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Gunpla

Finished shots of the Hi-v Gundam. Pictures don't really show the effect the pearl has on the white, but the shield does the best job in these shots.

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I'm currently working on an MG Astray Red Frame Kai, just finishing up painting the sea of red parts with Mr. Color Shine Red.

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The Red Frame Kai is done. There are a few more Astray kits I want to grab eventually.
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With the Turn Red, which features reversed armor colors and twin tactical arms. The Kai's TA transforms into an energy bow where the Turn Red's TAs have gatling beam cannons mounted in the middle.
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I also built this no-grade Chaos Gundam. There is no MG or even RE/100 version of this kit unfortunately, so I've been eyeing up a resin kit of both this and the Savior Gundam which look pretty good.
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My next project is this Axis Model Works "Osiris Aerial Dominator" which is basically a 1/100 NZ-666 Kshatriya. This is easily the most runners I've seen in a kit so far, over 60 full-size runners including several pre-painted runners, most of the bags in the image have four runners inside. Even the PG 1/72 Millennium Falcon didn't come close, I believe only the PG FA Unicorn variants have more runners. The decal set is equally impressive, with a packed 8"x11" sheet of waterslides and a large set of 3D stickers similar to the PG Unleashed RX-78-2. The lighting kit included uses custom PCBs operated by magnets, a huge step above the basic tier LED kits Bandai includes in most of their PG kits. I expect this kit will take me into the new year. The Kshatriya is my favorite mobile suit in the franchise, so I'll be making sure it turns out as well as possible.

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Progress on the Kshatriya. So far, it's just been painting in the frame details on the pre-painted runners. The frame has several layers similar to the MGEX Strike Freedom, but with a ton of moving parts like the Sazabi Ver.Ka. After this I can move on to painting all the rest of the parts, there's a lot of real estate to go over on this kit.

All the parts are removed from the runners, and I cleaned up the nubs. This kit has zero flashing, and the edges are razor sharp. The main frame structure parts are overbuilt with zero reliance on polycaps for any joints so I anticipate this kit will be very solid once assembled.
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this one is about the size of a small child 😂


1/18 would make it around 4 and a half feet. I remember quite a while ago (mid 2010's) seeing a 1/35 Ex-S Gundam garage kit that was so large it had a tendency to collapse under its own weight. Apparently the engineering on custom kits has advanced considerably, both in structure and in animatronic components. It's exceedingly impressive what some people are capable of making. I give them another decade, and these things will be the size of a full-grown adult and walking around.

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anyone interested in a mecha roach? 😂 video is in (AI) English even if the thumbnail is in Chinese.




Imade a Cup Noodle kit, I'll make anything if it looks fun to build.

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Progress on this Axis Model Works Kshatriya kit I've been working on. This thing is incredibly dense, more so than the PGU RX-78-2 and it's really solid despite the fact that almost everything moves. I anticipate this MG will outweigh any PG kits I own despite being shorter than the MG Sazabi.

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The removable fuel tanks are a nice touch, the rear skirt expands like the Sazabi Ver.Ka, only it's both more complcated and more solid in its movement.
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Finally got this bad boy done, its been in my wishlist for the longest time. HG Wondwart TR-6. Enjoyed building this guy its so much detail for such a small kit. It'd always been one of my favorite mobile suit designs.

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I finished working on this Axis Model Works Kshatriya. I started back in the middle of October. There was a break here and there but in terms of hours this is the most time I've ever spent on a model kit. The kit itself is really good, possibly the best 1/100 scale Gundam kit I've built. It's loaded with gimmicks, moving parts and hatches. Everything opens and closes smoothly, and the articulating joints have sliding sections, so parts don't rub against each other. This kit is very heavy, fully assembled and painted it outweighs any PG I own by a lot. The weight was an issue unfortunately as the stand, despite being really beefy for a 1/100 kit, couldn't take the weight. The teeth on the adjustable joint below the mount broke causing the kit to face plant. It was still on my desk when it happened so the damage was minimal, but there were a few things to fix. I reworked the stand to use a metal pin to lock the joint in place so it shouldn't happen again.

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Broke some ground with my 30 MF Warrior. I'm glad I didn't start with anything costly. I definitely need the experience. This one will be interesting because I've got his class armor and his upgraded class armor to do next.
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I envy you guys that can do this type of stuff. Such cool shit but I don't have the time or skill for it. Thanks for showing off your stuff.
 
Just finished the Class II armor. There's one more level. I'm starting to really like these kits. Say you made a mistake with your silhouette, adding a class upgrade covers all those parts you messed up. I'm thinking once I'm done with this one I'll get the Holy Knight and maybe the Bishop.
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Edit: Finished his Class III armor. I need to get a stand for these kits because there's so much potential with the articulated limbs.
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Hobbytown USA has always been a place I'd associate RC with or model cars/tanks. I saw they were advertising Gunpla and they've had signs outside their store. I went to one this last week and their selection was impressive to me. All the Perfect Grade kits and a lot of variety. I saw Char's Zaku-II PG and 30 Minute Missions (30MM) Armored Core VI models. I could have spent a small fortune. I might want to put together my Metal Gear REX before I drop more than $150 on a PG. I get a sense that buying PG is where it's at with Gunpla. It's so tempting to go back once I get some funds saved.
 
I've never done a Gunpla or anything like it because I've always been too intimidated and assumed I'd fuck it up somehow. They look so complicated. I've always thought they were super cool though.

The only model I ever built was one of a Ferrari F50 when I was a teenager. I don't know what skill level it was but I had to use some glue here and there, it turned out OK.

Maybe I'll try one of the entry level Gunpla sometime and see how it goes.
 
I've never done a Gunpla or anything like it because I've always been too intimidated and assumed I'd fuck it up somehow. They look so complicated. I've always thought they were super cool though.

The only model I ever built was one of a Ferrari F50 when I was a teenager. I don't know what skill level it was but I had to use some glue here and there, it turned out OK.

Maybe I'll try one of the entry level Gunpla sometime and see how it goes.
You can try any Entry Grade kit, which requires no tools. Or a High Grade with some basic entry level nippers (~$10). Anything modern that interests you will work.

It's the sort of thing that's easy to get started with, and you decide how much of a stickler you want to be about the details.
 
I got this Xenoblade X Formula Doll finished. This is a really well-made kit overall. I built the Siren kit a few years ago and I consider it among my best kits so I'm not too surprised. Like the Siren kit, it has some very tight fitment so any paint on the pegs had to be cleaned off for it to go together properly. The transformation from its humanoid form to its motorcycle form went better than I expected with no paint getting messed up in the process. this kit requires a lot of masking and hand painting for it to look like it does in-game or match the box art. It was a fun build though. Unfortunately, the stands provided for the two forms are both terrible. The main stand is pretty flimsy and is more for balance than to aid in posing, it is a very back-heavy kit since most of its frame becomes the backpack. Fortunately, the heel blades can swing down and hold the kit upright in pretty much any pose. The kickstand part for the motorcycle is massive and fits so tightly I'm afraid it won't come back off once it's installed so I'll make something less visible. It's too bad Kotobukiya never made more kits from Xenoblade X. It appears they were planning on it at one point considering there are several unused weapon and accessory attachment points, even the re-release on Switch and the Switch 2 Edition likely won't result in a new kit being released.

Some of the masking required. Some of these pieces end up being five different colors. All of the parts with large gaps required hand-painting. In the game those gaps glow green. I used a metallic green mixed with a neon green so they would catch the light better.
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Topcoat was a satin clear. Still shiny enough to reflect hard light, but not glossy enough to see reflections in the paint.
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Fully assembled. There are a few things I want to go back and correct. the main frame body that holds the pilot should be tan colored, not dark grey, I missed an orange stripe on the shield, the rifle's magazine should be black and the main body of the rifle is supposed to be a light grey-green. luckily all those things come apart easily so I can make those changes anytime.
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I've never done a Gunpla or anything like it because I've always been too intimidated and assumed I'd fuck it up somehow. They look so complicated. I've always thought they were super cool though.

The only model I ever built was one of a Ferrari F50 when I was a teenager. I don't know what skill level it was but I had to use some glue here and there, it turned out OK.

Maybe I'll try one of the entry level Gunpla sometime and see how it goes.

They're as beginner friendly as plastic kits get.

The general rule is the older the kit, the harder it is to get looking great. 10 year old stuff is super easy, 20 is not bad but needs a bit more cleanup, vintage stuff from the 80s and 90s generally needs a lot of modelling and painting work.
The bigger kits aren't actually harder, there are just more parts.
Older Real Grades should be avoided until you have a bit of experience as they tend to have gotchas due to being a bit overambitious in design at the time (early 2010s).
 
I went back and the store restocked. So many awesome kits, but this one stood out the most. It's Raven from AC6. I'm excited to put this one together over the next couple weeks.
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I've built both that and Steel Haze, they're great kits (though Steel Haze can be a little fragile in the legs/hips).

By the way, if you want to make 621's LOADER-4, all you need is the Orbiter kit and Weapon Sets 04 (the missle launcher) and 05 (the rifle and pulse sword).
 
I've built both that and Steel Haze, they're great kits (though Steel Haze can be a little fragile in the legs/hips).

By the way, if you want to make 621's LOADER-4, all you need is the Orbiter kit and Weapon Sets 04 (the missle launcher) and 05 (the rifle and pulse sword).
Good advice! Thanks. I didn't realize there were weapon kits. Do you know if they turned any of the bosses from AC6 into kits?
 
Just wanna say I waited years for a Nier Automata one and can't believe I missed the white one.


But I'm 100% gonna grab the black one. People should get into hobby kits more, really good way to work with something analog and who knows where it could lead.
 
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