Gundam Plamodel Thread IV

[McFly!!]

Thanks Hikuro! That was 3x more entertaining! =)

[Hikuro]

I did a speed build last night too.....straight build with cleaning and decals only no lining.

I completed a HG dark matter Exia in 1 hour. I don't like the kit. It's pretty blah.

[mikeszekely]

Dang, that's like three kits in two days, Hikuro!

I started the RG Casval Gundam... and I broke it. I was kind of not paying attention, fit some of the leg armor to the frame, but forgot two of the inner frame parts (upper thigh area). The front of the thigh reaches through the missing part to connect to the frame, and it was a tight fit on some relatively soft plastic. So when I tried to pull the part back off to put the missing piece in, it cracked in three parts. I glued it, and you can't really see that it's broke, but I think it might limit the range of motion on that leg now. I'm bummed.

[dizman]

Break out the paint and make a battle damaged casval custom?

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Dang, that's like three kits in two days, Hikuro!

I started the RG Casval Gundam... and I broke it. I was kind of not paying attention, fit some of the leg armor to the frame, but forgot two of the inner frame parts (upper thigh area). The front of the thigh reaches through the missing part to connect to the frame, and it was a tight fit on some relatively soft plastic. So when I tried to pull the part back off to put the missing piece in, it cracked in three parts. I glued it, and you can't really see that it's broke, but I think it might limit the range of motion on that leg now. I'm bummed.

that stinks i had a busy easter weekend so didn't get to do much...

i hope the rest of the build turns out smoothly

[Hikuro]

Dang, that's like three kits in two days, Hikuro!

I started the RG Casval Gundam... and I broke it. I was kind of not paying attention, fit some of the leg armor to the frame, but forgot two of the inner frame parts (upper thigh area). The front of the thigh reaches through the missing part to connect to the frame, and it was a tight fit on some relatively soft plastic. So when I tried to pull the part back off to put the missing piece in, it cracked in three parts. I glued it, and you can't really see that it's broke, but I think it might limit the range of motion on that leg now. I'm bummed.

Like dizman said, battle worn!

Yeah crazy considering 3 are HGUC which is a snap and 1 RG.....it's not hard when you have no life.

[mikeszekely]

Break out the paint and make a battle damaged casval custom?

I think you guys are way overestimating my gunpla talent... not to mention my inventory of paint supplies!

Still, this is where I'm stopping for the night, and I don't think it looks too bad. I don't think, even knowing that I broke a part, that you can tell.

Review to follow, but if you go way back to my thoughts on the regular RG Gundam, it's mostly the same.

[VF-Zer0S]

Anyone ever build the PG Zaku or the PG Zeta?

Really want to build them but am on the fence because of the age of both.

[Hikuro]

Anyone ever build the PG Zaku or the PG Zeta?

Really want to build them but am on the fence because of the age of both.

I had a pg Zaku back in 05 I think. Rah it's old but it's along the lines of the MG 2.0 I think. It was a good kit.

[VF-Zer0S]

Yeah I've been thinking of getting chars as a first PG. I love the anime proportions along with the Zeta. Would look great with the calls since they would be in scale

[mikeszekely]

RG Casval is done.

This kit... this mobile suit... nothing matches it. It's got a maroon/salmon/pink that makes you think it'll match his Zaku or Z'Gok, but the maroon is more purple, the salmon is darker, and the pink is this neon safety plastic color.

On the whole, I'm really not a fan of the color scheme. I get that Char's known for red, but the various colors of Gundam don't work when the runners are basically re-done straight up in various shades of red, which is what they did here. More black, some white, something to make you think you're looking at a repainted Gundam instead of Gundam through a red filter would have been great.

One interesting thing about this kit is that, rather than replace the stickers with a sheet for Casval, you get the same sheet as regular Gundam, replete with red marks that won't show, an incorrect model number, and markings for White Base that you wont' use. All they give you in one tiny sheet with six waterslides (two on the chest, one on each shoulder, and two on the shield). Personally, I'm not big on waterslides. It's nice how the backing kind of dissolves away, leaving the decal looking as if it had been painted on, but it seems like if they're too small or too big they fall apart or tear, I have a hard time getting them in place before they start to dry, and wetting them and drying them is tedious. In fact, I did manage to destroy one of the ones that should have been on its chest. Luckily, it was just a model number. I found some small Zeon symbol waterslides I had from a different kit and used that in its place.

I used on on its backpack, too.

Colors and waterslides aside, it's identical to the regular RG Gundam, for better or worse. It's a kit that suffers both from the fact that the engineering in the RG line has improved over the next 16 releases, but also from the ambition that went into it. There's a lot of stuff going on that really isn't done much anymore, like putting a piece of armor on with a gap, then putting another piece of armor in that gap for no other reason than color separation. Something else, I don't recall if this was true for the original or not, but some of the plastic seems like a lower quality than what I'm used to. The neon pink, especially, was very soft, which made my breaking a leg part much worse than it had to be.

At the end of the day, while I think the RG Gundam is probably the best plastic representation of the RX-78, I don't really recommend Casval's unless you really like pinkish-reds or are a completionist (like me).

Despite my gripes, I can't wait or the RG G3 to complete the set.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

personally, i like the color combination. they look nice in your pics.

[areaseven]

This video really takes me back. I remember buying this over 22 years ago as only my second Gunpla (after the HG Zeta Gundam).

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

sorry guys, i haven't been at my desk since getting consumed with amiibo hunting. i'm going to try and get back to my destiny once these pre-orders are done.

Edited April 9, 2015 by davidwhangchoi

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

finished decaling shoulders and painted the side head guns and vents silver. i tried to take close ups of the silver detail.

5 close up photobomb of de-active destiny:

Edited April 10, 2015 by davidwhangchoi

[chyll2]

I really like deactive SEED ms.

[Hikuro]

I got a pretty big gunpla builder event next weekend. Haven't told anyone what I'm bringing but this weekend im hoping to put a major dent in a custom made titanium sinanju. The kit shows up tomorrow and after a day of snipping and cleaning I'll be doing a big paint job with tons of silver, clear red, titanium gold, gunmetal and gloss black and reversed wash like the last one. This time though it should be fine as I'll use a lacquer gloss to give it that extra shine.

Everyone is gonna flip out.

[mikeszekely]

finished decaling shoulders and painted the side head guns and vents silver. i tried to take close ups of the silver detail.

It's looking good, David... but you gotta get that backpack done!

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

It's looking good, David... but you gotta get that backpack done!

yeah yeah ... after i stop hunting for amiibos i'll get on it . for some reason, i don't like putting together weapons and backpacks. maybe it's because i keep looking at the amount of decals still left on the sheet (decal sheet is still 80% full.).

[joppewo]

yeah yeah ... after i stop hunting for amiibos i'll get on it . for some reason, i don't like putting together weapons and backpacks. maybe it's because i keep looking at the amount of decals still left on the sheet (decal sheet is still 80% full.).

I used to have similar feelings about the weapons when the building fatigue kicked in after the main body, which tends to result in me putting half-hearted effort on the them, such as getting rid of the nub marks.

Which is why I advocate working on the weapons first, instead of the body in order to stay motivated

[Nekko Basara]

Hey, guys, sorry that I haven't posted in here for a while. There is so much awesome building going on!

Hikuro, really enjoyed your "comic!" That GM looks great.

Mog_kupo, the Destiny with those effect parts looks awesome. Can't tell about the topcoat in pictures, but I hope you got it finished to your satisfaction.

MikeS, I'm with David in loving that red color scheme. And you did an awesome job with it, of course. Not a lot of folks know this, but when Char was in his early teens, he suffered a very bad fall while horseback riding, resulting in multiple fractures to his femur that could not be perfectly healed. Although he was too proud to ever show a limp, he never regained full mobility in that leg, so of course when the Neo Zeon researchers custom-built a mobile suit for him, they incorporated this. I think you're a genius for working that obscure bit of trivia into your build!

David, I'm just stunned at how well that build is coming out. I've said it before, but I think you're being fearless in trying out things like that silver panel-lining for some of the darker parts, and it's really paying off. But even if stuff doesn't work out how you intend, so much better to try it and learn something. Don't think I didn't notice that you did a little detailing on your System Base, by the way. Oh, and while it was very nice of you to call me a "pro" in the weathering discussion, I am decidedly a casual. In addition to some of the great skills more experienced folks have shown off here, I hope you check out some of the dedicated modelling threads in the Overtechnology forums - there is amazing non-Gundam work on display there. And if you want to see loads of dirty, scuffed-up weathering, you could probably spend days in the galleries of an armor-specific site like Missing Lynx.

As far as the "boring" parts of a kit - weapons and accessories in my case - I try very hard to spread them out during the build, because I hate being left with a pile at the end. I'm like a kid trying to eat his vegetables in the least "painful" way during the meal. It doesn't work perfectly - there are usually a handful of things to finish up, generally extra hands, for me - but it helps. My least favorite part of most kits is the shield, because panel-lining the back can be such an effort for so little gain.

[Hikuro]

hope everyone is having a Gunpla weekend

I had a really hard week, more specifically yesterday....pain in the ass. So I'm just gonna kick back and start doing the clean up on the GM 2.0 a buddy got me during his east coast trip. Pff didn't even realize it but there are stickers with the WD logo so I guess I really didn't need the GM 2.0 decals. BUT it'll look much nicer this way!

I've already got my parts trimmed so next is cleaning and bathing. Just a tip, if you're repainting a kit you already know it's best to wash the parts before you paint so that any grease, dust or oils on the kit are washed away. But it's also a good idea to snip your parts and trim them before you bathe them or else you're putting oils all over them again from your skin as you snip them later on.
It's not bible since I don't do it all the time, but just a suggestion. I really just hope my airbrush plays nice with me this time. I was very disappointed with how it behaved on my Zaku 2.0 to ruin the armor plating.

[mikeszekely]

hope everyone is having a Gunpla weekend

No, I don't have any kits to work on right now. Still waiting on Unicorn and AGE-1 to come from Japan, and G3 to actually be released. Maybe I'll indulge on a kit this week, but a lot of what I want to build right now are Unicorn kits that Amazon doesn't have in stock. If I order them, I'll be waiting on Toy Shop Japan Hobbyone or whatever, and waiting a month (I kind of want to do the Delta Plus, but I could see if Amazon still has some Silver Bullets...).

Don't feel too bad, though. Today I watched my team sneak into the NHL playoffs (sorry, renegadeleader1), and tomorrow is tabletop game night with my buddies, so it's not a bad weekend to have no Gunpla.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

I really like deactive SEED ms.

yeah, i really like the colors better than regular destiny. the green eyes look better on the de-active, he look menacing.

I used to have similar feelings about the weapons when the building fatigue kicked in after the main body, which tends to result in me putting half-hearted effort on the them, such as getting rid of the nub marks.

Which is why I advocate working on the weapons first, instead of the body in order to stay motivated

hmm. i'll try that with the next kit. good advice.

As far as the "boring" parts of a kit - weapons and accessories in my case - I try very hard to spread them out during the build, because I hate being left with a pile at the end. I'm like a kid trying to eat his vegetables in the least "painful" way during the meal. It doesn't work perfectly - there are usually a handful of things to finish up, generally extra hands, for me - but it helps. My least favorite part of most kits is the shield, because panel-lining the back can be such an effort for so little gain.

veggies huh? a good way to look at it. yeah i did the shield first for the x105 and that took me 2 hours to panel line...

Destiny needs the backpack, esp since i got the wings of light thingy... need to get to it eventually...

[Hikuro]

The backpack is a pain mainly cause the weapons don't plug well the sword. Just sorta rests in place.

[Hikuro]

Parts came out great! The colors are just spot on! Really surprised how well that turned out!

[mikeszekely]

Hey, my HGUC Unicorn Destroy came from Japan today! Even better, looks like Toy Shop Japan Hobbyone moved some of their inventory to an Amazon warehouse or something. I was able to snag a Delta Plus from them that's fulfilled by Amazon, so it looks like I get to do Gunpla this week.

[Hikuro]

Hey, my HGUC Unicorn Destroy came from Japan today! Even better, looks like Toy Shop Japan Hobbyone moved some of their inventory to an Amazon warehouse or something. I was able to snag a Delta Plus from them that's fulfilled by Amazon, so it looks like I get to do Gunpla this week.

Yeah a small portion of their stock has gone to Amazon fullfillment centers. Not much though think in terms of newer stuff.

[mikeszekely]

Yeah a small portion of their stock has gone to Amazon fullfillment centers. Not much though think in terms of newer stuff.

It works for me. Aside from RGs, which I buy all of, I tend to only buy the suits that I like. For UC series, that can be almost all of them; for other series the hero Gundam is usually enough. For example, the RGs I have are plenty of SEED and 00 suits for me, for G-Reco I picked up the G-Self and that'll probably be all, etc.

Long story short, right now most of the HG kits I want are Unicorn. With the Sinanju I already have, the Unicorn I received today, and the Delta Plus I just ordered, that still leaves me wanting the Jesta, Zeta Plus, Silver Bullet, Anksha, Dreissen, Jesta Cannon, ReZel, ReZel Type C, Geara Zulu, Kshatriya, Byarlant Custom, and Banshee Norn Destroy for sure. Possibly Full Armor Unicorn Destroy, Unicorn in Unicorn Mode, Phenex Destroy, Delta Kai, and GM III Desert Colors. Maybe also, if the stars align for it, a Neo Zeong.

I think besides that, my HG wish list is maybe a few more AGE kits (say what you will about the series, I like titular Gundam) and a Zaku III right now. I mean, I'd like a ton more UC suits represented in my detolfs, but a lot of them have older kits that I don't think will look as good next to the RGs for the Gundam, Mk-II, and Zeta.

[Nekko Basara]

What about the little Loto 2-pack? That design scratches a "real robot" itch for me better than most Gundams do. I built one a while back, and I felt it was a neat change of pace in terms of both style and scale.

[mikeszekely]

What about the little Loto 2-pack? That design scratches a "real robot" itch for me better than most Gundams do. I built one a while back, and I felt it was a neat change of pace in terms of both style and scale.

For some reason, the Loto doesn't really do it for me (I preferred the ECOAS Jestas). Neither does any of Angelo's mobile suits (his Geara Zulu Custom or the Rosen Zulu) or most of the older Zeon suits used by the Sleeves/Neo Zeon in Gundam Unicorn. Ironically, two Zeon suits in the anime I'd love to have Sleeves versions of, the Bawoo and the Zaku III, didn't get Unicorn kits.

For me, maybe because I grew up on Gobots, Transformers, Robotech (I'm a Macross purist now, I swear!) and Tranzor Z/Mazinger Z, but I tend to prefer my robots to be more humanoid. The less humanoid a mecha is, the less interested I usually am in it (for example, stuff like the Metal Gear Rex, Metal Gear Ray, or the Tachikoma from GitS don't interest me at all). Even in Gundam I'm not a fan of mobile armors, hybrids like the Jamru Fin, stuff that's half mobile suit, half tank like the Guntank and the Loto, or even just stuff without legs like the original Zeong or the Dra-C.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

i want to see the unicorn destroy mode. that looks like a mean kit.

[mikeszekely]

i want to see the unicorn destroy mode. that looks like a mean kit.

I'll definitely post pics for you guys when it's done, but I doubt it'll be as impressive as Hikuro's or Nekko's PG version.

[Nekko Basara]

I'll definitely post pics for you guys when it's done, but I doubt it'll be as impressive as Hikuro's or Nekko's PG version.

Sorry, I haven't done the PG yet!

In fact, the only gunpla I've done recently has been the adorable Beargguy F set. I've spent the past couple weekends on the Hasegawa Fei-Yen kit (from Virtual-On), but my RG Wing Gundam just arrived today.

[mikeszekely]

Sorry, I haven't done the PG yet!

In fact, the only gunpla I've done recently has been the adorable Beargguy F set. I've spent the past couple weekends on the Hasegawa Fei-Yen kit (from Virtual-On), but my RG Wing Gundam just arrived today.

You picked it up, though, didn't you? I could have sworn I remember you mentioning it...

EDIT: I opened the box up, had a look at the runners and the instructions. Looks like a pretty easy, straightforward kit. But I noticed something really weird. Despite having a runner of pink translucent parts, despite including four beam saber hilts (two for the backpack, one in each forearm), there are no beam saber blades in this kit. I mean, I guess it's not a huge deal... I have plenty of blades from other kits, and I tend to arm my mobile suits with ranged weapons anyway (the only guys in my cases holding melee weapons are Deathscythe Hell, a Gouf Custom, V2, Destiny, Crossbone X1, my custom Crossbone Maoh, and a Sengoku Astray, and of those the V2, Gouf Custom, and Crossbone X1 are also holding a gun). Still, it seems kind of odd.

Edited April 13, 2015 by mikeszekely