Lolicon

Hehe well I call it amateurish because I lack the time, skill, and materials to make it look like this: The wing lights I was able to spray since I had some leftover clear red and blue from some, er, failed experimentation. But handbrushing works just as well. I'll paint the other navigational lights the same way, though I may have to do those by hand since it seems a pain to mask such tiny sections. The purple Future mix on the purple-grey parts didn't turn out well. I'll have to paint them another color or just leave them as is. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a few hours this weekend.

Standalone Super parts have decals for the shoulder parts because each character has a different color, and it was cheaper for Bandai to give you decals than mold 4 different sets of shoulder armor. Alto and Ozma Super bundles come with proper colors molded. Out of luck with Michael or Luca though.

Nope.

For the boosters I painted them using Tamiya champagne gold (which turned out to be more silver than gold, a good thing). The wash was Tamiya black and german grey diluted in alcohol. I only wanted to get rid of the plastic swirls, but it turned out better than expected. I'm having a rough time getting the oil wash to work right. I dissolved some oil paint in turpenoid, and then I use a super fine brush to dab it into panel lines and other recesses. I let it sit for about a day before I use a Q-tip to wipe off the excess. It works fine in deep panel lines, but on corners and shallow recessed I end up just wiping most of the oil paint right off (and leaving that nasty turpenoid residue). I also have a hard time getting the liquid to flow sometimes. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is the mix too thick or too thin? Some quick pics. Tried to get a picture of the metal finish on the internals. Navigational lights were painted using clear red and clear blue over a silver base.

The boosters are painted and washed (one of the few parts I've gotten around to washing). They're molded in the same gold colored plastic as the Super parts. I painted everything with the exception of the black parts of the tailfins and lerx; those parts look good unpainted and are mostly hidden anyway as I'll be building this into battroid mode only. Your method of painting the missiles sounds intriguing; I'd like to see how it turns out. If it turns out to be easy to do, I may do that for the VF-25G. My missiles currently are super shiny because of the gloss coat. It'll be toned down once the final semi-gloss coats are applied. Everything else looks flat because I haven't even applied the first gloss coat to them yet. I also have not decided what to do with the purple-grey parts (the parts with the same color as the gunpod). Don't really have a good paint color for them, but I don't want to leave them unpainted either. Maybe I can coat them with the purple Future mix I have? Hmmm...

Hey all, Felt like a douche posting in random places, so I figured I ought to just make my own thread. I'm not a pro modeler with the skills of someone like wm cheng nor do I have a lot of time to spend modeling (took me over three months to assemble my VF-25F, and I didn't even paint most of it), but I thought there are probably plenty of amateur (but not necessarily as lazy as me) modelers lurking about who might find these notes useful. My lack of modeling time also means my updates may be few and far between. (Note: some of these pics have been posted elsewhere, but I'm just including them all in one place.) I picked up the Armored 25S in June and after beholding its majesty, I decided I couldn't simply stick it together without painting it. So I picked up some bottles and cans of Tamiya paints and went for it! (I don't even own an airbrush!) First off, there's a ton of parts, roughly double the number as a plain VF-25 kit. My computer desk with the parts all piled up. Just cutting everything from the sprues and then sanding and polishing (where needed) took me like two weeks, working here and there. I sanded using 1200 grit to start, and then worked up to 1500 then to 2000 grit to smooth out and remove any traces where the parts connected to the sprues. I then used Tamiya polishing compound where needed to further smooth things out. Occasionally, a part would crack or tear at the connection point (some of the connections are ridiculously thick; thanks Bandai!), leaving an unsightly tiny crack that probably won't be visible to a camera, but it's visible to me. I filled those in using Tamiya surface primer (bottled) and sanded it smooth. Once I had the parts sanded and prepped, I separated them all into their respective colors and sprayed them all at the same time. There's no white on Ozma's VF-25; the white is actually a super light gray color that's almost white. I used gunship grey on the armored parts, medium grey and US Navy insignia white for Ozma's main fuselage, and some other colors here and there. Canopy tinting, the bane of all VF-25 builders. The best canopy tinting method I've read about is using a temperature-controlled dye. Uh, yeah, no way I'm going to spend that kind of money for the expensive dyes and equipment needed. I originally used Tamiya purple diluted in Future, but I've since borrowed wm cheng's method. Just a few drops of purple acrylic ink diluted in Future. I used FW "Purple Lake" color which is way too purple; a touch of blue food coloring fixes that. (FW makes another purple ink called "Velvet Violet" which is much closer to the VF-25 tint, but I wasn't able to find it at my local art supply store.) Here are side by side pics for comparison. Tamiya purple method on the left, newer ink method in the middle. Right picture shows how nice and clear it is. The black canopy frame was done using a fine tip black Gundam marker. It's not the regular one that you can buy individually. It's the very fine tip marker that only comes as part of a set for 1200 yen. The paint mix seems to be different. Aside from a much finer tip, it also goes on with a glossier finish and isn't prone to chipping. For all the internal skeleton parts (insides of the legs, upper arms, hands, etc) I used gunmetal to give a metallic appearance, and then did a wash to give it a grittier, dirty look and to make the details stand out more. This is actually my first time doing a real wash. For this wash I dissolved some grey and black Tamiya in rubbing alcohol, after applying a gloss coat over the paint job. I've since switch to oil wash, but haven't really tested it out yet. The off-white ankle discs were masked and sprayed as well. As always, I threw away the crappy tailfin decals and just painted everything in (except the SMS insignia). Nothing special; just a lot of careful masking. And now, the parts that have terrorized me for weeks: the micro missiles! As is well known, all the missiles are molded as a single solid red block. The thought of having to paint the red tips of each missile often left me curled up in a fetal ball crying myself to sleep at night. Anyway, I painted the missiles the same light grey/off-white as Ozma's fuselage, then used diluted black paint to color the base of the missiles black (kind of like a wash), and then sat there painting each of the tips with a red Gundam marker. The use of a Gundam marker proved problematic because, for some reason, Gundam marker somehow managed to seep through two layers of gloss clear coat. I don't know how this could happen, but if I pressed my finger to the red tips, my finger would have red smudges on it. This made using an oil wash very difficult as the seeping red paint messed up the wash color, turning it from dark grey to brown most of the time. The leg missile pod hatches come with a sticker for the grey border, but no decal. WTF Bandai? No way I'm using a sticker, so I had to carefully mask and spray the border. But I made the mistake of looking at the picture in the manuel rather then the CG model, so the dark grey border is incorrect on mine. Looks alright, but not 100% accurate. Oh well, live and learn. At least it's not a sticker. Once I had the micro missiles and hatches finally painted, I was finally able to start assembling the piles of painted parts (alliteration!) that I had lying around. The joint for the chest flap was filled in using a metallic red Gundam marker. Anyway, that's it for now. Anyone with questions, comments, suggestions, or any input whatsoever, please chime in!

1/144 scale GP03 Dendrobium and RX-78-2 Gundam, built a few years back when my modeling skills were, well, I didn't have any. Building the massive GP03 took up most of an entire summer and nearly broke me. Both are pretty much straight builds, painted, panel lines, etc.

Hey guys, Love checking this thread from time to time and seeing the work you guys do; I wish had that kind of skill and patience. Anyway, was flipping through my work files and found a pic of the Enterprise I built a little while back. It's the Bandai Enterprise kit that came out a few years ago. Pretty much built straight out of the box, but I modified it with blue and white LEDs for the lighting. Hope you guys like it. EDIT: Well, not completely out of the box. The kit comes with a clear deflector piece, which I used initially. However, the blue LED I used for the main deflector is so bright that if you looked at it head on, you'd be blinded by a shaft of blue light. I eventually replaced the clear piece with a blue tinted after-market deflector, which diffused the light and eliminated the blinding problem.

Oh I agree with you on all those counts. Transvestite does not equal homosexual. And homophobes have no real reason to be uneasy with Yellow. But the sad state of things is that for many the conotation of transvestite is homosexuality (or at least in the same ballpark), and sound reasoning is not something I often see in homophobia. So I would expect someone like the aforementioned poster who hates Bobby and Alto (who isn't gay either) to have an equally dim view of Yellow. Then again, I think it's been well-established that logic and reasoning don't apply to such posters.

Nevermind I found them. For anyone else who's interested: http://www.hlj.com/product/YLSPPC-T01

Hey, in the Hobby Japan scans a little while back, they showed the VF-25 ankles being modified with ball joints. It looked like the ball joints themselves were prepackaged custom parts for mecha models. Does anything know who makes these things or where to get them? Would love to install something like that on my current VF-25, before I start assembling the armor.

Is he aware that Yellow Belmont *ahem* I mean Yellow Dancer is a transvestite?

That looks beautiful! I must say, you finished quite quickly. That's such a great looking paint job. Taking the effort to actually paint it makes such a world of difference, as I'm learning with my Armored. Sadly I'm not as efficient and it'll be awhile before I'm done. Also, now that I've started assembling parts, I definitely like the more varied grey-white and blue-white color structure of the 25S and 25G more than the all-white 25F. (Note: Not bothering to paint another pilot since it's staying in battroid mode, and it looks really dumb seeing a pilot figure facing upwards through the side crack.)

So, how many VF-25's can you guys build before you get sick of building the same model over and over? Eventually I'll get around to finishing the SMS team, but I don't foresee myself touching the original Deculture Campaign decals I have anytime soon, much less all these new decal sets. EDIT: Oh, and let's not forgot the upcoming VF-27 and Queadluun-Rea! I'll want one of each of those too.

Wow your Gs are looking great! Hope you guys don't mind me plundering your methods for mine. Yeah, lacquers pretty much eat anything except plastic and other lacquers. Though I'm often tempted fate by using Gunze Sangyo clear coat (lacquer-based) on parts that I've painted using Tamiya acrylics and so far haven't had any problems. Tamiya acrylics do not mix with Future at all. Most of the time you'll just end up with colored egg drop soup... the best tinting method I've seen (and used myself) has been acrylic ink diluted in Future (with food coloring added to adjust the shade). I'll try to get a better pic later, but it's perfectly even and transparent: Also, like you guys, I threw out all the decals for the tailfins (except the SMS logo of course) and painted it.

Oh yeah, definitely get a bottle of it from the States if you can. Big jug of Pledge with Future Shine! costs about $6 and has its uses, even though I no longer use it as my primary clear coat. You know what the real kick in the pants is? All these metallic parts are going to be completely covered by the Armor Packs.

Hey mickyg, Not to steal thunder from your 25G but I figured I'd share some of my experiences. I'm working on my Armored 25S currently, though a 25G with Super Packs is next on my list. After seeing wm cheng and your metal finishes, I decided to try that. I used Tamiya Gunmetal and then did a simply acrylic wash (my first attempt at washing) before covering it in a semi-gloss clear coat. Came out okay, though I definitely need to work on my washing technique. I kind of made a mess of things and ended up spending a good deal of time cleaning it up and the recesses aren't quite as dark as I would've liked. Ignore the electric bill I left lying around. Switching to an oil wash after this; picked up some oil paint and turpenoid to try it out later. Acrylic paint dries far too thin and "powdery" for my taste and I end up having to lay on more wash to compensate. I also revised my canopy tint technique... well, more accurately, I threw mine out the window and adoped wm cheng's instead. I remember you saying the Aussie equivalent of Future sucked and messed up the canopy finish. Have you tried Tamiya clear? From my experience it works just as well as Future, but it does dry quicker, meaning you have to be a bit more on the ball about wicking off the excess (i.e. not slow and clumsy like me) before it starts to dry and become sticky.

Does wm cheng or anyone else here know a good method for painting all the red tips for the micromissiles at the same time on the Armored VF-25? It's going to be quite trying sitting there and painting each missile by hand, one by one.

The price includes the kit too. At least it damn well better.

Quick question: are the white parts on the G the same bright white as the F, or are they a really light grey (nearly white) like they are on the S? Stilling working on my Armored, but I decided to snag a G plus Super Packs from HLJ's sale so I'm thinking about how to paint it.

I used Future on the front fuselage/cockpit and legs, but then afterwards switched to http://www.hlj.com/product/GNZB-516 when I got tired of dealing with Future problems. I sprayed it directly onto decals with no problems whatsoever. I believe the Hobby Japan scans show the same thing. The entire model is topcoated, including the Future'd parts, so the finish is consistent throughout.

Depending on what I'm doing, I use a very fine tip mechanical pencil, Sakura micron pen, or a simple acrylic wash for panel line work, depending on what's being done. None have had any problems with Mr Hobby. I don't think Gundam Marker should have any problems, as I believe the Mr Hobby clearcoats are water-based. Future will cause micron ink to run (another reason I abandoned Future).

I used Future early on during my VF-25F build and was nothing but trouble. Dust got into it so easily and it often lifted up decals long after they dried (though that may be due to the poor quality of Bandai's decals). I switched to Mr Hobby clearcoat and it's been smooth sailing since. Safe on decals and gives a perfectly smooth, even coat every time with minimal effort.

Took me several months of working on it on and off to finish mine. The pilot figure along took like 9 hours to paint. (But that was because it's microscopic and has like 10 different colors; paint one color then wait 1-2 hours to dry, then paint the next color, and so on.) Anyway, if you're planning on painting it properly and decaling it and making it look good ie not snapping it together out of the box and slapping some stickers on, then it's going to take awhile. I mean, wm cheng's been working on is for awhile and he's still not done!

I use Gunze Sangyo's Mr Super Clear. Comes in gloss, semi-gloss, and flat. Always gives a perfectly even finish when I use it. This is what I use on my VF-25. http://www.hlj.com/product/GNZB-516 And then I use this as the topcoat. http://www.hlj.com/product/GNZB-502