Layman’s Gunpla Guide – Changelog
I used to have a log of all the Guide’s updates and changes. Then I put a “New” tag on updated and new tutorials on the main menu. However, some folks don’t swing by the site that often so having a full out change log going forward can’t hurt. I just gotta remember to keep things updated…
2023
- December – All kinds of fun changes…
- Updated the header a bit, plus I changed the menu orientation to make it more mobile-device friendly
- Updates to the construction guide
- Updated the decade old Glue Guide
2021
- 10/7 – Added recommendations on what kit you should get first
- 9/26 – Updated the equipment guide
2020
- 11/27 – Restored some updates that were lost when I switched the site over to the new version
- 9/19 – Updated Recommended Sites and the list of stores in the Buying Guide
2019
- 12/23 – Updated the basic equipment tutorial
2018
- 1/1 – Updated the Line Art Collection with links to a much better collection than mine
2017
- Shit, I think I made changes. But apparently I didn’t update the change log? Or maybe I really didn’t make any updates. Shit.
2016
12/2 – Added the Pre-Shading Tutorial 5/6 – Language upddates to thePriming Tutorial
Falldog’s Gunpla & Model Collection
[flickr-photo:id=11678003396,size=n] circa Decmber 2013
Like most American Gundam fans I got into the series during the franchise’s Toonami heyday in the early 2000’s. I built Gunpla back then without any real awareness of what I was doing or what things would become. Years later I would rediscover Gunpla at a local model shop. One thing lead to another and eventually resulted in one of the largest private collections in the United States.
When I got back into building Gunpla wasn’t as big as it is now, especially since the release of Gundam Build Fighters and other direct Gunpla promotions. There wasn’t nearly as many tutorials and guides out there, related to models in general or even Gunpla specifically. I started this Guide back in 2008 to share what I’ve learned. Part of the hobby which I enjoy the most is trying new things and experimenting with non-traditional methods. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don’t. The Layman’s Gunpla Guide gives me an opportunity to share that experience.
Stripping the Hyaku Shiki
[flickr-photo:id=18670429894,size=n]
Recently the great Gamera Baenre posted to /r/Gunpla about how he was stripping the gold coating from the new Hyaku Shiki 2.0. He didn’t post a full tutorial on the process, and since I just used the same process on a my upcoming Hyaku Shiki 2.0 build, I figured I do a quick tutorial myself for folks with questions.
The process is really easy. All you need is…
- 1 gallon jug of Purple Power (roughly $18 on Amazon)
- Plastic tub in which to soak the parts (I used a 12qt dishpan, $6 on Amazon)
- Dish washing gloves, or any other waterproof glove ($4-$10 on Amazon)
Oh, and you need the Hyaku Shiki too. Per Baenre the original plated Shiki was clear plastic below as well. Why is it clear plastic? Well guessing that milky white is just the base manufacturer color. Makes sense, why spend more on a coloured frame folks won’t see?
Otaku Evolution Episode 42 – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Otaku Evolution Episode 42 – The Melancholy of… by ellbell01
Don’t panic! It’s a mostly harmless 42nd episode of Otaku Evolution, where I cover The Hitchhiker’s Guide to High School. I mean, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
So wait… is Haruhi Zaphod? Itsuki is Ford, Mikuru is Trillian, and Yuki is Marvin. Maybe I’m trying too hard to make this fit.
– Penguin Truth
(2015)
PG Unicorn Gundam – The One Week Build
Last weekend I started out on an ambitious build. Well, the build itself wasn’t so nuts, the time frame was. The goal was to build a PG Unicorn in one week. Here’s how things turned out…
o why only a week? It didn’t start off that way. Up until now it’s been awhile since I’ve painted a kit. Lots of straight builds, but nothing since I finished my White Glint back in January. I’ve been trying to decide which kit I should do a simple job with, just to scrape off some of the rust, when I wound up with a second PG Unicorn. As I was thinking about how to paint it, figuring I’d get it knocked out relatively quickly, another project landed in my lap. With two kits I wanted to get done in short time, and a schedule conducive to tackling the Unicorn, I figured I’d try a super quick build. That eventually morphed into a weekend-to-weekend build, then into a Sunday-to-Saturday express build from hell.
Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie Trailer
I’m looking forward to this. Arise gets a bad rep, but that’s just because it isn’t SAC. Or maybe because it’s too much like SAC, and yet isn’t. I sort of understand, but they’re both good, and I think people just dismissed it out of hand because neither Oshii nor Kamiyama were handling this. But it honestly looks like it’ll be even better than the previous Arise entries at the very least.
After the Cel Shading – Inside Out
Wow, feels like forever since we’ve seen a Pixar movie, especially one with the creative spark that defined its most memorable stories. After a trifecta of mostly eh from 2011 to 2013 (Cars 2 was Cars 2, Brave can go die in a fire, and Monsters University while likable was highly unnecessary), Inside Out breaks that streak with its incredibly creative premise and Pixar’s deft hand in tugging heartstrings. I believe we’re finally back, baby.
So apparently deep in our heads we are manned by a quintet of emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. They help us react to the world around us and in turn maintain important memories as well as keep up the foundations of personality (manifested in various island worlds). In one particular girl, Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), things are awry due to a family move from Minnesota to San Francisco. Unsure of the situation, her emotions (Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Bill Hader, and Mindy Kaling respectively) are at odds with how to make things work. However, before they can do any of that, Sadness (who is always kept at bay by Joy) causes a situation where she and Joy are jettisoned away from where the emotions man Riley’s disposition, along with her most important memories. So now it’s up to them to get back in time before the three remaining emotions, despite their best efforts to aid her, lead Riley to inadvertent self-destruction.
After the Cel Shading – Gundam Build Fighters Try
Go back to the beginning and Try again, show.
In the final episode of Gundam Build Fighters Try, there was a contest where the winner was chosen based on his or her peerless design and craftsmanship of their own Gundam plastic model (Gunpla). At the end, it came down to two finalists: one of the three protagonists and his rival. Their numbers were 6 and 9 respectively. Initially the victor was thought to be number 9, but it turns out that the card was upside down, and the protagonist was the true victor after all.
Otaku Evolution Episode 41 – Harlock Saga
Wait, did I follow up a review of a movie where Nazi mystics were the villains with a review of an OVA based off an opera by an anti-semite and favorite composer of Hitler? Yikes.
My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/penguintruth?ty=h
– Penguin Truth
(2015)