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

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recommend me some brands for tools please friends.
working on first kit in a long time, 1/100 mg tallgeese, and want something better than plant snippers and an opinel, for when i get the unit 1 crawdad next.
 
recommend me some brands for tools please friends.
working on first kit in a long time, 1/100 mg tallgeese, and want something better than plant snippers and an opinel, for when i get the unit 1 crawdad next.
The brand doesn't really matter if they come from Japan, Taiwan, or South Korea. Here's what I use for snapping kits together - nippers, hobby knife, and sanding supplies. I'll list the top four stores I'd check.

Nipper options:

USA Gundam Store

Newtype HQ

Gundam Planet

Canadian Gundam

Bandai's "Entry" and "Build Up" nippers are the most economical and they cut like butter. God Hands makes the best nippers, though.

Hobby Knife Options:

USA Gundam Store

NewtypeHQ

Gundam Planet
(sold out)

Canadian Gundam
No knives.

The Tamiya Pro Knife is what I use but I have a lot of standard Tamiya handles.

Sanding Supplies

USA Gundam Store

Newtype HQ

Gundam Planet

Canadian Gundam

Infini or InfiniModel makes the best sanding supplies available right now. USAGS and NTHQ both carry their stuff.
 
recommend me some brands for tools please friends.
working on first kit in a long time, 1/100 mg tallgeese, and want something better than plant snippers and an opinel, for when i get the unit 1 crawdad next.

Dude, MG Tallgeese was one of my favorite kits to build. Enjoy.
 
Dude, MG Tallgeese was one of my favorite kits to build. Enjoy.
Finished now. Excellent kit. Love all the moving parts and articulation. Bought matte coat for it but it's too perfect to mess with. Think I'll use it on the unit 01 crayfish I finished yesterday.
 
did anyone pick up kits during the gunpla expo? i am so upset the 1/100 Limited Sinanju sold out the first day, waited to pre order on day 2 because that's when another kit I wanted came out onl for it to of dissappeared by then, sad days

I got HG Astray Red Dragon (have some customizing plans for this guy), HG Barbatos Lupus Rex (maybe some red highlights on him? would love suggestions on how to give him some 'oomph') and MG Barbatos Neon Blue (again, would love some suggestions, I definitely want to kit him out with some LEDs though- I think he's a little too cool to fuck with too much)

I'm also honestly really excited for RG Astray Gold Frame Amatsu - not sure if I'll pre order it yet since it's open for so long.
 
did anyone pick up kits during the gunpla expo? i am so upset the 1/100 Limited Sinanju sold out the first day, waited to pre order on day 2 because that's when another kit I wanted came out onl for it to of dissappeared by then, sad days

I got HG Astray Red Dragon (have some customizing plans for this guy), HG Barbatos Lupus Rex (maybe some red highlights on him? would love suggestions on how to give him some 'oomph') and MG Barbatos Neon Blue (again, would love some suggestions, I definitely want to kit him out with some LEDs though- I think he's a little too cool to fuck with too much)

I'm also honestly really excited for RG Astray Gold Frame Amatsu - not sure if I'll pre order it yet since it's open for so long.
I picked up a few. The MG Banshee Norn was a highlight for sure.

My suggestions for the Iron Coating Lupus Rex would be matching different dark toned metallic paints for the armor and frame. I think the neon blue Barbatos could do the same thing just with non-metallic black and shades of dark gray.
 
I loved the Astray R manga series, I should pick that kit up. Would you recommend it? Was it a fun build?
I'll tell you in january when it actually ships (maybe february depending on when it arrives and i complete it)! But I'm thinking about maybe picking up another astray model because I really wanted to make a cherry blossom themed little robot man at some point, and lo-and-behold theres a decal set to make an astray full weeb
 
nobody warned me about the stickers
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i tried something with this one. i wanted to make the tallgeese seem bigger. let me know what you think.
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i also fell for the crayfish meme.
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Man, this thread has been has been dead for a while hasn't it?

Anyway I want to share the HG G-Bouncer I built. Actually I built this back in October-November last year, but didn't have time to take pictures and post because of college assignments. This kit is pretty rare, at least in my country. It can go up to around $70-$80, but luckily I got one around $16.

I like the overall design, which is close enough to be a Gundam but is actually not one. Also I'm actually a fan of AGEs suit design, especially those from the Earth Federation's side. They kind of struck the balance between simplicity and detailed look imo.

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The build is pretty solid, and the articulation is very good, although the thigh may slightly hinder its leg movement. The accesories are pretty standart. Beam rifle, beam saber, and a shield. As you can see, the shield has pretty interesting design, resembling Wolf's insignia. The pointy tip of the shield can be removed and become a sword, but the grip for that sword is loose, so I don't pose it. The proportion is fine, but from some angle, it can look a bit off. Overall a solid kit albeit a bit outdated.
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I didn't do panel line to this boy, because I planned to paint it over, and so I did.
I dub this suit the G-Bouncer Grey Hound.
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This is the first time I repaint a kit. It turned out to be quite fun. I used soft tipped marker because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to use liquid paint, let alone airbrush due to budget and room space limitation. The weapons are from 30MM Sengoku Equipment. Luckily, the sword sheath can somehow fit into the backpack hole.

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Been a while! I came back from the Gundam Base Odaiba with many goodies. It was a really great time, we arrived 20 minutes before opening and were still number 200 in line.

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Under maintenance :(
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Decided to get the Crystalized body kit, a long with the SD Titanium Finish Hi Nu and SD Perfectibility. Regretting not picking up a MG Perfectibility to complete my set of them. Snap built the Unicorn and put it on my window shelf, when the sun its the green parts it looks really good.
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Really have to recommend against getting anything with this titanium paint scheme. It looks kinda cool, but the nub marks are instantly noticeable because of the paint, I also noticed a lot of odd QA issues with the paint, some parts seemed to have grey marks from it. Also the Weapon is heinous, but thats par for the course with SD kits. Still need to build the SD Perfectibility but my backlog is current RG Hi Nu, MG Zeta 2.0, and a bunch of random HGs.
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I loved the Astray R manga series, I should pick that kit up. Would you recommend it? Was it a fun build?

So I just cracked the kit open after a months wait, and quality wise, the plastic feels very brittle and the nub mark issues are insane on this lil dude, for a HG it comes with quite a few runners, but overall it almost feels like a cheap bootleg, maybe I was spoiled by the RG Hi Nu and HG Livelance but I was shocked at how weird the plastic feels. (also the manual is brochure folded vs booklet which isn;t the end of the world but its so annoying when working in a small space like me)

I'll post it once finished, but just as a heads up if you were looking at this one from p-bandai just keep in mind it's pretty brittle and not gonna look too great unless you're airbrushing it, I've already invested a buttload of time cleaning up nub marks because almost every piece is giving me a bit of trouble.

I'll post him when I finish him though!
 
it's been months and I still haven't done the waterslide or custom paint on that model kit I was talking about earlier, nor did I take the pics. Completely fucking forgot I even said I was gonna till I got a random notification from this thread lmao. I really got to get around to getting shit setup to properly make these fucking snap together kits I've gotten these last few years cause I'm too lacking of supplies and cash and other shit to get a fucking premium looking thing instantaneously via fucking aerospray shit. It's been too fucking humid these last few years to use spraypaint on fucking anything and even the most basic tutorials online i can find for fucking hand brushing with "no spraypaint or airbrush" on shit go "ok now use a spray primer with your airbrush" at the fucking start shit pisses me the hell off. This combined with the fact all the kits now seem to breach $20 and the larger ones that used to be $40 are now using scalper prices as their actual price so now 50% of kits out there are like nearing if not the $100 mark make it a very special kind of hell. May have rambled about this earlier and forgot but I'm too lazy to check. In the next few days I'm gonna take a pic of that 30 minute missions kit and some other shit I keep meaning to take pics of for other hobby threads unless I get wrapped up in some shit and forget again.
 
Does anyone have any experience with the metal inner frame chinese upgrades? They should be releasing for the Hi Nu RG soon and I kind of want one. I have an unbuilt Hi Nu kit waiting, and at this point a few more months wont kill me if these frames are good.

My basic concern is top coating, do I need to individually top coat pieces as opposed to limbs with these metal parts? How is poseability and the massive weight probably makes using a stand impossible.

I ASSUME the RG Nu metal frame would fit the FF, since its basically the same minus fin funnels. Has anyone ever disassembled a kit to add these metal parts?

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My FF is done and I do not want to buy another, so I may just skip the Nu and wait for the Hi Nu. If anyone has experiences positive or negative with these let me know. Looking around prices vary between $30-$40.

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I didn't know where else to put this, so it's here sorry for cars not mechs

I don't paint minis or models or anything anymore, the only thing I ever did was a handful of Mercedes cars and trucks. Some of them were models, some die cast re-paint jobs...most of them Jurassic Park 2 versions. I did a 2003 ML350 based on one of my all time favorite personally-owned vehicles - Champagne Gold, gloriously comfy beige-tan italian leather seats, full-time 4x4 with low range mode, legitimate "light truck" frame and not this "SUV shell on a Fiat 500 chassis" horseshit you see these days - because I adored that SUV so much. It had ~250,000 odo miles before it died in a flood :'{ If I had to pick only one truck to own for the rest of my life it'd be a ML350.

The models / repaints were nothing to write home about, aside from the fact that I got lucky enough to find two (SEALED) Revell Lost World Mercedes ML320 kits...but shitty work aside I had fun doing them. Especially bringing my old truck back to miniature life.
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I also did some 40k stuff I no longer have pics of. It wasn't anything special either.



But anyway...I ran across a few great modeling channels recently. I know these are cars but I thought you guys would appreciate the details. A4 Garage in specific...that guy is just phenomenal. Jun's Mini Garage is slightly less intense with the details but still great watch. I love watching these guys work

Mercedes 300SL - A4 Garage:

Lamborghini Miura - A4 Garage:

Supra - Jun's Mini Garage

Please enjoy. And check out their other stuff. Lots of really good Japanese modelling channels out there who are just so impressive (plenty of Gunpla stuff too)
 
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