Gunpla

I haven't been taking a break from modeling as much as slowly destroying one of the best kits Bandai has ever released, the Master Grade Zaku II 2.0. This one, specifically, is a Johnny Ridden version that's been in various stages of completion since at least 2010. Just recently I decided it would be the perfect sacrifice for practicing new techniques and generating new tutorials. It was recently the testbed for The Army Painter primers, pla plating, option parts, and now, pre-shading.

I finished painting these awhile ago but never took proper photos. My Nu Gundam is now officially complete thanks to some finishing touches funnels.

 Painting your kit with camouflage patterns is one of those weird things that's not quite for beginners but is incredibly easy and satisfying to do. Getting camo to come out just right needs only a bit of extra materials and some patience, 

Before you begin to contemplate camo designs, you should at least be comfortable painting your kits with an airbrush. While it's possible to hand paint or use spray cans, there are some issues that arise. Spray cans typically leave a thicker coat of paint than airbrushes. Normally this isn't a problem over entire parts where, after assembly, you can't tell where the paint begins and ends. Camo typically involves masking hard edges of overlapping colours and these edges can become unsightly with thick paint coats. While I've never tried hand painting when camo has been masked out, I would be concerned with the potential for moisture to seep into the edges.

Yay, another project complete! As usual, a bunch of text on the build here, all the fun photos after. Jump down if you're wise enough to skip my yammering.

I wanted to take a minute to write about priming as it's something a lot of modelers do before painting a kit. Though generally a good idea, it's not always needed.

You should use primer when......

I'm a bit late to the party but nonetheless decided that Kotobukiya's Metal Gear REX needed a proper review. Just released toward the end of December this 1/100 scale kit retails for $87. It's smaller than I thought it would be for that price tag, coming in at about 7-8 inches tall. It's also incredibly smaller than Three A's 1/48 scale release but a much better prospect for many considering Three A REXs retailed for $470 (most on eBay are now going for $700-800).

2012 may not be over but my latest project, the 1/35 Hard Graph Semovente tank from Gundam's Universal Century's, has been wrapped up.

As usual, my blabbering about the project first and the rest of the pictures are down below.

After about 20 days of work my Semovente is ready for weathering. For the most part things went well. The colour scheme looks okay and aside from a few areas where my paint coats were too thick the digital camo looks pretty good. Paint went well on everything else. I did lose a few pieces somehow, including a bit of handle bar that goes on the rear of the kit. I may try to recreate it if I can find some piping thin enough but I'll likely just pretend it never existed in the first place ;)

Wooh, how about some WIP shots of my Semovente MBT? (How do you pronounce Semovente anyway?) But first, commentary!

Thus far things have been moving pretty quickly. Aside from a couple of days when I lost an integral part of my airbrush that is. As you can see I'm moving forward with my grey and grey-blue gray colour scheme. It's certainly different which is think is great. Lots of little detail parts need to be done here and there. At some point I'm going to start weathering as well. There's a possibility I'm going to overdo it so appreciate these clean shots while they last. Also, you may notice that I'm doing digital camo again. This time only two colours under the main colour and at an angle. I hope it comes out okay, placement of the first layer went well but I wasn't fond of how the second went on. The first coat of the top colour is currently drying.

Enough of my end-of-day ramblings, picture time!