Gundam 00P - Character art

Yeah I know I said I was going to go in a different direction but then I realized that I said I'd post pics of the characters but haven't done that yet. Well here it is. Characters names can be seen here. Not sure about the translation of those names though but it's from a reliable source. Also... apparently there's a core fighter in the Plutone! I always liked the core fighter idea. I think Plutone is the only 00 mech to have it. Let's hope we see it in the animation!

Plutone - Extras + White Mark II

Man, I'm getting really frustrated going without my camera. I feel like I shouldn't be working on my models unless I can take pictures of it. Bleh. OK well here are the last of the Plutone photos. Think I'm going to go in a different direction tomorrow. Also... been doing a lot of research online about modelling and I've come across some really amazing things. Shocking things that make me realize just how far I have to go. Part of me wonders if I'll ever get there. If I have the drive because it takes a lot of time and determination to get to that level. But for now I'm just happy with improving. Step by step.

Anyways, here's a pic of something I found surfing, on a Japanese site. I'm always been a fan of monochrome schemes. The white looks so clean. Think I might try it out myself someday.

Plutone - Exia comparison + Red Astraea

You can see a comparison of this model and the Exia at the top and you can also see the Astraea parts 1/144 Exia at the bottom painted in red. Those protruding nozzles are kind of interesting. Presumably to release the GN Particles? I think I might like to see some alternate colour schemes for this suit. So what do you think? Do you like it? Kind of like a slim downed Virtue huh.

Plutone - Coloured line art

I wonder when/if this model is going to come out? To be honest... I like the Sadalsuud a lot more and the Astraea even more than that. Pic of that one tomorrow.

Plutone - more details and some updates

My camera's fixed but I can't use it yet for 'legal' reasons. Silly but it'd take way to long to explain. They told me 3 weeks but they got it done in days. Kind of impressive actually. Bought some more paints today. Copper, light grey and clear. Don't know what to do exactly with the clear but I figured I'll give it a shot. Same thing with the copper... I bought it because it looked nice. I do have a plan for the grey though. Beam rifle's paint has dried but I've noticed some issues so I'm going to touch it up a bit.

Gundam 00P - GNY-004 Gundam Plutone

For the next couple days I will be posting pics from the little known Gundam 00P side story, a magazine serialization which is currently at File No.4. These pics will be of a relatively large size so you can see the details. It's all about the details. Also the pictures will largely be of a 1/144 scratch build GNY-004 Gundam Plutone but there will also be some schematics/line art, character art and 3d modelling art. Let's start with the suit itself.

Some shield huh?

Qubeley

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Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Thought I'd share a magazine scan of this custom Qubeley. When I saw it my jaw practically dropped at the paint job. See for yourself. That 'phased in' grid design is something else! I'd love to see the creation process for this one.

PG Strike, PG Zeta, PG Mark II and...

...a couple of changes.

First, I added a chat box on the bottom of the right hand column because I'm curious as to what you guys think about Gundam related stuff. Also if anyone has some advice for me about modelling or whatever, I'd love to hear it. Please feel free to comment here on these posts or in the chat box.

お願いします！m(_ _)m

Second, my camera/cell phone is in the shop getting repaired. So I'm back to using my old cell again. Luckily for me I didn't get rid of it. Lots of good memories attached to it I guess. Plus it has some other functions that are still useful. Actually... I'm kinda happy to be using it again... Newer isn't always better I guess. It usually is though eh? :)

Third, because of the camera/cell phone issues, I'm going to be deviating for the strictly plamo content and getting more into other Gundam related stuff. Specifically more magazine scans that some of you who don't live in Japan, might not have the chance to see. There is no problem with my scanner.

Fourth, since the old cell is back, I figured I'd post some of the older pics I took with it. These are from about 3 years or so ago when I first bought and had just finished my PG Strike.

So just from taking a look at these three Perfect Grade models, which one do you like the best? Of course I like all of them but I think the Strike barely edges out the Mark II. I mean... it has that giant sword! haha

Man it's like looking at old family pictures or something.

*Thinks about them waiting, dismantled in their boxes and wipes away a single tear.*

Oh yeah. If you like you can see a couple more pics here.

Beam Rifle - Finishing touches

Shaved off the excess putty. Sanded it down. Checked the fit of the peg. Removed some of the paint. Washed, dried, repainted. It looked OK before it was painted but after I repainted it I realized that I could have done a better job. Oh well. It's good enough for what I need it to be. Sorry about the quality of these images. My camera is broken and I have to modify the images manually.

Sanded down

Repainted

Beam Rifle Issues

So what exactly is the issue with my OYW RX-78-2 beam rifle? Well where to start?!

Initially it started off as a relatively minor problem. The peg that lets the beam rifle attach to the shield and back pack was stuck at an 80 degree angle instead of a 90 degree one so the beam rifle didn't fit in flush the way I wanted it to.

Why? Because of the way the paint dried on the peg. It was painted at that angle (didn't check properly I guess) and when the paint dried it got stuck in that position. I couldn't loosen it. The peg is supposed to fold up into the beam rifle when not in use. Like the bazooka. And after just checking it to see if it moves (as I'm writting this actually), I've come to realize that it doesn't.

More paint issues. Same problem. I'm just glad that I painted it with the peg out and not in other wise I'd have a more serious problem... hmm... what to do about that? I'll figure it out next time. Right now I'm just going to leave it alone. I don't want a repeat of what happened this time.

But what happened exactly? I used 'force' to try and push it back into place. Bad idea.

Sometimes it works but not this time. It broke. OK no problem. I can fix the peg.

I take apart the beam rifle and it breaks on me... ouch. Straight break. I can fix it with glue. OK moving along... got to get the peg out. It doesn't happen. The paint has totally wedged it in. By the time I get it out it's in 4 pieces.

At this point I'm considering just ordering another peg from BANDAI but then I said to myself "Why go through the hassle when you haven't even tried to fix it yet?"

I tried and it seemed to work.

Tried to put it back into place but silly me... again... I used a bit to much pressure on an already fragile piece and it broke... again.

Damn.

I decide I'm just going to put the salvageable part of the peg in and seal up the gap with some putty. Doing this won't allow the peg to fold into the rifle but at least I'll be able to attach it to the MS itself.

Working with putty is kind of a pain because it actually melts the plastic. The stabilizer handle joint of the rifle became loose and broke off. I don't really know how that happened but I remember it feeling really soft like it'd be burned off or something.

And then I moved. I lost that handle. After searching for a while I found it again and tried to attach it tonight. The pic below shows where I damaged the rifle during this whole process. The part below the sensor is where the rifle cracked when I was trying to disassemble it. The part in front of the trigger is where the putty melted the plastic.

Again because of the putty all the movement in the handle is going to be gone. That's OK though since it's not really an important joint. Decided I'm going to seal up the whole joint and sand it down later. Not going to be a conventional RX-78 beam rifle but whatever. Right now I'm just doing damage control. Quite literally.

However I did start to sand down the putty I put in earlier and put in a bit of design and it seemed to work out well... but I sanded down the peg a bit too much and found that the fit was quite loose when I tried to attach it to the MS's backpack. After painting that might not be a problem but I decided not to chance it and put a bit more putty on it to thicken it up a bit. I mean since I had it out and was doing work on that area.

When it's dry I'll do a bit of light sanding to get it symmetrical and then test the fit.
In the end... is a difference of 10 degrees really worth all of the trouble?

Well all I can say is 'Live and learn'. That's what this blog is all about.

I am a beginner after all.

Infinite Justice - Customizing

For the longest time I was content with just buying models and building them straight out of the box with no modifications. Not even panel lining. And for the longest time I was quite happy with that. I'm not sure what changed or when it happened really but after a while I started noticing that people out there were making amazing things. Things that I had! I started to wonder to myself... why? Here's an example of just how different things can be. 3 different Infinite Justices. Two customs and one stock. I started to realize that the kit itself can simply be a vessel for you to express your own will upon it. At first I thought that the kit was made to be built a certain way... but now I've come to think the kit can just be idea... one that can be modified upon to express whatever desires you have. After all... it is yours. You can do whatever you want with it.

Powered GM - Colour Ideas

pgm-12
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

If I had a lot of different kinds of paints I might go for something like this... but there are a lot of different colours here and don't have all those colours now, so I think I'm going to save this earth tone look for another suit. If you want to see the process, other colour ideas and the scheme that I decided on please click here.

HGUC GM Powered - Assembled

It's rare for me to post so often but I'm so excited that I have to put this up immediately. I know... nothing special just a straight build, no paint, no decals, what's the big deal. All I used was a nipper and a knife on it. Well... I got this model 8 months ago and it's finally assembled! After just looking at that box all that time. Now I can finally take a look at the whole model and see what mods I want to make and where. Stuff that you can't decide until you see the whole thing built. 全体バランス as they say in Japanese. The balance of the whole figure. I've already picked out a bunch of things that I want to mod. Might be a bit more complicated than I thought. Will definitely have to use some new techniques. Posability is a bit limited. Getting the bazooka pose on the shoulder is a bit tough because the hand joint keeps seperating... but gluing it wont allow it to change to the machine gun... not enough flexibility in the wrist. Only one left hand with 90 degree wrist flexibility but with no reason for it. Maybe to hold onto the top part of the bazooka during that pose. Some cool machine details are covered up by the knee armour. That's frustrating. I would have liked to have painted it but it's kinda pointless if the armour is always going to be covering it. Not really feeling the orange but I'd always planned on changing that. I'll post some of my design thoughts later. All in all I'm happy with it and I think it has potential. The question is... can I unlock it?
I'm going to try.

Moving my models

I haven't stayed in one place for longer than 2 years in a very long time. I'm constantly moving so that means I'll always packing and unpacking my models. This time I wasn't moving very far so I didn't wrap up the models like I'd usually do. I carried the boxes by hand so I was pretty sure they wouldn't get damaged. However I have had some experiences where the models I put into the box came out in pieces they weren't intended to be in -_-; And to make matters worse I didn't do the repairs correctly! Generally I try to keep everything in 2 boxes but this time I just did it in the ones that I had around. 4 in total. 5 if you include the Zeta box (since two smaller boxes are inside)

MG RX-78-2 OYW box has; my painted 1/100 Red Astay and painted MG RX-78-2 OYW

HGUC GM Powered box has; only that in it. Still not totally assembled yet.

1/100 Red Astray box has; SD Aegis, SD Justice, Revoltech Valkyries VF-1A and VF-1J, MG RX-78-4, FIX Ex S-Gundam, 1/100 Blue Astay 2nd L, PG Mark 2 (Torso)

PG Zeta box 1 has; itself, PG Mark 2 and PG Strike

PG Zeta box 1 has; 1/48 Yamato VF-1S, Haro (it talks and rolls around and stuff) and some teddy bears... <_<...>_>... what? Is a guy not allowed to have teddy bears with his model giant robots?! And to answer the question I know you're begging to ask... NO I did NOT buy them for myself, not that there would be anything wrong with that if i did! haha

Gundam Throne Eins, MG Unicorn, 1/100 Zala's, C.A. Limited FIX.

So I was vacuum shopping today and came across this.

It came out much sooner than I anticipated. I don't really pay attention to release dates so much. I figure I just going to buy it when it goes on sale anyways. It requires a bit of patience but I'm trying to cultivate that more these days. Modelling helps ^_^. I was surprised at the speed at which this came out actually. Not sure why since they released Exia models before 00 even aired.

Also FINALLY found the MG Unicorn. I'd seen this model built a long time ago from a bunch of different places but I'd never even seen the box until now. Bigger then your regular MG. Man it sure does look like it'd be a fun kit to build though.

This was just staring at me when I arrived.

Almost like a slap in the face saying "Why did you buy those HG's when you could have had... US!" But I still think smaller models would be good for what I want to do. If this HG GM Powered I'm working on now is any indication I should be satisfied with the end result. Size isn't everything you know! ^_0;

Also saw these cool Char edition FIX RX-78 KA's there.

Curious about what the 'metal composite' is like. I like the RX-78 KA's but... I saw that a Blue FA RX-78 will be coming out soon (From the shooting game Spirits of Zeon I think) and I might go for that one but I doubt there will be a metal composite version. Just have to keep my eyes open for something that I like. I guess I should say, keep my eyes open for something that I want to spend my money on. As you can see... theres a lot to look at and WAY too many things that I like.

Turn A. Not your standard diorama!

I'm not quite sure what to call this! As you can see this modeller made an entire... diorama? out of shelving! The shelving itself looks almost custom made as well. I personally have never seen anything like it at any home depot shop that I've been to. Almost looks like a step ladder but... its not obviously. Even the back wall of the shelves is made to look like a picket fence! The whole feel of this diorama is very rustic and organic. The Turn A itself is a 1/144 and you see that it's legs have been painted with a water bubble type of pattern to further enhance that natural feeling. I've never seen Turn A myself so I don't know about what kind of mechs appear in it or what the capabilities of the suit are but I've never seen a fictional war machine used in such a domestic way! I mean to hold up laundry of all things! Does that happen in the anime? I've seen pictures of modern day soldiers doing this on their tanks or other vehicles though. I'm not familiar with Turn A enough to fully appreciate the details put into this diorama but I was amazed at the whole concept to be honest. This seems more of a project in arts and crafts and woodworking then an exercise in modelling however I'm sure all of those skills were needed to make a piece such as this. Very creative and a nice change of pace from the standard Gundam model fare. No weapons, no fearsome or intimidating poses, no flashiness. Makes me feel like a clear day in mid autumn. While it's still warm. Makes me want to watch Turn A actually.

1/100 MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame - Completed

red-29
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Well it was a long time coming but the Red Astray gallery is finally finished. You can see the entire process and photo gallery here. I recommend using the slideshow function if you're interested in watching the entire building process. It doesn't take long and it's kind of entertaining! Well for me at least haha! Also for more information on my experience with this suit please take a look at my previous blog entry on it by clicking here.

Rudolf's Gouf Ignited & MWF-JG71 Raysta

From the Gundam Seed Frame Astrays manga. This was actually the first time that I've ever seen the Raysta (nice anagram eh) as I've never read the manga. I liked how it incorporated a lot of the Astray design but there was still enough to keep it unique. Almost like what the EZ8 is to the RX-79G. I also liked how this Gouf has the original colours for it's right arm. Almost as if the original arm was blown off and had to be replaced by this one (which very well might have happened in the story since I haven't read it). The Raysta is a scratch build whereas this Gouf kit is a HG 1/144 that's already been released. It was actually the first Frame Astray's kit that I'd ever seen. Don't know if there are any others yet. I hope more will come out because I think the designs are great except for the 3rd Blue Astray suit. Not a big fan of that one but maybe it'll grow on me.

Throne Gundams

Picked up the new Dengeki Hobby magazine today and saw some interesting pics of the Throne Gundams from Gundam 00. All 3 of them have a pretty similar design it seems. Good way for Bandai to get the most out of their designs I suppose (like using the Zaku v2 frame over and over again). I couldn't really tell the differences so well from what I saw in the anime. HG Ein does look pretty cool though.

Techniques - GM Powered Assembly

As I start my HGUC GM Powered kit, I'm spending more time than anything just visualizing what I'm going to do with it. Sand the whole thing? Take away all the seam lines? Why? Who's even going to see it? Am I doing it for myself? Of course I am! haha

I've realized that when it comes to modelling it really all comes down to 3 questions.

1. How much time do you want to spend?
2. How much money do you want to spend?
3. How good do you want it to look?

In my case, I'm in no rush to finish it. I have enough money to buy anything I want for it but I'm hesitant to spend the money on an airbrush because quite frankly I don't know enough about airbrushes to buy one with confidence. Especially since I've never used one before and am not really sure about the techniques.

I hand painted major parts of my MG RX 78-2 OYW because I didn't like the game colours so much. It turned out well I think.

I had fun doing it. I didn't think that an airbrush was necessary... but the texture the airbrushing gives can't be beat and I'm sure that I'll be picking one up eventually. Just for the sake of completing my training if nothing else.

So far I've only just clipped the parts from the runners and I'm cutting down the nubs with a design knife so its flush. No sanding of parts yet.

To be honest this is the part of modelling that I like the most I think. Cutting and prepping the pieces. It can be done at any time and does require any set up. Just take your runner and cut and then put it away when you're done. No messing with paints or bottles or glue. No creative decisions. Just stuff you can kinda do with your brain on auto-pilot and there's nothing wrong with indulging in that now and then. I call it 'Excercises in mental multitasking' haha. But I know what you're thinking. When you cut out pieces you have to pay attention to the numbers and letters of the panels so you can be sure that you're cutting out the right pieces.

That's true but... I'm breaking away from tradition this time... I'd forgotten how small HGUC's are. There were only 4 large panels!

Small considering I'd just come off of a modern MG build. So... I cut out ALL of the pieces first instead of assembling the suit section by section. It makes it a bit more confusing since you have to search for each individual piece visually and not by the number/letter system. It's OK though. It just like... advanced LEGO or something. And of course I am using the manual for assistance. I don't need that much of a challenge. So far so good. No major issues.