New Era - Work space

The last shipment of soldiers came in a couple of days ago so I officially have of all my Gunpla amassed in one location.  This is the moment I was waiting for.  Granted, on the first day of spring the first wave of Gunpla came in but it didn't officially "end" until this Monday.

Since I've been back I haven't been posting as much on my blog but more on my fb page as it's easier and faster but I have been working on Gundam related things relatively consistently.  I did lose a lot of my motivation after the earthquake hit though.  I don't know why.  It didn't affect me directly but... I don't know.  I was in a weird state.  I couldn't focus on anything really so I just threw myself into games for a while.

Up until that point I was working on the Titanium Finish RX-78-2 and was trying to set up the basement.

So let's talk about that right now.

There was a room in my basement that's wasn't being used for anything expect storage... and there isn't even really a lot of things in there. Some tools and some old technology.  It's a really nice room though.  Finished flooring, painted, double french doors, pot lights.

I decided to confiscate it.

I would have liked to have had a wood grain finished table like I had in Japan but that's not that big of a deal.  It's just that I did ALL of my Gunpla on that table in Japan and it sometimes feels strange doing it in another setting.  State dependent learning maybe.  I had everything set up perfectly... but that took 3 years to get right.

Gonna miss this thing...

But this is 2011 and this is the new era so let's get to it!

Had some old speakers and a very old stereo set (from when I was in highscool! No aux option, pre mp3 era) so after a bit of re-wiring I got all 3 speakers connected WITH an extra connection for my mp3 player.  Could use a bit more speaker cable though...  When my mom's old company downsized she got a lot of office equipment from them.  This desk is courtesy of the global economic downtown.

This shelving is also from my mom's company going out of business.  Could have used another shelf but I'm certainly not complaining.  Most of this stuff was just sitting around in my house disassembled for I don't even know how long before I came and give it all a purpose.

Gonna be spending a lot of time here.

Currently playing.  The old speakers can still kick out enough power and bass for my purposes.  RIP Guru.

Limited edition Hyaku Shiki PS2.  A gift from my very first Japanese "assistant" before I left Tokyo.  God bless her.  We went to the Gundam Museum together when it was in Matsudo.  She lived in Kita-Matsudo and I lived in Shin-Matsudo.  Her family lived in Higashi-Matsudo.  I can only thank my lucky stars that of all the places in Japan I could have been sent for my first tour I was sent to the only place in the world that had a Gundam Museum.  I went there so often that it stopped being special.  I even found a secret way in so I didn't have to pay.  I bought my PG Zeta there.  Memories!

Testing out the lighting from the pot lights.  Position 1. Dark.

Position 2.  Dark but better.

High position, high contrast.  Better but impractical.  These shots are a bit inaccurate.  It's actually brighter than this down there.

I may just make that my work area and take the final shots in another place.  Like my room.  I prefer this type of lighting personally.

 

It's still going to take a while for everything to get setup properly but... It's going to happen.  

It has to happen.  The best part of all of this is that it has cost me NOTHING.  It's just stuff that was laying around unused.  That in itself makes me feel good.

This is the moment I've been waiting for.  It's time to commence; "Operation Unification".

First day of Spring

March 21, 2011.  The time has come.  The army has arrived.  Beaten up, damaged but in tact and most importantly... UNITED.

The new era starts NOW.

Each box is filled to capacity with plastic, decals and accessories.  No extra space was left for runners.  Every thing was assembled and then broken down into sections for maximum storage efficiency.

This is a lifetimes supply of Gunpla right here. 

I'm going to wait until the final box comes before doing "The Group Shot to End All Group Shots."

I may not blog so much but don't think for a minute that I'm going to be leaving this hobby behind.  Not now.  Not EVER.  The boys have come home.  I will never abandon them.

Just talking... Mid March 2011

I'm worried that my boys may have been lost at sea.  I've received one box of the 4 that I sent from Japan and it was the box I sent on the day that I left.  The last box I sent arrived first and it was the only box that had nothing in it but some clothes and some personal letters.

Where are my Gundams?! I am concerned.

I've been working on getting things setup here and I have a decent display area now... for ALL of them... but will I see them again?  The earthquake and the tsunami... were they lost in transit?  I sent them by surface/ship.  Held up at customs?  It's been just over 6 weeks.  I'll give it a bit more time I guess.  What else can I do?  I suppose I could try and talk to the post office to see what they have to say about it but I doubt they'll be able to give me any information.

Outside if that...  work on the Titanium Finish RX-78-2 has slowed to a crawl.  I spent a lot of time painting the frame details and I didn't do everything that I wanted but I basically burned myself out. I've done enough I think.  I guess that was the point I was waiting for.  I might do just a couple more things just for the sake of being a completionist and then I can say say I'll be satisfied with the inner frame details.  It doesn't look pretty good now if I do say so myself.  I love the natural gunmetal finish of the frame.

After that... paint the missiles in the napalm launcher and I should be ready for final assembly.

My enthusiasm for Gunpla has kind of gone down because I don't have a convenient place to work anymore.  I cant work in my room because of the smell of the paints/chemicals (I have to sleep in here) and I didn't want to work in the basement because it's cold down there and I didn't have a proper desk/table until just recently.

But with the weather is getting better and with the new setup downstairs hopefully I can renew my focus... not in just Gunpla but in art in general.  I'm going to try and put together a portfolio to apply for art school.  Computer animation specifically.  New country, new life, new direction... We'll see how that all goes though.

So with all the new things happening in my life now, the new adjustments, stimuli and circumstances...  I'm not sure how prevalent Gunpla is going to be from now on.

It's so different here.  Back in Japan, Gunpla was a part of life because it was literally everywhere.  Here...  I'm pretty sure that I have the biggest supply of Gunpla in the whole city... and my city isn't small.  I easily have more than the leading shop here... I mean I would if I could combine my collections...

So who knows... I'm sorry that things will be slowing down here.  I'll still update my facebook page pretty regularly because it's just so damn easy to do (specifically because of how easy it is to upload pics because of no space caps and it auto resizes everything.)

Long story short, with the things I'm planning on doing I will have to focus less on Gundam stuff and more on getting my life in order.  I won't be coasting anymore like I have been for the past couple of years.  I don't know where that's all going to take me but I'd love it if somewhere down the road I can combine it all together like how Sandrum is doing. Talk to me about that in 5 years.

Hopefully by this time next month I'll have something positve to report as it pertains to my lost soldiers.

Sad to think that things are going to slow down around here as, all of that stuff aside, I plan on concentrating more on overall site restructuring stuff rather than posting but...  I'll still be around.  Just may not be as often as I'd like.  But we'll see how that all goes.  Maybe my flame will come back again!

Anyway, enough of that.  Let's talk about this now!

G.G. hooked this one up as well.  Loving both of these things.  The Prototype Stark Jegan kind of reminds me of the Ingram from Patlabor a little bit and the Ecoas Jegan is like a cross between a Jegan and GM Sniper, GM Custom and the, yet to be seen but heavily anticipated, Jesta.

No matter what is going on in my life the Jesta is a must have for me.

OK what's next...?  How about some candy?

Whee! Eva candy! That Rei is SO beautiful!  Yes I know it's not Gundam but I'm not a hater!  Or a discriminator.  Eva is welcome here.  Well, Eva girls are welcome here at least.  Shinji can get the f out.

Guess that's it for now. While things are a bit slow right now I'm pretty sure that my best work is still ahead. For now I pray that my boys reach home safely! Godspeed fellas!  My thoughts are with you!

8.9

Biggest earthquake to hit Japan in it's recorded history. Some of us have a greater connection to Japan than others but if you're coming to this blog you are guaranteed to have at least one.

I just want to take this moment to send my thoughts and well wishes out to all of those in my adopted homeland who are suffering from this tragedy.

日本，頑張れ！

Extreme Gundam Mash Up

+ some others courtesy of Hobby no Toriko!  LOVE this guy!

Feeling ALL of this stuff! SO creative! Can't get enough!!!

Gundam Unicorn OVA 3 - Download it here!

Quality and subtitles CONFIRMED. This is a good one folks! Go for it while you can.

As usual, props due to the "Master of All Things Gundam"

MG Deathscythe - Modifications

Even though the pictures are there to spell it all out I did, and occasionally still do, find some of this stuff confusing.  Take a look.  At the top it shows some masking procedures for painting the face vents.  Who has time to do all that masking for parts that small?!  Why not just hand paint it?  Is it not easier?  I don't know... It all seemed a little extreme to me for a couple of small parts.  That could just be my hand painting bias talking though.  Just seems so time consuming and wasteful.

But now here's the confusing part.  On this page it shows that the face vents are already yellow parts that are added in separately.  So which is it?  White or yellow?  I really don't know.

Here too.  Check out this work on the scythe.  What is the point of just puttying up that ONE hollow section.  Why not do the whole thing?  As far as the other mods in this pic... I really have no idea why he's doing it.  Apparently the flat crotch section just bothered him and he wanted to push it out more? Which is funny because I always want to do the opposite.  I also thought that it's interesting how the Japanese modelers call the front crotch section a "Fundoshi".  Didn't know that!

I love the work these guys do yet... it's one thing to know HOW but it's entirely another to know WHY.

All images courtesy of G.G.

The one I'm happy to do.

Someone on my facebook page said "want to see the one you happy to do..."  about the preceding post.

This is the Gundam I'm happy to do.  Titanium Finish MG RX-78-2 V.2.0

I truly think I am addicted to Gundams sometimes.  While at the same time feeling like "I'm the guy who used to build Gundams".  Now I'm the guy who "makes" Gundams.


I have NO backlog.  Everything is built.  This MG is the last one and then finally everything is built.  And all I have to do for that is the armour now.


Yes I'm going to take my time with this because this is the one I love.  This was a GIFT from my volleyball team and I'm going to make it worthy of them!  That means "time" and "patience"... And my favourite thing... Meticulousness.

No I'm not done but I'm working on it. Just taking my time. Nothing more to build! It's nice actually. I can actually focus on making one of these things as great as I want it to be. SO looking forward to the "Mark 2 Project".

Happy to do Gundams. As it should be.

Top 5 kits you want to see me do.

I started this poll nearly a year ago and finally here are the results.

Runner's up: FG Rasiel w/GN Sefer & HG 0 Gundam w/XN Raiser

I never did get a shot of it with the FG GN Sefer attached to it.

 Always wanted to do it like this though.

Granted this is with heavy joint mods, extra parts from the Nadleeh and 3 full Sefer kits but you get the idea.

I painted this to be partners with the HG G30 Gundam.  Still not completely finished yet but basically there.

5.  MG Zplus C1

Planning on doing a familiar repaint for this while also doing something very much NOT like me at all.

4.  PG Zeta, 3.  PG Red Frame, 2.  PG Strike 

(I might as well just complete the set and do the Mark 2 as well)

I started work on the Red Frame and Strike but I'm not completely done with those either.  Still need a couple more touch ups.  Zeta and Mark 2... well I've been thinking about what to do with them for years.  Still haven't settled on anything.

And the WINNER...

1.  MG Exia

An X-Mas present from my ex along with the Zplus C1 (coincidence that they're both in the top 5? You be the judge.) I'm planning on painting them BOTH in matching colour schemes (I like all my mechs to have matching "partners")  I mentioned on my facebook page what I'm planning on doing to this so that will give you a clue to my plans for the Zpluc C1 as well.  Only a handful of you may remember though!

Thanks to everyone who voted!

Here are the numbers:

FG Rasiel w/GN Sefer	17 (10%)
FG Unicorn Display Base	11 (6%)
HG Zeong	9 (5%)
HG GM Command	7 (4%)
HG Powered GM	11 (6%)
HG Gouf Flight Type	6 (3%)
HG Hi-Zaku	6 (3%)
HG 30th A. RX-78-2	11 (6%)
HG M.P. Guncannon	9 (5%)
HG Advanced Hazel	11 (6%)
HG Aegis	6 (3%)
HG Justice	6 (3%)
HG Savior	13 (7%)
HG Infinite Justice	12 (7%)
HG GN-X III A-Laws	13 (7%)
HG 0 Gundam w/XN Raiser	18 (10%)
15th A. Super Valkyrie	12 (7%)
NG S-Gundam	13 (7%)
1/100 Blue Frame 2nd L	15 (9%)
MG Zplus C1	20 (12%)
MG Exia	38 (22%)
PG Zeta	23 (13%)
PG Mark II AEUG	14 (8%)
PG Strike	32 (19%)
PG Red Frame	29 (17%)

Let me end with a couple pics from the old days, before a PG Red Frame was even a thought.

*sigh* Those were the days! Before I even considered panel lining never mind painting.  It certainly was a different time.  Addicted to Gundams yes but... not nearly as pronounced as I am now.  Ah youth!

Avalanche Astraea Type F Dash

What do you think?  One of my favourite modelers, Schizophonic9 did this.

His photos and finish, as usual, are awesome but... that mass of pink is killing me, even if he did break it up with different tones... I would have liked to have seen a bit more variety in there... a couple more white pieces would have gone a long way I think. Almost hurts my eyes... It's just too much.

I mean it's not like I'm opposed to pink. Check this out.

Doesn't that look nice?  Tasteful.  Not so gaudy.  At first the pink Hi-Nu was making me feel strange but I think it looks okay now!

But that pink monster above...  Wow.

Also... maybe it's just me but I think all the Avalanche Dash armour is a bit much.  If it was just the regular Avalanche I might be ok with it...  might be.

Still... It's no Musha Avalance Astraea. That one will always take the cake for me.