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.

Zeta is done, plus some other things.

Hello! Yes, I finally completed the Zeta 2.0! Well, not entirely. Truthfully, I did not get around to doing everything I wanted to, and that was to paint the base up nice and add a little plastic man guiding the Zeta out from the footplate. As time would have it, I did not get it done. I shall make another post soon with some pics to peruse.

This means, luckily, I have met the deadline for the gundam eclipse summer war competition. Fingers crossed.. I entered the OOB intermediate category but I don'y hold out much for success, the other entries are marvellous.

Anyway, here is an update from the you tube, with a little look at my Gundam display cabinet:

Next up: Frame arms Ryu Rai Kai!

Zeta MG WIP Part 5

A little progress, painted up the weapons now and have added a little detail into them. I must admit to being a little disappointed with this build.. I just wish I did not rush it as much as I have. However, I must persevere and continue onwards. Once these parts are complete, I'll be painting and weathering the base. I will then be assembling the parts was chunks (arms, legs,  backpack, torso, head, weapons, shield  and giving them all a top coat, then 2-3 layers of gloss before doing (and in some cases re-doing) the panel lining. Then its onto the decals.

Heres a pic of what I have done today:

A few tiny hand-painted details if you can see.. :)

On another note, Have today done a little update on you tube, just to show my new work area set-up really, and my new portable spray booth which is awesome :)

Later!

Gunpla Update, in video form

Yep, I have finally shown my face on camera and am talking, despite being in the throws of one of the most shittiest colds I have experienced for a while.. listen to me jabber on about gunpla here:

More soon.

Zeta MG WIP Part 4

A little bit of progression in regards tot he Zeta MG 2.0: Painted the backpack now black / red / white / gunmetal. Not really gone into too much detail wise just undercoating really. Base coated the black parts with a navy blue, although the finish I am not entirely happy with as you can see below.. I am hoping the gloss overcoat will disguise the awful sputtering caused by what I can only assume is the compressor. I have 2 moisture filters fitted now, and an entirely new (and quality I might add) airbrush - so the only thing left that can cause a spattering issue is the compressor.. I shall have to save a little to afford a new one!

Anyway, here are some pix:

Ready for re-assembly in around 24 hours time. 

Dodgy finish.. 

Completion soon I hope, gotta meet the deadline :)

Palace Athene HG WIP 3

Completed! Yay! And I must say I really enjoyed this build, it is one of my very favourite MS designs for its pure assaultyness, and I think the colour choices turned out fabulous. A little ropey in some places when it came to the panel lining, but overall I am happy with the result. Here is the final WIP video from youtube:

A few pictures of the completed, now titled "Palace Athene Anaheim Refit" (on account of the anaheim shiny logos all over it).

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!

Palace Athene HG WIP 1

Hello! Yep, I have started on the Palace Athene as it has been sitting around gathering amounts of dust upon my shelf. I have also begun a vlog WIP for this high grade Bandai 1/144 scale mobile suit, of which you can view below or on my youtube channel, cleverly linked it to this very sentence.

As you will see from the below vid, not really much happening that's all that exciting, other than the usual tedious monotony of cutting and sanding parts :) I am in process of thinking about the colour scheme, edging towards the pale blue / yellow combo.

More soon :)

Zeta MG WIP Part 3

Quick one this, not to dissimilar to what occurred last time :) Completed the legs, added 2 coats of gloss in preparation for panel lining and detailing. Painted the body, waist and head now, just need to assemble and gloss coat that. More soon :)

Zeta MG WIP Part 2

Moving onto the legs now, have primed and base coated. Have also buffed up the glossy coating on the arms to prepare for the decals to be applied. Not terribly exciting at the moment but slow and steady :)

I have also decided to re-panel line the arms - mixed the enamel too weak resulting in a bit of a faded grey panel line in the shoulder vents. Not good. I'll probably finish up base coating the entire model, apply a gloss coating, then do the panel lining for the whole model to keep it consistent. I'll also be hand-painting some detail here and there. Got a nice plan for the lower leg too - Will probably do this next.

S'all for now.

Zeta MG WIP Part 1

So, here we go with the Zeta v2.0 Master Grade 1/100 for this years Summer War competition from the Gundam Eclipse forum!

Trying something a little different this time. I have fully built the kit (which looks awesome) and am taking one part at a time to paint. This weekend, after spending each weekday this week snap-fitting I have been working on the arms. Used my usual aqua colour base coat - and realised for the first time it is actually white! lols. The last 2 models I have used this paint on, the finish has come up a kind of murky clear - turns out I was not stirring it properly.. oh well.. still looked ok.

Spent all day today priming and adding the base coats for the arms. Using the same tamiya acrylics to make sure the colour is nice and consistent. Here is how far I have gotten so far:

Some parts base coated, some primed needing a base coat.

Snap-fitted bits, separated by how they will be built.. 

Admittedly, I am a little dubious about building this MG in this way.. but we will see how it turns out. I will be trying out a new gloss coat too to enable easier panel lining. I also have some super decals from Samuel Decal to apply, so gotta make sure its shiny enough.

More on this soon. Maybe tomorrow.

Later.

Random update

Hello, me again, well.. who else would it be, unless it is a proxy of me and I have died, and the proxy is utterly convinced it is me. Next, I am working on the Zeta 2.0 (which I am also entering into the Summer War competition on the gundam eclipse forum), love this MS design. The epitome of 80's gundam goodness in my opinion. It will be a straight-up OOB paint with a little difference - I am going to add a nice masked paint effect on the legs, not sure quite what yet. I will be doing this one nice and glossy this time too. So far, I have cut the runners and sanded down. I will be assembling first, and base coating. More on this on the first WIP coming up soon.

In other news, I have added a new light to my workspace. An awesome little low-power strip light. Only 10 squids off ebay, total bargain. Have done a little rearrangement too to create more space on my PC desk.

I am also planning to spray-paint a large board previously used underneath my spray booth for a spacey backdrop. Will update when I do that too, although it will not be all that interesting.. the eventual plan is to make a bit of a diorama. Thought will be going into this over the coming weeks

More later.

End of June update

As you can see from the below, have been mostly working on the Marasai devastator custom, which is turning out ok and has been a good learning experience, especially in terms of detailing and masking.

Have also been slowly snapping off parts, cleaning and sanding from the Zeta 2.0 MG kit I have decided to enter into the summer war competition being hosted by the gundam eclipse forums.

2 more runners to go and were ready to build.. err...baby.

A couple of purchases from the HLJ sale, a Geara Zulu HG and a Rick Dias MG. Both suits I am a big fan of, especially the Dias as it is simply so different from other MS'.

Looks like a fucking nazi death machine! I will not however be adding swastikas. That would make me a racist.  

Quattro Vajeena's AKA 4 Fannies Rick Dias. I have a cartoon man crush on him. 

In other news: Nothing much really! I am about 30 eps into Victory Gundam, which is turning out to be better than I thought it would be to be honest.. would be good to see more anime set around the UC 120 ish period. Although the BESPA MS' do look a little weird with their huge bug eyes.

On another note: I have has some difficulty of late with a very popular supplier of after-market decals. I received the complete wrong one's I ordered... To be nice, I decided to keep the ones sent, as I can use them for other projects as this supplier had only charged me for these particulars. The supplier, who I might add is on the other side of the planet to me, requested me to ship them back, and payup the difference for the ones I had actually ordered (which would work out about the same as the ones I incorrectly got int he first place!). I think that's out of order.. you don't ask your customers to pay up for your mistake right? I took the piss a little, but then (quite kindly I think) shook it off in good humour, and requested he send me a new invoice for the decals I wanted. That was 3 days ago without response.....I'll give it 3 more days at the most...

More soon.

End of April Random Update

Have been steadily working through the 1/100 NG Duel Gundam regen - All parts sanded down, did a little seem line removal. Decided to try out a new base coat on the white parts - the Tamiya acrylic "flat base" - did not work.. did not even dry in fact, so had to wash it all off.. mish! Have now done 2 coats of a 1:4 ratio blue/white, and will spray over in white using the blue undercoating as shading. Fingers crossed this turns out as planned. Have not been posting an official WIP for this one as I am currently filming the whole thing - a vid of the whole thing will be up on my youtube channel once completed.

In other news.. myself and Mrs Gundam UK have been busy re-organising our work area. As I have decided to put my music to rest for 2 years, I have packed away all of my music gear to make way for more room for Gunpla, and for Mrs Gundam UK's projects. Pic below of our new workspace!

Revels are on special at Sainsburys. 

Oh, and before I forget.. You can now get to this blog by simply navigating to http://www.gundamuk.com or http://www.gundam.me.uk. I am also working on developing a resource website for all things Gunpla-based in the UK. Nice. News on this 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!