I ordered the Justitia armour set for Iria back in December and it finally arrived yesteday (a heavy armour package and a light feather package arrived together). I dyed it yesterday and painted it today, but the lance is still not done. I realized that I’m running out of MSC semi-gloss and I really hope there’s enough for it, too, because it takes several months for me to get more. =__=

Anyway, a bit of arrival and wip photos and some babble about it.

EDIT// Added some more detailed armour photos to the end -as if the entry wasn’t img heavy enough

It all started with yet another Zenith box.

All the stuffs.

Resin parts. I asked Souldoll NOT to glue anything in, but I’m not surprised they forgot. I don’t know how the heck they expect their customers to paint these things with everything on, but I guess that’s for us to figure out? (It was the same with the Devonia/Kyron stuff too.) That waist thing has an elastic band inside it, and really, HOW do you paint it with it sewed on already?

And testing them on, lol. Well, didn’t go so far as to restring the arms and legs on, but anyway.

The shield has this latch that closes around the left armguard and stays right there. It doesn’t move at all, which really limits the posing -but it’s stable. The fact that they glued half of it on the shield already kind of pisses me off, because they didn’t glue it in the right position. It’s not the first time either. Many of the Devonia/Kyron stuff were glued in all wonky, too.

The lance has a magnetic handle, which is quite sturdy, but it could be better. The weight of that thing is quite daunting and I’m not sure if she’ll be able to do very much with it. Also annoying that this whole thing is made of halves and it’s also not glued in perfectly. Like, how about don’t do it if you can’t do it properly? >_>

And then I moved onto the dyeing.

And the results were…

Blue! But kind of a fancy blue, lol. I used black dye and I expected to get some sort of a grey or grey-black result. But nope, they ended up blue. However, it’s a good base colour for a metallic painting, although it will end up blue-ish.

But Souldoll really get’s another minus on the fact that I had to do this. If they’d used darker resin already, there’d be no need for a base colour. I could not leave them white under the airbrushing because a) when it chips, the white shows right through and b) the metallic paints need a darker base and that would just be a waste of paint.

This was my first ever dye job and it was quite fun but took ages because of the amount of the parts. I left out the helmet, because although it’s fancy, I don’t need it. Not sure if anyone would want to buy it blue, so I didn’t touch it. xD Also the lance… oh that lance. I have no idea what Souldoll had done to it, but half of it really didn’t take on any dye or just blotches of it. So, that one needed a base paint, but it’s fine.

Another thing that happened during the dying was that some of the parts got distorted. Most notably the chest armour. But that was to be expected because I hung them with string that pulled them into a different position. (I’m so glad the magnets didn’t lose their power in the boiling water, because that would’ve really sucked.)

I had to reshape the torso armour on her once the dye job was complete because they no longer fit together OR on her. :P

And here my lovely wire systems for the painting.

WIP photo of that with the untouched helmet for comparison. A huge difference. :D

And then I was done, with the exception of the lance that kind of looks like a toy right now, so it needs another layer of paint:

She’s wearing the AS kamen (and yes, it’s upside down), but it’s a bit big for her. I think it’s made of some other plastic, so I don’t know if I can bend it with heat, but I’m going to try.

Aand that’s it. This body is kind of an idiot to pose as is, and with all the stuff on it becomes a huge pain in the ass. That torso joint is so stiff and refuses to move properly with clothes on (and then it’s sort of loose when it doesn’t sit in a pose properly), so just imagine how impossible it’s to pose with all that resin stuff on her. There’s no place where you can really grab it and turn it. Besides the joint is inside the torso armour, so that makes it even worse. Why did you move it there, Souldoll???

The shield is also very annoying because it rubs against the shoulder guard, scraping the paint off (this is why I dyed it, at least I don’t get white scratches), And she can’t even hold it in front of her because a) Souldoll glued the attachment in the wrong position and b) her damn elbow doesn’t rotate!! It drives me NUTS. It’s also really hard to operate the new nuggets now that there’s a lot of resin around it. x__x

She also can’t really turn her head. Another mold might work better, I don’t know, but Uha’s head sit’s in quite low on the neck (which is already short as is) and her jaw comes down really low. And with the way the shoulder guards are attached they can’t move along with the arm to protect them. They only move up and down, and the other one scratched the paint on the torso armour. Either it was that way or it also got distorted while I dyed it. I’m gonna see if I can bend it back.

I didn’t think much of the wings before I saw them in person, but they’re okay. The thing they’re attached to makes me laugh, though. I call it a jetpack, because that’s what it looks like, lol. I quickly tested the lance on her too, and damn it kind of tips the balance and goes over the weight limit she can easily handle. It’s also VERY limited in how you can hold it without scraping it all against everything else. I couldn’t test it properly, though, because I haven’t coated the first layer of paint yet, so it chips really easily.

This looks fancy and all, but from now on, no matter what fancy things Souldoll makes, I’m gonna pass. I’ll just stick to Withdoll because their stuff is great, lightweight and works (I love Prisca’s shield) +it’s in black resin.

I’m also still seeing what to do with this head. I should first re-do the eyebrows, but if I can’t, I’ll have to re-do the whole face up (I don’t wanna!). And if that doesn’t work, I’ll just get her another head. Lime would definitely work, but I don’t think I want to go that grumpy unless I have to (cause I already have Sigrun and her head is not sold separately). But there are some options for me… What I’d really love, though, is a white skin SG Saiph from Soom, but I’m not sure if any were made in WS. I don’t think they were?

Ugh, now I need to find a new owner for that fancy helmet, and I think Kyron’s scythe, too, because I can never get around to painting, let alone gluing it together.

Oh, and I made the uniform she’s wearing. Very much inspired by the Justitia outfit, but with my own flare added to it. I only had large snaps for the sleeves so they’re kind of idiotic until I can fix them (or I might just sew them shut, because the thing can’t be removed with ther armour arms anyway). Some photos of the outfit alone:

EDIT// I took some proper photos of the paintjob on the armour parts. So more images, ahoy :’D

Another

Another

Another. It’s a bit of a pain to put on, so I didn’t bother for these photos, sorry.

There’s a clip -kind of a thing under the arms for attaching the front and back together.

And an attachment for the ‘jetpack’. And the paint has already scratched due to the other pauldron scraping against the back, sigh.

This would be the jetpack. xD The end pegs move so that you can angle the wings. And well, the whole thing can be put in a different position so that you can tilt the wings for some cool action poses, but I’m not sure if she can do any with all the weight. xD