Nearly Mid-March update

Hey, me again. Well, I have been practising somewhat with the airbrush, and have completed the Buster Gundam only to cock it up in the final panel lining. Was looking OK at one point, but I think an incorrect thinner ratio was to blame for the horrible "dirtiness" of the completed model. I dislike the final result so much I am not even going to give it a completed models page! :) Instead I will post just one pic here in this near-mid-march update.

I hate it. I liked it at one point. Damn you enamel/thinner ratio!

The chrome parts on the guns, the hands and on the two plates on the chest were at one point looking fabulous. I then applied an enamel wash for the panel lining, and in cleaning it up with thinner it started to strip away the chrome! Must bear in mind.. Enamel thinner also works on lacquers! Shading turned out OK on the white parts, but the white turned out a little more grey than I wanted to - the original intention was to have a creamy off-white but layer after layer of white was being placed over just to cover the grey primer. 

So, all in all, many lessons learnt on this model - it also took me as much as twice as long to complete the model - a frightening prospect considering I am going to be doing the same thing with the full armour Unicorn next.. expect many WIPs from this point onwards. 

In other news: I have made some new purchases, of which I shall reveal when they arrive. I have spent a stupid amount of money having sold some of my music-making gear (sad). I am also making a... wait for it... UV LED lightning base for the Unicorn! Will be posting a WIP and how-to on this today. Its surprisingly easy... just hoping it works!

Febuary Update

What have I been up to then since completing the Jagd Doga? Well, as I previously mentioned I have now moved away from using Tamiya sprays exclusivly to using them concurrently with an airbrush. With the airbrush (cheapo one off ebay, thought I should not go all out and get an expensive one, especially if working with the airbrush turns out to me be my thing) I have been experimenting with a few techniques such as getting used to how to control the dual-action on the airbrush, learning about pressures, colour mixtures, thinning ratios and generally practising handling it. So far its working out OK with guidance from google and youtube, and am hoping to soon have my first airbrushed model completed.

Talking of models, have made a couple of purchases. First off, and the model I am currently experimenting with using the airbrush is the 1/144 High Grade Buster Gundam. Nope, this one is not a recent seed series rehash from Bandai, its the original one I got in the HLJ sale. Bargain at only £7!

Painting this one all in original-ish colours, hoping for a nice chrome on the barrels of those guns. You can see how its going below (although I recently found out I am supposed to use gloss enamel, not matt. oppsy) This'll probably look more like aluminium rather than chrome when covered in the arclad paint.

 

Also got this nifty no-grade 1/100 Regen duel Gundam, again in the HLJ sale. Was really digging the colouring on this one and fancied making something a little different. 

Also got a good 'ol trusty Hi-Nu Gundam, 1/144 HG. And why not, it looks bad ass. 

In the meantime I have also been working my way through the beats known as the full armour Unicorn MG. All 28 odd runners have now been cut loose, and each an every part has been sanded ready for first assembly which will probably commence today. I still cant get over the tiny miniatures you get with master grades. Check out the tiny Banagher!

Full Armour Unicorn Gundam MG, and a nearly completed cup of tea. 

Ha! Its a weeeee man!

That's about all really. Will be updating again soon with a proper WIP for the full armour and other stuff. I am also working on a new youtube vid for the Buster - although it it turns out no-so-good I wont bother with that and start filming on the next build :) I am hoping also to do a quick tut on using an airbrush - despite the wonderful power of the Internet you can never seem to find all your info on using an airbrush in Gunpla in one place, and simply covering the basics. Perhaps an article on here first.

Oh, and worth mentioning.. You may have noticed I have made up a whole load o f new graphics for this blog. Hope you like. I like green. It is nice.

Later.

Mecha 2012 contest update

With entries now getting up to around 270, the competition is hotting up :) I have got in a little early with my OOB entry of the Jagd Doga, as have a few other entrants and my gosh they are looking good. Fantastic to see so many entries in what is looking to be one of the biggest mecha competitions ever! An update below on some new prises and sponsors, take a look.

Unicorn Lineart

Did a quick little vector PNG lineart drawing. You can download it by clicking here if you like.

MG Banshee on the way

Yep, had to post this as I am pretty chuffed to see the MG Banshee pix today (below, due out next month RRP 5500 Yen, around £45 with the crappy exchange rate). Will of course be getting one of these as I am sure many, many other people are just to re-create the Banshee / Unicorn final battle :) I don't care if everyone else is doing it, I'm happy to be a gunpla sheep :)

Moving into airbrushing

Yep, only gone and bought myself a flipping airbrush. Nice. Now its probably going to be some time while I practice with this so bear with, I have a shcuzrum dias 1/144 already built that i intend to practice on so we'll see how this goes. Got to get priming.. catch you later.

Mecha 2012: Jagd Doga complete!

Yep, I thought it would take me much longer but it turns out that today I completed the Jagd Doga for the mecha 2012 contest - in a little over a month. I think I spent.. all in all.. around 20 hours on this and am very pleased with the final result. Has been an interesting learning experience, especially with masking and panel lining - future kits are set to be much better looking. So, here we go with some pix from the entry itself:

I don't really hold out much on getting any prizes for my entry, but for my first ever entry into an international compo I am pretty pleased :). Results are to come out in July I believe. More on this around that time. With only a month left to enter into the HLJ sci-fi competition do you think I will have time to submit an entry? For this compo you are unusually not allowed to post up any pics of your entry submission anywhere on line, so no WIP or youtube vid for that until after the compo - if I have time to do something of course!