Vulcan Gunpla

Vanpla OOTB Gundam Contest

2012-04-01T16:21:00.003-07:00

Now that the competition is over, here are some photos for you guys to snack on. Even though I didn't win, I learned a lot from this experience. Vanpla's first competition and we managed to round up around 30 participants. Now too shabby. >: )

Second Place by a friend of mine.

Third place

Cheater~

Friend made this, he was gonna make it a diorama and add bird poop! XD

Another one made by a friend. My Bawoo is in the background, still on skewers.

It seems like it's a requirement to have a Z'Gok in Vancouver contests.

Something made by one of our judges(and my sensei) many moons ago.

Another one by sensei, made without any paint.

First place winner: the dude didn't even show up due to work.

Entered by one of our judges under the name "Quattro Bageena"

Made by the same friend who made the red Jesta.

My own entry.

The winners accept their prizes.

The after party:

The after after party:

Nick with his huge Taro Slush.

Sensei teaching me more about modelling and how I should go about building up experience.

Yikes!

I got to keep the poster as an active reminder of my failure. ^_^;

My poster wall is growing steadily.

Vanpla OOTB Gundam Model Contest

2012-02-27T21:13:00.001-08:00

Vanpla is hosting a mecha model contest in Burnaby, BC on March 31st. The event is hosted and sponsored by Metropolis Comics and Toys. It's gonna be a simple OOTB competition and any mecha model can be entered. I myself am going to be entering with my Bawoo. More info can be seen found in our Vanpla forums.
I hope to see some new faces at the competition.

Gaplant Dio Update and Bawoo Pre-Build

2012-02-12T03:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long hiatus to those who actually read this blog. These last few semesters are gonna be tough as I'm trying to get through graduating high school. A bunch of problems with me not passing certain courses. Hopefully I'll be able to settle everything by the end of June, so please anticipate more posts after that.
The above photo is how the Gaplant dio currently looks. I've added texture paint to the surface of the base, but I still need to even it out with a smaller brush. Once I can scrounge out enough time, it'll be painted.

Among other things, I've also started working on an OOTB build for an HGUC Bawoo. It won't be anything particularly special, just a small project for me to actually finish.

I've got to say that this kit is wonderfully made and that the transformation gimmick does nothing to hold back the articulation of this model. All the parts work together solidly and nothing bad can be pointed out.

Some mods I did to the parts in order to easily disassemble and reassemble parts for painting. The yellow commander fin was just clipped. The grey part at the bottom however was extremely risky as it's a joint piece and took a lot of careful drilling in order to do.

Gaplant WIP 4

2011-12-19T19:07:00.000-08:00

Yay, an update after 2 months...

I kinda lost all motivation after failing to finish this thing in time for IPMS and it was just lying there until recently when I took it out to a Vanpla demonstration at Metropolis Comics & toys. The scrap has been spray painted, and weathered with the hair-spray technique. During the demo, I had it drybrushed and washed. It's still a bit too dark so I'm going to drybrush some lighter paints and even things out.

Gaplant WIP 3

2011-10-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

Quick update on the Gaplant build. I've used Celluclay to make the groundwork and applied some fine sand to it for texture. Also Added a bunch of polystyrene tubes and random junk parts I have. Preparing for painting in the next few weeks.

Inspiration References 1

2011-09-28T19:03:00.003-07:00

Stole this idea from Dark Workx's blog. Basically a bunch of line works that I feel inspired by or have directly used in making models. A lot of them are still unused as they require an insane amount of scratch building which I'm not capable of yet. One day, one day...

Gaplant WIP 2

2011-09-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

School's started for me so I've been quite busy as it's my last year in high school and I've become a leader in my school's Japan club. I'm in charge of sushi sales apparently. Anyways, onto the work. The binders above have been plated and sanded a bit. I'm going to add a few more plates and I'll be done with these mods and head onto panel line scribing. I'm trying to get this whole project done before the end of the month so I don't plan on making things get too complicated. This project will be entered into a local plastic model show. In fact, it's the biggest plastic model event here in Vancouver.

Plated it to cover up some exposed polycaps.

Filled in the hollow section, pretty standard mod.

Thighs sanded and ready for primer.

The base for my diorama.

Gaplant WIP 1

2011-08-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

The two GMs have been built and the command type has surprisingly good legs. I've revised the diorama and decided to add a Gaplant. I bought it at Imperial Hobby this weekend while I was putting my Zaku III in the display case. I was surprised with a huge crowd of people and giant signs that said "25th Anniversary". Surely enough, there was a 25% off everything sale so I decided to get something I've been thinking about for a while. Thus I revised my diorama plans with this kit.

Notice the configuration with the right binder? It's gonna be super-deliciously modded into a double barrel rifle. I got inspiration from seeing pictures of the Gaplant Elisia Custom. I've yet to think about what to put on the left binder however.

Legs extended with pla-plates and in the process of filling the gaps with Tamiya Quick-Type Putty.

Picked up some nano magnets from Excel Hobby while I was in Japan. These things are awesomely magnetic, it's too bad I only bought one pack. Anyone know an online store that sells them? Anyways, I sanded out the circular part in the middle of the piece. It was originally a female part for snap-fitting. I got some CA Tamiya cement to use on it.

Yeah, the cement works well when sticking plastic with other stuff, but it's really nasty. The white stuff is caused by the cement doing "something" to it. I got some on my fingers and the parts where the cement touched are solid right now.

The other piece that the magnets will connect together. This one had to be sanded as well.

Ok, this mod gave me a huge headache. I had to cut and separate the two skirt pieces because they wouldn't gotten in the way of the magnet. Then I drilled holes in each of them and cemented in a piece of wire to keep them from falling out. Finally I sanded the piece they were going into to give the wires space to move and allow the skirt armour to swivel.

The "dick piece" as I like to call it. I drilled out the middle and then proceeded to file them as flat as I could. They're still not perfectly straight, but I don't think I can make them any straighter. After clearing out the inside I cemented the pla-plate into the piece and closed the other half.

Hobby Shops in Sapporo

2011-08-20T17:46:00.001-07:00

While I was staying in Sapporo, I did go around looking for models. I obtained my HGUC GM and GM Command Space Type from Yodobashi Camera. The store is located right next to the main transit station "Sapporo Station". This station is a terminal for the subway and the train systems and is basically considered the centre of the city. Stupid me didn't take pictures of the inside of the store, so I will try to explain it to the best of my ability.

Yodobashi Camera(above) is an electronics store with all the computers and such on the first floor, other electronics on the 2nd floor and on the 3rd floor they have the toy section. You're gonna have to look around a bit for it because it's not immediately noticeable. Most of it is filled with kid's toys until you get to the far end where they have basically around 2 very long aisles of Gunpla. I have never seen a wall of Gunpla that huge anywhere else! The last wall is reserved for MGs and the rest are for the 1/144s, sds, aftermarket parts and tools.

There's also BIC Camera, but they don't really have much of a selection so I just skipped them. Lastly is Excel Hobby(above) which was my absolute favourite store. They're a small store that's located a block away from the Sapporo TV Tower on the 3rd floor of a building. Their selection wasn't that big, but they made up for it with nice staff, good atmosphere and if you stick around, you might meet some really good modelers there. They offer all the stuff a modeler would want with all the tools, various paints, decals and aftermarket parts that they have in stock. They also have another section on the 5th floor which stocks airsoft guns. The guy who I think was the manager, a lanky man with glasses, was really nice and welcoming to a foreigner like me. He was actually impressed by my Zaku III build! :D
He told me to come again next year and I hopefully will.

I met a modeler there who had his models in display and was taking them back. He's been doing it for around 20 or so years and he was nice enough to write about me in his blog. It took me 20min of hard reading to understand what he was talking about though. Here's his blog so someone here who has better Japanese than me can try to message him. For some reason, he isn't responding to the messages I've been sending him... Hopefully I can tell him off next year when I go back. >:O

I'll leave you guys with some pictures of the display works. The Wing and SF3D models were done by my buddy. If anyone knows how to upload from blogger without having all the pictures get scrambled, please tell me.

Zaku III Photoshoot

2011-08-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

Finally got the supplies to make the photoshoot. This is my first time trying this so the images aren't exactly as professional as other modelers, but I'll get there.

Yup, I definitely need to make a proper photo booth. ORZ

Next Project

2011-08-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

My next project is going to hopefully be a diorama featuring the HGUC GM Command Space Type and the HGUC GM. It's going to be based on one of the scenes in the Gundam Senki 0081 OVA. With all the resupply cables still attached to the units after the ship was destroyed and the two half-destroyed mobile suits holding hands. For those who have never seen the OVA, it can be found here.

Site Update

2011-08-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

A new banner for the site that looks 10x less crappy. I've added a link to the right that links to Vanpla, the model group that I'm a part of. If you live in Vancouver or even the rest of Canada, please have a look. It always makes me happy to be able to meet other Canadian modelers. I've also added a follow button as well as the ability to reply to comments(not that anyone comments here anyways >___>)

Back Home

2011-08-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hello, I just got back home here in Vancouver. Having 2 days without sleep because of travel really put a lot of stress on me. To be truthful, I didn't want to come home at all. I wished I could stay in Japan just a little longer. Imagine my surprise when I came home after 2 months of heaven to the image above....

I didn't start screaming until after my dad left for work. >__>

Anyways, I'm still suffering from some horrible jet lag. In fact, I just woke up and it's 7pm.
I've been prepping up some supplies so I can finally do the Zaku's photoshoot. I will continue to make a few more posts about my exchange to Japan with more details for those who wish to one day go.

Host Changes

2011-07-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

I just got my third host change. As an exchange student I have to live under someone else`s roof. These people are completely volunteering to pay for my transport and food expenses. Sometimes I don`t get along with them and that causes me to have to move. Quite frankly I`ve tried to get along with them as best I could.

My first host parents were ok, though they had a son who partied, smoked and brought his girlfriend all the time to do the do. They dad was never around and I could never get any sleep. As a result, I found myself sleeping in class all the time and my teacher`s got pretty pissed. The host father went down to Sendai in order to organize water filtration so the mom got pretty stressed. There were my host nephews who were pretty fun to hang around. They were 11 and 13 years old. The day before we left, we had a dinner on a yacht styled like a traditional Japanese tatami courtroom.

Second host parents were kinda weird. The dad was always chill, though I would only see him at night for a few hours. The mom however is slightly insane. She was a clean freak who enforced very strict rules on me. Apparently, she has a reputation among the host parents as the other exchange students told me that their host parents knew about her. She appeared pretty nice and even a bit childish at first, but soon enough she showed her real self. I`m wondering if she has a split personality or something as she will be super nice one moment and then pure evil the next.

I broke one too many a rule and she proceeded to swiftly kick me out.

My current and hopefully last host family are pretty amazing. The dad used to work at the Hokkaido Television Broadcasting company, though he retired this year. Right now he`s a volunteer organizer for the Sapporo branch of AFS, my exchange company. He and I share dirty jokes all the time and the mom teaches me how to pick up girls.

All in all, I`ve moved from the suburbs to a downtown area and finally I`m up in the mountain outskirts of Sapporo. Currently, I`m writing this from my host father`s laptop as they don`t know the network password so I can`t use my own computer. Later today is the Toyohira River Fireworks Competition and I`ll be going in a yukata(summer kimono). I`ll be going home next week so I will be able to upload photos and the two people who actually read this blog can see my girly face.

I`m in Japan

2011-07-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

So I`ve been in Sapporo, Japan for 3 weeks and I haven`t been able to get on the internet to post anything here. This post will be the first a series for my life in Japan. I`m currently writing this from my school as I have only limited internet access at home. I came here as an exchange student to experience more of Japanese culture and to test out how fluent I am at Japanese. It turns out that I can carry on a pretty bad conversation for a few minutes at least without having to resort to using a dictionary. I came through an exchange company called "AFS" and I`ll be staying until August 3rd so don`t expect any gunpla posts except maybe a few prebuilds of models that I may buy here. I`m currently living with a host family with a noisy host brother and I`ve been attending a private school here called "Ritsumeikan Keisho" junior and senior highschool. I"ll write a more detailed post on the school later. Since I`ve finally learned how to use the school computers here after a week, please expect more posts in the coming weeks.

Dirfinge Paint Stripping

2011-06-09T00:11:00.000-07:00

When I painted the frame of the kit many months ago, I failed to properly sand the legs. Needless to say, I got huge clearly visible seam lines after the airbrushing it. So now I ended up having to strip the paint off.

I just grabbed an empty cosmetic container and dumped some 99% isopropyl alcohol in it. I had the parts soak in for only a few minutes in order to get off the paint. Though the primer really didn't want to come off and I've had to thoroughly rub it off with cotton balls.

An after shot of one of the parts ater I sawed off a piece that wasn't accurate to the show.

Finishing off with some putty to fill in the void that was left when I sawed the part.

I'm Back

2011-05-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

Just to confirm that I am still alive and have been working on some models. The Zaku III I completed and submitted earliar is still in the shop and I have not gotten it back yet. Seems something went wrong at the group hosting the contest so I think I'm going to go get it back sometime this week and take some better photos. I've made some prebuild for a few models, but for my next project I think I'm going to finish making the Dirfinge and have it in a diorama. Expect some more posts around this week. Anyways, to make up for the lack of posts you can look at these dioramas that I found in a store in Seattle's Japan Town.

Zaku III Finished

2011-04-02T03:03:00.000-07:00

Finished the Zaku III and submitted it to the competition. I learned a lot of things during this build and I've improved since the last one. I didn't make the same mistakes as my last build, though I've made new ones. My sanding skills still need a lot of work as the puttied parts still be seen if you look close enough. None are visible in these photos though. The colour scheme was kind of messed up due to me rushing and painting this thing just a day before the deadline. I'll take a proper photoshoot once I get the model back from judging.

Zaku III WIP 4

2011-03-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Not really a big update as the Zaku is mostly finished except for the head. This will be my last WIP for the Zaku as I really need to rush to finish and paint the model.

Zaku III WIP 3

2011-03-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

Almost finished the Zaku III, but the arms and head still need to be properly attached after what I did to them. Most of the lower body as been completed and are waiting to be painted. I have 17 days left to finish this project and submit it to the Vanpla Zaku Competition. Pictures of the finished project can be expected later on this month.

Covered the shield with Tamiya basic putty to give it the same texture as the left shoulder.

Filled the arm with a piece of sheet styrene. It will be sanded off and I'll try to attach some more things to this arm to make it bulkier if I can get enough time to fit it in.

Sanded off the epoxy from earlier and filled the inside of the helmet with epoxy.

Sanded the top of the foot flat, but it left unexpected holes that have been filled in.

The leg armour has been filled and sanded properly.

The kneecaps have also been given the texture treatment.

The skirt armour has been attached back with the hip joints and been textured.

The core has been widened and has a more pronounced chest. The arm joints were lopped off in order to attach the styrene sheets. They will be reattached later.

A rod has been placed inside to add stability.

Zaku III WIP 2

2011-02-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been around a month since my last post and I've managed to get some progress on this guy. All the seam lines have been or are in the finishing processes of being removed. I've stared re-sculpting some parts and am about 70% complete minus the paint. Recently, I purchased my first scriber so we'll see how much I can do with that. Hopefully, I won't make a disastrous mistake when scribing panel lines. I will now have to go into overdrive and finish this model quickly as I'm making this for a gunpla competition hosted by the mecha model club Vanpla. The due date is March and the theme is the zaku. You can see all our work and works in progress here: http://vanplaforum.com/index.php.

I'm going to make the shield smaller and fill it in. Before filling it with epoxy putty, I place a couple pieces of styrene and scratched them up with a knife to give them some bite to allow the putty to stick better.

The shield after being filled and shortened.

I've cut out part of the head and filled it. The head will eventually be extended backwards and have a slightly more angular shape.

The shoulder has had Tamiya Basic Type putty applied in thin layers with a paper towel. This gives it a rougher texture.

I'm currently cutting out the elbow protrusion and later I'll be replacing it with something along the lines of rocket launchers.

The sides of the legs have been cut out and have styrene sheets placed in them to hold the putty that the legs will be filled with. Oh! and by the way...

Happy belated Chinese New Year! Even now I'm still getting these red envelopes from random relatives I've never heard of. O_O

Zaku III WIP 1

2011-01-04T18:42:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post and I've been working on the Zaku III quite a bit. No real reason for not posting, just didn't think I had enough things to mention. Now I've built up a bunch of pictures and thought it was finally time to show them. This is what it currently looks like, notice the changes? The rifle is from Kotobuikya. I also replaced the hideous stock hands which I'll get pictures for in a later post.

Placed a piece of pla-plate to hold the putty I'll later fill it with.

Filled and sanded.

Removed the original three thrusters in the crotch area and replaced them with my own larger one. Skirt armour also filled though hard to see in this picture.

Modding the chest piece to be bigger.

These thrusters originally went on the skirt armour, but I've modified the "teeth" so that they will now go on the leg armour. These ones are different in that they stick out more towards the sides than the original ones.

*sigh* One of my worst habits is that I regularly spill my Tamiya cement and this was the result. I only just noticed when the entire Zaku III instructions booklet was covered in it. The cement also peeled off my cutting board's measuring surface. What a waste, anyways a late Happy Newyears to that single person who reads this blog.

Zaku III Prebuild

2010-12-11T14:21:00.000-08:00

Since I most of my current projects can't really be worked on until after they get painted, I might as well work on something while I wait to get paint. This Zaku III is being made for a local Gunpla contest in my town. It's Zaku themed and I chose this simply because it was one of my favourite designs from Gundam ZZ.

Man those huge feet would give the Dom a run for it's money.

I really like the backpack design. It makes me want to not mod this model at all.

The other side of this behemoth.

This is what I'll be basing my mods off of. Hopefully it will turn out similar, but with my own twists.

New "Spray Booth"

2010-12-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

I live in Vancouver and it gets pretty cold here and I found that whenever I spray painted, the paint would always crack from the cold temperature before I could get it inside my house. So I decided to create a booth that could keep my parts from getting cold and cracking.

Above is my old spray booth, the cardboard box is universal!

Alas it started to break down... and my paint was cracking.

Behold! My new box is made of wood!

A substantial hardware upgrade.

The bottom chamber is used to house a heater and the top one holds my parts while they're drying up.
I might put a fan in there one day and make it a complete spray booth, but not now. May not be the most efficient, but it serves it's purpose well.

I can finally get back to working on my models now.

Gundam X Divider WIP 1

2010-11-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

One of my current projects. This model was given to me last year when I went with my best-friend to a new years party. He went to a different school and I only knew one person other than him. When we went to the host's house I found out the host really liked building gundam models. He wasn't much of a modeler though. I got this model by telling him it would "break" if he tried to make it since it was so old. :P Ironically enough, some of it's pegs broke when I was working on it a few minutes ago. ^_^; I'm planning on finishing this model and giving it back to him to inspire him to start making models more seriously.