shiyao

so in general the solution is: dunk it in some kind of cleaning liquid. i guess i was wondering more along the lines of a 0.15mm pipe cleaner.. if such a thing even exists/can be improvised.

that looks really quite promising! do keep us posted, and welcome to MW! EDIT: oops you've been around for way longer. my bad.

yup, but are there pipe cleaners as narrow as 0.15 mm? the hobby shops i've been to don't seem to carry any. also, what is a "nozzle scraper"? if anybody knows.

thanks guys. do these solutions work as well as using those pipe-cleaner-esque things? I had this impression that just cleaning with liquid solutions isn't good enough - that one actually has to put something through the nozzle hole for it to be completely clean.

Hey guys, I've recently acquired an external mix airbrush - the MK-4 pro-spray by Mr Hobby (i think). It works good and all, but the nozzle cleaners that came with it - two wires of different thicknesses - don't appear to be holding up to intensive use. Are there dedicated nozzle cleaners out there in the market? Or does anyone have a suggestion for a DIY remedy? The two nozzles I use are 0.15mm and 0.3mm respectively. The 0.15mm one in particular is a bitch to clean. I did a search on "airbrush clean" and "airbrush maintenance" but nothing came up. Hope someone might be able to advise me!

haha, you're probably right. puttying and sanding are pretty much de rigeur for anyone who's serious about his modelling. but my logic (at least for the time being) is "minimal effort, maximum result". i've identified this Optimal Modelling Balance Point to be at - out-of-box + airbrushing (maybe a *bit* of sanding but certainly no puttying). if i putty, it means that the entire kit has to be painted. this is fine for traditional kits (which i unfortunately do not touch), but for Bandai stuff - not just MG or PG but even these SEED ungradeds - it seems to be a bit of a waste, given the nicely (matter of opinion) pre-molded colors. don't like the shiny plasticky finish? matte top coat it. ugly seam lines? hide with airbrush. panel lines? go ahead. of course, to most i might sound insane. in any case, higher resolution pics of the blitz are available at http://www.aiyahwhatever.com . the flaws are more obvious there.

Precisely. But I guess you spoil my expriment, to a certain extent. I wanted to prove that an out-of-box kit - without puttying, sanding, etc would still look decent with just an airbrush. I guess this proves another point though; I've never used an airbrush before and if I've managed to make it look "overrated" on my first try, then any moron with an airbrush can make something look respectable to the lay eye.

Before I say anything, anyone want to have a crack at how this one was done? I'll come back and comment later.

just wait a bit, and you'll have Destiny vs Strike Freedom pretty soon EDIT: ok that was unproductive. here goes. isamu vs guld, after their re-entry from space. deunan knute in appleseed the movie. opening sequence. you know what i'm talking about. those *were* mechs? and briareos against the three cyborgs. the earlier episodes of gundam seed destiny had some very well animated battles. then it fizzled out .. and is still fizzling, i reckon.

the key question is, between a masterpiece cyclone and a masterpiece beta, which would you prefer? for me, the answer is obvious: the cyclone wins hands down. here's why: 1. novelty - so far we've been plied with masterpiece jets. would be nice to have a transforming motorcycle - manthing for a change. 2. which unit was more central to the mospeada plot? which one got more screen time in the anime? 3. cyclone looks great in both modes. beta looks a bit crap in fighter mode, no? i understand this is subjective, but i've asked lay people, and they all think the cyclone trumps. 4. the cyclone looks to be an eminently more poseable and playable toy. i fear the beta will wind up like another koenig. not that i don't love that one, though. am finally back in singapore, the amount of toys here (particularly gundams) is ridiculous. how did i survive all those months in new york??? the toynami i-men are going at the local TRU at USD$3 for 3 packs (ie. 6 figures). but i guess they weren't worth squat to begin with.

those are useful tips for dry rub decals. will bear them in mind as i apply them to the zetaplus. so ALL MG kits have dry rub decals? that's pretty neat.

just to give this thread a bit of closure .. here's the zeta plus, undecalled, unweathered, unpainted, unglued, unpanel-lined - and with 3 stickers applied. and constructed by a moron to boot! gotta get me some more of these MG kits.

wow nice one guppy! the decals are water slide or dry press? thanks seb - a pic of a zaku would be great, cos i actually want to get one of those seed destiny zakus.

yeah sorry my bad. i guess this thread should die. incidentally: does anyone have pics of (your own, someone else's, doesn't matter) a completed but unpainted HG kit? ie. a HG kit built purely out of the box.

zeo-mare: wait wait hang on. the ungraded 1/100 kits are HG? no right? i believe you were talking about 3 categories: HG, MG and Ungraded 1/100? Luna's Zaku, then, would fall into the Ungraded 1/100 category? guppy: HG seed kits - are you referring to the 1/100 ungradeds? i thought all HG kits were 1/144? damn i'm confusing myself. re painting: it's not that i'm lazy, but rather i'm impatient and plain no good. i hate masking. re transforming the zetaplus: i transformed my imai cyclone a while back. it now is in several pieces. no way am i going to transform this one! re panel lining: pencil, marker - or wash? the last method appears to be the least tedious and to achieve the most uniform results.

hi folks, i thought i'd best not hijack the ROTS revell kits thread, so i started this one. search function turned up nothing, only a closed thread on hase macross models. (i could've been sloppy, though.) the seed destiny 1/100 ungraded kits are out with a vengeance, and i've been meaning to get one of them (notably the blaze zaku phantom - rey colors), but i'm hesitating. are the pre-painted colors as good as those on the MG kits? i'm currently working on a zetaplus and the molded plastic colors have thoroughly impressed me (see below). being one not keen on (nor good at) painting models, i'd be really pleased if the 1/100 ungraded seed destiny kits had as good a color finish as the MG kits. would really appreciate it if someone could enlighten me! zetaplus WIP: (to an untrained eye like mine, the molded colors look pretty good)

guppy, nice work on that astray - which parts did you paint yourself? or did you paint the whole thing? gotta dig the katana.

Quick question: Are the Bandai MG kits just like these Revell ones? In other words, do they look just as good as the Revell ones without painting? Or do the ones in this thread have superior pre-paint work done on them? Another quick question: the 1/100 non-MG kits currently being released for Gundam Seed Destiny - are they just as good as MG, or do they require more work? Sorry, mildly off topic!

"Kira > however many number of Murasame pilots they throw at him" hahaha that really cracked me up. and i presume heine westenfluss is right at the bottom, along with luminaria hawke?

really? rome the most civilized at the time? and i guess america is the capital of earth now?

my condolences to yet another tokyo kid victim. my girlfriend (who's in college at boston) nearly bought me one of those 99 USD bandais, but i stopped her in time. she wound up getting me a couple of gundam 1/144 seed destiny model kits (5.95 a pop), from the same place though. now i do all my toy shopping in boston over at the TRU in alewife. and the kbtoys in cambridgeside galleria ... no macross though. EDIT: wow my little spiel here has been singularly unhelpful. apologies.

hey andy, MSIAs are approximately 1/144 i think .. so bigger. i've seen the HCMs, they don't look too .. fun. how much do MSIAs cost in hong kong? man oh man i can't wait for july to roll around! *salivates* i'm going to buy up the entire seed destiny line!

To be honest, I actually preferred TPM and AOTC to ROTS. Too much cutting here and there, bland inane lightsaber duels, one (poorly planned) space battle sequence (note use of singular), and a general "rushed" feel all led to a diminished experience, at least for me. Don't get me wrong - it was satisfying enough. But I can't help feeling that we all lowered our expectations for the last one. And it's really weird that everyone is slamming Hurin. I like reading Hurin's posts; they are largely articulate and well substantiated. Despite this, he gets, really, a ridiculous amount of flak. Why? Is it because he's not on the MW "inside club"? Because he doesn't know certain people who know certain people? It's really quite unfortunate that cliques and bullies have transcended the schoolyard to come into residence in the online world. I've violated my own rule (that dick waggling over the internet is pointless and ultimately a reflection of deficiencies inherent in the offline individual) by posting this, so I'll stop now. For the record, Hurin is guilty of this as well - but I appreciate his attempts to keep things civil. Some others on MW aren't so conscientious.

it's worth the highest price that you're eventually offered for it. so just go ahead and ask for something outlandish to begin with - it won't make much of a difference IMO, assuming that the MW audience is more sophisticated than most.

thanks pfunk. i guess the UV from incandescent/flourescent/halogen lamps can't be all that bad - after all, we don't wear sunscreen at home.