Anyone into gunpla - Japanophiles unite to share tips on painting our toys (GUNPLA IS FREEDOM)

[Broken Talisman]

Probably covered already but whats the top tier place to get your gunpla kits? My hobby lobby has a rotation of the same 8 kits.

USAGS and Newtype have gotten most of my money, but I've recently just been using Ebay. Prices on there are usually pretty good for P Bandai stuff if a preorder round has gone through recently. I'd have to drive over two hours to buy a kit in an actual factual no captual brick and mortar store.

 

[Blasphemian]

Did a couple new kits that I put a decent amount of work in

MG Wing Gundam:

Put a decent amount of work in to this one. Actually built it one night which is a just an insane speed for me. Overall I really like the kit but getting the gun to stay stable can be a pain in the ass. Used quite a few dry transfer decals, stickers, panel lines, and painted a few areas. Normally I don't give a fuck that much when it comes to sanding but here I did it the best I could.

HG police Zaku:

Great kit. Did a lot of painting on this one too. Eventually I'm gonna get chrome paint to use on the boosters.

 

[Blasphemian]

 

[Assistant Manajerk]

View attachment 7856963

Nice.

I kinda wanna make a Police Zaku out of a mainline UC Zaku (probably the Zaku F2).

Speaking of GQuuuuuuX, I would like to get the Gelgoog from that line and put it next to a Hizack from Zeta. You got the Feddie looking Zeek suit next to the Zeek looking Feddie suit.

 

[crowabunga]

The MG Gouf ver.2 might be one of the most fun MGs I've built yet, this thing is solid! It's the first MG I've handled that I can treat as a desk toy and not just a display piece, and the geared eye is a darling little touch.

 

[Blasphemian]

I think this is a pretty sick combo imo. Got the RG RX-78 with the RG RX-93-Hi v and RG RX-93-Vi V2 Gundams. They were a ton of fun to build.

 

[Broken Talisman]

I think this is a pretty sick combo imo. Got the RG RX-78 with the RG RX-93-Hi v and RG RX-93-Vi V2 Gundams. They were a ton of fun to build.
View attachment 7929788View attachment 7929789

My Kingdom for an RG Dijeh/Custom.

 

[crowabunga]

I know this is supposed to be some special IBO Gundam, but it might be my favorite generic mech out there; it doesn't look like a 'hero' unit and scales with everything! Looks good with my 1/144s as a piloted Mecha, looks good alongside my 1/100s as some kind of AI grunt, and it's at home as a 1/12 human-scale combat robot as well.

 

[Kamen Rider Faiz]

tried Gemini for the lulz with one of my gunplas to make the background prettier, the usual wasteland in the middle of nowhere, I know, original on its own
it looks nice enough to me, maybe I should try it with my acguy later

Spoiler

it would've been funnier if my red comet zaku had a karate chop hand but that'll do for the moment

I need more practice to make proper dioramas doe. I'm not that good at making poses

 

[cool4thcat]

I'm so fucking proud of you autists

 

[YouDoNotHaveTheRight]

tried Gemini for the lulz with one of my gunplas to make the background prettier, the usual wasteland in the middle of nowhere, I know, original on its own
it looks nice enough to me, maybe I should try it with my acguy later

Spoiler

it would've been funnier if my red comet zaku had a karate chop hand but that'll do for the moment

View attachment 7989524

I need more practice to make proper dioramas doe. I'm not that good at making poses

Would gemini do weathering on a photo of the kit?

 

[Kamen Rider Faiz]

Would gemini do weathering on a photo of the kit?

Did some experiments, it depends on the angle, and camera, but it can give some basic weathering, or specify some gunshot damage
Le examples here

Tried again with the previous picture, mostly decent so far


It can also make the monoeyes glow

I tried with the beam sabers BUT, it takes gemini a lot of tries to recognize the position of the beam sabers and just adds the glowing effects near the hand, but the wrong way by 180°

Spoiler: Close enough

 

[YouDoNotHaveTheRight]

Did some experiments, it depends on the angle, and camera, but it can give some basic weathering, or specify some gunshot damage
Le examples here
View attachment 7994123View attachment 7994125
Tried again with the previous picture, mostly decent so far
View attachment 7994119View attachment 7994121

It can also make the monoeyes glow
View attachment 7994118
I tried with the beam sabers BUT, it takes gemini a lot of tries to recognize the position of the beam sabers and just adds the glowing effects near the hand, but the wrong way by 180°

Spoiler: Close enough

View attachment 7994142

Thats definitely awesome thanks for testing and sharing. Could be a nice way to brainstorm weathering before committing or just capturing images without marking the kits up.

 

[King Dead]

More new kit news from the All Japan Model and Hobby Show this weekend:

• The big new reveal would appear to be a brand new MG Astray Red Frame kit, which to my understanding is from the Freedom Astray manga. While it's not surprising that Bandai continues to milk their most popular designs, what's interesting is how the surface appears considerably more detailed than the usual kit, looking more like some of the third-party manufacturers. No release date given.
• There's also a MG Barbatos Option Parts Set announced with a variety of weapons. It doesn't mention if it's P-Bandai, though it seems like it should be. Has a release date listed of November 2026, which is pretty far out to be announcing it now, but who am I to say?
• GQuuuuuuX continues to get releases with the HG Hambrabi (more pics). I haven't seen the show, but according to comments, you only get a good look at it for like three seconds, which is apparently good enough to get a release. Releasing in June 2026.
• In actually somewhat surprising news, Endless Waltz is now going to get the HG treatment, starting with HG Sandrock Gundam Kai EW (more pics). I say this is surprising because it seemed like Bandai was content to have HG be the domain of the TV versions of the mobile suits, while MG was where all the EW designs went. Seems they're ready to move on to pumping out the whole line a second time. Releases in June 2026.
• In non-Gundam news, GaoGaiGar fans like myself will be pleased to learn that the next HG was announced, HG GekiRyuJin. Makes sense it's the next one to come out since it's mostly just a parts variant of ChoRyuJin. It should even be possible to do the various swapped models between the two, I'm guessing. Can't see a release date on the image given, but I'm assuming next summer sometime. And from Macross, the HG VF-31E was also announced; I don't know the first thing about Macross so I can't comment, but it'll be releasing in June 2026.
• On the P-Bandai side of things, there's a mysterious teaser for what is undoubtedly some kind of IBO kit, probably a variant of one of the recently released MGs. There's also the HG Strike Freedom Type-II, and an expansion set for the GQuuuuuuX Red Gundam. Most of those will probably go up for preorder soonish.
• For special kits available at Gundam Base locations, there's the HG Geara Doga Heavy Armed Type exclusive to Side-F, a special coating RG Epyon Gundam, and an Afterimage Clear version of the HG Gundam F91.
• Lastly, here's some additional pictures of kits announced at the previous show: PGU Nu Gundam (inner frame close-ups), MG Full Armor ZZ Gundam Ver. Ka (more pics), HG Gustav Karl Type-00, MGSD Destiny Gundam/HG Legend Gundam/HG GQuuuuuuX Endymion Unit, Fin Funnel Option Parts, and HG Huckebein.

Another show, another lack of Gundam X announcements. I would have figured they'd announce at least something by now considering the 30th anniversary is only next year, but aside from the Tiffa figure, there's been nothing. Guess they're not done milking Wing yet either since they're going straight into releasing HG Endless Waltz kits too (and yet still no other grunt suits, c'mon now). The only thing that really excites me this time around is GekiRyuJin; ChoRyuJin was a fun build and I'm looking forward to having more GGG kits on my shelf.

 

[Assistant Manajerk]

Sadly, X was never as popular as Wing. I mean, I thought it was a great series and would love to see more from that universe (especially more grunt suit kits).

Oh, I was thinking of getting a Gundam Airmaster and painting it like Starscream.

 

[hog cranking frog]

Had a disassembled HG Gouf sitting on my desk for a few weeks waiting for the rework water decals to show up and some clear coats. Gonna try them and then some weathering. Love modeling of all types but Gunpla you really get so much value in each kit. Glad I got into this on a whim. Proudly wearing a Gundam shirt at work today. Nothing can stop this autist.

Anyone paint the clear beam weapons? I'm wondering if there's something cool to do there. They look a little cheesy raw.

 

[King Dead]

Sadly, X was never as popular as Wing. I mean, I thought it was a great series and would love to see more from that universe (especially more grunt suit kits).

Oh, I was thinking of getting a Gundam Airmaster and painting it like Starscream.

Don't get me wrong, I know Bandai is going where the money is, and the money is and has always been UC (especially the 0079-CCA period and Unicorn), Wing, and Seed. But the fact that they've made a big deal out of the combined 30th anniversaries of G, Wing, and X had at least gotten my hopes up that they'd announce something by now. Alas, aside from the Tiffa I mentioned, still nothing. Guess I'll wait another three months for the next hobby show.

Had a disassembled HG Gouf sitting on my desk for a few weeks waiting for the rework water decals to show up and some clear coats. Gonna try them and then some weathering. Love modeling of all types but Gunpla you really get so much value in each kit. Glad I got into this on a whim. Proudly wearing a Gundam shirt at work today. Nothing can stop this autist.

Anyone paint the clear beam weapons? I'm wondering if there's something cool to do there. They look a little cheesy raw.

I've heard that adding a layer of gloss topcoat can make clear pieces pop out even more, as demonstrated in this post I saw on the subreddit the other day:

As always, you should be careful of frosting by making sure you're not working in overly humid conditions (commenters said that the Mr. Super Clear gloss he used on the second piece probably fell victim to that), but I've seen lots of examples of it working well, so it could be worth giving it a shot.

And agreed on the value aspect of gunpla, there's so much you can do with even a single kit, but they look good regardless of how much effort you put in. Whether it's a quick scratch build or an all-out project, it's easy to get your money's worth.

 

[YouDoNotHaveTheRight]

Had a disassembled HG Gouf sitting on my desk for a few weeks waiting for the rework water decals to show up and some clear coats. Gonna try them and then some weathering. Love modeling of all types but Gunpla you really get so much value in each kit. Glad I got into this on a whim. Proudly wearing a Gundam shirt at work today. Nothing can stop this autist.

Anyone paint the clear beam weapons? I'm wondering if there's something cool to do there. They look a little cheesy raw.

On the older kits like the HG Gundam Alex the beams would be the same color as the handle of the sword and you would have to paint that. If you painted them at all the matte base may provide better result than painting over clear unless it was like Epyon sword or something unusually shaped.

 

[00R-Gundam]

Man Gekiryujin wasnt on my list for announcements. Only missing Big Volfogg, Tenryujin, Genesic GaoGaiGar, Mic Sounders 13th and King J-der and i can fucking finally die happy that i assembled my favorite mecha anime.

 

[King Dead]

Man Gekiryujin wasnt on my list for announcements. Only missing Big Volfogg, Tenryujin, Genesic GaoGaiGar, Mic Sounders 13th and King J-der and i can fucking finally die happy that i assembled my favorite mecha anime.

That one was probably only a matter of time since all the Ryus are basically identical to each other, so whipping up a parts variation for FuRyu and RaiRyu (and by extension GekiRyuJin) wouldn't be hard, and was almost assuredly planned on from the start. If I were a betting man, I would guess Volfogg would be next up, though it might be a while; ChoRyuJin released in January of this year and GekiRyuJin is probably next summer, so at that pace I wouldn't expect more than one GGG kit a year.

But man, what I wouldn't give to see a King J-Der kit. Not that I'd get my hopes up since it's about three times as tall as GaoGaiGar and keeping it to scale with the RG would make it positively huge (even bigger than my Psycho Gundam Mk-II), but it's not like they don't make huge kits anyway, so who knows?