KOG Water Dragon

Hm. My problem used with the particular silvering technique used here is that it is too heavy, and too evenly dispersed. On the one hand, one would expect this kind of 'paint scrapage' to occur on surfaces that are likely to have a lot of contact with exterior surfaces. Obviously the lower areas of the feet would have a lot of contact with ground, spacecraft decks, etc. Other areas that could be expected to experience a lot of contact would be the shield, maybe the knees if the gundam was often put into a kneeling position... and perhaps the shoulders if the pilot of the gundam liked to ram other targets with any sort of tackling maneuver. But certainly, other areas would be more protected from physical blows, and should have little or no paint scrapage. On the other hand... such heavy scraping (as indicated by really large areas of exposed silver metal) would only result from truly heavy blows or abrupt impact with surrounding surfaces. And in the case of such a heavy blow or impact... one would expect some real physical damage in addition to whatever paint might be scraped off. But this kit shows no such physical damage... it's all a paint effect. So it just feels a little anomalous. If one doesn't want to get into the physical damage aspect (such as gouging small pieces of plastic away from the affected edges and surfaces), one should keep the silvering very light, so as to suggest only moderate blows and contact with surfaces. How's that for backing up things a little better? Like I said, I did this on a couple of kits myself when I was first starting out, so I can see where the guy is coming from. But some years of experience have tought me the value of subtlety. And by paying close attention to the methodology behind one's efforts, one can really achieve a much more convincingly realistic effect.

I more or less agree with your points #1-4. On the topic of criticism, I feel thusly... if work is genuinely mediocre, and all a person hears is good-natured praise, there's not all that much motivation to work harder next time, and to expand and improve one's technique. Now, some people may be fine with maintaining their work on a relatively low level. Others may come to find that a more advanced level of craftsmanship is both more rewarding and more personally satisfying. But if a beginner never gets a a genuine and honest critique, he may never have the chance to find out what level he is ultimately capable of. When I first started models of any kind, I had no real frame of reference for comparison, so of course I thought my crap was good. But when I started browsing import model magazines, and started seeing other people's work on the internet, I was obliged to accept the fact that I was, in fact, not that good at all. This realization prompted me to seek guidance from those with more experience, and eventually helped me to attain much better results in my own work. That's how anyone improves in any field really... by having someone point out the areas where one needs improvement. For all you kids still in school... think about your classroom environment. Don't your teachers correct you when you've made a mistake, or when you're not approaching something the right way? It's all meant to spur the student on to greater heights of achievement. So if the modeler here would like to go on, and improve, he should be open to comments. If he's perfectly happy with his current level and has no wish to improve, then he's free to disregard all comments here. Pretty simple, no?

One may also make special note of the PG mk II by Kevin Comer here: http://www.cybermodelcomp.com/old/past_ent_dec.shtml Nice work.

Alright then, here's someone who painted a Perfect Grade mk II: http://mechaworks.qsurf.org/Gallery/Thirteen/thirteen.htm Being someone who's spent upwards of 2 months on a project before, the notion of 6 hours being a 'long time' is a bit ridiculous to me. I must confess, I've done this 'silver all over the edges' kind of work before. When I first started modeling gundams. When I was about 12. I'm assuming this guy's PG mk II is a beginner work as well, so all I can say is 'keep at it, keep working on building your skills'. Even now, 14 years later, I am still striving to improve my work evermore.