This is one of E2046’s ORI Project series of kits.  They have no background in any Manga/Anime series that I know of, but I am definitely no expert and could be mistaken.

From the website:  Qiao Yin is the first work of the Elegance Series, integrating Oriental elements into figures. She is a curious, energetic and caring young woman, with a clever parrot always sitting on her shoulder.

 Here is another of E2046’s fantastic line of resin figures.  The 26 pieces are packaged in several sealed plastic bags.  These bags are wrapped in bubble wrapped and placed, with foam and more bubble wrap, into a plastic tub.  This tub is placed in a sturdy cardboard box which is then shipped halfway around the world in about 2 weeks.  The tan colored, very fine resin contained no casting flaws that I could find, nor was anything broken.

Included is several pages of instructions, but this only includes a parts breakdown and some general hints and tips for working with resin (and this comes in several languages).  A small decal sheet is included, a rather large dragon and two smaller crests.  They look decent, albeit with a home-made look to them.  It'll be interesting to see how they work.

Things started out here with washing the parts in a mild soap and water bath to remove any release agent left on the parts.  Then I took everything out and gave it a coat of primer, in this case Tamiya's fine gray primer in a rattle can.  This does two things. First, since most hobby paints don't stick well to the resin, it gives the paints something to bite in to.  Second, for me at least, it better shows any casting flaws that may have to be dealt with.  Once it was dry thoroughly I carefully placed everything back in its plastic tub, and for some reason never looked at it again.  Other things on the workbench were a higher priority and the kit languished in its semi-started condition.

Fast forward about six months and it was time for a change of venue.  Out again came the kit.  Looking things over I decided on colors, none of which I had at the moment, so off to the LHS I went.  I grabbed a bottle of Model Master Ivory gloss as that was closest to the skin tone I was after, and I picked up a bottle of Kustom Kolor Jade Green.  I've never tried that line of paints before but they were on sale, so I grabbed several bottles.

I sprayed all the body pieces with the Ivory and set them aside to dry.  Not knowing how to mix up the Kustom Kolor, I experimented a bit.  It seemed to respond best to Testors Metalizer thinner, so I went with that.  I sprayed the clothing bits in thin layers and it laid down very nicely.  Her right leg, now covered in a nice gloss coat of ivory, needed green sprayed on a good portion of it.  For this I used a liquid mask, brushed on liberally to the areas that needed protection, and let it dry overnight.  After the green was thoroughly dry, I carefully peeled off the masking agent from her leg.  It came off easily and the ivory underneath it was unmarred.

With some Testors gold (small bottle), a tiny brush, a magnifying glass, and a couple weeks time, I laid down the gold accents to the outfit.  Slow work, to be sure, but it went well and without major flubbs.  Minor areas were easily touched up with the appropriate color.

Originally I was going to paint the shoes gold also, but around here I decided to go with green with silver accents.  I didn't feel like masking and airbrushing the green, so I just brushed it on.  Almost immediately the paint started bubbling on the shoe; the paint reacting with the gloss ivory underneath.  I assume the Kustom Kolor line is a "hot" lacquer and it just didn't like the enamel underneath.  Airbrushing it in light coats causes no ill effects, but laying it on with a brush is just too thick. I cleaned both shoes by gently scrubbing with a cotton swab damp with mineral spirits until I was down to the gray primer.  Still too lazy too mask and airbrush, I ended up brushing a very similar acrylic green for the foot-ware.

The eyes came next, and this is always the most interesting part for me.  The eyes make or break a figure.  I started out by filling in the white areas.  Then the iris was painted brown, and pupils a very dark gray.  Try to keep the pupil/iris on the large size .... Avoid small circles that tend to give the character that "deer-in-the-headlights" stare.  A small dot of white off-center tries to mimic light reflection.  I painted eye-liner around most of the perimeter to add definition.  Next up was her hair.  I decided on a ginger color, thought it would go well with the green.  So I broke out the oil paints and mixed up some orange and brown .... Not too thoroughly as some color variations were desired here.  I painted the hair pieces and also her eyebrows and set things aside to dry.   Of course being oil paints, these took about a week to dry completely. The dragon decal was put on her right leg.  It was fairly stiff and I put small slices in a couple areas to help it conform to the curves.  It did react well to Micro-set and -sol and looks nice on the leg.  The crests were to go on her sleeves, but I did not like the look of them and just left them off.

The actual assembly of the kit was easy.  All the pieces fit well and securely with a bit of superglue.  The side of the breast-piece was a bit too wide but with quick did in very hot water I was able to readjust it easily.  I bought a cheap wood base from a crafts store and threw some stain on it.  I then drilled a hole into the bottom of each foot, added a length of coat-hanger wire, and drilled corresponding holes into the base to keep her secure.  I'm not fond of how the base turned out ..... I may just end up repainting it.

I painted her fan a light blue to match the stocking (peeking out from under her right legging) and hairpieces.  I accented it with silver trim and tried my best to hand paint a Japanese symbol for tranquility randomly on the one face.  Didn't turn out as nice as I wanted but they look okay.  I lined these with gold and moved on to her bird.

The Parrot I painted with oil pants to get some blending between the colors.  This was left to dry for about a week also.  Trying to get it to fit correctly on her shoulder took some doing and marred up the ivory on her shoulder, but this was easily fixed.  A final dull coat was applied … with some apprehension as everything looked so nice as a gloss …. and I called her done.

This is another fantastic quality kit from E2046.  Everything about it, from the almost flawless casting to the care that is evident in packaging and shipment, screams first-class.  These are great kits to do when you just need a break from the norm.

Dale Rannals

May 2013

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