Level Up! contest update and more

Hello 2014! I know, its already been going for 13 days but this is of course the first blog post of 2014. I have now returned from a most excellent visit to Japan and am now spending some time attempting to defeat my jetlag..

Level-Up! Contest - Update

Just a reminder that the deadline for the contest is drawing near! If you need a reminder for the rules then please click here. I have 1 entry in so far out of around 20 so keep those WIPs coming :) I have decided that the top prize for the winner will be the awesome Kotobukiya Jehuty HD edition . Second prize will be announced later!

The Japan trip

The trip itself was fantastic. This is the 4th time I have been, but my first being a Gundam fan since it was my previous trip in 2011 that get me into Gunpla, and the world of Mecha. I was incredibly happy to see the 1/1 Gundam at the Gundam Front exhibition in Odaiba, and took great pleasure in perusing last years GBWC entries and witness the most epic 3d dome-projected Gundam movie. The other exhibits were awesome too of course, a day I will not forget for sure. A short video of my trip is here:

Picked up a total of 10 kits, inclusive of the huuuuuge MG EX-S and found a great way to compact them all into my luggage - just cut all the parts off the runners, stuck them in baggies and flattened the boxes. Managed to fit them all into 1 suitcase! (bar the ex-s, I did not really have the time to cut ALL those runners!). Most of them were purchased at a local hobby store, which mainly specialised in RC but had a fantastically huge selection of Gunpla, mecha and modelling parts on offer - cheaper (surprisingly) than Akihabara.

I also did an awful lot of eating since I am a massive fan of Japanese food. We also took a trip to the Anpanman museum in Yokohama for my 4-year old who had great fun. We also had great fun at a restaurant designed for babies where the tables were wooden round discs on a huge padded floor which was an entirely new experience for me.. :) Ibuki made some great baby friends and the meal was packed full of cuteness. The rest of the time was spent getting over a cold, visiting naighbours and well... shopping. Miss it already and already looking forward to our next visit. One thing is for sure though.. not going in December again as it was freeeeeezing!

What's coming next modelling wise and more..  

Still working on the Victory MG, close to completion with only a few parts to be painted and some panel lining/decalling and assembly to go. Next will be.... announced later. I will also be giving some thought to Justinius Builds new contest where he has thrown down a challenge to create a kit bash! 

There will also be a new year Google Hangout with the venerable Gunpla Fixation and guests coming soon. Stay tuned to the GundamUK facebook page to find out when!

Getting back into the swing

I did not actually realise it had been over a month since I wrote on this blog.. well, quite a lot has happened over the past month as you can imagine.. followers of gundamUK will know of course I have recently had a new addition to my family, a little baby boy named Ibuki who is both awesome and amazing simultaneously. Now at 4 weeks of age he is rapidly gaining weight, crying a lot and making burble noises as babies too. The good news is he gets on with his brother, and most importantly is not stressing out mum too much.

Anyway, enough about life and babies, let's talk about more important things like mecha modelling!

Currently modelling...

I have been steadily working on the master grade FAZZ (Full Armour Double Zeta) and completed the de-nubbing and initial assembly. I have now got as far as disassembling the main cannon (which is flipping hooj), priming it up, and today completed painting the metallic elements. Video wise, I may perhaps make a couple of longer vids rather than a series of short vids.. this way I can edit it all down better to make for better viewing. That and I have plans for a couple of other vids over the next couple of weeks, but you can always keep up to date with my progress on the FAZZ on the gundamUK facebook.

Mecha lounge Giveaway number flipping 2, is association with the brilliant gundammad.co.uk.

In other news, myself, the Mecha Lounge community and gundammad.co.uk have collaborated on a prize-give-away. A simple compo in which all you need to is post "shut up and give me gunpla" on the thread of the same name on the Mecha Lounge. A winner is shortly to be announced (tomorrow in fact) at random who shall receive a smashing 1/100 non-grade virtue/nadleeh combination, which is a much sought after model for me in fact and one which I shall be begrudgingly shipping to our random winner. The response to this has been pretty phenomenal, and although it did encourage the 1-post-and-fuck-off-never-to-be-seen-again types it is my hope we have encouraged some new memberships to our ever-growing and awesomely super community of Mecha Modellers. Stay tuned for yet more give-away's. Damn we're generous folks.

Short vid here on that:

The CHAOS group build draws to a successful close

Yep, the winners have been announced right here, and I must say I was thoroughly impressed by the level of entries we had. Made it incredibly difficult to judge as you can imagine, but it was a lot of fun. Here is yet another vid featuring my gawking face telling you all about it:

And lastly... Justinius Builds Music-themed contest. Holy shit I placed second!

Yeah! I know! I could not believe it either! This bit of news has most certainly brightened an otherwise dingy weekend. I was so genuinely impressed by the whole concept of this compo, and upon seeing the other entrants I was sure there was no chance I would even place in this, but I came second with my brightly coloured Boards of Canada jesta, which Justin mused about making him want to drink a can of sprite.. I can see the logic in this.. lol. Special thanks to the Justinius Builds channel for running such a superb compo that I thoroughly enjoyed participating in. I can't wait to get my prize :)

That's enough rambling for now.. more bloggy-type nonsense coming back soon.

The GundamUK collection sale!

Some of you may know that we are expecting our second child this July (exciting.. mortified.. happy.. scared.. lol). Some of you may also know that my better half is Japanese, and of course it would be marvellous if we could afford to go to Japan later this year and take our new addition to meet his grandparents in Saitama. With this in mind, I have decided to have a huge blow-out collection sale of many of my rare Gundam and mecha-related items, and I would so much prefer that these go out to members of this awesome community before it all goes onto ebay. 

So, I have now put up a list of items, and pictures on my GundamUK facebook page, so please head there if you are interested in purchasing a nice little rarity!

the site is

http://www.facebook.com/gundamUK

The list will be active for a couple of weeks, and anything unsold shall be going onto ebay. If you have any questions or queries, do feel free to PM me on facebook via the GundamUK page!

In other news, I am still in the process of making up the HG Jesta for Justinius Builds contest, seam line removal has just been completed and I should be getting it primed during the week. I will hopefully find the time to make a vid on it, but its hectic at the moment as we prepare for our new arrival!

Thanks all :)

Kagutsuchi-kou, final WIP

So, I have pretty much completed the Kagusuchi-Kou frame arms now after a weekends worth of panel lining, decalling and matt coating.

The final WIP video is here (and thanks blogger for forcing me to embed this..):

and here are a couple of test shots before the final pictures are uploaded!

Final pics probably coming during the week after some editing-out of crappy backgrounds.. I really must get myself a decent backdrop and lighting set up... 

Gundam F91 - WIP#2

Having completed the inner frame parts of the legs (well, mostly bar some additional things I would like to do once the whole inner frame is completed) I worked on the inner frame parts for the torso and head.

This complete, I thought I should start working on the armour parts for the legs. Unfortunately they did not turn out as expected, but none the less are mostly done.

Having applied the primer a little thick on some parts (and regrettably not sanding them smooth as you are supposed to), adding the first base coat of white created a bit of a mottled finish, so I added another layer of white to smooth it out a little. Worked to a degree - then I decided to do a little pre shading - a technique I am new to. This to, resulted in a bit of a mottled finish but much smoother. All that remains now it to add a top layer of white to smooth it all out, hopefully this will fix it because right now it looks terrible..

Sorry for the lack of video this week.. I did film some but today's and yesterdays work took a ridiculous amount of time.. so much in fact I did not have time to cut a video, so next weeks will (hopefully) be a kind of "double" WIP.

Anyway, a pic below of the pre shaded parts :)

Gundam F91 - WIP#1

I started this one around 3 months ago, assembled, cleaned and de-nubbed but have only now got around to painting it.. partly because I wanted to do a good job of it :)

Started out with the inner-frame parts of the legs, the intention being to have it mainly in metallic blue, and some parts in gold/silver for a little detail. So far I have done all the main painting, and all that remains now is to gloss coat and panel line.

Here are a few pics of the work so far:

F91, preassembly, 3 months back.

There is also quite a long vid for you to gander at here:

More soon!

HG Gadessa - WIP#3 - Completed

The Gadessa is now complete! Took a little work to complete those buggered up prongs, but I was quite pleased with how well I managed to scratch-build those prongs. Its a little dodgy and wonky in places but you would have to look quite closely to notice the defects.. and it would have been nice to add a metallic detail part here and there.

All in all, I think the model turned out well although I could have possibly spent more time working on the details - the thrusters for instance I could have masked off and added a gold metallic effect on. On retrospect, I think the emerald green and gold would have been a nice combination.

Here are a few pix of the completed model:

..And here is my final (and very short) WIP video on youtube:

Plans for 2013

Hey all, following my recent review of everything that went down in 2012, I thought I would share a little with you of what my plans are (gunpla wise) for 2013.

On my shopping list I am looking at getting:

The Rosen Zulu, despite is apparent sticker hell. 

The Zee Zulu

This will complete my neo-zeonic Zulu style collection I think, having already built a Geara Doga and still having the Angelo Sauper custom Geara Zulu.

I will also be getting this:

The Kotobukiya type 48 Kagusuchi-Kou Frame arms. If it ever comes off "back ordered" on HLJ.com. It is my intention to use this for the chaos GB as my entry in the ground forces team :)

Which leads me neatly (without mentioning the 50 odd other kits I may be getting, not forgetting the Nu-gundam of course) onto one of my main plans for this year, and that is to better my modelling skills by attempting my first diorama. 

I have not really avoided making one as such, just due to time and space constraint I did not really deem it necessary to do, but with this group build starting off I thought I should step it up a little and challenge myself with something a little more advanced. Planning is in progress, and updates will of course be shown though the youtube channel, or on my facebook page. There will also be a WIP thred started in the lounge when work starts. 

Anything else? Well, I will also at some point, perhaps in the latter half of this year (after the arrival of our second child due in July) be getting hold of a resin kit, preferably a 1/60. Again, purely to challenge myself and push my current skills to their limits and hopefully beyond. I think there will be tears.. :) 

And so begins a year of more learning, cock-ups, triumphs and breakages. My passion (obsession) for this hobby thankfully persists and with more discoveries of kits and imaginative creativity from the community around me I am sure it'll persist for many years to come :) 

Straight up start to end build and paint of the Rick Dias MG coming soon, this Sunday I think. 

Have a good one everyone!

Late November Gunpla Update

Hello Gunplanatics! It's been an action packed weekend of blowing up balloons, wrapping presents and putting up decorations in celebration of my sons 3rd birthday, so not much Gunpla wise has actually happened. Despite that, I did receive some new things from HLJ, and purchased some amazingly awesome things in the recent sales, even though I can't really afford it.

Anyways, here is a short video of me rambling in your face about stuff:

Ryurai kai continues this coming weekend with some detailing, panel lining and decalling. Should have it all wrapped up pretty soon.

1/100 MG Zeta 2.0

Done! at last.. phew. My entry for the Gundam Eclipse summer war compo.

The September 8th Update

Time for an update! yes. With the completion of the Palace Athene (that I was very proud of) I am feeling a little more motivated and have decided that my next build will be my favourite ever Gundam, the F91. Its been sitting on my shelf for some time now as I kept putting it off until  felt I had the necessary skill to make it look as good as I want it to. I am certainly more confident now in what I do, but I will however be taking my time as the last thing I want to do is mess it up. I will not be adding any extra detail or panel lining as yet - I'll probably save that for the 1/144 Geara Zulu. I bought a whole stack of detailing parts from Kotobukiya so I will be making use of these to make the Geara Zulu look even meaner. I am also thinking of either a shiny metallic fire burst paint scheme.. more on this later. WIP vids will be up soon. Oh, and before I forget, I must mention my new airbrush. I got a lovely mid-range Iwata neo and gosh what a difference it has made to my airbrushing.. 100% recommend this if your like me, looking to take that next step up in airbrushing. Love it.

Iwata Neo

Kotobukiya detailing stuff

My new toolbox! I outgrew the last one..

Some other news, my good buddy gunplabuilders has been busy on the youtube of late telling us about the exciting GNN news he intends to do in the future. I think this idea is great as I have certainly found there is no "community" type news item channel on youtube for gunpla at all to my knowledge. There are lots of great modellers and people out there actively contributing to the community and supporting its growth who would happily contribute. Fingers crossed this idea takes off, its got my support for sure :)

I have also launched recently a facebook page, here I will be posting picture of my completed work and generally commenting on what I am doing. I would really appreciate it if you can give me a like, if I can get at least 50 I will be chuffed, I think I am at 8 now which is a good start :)

I have been using the fantastic IFTTT to link all of my social media to make things more easily update-able and interconnected. I am also in the process of migrating the content of this blog to a fully-fledged website. It's been in planning for ages but I have never had the time to actually do it. For those of you who don't know I am a web designer by trade although you would not think it looking at my blog :) The idea is it will be more or less the same content as it is now, but I may add a gunpla shop depending on how well I can negotiate with a supplier.

Anyways, thank you for reading and that. More soon, and your support much appreciated :)

I got Gundam Socks!

My awesome inlaws have been very kind to me and purchased some fetching Gundam socks! Featuring the Age-1 Spallow, these 100% cotton badboys may be ill-fitting but hell I am going to wear then with pride! 

Gundam AGE socks muthafukaaa!

Oh yeah, they also actually got me, much to my surprise the HG Age-1 Spallow kit! Awesomeness. I shall paint it in their honour. Thanks inlaws, you are awesome.

Age-1 Spallow, probably actually the only Gundam i fancy throughout the whole of age. Not sexually. You perv. 

Also to a little Gashapon keychain with a beam magnum on it, sadly I cant take a picture of it right now because its on my car keys.. and the wife has the car. Maybe later ill get a pic. Its surprisingly detailed and a nice little bit 'o die casting. 

My finger is pointing at the one I have on the leaflet. 

Palace Athene HG WIP 2

Took a break for a week on this one due to the sweltering heat we experienced, not to mention adjusting to the hours of my new employment :)

On with the work in progress and man, I have been busy this weekend doing a ton of painting and shading, as you can see in the following motion picture show hosted on the you tube. Hope you enjoy, and completion is imminent this weekend with luck on my side.

I couple of minor hiccups on the way, couple of scratched here and there remedied with some light sandng and re-coating here and there. Fingers crossed for the assembly, gloss coating and detailing to follow. Oh, some decals too!

Marasai Devastator 1/144 HG WIP Part 2

All parts sanded down, putty sealed and sanded, seem lines removed (mostly). I finally decided on a heavy flame-thrower as one of the devastators weapons. Modified from a couple of end-barrels from the FA unicorn, and some smaller parts to plug in the ends (that fitted perfectly I might add) from the Regen Duel Gundam. I also drilled a tiny hole in one of the barrels to add a fuel line, which leads of to a huge (in comparison to the Marasai) fuel tank, made from an old asthma inhaler canister. All propellant removed of course.

Added a base coat to most of the parts, a reveller aqua clear (used in my previous model) to act as a surfacer. Worked lovely. I have decided now on a colour scheme - and its going to look awesome. Something very unique, in fact something I don't think I have ever seen on a gunpla model. Should be fun, and I hope I can pull it off..

The paint scheme requires a white base coat. I was sure I had 3 jars of this but discovered to my dismay that they were all mostly empty.. so I only managed to get one base coat done before I had to call it a day for those parts. I then went on to do the metallics. A little vid below for your visual entertainment if you are bored. :)

End of May update

Just a quick update on what's been going down in the gundamUK world. Having spent the past 4 days away from the normal day-to-day in Norfolk with the wife and the boy I have returned refreshed and ready to get the Hi-ν Gundam (Pronounced "Hi-Nu", the little v is "Nu" in the Greek alphabet in case you were wondering) completed in its customised colouring scheme. 

I have decided quite simply to exchange the blues for a lime green, and the whites for 2 shades of grey. The grey is taking some time as I had to mix it myself, and totally forgot the ratio I did it to so I shall have to purchase some specific shades of Tamiya. The green however turned out smashing. The inner frame will of course be trusty 'ol gun metal, with some grey I think on the weaponry to add a little more interest. 

Tried a slightly different method this time while building the Hi-ν, I snap-fitted the whole kit first (after sanding down the nubs), separated the arms, legs, head and backpack parts and airbrushed over the whole thing with a coat of revell "aqua color" base coat. Clear on application, it actually did a smashing job as I have had no problems applying the Tamiya acrylic on top of it, with no plastic colour showing through after only 1 coat. Reminded me of really thinned down PVA glue as it carries the same vinegary smell. A little thinning with water was all that was required, and one layer was sufficient. 

After the base coating, taking it apart again was almost painless, I snapped one part of the shield along the top with one part flinging off into my cup of tea which was.. shit, but managed to glue it back together and sand it down to a un-noticeable degree thank fork. 

So, one of the green parts so far next to a grey bit, sorry about the poor picture its for illustrative purpose only, not a photographic magnum opus of airbrushed gunpla parts sorry. 

Bit of the shield, and a bit of the backpack under an eerie shadow of doom. 

Looking at another 2 weeks till completion on this one, while i again wait for supplies dammit. Back to gaming for a bit I guess..but not "Gundam: Target in sight" which is one of the most disappointing Gundam games of all time I think.. and no decent Gundam games ever come out in Europe! I shall also be watching some G-Gundam which is terrible but funny at the same time. The character "Chibodee" is a legend with his English-styled curse words (who, oddly enough is the same voice actor as Jaraya AKA Erroi Sennin from Naruto, and a character from Turn-A Gundam i forget his name... anyway..) I only have Victory Gundam to go and I have watched all Gundam anime.. I intend to watch them all again, in chronological order in which they were made. Oh yeah. Back to doing stuff.. thanks for reading :)

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.

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!