When it comes to mobile suits, (IMHO) the cream of the crop as far as Gundam series go is Gundam 00. It's story is kind of a cross between Wing and Seed but it's suits are monsters. You would be very hard pressed to find a Gundam from any series that could go one on one with Setsuna in the Quanta...maybe Camille in Zeta, Kira in Strike Freedom and Amuro in Hi-Nu but that's about it. For me, the 00 suits are more high-tech than any other series, more original and the solar reactors give them a unique look while retaining the whole Minovsky-like mystique that the original series had (got to have some back story to explain how they can make 60 foot robots move around like ninjas!).
With this in mind, I was of course super-excited to see that 00's Exia would be getting a RG release. I have had a blast making the RG's I have made so far (Freedom, grunt Zaku, Full Vernian, Justice, and Mark II) so I expected big things with this kit. Bandai, of course in their own unique way, delivers on that but I have no doubt there will be some issues. At least Exia doesn't have a monster back pack so standing it should be easy. BTW, I was so keen to get this kit that I double ordered it so I ended up with 2 Exia's. Bandai Online store has an Astrea parts kit for it so hopefully I can get my hands on one of them so I can make an Astrea out of the 2nd one.
I've decided that this kit will be my first FULLY PAINTED Gundam. I've painted the frame on the last bunch of gundams I've made and the weapons as well and sometimes highlight colours but never the armor panels (other than flat clear) from head to toe. I'm going to play with the red and blue a bit to try and get some sparkle from them so I can try and make it look like it's going into Trans Am mode. Hopefully it'll look cooler than Bandai's lame Trans Am mode kits, which they just colour the parts pink.
Wednesday 27 August 2014
Saturday 16 August 2014
Tank (side) Tracks: Trumpeter 1/35 Russian T-80B MBT
I am both loving and hating my foray into 1/35 tank modeling. The amount of detail available in the tank world makes PG Gundams look like toys, which I love, but the fiddliness of the tiny details makes my eyes and fingers ache! I already started the Academy Merkava III kit but soon added Fruil metal tracks and a Legend Productions resin-based detail-up set that pushed the kit from my beginner kit to a long term project. I'm still skittish about working with resin as I develop my skills so I'm on a side-journey into this Russian main battle tank kit. I don't know much about Russian armour but this tank seems to have been in service in a similar time frame to the Merkava III. A quick wikipedia check tells me the T-80 entered service in 1976 while the T-80B entered service in 1978 and it's improvements were a new turret, autoloader and fire-control which allowed the firing of the Kobra anti-tank guided missile as well as improved composite armor.
This Trumpeter kit is on par with Dragon kits as far as detail and sheer parts count goes. 4 sprues of brown track links (with jig included for assembling tracks), approximately 20 sprues of gray plastic parts, turret, hull and clear parts. As is becoming the standard in the tank world, a sheet of photoetch is included. For this build I have also added E.T. Model's detail-up set for the T-80B which includes a large and 4 small sheets of photoetch, a resin antenna and a small fret of resin parts. I must be a glutton for punishment with all the photoetch for this kit but I'll take it slow.
First up is the drudgery part of the kit. The wheels and track pieces all need to be cut from the sprues and cleaned up which I find oddly soothing. I keep the parts in little bags and while I watch TV I clean the parts up with a file and sandpaper. The wheels have huge connections to the sprue, leaving nice big nubs when you cut them off so hours of cleaning these parts is ahead of me. As I'm doing the wheels I noticed in the instructions that the hubs on the outer wheels are NOT molded into the wheel itself but are a separate piece. These pieces are difficult to put onto the wheel as the center part of the wheel is sunken beneath the rim of the wheel making it impossible to get my fingers in there to push the hub onto the wheel. I figured it out eventually after much trial and error: use the flat end of a bamboo skewer and a tiny ball of blu-tack to get the hub lined up (there is a notch you need to line up) and then use my fingernails to push the hub down. Gluing this piece traditionally is impossible as it takes me anywhere from 10-30 minutes to get the tricky pieces to line up so what I did was put the hub on then use some Humbrol glue with the needle applicator to put some glue to the joint from the inside of the wheel. If this is an indication of how this build is going to go, it'll be a loooong build!
Some early build shots....track links...you've got to cut them each off the sprue and there's 4 sprues of track links. I keep them in a coffee can so I don't lose any while I'm cleaning them up as cutting them from the sprue leaves some bad scars.
Road wheels. The wheels are nice but they have a couple issues...the aforementioned outer wheel hub issue as well as the amount of cleanup they need. Cutting them from the sprue leaves 3 hellish scars which have to go and there's a seam line all the way around the wheel that has to go. Bandai is the market leader when it comes to thinking about placing pieces on the sprue and where the cuts will be and if they'll be visible but even they can't get around it sometimes...for example, the chromed swords in the RG Exia and PG Astray Red Frame cannot be removed without leaving a visible scar. So I shouldn't harp too much on Trumpeter for theirs, especially in such a wonderfully detailed kit. I don't mind cleaning up parts anyway, I usually do it when I'm watching TV. Here is the first batch of inner road wheels. I am using 2 new paints here....Vallejo's Russian Green polyeurathane primer, which is as good as their other primers in this line and having it in Russian Green saves me having to prime then basecoat it; The rubber "tires" are done with AK Interactive's acrylic "Rubber Tires" paint, by hand, another excellent product.
This Trumpeter kit is on par with Dragon kits as far as detail and sheer parts count goes. 4 sprues of brown track links (with jig included for assembling tracks), approximately 20 sprues of gray plastic parts, turret, hull and clear parts. As is becoming the standard in the tank world, a sheet of photoetch is included. For this build I have also added E.T. Model's detail-up set for the T-80B which includes a large and 4 small sheets of photoetch, a resin antenna and a small fret of resin parts. I must be a glutton for punishment with all the photoetch for this kit but I'll take it slow.
First up is the drudgery part of the kit. The wheels and track pieces all need to be cut from the sprues and cleaned up which I find oddly soothing. I keep the parts in little bags and while I watch TV I clean the parts up with a file and sandpaper. The wheels have huge connections to the sprue, leaving nice big nubs when you cut them off so hours of cleaning these parts is ahead of me. As I'm doing the wheels I noticed in the instructions that the hubs on the outer wheels are NOT molded into the wheel itself but are a separate piece. These pieces are difficult to put onto the wheel as the center part of the wheel is sunken beneath the rim of the wheel making it impossible to get my fingers in there to push the hub onto the wheel. I figured it out eventually after much trial and error: use the flat end of a bamboo skewer and a tiny ball of blu-tack to get the hub lined up (there is a notch you need to line up) and then use my fingernails to push the hub down. Gluing this piece traditionally is impossible as it takes me anywhere from 10-30 minutes to get the tricky pieces to line up so what I did was put the hub on then use some Humbrol glue with the needle applicator to put some glue to the joint from the inside of the wheel. If this is an indication of how this build is going to go, it'll be a loooong build!
Some early build shots....track links...you've got to cut them each off the sprue and there's 4 sprues of track links. I keep them in a coffee can so I don't lose any while I'm cleaning them up as cutting them from the sprue leaves some bad scars.
Road wheels. The wheels are nice but they have a couple issues...the aforementioned outer wheel hub issue as well as the amount of cleanup they need. Cutting them from the sprue leaves 3 hellish scars which have to go and there's a seam line all the way around the wheel that has to go. Bandai is the market leader when it comes to thinking about placing pieces on the sprue and where the cuts will be and if they'll be visible but even they can't get around it sometimes...for example, the chromed swords in the RG Exia and PG Astray Red Frame cannot be removed without leaving a visible scar. So I shouldn't harp too much on Trumpeter for theirs, especially in such a wonderfully detailed kit. I don't mind cleaning up parts anyway, I usually do it when I'm watching TV. Here is the first batch of inner road wheels. I am using 2 new paints here....Vallejo's Russian Green polyeurathane primer, which is as good as their other primers in this line and having it in Russian Green saves me having to prime then basecoat it; The rubber "tires" are done with AK Interactive's acrylic "Rubber Tires" paint, by hand, another excellent product.
Monday 11 August 2014
A Primer on Primer
Before painting, primer is used. It can clean up tiny surface imperfections like sanding marks but can also accentuate any nub marks left on a piece so nub marks should be sanded off well. It's main purpose, however, is to prepare the surface for paint. Paint does not stick well to the plastic, especially large flat pieces like those in gundam or tank models.
Primer also influences the colour that is painted over it so there are some basic rules I've come up with regarding primer color:
Military colours and dark colours - green, brown, dark blue, black: Grey Primer.
Bright colours - red, yellow, light blue and green, pink: White Primer
Metallic colours - silver variants (iron, steel, aluminium): Black Primer
Other metallics - gold, brass: Silver Primer (haven't tried this one yet but soon).
There are additional colours for tanks such as sand or german grey that is a lot closer to the colour that will be painted over it. The more a colour is different than the primer it's going over, the more paint you'll need to use. I have created effects by painting a whole piece one colour but the different parts in it were primed different colours...in this case, I used gunmetal over black and grey and the difference in colour was quite a lot.
There's a few types of primer I use:
Vallejo Polyeurethane: This comes pre-mixed and ready to spray which I love. I have used grey, white, black, sand yellow and they're all great. They spray MUCH better out of the .35mm Iwata airbrush I use than the .30mm Runway 13 one so I use the Iwata with this primer exclusively.
Vallejo primers come in 60ml bottles and very handy 200ml bottles with great spouts for pouring primer directly into the airbrush. Shake them very well before use, especially the grey as it separates into a white and dark layer.
Mr Hobby (Gunze Sangyou or GSI Creos) surfacers/primers are just like Mr Hobby laquer paint. They must be thinned for use. They come in different 'thicknesses' which refers to the grit in the primer so higher numbers refer to a finer surfacer. As you can see they have lots of products as well as Mr Surfacer such as Mr Primer/Surfacer (don't ask, I don't know the difference between Mr Surfacer 1000 and Mr Primer/Surfacer 1000), Mr Resin Primer (for resin models obviously) and Mr White Base which is simply Mr Surfacer in white. These primers are of a very high quality with the obvious disadvantage that you need to mix them up first.
Just to add a note on Mr Surfacer. Every time I use them I'm more impressed with the quality. Vallejo primers seem like a tight layer of protection around the model which is good but these go on so well they become part of the model. I haven't used them enough to differentiate between situations in which I'd use different grades of Mr Surfacer, so far I've only really used 1000, but as I use them more I'll get more of a feel for them. As for mixing them, I mix them like I mix paint....add Mr Surfacer to thinner until it becomes the viscosity of milk...I use this method rather than measuring out amounts. I think I tend to make my paint/primer too thin but I'd rather do that and have to layer the paint/primer on than make it too thick and have airbrush issues.
Alclad primers also come pre-thinned so are ready to use right out of the bottle. Shake very well, there are some little bearings in there that you can hear rattling around to help. I use black for silvery Alclad colours and grey for gold-type colours. The middle bottle is enamel gloss black base for their high-shine colours. Alclad primer, like their paint, is very thin. I prefer to use my smaller nozzled airbrush (.30mm) for Alclad to decrease my paint use as it's so expensive and being thinned already you really go through the paint. The primer is comparable to the finest Mr Surfacer as far as thickness goes.
Gaianotes primers also have to be thinned, like Mr Hobby. I rate their paint a bit higher quality than Gunze, but they're close. I got these because Gunze didn't use to do colours, just the standard grey primer, but pretty much everyone does a grey, white and black one so the only really unique one here is the silver one.
As with all my paints, for thinning primers, I match the primer to the paint. Gaianotes and Mr Hobby are both laquer based but I use Gaianotes thinner for Gaianotes and Mr Hobby thinner for their primer/surfacers. Perhaps this is a bit wasteful but in my experience you never go wrong using the primer that is meant for any paint/thinner.
As for enamels and acrylics I tend not to use them as primers. Lacquer paint is so tough and durable that you can use any paint over it but with enamel and acrylic you have to watch out for other paints eating them. I use enamel/acrylic paints as well as lacquer but always lacquer primer.
Primer also influences the colour that is painted over it so there are some basic rules I've come up with regarding primer color:
Military colours and dark colours - green, brown, dark blue, black: Grey Primer.
Bright colours - red, yellow, light blue and green, pink: White Primer
Metallic colours - silver variants (iron, steel, aluminium): Black Primer
Other metallics - gold, brass: Silver Primer (haven't tried this one yet but soon).
There are additional colours for tanks such as sand or german grey that is a lot closer to the colour that will be painted over it. The more a colour is different than the primer it's going over, the more paint you'll need to use. I have created effects by painting a whole piece one colour but the different parts in it were primed different colours...in this case, I used gunmetal over black and grey and the difference in colour was quite a lot.
There's a few types of primer I use:
Vallejo Polyeurethane: This comes pre-mixed and ready to spray which I love. I have used grey, white, black, sand yellow and they're all great. They spray MUCH better out of the .35mm Iwata airbrush I use than the .30mm Runway 13 one so I use the Iwata with this primer exclusively.
Just to add a note on Mr Surfacer. Every time I use them I'm more impressed with the quality. Vallejo primers seem like a tight layer of protection around the model which is good but these go on so well they become part of the model. I haven't used them enough to differentiate between situations in which I'd use different grades of Mr Surfacer, so far I've only really used 1000, but as I use them more I'll get more of a feel for them. As for mixing them, I mix them like I mix paint....add Mr Surfacer to thinner until it becomes the viscosity of milk...I use this method rather than measuring out amounts. I think I tend to make my paint/primer too thin but I'd rather do that and have to layer the paint/primer on than make it too thick and have airbrush issues.
As with all my paints, for thinning primers, I match the primer to the paint. Gaianotes and Mr Hobby are both laquer based but I use Gaianotes thinner for Gaianotes and Mr Hobby thinner for their primer/surfacers. Perhaps this is a bit wasteful but in my experience you never go wrong using the primer that is meant for any paint/thinner.
As for enamels and acrylics I tend not to use them as primers. Lacquer paint is so tough and durable that you can use any paint over it but with enamel and acrylic you have to watch out for other paints eating them. I use enamel/acrylic paints as well as lacquer but always lacquer primer.
Friday 30 May 2014
Tank Beginner - - Merkava Mk. III Conversion
When it comes to military models, I don't have much of a preference. I like Japanese and American WWII ships and planes since the Pacific theatre of war is the one that directly affected my own country. But when it comes to military kits, ships and planes have to take a back seat to the king of detail: tanks. Admittedly you can get just as detailed on a ship or plane as you can with a tank with today's superb kits and addons but ground-based armor adds a dimension unique to itself...mud/dirt/rust/dust/sand/damage...in other words weathering. Tanks get more banged up than ships or planes and they are usually covered in whatever is on the ground they're fighting on.
When it comes to tank modeling, the market is HEAVILY weighted towards Germany in WWII. Dragon, especially, with it's super detailed kits seems intent on producing every single version of Panzer, Tiger and all German armor, real and even ones that never got off the drawing board.
I have a couple Dragon kits of German WWII tanks but to begin my tank building I decided to go for an easier kit. Looking around at the impressive range of modern tanks, I found one that to me, is the coolest looking tank in the world: Israel's Merkava. Its awesome low-profile mean stance is matched by it's performance and equally impressive is that it's a vehicle designed and build by Israel for itself.
I picked up the much-maligned Academy Merkava III kit cheap and played around with it but a few things popped up to make me change my mind and rather than build a starter kit as I planned, the project has morphed into my first attempt at a conversion kit. The issues with the Academy Merk III are well-documented on the net but the big ones are the tracks (rubber bands) and the turret. As a result of my ambitition to get into resin and also my need to get some experience with making link-by-link tracks, I picked up a set of Fruil tracks and Legend Productions' Merkava Mk. III Detailing Set (Blk.III). Fruil tracks are considered the best available and are made in Hungary; Legend Productions are a leader in resin conversions and kits, especially IDF kits.
When it comes to tank modeling, the market is HEAVILY weighted towards Germany in WWII. Dragon, especially, with it's super detailed kits seems intent on producing every single version of Panzer, Tiger and all German armor, real and even ones that never got off the drawing board.
I have a couple Dragon kits of German WWII tanks but to begin my tank building I decided to go for an easier kit. Looking around at the impressive range of modern tanks, I found one that to me, is the coolest looking tank in the world: Israel's Merkava. Its awesome low-profile mean stance is matched by it's performance and equally impressive is that it's a vehicle designed and build by Israel for itself.
I picked up the much-maligned Academy Merkava III kit cheap and played around with it but a few things popped up to make me change my mind and rather than build a starter kit as I planned, the project has morphed into my first attempt at a conversion kit. The issues with the Academy Merk III are well-documented on the net but the big ones are the tracks (rubber bands) and the turret. As a result of my ambitition to get into resin and also my need to get some experience with making link-by-link tracks, I picked up a set of Fruil tracks and Legend Productions' Merkava Mk. III Detailing Set (Blk.III). Fruil tracks are considered the best available and are made in Hungary; Legend Productions are a leader in resin conversions and kits, especially IDF kits.
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| Legend Productions Merkava Mk. III Detailing Set |
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| Fruil Merkava III Tracks (ATL-49) |
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| Academy Merkava III Base Kit |
Saturday 10 May 2014
Tools Pt. 1 - Airbrush
Although I do handpaint some stuff, especially on cars and for detailing or touch ups, the majority of the painting I do is with an airbrush. Its more expensive to start up with than either brushes or spraycans but in the long run it's cheaper than both and it just plain looks better.
I have 2 airbrushes, a Sparmax DH-103 and a Runway 13 Nozomi:
I broke the nozzle on the Sparmax airbrush. I cleaned it and was putting it back together and tightened the nozzle too much with the wrench that comes with the airbrush. The brass nozzle snapped in half. Be careful, airbrush nozzles are very soft. I used a nozzle scraping tool to get the threaded half of the nozzle out of the airbrush. Ordered a new nozzle and a needle as well so I'd have a spare needle, the parts aren't too expensive, around 20 dollars (Australian) each. One thing to look out for when cleaning airbrushes is the nozzle passage BEHIND the paint cup. It's obvious that you clean the passage in front of it (between the paint cup and the nozzle) but if the passage behind gets blocked then the needle cannot pass through it. This happened to me when I had the nozzle/needle out waiting for replacement parts. When I went to reassemble the airbrush, the needle would not pass through the paint block. Got the airbrush cleaner out (Tamiya) and soaked it a bit then cleaned it up with a long needle and blew the residue out (airbrush cleaner tastes crap). I used a lot of Tamiya Metallic Grey on the model I'm working on (RG Aile Strike) and I find acrylic paint to be 'gunky' in that it leaves sticky residue behind, one of the reasons I prefer enamel and especially lacquer paints.
New Toy Alert!
Decided to go all in and get one more airbrush, an Iwata.
Iwata Eclipse. This airbrush has a slightly larger nozzle than my S[armax, .035mm. Made in Japan and carrying the best reputation in airbrushes, I'm looking forward to giving this a full workout.
I have 2 airbrushes, a Sparmax DH-103 and a Runway 13 Nozomi:
New Toy Alert!
Decided to go all in and get one more airbrush, an Iwata.
Friday 18 April 2014
Gundam Kit Rankings
I've only been doing it about a year so far but here's a list of my favourite Gundam kits that I've built, organized into the different scales/qualities:
HG (144:1)
1. Graham Aker's Brave Commander Test Type: 00 is my favourite Gundam series. All the suits in it are awesome as well as the characters. One of my favourite characters is Mr Bushido, Graham Aker. He's all about melee fighting and has probably the most unique Gundams out of any pilot ever. This suit is the one he used in Awakening of the Trailblazer.
2. Astray Gold Frame Amatsu Mina: I love the Astray side story, it tops my list of what story I'd like to see get an anime. This suit is easily the most non-conventional suit not only in the Astray line but in the whole Seed world. Lots of fun to build.
RG (144:1)
1. Justice Gundam: Even though I can't stand Athrun, his suits are the business. Justice has probably the coolest flight pack in the seed world and only 00 Raiser compares to it in all the Gundam worlds. RG kits are a lot of fun because they're so detailed at such a small size.
2. Gundam Mk II (Titans): The Mk II is a bit of a sleeper suit. Overshadowed in it's own series by both the Zeta and the Hyaku Shiki, it's a great suit that never really got a pilot that could use it to it's fullest. This is probably the best suit in the entire RG line and the colour scheme for the Titans version is just so cool.
MG (100:1)
1. Zeta Gundam (2.0): Only a few suits get updated versions simply because they're so popular. In Japan, the 3 most popular pilots are Char, Amuro and Camille and their main suits have all had at least 2 versions (Amuro's RX-78-2 has had 5 MG's alone and that doesn't count the variants based on it). The Zeta is of course a powerhouse suit that has been piloted by some of the best pilots in Gundam history (Camille, Amuro and Shin Matsunaga have all had custom Zeta's at some point). Zeta is wicked because it can transform, and do it well (unlike Bandai's awful Macross transformable kits) and it has a great arsenal of weapons highlighted by the massive Mega Launcher.
2. Ez-8: The 8th team is my favourite UC series and Shirou is my favourite UC character. This ground-based Gundam is actually pretty low on the list when it comes to specifications and abilities, but Shirou more than makes up for that with his sheer tenacity. Not a newtype like the other main pilots, he gets it done through hard work. His suit has a good range of weapons, a cool backpack to carry them all in and it just oozes 0079-era class.
HG (144:1)
1. Graham Aker's Brave Commander Test Type: 00 is my favourite Gundam series. All the suits in it are awesome as well as the characters. One of my favourite characters is Mr Bushido, Graham Aker. He's all about melee fighting and has probably the most unique Gundams out of any pilot ever. This suit is the one he used in Awakening of the Trailblazer.
2. Astray Gold Frame Amatsu Mina: I love the Astray side story, it tops my list of what story I'd like to see get an anime. This suit is easily the most non-conventional suit not only in the Astray line but in the whole Seed world. Lots of fun to build.
RG (144:1)
1. Justice Gundam: Even though I can't stand Athrun, his suits are the business. Justice has probably the coolest flight pack in the seed world and only 00 Raiser compares to it in all the Gundam worlds. RG kits are a lot of fun because they're so detailed at such a small size.
2. Gundam Mk II (Titans): The Mk II is a bit of a sleeper suit. Overshadowed in it's own series by both the Zeta and the Hyaku Shiki, it's a great suit that never really got a pilot that could use it to it's fullest. This is probably the best suit in the entire RG line and the colour scheme for the Titans version is just so cool.
MG (100:1)
1. Zeta Gundam (2.0): Only a few suits get updated versions simply because they're so popular. In Japan, the 3 most popular pilots are Char, Amuro and Camille and their main suits have all had at least 2 versions (Amuro's RX-78-2 has had 5 MG's alone and that doesn't count the variants based on it). The Zeta is of course a powerhouse suit that has been piloted by some of the best pilots in Gundam history (Camille, Amuro and Shin Matsunaga have all had custom Zeta's at some point). Zeta is wicked because it can transform, and do it well (unlike Bandai's awful Macross transformable kits) and it has a great arsenal of weapons highlighted by the massive Mega Launcher.
2. Ez-8: The 8th team is my favourite UC series and Shirou is my favourite UC character. This ground-based Gundam is actually pretty low on the list when it comes to specifications and abilities, but Shirou more than makes up for that with his sheer tenacity. Not a newtype like the other main pilots, he gets it done through hard work. His suit has a good range of weapons, a cool backpack to carry them all in and it just oozes 0079-era class.
Tuesday 25 March 2014
Build Start! HG Brave Commander Test Type
Time to start a new kit. It's my first kit from my favourite Gundam series as far as mechas go, Gundam 00. Nearly every suit in 00 is awesome in some way and very different to other series. 00 is also heavily loaded with bad-ass pilots and one of the baddest is Graham Aker AKA Mr Bushido! He featured in many suits over the course of the 2 seasons, each one better than the one before it so I guess that this suit, from the 00 movie which is set after Season 2, is the best suit he ever had, the Brave Commander Test Type:
Here's the manual cover and sprues in the box. It's basically 2 colours, blue and black with some white and clear pieces. The black will actually get painted midnight blue which is close to black.
UPDATE: Painting, going slow. There's 3 main colours on this kit: Black, which is actually Mr Hobby Midnight Blue with a touch of white (below, far right); White, which is Gaianotes Ultimate White. I primed the white pieces with Surfacer Evo silver and even after 3 or 4 coats of white I could still see traces of the silver underneath, so I added a later of Mr Hobby White Pearl over the white; Blue, which is Gainotes Ultra Blue, Gaianotes Ultimate White and Gaianotes Flourescent Blue.
Upper body and one of the arms. I'm happy with the colours that I chose for this kit although the consistency of colour is all over the place on the model. This just comes with experience and also I mixed up small amounts of paint for each few parts I did rather than make a large amount of paint. Doing larger amounts will help with consistency but I'm just getting started so wanted to make it easier to get the colours I wanted.
Monday 24 March 2014
The Backlog
A modeler's backlog of kits is a strange and wonderful thing. A pile of kits that one cannot do without yet cannot be bothered building right now.
My backlog can be divided into 3 types of kits:
G-System (Hong Kong) 1/72 RX-104FF Gundam Penelope. This is the star of my backlog. At 1/72 it's already huge compared to MG kits but add in the fact that the Penelope is the biggest Gundam ever made at over 32 metres and this is a monster. Resin, metal and photoetch parts over an ABS frame. The Penelope is actually Gundam Oddyseus with the mother of all flight units on top of it and when they're together they're known as Gundam Penelope. Comes from the novel "Hathaway's Flash" starring Hathaway Noah so it's in the UC timeline. Won't be building this for a while, need to build up my skills before I tackle a this kit.
Perfect Grade (1/60) Astray Red Frame & Char's Zaku II. I love the Astrays and even though the Blue Frame has a cooler pilot (Gai Murakumo) than the Red does, the fact that it uses a real sword as opposed to a beam saber makes it awesome. And Char's Zaku is of course the classic. Probably the 2 best Gundams when it comes to opportunities for frame detailing since they both show quite a bit of frame. I'll paint Char's Zaku in his colours of course but I'd like to do something custom for the Astray to really make the frame pop.
G-System 1/4000 SDF-1. Recast of the old Yellow Submarine resin kit. Gundam is cool and of course it's a great modeling community but it's not my favourite mecha anime. That honour would go to Macross. Gundam may have cooler mechas but Macross is just the shit: better story and of course the music. The idea to mix robots and idols was the greatest idea in anime history. And there is no more devastating attack in all of mecha-dom than the one this ship invented...the Daedalus attack.
Hasegawa 1/72 YF-21. From the excellent series Macross Plus, which depicts the contest between 2 planes to win the contract for building the next generation Valkyrie. This is based on a real life event, the US military's contest between the YF-23 and YF-22 in the 80's which the 22 won and became the F-22. This is Guld's losing entry (although it does surface again in Macross 7 so the design wasn't abandoned because it lost) which was controlled by brain waves. I think it was the superior plane but the reason it lost was Guld's brain which was pretty messed up considering his past actions and his inability to remember them correctly. Hasegawa has a very good reputation for aircraft kits so this should be good.
Tamiya 1/48 A6M3/3a Zero - The Zero is arguably the most famous warplane ever made by any country. Military kits bring a whole new set of issues compared to gundams. With gundams, it's OK to make them look like they're brand new...they're gundams after all, they're all conquering and we assume that because they're so cool, there would be a full time crew dedicated to polishing them so even if they took a hit or 2, they would usually look as they do when they're made. There's no rain, mud, rust or snow in space after all. With military kits however, the object is to make them look worn in at the least or even battle-scarred. Paint is slapped on military vehicles hastily and they're re-painted different colours for different conditions so its a lot more intimidating kit to paint. Tamiya's forte is probably cars and bikes but as one of Japan's big 4 model companies they cover their own military past (and present) very well.
Dragon 1/35 Panzer III Ausf N - If the Zero is arguably the most famous plane to ever fight, then the Panzer is arguably the most famous tank ever. Now we're moving up a degree of difficulty. Dragon is known for super-detailed kits and this one is no exception, clocking in at almost 700 parts. The type N fought in Russia and the Eastern Front hence the winterketten tracks for grip in snow and mud and the white paint scheme. Tank modeling takes weathering to a whole new level compared to ships or planes as being on the ground subjects them to the elements and rust, snow, grease, sand and anything else they run over gets stuck all over it. This model scares me almost as much as the Penelope does with it's tracks made of individual links and it's mountain of sprues.
Completing the trifecta of military kits is of course a ship. This is IJN Zuikaku, Japanese aircraft carrier that took part in 真珠湾攻撃 (pronounced "shinjuwan kougeki"), or the attack on Pearl Harbour. I always liked the look of the Zuikaku (and it's twin, Shoukoku)..they look cool with their open lower decks as opposed to what we're used to with carriers which is a big mass of runway with only an island on top. Zuikaku went down on October 24, 1944 taking 843 men with her. This is a 1/700 scale kit, not as detailed as the 1/350 scale ships but much more manageable, size wise.
Now, to the road, starting with Japan. I bought this kit about 15 years ago. I'm not much of a moto-GP fan these days but back in the 80's and 90's it was awesome. This bike is the one used by Australia's greatest motorcycle racer ever, Mick Doohan, to win the 1998 championship, one of his 5 titles, back in the days when Honda's 2 stroke NSR ruled the roost when it came to speed. Even though it's over a decade old, this kit is very detailed and of high quality.
Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86. Not much of a car on most roads but on one road on Mt Akina, it's the king of the hill! From the anime "Initial D", this is Takumi's all-conquering sushi delivery vehicle. This Aoshima model has the full engine in it (on other Aoshima kit, the hood of the car is molded in a shut position so there is no engine to make). A change for me as it's a smaller car and I'm usually a muscle car guy but the connection to the 2nd coolest car anime ever is pretty damn cool (Wangan Midnight is the coolest).
Nissan 330 Gloria "Gra-chan". After watching Wangan Midnight, I realized that Japan just hasn't always made small cars, they have their own muscle cars. The Grand Champion here is a 5th-generation Gloria, produced between '75 and '79. Love it's combination of a menacing look with Buick-style class. This is an Aoshima kit with the hood molded shut on the body so no need to do an engine. Time saver.
Aoshima Nissan Laurel HT 2000SGX. Don't know much about this car but damn it looks cool. A Japanese Camaro.
Now, over to America. I'm a GM guy and Oldsmobile was the coolest. Power AND class. This car started the trend of marrying power and class. It's nostalgic building these older American kits but the quality is weak compared to newer kits. Lots of flash.
87 Monte Carlo SS Aeroback. Love the 80's G-body cars even if the engines weren't that great. This is the street version of the car that Dale Earnhardt dominated NASCAR with.
AMT/ERTL '69 Pontiac Firebird Trans/Am. The Camaro's little brother, I always preferred the Firebird. The following year, the Trans/Am would gain the bird graphic on the hood that would define the whole line by the next generation of these cars. But this year, is Pontiac at it's best...no frills, just power, power, power.
Still in America, it's on to NASCAR. This is Dale Earnhardt Jr's Chevy Monte Carlo from the year he won the Busch championship (back when it was called Busch). These kits are decal hell with all the sponsor's decals all over them.
'98 Dale Earnhardt Sr. Bass Pro Shops Monte Carlo. Dale is my favourite driver of all time and he's also the best driver of all time with 7 NASCAR championships and countless memorable wins. This is the car he drove in the '98 all star race (The Winston) featuring Bass Pro Shops on the hood and a gold paint scheme as opposed to his usual black paint scheme.
Back to space, and Macross. This is a Bandai transformable model of Brera Sterne's VF-27r Lucifer from Macross Frontier. I'm not a fan of transformable kits as they tend to sacrifice accuracy and ease of use for transformability. The Bandai Macross kits are a generation behind the Gundam kits and it shows. These kits don't have any of the improvements made in the Gundam MG 2.0, RG and PG lines. But it's Macross.
And back to where we started, Gundam. From the UC Timeline, this is Shin Matsunaga's Zaku II. One of the more mysterious characters from the UC timeline, atsunaga was Dozle Zabi's bodyguard and known as the white wolf which his mobile suit shows. He's known for his love of close quarters melee combat and his disdain for long range tactics. He even has his own manga now so hopefully we find out more about his life including his mysterious appearance in Gundam Evolve piloting a Zeta. This kit is based on Bandai's excellent Zaku MG 2.0 kit.
NG 1/100 Arios Gundam, Designer's Colour. NG means no grade, which is sort of like 1/100 scale HG kits...rushed out for the 00 release. So far, only Setsuna's suits (Exia, 00, Quan(T)) have had full MG releases from 00 (as well as the GNX). Hopefully one day other 00 suits get MG releases but until then this will have to do for us Allelujah/Hallelujah fans. Celestial Being's resident psycho used this suit in season 2 of Gundam 00 after he was rescued. This kit has an LED for the eyes but not for the GN drive like the MG kits do.
HG 1/144 Gundam Harute. More Allelujah because there can never be enough Allelujah, this is the suit he piloted in the 00 movie "Awakening of the Trailblazer", it's not that different to Kyrios/Arios but still cool. I hope to collect all the Allelujah kits.
My backlog can be divided into 3 types of kits:
- Half-done models. Oh these poor kits...either something happened in the building to make me put it aside or I simply got too excited about other kits and moved on. It can take years to finish these woe-begotten kits.
- Kits too good to resist. No matter how big the backlog is, some kits just demand purchase, whether its because you don't think you'll find them again or simply because they're so awesome you must own them now and you'll worry about finding time to build them later.
- Fillers. Even if your backlog is filled with awesome kits (and mine is), sometimes you need a spark to re-fire the modeling buzz and get you excited about building. This is usually where different types of kits than you'd normally build come in. For me, thats either cars or military models.
Tamiya 1/48 A6M3/3a Zero - The Zero is arguably the most famous warplane ever made by any country. Military kits bring a whole new set of issues compared to gundams. With gundams, it's OK to make them look like they're brand new...they're gundams after all, they're all conquering and we assume that because they're so cool, there would be a full time crew dedicated to polishing them so even if they took a hit or 2, they would usually look as they do when they're made. There's no rain, mud, rust or snow in space after all. With military kits however, the object is to make them look worn in at the least or even battle-scarred. Paint is slapped on military vehicles hastily and they're re-painted different colours for different conditions so its a lot more intimidating kit to paint. Tamiya's forte is probably cars and bikes but as one of Japan's big 4 model companies they cover their own military past (and present) very well.
Still in America, it's on to NASCAR. This is Dale Earnhardt Jr's Chevy Monte Carlo from the year he won the Busch championship (back when it was called Busch). These kits are decal hell with all the sponsor's decals all over them.
'98 Dale Earnhardt Sr. Bass Pro Shops Monte Carlo. Dale is my favourite driver of all time and he's also the best driver of all time with 7 NASCAR championships and countless memorable wins. This is the car he drove in the '98 all star race (The Winston) featuring Bass Pro Shops on the hood and a gold paint scheme as opposed to his usual black paint scheme.
First Post...Gundam Seed RG Kits
My 1st RG build: Freedom. This one sits on my desk at work.
My 2nd RG build: Justice. So far I've build Freedom, Justice, (grunt) Zaku II, (Titans) Mark II, GP-01 Full Vernian. I consider 1/144 scale (RG & HG) models 'practice' kits for the bigger MG & PG kits.
Here is the RG Aile Strike. I painted most of the frame and weapons but kept the armor unpainted. I clear coated the shield but not the body (lazy).
As for what I'm currently building, I'm finishing up the HG Build Fighters Zaku Amazing which I handpainted all the accents and highlighting on. On deck is the HG Brave Commander Test Type piloted by Graham Aker in the Gundam 00 movie and it'll be the first kit where I paint everything (airbrush this time).
As for Seed RG Kits, of course there's more. I've got the Aile Strike, Destiny and Strike Freedom kits in my backlog. I guess the only one missing is Infinite Justice so hopefully Bandai hurries it up with that, if only so they can finally stop making Seed RG kits. My favourite series, suits wise, is Gundam 00 and we get Exia released soon, making it the first RG kit that is not from either the UC or CE universe.
My RG Wishlist:
1. Ez-8. Shirou is the man, plain and simple. Coolest Gundam pilot ever, only male lead in a Gundam series to ever actually have sex - Kira doesn't count, knowing him he had Flay naked in his bed and did nothing.
2. Arios / Archer. Allelujah is by far the most unstable, crazy, insane, damaged pilot in Gundam history. Add in Mary and you've got a double Gundam just chock full of crazy. We've already seen a transformable RG suit with the Zeta so this is possible, even if they released them separately, as long as they can join up as well.
3. Tallgeese III. I'm not a huge Wing fan, I just don't like the Gundam pilots in it that much. But it does feature one of the coolest bad-guys-that-turn-into-good-guys in Zechs Marquise and the Tallgeese III is cooler than Epyon in my opinion.
4. Full Armour ZZ. I probably will never get the RG Zeta since I already build the MG 2.0 but I'd build the FAZZ. Hate the pilot, hate the series, love the suit...it's a powerhouse that could probably take any Gundam in history if Camille were piloting it.
5. Kshatriya. Its too big to do a decent MG of and we've already seen a HG so why not ramp up the detail and make us an RG of this beast. I'm not big on the main Unicorn suits, the Unicorn and Sinanju aren't even as cool as the Nu and Sazabi, the best thing about Unicorn is the other suits like Kshatriya and the Zeta/Hyaku-Shiki descendents (Delta Plus and Rezel).
My 2nd RG build: Justice. So far I've build Freedom, Justice, (grunt) Zaku II, (Titans) Mark II, GP-01 Full Vernian. I consider 1/144 scale (RG & HG) models 'practice' kits for the bigger MG & PG kits.
Here is the RG Aile Strike. I painted most of the frame and weapons but kept the armor unpainted. I clear coated the shield but not the body (lazy).
As for what I'm currently building, I'm finishing up the HG Build Fighters Zaku Amazing which I handpainted all the accents and highlighting on. On deck is the HG Brave Commander Test Type piloted by Graham Aker in the Gundam 00 movie and it'll be the first kit where I paint everything (airbrush this time).
As for Seed RG Kits, of course there's more. I've got the Aile Strike, Destiny and Strike Freedom kits in my backlog. I guess the only one missing is Infinite Justice so hopefully Bandai hurries it up with that, if only so they can finally stop making Seed RG kits. My favourite series, suits wise, is Gundam 00 and we get Exia released soon, making it the first RG kit that is not from either the UC or CE universe.
My RG Wishlist:
1. Ez-8. Shirou is the man, plain and simple. Coolest Gundam pilot ever, only male lead in a Gundam series to ever actually have sex - Kira doesn't count, knowing him he had Flay naked in his bed and did nothing.
2. Arios / Archer. Allelujah is by far the most unstable, crazy, insane, damaged pilot in Gundam history. Add in Mary and you've got a double Gundam just chock full of crazy. We've already seen a transformable RG suit with the Zeta so this is possible, even if they released them separately, as long as they can join up as well.
3. Tallgeese III. I'm not a huge Wing fan, I just don't like the Gundam pilots in it that much. But it does feature one of the coolest bad-guys-that-turn-into-good-guys in Zechs Marquise and the Tallgeese III is cooler than Epyon in my opinion.
4. Full Armour ZZ. I probably will never get the RG Zeta since I already build the MG 2.0 but I'd build the FAZZ. Hate the pilot, hate the series, love the suit...it's a powerhouse that could probably take any Gundam in history if Camille were piloting it.
5. Kshatriya. Its too big to do a decent MG of and we've already seen a HG so why not ramp up the detail and make us an RG of this beast. I'm not big on the main Unicorn suits, the Unicorn and Sinanju aren't even as cool as the Nu and Sazabi, the best thing about Unicorn is the other suits like Kshatriya and the Zeta/Hyaku-Shiki descendents (Delta Plus and Rezel).
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