>"If you're new, you're gonna fuck up. Don't worry! If you're experienced, don't make the new people worry!"

***READ THE GUIDE***

Discord
https://discord.gg/W973BmwERB

The guide:
Part 1 (Quick Start)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSBDfE8Iz-a86DZJCR5MHRW6tjkQX-y4-ZpUc_vHjRfx_i2FB0zR1usdrgUJ4wNTs1iDFZmTQHF66X_/pub

Part 2 (Deeper Dive)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQJG2SZo1O1PjExPrdU_-GnkrYTGiGLCgBcKaL4peEWxOGB4CNbpGaJBV1oF61eNE1lEhbQHYEAXLrw/pub

And a handy guide to other types of plamo: http://www.mediafire.com/view/1vf1aw7v91pz5pa/Airfix%20Model%20World%20Specia%20(Scale%20Modelling%20Step-By-Step).pdf
http://www.scalemodelguide.com

Some line art:
https://imgur.com/user/Gundaml1neart/posts


Previous thread: >>11409239

==ARTILLERY GROUPBUILD==

Build a mecha or vehicle that uses long-range heavy-weapons such as Cannons, Missiles/Rockets, Railguns, or any other type of siege weaponry. Some clarifying rules
>The weapon can either be placed anywhere on the build (Shoulder-mounted, under-slung, etc), or in a separate side-build (Such as an artillery system utilized by a larger mech).
>Side-builds can include things like howitzers, self-propelled artillery, missile platforms, and the like.
>Alternatively, the mech can act as a spotter, loader, or some other role to support Artillery fire.
>Despite technically being a long-range weapon, Sniper Rifles are a no-go.

Send your entries to gunplaplamo@gmail.com with at least 5 photos of your finished build along with any WIP photos and a description of your entry.
START: 4/13/25
END: 7/31/25

What a skinny leg, I don't think such a thing could work in a real setting.

Got 2 of those AC 30MM kits, they are decent i suppose.

>>11435414
Still haven't found any anywhere.
Maybe I'll try hlj one day.

>>11435421
I got mine from Gamestop

>>11435410
ok transfag

>>11435410
>>11435414
What do you think of them as a whole? I'm considering Michigan's Liger Tail sometime but haven't done a 30MM

>>11435458
Transformers have models now Grandpa.
>>11435509
Pretty good, worth it if you get them at retail. They pose well and feel sturdy enough that I don't have to be super careful messing around with them.

>>11435528
>Transformers have models now Grandpa.
nta but i think anon meant that transgenderly purple pink lighting of yours

>>11435553
Isn't that just a UV light for models that have parts that react with it? I have a few up myself.

>>11435553
They took over purple now? Pink and blue wasn't enough?!?!

I fucked up the decals on the end of both guns while trying to pose them and I'm so disappointed about it.

>>11435649
And the other gun

What is causing my first layer of primer to fail?

>>11435702
What primer, what thinner, what ratio, what PSI?

>>11435755
40 vallejo grey

Following instructions on bottle

>>11435764
Acrylic primer is very...finicky. Try thinning more and lowering pressure, looks like it's on WAY too thick for one thing. I tend to spay about 15 PSI with most things. Also if you can get it, Tamiya X20A will thin anything acrylic. Also in general I've had much better luck with Tamiya or Mr Hobby primers over the years.

>>11435702
>vallejo "primer"
>why does it fail
Why indeed. Looking at the picture, there is way too much primer (to the point of dripping down) and the surface appears to be hydrophobic (see those tiny areas that refuse to be covered with primer?).
So, next time, wash the surface and spray thin, semi-dry coats of the stuff to let it build up properly.
Once you get it to cover the surface and dry/cure properly, you can then see how you like its durability and filling capacity. Then maybe you'd want to look at lacquer based primers.

I think the surface is hydrophobic. I had no problem priming any parts but the gelgoog tans. Rest of the kit did fine.

I'm going to wash it and sand it down and try again tommorow.

Obviously i sprayed thin coats, and they all missed that area. Pic related is just me overspraying to see if the paint would even stick.

>>11435857
Gogg*

Tonight i'll post my shading. I actually learned how to shade on this kit

3rd kit i tried shading on.

I tried to align it how the gogg will be when finished. I think.i finally got the basics down. Huge learning curve for me

When are we getting a new, modern Devil Gundam? I'm so tired of waiting bros

Defiantly need to pick up some more of these.

>>11435867
Is mecha color supposed to suck more than model air? This model air came out fine, but im having trouble with the mecha color.

Is it just bad to airbrush in 80% humidity or something? The compressor keeps spitting when i take the airbrush off. I cant buy anything except acryllics because i cant find a local store in america that has lacquers

>>11435995
Aliexpress?

>>11435995
Yes. Under 60% humidity is the norm. Do you have a moisture trap on your compressor? The moisture from the air gets drawn in and will find its way through your hose to the brush. I have one on the hose connection actually, just to prevent that issue.

Do you have a hobbytown near you? They tend to have tamiya and mr color lacquers. May just have to order online as well.

>>11436051
The moisture trap is full, and i brough a clamp too it and couldn't get it open. I tried for an hour too, so it must not be removable.

I ran it for a while tonight in the house and got out most of the water.

My hobbytown only has tamiya. The three gundam kits i've painted so far all used vallejo model air, and i've had 0 issues until now. I just really like the flat finish i get, and not having to thin them at all. For some parts i did use tamiya in past kits.

I Want to finish the joint parts with char pink so i can get a chars gogg >>11435867 but i dont think anyone but mr. Hobby and mecha color offer that pink. I think i'll just outlast the humidity and stock up on some more of that pink

I dont know if flow improver helps, but i might buy some too. Buying a new compressor at some point.

>no unit-00 knife
for what purpose

>>11435910
>robot chicken

is there any way to buy the original hguc zaku kit?

Do they even still reprint it?

and the original rx-78-2, and gyan, and guncannon, and gouf....

is there any way to buy old kits that have revives?

>>11436476
Can still find old stock on some websites, or check suru. Most the older ones that had revives for a few years will not have the older version available. Zaku may still have some floating since it got alot of prints over the years and a big one right before the revive launched. Guncannon and gouf will be harder to find outside of suru or mandarake.

>>11435990
Mecha color is made for hand brushing, but should work fine with all the proper airbrush thinners.
Are you using the proper airbush thinners anon?

Gogg

Master Grade Delta Gundam when?

>>11434451 (OP)
Hey that is my Vidar
Also got My latest kit today, the size of the bazooka is so stupidly huge

>>11436729
Antagonist mechs always come with big guns and swords and I love it

Our HEROES!!!

>>11437219
>no ZZ, V2, Aile Strike, Exia, AGE-2, AGE-3, AGE-FX
They blew it.

>>11435995
>I cant buy anything except acryllics because i cant find a local store in america that has lacquers
America??
There are shitloads of US-based online stores that carry lacquers. robotkai, newtype, usags, mechawarehouse, gundamplanet, probably plenty more.
As for brick and mortar stores the Hobbytown near me has plenty of Mr Color & Tamiya lacquers as well as Alclad metallics.

>>11436476
Search for "HGUC #40" to find the 2003 zaku. The 2021 revive is HGUC #241.
Bandai reprints all their old kits except one of the rx78s whose molds were destroyed iirc.
This one looks like it has a scheduled reprint already, some stores have preorders up for October.

>>11434451 (OP)
Do you guys think we'll get an alternate Mazinger Z model kit in the next few years that isn't based on the overly detailed Infinity design? I really hate how busy it is with the segmented armor.

I should probably just get it anyway because it looks like a fun build, but man, I really dislike it.

Also can someone recommend me some gear if want to get into airbrushing? I have no clue which compressor and paint gun holder or whatever they're called to get.

>>11437398
Just get the old Mecha Collection one instead.

>>11437320
I want an experience, where if i need a color for a kit,i can go to the store the same day and buy it.

>>11437334
Thank you. Will stock up when they come

I broke the arm ball connector at the base of the shaft and couldnt glue it in, without also fusing the shoulder pad. :/. I probably wasnever going to use the shoulder pad anyway, and the other is fused on from being too tight. As long as both arms stick on, i'll be happy. Hopefully i can finish on saturday when its not humid

I have some 1/35 votoms and girls und panzer figures. Does anyone recommend some small hand brushes for painting eyes and tiny details?

>>11437398
The SD Cross Silhouette one is super cute if you're into that style. Or grab MODEROID's God Mazinger for something completely different.
Airbrush equipment-wise, just shop about for a compressor with a tank that isn't mega expensive and either get or make a cheap spraybooth. Only hard part is choosing the airbrush itself. I like my Harder & Steenbeck and will recommend it any day of the week, there's tons of different brands all over the world and everyone will recommend something different.

>>11437398
>>11437465
I have Infinitism Z, Great, Grendizer, Jeeg, and Zero if you had any questions. I think Z and Getter are the most posable, Great less so much sadly, Grendizer and Zero's fine, Jeeg you might find lacking since they don't have the panels that let you do deeper bends. I only have Great, Kaiser, and Shin Getter for the SDs because Z and GaoGaiGar still aren't in stock. I'm with you on wanting smoother designs but as long as you don't detest SDs, these are pretty fun. They have inner frames provided so that you get a decent amount of posability. You should probably get at least a marker for panel lines, mouth vents, and maybe a silver sharpie or marker for Great's sword and for Kaiser's if you mess up the long stickers they give you (I messed up). Teh SDs are also cheap enough that you won't fear them being too fragile and expensive and worry about handling them too much.
>>11437429
These looked great for my and anon's wish if they weren't so hard to find.

Is there a recommended way to lubricate moving parts in way that won't damage the plastics or gunk up the parts? I mean tiny moving things like pulling a hidden tab that makes panels open to reveal stuff.

>>11437431
Use tamiya cement, use a wood tooth pick like a paint brush to apply the cement to tiny parts, let parts set for a full day before even thinking about handling them.

I finished him now on to g-armor

>>11437581
Silicone oil also sold as RC car shock oil, get both high and low viscosity versions.

>>11437614
My dude...

>>11437581
Tamiya Molybdenum grease.

>>11437465
>>11437474
>>11437429
Thank you guys.
I think picking up the SD Mazinger from AliExpress and the old 80s one when I can find it on eBay seems to be the way to go.
The SD one also looks like a great way to get into airbrushing, since the model's pretty simple and I'm very familiar with Mazinger Z as I used to draw him a ton back in school 15 years ago.
I'll pick up some compressor with a tank for ~100 bucks then and will look into airbrushes further later on.
Can't wait!

What are some great kits from ali?
I have already gotten the daban zasabi, and im currently tempted to get the snaa fire lord or the daban rx87-2

>>11438008
Snaa also makes some smaller "RG-ish" kits like the iron sickle and giant axe lancelot, I have the iron sickle and like it.
Also check out Hemoxian, Orange Cat Industry, Motor Nuclear for third party OCs.
You can browse chinese model kits more easily on gundamit and mofiho which are both sites just for that (so no random unrelated crap in search results), but ali often still has stuff that's sold out on on the more specialized stores.

>>11437796
The SDCSes for Z and Great are nice and glossy, so it feels a shame to paint over it, but I'm half-tempted to pick up a second Great so I can paint the limbs black one day (like the manga, or like the mass-produced model) and then colour the backpack so it looks like a Great Booster
The aliexpress ones looked expensive, at least the last time I checked, but I do hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Bruh, this inner frame of the narrative feels like ass

>>11438381
All those hollow spaces make it feel flimsy

Nice

>>11438520

>>11438525
>robot with tits

I search the catalog and this is the thread closest to discussing model kits.
As a complete newbie to this hobby which of this 3 is easier to start with. I already read part 1 of the guide and will be buying the tools necessary for the job.

>http://www.scalemodelguide.com
Also this site in the OP doesn't work anymore.

>>11438996
how easy of a start do you want? do you only want to snip pieces out and stick them together, do you want to try painting right away, etc?

>>11439004
Level 1 easy. Cutting and assembly first. I've watched painting videos and felt intimidated by it. I'm very tempted to just have it made by I do want to experience try sticking them together myself.

The construction is suprisingly simple, but very effective. The articulation is nice but it would be better if it has double ball joint at the chest instead of one

>>11439052

>>11439053

>>11439057

>>11439060
Wait, how do I get the one on the right

>>11438996
I have both Exodia and Greymon and I would definitely say that Exodia is easier the only problem are the chains occasionally falling off if you handle it.

>>11439077
Robot Spirits RX-78/C.A. It's an old event exclusive so you'll have to try to get a used one when it show up on sites like amimai and mandarake.

>>11439087
Thanks.

>>11439012
If you can lego, you can do almost any bandai model kit.

Noob from last thread here; got some new tools and trying them on an HG. It takes way longer now, I won't even be able to get this done today, but I really like the results so far. Took me a bit to get the nub sanding down, and drawing in the panel lines is very fun. Do you guys use pens or the panel wash paints?

>>11439103
Oh... it might be better to just get an EG RX and learn how to paint it, I guess. Thank you though.

>>11438996
The Wargreymon is next on my to do list! It’s apparently pretty easy

>>11439052
Booty poses plz

>>11439077
Any RX-78 kit and paint

>>11434451 (OP)
I'm experienced and I still fuck up
I popped a piece of my new zeta gundam off the runner and it fell on the floor and I stepped on it (I typically sit in the lotus position on my chair while assembling gunpla and had to put my feet down to move at all and look for it)

>>11440520
That's why I never put my feet up when building.

>>11440520
>and I stepped on it
Did it disintegrate into elementary particles? If not, just glue it back together.

>I'm experienced and I still fuck up
The measure of "experience" or "skill" is the ability to recover from mistakes.

>>11440752
This gave me an idea. Buy a cheap kit, like a generic HG GM, build it completely vanilla, then crumple it up like a ball, actually breaking it, glue it all back together, then to paint and stuff highlighting the glue joins like welding marks.

Please tell me everything you know about this kit? Is it worth 50 bucks? I've just seen it and I'm hyped but I can easily imagine that the kit sucks hard too.

>>11441820
It's a good kit, a solid and fairly detailed Zaku with a big gun. You'll need to give the Big Gun and the various little vernier details on the Zaku some love as they're normally just stickers, but you can't go too wrong with it. The Thunderbolt Zaku I is nice too.

>>11439053
that vertical head swivel seems pretty good for poses like this

What the best way to fix kinda small mechanical parts? I mean like glueing a broken pin back onto a ring.
Just cement? Epoxy? Pinning?
I used some regular superglue thing, but the pin broke off again at the slightest bit of stress.

>>11442071
Use a pin vise to drill holes in both parts, then bridge them with a metal pin.

>>11434451 (OP)
Can someone please help me? The model I'm building requires an orange marker for some of the details, but I'm not sure which marker to use. I'm looking for the color second from the bottom. Can someone please help me find a marker with the correct color?

>>11442124
I'd probably use this for orange and just brush it. If you need it to be a little lighter just mix it with some white.

>>11442124
>The model I'm building requires an orange marker
No mention of any marker in your picture, just a recipe for an extremely complicated orange (to be mixed by you using standard colors):

Orange 40%
White 30%
Mahogany 15%
Fluorescent Orange 10%
Green 5%

>>11442124
Second from the bottom is red BTW, not orange:

Shine Red 80%
Yellow 20%

>>11442124
You mean the red on his crotch? Mr Hobby Aqueous, H-23 shine red 80%, H-4 yellow 20%. They're paints.

>>11435990
It's one of their "pre-thinned airbrush ready" paints but it still needs a decent amount of thinning. I shoot it with AB thinner and flow improver+retarder and it's fine out of a .3mm nozzle at ~20psi for base coats, 12-15psi for shading so long as you thin it properly.
Also get yourself an inline compressor that either attaches to your airbrush/hose at the base of the airbrush, any sort of moisture that gets into your air line is going to cause the paint to thin out even more and will cause it to run and also affect its adherence. It also gives you more to grab onto which is a nice bonus.

>>11438381
>>11438386
ordered from Ali a pack that comes with the Narrative psychoframe parts in clear green, clear blue and fully clear

>>11442353
sadly, they do not react to black light, but that aside my plan is to mix the green and blue parts, although I'm not sure yet of how to do so... maybe half and half?

>>11442353
Stick some glittery foil on the backside wherever possible, it really makes clear inserts like this pop.

>>11442355
>but that aside my plan is to mix the green and blue parts, although I'm not sure yet of how to do so... maybe half and half?
I feel like having the waist and torso green and blue limbs would be the way to go if you're going to mix and match.

>>11442355
Maybe try some blacklight clearcoat after its built?

>>11441820
ask grok

Police Zakus are out foes anyone here have one

>>11442164
You need retarder to be able to brush on those lacquers

>>11442123
And then glue it together? With what? Or do I just use the metal pin as the new joint?

>>11442164
>>11442229
>>11442231
Thank you all for the advice. I'm new to this hobby and I've never painted a model kit before. This kit was expensive and I'm pretty paranoid about messing it up. I'm going to try painting some cheap kits to get experience before I try painting something at this price point. In the meantime, is there anyone I could commission to do the paint on this one for me?

>>11442233
>You mean the red on his crotch?
Yes that's the spot.

>>11442697
A picture of the part might help. But generally, if you break a piece that's stress-bearing, it's pretty much over unless you're good at scratchbuilding. Inserting a metal pin inside the break to bear the stress can sometimes work, but you would have to do it in such a way that the stress transfers to the metal part as much as possible.

>>11442697
>do I just use the metal pin as the new joint
That is not a bad idea at all.

>>11442747
>if you break a piece that's stress-bearing, it's pretty much over unless you're good at scratchbuilding
More like, if you break a piece that's stress-bearing, that's when you start to get good at scratchbuilding.

>>11442747
Can't do that rn, I'm not near it. It's just a little ring with a pin on it which broke off. The ring has maybe around a 3mm internal diameter and a 5mm outer. The pin is like 2mm wide.
It's also currently stuck in the part it's supposed to go in and separated from the ring.
Due to the size I think it would be hard to do a pin reinforcement. A 1 mm pin would only leave half a mm on each side.
I think I'm just gonna try some cement, and if it fails just drill a hole in each part and use a smaller metal pin as the new joint kinda like >>11442755

When is the hg Hazel re-release supposed to happen? I had it in preorder for so long that I almost forgot it

>back ordered Shinegreymon amplified on HLJ
>six months later and still nothing
Is this normal? I have never used HLJ before but this is ridiculous. Should i just cancel the order and buy it from ebay?

>>11443035
Don't order bandai kits from HLJ. They got banned from distributors because they kept selling overseas when Bandai passed down a directive for distributors not to sell to japanese shops that ship plamo overseas

>>11443079
Where to order from then?

Chars gogg

Made to practice shading

>>11443364
Hes not very posable is he? I glued down the shoulder pads, and these arms dont go hardly anywhere.

I never built and painted a kit that i thought needed a revive, but this one does

Robot damashii chars zaku

Had to take the group photo

>>11443035
Unless it's something they have in stock I just don't buy from hlj because of that. Usually I'll go local or if I'm absolutely out of options Amazon and ebay

>>11443427
I hope you have his Z'gok and Sazabi otherwise it's not a true group photo.

>>11443447
I dont :(

>>11443472
By the Principality of Zeon, you are forgiven.

>>11438996
I haven't built any of these, but I think Wargreymon looks the sickest, and you'll also get a good mix of organic and mechanical pieces, which will offer some fun variety.

>>11443364
You do the rx 78 last thread?

two separate shipments arrived at the same time by sheer coincidence
which one am I starting with, lads?

>>11443591
Yes and the zgok. I am still learning

>>11443591
Should i get a nametag or is that cringe

>>11443781
You absolutely should, it would help a lot.

>>11443781
>>11443829
You're giving Char's Goog a nametag?

I got a friend for Sazabi. Waterslides can happen later.

>>11443868
And just because they're currently in reach.

>>11443778
>>11443781
Fuck namefagging. Pretty good results there though, much better with the pre shading.

Whenever i show my kits irl, people assume that i either didnt paint it, or i just topcoated it. How do i make a kit that is blatantly obviously painted.

I have an extra hyaku shiki, and a stack of every one year war kit. Im thinking of painting the shiki gold but then people will think i just bought the pbandai kit.

Thoughts?

>>11443978
>How do i make a kit that is blatantly obviously painted.
By not thinning your paints
Also why do you care what people think, if you painted them in a way that looks nice to you, then you've succeeded in your mission already. Even making a retail Hyaku look as nice as the p-bandai one without p-bandai prices sounds like a job well done. And if there's anyone who insists you're lying and is both flaunting yet denying your p-bandai purchase, you can just tell them to kill themselves

>>11443978
Rescribing, filling holes with pla plate, proper color correction, waterslides. Worst case, give it an entirely custom paint job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f54zS-E5zE

Sometimes just giving it a paint job isn't enough, there are loads of other details that can add up to the overall look.

>>11443987
I feel like the gold shiki is boring, but its something i always wanted. I got really close to buying the p bandai one.

I'm tempted to do it next but i heard mettalics are super different than normal paints. I also dont know if i'd just be happier buying the p bandai kit.

>>11443994
>I feel like the gold shiki is boring, but its something i always wanted.
Anon please I beg of you just make the things you like that look the way you want them to look
I personally rarely if ever use decals because I don't like the look of 800 safety stripes and corporate labels, whereas other people insist that is the only proper way lest your robot look like it came out of the cartoon that it's from
>metallic paints
I haven't started painting yet so I can't help you there anon. How expensive is the p-bandai kit? The retail Hyak is always readily available, so you could use it as a painting exercise, and just repaint it in a different way that looks nice if the gold really doesn't work out.

>>11443993
Thank you.

I really like the zaku warrior, but the shoulder pad bothers me. Theres a double seam line, that would require me to lock the part in place.

I saw a zaku aurelius video on the origin zaku where he makes the shoulder pad removable, but that might be too advanced for me

Has anyone built this? How bad was it? I'm worried because theres a ton of runners and thrusters.

Can the legs be seam welded, and painted without putting the knee in? And the arms? Do you need seem welding or do the frontplate cover that up?

>>11444022
I have the kit, it's fun. Just take your time, it's not that many runners. The seams are only visible on the back of the legs, you do put either side of the leg around the knee though, as in you'd probably only weld the seam together after the knee joint is in, if that's what you're asking. The only seams I see for the Dom's arms is for the back cover attaching to the arm, no other seams. The thighs have seams on the side as well if that was relevant information. I haven't done seam work but there's no "seam right in the front, dead-center" nonsense that a lot of older kits have.

>>11444022
Zaku aurellius told me to never paint black, but the kit is pretty clearly black.

I think the seams dont have to be welded. I can get a little bit of preshading in on the purple.

I already own mecha color purple. Im gonna go check if tamiya has a better purple but you guys can also just tell me if theres a better purple for this job. I dont use laquers yet (even though i have in the past).

The mecha color keeps destroying my airbrush. I own flow improver, but when i bought some in the paint comes out as a water. On the other hand when the mecha color works, it looks really good.

The tamiya acryllics NEVER clog my airbrush. I dont think tamiya has purple and paint mixing is alot of work. I'm still learning about acryllics though. If anyone has good resources or just wants to spout off about airbrush acryllics please do.

>>11444034
Ok as long as the seam is not visible, i dont really care. If i can easily fix them i will. Might update 4chan next week if i make progress

>>11443719
Damn, I haven't ordered off amiami since 2019.

>>11444042
Wait is X-16 a match?

>>11444043
>Might update 4chan next week if i make progress
I didn't know you were a mod, but I hope you enjoy your Dom/Rick Dom, you can swap the thrusters, skirt, and feet for that

>>11443978
>How do i make a kit that is blatantly obviously painted.
Camouflage.

>>11443079
They get plenty of bandai kits, they just leave everything bandai as an endless preorder because bandai randomly reprint most of their stuff

If it's something rare it's worth leaving open a HLJ order and cancelling if you find it elsewhere

I've bought my first MG, the Gouf. I want to spray it's inner frame with Citadel Leadbelcher spray can and paint some details with Citadel paints. I'll have to cover the armor mounting points with the masking tape, right? Can I fully assemble the frame and then prime it? What else should I watch out for? Primed and brush painted lots of 40k shit back in the day, so I know about humidity and stuff. Don't have an airbrush and don't want to at this point.

>>11444935
If i were doing this kit i'd seperate frame into legs, arms torso, and do 2 sessions. One with arms and legs bend and the other straight. I dont know how you plan to cover the armor mounting points. Generally i'd rather sand down the armor than the frame.

The alternative is seperating each piece individually but thats alot of work but it will give you the best results

Do you guys panel line black parts?

>>11445082
Depends, what are you lining?

>>11445188
Black parts!

>>11435764
>vallejo primer
Never could get it to work. My advice? Find some Mr. Hobby Acqueous primer. It works surprisingly well.

>>11445197
Vallejo primer is fine, it was the humidity, and not washing the parts. All my kits use vallejo primer and thats the first time i had issues.

Im gonna buy a compressor with a tank because its been raining every day for 2 weeks here, and the humidity is impossible to battle without a tank.

I like vallejo primer because i can just put it into the airbrush without thinning it and it just works. From now on i only want to use paints that dont need to be thinned because its a time save.

>>11445414
2 gallon tank has served me pretty well. I use the lacquer primers myself. Tamiya or mr hobby surfacer. Use whatever youre comfortable with but dont ignore the other products that will give you better results even if they need more work.

I've kinda asked this in >>11431492 , but I'm willing to ask here just to be sure:

Alright, I kinda need help for custom-builidng:

Does anyone know good cloth textiles and/or methods of treating cloth to emulate chain mail?
I kinda wanna do that but the last options I had had holes too big and didn't look chainmail-ish enough.
Trying to turn my 30 Minutes Fantasy kit into a Dark Souls-looking thing, so I'm also wondering if there's any cloth tabards in blue for sale that could suit my purposes.

Are there any GM models whose head sculpt looks close to the helldiver's helmet? I wanna try making a helldivers custom.

>>11447798
Maybe a Jesta or GM III if you got rid of some of the bulk on the top/sides

>>11447798
Maybe a dagger or windam. They have funny faces like that.

I made him to practice shading but i used the amazon budget paint, so the dark primer never brightened. He looks fun. Bottom shelf material

>>11447972
Pokepla Quick mew.

Going to pick a few more of these up for shading

>>11434451 (OP)
Lost a piece of the fusion canon to my Megatron. Any idea how one could go about getting a single replacement runner for a Blokee?

>>11448220
Did you contact them?
Sometimes it is just that easy if they have a western contact, that's what I did with my Plamatea miku when I fucked up her leg and goodsmile sent one out.

>>11434451 (OP)
hello, newfag here. A friend showed me pics of psycho zaku ver. ka. It was love at first sight.
Tell me honestly, how big of a mistake am I making picking this as my first build?

>>11448361
I tried getting in touch with their Facebook but got no reply and I can't find a phone number or email.

>>11448641
Lmao, they are no longer your friend

Please atleast finish a high grade first

Good kit though

>>11448641
It's a lovely kit, but I'd absolutely cut your teeth on some cheaper and smaller kits first, to make sure you both like the hobby and make your mistakes on them there first.

>>11448641
>how big of a mistake
It depends. Are you sloppy by nature, or do you take things seriously? Do you have experience building things with your hands (doesn't have to be models, anything from birdhouses to drones)?
The whole "get a cheap HG to practice" dogma is just that, a dogma, you don't have to follow it.

>>11448878
>cut your teeth on some cheaper
If you can't easily afford that MG it doesn't really matter how good you are at building models, you still shouldn't buy it. On the other hand, if you can afford it, spending money on cheap kits you don't really care about is wasting money, plain and simple. It's not like it's a business where you expect to make profit from the thing. You buy it, you build it, then it either goes on your shelf, or in your closet, either way you're not making money off of it.

>>11448641
it is not really a mistake but the advice to get a cheaper kit is mostly for you to get an idea of how the process goes and if you even have the basic tools to do so

the zaku itself is not hard to build, but you get a shitton of weapons and extras and that's where most of the time sink is

>>11448641
>Tell me honestly, how big of a mistake am I making picking this as my first build?
I mean, MGs aren't difficult to build, just a bit long. I wouldn't start out with one because you might not like the experience of building and if you want it to look good you're going to have to buy some files and such too.
What I would do is buy a cheapo 30mm kit along with the Zaku build it just to see how you feel about the hobby.

You're probably going to get a fuck off huge box too.

Cheap kits are the heart of gunpla, and i think anyone who doesnt buy early high grades is missing out.

In my opinion alot of the newer kits have more parts but miss out on the customization and simplicity the early high grades provided.

A high grade having 8 runners makes it on the same level as some master grades. Good for straight builders, but not for customizers.

Overall though im thankful i can pick up a model kit from 2008 on a whim

>>11449182
Recommend me such a kit.

>>11449294
NTA and the only customization I do is panel-lining, but the old Guntank, GM, Gouf, Gelgoog Cannon/Char's Gelgoog, and Dom hold up rather well.

>>11449303
Thank you my friend

>>11449294
Ok.

Guntank
Zaku i

I want to build those two soon, and try to learn how to decal. I think the EG rx-78-2 goes back to that style too. Obviously its not old, but its only 2 runners so its pretty easy to paint into full armor, g3, char, real type or any other color you like.

>>11449305
>>11449303
Oh my brothers I get so emotional seeing you help me out. Thank you! Thank you!!!

>>11449304
You are welcome friend
Oh, I forgot about the Zaku I, it holds up amazingly well. Some dead-center seam lines sure, but its elbows and shoulders are something insane for a kit this old. I don't normally buy dupes, but getting a regular one was enough for me to genuinely consider buying three more in the Black Tri-Star colours.
>completely forgot about the waterboys
The Gogg and both Z'Goks hold up well, you may or may not have to tighten the Z'Gok's joints (e.g. a TINY bit of super glue on the separated ball joint, then reattaching it when it's COMPLETELY dried), I don't know if the Acguy counts as an old kit but it's fine as well (just have to glue/tighten the polycap in its head so it stays in place snugly), the Zock I haven't gotten due to its price, but it really looks like it's a fair price in terms of sheer size and surface area, and its eyes can move around freely as well.
>forgot about the Zeong as well
Similar to the Zock, you're paying a fair price for the size and surface area, and I've seen it consistently go cheaper than I've seen it go for in prior years
>>11449305
The Guntank seemed rather dinky when I got it over a decade ago, and I know people frequently cry for a Revive for a lot of kits (I get that the GM might need one, sure), but you can't really expect or want anything more from an HG Guntank than what we literally got.
>>11449309
Always glad to see someone getting into the hobby and getting to enjoy the same kits I dearly enjoy. EGs are good as well (but only Gundams, non-Gundam EGs often have little to no points of articulation), the RX and the Strike are fine, albeit the Shrike has addons you might want to buy, the Nu is a tiny bit more expensive but you're paying for its larger size so that's fine. Only downside is that you'd need the parts from the old HG to complete it - its rifle+shield setup is from its first sortie in the movie though, so it's at least not complete and arbitrary robbery.
PS the GM is VERY teal/blue

>>11449313
Entry grades are fine >>11447972 if you are learning to paint like me.

That being said the entry grade gundam is actually perfect for most of the community, except dedicated snap builders.

Actually after building 3, i think any snap builder afraid of painting should start there.

>>11449316
>except dedicated snap builders
H-haha who would be that
Painting seems expensive
>have to buy every colour you'll ever use, per kit, and the clips to dry each piece on
>it must be an airbrush because hand-painting is bad for reasons
>need a ventilator or good weather
>have to build the entire kit to know what the parts will be like, then take it apart
>then paint, add mandatory decals, weld seams shut eternally, then topcoat
At best I'd just want minor colour correction done by hand and that's it... I do want to try painting a red EG Gundam at some point though

>>11449332
I think you're exagerating a bit

>clips
These are not that expensive and will last you a long time. You also need styrofoam. Overall this is like a 20-30$ one time purchase

>have to buy every color
But i enjoy this. Its fun for me.

>must have an airbrush.
I dont know where this belief comes from. Theres plenty of people who hand paint their kits

>have to know the kit
I'm not building mg ver ka kits. Its pretty easy to figure out most high grades without instructions, except for specific parts of a kit (polycaps.)

>mandatory decals
The only decals i think are mandatory are eyes. You can buy zaku mono eye sticker sets for 10$ online. For eyes, learning a reverse wash can be learned in about ten minutes.

>weld seams shut
This one isnt hard, its just really annoying.

>topcoat
This one i dont understand. You can topcoat a kit in less than 10 seconds.

You are free to not paint your kits,but i just enjoy painting my kits. I think it improves the look, while also giving me a more personal attachment. You can start with smaller kits with tiny part counts.

I started with pokepla, and i reccomend you finish one (probably without seam welding). I mean just buy your favorite metallic laquer, and paint the main body of the pokepla, and don't paint anything else. It shouldnt take longer than an hour overall.

>>11449332
I found this on facebook. You can literally paint the pokepla mew any color and have it look decent.

Seriously this kit is insanely under-rated

>>11449340
I have that Mew and a few other pokemon plamos
they are pretty decent out of the box

>>11449332
you don't really have to do all that, just build and detail your stuff as much as you like, at your own pace

>>11449337
I am a bit, but that's one instruction that I was told by anons who insist on paint yet also don't post their kits. Having to build first to know the layout and the airbrush stuff was concerning, and the clips and different paints is a bit daunting as a neet. I also don't personally get the appeal of adding 83 thousand decals, but I also haven't done that myself and inspected it in-hand, so it could potentially be something amazing. I've dealt with water decals for two kits and it was some of the most difficult and frustrating things imaginable though, but the decals that came with the SD Unicorn kits was really hard for me as a kid. Also, messing things up is really scary, you learn from your mistakes but I'll be inconsolable if I ruin something that I like.
Glad to hear that hand-painting is still viable though (after thinning paints), the seam-welding also seems worrisome from a technical perspective if you, for whatever reason, wanted to later take the kit apart for something.
>>11449340
But I want my figures to move and swoosh around (even though they're generally in a standing pose regardless). My favourite Pokemon is Slowbro, so I could potentially buy a Slowpoke, but I don't know what I'd paint it as. The Garchomp, Gengar, Groudon, and Gardevoir (why all Gs?) kits looked nice though. Iirc the Groudon has an obscene amount of stickers and that'd honestly be the point where I'd deeply consider painting or markering. Markering is relatively easy at the cost of it potentially fading or rubbing away. Apart from
>wipe away marker with fingers and a bit of alcohol maybe
>it gets onto either nub marks or micro-cracks, which will stain that bit forever
>>11449346
I'm at the point where panel-lining seems essential, at least for stuff like Gundam or Mazinger mouth vents, and I think I've manage to avoid kits that need an obscene amount of colour correction. It'd be nice to get a second SDCS Great Mazinger and give it black limbs and silver wings though.

>>11442355
Slow progress in this MG Narrative
I plan to build each section, do the decals, topcoat them and only afterwards put the psychoframe parts

However, I'm not really enjoying that much putting this thing together: so many pieces are extremely thin in certain areas and are prone to break very easily, like those curves next to the vents in the leg armors or the cockpit frame of the core fighter which I'm currently building

>>11449352
forgot the pic, derp

>>11449349
an easy way to try to make your shit look more detailed without needing an airbrush is trying your hand at weathering, my Vidar in the OP looks pretty decent and I used minimal paint for it (mostly the metallics for the pistons all over the body), everything else was done with a brush and a sponge

>>11449353
Weathering is one thing I really really really still don't get, but I'm someone who, since childhood, have been inconsolable if I see a tiny defect or scratch on a toy I like. Trying to consider it as battle damage didn't help, because I liked things being pristine. However, I did have more fun building kits for things I don't care about, and I play with them more because they're cheap and expendable, the nub marks or mistakes don't really bother me for those, in comparison to the things I really treasure and therefore rarely handle. So I guess I could buy a cheap Zaku I or the even cheaper EG RX and give it a try. It's just that (severe) weathering never really looked nice to me. I'm aware it'll get banged up in the battlefield but I'd prefer that it get repaired and be freshened up before the next sortie, a lot of people like realism but I like the cartoon or video game look.
>>11434451 (OP)
That being said, this looks really nice though, and I wouldn't have noticed the weathering unless you mentioned it. The tiny scratches on the skirt is tasteful and the slight amount of greyness/darkness/?? still makes it look like it's straight out of a video game (but apparently it's from IBO, I've just started the first episode)

>>11449349
>slowbro.
Not slowbro, but slowpoke will literally make you a customizer in a couple of hours. Just pick a color scheme you like or use the shiny colors. (Probably start by only painting the pink.)

My only advice is to not cake on paint and spray further than is neccesary. You can buy testors extreme laquer from hobby lobby, and tamiya (japanese favorite brand) at hobby town.

Painting isnt hard, its just most people start overly ambitious. Imo high grades are not easy to paint.

(Watching youtube will level up your skills immensely)

>>11449356
The custom paintjobs on pokepla are so easy with the ammount of shiny gamefiles that exist.

>>11449356
But I don't like any other colour scheme...
>spray further than is neccesary
Wait what
You said I could handpaint, and I don't understand what you mean by implying distance

>>11449361
in this case a spray can will be alot easier, since you're trying to cover a large area.

i dont have alot of experience with hand-painting, but you should probably watch videos about it, and see what they do. the cool thing about those spray cans is you dont need, primer, topcoat, or anything additional. laquer sprays just work.

for spray cans, the zaku aurelius customizing series with the lah gundam, is incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9qyJwZyWG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9qyJwZyWG0 i liked this video alot, but im not sure how informative it is.

>>11449372
>I can just hand-paint he said
>buy spray cans he said
I'm losing it

>>11449354
some things just aesthetically look better with some wear. here and there think of it like jeans. some just look weird without any fading or anything depending on the style even if its subtle. or some variation in color here and there. or like a pair of leather work boots. once theyve been used a little bit but not totally abused yet they can sometimes look better than they did new. YMMV. its all theoretical of course. giant mechs would probably have some dirt here and there anyway collecting in certain areas. there is dirt and pollen and crap in the air which is why cars need to be washed off. if you took a storm trooper from starwars and made him like 3 stories tall certain areas of the armor would get some fading and dirt here and there but in a way that would probably look natural. i like both clean and weathered for different reasons.

>>11449337
dont breathe this stuff in though i use this outside with a mask. lacquer is supposedly pretty bad for you compared to most spraypaints. for a little minifig you could probably just prime it and use brush on nail polish for a similar effect. if its a noob doing one little toy.

>>11449396
1 spray can is not going to destroy your lungs.

>>11449353
Core fighter
I love the concept of the little plane thing inside the robot, shame it is so overlooked, but the Best iteration by far was done with the crossbone gundam

>>11449694
This one is a obvious callback to the original gundam

>>11449695
It is a small and delicate piece, the wings are weird because they are almost fixed and You have to do some origami folding to convert it in the core block

>>11449696
It has cool features, like the landing gear and the pilot can rotate vertically when for when You put it inside the gundam
I painted the clear part with clear blue, looks pretty nice

>>11449409
>newfags giving health advice
Care to try and report back?

>>11449714
if you are spraying in the open air outside, and are not directly inhaling the spray, you will be fine.

>>11449774
>ass covering begins
That's not what you said above though.

>are not directly inhaling the spray
Wind blows your way and suddenly you are.

>>11434451 (OP)
Finally done. I now hate stickers. Also can't seem to get my phone to focus properly. Next up is the RG Strike Freedom. Though it'll have to wait until I get back from work.

Hg zaku i start

Quick question:

Can i just not seam weld the thighs, but sand them to equal height? The O joint in the top is going to be a challenge if i seal them. I know you can cut a part out of the joint, but the joint is kind of thick, so im scared to do that.

How would experienced modelers handle?

Added a dimple to the chest. First time doing any kind of detail parts. I want to do this more in the future

>>11449697
this thing really fits inside a gundam?

>>11450044
Yes.

>>11449332
>and the clips to dry each piece on
I mean, I bought mine for like £6 on amazon.
>>it must be an airbrush because hand-painting is bad for reasons
Nah I hand paint all the time. It can be tedious if you're doing an entire model but just for some small details? No problem.

>>11449697
My disappointment with this thing keeps growing
The water slide decals the Narrative comes with are of a TERRIBLE quality: very easy to rip and You NEED to apply the mark fit immediately, otherwise they just fall off from the surfaces You put them on

Any decals sheet You get in Aliexpress is a million times better

Eh, I put an LED in him but it doesn't look as good as I'd hoped.

>>11450885
Bandai waterslides have gotten noticeably worse in the last five or six years.

>>11450952
Different anon, but is there a cutoff date/period I should be aware of? I've been buying a truckload of Delpi waterslides for my unbuilt kits but I've been passing over the ones that come with waterslides to save money. Admittedly the last time I used Bandai waterslides was around 15 years ago, but they seemed perfectly all right. If that's changed, then I'll need to add a bunch more waterslides to my list.

>>11450923
You need to seal it to stop the light bleed.
Probably would look better if there was some light around the body too.

>>11450966
If Delpi makes what you want, just buy that.

>added like $140 of extra decals to my order list
This shit is gonna be fucking expensive, and it kind of sucks to wait for out-of-stock stuff to come back while praying that the low-stock stuff on my wishlist doesn't also go out of stock in the meantime. I'm just glad that they discount bulk orders to make this a bit less expensive.

I know some of you guys build armored core kits so wanted to share this. Someone found this in the AC6 files on PC, pretty interesting. Not sure what it means or what it was planned for. Thought it was cool though.

>>11451343
>>>/m/23310539
Yeah, sure buddy.

If i use a garage to paint, is there anyway to setup the airbrush so i can paint while its raining? Is there a way to deal with 100% humidity?

I was thinking of buying a tank compressor, but wanted to ask here first. It rains once a week here and is humid the rest of the week

Also the zaku i is not a good kit. Most of the seams are just unremovable.

>>11451668
Since a garage is designed to open and close with regularity to easily let vehicles in and out, there's going to be loads of gaps between the garage door and the wall where humid air can easily flow in. You could attempt to hang bags of silica beads all around your spray booth, that might buy you some localized dryness, but I wouldn't count on it for a permanent solution. You need the air to be dry not only during the spraying process, but also for the curing duration.

I won tonights battle with 90% humidity

>>11451697
I will look into if you can buy a sandbag of silica gel

Water trap holding back the nile

>>11451726
The real challenge will be drying it out, and keeping it dry until you need it. Silica gel can be microwaved to remove the moisture, though the lazy man's method is to just put it outside in the afternoon and let the sun do the work. And once it's dry, you might want to get an airtight container to store it in so that it doesn't absorb ambient moisture from the air as it sits on your counter in the days leading up to your next airbrushing session.

Another possible solution is a dehumidifier. People in Hong Kong use that to dry their clothes when hanging laundry indoors (since it's an island the residents are literally surrounded by water), it can dry out an entire room though I don't know how much electricity it uses.

Is it possible?

>>11451983
We already knew this

>>11451983
Old news.

>>11451983
Just top coat and everything will be fine

>>11451983
this must be bait

>>11452366
Please explain. I’ve just lined unassembled kits and never had issues.

>>11452384
panel line accent is ethyl benzene which fucks up ABS like acetone does. same with another ingredient, xylene

>>11451983
>>11452183
Is this something I have to worry about if I just use gundam markers?

>>11452398
The last time I locked at the gundam markers, they were labeled as water-based.

>>11452398
>gundam markers
With some of them, yes.

The problem is not the panel liner, its the solvent within. The solvent is an enamel solvent, that does melt the plastic. This only becomes an issue if the kit is both under stress and unpainted. Pieces that are snap fit are by their nature under stress.

(Btw in my own experience regular enamels without a primer will eat through plastic for the same reason. I broke a star wars x wing with testors paint once. It cracked the entire wing. PLA does not like mineral spirits.)

This is why straight builders have problems with the enamel panel liners, but experienced modeler don't.

My hobby town now reccomends acryllic panel liner to noobs. It works the same but wont tear through plastic. I reccomend it after trying it 3 times.

Another acryllic wash. Also used it once. Both work fine and dont eat through plastic.

>>11452396
It's a different reaction. Acetone dissolves plastics. Panel liner gets absorbed by styrene like paper absorbing water, turning it brittle

>>11452649
So am I okay to panel line unassembled and then assemble once it’s all dry?

>>11452678
Lmao yes but no.

Some pieces are under stress from the molding process. Most pieces will be fine. I still think acryllic washes are cheaper and more fun though

>>11452684
Please, forgive me master. I am still fairly new to the hobby. What should I be doing to safely panel line?

Thank you.

>>11452586
Was that done before or after assembly?

>>11452691
Not a master. Just a student.

I use acryllic washes. 2 good brands are army painter and citadel. These will never harm plastic of paint.

I used waterslide decals for the first time in years. Started small. Might go larger on the next kit. Finished the greens of the zaku i tonight.

>>11452705
Oh thats the back of the shield. I had it oriented wrong.... And now its topcoated..

Well lesson learned. Check orientation before applying.

Going to ask a dumb question, but is just spray painting some model paint on gunpla just that simple or am I missing crucial steps? I am no artist or anything so I don't get the whole painting process. I just want a purple zaku.

>>11452730
https://youtu.be/RQXU6UBrbv4?si=XdueBGxHKOcVmmlS

Watch this

>>11452732
Thanks, his series of vids are what I'm looking for.

>>11452664
The thinner is the problem so if you don't drown pieces in panel liner you probably wont damage the plastic

Every guide i've seen about customizing gunpla hasn't shown how to add parts or make joints compatible. Its all painting bullshit.

>>11453048
Because neither of these are complicated. All hgs within the same line are usually compatible. Just look at the way things connect, and you can figure out how to kitbash.

I wanna open him so bad, but i dont think i have the skills to paint it T-T

What are the best mg's for someone whos painted like 10 hg's?

How many pieces does it have?

Is there a reason why amazon is so ridiculously overpriced when it comes to gunpla? They are always at least 10€ above the list price more often than not even more than 20€ above. It's not even like it's super rare kits only they sell but stuff that every other shop also sells, just a lot cheaper.

>>11453364
Frankly, you should probably blame Bandai for prioritizing Europe under SEA and the US, respectively. Gunpla may be more expensive for you, but at least it is available and not marked up out the ass like in South America and Canada.

>>11453048
back when build fighters was first airing bandai was giving away some little option sets that had adapter joints for that purpose
https://schizophonic9.com/re3/hgbf_dynamesarm.html this pbandai kit came with all of them, i think they were called HG customize campaign sets and i remember them getting recast and sold online at some point
be warned that it's always better to try and modify the original joints or drill holes for mounting, the adapter joints make it easier but don't look as clean

>>11453048
ZakuAurelius has videos about modifying gunpla that aren't just painting

>>11453048
Too complicated for gunpla babbies

With EVA 30 years olda
Will Bandai Reissue the Sachiel model kit?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqAAeU5_BRc

>>11453048
Time to read a real book.

>preorder form HLJ
>orangeman fucks everything
>check apx shipping options
>more than price of box
>preorders sold out everywhere
>get a late preorder in on BBTS
>have no idea if I'll get fulfillment
>mfw
I don't know if I should cancel my HLJ order and risk it at BBTS or scour for something else.

>>11454232
Bro has never been to hobbytown or the anime store at the mall

>local store wasn't stocking Psycho Gundam MK2 or had them in preorder
>14th of may use BBTS out of desperation and buy a Bolinoak too because why not
> the day after check the store for 30ms girls and both Mk2 and Bolinoak Samahn appear in the store's new arrivals available kits section
>my order has been in customs for a week now

I dont think the original zaku i is a very good kit. Removing seam lines that locked part of other colors in them was beyond me. I couldve probably masked, but i dont have any desire to work on this further. Im gonna give the zaku i a 3/10.

This is the worst kit ive painted thus far.

Time for a kit with no seams other than the shoulder pads. Starting tommorow

Me when i forget the picture

>>11454772
>zaku was going to teach anon how to weld seams and mask
>anon didn't take the opportunity and called zaku a bad kit
your zaku is very sad right now, anon

>>11454961
funny because >>11454772 does indeed look sad.

>>11455067
>>11454961
I can seam weld, but i'm not sure how to do the calves and the forearms.

Something about the valleys really messes me up. I'll post gouf shoulders today.

Never going to change my opinion about the zaku i though. Bad seams are the one thing i can't stand.

Heres my gogg shoulders

>>11455128
>I can seam weld
I don't know if I would go so far as to say that.
Welding a seam means you can't see where the seam was. I can see where the seams were pretty clearly in >>11455137. I can also see a lot of excessive sanding or filing.

>>11455314
The primer fixes that. I'm painting it, so i dont need to buff it out with anything 1000+.

The only thing i feel bad about is cutting off the curve on the spike, but its pretty hard not to do that.

>>11451726
>>11455314
Ironically the one thing that turned out fine on my zaku i was the shoulderpad. The process looks almost exactly the same.

Im hopeful that just a bit of primer will fix the pads.

>>11454398
Zoids don't often show up there unfortunately

>>11454772
Anon, did you attempt to mod the joints? If you cut part of the elbow joint, it makes it into a C Clip that allows you to separate the elbow and forearm.

Also invest in sandpaper, a hobby knife and some putty gogg-anon.

>>11455697
I modded the joints, but the two greys i used are too similar to see the color seperation. I think i needed to use putty there.

I invested a ton of money to basically build a modeling studio in my house,and intend to use it for the rest of the summer. Before this i only made a few customs, but now i'm speeding through high grades.

My goal after the gouf is to do a master grade. If theres any good mg's (for beginner painters) post em. Otherwise it'll just be ew wing ver ka.

>>11455757
I just looked at the kit. Its bad. Would rather do mg rx-78-2 2.0

>>11438525
>>11438520
Is this kit on Aliexpress?

Does p-bandai do anything about damaged boxes or is it only if the kit is actually damaged?

>>11450885
got most of the decals done for this thing
what really irks me is that all these markings are so plain and ordinary, there is not a single distinguishable logo or marking to give this thing a bit more identity

I may end up looking among my mountain of leftover decals to see if I have something I can put into the shield at least

>>11456626
Will you comment on your method and chemicals?

>>11456626
If you wonder about my method with decals it goes like this:

1. Cut off the decal from the sheet.

2. Use the tweezers from a small victorinox knife to soak it in water for about 10 seconds.

3. Remove the decal from the water and wait around 30 seconds.

4. By this point, the decal should begin to slide from its sheet. You can confirm this by using soaking the tip of a cotton swab and gently touching the decal. It it does not move, repeat steps 2 and 3.

5. Once the decal is ready to be applied, take it with the tweezers and then slide it over whatever surface it goes using the tip of a cotton swab.

6. It is kinda hard to properly place the decal with the cotton swab. In my experience, you can use the tip of your hobby knife to get more control and precision of where you want the decal to go. Just don't press too hard, as you could either split the decal or scratch the surface.

7. Once you are satisfied, of its placement, remove whatever water excess with a dry cotton swab, gently rolling it over the surface of the decal, to prevent from ending up misaligned or worse, getting stuck to the swab.

8. Wait a few minutes until it is dry. Afterwards, I apply a lick of Tamiya Mark Fit Strong (pic related) using the brush applicator it comes with. This thing is basically glue, allowing the decals to stick to the surface and in case of large ones or those placed over irregular surfaces, to properly adhere without air bubbles.

9. Rinse and repeat all of the above.

As you can guess this is quite a tedious and bothersome process and with the ver Ka kits, it ends up taking longer than whatever time it may take you to cut off the parts from the runners and actually build the kit.

I started using the decal softener once I realized that by merely using water, the decals were prone to fall off, sometimes before applying the final topcoat

>>11456679
example of what the decal softener allows you to do
this is the VF-19EF/A 1/72 kit from hasegawa, anything colored you see on it are decals, very large ones or that go in curved surfaces, such as the ones circled in red

if you just use water to put them on the kit, they end up with air bubbles and looking like a wrinkled carpet, the softener basically allows you to iron them, so they stick and properly adhere to the form of the surface the decal is on

>>11456692
>>11456679
I bought this and i'm still trying to figure out the process. I'm not sure if my water dish should be microset or just water.

>>11456714
I use a small bottle cap full of water you get from the sink and that's it

>>11456679
>Afterwards, I apply a lick of Tamiya Mark Fit Strong
>This thing is basically glue
It's not so much a glue as it is a decal medium softener, but there is some adhesive in it I guess.
Normally you put some on the surface, slide the decal off the paper on top of it and squeeze the excess from under the decal. Putting it on top of a dry decal does very little.

Pic unrelated (Mr.Mark Setter in action).

>>11456679
>I realized that by merely using water, the decals were prone to fall off
Waterslide decals (at least ones made by proper manufacturers) contain enough adhesive to stick to the part even if you only use water to apply them. Decals are more likely to fall off because they were applied to unwashed/oily surface than because of insufficient adhesive.

>>11456726
I put it on the surface then on top of the decal after it's starting to dry, wait a bit then remove excess

Since you people love tamiya, what do you do when they don't have a color?

With the combination of game air, model air, mecha color, and army painter water based acrylics, you should always have every color. For solvent acryllic laquers, i only know of tamiya sold locally. Is there a brand of acryllic laquers you use with tamiya?

Surely you dont mix paints every session

>>11457238
>Surely you dont mix paints every session
I don't see what the problem is with that.

>select colors
>mix if necessary, record the proportions
>thin enough for the entire project
>proceed with painting
>mix some more if run out using the recorded proportions

Normally i don't like to shit on paint brands, because someone told me all paints within the same category are the same, but do testors just suck? Its been 3 weeks and my testors have still not cured?

If testors suck why are they in every store in america? Do you just need to use their thinner or it won't cure?

I want to use testors because they are so widely available.

>>11457251
>so widely available
do they have aliexpress where you live? mr color is sold there

>>11457238
>what do you do when they don't have a color?
Look for something in Mr color, if not, mix.

>>11457251
>someone told me all paints within the same category are the same
lol, now you know better

>>11457251
Testors is trash. For hand painting Pro-Acryl, AKI, and Vallejo are pretty much the gold standard.

>>11457251
Do you have a heat gun/tool?

>>11457547
Thats way too much effort for an entry grade strike that i only bought to test out my setup

I might throw it up because it still smells

>>11454772
Skill and motivation issue, Zaku I can be cool with some work

>>11457238
Between Tamiya and Mr Color/Mr Hobby Aqueous that's baiscally every colour you'd ever want and all can be thinned with Mr Color leveling thinner

>>11457811
There really is no way to hide that thigh seam.

I'm almost finished the base coat of my gouf custom, and not having to worry about seam lines for the first time is a relief.

I dont think part count is the issue anymore. I have 200 aligator clips, so i can paint nearly any one color on a kit. What bothers me more now is the ammount of colors, since i need to clean the airbrush in between sessions.

Im going to apply the full decal sheet to it to get experience with water slides.

Maturity is realizing the reason why old kits are loose and tend to fall apart is because they were designed to be painted, while newer kits are often designed not to be painted.

Does not forgive that zaku i thigh seam though.

But i now understand why the rg sinanju was greenlit and why there was a complete philosophy change in rg's and mg's after the western push.

>>11457869
Did you even try? I hope the gouf gives you more joy.

>>11457811
Is the eye just a decal? Because you could probably use the 30mm metallic decals.

>>11457969
Just do an led mono eye mod

I think I will build Char's Z'GOK today. Looks like it's the fastest kit I have.

Eh, I thought I was going well with this but apparently it's a bit too dark in my work room to see the parts I missed while I was painting.
Oh well, that's why I bought it, to practice hand painting. Plus I was going to make the armor look damaged so I could patch the gaps with maybe a grey acrylic?

>>11458174
Also I ran out of silver so the other parts are currently unpainted and not on it.

>>11458174
What silver are you using? I got the vallejo metal color silver which is really made for airbrushes and it kinda works for handbrushing but I hate it.

>>11457922
I can still see the thigh seam. I'm convinced the kit is just cursed.

Still some touch ups to do and some gluing, honestly. The shoulder joints are a peg into a ball into a polycap. The PC is nice and snug, but that just means the leg pops out all the time. I also need to glue the turret to the arm. I'm a little disappointed that its not a peg socket, so only the bottom can swivel anyway. Otherwise, it's a pretty great kit for how old the design is. I really enjoy these koto HMMs and have been over bandai's stuff. Once the touch ups are done, I can coat it and apply water slides. One day, I'll do a full paint job instead of just color correction.

No decals applied yet

>>11458182
I just used Tamiya LP-11.
That said I did change it to Gunmetal because I ran out of the silver, and if I do a brown acrylic wash I reckon it'll look better like it's tarnished and rusty.

But that'll happen a while from now, my Arcee and Windblade came in and I want to build at least one of them before Wednesday since I'm going to be away from home from Thursday to Sunday.

my pre order of 30mm bEXM-6 Roundnova I went into backorder isntead of private warehouse
when i asked hlj they said its because the kit is in high demand
then what the fuck the point of preordering it the first place then? if they can just cancel it like that
what a bunch of scrubs, i knew the moment they dont do po on amazing yamaguchi anymore since last year, i should have stop using their shitty shop

>>11459961
I don't know what you're problem is, anon. You can just go and buy your snowman robot right now if you want: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DMNL2NJJ

>>11459961
It's Bandai's fault cuz they don't give them actual numbers of how many units they'll get. HLJ has been putting the same disclaimer on every Bandai release for years now b/c of it. So if you wanna whine at least blame the right people.

>>11458174
>>11459399
I can't help but paint the armor of these guys.

>>11459399
If you're not going to airbrush metallics might as well rub them on.

>>11460475
Didn't have any but I wanted to practice my painting anyway.
In other news I finished Windblade aside from a few decals, she's going to live on my desk as part of my battle station now.

Just finished my first EG and first model since college. Pretty shitty, but still fun. I really like the bronze chrome pen I picked up and used on this thing. The gold one, not so much.

>>11460718
Which bronze? I have a nice gold acrylic pen/brush, but it's really bright for certain things.

>>11460489
Are there a lot of Transformers model kits? Actual model kits, not the block stuff Yolopark was doing at one point.

>>11461013
Flame Toys is your best bet. Including Arcee and Windblade there's Lio Convoy and I've seen Nemesis Prime and Soundwave. They probably do more but I'm not that big on transformers, I only have Lio because he's my favorite and the girl bots because they're girl bots.

Not finished

>>11460963
I just got some 9 pack of chrome markers from Amazon a while back.

adding lights is fun

I'm a total newbie for this and I want to start to panel lining my kits. What do you guys could advice to me? The classic Tamiya?
Also, is there something that I should apply before or after the panel lining?

>>11461363
>The classic Tamiya?
Yeah
Especially if it's raw ABS, apply it and let it dry before you assemble. It's the stress of fitted parts that can make it crack. If you top coat or paint you can ignore this.

>>11461363
>What do you guys could advice to me
Mr Weathering.

>broader color range than Tamiya
>can be cleaned with odorless turpenoid which you can buy in any artist store by a jug so you don't need a branded thinner
>most importantly it will NEVER CRACK any plastic

>>11461401
>If you top coat or paint you can ignore this.
Lol, if only that were true.

>>11461437
That's bullshit. Accent color is also cleaned with white spirit. They use the same solvent and are basically the same product.
It is not possible to NEVER CRACK plastic when it uses something like white spirit/ odourless turpentine as a solvent/ to clean up.
White spirit is what cracks plastic (under certain circumstances).

>>11461446
>Accent color is also cleaned with white spirit
I'm sure it can be cleaned with acetone too, doesn't mean it should be.

>They use the same solvent and are basically the same product.
Nope. Try smelling the bottles next time and compare the smell.
Mr Weathering is basically very thin artist oil paint that's already mixed and bottled for you. Have you heard of artist oil washes cracking plastic? I haven't.

>It is not possible to NEVER CRACK plastic when it uses something like white spirit/ odourless turpentine
Except odorless turpenoid doesn't have the substances that crack the plastic, unlike white spirit.

>>11461456
White spirit and odourless turpentine is the same damn thing. If anything, odourless turpentine is more aggressive because it's less standardized.
And yes, I have heard of oil washes cracking plastics. Look it up. It's not common, cause they usually use it on painted or even varnished models, but it can happen.
Also, you shouldn't sniff the bottles.

>>11461468
>odourless turpentine is more aggressive
>source: anon's ass

>>11461491
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_spirit
I said, if anything. It isn't necessarily more aggressive. The difference is that white spirit is a standard and odourless turpentine is just a term.
>Turpentine substitute is generally not made to a standard and can have a wider range of components than products marketed as white spirit, which is made to a standard (in the UK, British Standard BS 245, in Germany, DIN 51632).

MG Ex-S 1.5 in Taskforce Alpha colors going up on P-Bandai at 12PM

>>11461588
S-Gundam (de)conversion parts included too

Really want to get cracking on GP03 Dendrobium but I just dread how long its going to take me to paint the thing.

Had some time before I leave so I figured I'd do that wash. Need to do some clean up because I don't know where the rest of my clips are so I did the legs on the model but that's not a problem.

I want to do something else with the weapons though but I'm drawing blanks for ideas.

>Psycho Gundam Mk2 stuck in customs for a month
>one in stock at the local store
Someone talk me out of buying it because i inow the moment I pull the trigger the customs assholes are going to release it and charge me customs tax i know they have my place bugged with cameras.

>>11462245
Buy it from the store and return it using the one from customs

Anyone have any experience taking stickers/labels from other things to use on a model? I have a shitpost of build I started, but I want to find a good way to do the decals.
>pic related

>>11462586
Waterslides and mark fit are your friends

>>11462596
I see. Yeah it would probably be better to print my own decals instead of peeling them off zyn cans.

>>11457922
love what you did with this kit. good shit

>>11457869
>There really is no way to hide that thigh seam.
Putty. Alot of the older HG have some bad seams and even if you trim pegs down and cement the fuck out of the seams, there will still be gaps. Putty to fill in, sand to smooth out and paint. Its about the only way for most the seams.

I've built only HG so far. Can't decide on my first RG: Char's Zaku, Char's Z'gok or Gundam MkII?

>>11463191
Can't really go wrong with Char's Zaku.

New thread: >>11463238

>>11449332
>have to buy every colour you'll ever use, per kit
most kits have like 3 main colors and hobby paint pots are $3 each. you can spend less than 2 HGs worth of money on one kit and all the paint colors for it and take more than 2x as long building it. and of course you'll have paint left over.
>airbrush, ventilator, weather
sponge painting exists

>>11457243
>record the proportions
this seems like the hard part
are you counting drops or using a drug dealer scale or what