Ghost Train

First, you want to use a nipper (aka spruce cutter) to cut out the parts from the sprue. An xacto can be used afterward to "shave off" what's left of the nipped bud. Sandpaper = yes. I'm building mine with unusual custom colors, so my process might be different than yours, but to reduce the glosiness, I would spray on a clear acrylic flat (it's basically clear/transparent paint that comes in flat, semi-gloss, and gloss varieties), I assume that there is a comparable equivalent for enamels. Check with your local hobby store. The general order which will vary a bit from person to person is approximately like this: 1. cut & sand prepare the parts. 2. prime the surface 3. spray on your base color 4. spray a layer of gloss. 5. Do your decals and wash lines 6. spray a layer of flat to cover up the glosiness. The reason there is a layer of gloss tucked in the middle is because gloss makes the surface smoother, promoting better adhesion of decals, and rubbing off of wash line errors. If I didn't answer your other questions it's because I'm not sure

I use a combo of old fashioned brush and airbrush. For really small details (touch-ups, those head vulcans, etc) I lack the precision control needed, so stick with a brush, but for larger areas of plastic: airbrush ftw.

It's amazing that Billy figured out how to make Masarao go Trans-graham, yet not installing some sort of intertial cockpit control to prevent its pilot from imploding ... and lol at re-used footage. A lesser hombre would have been torn to pieces by the excessive-G's... but I guess that's why Mr. B has a permit. Next eps looks epic epic epic!

Now now, I'm just trying to give you some advice . If you have never airbrushed before (applies to sprays too / similar technique), it takes a few tries to get used to it. Most people I know didn't do very well with their first "paint job" mostly because they're learning and dealing with a new skill... which is why practice before you try it on a kit you actually care about. Although being careful helps, you need context (ie. experience) to know what being careful is. And I don't think women analogy applies here... they can be somewhat forgiving of your mistakes (well about 25% of the ones I've dated have lol) and shortcomings, but if you ruin a kit, you ruin it... and the wallet cries . But if you insist on starting your adventure into painting with the vf-25, I suggest you use Tamiya Sprays, they're somewhat user-friendly. I still prefer airbrush because of greater control of what I do.

I'm loving this show more and more each season, and I'm saddened that the end is approaching. I love the absolute level of hopelessness of the past 2 eps... people loosing all hope, Roslin going near insanity, Gaeta about to go rogue, and a Valium-popping Adama confessing that on some days he hates his job. I had a lot of theories on how the show would end, but now that the general mood/tone of the show has been dragged to the bottom of the barrel, it's anyone's guess now on how a nice uplifting ending will be delivered. But the wear and tear of each of the characters over the past 4 years has just been captured wonderfully, and I can't really remember a show in the past 10 years that has been able to project this so successfully onto a screen.

On that note, I would advise that the VF-25 not be the first kit that you try to paint . Get lots of practice on cheaper simpler kits (HG's will do) before attempting to paint either of the VF-25's. All of the kit's moving parts needed for the perfect transformation make painting it quite a challenge.

The black "bullet shaped" thingies are droppers, the ones you use for eye/ear medicine drops. They are a somewhat precise way of measuring the paint:thinner ratio. They are cheap and easy to clean. I wanted to use a laboratory pipette for near exact measurements but the hardware store/pharmacies I've asked only returned my inquiries with a strange look.

I believe this is the dannychoo tutorial: http://www.dannychoo.com/adp/eng/213/Gunda...g+Tutorial.html. It has interesting tips, but the non-linear way it's written makes it hard to follow.

The descent into madness enters its second weekend:

From what I've heard they're fairly decent - more articulated, detailed, and higher quality than the old HG-UC line... I only own the Seravee and I feel it's a definite improvement in that scale class.

Booo... no Masurao , but hurray for Garazoo.

My HG Seravee has crap articulation... for obvious reasons.

This might be old... but the decals remind me of the custom pair of VF-25's on the "All that VF" vid (They show up near the end): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxefonJWZSo Now we just need Ranka version XD

Katharon will have a sound-force er.. I mean audio-GN Fieldo Wave Force, flying around in valyky darn it... Gundams. Klause will be the lead male singer, Marina lead female, Shirin on the drums, and that reporter guy on bass... I dunno, he looks like a bass player.

My experience has been somewhat the opposite (though I'm still working on my Alto). My Ozma-valk was a pain in the butt to get everything to flush and fit right, yes and I had tons of problems with the head too. It is now being disassembled and used as spare parts in case anything goes wrong with my Alto build In my opinion, both kits have less than optimal fits, the tolerances needed are just way too high. Can't blame the kit though, it is trying to pretend to be a perfect transformation kit which inevitably leads to painful complexities in assembly.

Unrelated to last eps. Anyone else think Nena Trinity's Volkswagen Beetle has some sort of yet to be revealed transformation mode? ... It does have a Tau Drive.

WIP: VF-25F2 Outlaw

Better to put it after in my opinion... or what I do is I put them on when a sub-component is done (as in legs, arms, wing, etc), in case there are hard to reach places. Blue Decals are water-slides. Cut-out an area containing the decal, use a tweezer and soak in the area in room temperature water for a few seconds (less than 10). Pull out the soaked decal area, and carefully use a q-tip or something similar to push the decal in place. The water separates the decal from the plastic basically.

Nice diorama alfye... though that beautiful VF-25 is in a "risky" position, right on the edge and next to a huge pile of blocks...

I think you have the idea right about painting, some sort of assembly-line painting where you work on all the parts that are going to be of a certain color in 1 session is the most efficient way to go about it. Sometimes I just take a look at the assembly guide before I do anything at all to think about how to most efficiently divide up the work. Painting for me was when this hobby finally started to be slightly expensive. The up-front cost of a nice airbrush, compressor (though because of noise I still use air-cans ), and all the paints, primers, and miscellaneous supplies can be slightly overwhelming for a graduate student with only a part time job. However, it's also the most interesting part of the whole experience in my opinion, at some point it becomes almost as much science as it is hobby.

I admit that for the longest time I used a non-standard clipper too (though not nail clipper ), that is until I upgraded to a dedicated modeling toolkit. I use the Tamiya Basic Tool Kit, it covers pretty much 90% of the tools needed to build stuff. It has an excellent nipper with rubbery insulated grip, a micro-knife (though x-acto's are slightly better imo), a tweezer, two screwdrivers, and a file which can be used to sand small areas. I highly recommend getting one, you'll notice an immediate jump in the quality of your plastic models. Basic Tool Kit VFTF1, I've been wanting to delve into the crazy world of SEED too, so let me know how those models turn out XD. I hate those with a passion too. Unless I know it's going to go on a piece of plastic that I'm absolutely sure I'm not going to paint, I just ignore them. Quick tip, if you are going to use them, make sure that silk film is behind the decal at all times - even when you're not using them. Otherwise the slightest contact between the dry-transfer and any surface will ruin the decal. The kit itself was far from perfect. I had my share of issues with it. I noticed some parts just didn't fit tightly enough, so I found myself actually using more cement than usual to keep the final build together. And regarding the colors... awkward people like to paint awkwardly . I always thought the F-91 looked too sporty to have the traditional Gundam white/red/blue so I decided to get a bit creative, though I didn't get 100% of what I was aiming for. On that note if you want to see another one of my unorthodox paint schemes wait until I finish my VF-25... eyes will bleed XD (mostly the accuracy Nazis who around MWF).

My F-91 "Ghost Train Version" is finally complete! There was the potential to do a bit more work on it, but going to mark it as done for now, as I needed to clear this project off my schedule asap.

The human drama has been in my opinion the greatest sell of the show, which is why my favorite story arc was the Galactica vs Pegasus confrontation. However, the show is winding down to its conclusion so I can understand why they want to now to shift the focus to the macro-questions - which is really about Earth and the Cylons. Judging by the preview of the next episode it seems we'll get to see some of that good old dirty Galactica human nature at work again

It's the 1:60. Though the pilots of both valks don't seem to scale right (I think someone mentioned that before)... either Hikaru is suffering from gigantism or Alto from anorexia .

I've been fantasizing about a "25th Anniversary" shot for a while now. I'm pretty happy with mine. I had some "I think I'm going to sell it on e-bay thoughts" this morning, but I think I'll keep it. Odd thing I noticed is when seen from the top, it's an absolute beauty (minus that ridiculous gloss finish)... but from the bottom it's er... more challenged ie. that hideous gun-pod holder, the much maligned landing gear, etc. My final veredict. Is it a Yamato? No. Is it an improvement over the old Macross 7 toys? OMG YES. The emphasis on this was definitely quality. They slapped that metal in all the right places... I don't see this DX's shoulders self destructing anytime soon.