世界は美しくなんかない。そしてそれ故に美しい

[WIP] Project Gundam Thrones Part 5

2012-02-09T17:51:00.002+08:00

Managed to do enough work to compile into an update.

Completed painting Throne Eins.
Custom mix brownish black for the main body, weapons grey and internal frame grey are both different shades of neutral grey.

RG Freedom at the background.. Next project maybe???

Fixed up Sparkle Red Action Base for all 3 thrones.
Pink/black stripes painted on the shoulder and waist areas. Yellow/Black vents on legs painted.
So I can display in this setup...

This project is finally coming to an end, Still have to touch up Zwei's sword and Eins beam rifle, then to the final steps: Panel lining, decals(?), flat coat.
Thanks for looking!

[WIP] Project Gundam Thrones Part 4

2012-02-01T19:43:00.003+08:00

Throne Drei almost near completion, shelved for the time being till I get the major painting done for the other 2 Thrones.

So next up is Throne Zwei.
Custom mixed a yellowish grey paint for Zwei's frame and joints.

Similar to Throne Drei, masking hell on the arms, side skirts, and especially the big sword...
Main body orange was custom mixed as well, quite happy with how it turned out.

Another masking nightmare....

After painting and tape removed...

Final overall look after paint

[WIP] Project Gundam Thrones Part 3

2012-01-25T18:32:00.002+08:00

Alright, some updates to this project.
All 3 Thrones had been primed and ready for painting.

Long holiday for Chinese New Year, other than getting red packets ($$$), I thought I should be able to get some paint on this fellow.

Started with Throne Drei, since I think it has the most masking involved...

Sprayed white first, then the brown for the inner frame color, and a red mixture for the main body color.

Still have to correct some errors like paint overspray, paint the yellow parts and some missed areas.
Thanks for looking!

[WIP] Project Gundam Thrones Part 2

2012-01-04T22:28:00.003+08:00

Update. Been working on Throne Drei for a couple of days.
Photo of past completed kit. Quite a number of mistakes by the noob-me of the past, overspray paint, did not fill up holes, crooked panel lines...

Past completed Throne Drei

Ok, so similar modifications done to Drei. Crooked panel lines filled up and sanded smooth. Backpack also modded for easy removal for painting.

After proportion mods

After sanding smooth puttied area, strip paint off the kit. Since the kit was painted with acrylic paint, I used window cleaner to strip the paint off. I believe the active ingredient is ammonia, works like a charm with no harm to the bare plastic.

Paint stripping in progress....

Priming to check for errors.. Of course there will be errors, did not expect to pass with one shot of primer.

Need to re-putty and re-sand some parts

Zwei primed as well, some errors spotted

2nd round of primer after correcting.

Still thinking on how to work on Throne Eins cannon...

Thanks for looking!!

[WIP] Project Gundam Thrones Part 1

2012-01-04T22:08:00.001+08:00

Hi all!! A start of a brand new year 2012 calls for a new project.

Back to Gundam 00 season 1, my favourite units were the Gundam Thrones as I find their design quite unique. Same body frame design, but with different armaments and different heads as well.

Some screen-shots from the anime

Will be putting them in this pose once all completed

You know you're screwed when you see this coming.....

I managed to get snap-fitted Throne Zwei and Throne Eins cheaply off a fellow modeller. I will re-work on the Throne Drei which I had completed a few years back.

So work began starting with Zwei

Increase neck height
Shoulder joint mod for wider range of movement

Increase thigh height

Widen chest area

Fill up holes with epoxy putty

Quick look after mods, I think it looks much better ya?

Did more filling in other areas. Cleaned up the mods and sanded them smooth, might need a few more rounds of putty in some areas. Did the same mods for Throne Eins

Sanded smooth

Same mods for Throne Eins

Huge seamlines on Throne Eins's back cannon, need to think of a way to remove those seamlines and prep the parts for easy painting...

Thanks for looking!

VP Infinite Justice Gundam

2011-11-29T09:28:00.001+08:00

Finally completed this kit.. Minimal decals used.
I used reflective stickers for the sensors on the head. Quite a nice effect imo.

Here's the paints/mixtures that I am using:
Body red: Fluorescent Pink + GX Hermann Red
Flight-pack red: GX Hermann Red + Cobalt Blue + Fluorescent Pink
Green: Clear Green on top of Star Bright Duralumin
White: White + a little Cobalt Blue
Black: 100% Black
Yellow: Orange Yellow
Inner Frame/Joints: Star Bright Duralumin

Photos did not quite capture the main body red well, its a little darker than what the pictures show.
Start of with a before-after picture.

No many poses as I'm afraid the paint might get scratched off.
Then again, I find IJ most stunning when it's just standing straight.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with this build, shows that resin kits are indeed worth the time and effort to build.

Thanks for looking!

[WIP] 1/100 VP Infinite Justice Part 3

2011-11-22T22:11:00.001+08:00

Started painting. I had to check the net for some paint color references.
Luckily this time, masking tape did not pull off any primer/paint, unlike what happened when I was building the Neograde Strike Freedom.

GBWC 2011 - 天使再臨 (MG Exia Repair)

2011-11-15T19:33:00.001+08:00

Here's my entry for the GBWC, actually built for the competition in September which got postponed. Also submitted another entry which is the HG Blu Duel / Verde Buster

First time doing a battle damage and first time doing a diorama. Some dry brushing done on the base but photos did not capture it well.

Some WIP pictures

HG Blu Duel / Verde Buster Gundam

2011-10-30T11:29:00.003+08:00

Finally done with this 2 kits! Might be sending in for upcoming competition..

Snap fitted

Completed kit

Thanks for looking! Comments and critiques welcomed!

[WIP] HG Blu Duel / Verde Buster

2011-10-21T11:36:00.000+08:00

Done painting both kits, some areas need some touch up though. Panel lining next, then final flat coating.

Blu Duel's color used from the HG Duel Gundam Assault Shroud paint set.
Verde Buster color was custom mixed.

[WIP] HG Verde Buster Gundam Part 1

2011-10-21T11:32:00.000+08:00

Some updates. I've decided to include the HG Verde Buster Gundam as well. I snap fitted this kit a few years back when it was just released, lots of sprue cut marks and seamlines.

I made some modifications to some areas:
- Lengthen head by a little bit
- Increased neck height
- Widen chest area
- Increased waist height
- Increased thighs height
- Changed to Strike Noir's feet
- Cut some parts for easy painting

[WIP] 1/100 VP Infinite Justice Part 2

2011-10-03T16:19:00.001+08:00

Another update! I have finished priming the whole kit except for the beam rifle and the shield.
Problems revealed by the primer corrected as well.

Now it's ready for painting!!!

Thanks for looking!

[WIP] 1/100 VP Infinite Justice Part 1

2011-10-03T11:24:00.002+08:00

Did not have much free time recently to update this blog as I was quite busy with work...
But managed to squeeze out time to do this kit every now and then.

I took a few hours to remove the nubs for a quick test fit. Fitting problems arms and feet resin parts. Big gap on the chest part. The 2 cannons on the backpack fitted loosely. Some surface defects on certain parts.

I started off with the flight pack since it consists of the least number of resin conversion parts.
Sanded whole thing and then primed.

Filled the gap in the chest piece with epoxy putty and smooth it out with water. Sand and prime after that.
Shoulder and arm pieces were also primed.

Thanks for looking!!

[Review] 1/100 Infinite Justice Conversion

2011-09-22T18:12:00.001+08:00

Here's a short review on Super-G recast VP Infinite Justice conversion. A MG Infinite Justice is required for the inner frame and flight pack. This conversion kit mainly concentrates on replacing the armour part pieces, not much changes to the flight pack except for the top 2 cannons.

Usual boxing from Super-G with a lousy out of focus photo pasted on the top.
Contents consist of:
- Plastic bag of parts, divided into multiple segments.
- 2 photo references of completed kit (Clear and sharp photos)
- 1 piece instruction manual
- Water-slide decal of stencils
- 1 small sheet of silver sticker (metal decal?)
- 2 metal beam sabres with clear beams

More details of this kit below
The 2 photo references provided are clear and sharp, great photos indeed.

Front view

Back view

Parts removed from plastic bag, lay out for counting.
Total parts count: 62

And some close ups, casting is quite ok

Clean up needed here

Since I have a TT Hongli MG Infinite Justice already built, I will be using it for this conversion.

Thanks for looking!

[Review] 1/100 Sword Calamity Conversion Part 2

2011-09-17T11:46:00.003+08:00

After some slicing and dicing, test-fitted onto MG Freedom inner frame.

I found the nubs were kind of large, quite a bit of care needed when cutting them. Fitting was quite good, most parts went onto the frame without much problem, except for a few areas:

- Arm piece might have shrunk during casting, cracked when inserted onto the frame. Insert pla-plates inside the crack to widen it.

- Connecting joints from backpack to the swords too weak. Sliced off pegs and strengthen with brass rod inside.

- Warped swords.

More cleaning up of the surface will be needed before I proceed on to priming. I foresee a sanding and masking nightmare ahead...... >.<

Overall, I would rate this kit 7.5/10 for the casting and ease of fitting.

Thanks for looking!

[Review] 1/100 Sword Calamity Conversion Part 1

2011-09-08T20:00:00.001+08:00

Here's a short open box review on the Neograde Sword Calamity Conversion kit recasted by Super-G. Bought it from Hong Kong during my trip there. This conversion kit uses MG Freedom as the base kit.

Boxing looks nice and sturdy, photos on the top and side weren't of the best quality, but it's the contents inside that matters.

Some background info about this Gundam. This conversion kit portrays the 2nd unit out of 3 units of Sword Calamity Gundams built. Piloted by Edward Harrelson of the Earth Alliance, which donned his markings of a rose and two swords that make a X on top of the rose on the left shoulder.

Opened box, contents consist of the instruction manual printed on 2 pieces of A4 paper, 2 photos of the finished kit (quality of both photos wasn't that good as well), and 1 really small sheet of water-slide decal of stencils.

Packaging of parts similar to Super-G's other products, packed in plastic bag with partitions. V-fins were supported by a cardboard to prevent from breakage.
Laid out the parts for accounting. Casting looks good for most pieces, no air bubbles observed. However, there was some warped parts and flashes as well. Quite alot of them had some gloss shiny patches on the surface, mould release agent perhaps?
Total parts count: 88 (man, that's alot of parts!)

Some close-up shots of the details and quality of casting.

Rose marking of Edward Harrelson

Chest vents

Side Skirts nice and sharp

Backpack nicely done

I really like the nice casting of the chest cannon

Details on the underside of the feet

And..... not everything looked that good. Some parts have surface defects, casting irregularities, and even warp-age.

Flashes in the vents, need to be real careful when removing it

Warp-age of the knives

Casting defects on both arms

Warp-age of the 2 anti-ship swords

More casting defects here

Surface defects can be solved easily with some putty and sanding. The tricky part is to straighten the warped parts. I heard softening the resin under boiling water, straighten it and dump it into ice will do the trick..

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the casting. For the price I paid for it, I would say it was a pretty good deal. Fitting is yet another issue all together, although I will not be starting on this in the near future.

Thanks for looking! Hope this review will help some decide whether to get this or not.

Hong Kong Trip

2011-09-07T11:43:00.001+08:00

Just returned from holiday in Hong Kong. The hotel I was staying was right smack next to Mongkok where u can find most hobby shops and airsoft shops. Not a good piece of news for my wallet though...

My main motive for my trip there was get resin kits. Can't leave empty handed right? Gundam kits are insanely cheap as well.

Taking 1 SGD = 6.45079 HKD (from XE.com)
MG Strike Freedom - HKD338 - SGD52.40
MG 00 Raiser - HKD438 - SGD67.90
HG God Gundam - HKD100 - SGD15.50

Resin kits:

FSS 1/100 Bang Doll
FSS 1/100 Luminous Mirage with Buster Launcher
FSS 1/100 Schpertor K.O.G.
Neograde 1/100 Sword Calamity Conversion (Super-G recast)
Neograde 1/100 Strike Gundam Evo 8 Conversion (Super-G recast)
Vicious Project 1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam Conversion (SMS recast)
Non-scale Omegamon-X (YM Studio recast)

[WIP] HG Blu Duel Gundam Part 2

2011-09-01T18:14:00.001+08:00

Some updates for this kit.. Quite a bit of work done to it in the pass few days.
My 2 boxes of HG Strike Noir arrived, only to have the thigh and feet parts stolen for this kit lol

Primed kit shown above, more details below

Close up on Strike Noir thigh and feet, quite a bit of filling needed for the seamline that runs in between the parts.

Also, I did a small mod for the lower leg armour pieces to allow easy seperation for painting.

Thanks for looking!

Celestial Being - Gundam Meisters

2011-08-29T21:25:00.001+08:00

Ok, I admit the title doesn't seems appropriate. Gundam Meisters refer to the pilots. LOL
Well, instead of the pilots, I have their Gundams!!! So this post deserves larger pictures

HG Seravee Gundam

2011-08-29T21:16:00.000+08:00

And FINALLY!! I have completed the final one!

This one was straight OOB, scribed some extra panel lines on some areas.
Not easy filling the seams on Seraphim. Seam lines running through whole halves of the parts.
I couldn't get an exact color match for the green for the chest, but the color I mixed out turned out quite nice.

Thanks for looking!

HG Cherudim Gundam

2011-08-29T21:06:00.000+08:00

3rd Celestial Being Gundam completed! HG 1/144 Cherudim Gundam

Not much modifications done, except a neck extension by 1mm. Original head was too low.
Decals went on nicely this time d(^^)b

Thanks for looking! 1 more till the complete set!

[WIP] HG Blu Duel Gundam Part 1

2011-07-29T22:45:00.001+08:00

I was digging through some stuff recently when I stumbled upon this kit which I snap fitted some years ago.
HG 1/144 Blu Duel Gundam from the Gundam Seed Stargazer OVA. Actually it's basically a Duel Gundam slapped on with a different set of armor, becomes the Blu Duel Gundam... lol

Back then, my skills were less than basic, seamlines, thick panel lining, stickers and frosting of topcoat.
I will be working on this kit to improve it's overall proportion.

Problems:
- Head too low
- Whole kit looks short and stubby

Snap fitted kit (pic taken from internet)

What I've done so far is to increase the neck height by 1.2mm

Separated torso into 2 parts, will be increasing height with ball joint

Increased length of thighs by 2.4mm

Dry fitted modded areas to check proportions.

On second thought, I think I will replace the extended thighs and feet with those from the HG Strike Noir Gundam kit.

Thanks for looking!

HG Arios Gundam

2011-07-20T18:36:00.001+08:00

I initially started this kit as a quick out of box build, ended up with a huge burn out after completing it... Encountered lots and lots of mishaps, paint spilling out of airbrush, masking tape peeling decals out...

Anyway I'm quite happy to complete this kit. No transformation to 'plane' mode, worried of paint getting scratched off.

More pics below

Action poses!!!

Thanks for looking!

Coming Soon!

2011-07-10T14:23:00.000+08:00

HG Legend Gundam

2011-06-03T12:07:00.001+08:00

1/144 HG Legend Gundam completed! An old kit which I got it cheap off another modeller. Stripped the paint off the kit and re-worked on it.

Snap-fitted kit (Image from Dalong.net). Proportions look quite weird, head too short, shoulder movement limited, thighs and lower legs too short. Whole kit looks short and stubby.

So I did quite a few modifications to the problematic areas:
- Increased neck height by 1mm
- Increased upper arm height by 1mm
- Re-worked shoulder joint to increase movement slightly
- Separated lower torso, increased height and added ball joint
- Extension of thigh area by 2mm
- Extension of lower leg region by 2mm

Thanks for looking!!!