1/100 NG Regen Duel Gundam

With around 2 weeks build time on and off, the "No Grade" Regen Duel Gundam is completed, and looking markedly colourful :)

Messed up a couple of bits, namely along the front ankle skirt on the right leg (caused by not waiting an adequate amount of time for the topcoat to dry.. gaaah!). Stickers were a little dodgy, and don't show all that well.

Despite this, I like it. Was an awesome practice model and gained a little more valuable skill especially in the pre-shading airbrush department. I still need to work on my panel lining though.. I tend to rush this too much and should really take my time to get it right. Some pics below, and a vid at the very bottom showing some of the build in double-time :)

Airbrush Fail

So, I have been experiencing a few issues with my airbrush of late - in that the flow of paint seems to be a little "stunted" now and again, resulting in me having to pump the trigger to get it going. Having given it a super-deep clean, and thinking it would solve the problem I attempted to spray today, with great difficultly. Either way, I luckily managed to complete painting the 1/100 NG Regen Dual Gundam (looking really colourful!) with a little last-minute hand painting.
As I can't really afford to spend a great deal of money on a new brush, I went ahead and purchased a super-cheap £25 model which will hopefully see me through while a decide which model to get (which is proving difficult.. narrowed down to either an Iwata or Badger).

I also purchased some Revell white primer - just to give it a bash. The £8 price tag on my current Tamiya fine white spray is killing my pocket and is not really lasting longer than say.. 2 models at a time. Not very cost effective. This new stuff is around £3 per 25ml bottle and can be used in an airbrush.. I will probably report on its effectiveness on here sometime soon.

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you to all the people reading my blog! I have been doing this for a while now and really appreciate the interest shown :) Later!

April Update

Hello! Been obsessively working on the full-armour Unicorn of late, and playing through half-life 2 at the moment (£6 on Steam! bargain..). Head and torso, waist and legs have all-in-all taken me 4 days to complete... factor in the 2 year old son and wife and were looking at a real figure of around 8 hours or solid work inclusive of dry time.

 One thing that really bugged me.. is Alclad II supposed to take frikkin over 24 hours to dry? for some bizarre reason, did the usual enamel gloss undercoat for the supplied 8 thrusters on the FAU (full armour unicorn, I will refer to it as the FAU cos I am tired of writing it.. ), applied the alclad in a nice, even coat, got a smashing metallic chrome finish, and upon fitting the thruster to one of the inner frame parts I found my thumb covered in grey shit - and a thumb print in the frikkin thruster. Left for a further 12 HOURS till totally dry. Another lesson learned I guess? (Only took around 6 hours till totally dry last time).

Looks like FAU is RIP here for some reason.. 

Have also received one HECK of a haul from HLJ.com I have been eagerly anticipating, here's what I gets:

Ahhh finally! the Palace Athene! Possibly, one of my most fave MS designs. Looks totally badass. 

The Zeta, second version Master grade. Liking this Gundam design too. Looks much better than the Mk.II Gundam, however I do have my eye on the upcoming RG of the Mk.II, looks awesome in the Titans colours. 

Look at the size of this mutha! Yep, its the Fazz.. or Fah-z, however you want to pronounce it.  A stupid, fat and ridiculously armoured Gundam from the double-zeta series. I love it! (but my wallet did not on the shipping.. this thing weighs!)

I actually like Gundam Seed. 

On another note, Gundam related.. I have found myself for the first time watching the Gundam seed series which for some reason I have always avoided - probably because its the series most people talk about and stuff but probably also because I unfortunately watched Gundam seed destiny prior to this - and it did not leave a very good impression. That aside, I am up to EP 31 or so now and I am actually really enjoying it, despite its weird faces. The plot line is actually quite intricate, and I find myself almost (almost..) feeling for Kira and his plight. Even though he's a pubescent, moody adolescent fanny boy. At least Athrun has the balls to point a gun. There is also a frightening amount of forward-swooped haircuts.

Once I have watched this series I only need see 8th MS team, Igloo, Victory and G Gundam and I have seen every god damn Gundam anime there has been.. 2 of these series I have.. the others I am working on..

Gun-discraceful. 

Would also like to point out - to those of you who are buying this insanely expensive and huge resin mobile suit from G-System at the moment, are you BLIND?

Monstrosity.

This, is the Nightingale - the alternative to the waaaay prettier Sazabi MS for Char Azanable in "Beltorchikas Children" (the original / alternative story to Chars Counter attack, gosh damn-itty I hate that name! "Beltorchika".. yach!). The Nightingale is by far, the worst, ever design for an MS. Its massively complicated, and looks like an overweight squashed cybernetic insect - yet people are raving about how awesome it is.. are you people actually looking at it? Its just... horrible... look at it damn you!

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.