Final Post from Japan

Busterbeam, Gundam Mark 2 - LAUNCH!

This Blog - 3 Years in the Making!

I mentioned in my year summary post that things have never really been the same at this blog since Feb. 2010.  Before that the growth (from the blog's inception) has been consistent culminating with Jan. 2010. After that month it's been up and down ever since but it's never really gotten back up to that level again.

That has finally changed.  This month has been the 'busiest' month for this blog ever, surpassing Jan. 2010's numbers...  My goal was to change that and it's happened.  I'm not sure what exactly I did, or if it was a combination of factors but whatever it was it worked.

I want to thank you all for your support, your time and your comments.  Doing this blog has been a very enjoyable experience for me allowing me to meet some great people along the way.  The 3rd year anniversary of this blog has come and gone with no fanfare because... I was just too busy to celebrate it.  To be honest... I didn't even notice!  haha

Anyway! I hope you'll all continue to stick around as I go through this time of transition.  I, myself, am quite curious to see what this blog ends up becoming!

Thanks again for all of your support!

We must have pictures!  Some of my favourite mecha shots from this month.

Edit:

I should have known that I'd receive some comments about how I didn't attach a picture of some beautiful Japanese girl at the end (and I was thinking of doing so but decided not to because I started another blog specifically for that) but old habits die hard I guess. So I asked my final assistant for advice. One Japanese girl talking about another... "Who is a Japanese woman that you think is pretty?" and this was her answer; Chibana Kurara. Miss Japan 2006! So here you go guys... Don't ever say that I don't listen to you!

PG Strike Freedom - 5th Stage Complete

1st stage was frame assembly.  2nd stage was frame painting.  3rd stage was wing assembly.  4th stage was basic painting and priming.  5th stage was armour application.

6th stage will be dis-assembly and painting.  7th stage will be decal/line work and I think that should be it.

This is my Perfect Grade Strike Freedom fully equipped.  There is nothing left in the box except for the stickers and decals.

I did do some custom painting on the head.  Couldn't just leave it as is.  Metallic grey, flat aluminum, gunmetal and the same gold I used on the frame.

I'm going to pack everything up except for the core suit itself, so that he looks just like this. He will be the Gundam that stays with me until the end and will be the first to enter into the next era of "Plamo Addiction".

A very enjoyable build experience! I was hoping for a bit more but it didn't disappoint me. Unfortunately... my wing fix couldn't support the full weight of the wings with the dragoons attached. It'll stay in place and not fall but it's not secure. Oh well. May have to do that ring fix after all. Even still the suit by itself is quite nice even if some of the proportions still throw me off a bit. I'm going to wait to try some different poses for it until I get back to Canada.  Last Gundam built in Japan.  Thank you PG Strike Freedom!

PG Strike Freedom - Progress thus far: 5 - Armour Application

Because I've cut almost everything off the sprues already, putting the armour on has been a relatively painless process.

I did spray the blue and red panels on runner with primer, thus the grey tone. Left hip rail gun is in grey and right (it's left) is in white. Just ran out of primer and that's what I had left so... I actually like how this is starting to look with just the primer colours! Of course I'm not going to keep it like that but it's starting to shape up! I finished the wings as in I primed the Dragoons and painted the frame armour black and have the whole system assembled... It's really touchy! Hard to keep them locked into place. Just a nudge and they'll spring open! Blah.

Anyway I'm aiming to have this guy COMPLETELY assembled before I launch out on Tuesday.  And yes he's going IN the suitcase and I'm taking him with me, along with my airbrush and paints (I don't want to wait for him to be shipped back with the others.) I should be able to do it. I might be pushing things (everything) down to the wire but I think I can have it all done in time.

HGUC ReZEL Commander Type

I got this as a gesture of solidarity between me and the members of the GAF MG ReZEL Group Build.

I was waiting for the MG ReZEL Command Type to be released before making the decision and... to be honest I just don't have the time for another MG before I leave. Shipping all this BUILT plastic is a pain in the butt never mind shipping whole boxes of unbuilt plastic. So I bought this ReZEL to remind me of all my friends doing the MG Group Build in the forums. Their work was really inspiring! I had to get a ReZEL of my own. Granted it's not MG so I can't participate but... I guess I'll be able to follow along in my own small way now. Good luck guys! Have fun! We'll be watching!

My Last Gundam?!

Maybe!

Going away present from my volleyball team! T_T Thank you so much!!!

New Gunpla Releases

I thought I was out of the game... but they keep drawing me back in...

Can I resist these... I don't know... This one is going to be hard. I might be forced to order these just to see what the process is like.

Ah! If I was still in Japan at the time of release I wouldn't give this a second thought but...

Well I have time to think about it at least.

G.G. is the source

Flag Fighters For Life! #4 - HG Graham's Custom Flag

In a rare switch of events, my blog is actually behind my Facebook page because I've gotten so busy and can only afford to make quick posts now and then. I often just post things on my page as I see/do them. I do this because it's simple, fast and I don't have to worry about re-sizing pictures because it's done automatically. However I realize that some of you read this blog and not that page so I'm going to show you some of the things I've been uploading there. This will be nothing new for the people who frequent my page as I'm just going to be copying the write up's directly.

Gaigun (http://www.gaijin-gunpla.com/ ) built this but found it to be too frustrating and wasn't impressed. He was going to leave it at ASM's (http://americansalaryman.wordpress.com/ ) place until I said something about that. I've ALWAYS wanted a Flag. This one in particular. ASM is a great guy and all but I couldn't let him take this. He has his own kits to worry about. That said I can understand Gaigun's difficulties after playing with this myself. It's very flimsy... but I still love it because of what it represents. Graham when he was awesome. When he realized that he needed a more powerful weapon to take on the Gundams he had this custom made. Before the Over Flag, the GN Flag, Masurao, Susanowo and then ultimately the Brave... there was this. The symbol of a hard as nails warrior in the prime of his fighting career. The essence of the warriors code. Bushido. No... the Flag isn't for everyone. But it is for me. Flag Fighters FOR LIFE!

1.  http://plamoaddiction.blogspot.com/2009/06/flag-fighters-for-life.html

2. http://gundamguy.blogspot.com/2009/06/gunpla-gallery-from-web-flag-fighter.html

3. http://plamoaddiction.blogspot.com/2009/06/flag-fighters-for-life-3.html

ANA Gundams

Looking at this I can't help but feel really lucky. ASM hooked me up with the RX-78 in August during the 1/1 pilgrimage. He bought the 00 for me later but him and Gaigun split the cost and gave it to me as a going away present! The generousity!

Thanks guys! I REALLY appreciate it! It's so beautiful! The O Raiser is also built but isn't featured in this pic.

Note: The kit comes with a simple 3 part stand that should be standard in every HG from now on in my opinion. It's so simple I don't see why they wouldn't do it. Cheap and effective.

Anyway I love this kit.  I have a bit more love for the 00 after building this.  I also have a lot more love for extra finish kits.  Nubs are a pain but the overall look compared to the work put in makes it worth it to me.

Musha MK II WIP 6 - Enter MG MK II Ver. 2.0

Nothing more can be done until these two are re-united with their older brother back in the motherland.

Forever Gundam Variations

Suddenly I want this kit.  Hobby no Toriko strikes again!  The creativity coming out of that place is just amazing!  It's what I aspire to myself with my own Gunpla.  This level of originality.  I never even considered all the things you could do with this kit!

Nu

GM Cannon

Full Armor

They're all so good! Kind of siding with the FA though.  I honestly looked at that kit and saw nothing but now... The possibilities...  More here.

Proportions / Anatomy

MatX posted a very interesting article on his blog and I'm glad I read it.

As someone who's also dabbled in comic book art myself I'm very familiar with "anatomy" and "proportion" study.  I mean my other blog is almost all about anatomy.

Nobel ponders whilst holding the head of a Quel.

It may not be totally relevant to a lot of you but we do throw around words like; "posability" (which may or may not be a real word but I advocate that it should be henceforth) "proportion" and "articulation" in this hobby and a lot of that stems from our intuitive understanding of human anatomy.

Gundams are made in humans image (obviously) and it's hard to not notice that.  It might be one of the reasons why we like them so much.  Or why some prefer more non-humanoid, monster like mechs.

I guess that might be why I like the Nobel Gundam so much.  I always think of my Gundams as having "personalities" of their own after I build them but the Nobel Gundam's design allows it a certain level of "expression" that other Gundams just don't have.  It's for this reason that I will probably continue to feature her in many pictures for this blog.  She's just the best communicator in her class (1/144).

Of course her proportions aren't correct either (head to height is fine, as in human, but leg to torso is... haha) but this happens so often with women (models) that it's almost standard practice.  Models tend to have physical proportions that most normal females don't.  They'll even sometimes enlist the use of computers to assist in this... illusion.  I'll let you guess who "they" are.

MatX showed a good example of why we want better proportions in our mechs (at least in Gundams) occasionally. It actually affects the type of poses you can do with them.

Standard.

Modded.

Worth considering for future modders.

GN Sword IV Full Saber

Finally managed to find it!  Lot to talk about but I'm just going to leave it at this for now.

Macross Fighter Collection #4

I've wanted to pick up a couple of these since I first saw them. I missed out on the first 3 series and now I've finally managed to snag a couple. Really... I saw a guy just come and pick up the whole box one time. Didn't leave any for anyone else to buy! I'm glad I got a couple but I got 3 stealth radome type of fighters and was a bit disappointed in that. So I just took off the extra bits and made them into normal fighters, so this is my squadron now. I don't think I'll buy anymore. They're nice little things to have around but they don't fasten to the base securely at all and will fall off the stand easily. Nice to look at but not really that fun to play with. Still though... I'm glad I have a couple now finally!

Well I'm off to meet ASM and Gaigun for some fun in Osaka! Have a great weekend!

HG Nobel Gundam

Welcome to the family.

Gundam Unicorn OVA 3 - Preview

Looks great and I'm really looking forward to this... but you know what really got my attention is the fact that the Gaza units are still around plus one of my favourite mechs ever makes in appearance 10 seconds in. If they make a new HG version of it I'm getting it for sure.  I love the fact that they can put all these old school mechs in and make them look so amazing!  The Gaza and Dreissen have never looked so good!  Not to mention the GM III's that appeared in Episode 2.  Lovely stuff.  I wonder what other surprise cameos we'll see as the series progresses.

Beargguy LED Work... or perhaps LED work in general

From Gamera Baenre.  The Gunpla stuff is at the bottom of that link.

Like laser beams!

Honestly this guys LED work blows me away sometimes.  And he somehow switches it on with a magnet.  I've seen him do this before with his Gouf.  He was kind enough to put up a couple of tutorials and one of them deals specifically with LED work.

I actually bought some LED's a while ago just to test some of this stuff out and it didn't really work like how I'd hoped.  It could have been the fact that I didn't use a soldering iron.  Or maybe I messed up on the voltages/batteries or something but I could barely get a flicker out of my LED.

I've seen other guys like MatX, really blow their LED's up.  When I say that I mean they get a really bright, powerful light from them.  I want to do that too!

Look how strong that light is! Beautiful!

The only real LED experience I have (if you can even call it that) is working with PG's and with the GN Drive of the MG Exia (and even THAT one was pretty touchy).  I have 5 PG's all with LED's in their heads but all with dead batteries and/or weak LED power. I want some power damn it!  And I'm sure this isn't THAT hard to do...

I remember the first example I saw of this was when Danny Choo made a USB powered PG RX-178-2 Titans (back when he still did Gundam stuff... still feel kinda betrayed by what his site has become now but that guy is the reason I started blogging and he's done so ****ing well for himself.  I can't give him anything but props.)  

Damn I'm STILL jealous of that even so many years on!  Man that topcoat finish is just... damn...

It's just that... ugh... I need to study more I guess.  One day!  One day I swear you're going to see some amazing LED work from this blog!  I'm going to try!

Have any of you ever tried working with LED's?  Interested in trying?  I think I need to do this in order to take my modeling (and my general knowledge of basic modern technology) to the next level.

Finally I'm going to leave you with this video.  If you want to see the ULTIMATE combination of Gundam and LED work then just watch this!

Exit Strategy 3 - Impulse

He's held up well and still looks as good as ever.  I like the effect the oxidized gold gives to this mech.  Like he's been around for a while.  I never really played with him much and I kind of regret that now.  What a great looking suit he is. OYW and him will be an display permanently I think.  He sure did have a nice coat of dust on him though.  Thank you for all your years of service Impulse!  You have never disappointed me!

Post #500!

Is that a lot to do in 3 years of blogging?  I don't know.

To commemorate this special occasion here is a Gundam made of cardboard.

Here is the source. I personally think this thing is awesome.  I actually like the 'cardboard' colour scheme! haha

Exit Strategy 2 - Sinanju

Z mentioned that when he was feeling down this summer he stayed away from posting so that his negative attitude wouldn't come out in his posts.

I'm not exactly feeling down like that (life is pretty damned good!) but I do feel that just because something isn't positive doesn't mean that it needs to be ignored.  It just doesn't need to be dwelled upon.  So let me apologize now for some of the posts recently that have been a bit "melancholy".  It's just... well... it's just that time in my life now! haha  It's only natural that I'm going to be sentimental at this time!  AND I'm still staying on topic!

Anyway, I tried to re-pose the old boy but I forgot how brittle and fragile he is.  Fell apart in my arms.  Sad...  I kept looking at him thinking, "I really loved you...".  Ah!  The memories.

Enamel poisoning... I didn't know any better.  Mistakes of youth and inexperience.  The joints have just been eaten away and it's going to take repair work beyond my current skill set to resurrect him.  Someday down the road I'll come back to him but when he sees the light of day again he'll be little more than a statue.

But I only need him to be just that.  He alone has brought more non-Gundam fans over to my side than any other model I own.  Anytime I had a guest over and they looked at him the quintessential reaction was either "Did you make that?!" or "Is that what a Gundam is?!"

Girls would take pictures of it on their cell phones.  Pride.  I have some pride concerning him.  I can't just leave him to wallow in darkness but for now...  So long old buddy.  OYW will be your torch bearer until we can be re-united again.

Yeah I could take more care with the packing but... he's going to be getting another overhaul down the road so...  I'm just going to let it go.

Exit Strategy 1 - Posters

I hate this part. Pulling up the roots. Packing up.

First I start by making myself feel 'uncomfortable'. In this case it's making my room feel like it isn't my room anymore. So all the posters come down. The place already feels colder.

However... I'm kind of glad to have a semi-normal room now. One that isn't completed infested with Gundam related things. Infest... Saturated? Maybe that's a better term.

Next step is to remove the HG's on display. VF-27 is going to come down as well. All PG's stay out until the PGSF is done. New poses for everyone to prepare for the ending. Time to switch it all up.

OWY, Impulse, Musha, Red Frames and the PG's.  That's all.  They rest get prepped for transport.

*sigh*
End of an era!  But it's gotta be done.  May have more posts than usual this month.  Paradigm shift, new habits, new patterns.  Why not.