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

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I also dabble in the plastic crack. But lately Bandai has been very mid, not alot of interesting models being reprinted so I as well have been buying from the chinese. So far I have a Osiris, Daban 8823, MA-Titan & Mg Turn X in the closet. Been meaning to put them together when work slows down later in the year.

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This probably wont come out, but I've been heavily waiting for this guy for a very long time
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Some others im thinking about
 
Yeah, Chinese companies are doing some pretty good stuff nowadays, whether it's upscaling RGs to 1/100 scale, filling niches that Bandai refuses to (like a 1/100 Kshatriya), or coming up with original designs with less of the overly flashy spiky look. You do still get some that are lower quality, but issues like bad fitment or shoddy molds are less frequent. I don't have a lot of personal experience, but I have built a Hemoxian Thor, and I was rather impressed by the plastic quality and the overall build. A little stiff in the joints, but I'd prefer that to being too loose.

Currently building MG Turn A, and I'm reminded how little I enjoy working with ABS plastic. It's always so stubborn trying to put those pieces together, and sometimes it feels like I'm going to break something. But the kit itself looks great, and I love both its unique silhouette and all the panel lines. I picked it up with a MG Turn X which I plan to build next; thank God they finally decided to reprint the latter.

In other news, the Shizuoka Hobby Show is next week, so it's time to once again place bets on new gunpla announcements. Still hoping the rest of the leak pans out and RG Gundam X gets confirmed. But hell, I'll take any After War kits (c'mon Bandai, give me a Bertigo). Beyond that, I dunno; they've more or less finished up with GQuuuuuuX and Hathaway 2, and there aren't any new shows on the horizon. You can always go with the safe bet of at least one kit for UC, Wing, or Seed, though. We should start seeing announcements next Tuesday evening.
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Where does one get or browse these Chinese kits (with confidence)? I'm amenable to the argument bandai is lacking in designs but for what little hobby time I have a kit not being a pos is nice. Bandai I have a base level expectation. Those Chinese kits look cool and I'd def paint a few up.
 
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hog cranking frog said:
Where does one get or browse these Chinese kits (with confidence)? I'm amenable to the argument bandai is lacking in designs but for what little hobby time I have a kit not being a pos is nice. Bandai I have a bad level expectation. Those Chinese kits look cool and I'd def paint a few up.
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GundamCentralShop has been my goto for getting chinese kits both original and knockoffs, Gundamit is also another option.
 
hog cranking frog said:
Where does one get or browse these Chinese kits (with confidence)? I'm amenable to the argument bandai is lacking in designs but for what little hobby time I have a kit not being a pos is nice. Bandai I have a base level expectation. Those Chinese kits look cool and I'd def paint a few up.
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Usagundam is also a good choice. Personally ive been getting my model kits from there and especially the SNAA line of model kits which are super good and would recommend
 
King Dead said:
Currently building MG Turn A, and I'm reminded how little I enjoy working with ABS plastic. It's always so stubborn trying to put those pieces together, and sometimes it feels like I'm going to break something. But the kit itself looks great, and I love both its unique silhouette and all the panel lines. I picked it up with a MG Turn X which I plan to build next; thank God they finally decided to reprint the latter.
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The MG Turn X is probably my favorite MG. You should enjoy building, posing, and looking at it.
 
I'm currently building Hemoxian's Baki (no relation to the goofy manga) kit. Only had one thing be a smidge too tight so far, so I just gently sanded it until it was smooth. You get an absurd amount of things for what you pay. There's cloth parts, rubber parts (we'll see how that ages), and alternate color and head parts for building the soldier he used to be. There's also LED units. Mine actually had the batteries. No idea how that got past customs considering my last kit had them removed. You also get a training dummy you can attach all the weapons to, and the base has place to put spare parts underneath.
 
Some interesting announcements out of Shizuoka, some expected, and some updated looks at previously announced kits:
  • First up, Gundam X fans can rest easy, Leopard isn't the only HG coming out this year. The Frost Brothers' Gundams, Virsago and Ashtaron, were announced as coming out in October and November respectively. Unclear how much parts swapping you'll have to do for transforming. And if you want another Leopard pic, here you go.
  • G Gundam also continues to get some love, with Gundam Spiegel getting a P-Bandai HG release much like the other recent kits. Dunno what those scrolls are about, I can't remember them from the anime. It will likely come with an action base and effect parts like the other kits in the line. No word on date, I'm assuming late this year though.
  • We're not done with alternate timelines yet though, as IBO is also getting some more attention in the form of a Full Mechanics 1/100 release of the Graze Ein. No date listed, but I would guess early next year.
  • These were previously announced, but special ukiyo-e editions of three EG kits (RX-78-2, Strike, and Wing) are coming out in August. They're the same kits but with sticker sheets to give the finished models a touch of traditional woodblock style. More pics over here.
  • From GQuuuuuuX, a regular-colored HG Gyan is coming to P-Bandai in September, if you liked the style but wanted the classic color scheme.
  • Rounding the Gundam stuff out with a few more pics of previously announced kits: MG Gundam Liberty Astray Red Frame (out in December), MGSD Kshatriya (September), and HG Hambrabi (GQuuuuuuX) (June).
  • Another recent announcement that we can now get a better look at is the RG Ingram from Patlabor. I think this one's scheduled for the end of the year, but it's also notably the only RG being featured at this show. My dreams of a RG Gundam X are unfortunately dashed for now.
  • For Armored Trooper Votoms fans, a new HG Scopedog kit (desert color) from the upcoming films was also announced, releasing in the fall. There's also the HG Brutish Dog kit presumably coming about the same time.
  • And for Macross fans, there's HG VF-25G Messiah Valkyrie (Michael Blanc Unit) coming in September.
  • And finally, a couple recent P-Bandai announcements today outside of the hobby show: RG Graham Aker's Gundam Exia Repair IV and RE/100 Den'an-Zon. Both are scheduled for December.
Not a huge amount of new announcements, but it's good to see that we're at least getting kits of all the Gundams from Gundam X for the anniversary, so I'll take what I can get. And if Airmaster is any indication, we'll probably see their upgraded variants releasing on P-Bandai in the future. Definitely picking up Spiegel and the Den'an-Zon too; I love the Crossbone Vanguard mobile suits and hope that they're planning on eventually releasing the entire line.
 
Crant said:
Yet we still haven't gotten the Bolt Gundam to finish the team. At least I can finally get the other Gundam X kits now.
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There's been speculation on >reddit that Bandai might have been hesitant to release Bolt Gundam due to the Ukraine kerfuffle, but I dunno how much water that theory holds. They didn't start releasing these G Gundam HGs until a year after the war started, and it's been another three years since then. Most people have just kind of forgotten there was even a conflict going on there, so I doubt the general public would even care. And also, I think it's safe to say that the opinions of anyone who would actually get big mad over a model kit based on a goofy 90's anime can be ignored. Either way, I'm just glad they're sticking with the line, and hopefully Bolt will come out sooner than later.

Couple more pics of the Ashtaron and Virsago. No surprise that you'll need to parts swap for the Ashtaron's extended arms (much like the Dragon Gundam or Shenlong/Altron Gundam), but there might be a gimmick to open the chest without parts swapping, can't tell for sure. And Virsago might be fully transformable, again it's hard to tell. I guess it'll be worth the wait if they're fully featured.
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