thegunny

You've been spoilt by the plug & play kits

Hard Graph and EX kits are real models

Not without a 10 ton crane to support it. It weighs 800gr and doesn't really have the flexibility to get the pose right.

Thanks

Finally finished my Mega Char Zaku II. Damn it seems the bigger the kit the bigger the mistakes

I coloured it using the RG Zaku as a guide but the photo's don't really show the contrasting panels all that well which is just as well because the so called pink came out a bit more like light orange (a bit of an accident when adding the yellow ). I built it straight out of the box with a few extra decals to supplement the kit decals. I tried not use any glue but it just wasn't possible in places, especially the power conduits. They looked absolutely awful with a seam the size of the grand canyon on every one of them. I couldn't be bothered mixing up a small batch of pink to paint them in body colour so I just painted them dark grey & black. I reckon they turned out okay and break up the pink.

Ye gods is it pink I've seen enough pink bits to last for quite some time

The Zaku machine gun doesn't fit all that well and it severely limits how you can pose the model as it fouls on the arm in just about every position. Not sure how they achieved the poses on the side of the box because as soon as you move any part of it away from centre it wants to fall over. The mega RX-78 is the same. Speaking of which, when I got the RX-78 out to pose with the Zaku it started to sag under it's own weight. Not happy Bandai, at least it could have kept its joint stiffness for more than 2 months

Overall, both kits although imposing on the shelf IMHO are not really up to scratch. Too heavy for the joints used, not detailed enough for the size and way too simplistic for my liking. Holding a pose for the long term is a concern and I hope that one day I don't come home and find they have crashed to floor taking everything else with them.

Side by side

A bit of biffo

I think the point is that to spend $700 on a resin kit and then just slap it together without any kind of paint/detailing like it was a cheap snap-kit makes no sense.

Personally I've got no interest in getting one because: 1)it's crazy expensive even if it is worth it, 2)I don't like the way G-system kits look, and 3)1/72 is a weird scale for a gundam model. That said, if I were to get one I'd want to paint the whole thing and detail the hell out of it. As a $700 kit, it better look 10 times better than a $70 kit on my shelf.

Got it in one

Would be interesting to see one of these kits side by side with a Bandai kit made with no holds barred by a professional model maker such as Master Kawaguchi or Fuhrer Sakurai who were both featured in action on a DVD in the Jan Dengeki Hobby magazine.

Nearly $700 bucks to "at least look like a Bandai kit does." :wacko:

My guess is Mrs Palmer and her five daughters.

Good to see that HLJ is its usual useless self

Haven't ordered anything from them for ages as I've found a far better supplier but they didn't have some decals I was after so I ordered them from HLJ. All were in stock when I ordered but one ended up being out of stock by the time it showed up in my account. I cancelled the out of stock item and waited for a payment advise. After waiting a few days with no advise, I logged in and there was the good old "we can't do anything till you pay for this order" screen.

I paid with PayPal. Got an acknowledgement from PP and one from HLJ. A day later I get a Please pay for this order email from HLJ. I email them saying that I've already paid for it. Get a reply saying oh yes our mistake and we will dispatch the order straight away. 5 days later I get a shipping advise email

Thank you very much for shopping with HLJ!

I reckon the pic with the valk was just as a comparison and the OP has jumped to conclusions

The original post the pics come from mentions nothing about a hybrid.

Testors Dullcote yellows everything. It sucks.

Spoken like someone who hasn't got a clue

Mr Mark Setter is used to help the decal fix to the surface. If you want it to conform you have to use Mr Mark Softener. They are two different products and yes DO NOT attempt to move the decal once you have applied the softener or you'll end up with a blob of goo, as the softener tends to dissolve the decal to make it conform.

I've just recently started using Bandai decals and they are completely different to any other decal I've come across. They are extremely fragile compared to say Hasegawa and don't seem to like being moved around once applied. I think that's where the Setter helps but I'm not sure as I've never used setter only softener.

WOW! Great job on that!

Yeah he did a pretty good job of cutting and pasting

Well if he includes the art from every poster he did in the Chronicle, that's another 50 pages..

You've lost me there

The new book has got less pages than the original.

Finally finished my foray into RX-78 madness. 3 MG kits to go with the HG's & the Mega.

First up the original MG. I've painted this up in Real Type colours and knocked it around a bit.

Secondly a V1.5 One Year War version. Panel lined and bit of touch up here and there.

Thirdly a V2. Straight out of the box with a light grey panel line and matte finish.

From a modelling point of view I thought the V1.5 was the best of the bunch closely followed by the V1. They had plenty of detail to work with. Whilst the V2 might be infinitely more posable it is way too plain (although anime accurate) for my liking and as they are models not toys I won't be changing their poses too often.

Here's a shot of them together

and with the Mega then the whole gang in for a group shot.

Finally some action shots.

Now off to make 7 Zakus so they have something to beat up on.

And he's got the shoes to match.

Post count getting down again is it

Be that as it may, I'm still gonna build the MG Nu. I like the design and want to - an HGUC Nu would be kind of pointless - no way to interact with my other Gundams or VF-100s :-)

Pete

Yes there is. It could be the baby Nu that has just come out of the factory and has not fully grown. The others could bully it mercilessly until it runs away from home. It then comes back when it's grown up (using the MG version) and massacres them all.

There could be several causes for poor paint adhesion. What kind of paint are you using? If you're using hobby paint directly on styrene, you don't even need primer assuming that your plastic was either washed with mild detergent or rubbing alcohol.

Greasy fingers? Incompatible paint? Improperly mixed paint? Residue on the part surface? High humidity? These are just some of the potential causes, but as nightmare mentioned, no overcoat/sealant will help to fix flaking paint; the core problem needs to be assessed.

+1 for The Captain.

I've been making plastic models for well over 30 years and have NEVER primed one. Proper surface preparation is the key. I've used all sorts of paints from el cheapo $2 spray cans, automotive spray cans and purpose made hobby paints and have never had flaking.

I use etch primer on metal table top figures as they tend to get a bit knocked around during the game, in transit and from people who have to look with their fingers

Might just get me into building HGs!

Come over to the dark side Luke

I brought a Badger 200 airbrush around 1978 and still use it today. The only part I have had to replace is the needle and that was my fault as I dropped it when the tip was off and God forbid I also use a Badger mini spray gun for bigger jobs.

I recently brought a gravity feed double action contraption and it looks good in the box but that's about it. As I get the results I want with the 200 I couldn't be bothered persevering with the DA brush.

And as everyone knows and it's a scientific fact; GRAVITY SUCKS

From left to right

"Soft Gray" neutral gray 90% (kanji I can't read)white 10%

"Pearl White" white green 80% gull gray 20%

"Metal Blue" blue 50% medium blue 50%

Just to expand on Jefuemon's translation I can give you the Hobby Color (acrylic) & Mr Color (enamel) numbers for those paints.

For some reason Bandai don't refer directly to the Gunze numbers like others do but they do use the same names that Gunze use for the colours.

Soft Gray: Neutral Gray 90% H53 or 13 & INJ Gray 10% H61 or 35.

Pearl White: White Green 80% H31 (no direct equivalent in Mr Color) & Light Gull Gray H51 or 11.

Metal Blue: Blue 50% H5 or 5 & Medium Blue 50% H56 or 72.

It says it's a conversion on the second page

Here are the pictures I promised. You can see in the one picture the glaug, valkyrie, and battloid are not really to scale. I added the one pic with the VC-33 for the size comparison. The VC-33 is 1/200.

Kawaii, but you've put the pics in the wrong thread

Where did you get the VC-33 from?

FASA used the 1/200 Nichimo kits I believe. Those were a bit bigger and have very nice proportions.

Ok thanks. I've got a full set of the Nichimo kits and yes they are pretty good considering their size.

They look like the kits FASA used for the original battletech figures

Ok, I haven't bought a Gundam kit in a couple of years at this point. What's currently a cheap place to get new kits from? (for people in the US) Specifically, I want the new HGFC Nobel Gundam. But a lot of places still list it as pre-order, and HLJ is sold out. Note I said cheap, not best-fastest---if it takes 4 weeks to get here, no problem, so long as it's a cheaper shipping option. Also, no "Paypal only" places.

HW Japan. Nobel Gundam

They are always cheaper than HLJ for Gundam products even with HLJ's con job "our price" policy. HW Japan offer SAL Parcel. HLJ don't, they force you to use EMS for larger items. If HW Japan says it's a 3 day backorder the item is usually available the next day (I've never had to wait more than a couple of days even for items that are on 5 day backorder and they can get stuff that HLJ list as discontinued). They reserve items for you if your order contains items that are in stock as well as out of stock, unlike HLJ who will sell the in stock items out from under you while you wait for the out of stock items to come in. They take credit cards. The usual suspects I think as I've always used PP.