go, go Godzilla! 

[Out2gtcha]

Cooooooool!

[Citadelgrad]

Needs a tiny Shinden near his head.

 

(spoiler alert)

 

Very very cool.

[LSP_K2]

I've been a Godzilla fan since I was a tyke. I saw this movie a couple of months back and really enjoyed it. Kit looks cool. When I worked at Trendmasters here many years ago, we did a fair amount of Godzilla and other figures from the movies. I became known as Mothra man, as I did most of the Mothra paint masters to be sent to Japan. 

[Alan P]

I LOVE this film! Saw it on IMAX when it came out and have watched it about a million times since. I've tried to capture the magic since by getting a 1/32 Shinden and 1/350 Takao, but I didn't realise this kit existed before 🏆 

 

Looks like a really well produced kit, it's certainly going together well in your hands. Definitely following this!

[Thunnus]

Hello LSP!  I've just returned from my trip to India and have been slowly decompressing, enjoying the holidays with the family and not exactly jumping straight back onto the modeling bench.  There is so much to do like catching up at work, processing all of the photos that I took on the trip and preparing for a February bass fishing trip at a legendary lake while dealing with the obligatory jet lag.  But I DID get some work on Gojira done in my spare moments of free time...

 

The head of this figure is VERY small and I had a hard time getting the eyes done passably well.  It took about five tries.  After I was satisfied with the eyes, I started to glue the head together.

 

The jaws had well-defined teeth so were easier to paint.

 

Here is the completed head.  I'll have to mask off the eyes and mouth prior to painting but I thought this would be easier than trying to paint afterwards.

 

I'm going to try a painting gimmick with this figure.  For those that have seen the movie, you know that Godzilla's atomic breath is preceeded by the glowing of his dorsal spines and mouth.  In this cinematic iteration, the color is ice-blue.  I stumbled onto a GunPla paint that is clear but glows blue under a UV light and thought this might be a cool little trick.  The interior of the mouth has been treat with the UV-activated clear.

 

Flick on a UV torch and voila... the mouth glows blue!

 

The sub-components are now glued onto the body.

 

Okay, so everything except the dorsal fins have been attached with glue.  Painting is next.

 

 

[LSP_Ray]

Cool!

[Copicops]

you are mastering another subject of modelling, thats cool! 

[Thunnus]

Thanks for the comments!

The eyes and mouth have been masked with Blu-Tack putty.

 

The base coat is Tamiya Black X-1.

 

I then sprayed some highlights using Tamiya Brown X-9.

 

The figure was then given a dry-brushed layer of Tamiya RLM Gray XF-22.

 

[GMK]

Love it!

[scvrobeson]

Really cool painting techniques on this John! Glad that the trip went well for you, happy holidays to you and your family. Hope the rain wasn't too bad down there around Christmas, it sure was damp up here.

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  I appreciate the positive comments very much!

Second round of dry-brushing has been completed using a tan shade: Mr Hobby Aqueous Hemp H-336.

 

[Greg W]

Wonderful job on this John!

 

Using Blu-Tack to protect the work done inside the mouth was brilliant.