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

[Tarka Dhal]

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

I’ve seen a few of A4’s videos; they are some of the most detailed builds I’ve ever seen. Jun is pretty good, too.

On the subject of modelling channels, here are a few that I like:

Spoiler

Kallamity
He mostly does Five Star Stories kits, which are pretty interesting just for the novelty. FSS has some excellent mechanical designs, and it’s a nice change from Gundam kits.

Potan Creates
A fairly popular guy. He’s not made many videos, but the ones he has done are excellent - very satisfying to watch, even more so to hear.

Paint on Plastic
Very chill old-school modeller. Mainly does grungy Maschinen Krieger builds, but is also the only man I’ve ever seen try to paint a Gundam kit entirely by hand.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Finally finished my Guncannon. Very poesable, minimal stickers though they are a bit of a pain, I love how chunky he is and how the barrels move on his back, able to go vertical

 

[An Ghost]

you know i had to do it to em

Spoiler: the rest

i wanted to make her look big so i used a really specific lens and i'm happy with the result




are the Evas technically anime girls? cause this one came out weirdly sensual

 

[CHARizard]

Picked up a HG Chars Zaku 1 and a SD Aerial while on vacation. The shop I visited had a stack of PG Exias for $211 and I was extremely tempted, but passed because I would have had to ship them back. Also ordered the metal frame for the RG Hi Nu and it should arrive next month, pretty excited to finally put that kit behind me.

Does anyone have experience with that Moderoid Dynazenon? Looking to add that to my backlog, but I have no experience with non Bandai kits.

Finally finished my Guncannon. Very poesable, minimal stickers though they are a bit of a pain, I love how chunky he is and how the barrels move on his back, able to go vertical

Looks good! I almost picked one up myself. I know you were going to get into panel lining, but if you pick up a can of matte spray it will help a lot with this one. The sticker lines wont be nearly as noticeable after 2 coats.
Example, with my RG Z'Gok, not the same shade of red but close, you notice that the stickers almost melt into the plastic with some top coat. Waterslides are better but I find that with coating you can get a pretty good look with stickers.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Picked up a HG Chars Zaku 1 and a SD Aerial while on vacation. The shop I visited had a stack of PG Exias for $211 and I was extremely tempted, but passed because I would have had to ship them back. Also ordered the metal frame for the RG Hi Nu and it should arrive next month, pretty excited to finally put that kit behind me.

Does anyone have experience with that Moderoid Dynazenon? Looking to add that to my backlog, but I have no experience with non Bandai kits.



Looks good! I almost picked one up myself. I know you were going to get into panel lining, but if you pick up a can of matte spray it will help a lot with this one. The sticker lines wont be nearly as noticeable after 2 coats.
Example, with my RG Z'Gok, not the same shade of red but close, you notice that the stickers almost melt into the plastic with some top coat. Waterslides are better but I find that with coating you can get a pretty good look with stickers.

View attachment 4977236

The Z Gok looks awesome man. Yeah top coating might be able to smooth things out on him, and I might feel inclined to do it, since he's a unique suit and all

 

[Troonos]

Picked up a HG Chars Zaku 1 and a SD Aerial while on vacation. The shop I visited had a stack of PG Exias for $211 and I was extremely tempted, but passed because I would have had to ship them back. Also ordered the metal frame for the RG Hi Nu and it should arrive next month, pretty excited to finally put that kit behind me.

Does anyone have experience with that Moderoid Dynazenon? Looking to add that to my backlog, but I have no experience with non Bandai kits.



Looks good! I almost picked one up myself. I know you were going to get into panel lining, but if you pick up a can of matte spray it will help a lot with this one. The sticker lines wont be nearly as noticeable after 2 coats.
Example, with my RG Z'Gok, not the same shade of red but close, you notice that the stickers almost melt into the plastic with some top coat. Waterslides are better but I find that with coating you can get a pretty good look with stickers.

View attachment 4977236

MG Z'Gok was my biggest Gunpla regret. It was so simplistic and had no interesting articulations.

 

[The Lawgiver]

I still got no photogenic space to take this shit and once fucking again it's dark and ambient int he fucking house so I gotta use the flash which results in some distortions, but hey! I finally got one "good-ish" pic in of one of the cheap kits I managed to get months ago!

Really been interested in the designs of the mechs in these 30 minutes missions things bandai's been putting out, but they never stock the things in hobby stores within reasonable driving distance save for 2 or 3 that are a whole 2 or 3 hours drive away, not gonna go that fucking far to get shit so my best bet for them is ordering online. The problem? Amazon and other big name carriers of bandai kits don't fucking stock the things either, leaving only "third party sellers" who want $40-ish for every fucking kit. I made a rambling post about this a while back I'm pretty sure so I won't go deeper.

Anyways, the gimmick of these kits is they're completely modular to a degree, wvery connection point being a connector peg that's used on basically every bandai gunpla kit ever. I've had this one in the above image on a shelf sitting in various comical ways the last few months, really uncharacteristic for what's supposed to be a giant mecha. I do this with a bunch of things actually, but the amount of range this kit specifically has when not fully kitted out in the armor parts is crazy. I actually made the articulation a bit more dynamic by taking what's normally supposed to be the chest armor and putting it where a white crotchplate normally goes on the thing. Kinda weird looking due to it being a different color than everything else but I'm too lazy and lacking in proper setup to paint it, plus in person it's nearly the same color as the black., contrary to the box showing the purple being much lighter.

Oh yeah, speaking of boxes, the box in the background isn't for that one if it wasn't obvious.

The camera flash REALLY fucked up and washed out the colors here, but that's what happens when pale colors are a thing. This is a spinoff line of 30 minute missions that has like animal themed anime girls or whatever I guess. More expensive by a little bit and a lot more scalped. I actually have another one I got months ago I haven't taken pictures of. I wasted my easter snapping this kit together, it's apparently intended to combine with another rabbit themed kit for a full set of power armor but I don't know if I'm The listings for this one were either $30 with $10 standard shipping or $41 with free overnight shipping. I was actually surprised it came with two whole sets of legs for both armored and unarmored.
I still got to get around to building that $10 AMERICAN gundam I got last year as well as a lot of other shit, maybe if I get brave enough I'll start trying hand-painting shit again. I used to be really good at it with Warhammer miniatures back when I was like in like fucking middle school way fucking back in the day, but every time I do it nowadays I get fucking nervous as shit and end up fucking up somehow.

If you can get your hands on kits from either the main 30 minute missions kits or the anime girl ones for a decent price I'd absolutely recommend getting them. if you just want to mess around with shit and make horrible abominations you can absolutely do it. I'm pretty sure they haven't made any kind of media for these kits aside from the lore blurbs in the instruction booklets, which is kinda a bit of a bummer given how neat some of the designs get. I've only just got some of the most basic looking ones though lmao. I saw they had some more elaborate ones on that premium bandai site as exclusives but they were fucking sold out. Kinda was interested in that red samurai looking one for the faction the one I built is from.

Rambling fucking barely awake post aside the Tl;Dr is basically "Finally got picture of kit I made months ago and new one got days ago and made just now"

 

[Another Char Clone]

The camera flash REALLY fucked up and washed out the colors here, but that's what happens when pale colors are a thing.

You want to work with a fill light or use a diffuser box on your flash. Do not point flash directly at the subject, use a reflector if you want to go cheap.
I wish there was a thread for photography technique spergs, unfortunately its a recipe for non-stop power leveling since it would mean photographs of the surrounding.

 

[An Ghost]

I wish there was a thread for photography technique spergs, unfortunately its a recipe for non-stop power leveling since it would mean photographs of the surrounding.

There are some but they usually fizzle out.
And another super secret photo thread. Hmu if you're interested.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Recently been working on a Marisai from Zeta Gundam, and just got back from a vacation, so I'm going to be starting back up soon. So far a pleasant build, had to fix the gun with a little glue, the tip is delicate, but other than that I've had fun especially with my glass file making it VERY easy.

 

[Tarka Dhal]

I’ve been largely out of the model kit scene for a while now, but I recently watched a Mecha Gaikotsu review and was mortified to realise he had trooned out. I was never the biggest fan of him - my go-to reviewer back when I was really active was rrobbert184, who I now realise hasn’t uploaded a Gunpla video in 8 years - but he was pretty reliable for showcasing what a kit looks like at a bare minimum of effort.

I had initially assumed it was just his girlfriend or wife in the shots, but after skimming a few other videos it became pretty clear that this was him.

I’m not overly cut-up over it, there are other reviewers out there and it’s not like it makes his video unwatchable, but it’s sad to see another autist fall into this shit. The last few years have really done a number on nerd communities.

Nice looking mech, though, although I prefer the original.

 

[WelperHelper99]

I’ve been largely out of the model kit scene for a while now, but I recently watched a Mecha Gaikotsu review and was mortified to realise he had trooned out. I was never the biggest fan of him - my go-to reviewer back when I was really active was rrobbert184, who I now realise hasn’t uploaded a Gunpla video in 8 years - but he was pretty reliable for showcasing what a kit looks like at a bare minimum of effort.

I had initially assumed it was just his girlfriend or wife in the shots, but after skimming a few other videos it became pretty clear that this was him.

I’m not overly cut-up over it, there are other reviewers out there and it’s not like it makes his video unwatchable, but it’s sad to see another autist fall into this shit. The last few years have really done a number on nerd communities.

Nice looking mech, though, although I prefer the original.

My gosh I remember him, that was around the time I got my old Barbatos and a few others

Now those were the good old days lol, say what you will about IBO, 14 yo me loved the edge, and the kits were cool, if not a bit explody. A shame he trooned out. I'll probably be posting stuff about the Marasai today too

 

[Troonos]

I just want to know what the fuck is going on with Prime92's voice. I can't tolerate his/her gender-ambiguous, nasally, electronic-sounding voice or his 1995 $5 headset microphone.

He wore transition lenses in his old videos, so I think we can safely assume autism is a factor.

 

[Tarka Dhal]

I just want to know what the fuck is going on with Prime92's voice. I can't tolerate his/her gender-ambiguous, nasally, electronic-sounding voice or his 1995 $5 headset microphone.

He wore transition lenses in his old videos, so I think we can safely assume autism is a factor.

I don’t know that guy, but it looks like he’s been filtering his voice like that for at least 14 years going by his older videos. It’s almost quaint; like I’m watching a video from 2006.

 

[CHARizard]

Well after months of waiting I finally started my RG Hi Nu when the metal frame arrived from China. I have a lot of thoughts about the metal frame so far, mostly positive.

-Weight is nice, the kit feels solid after snapping on.
-Instructions are very unclear. I stopped following them and switched to the main instruction manual immediatly after the feet.
-Arms suck. The forearm armor doesnt attach correctly. The right arm especially seems molded wrong, causing some seams.
-Joints on the hands and feet are loose, going to tighten with a coating of glue
-Comes with some "golden" plastic bits for the thrusters. They look pretty ok.
-Cut the build time in half, since most of the skeleton is already built. Means I have pretty much an entire inner frame leftover in parts, so I may paint that up and see if I can replicate the look.
-I overpaid at $50. But I would probably pay around that amount for a Bandai quality one in the future. Theres one for the Nu Ver Ka that I may get since I am planning on building another one of those.

Still a major work in progress. I am just snap fitting everything at the moment, and have the backpack plus weapons left. Going to disassemble and coat once I get the whole thing snapped up. Debating on paiting the blue armor parts, I want to do purple like the Ver Ka. I have a custom base and funnel effects as well, but I dont think any plastic base will hold the weight. I have pictures but the site is being retarded, and will upload them later.

Quotes arent working either for me

I still watch Mecha Gokaitsu occasionally because he snap builds. I get to see what a kit will look like out of the box, and if it has a ton of stickers (a big negative for me). I dont actually have to look at him, just his weird nails, so his nonsense doesnt bother me much.

Kakarot197 is the only English speaking Gunpla tuber I watch, and thats because his weekly news video is pretty good for catching up on releases.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Update on the Marasai, I got everything but the legs done at this point

He's pretty posable, especially for a 2005 kit, using a lot of tricks to give things like his shoulders extra pivot, and there's just a lot of moving bits in general which is a plus like his shield. I *might* finish him tonight, so look out for that and a more in depth review, but as it stands, I very much recommend him.

 

[Tarka Dhal]

Update on the Marasai, I got everything but the legs done at this point

Nice. I really like the Marasai, it might be my favourite Zaku successor.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Nice. I really like the Marasai, it might be my favourite Zaku successor.

The Marasai is absolutely sexy, actually just pre ordered the Unicorn version lol. And it's lore is pretty cool, meant to go to the AUEG, it went to the Titans instead to make Anehiem Electronics appear neutral. It's absolutely stunning, red and orange with a dash of green in that samurai look, and that SMG looking beam rifle just completes the look of a close combat brawler; what it can't shoot, it pulls out the beam sabers on the shield. Love it. Glad the kit feels as good

 

[CHARizard]

Follow up pictures of the chinesium metal frame. Hope to get some time to work on it this weekend.

If you look at the arms here you can see the huge seam I mentioned earlier. I could not figure out a way to make it fit. The right arm I even had to snip some plastic off just to get it on.

Going to attempt to finish the backpack this weekend with the funnels, and then disassemble to get everything ready for coating and decals. Cant top coat the metal so my usual process of just dismembering and coating limbs wont work this time. Going to do each armor piece with some gloss.

 

[Cedric_Eff]

Anyone into Mobile Suit Variations?