MG Exia

Damn this is a good looking model. Kinda glad that it won.  Also glad that I didn't pay for it... great free addition to the collection.  +C1 is nothing to scoff at either.  Girl's got some taste in mecha!

I'm keeping it close and just looking at it over time and letting the ideas come slowly although I've pretty much decided what I want to do.

I'm not sure what to do about primer though. I didn't see any at my local shop. Looks like I might have to prime from my airbrush for the first time. Probably for the best. What do people in North America use for that? A friend's coming to visit me from Japan. Maybe I'll have her bring me some.

Funny note. I had the hip sword mounts assembled backwards all this time. Easy to fix. I knew something was wrong! Lesson learned: Trust your instincts. If you think it's wrong it probably is.

Exia / Zeta+C1 Resurrection

Well protected in the Duvel box, these two survived the journey back with little damage.  A broken handle, a couple missing parts which I may actually have here already.

I am reminded that the Exia is essentially the "Viewer's Choice" mecha that is next to be worked on.  Exia gets moved to the forefront with Titanium Finish.

I'm still getting adjusted between places to work.  I set up a decent lab downstairs that gives me solitude but I do more work when I'm around people.  Namely in the kitchen so I'm thinking of setting up a work station there.

PLUS

Natural light shots.  Guys... seriously.  It is not over rated.  Check it out.  I will let the pictures do the talking.  You can figure it out.

The last pic demonstrates my biggest problem with this suit. Balance. Gonna have to start with the feet first and mod for stability. Need to tighten up the joints too and make them stiffer. Armour will probably be glued in place. Light frame painting, no major detailing. The head/face is exceptional. Will spend some extra time there.

The real work is going to come down to how the blue is treated and changing the tones of the white. May be forced to do a little bit of light weathering for the first time.

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.

Q&DWIP 4 - HG Astraea Type-F: Alternate Configuration

Thanks for all of your comments on the colour scheme everyone. Take a look at this set up and see how it compares. After seeing it with the Exia parts on I have to say that I like it a bit more and will probably just remove a lot of the white and give it an 'Aqua' look. I currently have it displayed in my room like this so I'm think I'm just going to clean this up, repaint in the same colours and detail it. Man there are so many things you can do with this kit! I removed the Exia shoulder and the 2x beam sabres and traded them in for the GN Short and Long swords on the hips. Each hip can hold two weapons now! That four all together. Man it's just too strong! Love this thing. Take a look.

Strange. I actually want to work on this a bit more than MGIJ but... priorities! I suppose I can just continue doing what I've been doing so far and just work on multiple kits at once.

Women and Gunpura - Round 2

Perhaps a re-occuring topic at this blog.

Thanks to everyone who commented in that last post. I read my gf some of your comments and she was very surprised at a lot of your reactions because she thought that it was something normal to do. You give the people you care about something that they like for Christmas. It's really that simple to her. And I suppose it is to me too.

But some of you mentioned how your gf or mother dislikes the fact that you are into gunpura. And I started to wonder... what makes it such a bad hobby to begin with?

Is it too otaku? Would it be better if we built tanks or airplanes instead? Would that be more acceptable?

Even though I live in Japan I rarely outright tell people that I'm into Gunpura even though many people know what it is. I tell some of the men because I automatically become more 'Japanese' and thus more approachable. That works with women sometimes too because I usually get an automatic reference to their father or ex-bf or something.

I tend not to talk about it in public unless someone asks me directly. It seems as if there's a stigma attached to it at times?

Anyone else our there feel that way? One final question out there to all of you and I really want to hear your opinions on this.

Why on earth do so many women (regardless of race, culture or ethnicity) hate Gunpura so much?!

Finally a couple of up to date pics of my progress on my X-Mas models. Exia is finished. Just need two more LR41 batteries to finish off the GN Drive. Zplus C1 is getting there. Lotta pieces for that guy. Way more difficult build than the Exia but that should be expected considering it transforms.

Apparently my gf supports my hobby...

She got me these for Christmas. I was quite surprised actually! I thought she wanted me to do other things in my free time but then she goes ahead and does this!

She said that since I spend so much time looking at Gundams this was the best way to get me to think about her at the same time because she knows I'm going to associate these two with her. I think she remembers me telling her stories of how I 'dedicate' the Gundams I make to the people who have given me kits and I make them with those people in mind.

I asked her why she chose these two. This is what she said;

About Exia - She thought it was cool how it lights up and she knows I've been doing some work with LED's recently. She also watched the better part of Gundam 00 with me and it was her first Gundam series. She thought that Exia was the coolest one from the show and that it's design was quite different from the other Gundams I have around my place. She thought it would be good for me to have more variety. She also liked the shiny swords.

About Zplus C1 - She bought that on a whim while she was shopping for something else. She saw it and thought I'd definitely like that because 1. It transforms 2. It's colourless. 3. It has a big gun. Pretty simple!

Needless to say I was pleased and impressed with her choices! I guess she actually likes me!

I do believe that she bought these for me so that I'll think about her more and, in an odd way, I have to admit that I will.

I've already started on the Exia and I know what I'm going to do with it... Same with the Zplus I think. Still though... I haven't completely finished a model in some time! Hopefully I can keep my motivation but recently I've gotten it into my head just to build these kits first instead of keeping them in the box and then once they're all built I'll work on painting them one by one. I don't want any more unbuilt kits stacking up.

So a question to all of you out there who have gf's or wives. Do they support your hobby? Do they even care? or... Do they do it too?!

Well I guess that's it for me for 2009! Hope you all had a successful year and that 2010 will be even better!

Much peace and love! さようなら 2009!

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

Free Give Away/Photo Contest Reminder/Ritual Gundam Pic File Dump Vol.2/Exia Variant?!

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Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

I don't know wtf this suit is but I LOVE it! Exia? Is that you?

Yes ladies and gentlemen (wait a second... do women actually read my blog?! I doubt it.) It is time for yet another Ritual Gundam Pic File Dump! Vol.2 for 2009!

I figured I'd send out a reminder of my contest with a couple of pics so you can get some ideas of what kits you'd like to choose.

For those who don't know, I'm having a photo contest and the prize is the HG 1/144 model of your choice. The catch is that it must be a mass produced MS. For example, a GM or Zaku of any kind is ok. But some thing like Hazel or Sazabi isn't. Those are prototype suits.

For more information please take a look at the top of the side bar. There's a link there that will give you all the info you need.

And yes I'm going to send it to the winner free of charge. No strings attached.

The contest will end at the end of the work week. I'm in Japan so for some of you that will be on the 5th. Thursday. So if you want a chance to win make sure you get your pics to me before then.

I will announce the winner in Friday's blog post.

Thanks to everyone who's sent pics already... To be honest they all made me laugh pretty hard! Very comical. Clever in some cases. Great job guys! Keep them coming!

GN-001 Gundam Exia EXF (Trans-Am mode)

OK, let's try that E-Mail blogging thing with a pic this time.

1/100 Exia Trans-Am Mode came out recently. It was a lot pricier than I thought it would be. 4200 yen? You can get some pretty high end MG's for that price. I understand that it's got a pseudo metallic coating and all but really... It's nothing more than a limited edition re-paint of the original 1/100 bu it's not even limited edition. I mean... Covering up the nip marks are going to be a pain in the butt for this one. And there's no point in trying to repaint it. If you were going to do that you might as well go for the original 1/100, that's like half the cost. Reminds me of the Pearl coated PG Wing Gundam. Waste of money imo. Looks cool but no. Not for me. Better off getting the original 1/100 and doing the paint job yourself. If there's someone out there that can do something exceptional with this that can't be done with the standard 1/100 I'd love to see it.

Avalance Astraea Type F / Musha Gundam Astraea Type F

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Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Forced to buy the August issue of Hobby Japan solely for this pic alone. I couldn't bear the idea of never seeing it again. 1/100 Astraea Type F has already been released and 1/100 Avalanche Exia is coming out in a couple of weeks. After I saw this pic I thought... 'omg... I can't buy either of them now if THIS is going to be released later.'

But it isn't. It's a custom job. Guess by who...

I'm going to become this woman's stalker at this rate.

She did her Astraea Type F just like her regular Astraea. Only very slight colour changes. She just brings out the potential on the kits she works on without adding too much.

The title of this blog post is actually what they called this variation. They didn't intend for it to look like the Musha Gundam but that's how it turned out in the end. Made me think about making one too. It's possible but I'd have to buy two separate kits and order the katana separately. Not worth it so I'll just have to stare at this picture indefinitely.

Anyways, here's a quick rundown of the magazine contents.

First a colour line art page of the OO GUNDAM! Finally! Looks nice!

GN-001/hs-A01 Gundam Avalance Exia 1/100
MSJ-06II-A Tieren Ground Type 1/100
MSJ-06II-C/BT Tieren High Mobility Commander Type (Scratch) 1/144
AEU-09Y812 Al-Saachez's AEU Enact Custom (1/144 AEU-09Y812/A Agrissa-Type conversion)
GNMA-XCVII Alvatore 1/220 Scratch built
SVMS-01AP Union Flag Orbit Package Colony Guard Type (Union Flag conversion)
GN-003 Gundam Kyrios (Grey with heavy modifications)
MG RX-78-2 Ver. 2.0 released on 7/26
MG Zaku Cannon out in Aug
HG GN-X next month
HG Kampfer in Aug.
HG Rick Dom II Light Green Version in Aug.
SD Exia in Aug.
Large spread on MG Shin Musha Gundam which was released recently.
HG Sazabi (3000 yen! More expensive then a lot of MG's. MG Impulse is 3300 yen! I mean... get real! HG Powered GM is 600 yen for chrissakes. That said, it's probably the most detailed and largest HG I've ever seen. They really stepped up the quality on that one.)
Fix FA Gundam Mark 3 and a lot of other stuff.

Realized that my post count for this month was really low. Probably because I missed an issue in between because they were concentrating on the MG Impulse I'm working on now. Still probably should have picked it up anyways. There were some cool shots with different scratch built Wizard Packs. Oh well. Maybe I can still find it somewhere. Better yet I'll get a subscription... If I can figure that out.

Impulse update: Working on the shield and beam rifle now. Frame is done. Core fighter is done. Anti-ship sword is done.

As usual more shots at my flikr.

00 Region Exia

#2301. What will #2302 be? Dynames I bet. I was quite surprised to see this actually as I wasn't aware of the fact that 00 was going to get the 'FIX' treatment as well... (hilarioius considering all the magazines I buy and websites that I frequent) but I suppose it was an inevitability. It looks pretty good! The paint was even and looked very symmetrical (unlike some other FIX's that I've seen). Man, how many Exia models are out now all together? I know it's a popular suit but still... oh well. It is the flagship MS of the series (so it would be a... flagsuit?!). The first of any new 00 brand is going to be Exia I guess. Never been big on pre-made suits but those who are and like the Exia will be very pleased with this one I think.

Gundam Exia x Gundam Astraea

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Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Red Exia/Astraea hybrid design. I think I still like the regular Astraea a bit more then this or Exia. That waist bit is throwing me off and I've never been a fan of all red mechs (yes... even Savior). I still think it's pretty cool though.