The 2012 Mecha Contest - Update

The mecha 2012 competition is opening very soon! See vid below on how to enter:

Throne Eins 1/144 HG

Quick one this, and one I have made a little video of on the youtube channel. This is the Throne Eins from Gundam 00, quite an unusual and somewhat feminine looking thing. Varied the colour a little by adding some dark yellow, metallic red and aluminium instead of its default light grey. Pleased with how this one turned out too. Vid of the whole thing at the bottom of this post :)

Blueframe Astray Revise 1/100 MG

After.. 8 weeks of working/tormenting on the Gundam Astry Blueframe Revise 1/100 Master grade, it is finally done. For my first MG, I don't think it turned out that bad, and impressed myself on how well the decalling went considering I have never done it before.

A few things went wrong.. if you have been reading my previous posts you will remember the tiny plastic clasps that held the fingers and thumb in place on each hand had disintegrated, hence now Blueframe has no ability to hold any weapons hence the constant flight mode.

The panel lining for this was a little all over the place. I have been experimenting with various washes for a while and though I got to grips with it when panel-lining the head part, turned out a little "dirty" looking as the panel lines did not suck through the paint too well, and turned out a little lighter than I wished for.  I will persevere on getting that golden thinner-to-paint radio correct. The rest of the models panel lines were done with a gundam marker.

Some decals peeled off a little and went dry, replaced these on the worst instances with thin stickers provided with the Blueframe in box.

Gave it all a nice glossy coat for a change, normally I prefer the matt finish but because the experimental panel lining did not go to plan, a matt finish would really show up the dirty bits unless you were standing a good 10 feet away from it..  

That's about it really.. not 8 weeks of solid work as most of that was spent waiting for my old supplier to send me the paints I had bought. Anyways, down to what it looks like. A real labour of love this :) A little vid at the bottom too.

Bring on the full armour unicorn!

Blueframe Revise MG - WIP part 4

Its been a while, but have been back in action now I have changed my paint stockist. My former stockist although cheap did have an awful habit of selling me sprays that were not in stock.. and waited for me to pay for them before telling me this.. and then ignored my mails querying as to when they would be in stock.. shame on you. My new stockist, although expensive compared to others more than makes up for it in service, bravo to Wonderlandmodels.com. You guys are excellent. The former stockist gets no link, you are shit and frankly do not deserve a link.

Back to the work at hand. Assembly now completed (which I might add is considerably more complex than a HG, and much more fascinating) and the first (maybe) clear coat has been applied. As I sit here in the stifling toxic Tamiya fumes I contemplate on how the decalling is going to go.. This'll be in WIP 4 I think as soon as the Xmas time has ended. On that note, have a good one all, merry Christmas chaps and chap-esses.

The sodding hand that sodding well broke and is now sodding well glued.. GAH.

Blueframe Revise MG - WIP part 3

Quick post this, arms now completed, but have again run out of french blue! My paint stockist has this unusual practise of selling you things that are not in stock, hence when I ordered 2 french blues they only sent me one so I am set back again for another week or so.. saying that I have also been waiting over a month for my Italian red and aluminium to arrive.. I shall not name names as yet.. if my email barrage does not work be prepared for some slander!

Also, for some bizarre reason after spraying the blueframes hands, they decided to literally disintegrate into  bits.. so I have had to glue the fingers/thumbs in place which unfortunately means no pose ability on the hands. I think it had something to do with the freezing temperature in my room as I was spraying, made all the tiny clasps around the ball joints just give up. A lesson learnt that's for sure... will perhaps be completing this next weekend. TBH this one not turning out as well as I anticipated.. i will persevere.

Full armour unicorn coming sooooon!

Later.

Blueframe Revise MG - WIP part 2

Body and head assembled and painted, arms half-painted. As luck would have it I have run out of the french blue spray I was using.. which is puzzling to me as they usually last for at least 2 HG models.. I think my alternative method of assemble, then paint is causing an awfil amout of wastage. Anyways, with another 2 cans on order all activity on this has ceased for a while.. frustrating! Some WIP pix below.

Should have this completed by next weekend I hope. Later!

Inner frame, torso.

Teeeeeny tiiiiiny pilot. Dont have steady enough hands to paint him though...

Torso, painted and assembled. Decals and detailing to follow.

Torso with cock-pit cover open.

All the parts required for the head.

Head assembled and painted, detailing and decals to follow. Looks frikkin awesome.