This Rei Ayanami model was inspired by an illustration I found here on FlickR, posted by Awee_19 - for reference, check the posted picture below (since I cannot add it here).

I am not sure what this illustration actually is? Just a semi-official sketch or design version by Ikuto Yamashita, a cover of a fan magzine or a dojinshi? If anyone knows, please let me know!

Anyway, the illustration left a deep impression and I found this alternative Rei design very interesting: the deep blue, asymmetric plugsuit, the red contrasts (reminds me a bit of a Bubblegum Crisis' Priss in her Hardsuit?), the ice blue hair...
Very cool and different, but still "on character" and a unique contrast to the classic white TV series version. Right from the start I knew I would build this character.

First obstacle was to find and actually hunt down an approriate 1:6 scale resin kit for this project. Finally, I got my hands on a cheap recast kit. The kit itself is very good: it offers alternative arm and head pieces for different plugsuit versions, ranging from a "clean" look (which became the basis here) to a bandaged arm in various poses to an alternative, bandaged head. The kit is very nicely detailed, e. g. it features a seperate satchel piece for the back with openings, so that the spine protector (looks like a row of scales) on the figure's back can actually be seen.

So far, so good, but... using a recast kit means that you have to pay a different price than just raw money. The kit came complete, but its casting quality was rather so so. Fit of the bigger parts was good, but upon closer inspection I found a lot of casting flaws. Small, but they summed up, including bubbles at ridges, a hole/depression in one leg where resin was simply missing, poor surfaces with waves and ripples, and bent thin parts (e. g. the seperate rims under the figure's breasts). As a consequence: lots of putty work became necessary - in multiple stages! Ugh...

Building the kit:
For the kit's conversion according to the illustration, two major areas of work had to be dealt with:

First and most obvious detail was the left leg, which is - judging the illustration - a "boot", separated from the rest of the suit and only connected through a tube with somewhere on the back of the figure.

The tube adapter on the left upper leg was built from scratch and putty. Since it is a bulging part and the kit's "natural" left arm position would block sight onto the piece, I moved the left elbow into a different angle - easy task, since the kit's arm consists of two separate parts.

Since no back side view of the figure was available, I assumed that the tube from the hip ends at the satchel unit on the figure's back. Matching connectors and details were added there, too, from Plastruct and Vollmer profile material, putty and bits from the scrapbox.

The second big design challenge was to find good material for the characteristic tubes, which I wanted to include in the figure. I assume that these are pressure tubes which enhance the plug suit's vacuum function, for its tight fit? Not sure, but they look cool...

What made the task quite tricky was the fact that these tubes appear to be (at least in some parts) transparent on the illustration? Through sheer luck I found a neat solution among picture frame equipment: round 3mm diameter cables made from a transparent plastic material - probably polycarbonate. The material is stiff and strong, hard to cut, but can be formed and bent through heat (and patience). I used boiling water and a simple hair dryer for this task, and it turned out that this material was just excellent for shaping the various cables that run along the figure.

Plugs and other stuff along the clear tubes were again made from Plastruct profiles, thread, duct tape and more pieces from the junk box.

Painting and finishing the kit:
For painting, I completely went for the brush. The illustration looks simple, but upon closer inspection I found lots of different shades of blue and violet.
After fillering and priming (a tedious task - the recast surface was more uneven than expected, and with each primer turn more flaws became visible...), I laid out the red contrasts first with Humbrol 153 (Insignia Red; FS 31136) and 174 (Signal Red), and some detail areas like the soft knee guards in flat black (Humbrol 33) with dry brushing in Oxford Blue (Humbrol 104).

Next, the suit received a base color of RAL 5010 "Lufthansa Blue". I used 350 from Revell - I had preferred Humbrol's 198, since I hate Revell colors for their pasty consistency, but this tone is out of production... Finding a good, "pure" blue tone that would match the illustration was pretty tough, because many stock tones just are too grey or have a greenish hue.

Violet contrast areas, e.g. the "belt" under the breasts and the areas in the armpits and on the lower arms, received a basic

This dark-eyed junco was hanging out in the shade at Fort Whyte...