Project N-Unicorn/Nu-nicorn/νnicorn has swung into high gear. At least 80% of the pieces on this kit are getting individual attention. The brunt of the pieces being left alone are of the orange psycho frame. Aside from a few internal frame pieces that never see the light of day the rest are either being painted grey, a shade of silver, or being left alone and dull coated. The shades of grey are just slightly different enough that it breaks up the frame nicely. Though those subtle differences will likely be lost in the end photos.
Layman’s Gunpla Guide – Gundam Line Art Collection
Line art? What do I need line art for? When planning out a custom colour scheme for your build the best way to plan is to take some line art and go to town with an image editor. Take a clean piece of line art, select some colours, and have fun with the fill tool. It’s a great way to get a general sense of what colour combinations look good, and depending on the detail level of the kit/line art, even plan for what pieces get what colour.
I want to call out that I didn’t make any of this line art. Well, some point in the past I’ve cleaned some up, but I couldn’t tell you what I did or when. In general it’s been a group sourced thing going back over a decade. Gunpla fans from all backgrounds have contributed toward this collection. At some point there was a Japanese Seeaa wiki page that had pretty much everything but that disappeared a few years back. What’s listed below is the combination of the collection I’ve saved up, plus others who’ve been archiving images like LightningBW, Gundaml1neart, and Tomo Wise (that’s a NSFW link btw). Some folks have labeled their additions over the years, and where possible I’ve made sure to use those.
MG AGE-1 Titus “Ground Grunt” – Finished
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And it’s finished, my first airbrushed kit in a long time. It looks okay, not terribly fond of it, but overall not a bad testbed. Especially since, aside from construction, there’s maybe only a weekend worth of work into this guy.
The frame was weathered with a bit of overzealous dry brushing. Armor was painted with Tamiya acrylics ranging from X-31 to X-52 through XF-60. At this point I forget which is which but the darker areas are mainly custom mixes. The digital camo areas were my first attempt at the pattern and I think they turned out pretty well. It was done using sheets of masking tape cut to shape and overlapped between coats. It works great over flat surfaces but doesn’t work well on curved sections or around odd angles.
Lupin III: A Woman Named Fujiko Mine Episode 11 Review
Episode 11, "The Feast of Fools"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: Oscar remembers when he was young and Zenigata saved him from drowning. In the present, Zenigata discusses with Oscar a rash of new thefts pulled off by Fujiko, and says he won’t be allowed to pursue Lupin until he arrests her. Fujiko, meanwhile, is in the care of Goemon. When Goemon hears about the thefts from the radio, he decides to investigate. Zenigata sets up a trap at the Musee de Marsene to get Fujiko, but a valuable tiara is stolen, regardless. Both Zenigata and Lupin come to the conclusion that Fujiko isn’t the one stealing the artifacts, that it’s the work of a dirty cop. Zenigata leaves catching Fujiko to Oscar, who it turns out has been framing Fujiko. Exasperated that the inspector refuses to show interest in Fujiko’s crimes, Oscar decides to frame her for an officer’s murder. The owl group approach him and tell him he has their support. Oscar sends another fake warning from Fujiko, saying that she will steal the jeweled wedding dress of the "bride of the year" at the Fete Nationale. Meanwhile, Count Almeida continues observation of Fujiko. A bomb threat is called into the police. Zenigata appears and tells Oscar he doubts Fujiko is behind it. Oscar is angered by this and is then approached again by the owl group. They plan a bomb explosion as a distraction so that Oscar can take the dress. At the parade, Oscar waits for the plan to go into action. Goemon blocks the path of the parade with his sword. Lupin finds the bomb under the bridge and decides to disable it. The owl men surround Goemon. After hearing from Zenigata about protecting one’s pride, Oscar runs off. Under the bridge, Lupin tries to disconnect the bomb, but Oscar interrupts and grabs it, jumping into the water below. The bomb explodes underwater. Comments: Now, I have to admit, I haven’t commented on the character of Oscar all that much (save for a bit in the last review), because I’m not that interested in him. I can understand where they were trying to go with this character, showing how obsessing over somebody could twist you and make you act irrational. But he seemed kind of annoying most of the time and I wondered where they were going with him, if anywhere. Until now, Oscar has been an unstable, but fairly innocent, if not overzealous. But in this episode, he’s gone as far as murder and theft to satisfy his desire to see Fujiko brought to justice and therefore Inspector Zenigata pleased. He has gone completely overboard and has even conspired with the Glaucus owl people. It may even have been that the owls weren’t planning on blowing up the bridge until there were people on it (a possibility I can’t ignore given the nature of Almeida). I mean, framing Fujiko for thefts is one thing, stupid, but not nearly as bad as killing a fellow police officer to frame Fujiko. Clearly his hatred for Fujiko and desire for Zenigata pushed him over the edge. It was interesting then to see where they actually went with this, and I think it paid off, when Zenigata gives a speech about how saving Oscar when he was young taught him to always protect the "one thing", your personal pride. We not only get to see some of Zenigata’s ideals, closely guarded in this show where he seems dogged, but distant, but Oscar realizes the horror of what he’d been doing, and makes the decision to stop the scheme with the owl men his way. He realizes that even if he’s too corrupt, he has to protect Zenigata’s honor. Another noteworthy aspect of the episode is Goemon’s treatment of Fujiko. Goemon knows that Fujiko is not the innocent soul he thought she was when he first met her. She has a difficult personality, and is not as pure as he would like her to be. However, we see him taking care of her in her time of need, when she is at her lowest. We always knew Goemon was a noble, but I really admire him for helping her. And hey, Goemon almost met Lupin in this episode! Pity they missed each other, since they were both working towards the same goal. Lupin himself seemed pretty dedicated in trying to clear Fujiko’s name, too, but it was more like a hobby to him than anything else. Anyway, a good episode. Not great, but good. I found myself feeling sorry for a character I didn’t care that much for previously, so that says something about it. Overall Score:4 out of 5
Layman’s Gunpla Guide – Paint Types
Discussing paint types is perhaps the most difficult thing I’ve done on this guide. Frankly, I have a limited experience when it comes to working with different types of paint. When I find something that works for me I tend to stick with it rather than risk messing up a kit or investing in paint I’ll never use. While my experiences generally match those of professional modelers I’ve found that those professional experiences at times conflict with each other. All I can do is offer what I believe to be the best, most useful information for a general builder.
Falldog’s Gunpla Projects
Here’s a list of my completed projects in more-or-less order from the most recent completion to when I first got back into the hobby in 2007. You’ll notice various spurts of improvements and, if you’re like me, may cringe at some of my earlier works. Below are all of the projects that I’ve completed. The number of projects currently straight built or in mid-project state are too numerous to count. For a better list of those check out my Flickr gallery.
Don’t forget to check out my overall collect and the kit reviews I’ve done.
Shooting a Pseudo Skull
The other week our trip to the range included some interesting targets. Realistic skulls used to train medical students, filled with red Jell-o and spaghetti. For the record, that wasn’t my idea. The still shots were taken with my old D300 and a cheap, painfully slow, 70-200mm lens. Due to being cheap bastards the shots were taken using FMJ rounds fired from an AR-15. The movies were filmed by smaller point and shoot cameras mounted much closer to the target (everyone was safely behind the firing line prior to any weapon going hot). The shots turned out fairly well but there’s a lot of room for improvement. Anyone want to donate a higher fps camera?
Lupin III: A Woman Named Fujiko Mine Episode 10 Review
Episode 10, "Ghost Town"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: Lupin awakes from a dream only to see an owl-headed man in his room, telling him to "steal" Fujiko Mine. Zenigata and Oscar arrive by plane to meet with Count Almeida of Glaucus Pharmaceuticals. Months earlier, the owl headed men hired Lupin to go to where the Frauline Eule cult is and "steal" Fujiko. In the present, Lupin sneaks around Almeida’s house as Zenigata and Oscar arrive, demanding to see Almeida about Lupin. Zenigata reveals that he knows that the drug cult was a cover for Almeida’s drug company, which was performing human experimentation. Lupin later confronts Almeida, but is knocked out with a drug. When he awakens, he finds himself in the old Glaucus Pharmaceuticals facility the company of Dr. Fritz Kaiser, who explains that Frauline Eule drug has euphoria as it’s short-term effect, but longtime use produces bodies that look like owls. Thirteen years earlier, Dr. Kaiser was working at the lab when there was a chemical spill. In present day, he shows a picture of his daughter to Lupin. The girl in the picture is a young Fujiko. When Lupin looks up, Kaiser has disappeared. Lupin encounters Zenigata, who thinks Lupin wants Fujiko as evidence of the company’s wrongdoing. The two are ambushed by gun-wielding lab technicians and split up. Lupin encounters several bizarre visions, revealing that Fujiko was part of the company’s experiments. At the end, Lupin isn’t sure whether he experienced what he experienced, or it was a dream. Comments: Wow. This was one bizarre episode. Sort of straddling the line between "artsy representations" and "weirdness for weirdness sake". But while it wasn’t one of the best episodes of the show, it was pretty enlightening. The pieces are finally beginning to fit together here. The first meeting between Lupin and Fujiko was actually arranged by Count Luis Yu Almeida, making the revelation of the fake prophet from episode 8 not a surprise at all to Lupin, who already knew. The whole first episode of the show, then, was Lupin scoping out Fujiko more than attempting to steal the drug statue (though he probably intended to do that as well). He already knew who Fujiko was and expected her to show up to steal it, too. It may even be that Fujiko showed up in that case because she knew of the connection between the drug cult and Glaucus Pharmaceuticals, who had experimented on her. It appears now that Fujiko is the daughter of Dr. Fritz Kaiser, though whether it’s biological or he was simply put in charge of her by Glaucus, is still up in the air. Apparently he was working with the Frauline Eule drug, which causes euphoria, but can also cause aggression and body changes that make people look like owls. How, exactly, does that work? I guess it’s just a funny coincidence that the company links itself with the Owl of Minerva (Glaucus), the goddess of medicine. Or perhaps we’re not meant to take the owl transformations as literal events but figurative ones. It’s hard to when the guy says outright that the drug causes people to start looking like owls. Nobody seems to treat the owl-men that work for LYA as being something that abnormal. Perhaps, though, people just assume those are costumes. Zenigata actually gets off his ass and does something in this episode, though to what degree is questionable if you take it that Lupin dreamed all of this, or at least some of it. Zenigata made the connection between the drug cult, Glaucus, and Almeida, which even surprises Oscar, who gets shamed by him later on when he’s told to keep quiet. I said it’s about time that Zenigata take some action. I think it’s even possible he had his eye out for this well before he teamed up with Fujiko in episode 4. I hope we get to see him in action some more before the show ends. I want to point out that the town Glaucus’ old laboratory was in was called "Eulenspiegel". A trickster figure called "Till Eluenspigel" comes from German folklore. In English he’s come to be known as "Owlglass". In the tales told of him he plays practical jokes that expose the vices of his contemperories, such as greed and hypocrisy. Now who, in this story, sounds a bit like that, huh? A pretty clever show. Overall Score:4 out of 5
Layman’s Gunpla Guide – Gunpla Project Flowchart
This is an idea I’ve been tinkering with since 2012. New friends to the hobby often ask questions about what order to perform some steps, or whether or not one is even necessary for their project. To help answer I’ve created this little flowchart with some of the most basic steps that goes into an average build. Over all I tried to keep it as simple as possible so it’s easy to understand and applies to the greater number of builders. It’s okay to add or remove steps here and there if it fits your personal style or is necessary for the project you’re working on. I’ve added comments below the chart to highlight some key talking points and related tutorials. Make sure you check them out.
MG AGE-1 Titus “Ground Grunt”
I’d like to present another one of my many works in progress, the AGE-1 Titus "Ground Grunt."
She’s been painted from the ground up using an airbrush, notable as it’s been the first time I’ve used one since my first Zombie Nemos. Things went well from that prospective and I want to thank GoodGuyDan for making the brush suggestion late last year (yes, it took that long to try out). Dry brush weathering on the frame came out a bit thicker than I wanted (which always seems to be the case for me) but my first attempt with digital camouflage turned out quite well. The paints are Tamiya, some straight and some random mixes. Details are in gold, along with IC sockets, also painted gold.