Packing things up

Seems like I'm moving all the time. I can't give these guys a decent home but I can't give them away either. Right now most of them are in storage. I consolidated everything though... took a proper inventory of what I have. I had to throw some things away which sucked but that's life. You can't hold on to everything. I got rid of a lot of boxes and box art that I'd saved. Here's an idea of the packing process.

Red Army

If you've been a reader here for any length of time you know the story behind these. No links to that. I'm going to leave that in the past where it belongs.

The crew is slowly coming out of their boxes. One Gundam, one shot! No retakes!

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!

Q&DWIP 1 - HG Astraea Type-F

I said I was going to get so I went and got it. No second guessing myself this and no thinking about the consequences and how many other kits I have. I used a 1000 yen gift certificate to get the primer, paint and stand for free. The paint is Mr. Color #57 Metallic Blue Green. I decided to pick up a colour that I don't have while I'm at it.

Q&DWIP - Quick and Dirty Work In Progress. That's right. I'm just going to power blast this and get it done as quickly as I can. Which means I'm going to work on it everyday no matter what. No matter how small a section, I'm going to work on this everyday if I'm home. I'm not planning on doing too much with it but I have standards and I want it to look good but I want it done fast because I want to play with it. Simple as that.

More on the process later.

One interesting thing I've noticed about this kit is that there are only two original runners. The Astraea armour and the runner for the new weapons, which is labeled as "00 Weapons Set" meaning that if you're inclined to do so you can order an extra set of weapons by just ordering the one panel. That's cheap to do. All of the weapons are on that runner excluding the Prototype GN Sword, GN Beam Rifle and GN launcher which are specific to the Astraea runner.

The rest of the kit is Exia parts which means it comes with the short and long swords, plus Exia's own GN sword but I'm not sure if all the parts are there to assemble this pistol section of the sword as well. More on that later. This kit comes with five beam sabers. 1 with a blade built in, 2 beam saber effect parts. I'm sure a lot of you have extra beam saber effect parts laying around if you wanted to get all 5 going for some reason.

This kit also comes with the parts to make the Type-F2 version if you're inclined to build that one instead. I'm still on the fence about that. It looks like the Type-F version can actually hold more weapons because of the absence of GN Condensers on the legs.

That's all for now. Get ready for some heat!!!

*edit - Exia pistol parts are included*

HG Astraea Type F - Released

One word for you.  STACKED.

This thing has got so many weapons that it's ridiculous.  It even comes with Exia's arsenal!  Check it out here.

I'm buying this.  Just because I want to play with it.  I don't care so much about making it look pretty.  I want to play with this thing.  I might do a quick and dirty recolour job so I don't have to look at that red but I won't be doing much else.  Haha I say that now.  Like I could stop myself.  Whatever.  I'm getting it and I'm going to see where it takes me but I'm seriously going to try and finish this one FAST.  I don't want too much of a distraction from the Infinite Justice Project but I must have this.  I've always liked the Astraea design and I like the fact that the Type F comes with a mask.

Oh boy...  And here I was trying to cut down.  Damn it just too many cool things coming out now!

NZ-666 Kshatriya

Ever seen one like this? Seriously. These Japanese guys really go to town on their stuff sometimes!

More here.

OZX-GU01LOB Gundam L.O. Booster

I bought this Gundam in Canada long before I knew anything about Gundam at all. I bought it just because it was cheap. Didn't even really care for the design that much. Actually I think I just threw out a lot of the extra parts because I didn't like how they looked. But I did like the core suit (which is essentially the OZX-GU01A Gundam Geminass 01 from the Gundam Wing side story: G-Unit. Yeah I know. I wonder if 50 Cent has anything to say about that.)

In a recent issue of Hobby Japan one of the modellers re-did one of these old Geminass type models in the 'Gundam Love' series of refurbishings. Cannot remember which issue it was in but I remember being surprised at seeing it.

Anyways, here's mine with a bit of line art.

This is supposed to be a suit from the Gundam Wing universe but as you can see it doesn't really have many similar design traits with any of the 5 main suits, their upgrades or their Endless Waltz versions.

That said... I like this model a lot (The 01 on the shoulder indicates that he's the 'boss' of his scale, in this case, 1/144). I like the core design, especially the head. Relatively simple armament without all the extra crap attached to it. I think the proportions are good but it doesn't have a lot of articulation.

This model could use a severe paint job. Particularly those single molded feet. Yikes. The main reason why I like him is that he's a bit shorter than the rest of the 1/144's but he looks tough. He looks like a work horse, without the gimmicks or tricks but he's also got a couple of those too. The plain multi-purpose suits tend to get the 01 ranking with me.

Upgrade outline: Custom shoulders (simple), strip the fins from the legs, paint the whole thing (white, black, gunship grey, gun metal), seam lines, panel lines, putty the gaps in the rifle.

Rating: 7/10 (as a model but it ranks quite high as a personal favourite)

Simultaneous build - 0 Gundam & 30th Anniversary RX-78-2

I'm going to interupt telling you about my Gundam's from home to update you on my current project.

I sprayed the coloured parts on the runners with some primer before I left Japan. This colour scheme will actually look similar to the final paint scheme I'm planning.

I'll tell you right now, both of these kits are amazing. The 0 Gundam has got a lot of movement and you can get some great poses with it. Same with 30th Anniversary Gundam. They both use the same polycap panel. I'll speak on the details more as I progress but here are some pics after they were assembled. I didn't even bother to remove the nubs. That process would come later.

More to come.

HGUC MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki

The 3rd model that I'm showing from my collection of 'those who remain behind', this HGUC 1/144 Hyaku Shiki is also a model that I bought in Japan and brought back to Canada with me after my '1st life' in Japan finished.. It was purchased at the same time or close the time I bought the HG Buster Gundam.

I owned a 1/100 no grade Hyaku Shiki from before and wasn't satisfied with it (you'll see why soon.) and ended up buying this one with 'revenge' in mind. I'm glad I did. It's a really good model. Great proportions, decent articulation and a reasonable number of accesories make this kit a winner.

The one problem is the metallic gold finish fades in places and it's really hard to correct that. Also covering up seam lines and nip marks, with any kit that has a coating like this is, a difficult thing to do completely.

That said... it is a beautiful model and recommended for any Z Gundam and Type 100 fans..

Upgrade outline: Frame highlighting/detailing, change the colours of the wires/tubing and feet, probably change the torso to flat black, weapon detailing, after-market hands, additional weapons.

Rating: 8/10

GAT-X103 Buster Gundam

I was forced to leave a lot of models behind in Canada after I went to Japan. The Mark 2 was one of them. I bought him in a local shop here in Canada.

This 1/144 HG Buster Gundam was one that I brought back from my first life in Japan (as a young man who'd just graduated from university and was living in Tokyo. For the record I'm on life #4 now and I'm watching my own students graduate from university. The moral of this story: Gundam is timeless.)

The is one of my favourite HG kits that I own. Articulation, proportions, design are all great for a model of it's time. It was also one of my favourite mecha designs from the Seed series (at the time I bought it Seed had yet to be concluded in Japan.)

I like the fact that there is no regard for melee combat in the design of this suit. It's a long range killer. Now, there are a couple of variations of this suit that have been made since Seed ended but I still think this one is the best. Of the 5 original GAT series suits, Buster is definitely one of my favourites and remained one of my favourite MS throughout all of Seed.

I would love to do a custom colour scheme for this and give it the treatment it deserves but that will have to remain a project for another time. I don't think doing this kit over would require much effort on my part as the stock kit is quite impressive in it's own right.

Upgrade outline: Panel lines, custom colours, seam lines, decals ?
Rating: 9/10

My gf is trying to talk to me about her plans for the future and I found myself thinking... "What am I going to do about the vents on the 0 Gundam?"

So I told her to hold that thought and said I'd be right back. I went to the toilet to think about it in peace.

Looking at this months Hobby Japan (yes I keep a couple in washroom because, let's be honest, that's where a lot of the best ideas start).





I really just want to putty over it all. Same thing with the shield. I mean what is the point of that circle in the shield? No answers... just more questions...

Addicted to Gunpura

Question: What is will power?
Answer: Something that I don't have.



Well I was thinking of a project for when I'm back in Canada. Simultaneous build of the oldest and the newest Gundam versions seems fitting for the 30 year anniversary of the franchise.

XN Raiser

As a lot of you know, Hobby Japan is shipping the XN Raiser (pronounced ZAN RAIZA in Japanese) kit with it's October issue which is coming out next month. This seems to be a 00V design.

So here is the question I have for you. Are you feeling it or not?

In my case, I'm not. I think the 00 Raiser is already way off balance with that space ship on its back and now this... I think it's over kill but some of the poses do look cool.

Another thing is that it was made to connect with the 0 Raiser but you can also connect it with almost any other 00 1/144 scale kit. Take a look.

I much prefer what Dengeki Hobby did with it's GN Sefer/Rasiel kits. Stand alone kits that, while having almost no points of articulation, didn't require another kit for it to be used.

That said... I actually like the design sketches of it as I'm a big fan of these kind of space ships (like the Vic Viper, R-9 etc. from video games.)

As I have a subscription to Hobby Japan I'm going to be getting this automatically... I'm wondering if I should pick up the 1/144 0 Raiser just to make it work. It might be nice to work on a space ship instead of a robot just for the change of pace. Also, I could just get the 0 Gundam that I've been looking at for I don't even know along and just attach it to that. God knows it's plain enough and could use a bit of sprucing up.

But to be honest, from the pictures above, I think it looks best on the Susanowo. Too bad I think the Susanowo design sucks @$$.

Oh well, maybe I'll be struck by lightning and get an idea for what to do with this thing.

MS-07 H8 Gouf Flight Type

I am weak.

I couldn't resist! It was only 750 yen and I'd never seen it before and I didn't know that it even existed and that there was a seperate HG line for 08th Team designs and and and...

The truth is that I saw it last week and thought that it was cool but I left it alone. I went back this week (for something unrelated to Gundams) and it was gone! I was looking around for it and found it shoved on a bottom shelf somewhere... Someone was trying to hide it! And there was only one... So I bought it! I couldn't let it slip through my fingers! I mean if I'd never seen it before in all the time that I've been looking at models and someone went through the trouble of hiding it... It must be rare... And finally there was the fact that I've always thought that the Gouf Flight Type was cool. So a bunch of factors said... "Do it. Just do it."

And I did.

Now I have it... but what am I going to do with it? And more importantly... WHEN am I going to do it?

HG00 Exia R2 vs. HG00 0 Gundam

I like both of these a lot but I'm definitely on the side of the 0 Gundam. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm really feeling this one.


Nice little fight scene there eh?

More images at http://blog.livedoor.jp/aburamamire/archives/857715.html

HGUC Nu Gundam vs HGUC Hi-Nu Gundam

The difference in size is really surprising! I'm a bit dissapointed actually but still... this 1/144 Hi-Nu looks great! Front skirts seem a bit long but that's a minor gripe.

Might cave in and get this... I'll be heading back to Canada for the summer so maybe something like this to leave for the family to remember me? haha. It would also be nice to have a small little project for when I'm kicking around the house with nothing in particular to do.

And it pains me to say this but there are still a lot of my 'boys' who are currently 'in stasis' back home in Canada (translation: old gundam models in boxes or on a shelf somewhere collecting dust). I kinda feel like I'd like to bring a new 'brother' to them just so that they can get out that staleness they've been stuck in for years. Why not the Hi-Nu? Or the O Gundam? Or both?!

Photos from http://blog.livedoor.jp/aburamamire/ and http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/taka421jp

HG O Gundam

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Originally uploaded by sandrum

I've been wrestling with the idea of buying this for months now and I keep coming down on the side of DON'T... but I really want to and I love the design and I think the kit looks great.

I saw it at my local hobby shop the other day and I had to resist the urge not to buy it. In fact when I saw it, I held the box in my hands, thought about it and was forced to put the box down and leave immediately because I do NOT want give in and pick up yet another model.

Anyone else out there feel like this? You really want to buy a model and you have the money but there's just so many other things you should be doing and blahblahblah. I really want to get this but... I keep telling myself that I can. Just not now. That's kind of the good thing about Gundam models. I can still probably get this a couple of years from now.

But still... It's hard sometimes. It's hard to stop.

One of the main things that I like about this model is it's proportions and it's design. It's not as radical as most of the other 00 designs but it still seems quite modern. I like the simple armament as well. Shield, gun, beam sabre. However I don't like the look of the vents/exhaust ports on the calves though. Other than that it's a perfect suit for me.

Oh well. Someday. But for now, discipline rules.

RGM-79C Powered GM - Painting Issues - C Surface?

No I haven't switched projects to the GM Powered, but Tonzo asked about more info on the C-Surface technique (check this post and comments section if you don't know what I'm talking about), and I thought it was the same issue that happened to my Powered GM, when I tried to paint it. Let's take a look.

Apparently I was mistaken. It isn't the same problem... It's the opposite. Inward right angle surface instead of outward facing ones. As you can see most of the places the paint missed are on the inside corners... actually NEAR to the inside corners. The corners have paint in the them. I'm not totally sure WHY it turned out like this.

I did this when I was working on my MG Impulse. Just decided to spray the Powered GM since I had the paint out. Less than desireable result as you can see. However, I primed the lower leg armour and sprayed those as well and they turned out much better. They could still do with another coat of paint but yeah... for an initial spray (this is before I learned a lot of stuff mind you) it doesn't look that bad. Acceptable by most standards... but by mine? No. Not really.

So... I'm actually not sure just how necessary creating the C-Surface is. Apparently it's never been an issue for me!

As for how I'm going to fix this paint problem... Might just take a short cut and use my Gundam paint markers on the trouble spots. If it looks horrible after, I'll just put on another coat of metallic black to even it out.

As for his question about "...more detail about scraping the primer on the edges back? In what instances would this be necessary and why? Is a second coat of primer required?"

Most modellers (well I've only seen Japanese modellers do it to be honest) do it for edges that come together at right angles, because at the point where those two angles meet there isn't really enough surface area to hold the paint! So they scrape it down or round it out a bit to create a large surface area for the paint to stick to.

Image you're painting a table. The top surface is A and the sides of it are B. The edge where A connects to be B is C. That's the C surface but... it's just an edge really so these Japanese modellers sand that edge down a bit so it becomes more of a surface. Paint will stick AND stay there much easier if you do it that way.

That's the theory behind it. The first coat of primer is for basic surface preparation and error detection. After scraping... a second coat isn't totally necessary (depends on you really and how serious you are about it) but it is recommended if you want a complete and uniform paint job.

That was probably the issue with my Powered GM. No hard right angles. As for when you it's necessary to do this... I'd say do it when you're concerned that the paint won't stick to the edges. It's probably unnecessary but I'm doing a modified version of this technique on my Mass Produced Guncannon. But in my own limited first hand experience I must say that I haven't had this problem at all.

RX-77D Guncannon Mass Production Type - Stage 1

Well I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. I did but I got a speeding ticket... :( bleh.

OK onto today's post, about my work on the RX-77D Guncannon Mass Production Type.

First, this kit is seems so extraordinarily simple after working on the Sinanju. My mind felt relieved at the relative straight forwardness of it all. Also... I hope to be able to incorporate some of the techniques I learned (and used) building the Sinanju into this model with a better effect. At least I should be able to see the results quicker. First I'll start with the assembly

This kit only has three panels and not that many parts. I decided that, for this kit, I wasn't going to snip or sand away the nubs as I usually do and just left them on. Usually when I remove a piece from the runner I shave down the nub with my knife. When I first started modelling I actually took it a step further and sanded it down. All of my model kits have sanding marks where the nubs where but that was the only part I sanded. Because of that those parts would collect dust and dirt the fastest (because of the extra grooves). I'd constantly be scraping at that surface to clean it (when it got really bad).

For this kit I decided that I was going to do heavy treatment on all surfaces, that means sanding at the end, before priming, and then, if necessary, sanding again before painting. I also wanted to do ALL the seam lines for this kit and went through great pains to do so... well... that's an over exaggeration, because nothing about this kit is a great pain. It's all very simple. Refreshingly so. So because I decided that I was going to commit one whole stage for surface preparation I didn't do ANY doing assembly. Just got the pieces off and stuck them together! That was it. I've done this only once before and that was with the FG Rasiel and GN Sefer and I realized that omitting that one step cut down my build time DRAMATICALLY. I built the whole kit relatively quickly. Maybe 1 hour. This is what it looked like at the end.

I was very happy. It looks great in its stock form. Not a lot of articulation or range of movement but... its a long range support mech. It's not meant for flashy moves or speed. I'm not doing any upgrades or mods to this kit at all besides the holes which I'll talk about now. This is a relatively common mod for this kit. Take a look.






I bought an electric drill a couple of weeks ago to fix my tape deck (Don't ask. It worked though.) and decided to also use it for this project. 44 holes later and I'm done. I added a bit of basic putty to some areas just to smooth it out. I'll sand it down later. This is basically what I've done so far.





Before I drilled, I scored the drilling areas a touch so the drill bit would find the center more easily. It was a nice idea but didn't help much. The bit tip was a bit too blunt to find the small hole I made. Either way it worked out fine in the end.

After I glued the pieces together using Tamily Cement (liquid) I organized them into sections according to colour. As usual this is a re-colour job and I will be changing the colours of all the pieces. Red to Olive or White, Brown to Gun Metal, Blue to Black

Special note about the shoulders. The shoulders actually have two separate layers, so the first one has to be seamed and sanded before the 2nd one can be started.

That's all for now. Now the sanding process will start. I think it may take a while