Gundam Plamodel Thread IV

[mog_kupo]

Almost done with Wing Zero. Just need to build the buster rifles, but I can still post shots with the beam sabers.

IMG_20150325_000921.jpgIMG_20150325_000939.jpg

Top half wasn't as fast a build, even with there being fewer panel lines.

On the whole... well, the Endless Waltz version of Wing Zero is just an absurd Gundam. Designing a mech with organic-looking wings in a real robot anime must have been one of those ideas that seemed cool in the '90s, but today it's so cheesy that the only Gundam that I think is more ridiculous is the Nether Gundam, and that thing turns into a windmill.

Ridiculous design aside, the RG kit is very solid, I'm thinking in my top five even. There's not a lot of bells and whistles here, but it's a solidly-designed kit that takes advantage of engineering improvements to the RG line. In fact, my only complaint is that it's a smaller Gundam with fewer accessories than a lot of the other RGs, but costs the same as most of them. Wing Zero, more than even the SEED RGs, is begging for a stand or an action base, and you'd think for the price they could throw one in.

In any case, I strongly recommend RG Wing Zero, unless you really hate Gundam Wing for some reason. Me personally, even as a UC-enthusiast who was kind of disappointed when Wing Zero was announced that I wasn't getting another UC mobile suit (where's my blue Z'Gok and my RG GM?), I'm really looking forward to Bandai releasing the rest of the Operation Meteor Gundams with this frame (and maybe a Tallgeese or III?).

You should get this base

[Hikuro]

Had a talk with a guy at work who does LED wiring. We're playing with the idea of possibly removing the mono eye gimmick in my Zaku in replacement of a single LED wired to the backpack since it's mostly hallow inside.

It looks entirely possible if we can find a small enough LED and housing for the batteries enclosed in the backpack.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Had a talk with a guy at work who does LED wiring. We're playing with the idea of possibly removing the mono eye gimmick in my Zaku in replacement of a single LED wired to the backpack since it's mostly hallow inside.

It looks entirely possible if we can find a small enough LED and housing for the batteries enclosed in the backpack.

that would be awesome.

[mikeszekely]

You should get this base

Imma pass. I think the mechanical wings with mechanical feathers are ridiculous enough, giant organic feathers fluttering off of them (in space, no less) bugs me to no end.

EDIT: Had some Amazon credit, so I ordered (all HG) Unicorn Destroy, Sinanju, and AGE-1 Normal. Unfortunately, only Sinanju is fulfilled by Amazon, the others are entirely third party and won't arrive until late April/Early May.

Edited March 26, 2015 by mikeszekely

[Hikuro]

Imma pass. I think the mechanical wings with mechanical feathers are ridiculous enough, giant organic feathers fluttering off of them (in space, no less) bugs me to no end.

EDIT: Had some Amazon credit, so I ordered (all HG) Unicorn Destroy, Sinanju, and AGE-1 Normal. Unfortunately, only Sinanju is fulfilled by Amazon, the others are entirely third party and won't arrive until late April/Early May.

Toy shop Japan or something like that I'm guessing?

[mikeszekely]

Toy shop Japan or something like that I'm guessing?

Yup.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

ok, going to start on destiny soon. prob tonight. so i don't have to wash the parts and hang dry overnight for these rg's like i saw in the tutorial vid? i want the decals to stick... prob going to clear coat when the weather get warmer...

link to the vid again:

from what you guys said, it's meaning less for this kit. (i think )

ahh, screw it, just washed them anyway

Edited March 27, 2015 by davidwhangchoi

[mikeszekely]

I didn't have a problem with decals sticking on Destiny, except for the silver bits on its wings. They would not stay stuck for the life of me. When I built it, it was only maybe my second or third RG kit, and even though I'd built a few HGs years before I didn't start building seriously until I started to build RGs. Suffice to say, I wasn't real experienced, and in hindsight I'd probably have cut the silver stickers instead of folding them.

Be careful if you clear coat it. The Tamiya clear coat that I used disolved the silver color. I wound up repainting the squares later with a silver Sharpie.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

ok, thanks, i'll try and cut the silver decals. i dried out the parts and panel lining using q-tips that i finally brought at target. i'm still having a hard time using the q-tips with a dab of isopropyl. i'm used to thumbing off the excess ink by hand but practicing on the parts right now.

[mikeszekely]

ok, thanks, i'll try and cut the silver decals. i dried out the parts and panel lining using q-tips that i finally brought at target. i'm still having a hard time using the q-tips with a dab of isopropyl. i'm used to thumbing off the excess ink by hand but practicing on the parts right now.

Are you using the brush-style Gundam marker for panel lining? I've found that you don't really need alcohol for those. The ink is a special water-based one that wipes off fine with just a dry q-tip.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Are you using the brush-style Gundam marker for panel lining? I've found that you don't really need alcohol for those. The ink is a special water-based one that wipes off fine with just a dry q-tip.

i'm using the gundam marker fine point pen, i'm want to get the one your using as i saw how good the panel lines looked on your freedom. i'm keep forgetting to go by gundam planet.

beginning progress:

Edited March 27, 2015 by davidwhangchoi

[mikeszekely]

I think you meant Wing, since I didn't line Freedom (and any pics I posted would be like 30 pages back).

But yeah, they're really easy to use and they mostly do a good job, so I'd recommend them, especially for beginners. Seriously, the only downside is that they really only work where there are grooves. If the area is too open with shallow sides, or if you're trying to outline something with a convex shape, you'll find that you'll often wipe off all the ink you put down.

If you need the numbers, I think it should be GM-21 for gray, and GM-20 for black. I meant to buy both, but I accidentally grabbed two grays, so I can't comment on the black (but I expect it'll show up better on red, blue, gray or other medium to dark plastics). The gray is perfect for while and yellow.

[chyll2]

Be careful if you clear coat it. The Tamiya clear coat that I used disolved the silver color. I wound up repainting the squares later with a silver Sharpie.

tamiya's clear coat is lacquer based and is pretty hot

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

I think you meant Wing, since I didn't line Freedom (and any pics I posted would be like 30 pages back).

But yeah, they're really easy to use and they mostly do a good job, so I'd recommend them, especially for beginners. Seriously, the only downside is that they really only work where there are grooves. If the area is too open with shallow sides, or if you're trying to outline something with a convex shape, you'll find that you'll often wipe off all the ink you put down.

If you need the numbers, I think it should be GM-21 for gray, and GM-20 for black. I meant to buy both, but I accidentally grabbed two grays, so I can't comment on the black (but I expect it'll show up better on red, blue, gray or other medium to dark plastics). The gray is perfect for while and yellow.

yeah wing... thanks for the numbers... ok, i did a few parts above (progress slow... practicing w the q-tip) i had to redo the lines. a few times on the same piece. i ended up using my thumb to smuge off the line and got better results. ok, i think i'll stop and relax for tonight.

[Doublepush]

yeah wing... thanks for the numbers... ok, i did a few parts above (progress slow... practicing w the q-tip) i had to redo the lines. a few times on the same piece. i ended up using my thumb to smuge off the line and got better results. ok, i think i'll stop and relax for tonight.

I agree with Mike on using gray for lighter plastics (white/yellow) and black for darker pieces (blue/gray/red), but I would like to add I typically use a brown fine tip marker for any red/pink parts. I think it looks a little more subtle than the black does on red.

[Hikuro]

My clear coats mainly consist of krylon brands cause they're easy to get and much more affordable. I only had 1 incident and I guess it's cause I used 3 different elements of lacquer paint and gloss clear coat with enamel and acrylic satin didn't like that.

As for cleaning parts, I only wash my kits pre-assembly IF I plan to paint the whole kit. Otherwise it's a waste of time and if you don't rinse properly you'll get soap damage on the plastic and have to polish it off. If you paint it's not gonna show but otherwise it will in bare plastic.

You know you didn't rinse it when you see pale gray or white spots on your parts.

I did find a semi informative video on doing LED lighting on the zaku mono eye without sacrificing the gimmicks. It seems easy enough but this guys idea and mine were completely different on the end result. He planned on using a base and feeding the wiring down to the crotch mine will go to the backpack.

[mikeszekely]

tamiya's clear coat is lacquer based and is pretty hot

I've noticed.

My clear coats mainly consist of krylon brands cause they're easy to get and much more affordable.

Krylon's fine, as it's readily available at Walmart. I think the only reason I have the Tamiya is because, a long time ago, I bought it at a hobby shop back when there was one in my area.

Do you prefer acrylic or enamel? What works better with their Fusion paints? I have cans of black and white Krylon Fusion I bought when I decided to paint my Crossbone Maoh, and while I think they did a fine job, I've noticed that they can rub off onto your fingers with handling. I was thinking about getting some metallic red for when I do Sinanju, and I'll probably want to clear coat it.

Also, do you recommend a Krylon besides Fusion? Fusion sort of melted the masking tape I used with the Psyco Gundam, and made for a difficult clean up.

[mikeszekely]

Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Many, many thanks to davidwhangchoi for getting this to me! I tried telling myself for awhile that it was too much red, but I just knew after I preordered the RX-78-3 that I was going to want all the RX-78 variants.

[Hikuro]

I've noticed.

Krylon's fine, as it's readily available at Walmart. I think the only reason I have the Tamiya is because, a long time ago, I bought it at a hobby shop back when there was one in my area.

Do you prefer acrylic or enamel? What works better with their Fusion paints? I have cans of black and white Krylon Fusion I bought when I decided to paint my Crossbone Maoh, and while I think they did a fine job, I've noticed that they can rub off onto your fingers with handling. I was thinking about getting some metallic red for when I do Sinanju, and I'll probably want to clear coat it.

Also, do you recommend a Krylon besides Fusion? Fusion sort of melted the masking tape I used with the Psyco Gundam, and made for a difficult clean up.

Mainly use krylon for clear coating only. I was fine with their paints at first but you almost gotta research your colors so you'll know which are enamel and which is acrylic cause a lot of their cans aren't labeled as to what. Like the enamel black can I got I didn't even KNOW it was enamel. Just said it was flat black. It wasn't until I was researching when I did the sinanju reverse wash technique I went "hey wait I got that can of krylon! Ok cool I don't need to buy one!"

And if it's flacky that means it should of been primed before you slapped on the actual paint.

When I do white base paint I use a white primer so it's less coats. All other colors get gray and it helps trust me! I'm able to see missing areas so easily if I prime in gray or white and it bonds so much better.

When I airbrush I strictly use acrylics cause they're alcohol based so you don't need to mix like some people suggest. Every time I mixed thinner I got alcohol based swirling and the paint didn't bond cause it was weak.

Enamels I tried airbrushing but they're to thick and the thinner didn't help much. I spent an hour cleaning my iwata after giving up.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Hikuro

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, I went with the Krylon Fusion because it advertised on the can that it "bonds to plastic in 15 minutes" and "no sanding or primer required."

I wouldn't say that the paint is flaking. I can rub, with pressure, the model I painted, and it doesn't leave a mark on the model. But I'll notice some of the color rubbed off onto my hand.

Honestly, I'm not into painting enough to invest in an airbrush or anything. If it's too much hassle, I won't paint the Sinanju (aside from the usual touchups common to HGs that I'll do with paint pens). If I decide to spray though, enamel or acrylic? And which for the clear coat?

[Vifam7]

Yeah, I went with the Krylon Fusion because it advertised on the can that it "bonds to plastic in 15 minutes" and "no sanding or primer required."

I wouldn't say that the paint is flaking. I can rub, with pressure, the model I painted, and it doesn't leave a mark on the model. But I'll notice some of the color rubbed off onto my hand.

Honestly, I'm not into painting enough to invest in an airbrush or anything. If it's too much hassle, I won't paint the Sinanju (aside from the usual touchups common to HGs that I'll do with paint pens). If I decide to spray though, enamel or acrylic? And which for the clear coat?

I've never seen acrylic paint in a spraycan. It's usually lacquer or enamel. Tamiya is lacquer and Testors/Model Master is enamel. I've never used Krylon so I don't know its composition. Personally I like using Tamiya's lacquer sprays as they are very fast drying and grab onto bare plastic. Enamels stick well to plastic but generally take a very long time to dry. Acrylic paints generally don't stick well to bare plastic, so priming is recommended when using acrylics.

Which clear coat to use depends on what paint type you're laying the clear coat on. The general rule is not to spray a stronger paint type on top of weaker paint. Basically : lacquer > enamel > acrylic.

[Hikuro]

There are acrylic based airesol but gotta look for it. Most of the krylon I found are pretty much enamel in my neck of the woods.

As for choices it just depends on the colors. I haven't found an appropriate red for the sinanju from krylon or rustoleom. Either you got light or you go dark.

Another reason I like airbrushing is I can mix that up anyway I want!

As for clear coating.....if Im doing a full weathered project with all the trimming I go flat coat. If I'm doing a show piece like I'd take it around and show it off I go satin. It's got enough of a sheen to it to make it flat but pretty. I was REALLY surprised how my sinanju looked after applying all that flat coloring then went satin clear and POW!

[Nekko Basara]

Krylon makes an acrylic clearcoat that I've been happily with so far. I gave some more detail a couple of pages back.

Also, the very pricey but very popular Mr. Hobby topcoat line is acrylic.

I'd never want to use an enamel (alcohol-based) clearcoat on anything but bare plastic, because there's a chance it could dissolve underlying paints, marker, weathering, etc. I know from recent experience that Testors clearcoat will cause Gundam panel lining markers to run like crazy.

[mikeszekely]

So I guess I'm looking at a red enamel with an acrylic clear coat, then?

I don't mind if the red is a little dark, as long as it has a nice metallic look. I'm thinking something like Iron Man's armors.

[Hikuro]

So I guess I'm looking at a red enamel with an acrylic clear coat, then?

I don't mind if the red is a little dark, as long as it has a nice metallic look. I'm thinking something like Iron Man's armors.

You're better off going with a Lacquer everything if you're going Metallic.

https://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/ln/72/TS-chart.pdf%C2'> This is Tamiya's paint line up for Lacquer spray. It's more money but the quality is so much better. If you really wanna go with a Metallic look, I recommend getting a Titanium Silver and a Clear Red. That's TS-74 for the Red and TS-88 for the Titanium Silver.

Use a fine gray primer so it bonds to the plastic, spray the silver, let it dry and cure for a night then spray about 2 coats of the Clear Red and you'll get a very nice metallic color.

Infact, I think the guy who does the Gunpla how-to's in Japan recommends using silver and clear colors versus any metallic variant.

I've been going that route on thrusters and vernier nozzles and they really just pop.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Many, many thanks to davidwhangchoi for getting this to me! I tried telling myself for awhile that it was too much red, but I just knew after I preordered the RX-78-3 that I was going to want all the RX-78 variants.

i just got home. oh! it came a day earlier! i really like the red on that kit and prob will try and get it again if it's still around when 78-3 comes out but glad it's in good hands as i prob wouldn't get to it. anyways, i grabbed the gm20 and gm21 brush markers and going to give it a whirl once i get settled down. need to start practicing with it so destiny is going to be slow..

staples also has my order in for the silver sharpie but i came home too late before it closed. anyways, it's great reading these posts on painting. hopefully it will prep me if i ever take the plunge to try in the future.

I agree with Mike on using gray for lighter plastics (white/yellow) and black for darker pieces (blue/gray/red), but I would like to add I typically use a brown fine tip marker for any red/pink parts. I think it looks a little more subtle than the black does on red.

yeah i've def following this color code

As for cleaning parts, I only wash my kits pre-assembly IF I plan to paint the whole kit. Otherwise it's a waste of time and if you don't rinse properly you'll get soap damage on the plastic and have to polish it off. If you paint it's not gonna show but otherwise it will in bare plastic.

You know you didn't rinse it when you see pale gray or white spots on your parts.

ok, i'll not wash the next kit then unless i'm sure i'm going to paint.

[mikeszekely]

You're better off going with a Lacquer everything if you're going Metallic.

This is Tamiya's paint line up for Lacquer spray. It's more money but the quality is so much better. If you really wanna go with a Metallic look, I recommend getting a Titanium Silver and a Clear Red. That's TS-74 for the Red and TS-88 for the Titanium Silver.

Use a fine gray primer so it bonds to the plastic, spray the silver, let it dry and cure for a night then spray about 2 coats of the Clear Red and you'll get a very nice metallic color.

Infact, I think the guy who does the Gunpla how-to's in Japan recommends using silver and clear colors versus any metallic variant.

I've been going that route on thrusters and vernier nozzles and they really just pop.

Well, that's really good advice, but there isn't a hobby store with Tamiya paints within 30 miles.

I checked Amazon, and I can find both there, but not fulfilled by Amazon, and around double what a couple of cans of spray paint would run at the Walmart that's two minutes from me. My wife will probably want to go out tomorrow, so I'll swing by and see what they have, but if it's going to be too much hassle I'll leave it unpainted.

[Hikuro]

Well, that's really good advice, but there isn't a hobby store with Tamiya paints within 30 miles.

I checked Amazon, and I can find both there, but not fulfilled by Amazon, and around double what a couple of cans of spray paint would run at the Walmart that's two minutes from me. My wife will probably want to go out tomorrow, so I'll swing by and see what they have, but if it's going to be too much hassle I'll leave it unpainted.

Shop around. Sure, 30 miles is a lot, but I go 30 miles all the time for paint alone. It depends on dedicated you are to what you want to do. What I've done is I buy pieces at a time and plan ahead....that's why I got so many tools at my disposal now. Weathering kits, paints, sanding, clear coats up the ......thruster port. Whatever I need, I buy one, then two then a dozen and I've gotta find a way to store them!

I've just finished clipping and cleaning all the parts I need for my Zaku II....then I took a little bit of Silver and Gunmetal weathering from my tamiya kits and applied it on the inner frame to add some good definition and spruce it up. I'm not gonna do the LED monoeye, maybe next time but right now I just wanna see how far I can take this Zaku to the next level of my abilities.

I didn't even really realize this but the super dark parts on the feet and torso....ugh those are green as well. What I'm probably going to do is rip off the color guide from the RG Zaku and mix that up. Most likely Green and Black....I'm sure there's othe rparts I'll need to add craaaaap.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

wow, i just used the gm21 marker and it wipes off really fast with just a gentle q-tip. it makes it easier on some places. it wipes off a bit too easy though... it's pretty relaxing panel lining with this...

[mikeszekely]

It depends on dedicated you are to what you want to do.

Not that dedicated. Don't get me wrong, it's great that you do what you do to spice up your kits. It's great that there are people making crazy awesome dioramas and custom builds. That guy that built an RX-78 and painted it to look like an animation cell? Freaking amazing.

Me? I just thought that Sinanju might look better with a coat of sports car metallic red instead of red plastic. Maybe go over the yellow plastic bits with a gold Sharpie and see if the results match the gold foil on the stickers better. I mean, I'm into Gunpla because I like putting things together and I love Gundam. I paint to make up for deficiencies in detail on the HG kits, not because I actually like it. If I can get a shiny red that works, even if it's not perfect, while I'm out running with the wife, I'm willing to at least test spray it and see. But if I have to drive an hour through Pittsburgh traffic for specific, costlier paints, well, I'd rather spend the time relaxing with the wife and the money on a new kit.

It's one of the reasons I love this hobby. It can be different things to different people. If you want to kill an afternoon straight building your favorite mecha, you can. You want to make it a week of carefully painting and detailing your model, you can do that to. Depends on what you like.

wow, i just used the gm21 marker and it wipes off really fast with just a gentle q-tip. it makes it easier on some places. it wipes off a bit too easy though... it's pretty relaxing panel lining with this...

People can give you lots of tips and advice, but going along with what I was saying to Hikuro, it's ultimately about doing what works for you, individually.

For me, I like doing the panel lines with the GM-21/GM-20. I like panel lining spots where the mecha would have a seem, but it's only etched on the model. I don't like adding shadow, so I probably won't try the pencil, and I've seen some panel lining done that gives the model and almost cartoonish look. I try to avoid that.

That said, I thought your penciling on Strike was great. You may prefer to add a little more shadow to give the kit a little more depth, and you might find using your pencil works well in spots where the GM-21 just wipes off. If you like those results, and you like doing the penciling, then do it. That's what works for you.

The silver paint, or the other Gundam marker you were using? If they're causing you stress to use them, or you're unhappy with the results, you don't have to use them. Maybe you just don't like using them. If they don't work for you, try something else. (Of course, you may find that you do like them with practice, and that's great if you do).

The best thing about Gunpla is that it's about what you enjoy, and there's no wrong way to do it. Straight-building a high grade with zero paint is can be just as fun and rewarding as building a Perfect Grade and airbrushing every part.

Edited March 28, 2015 by mikeszekely

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

People can give you lots of tips and advice, but going along with what I was saying to Hikuro, it's ultimately about doing what works for you, individually.

For me, I like doing the panel lines with the GM-21/GM-20. I like panel lining spots where the mecha would have a seem, but it's only etched on the model. I don't like adding shadow, so I probably won't try the pencil, and I've seen some panel lining done that gives the model and almost cartoonish look. I try to avoid that.

That said, I thought your penciling on Strike was great. You may prefer to add a little more shadow to give the kit a little more depth, and you might find using your pencil works well in spots where the GM-21 just wipes off. If you like those results, and you like doing the penciling, then do it. That's what works for you.

The silver paint, or the other Gundam marker you were using? If they're causing you stress to use them, or you're unhappy with the results, you don't have to use them. Maybe you just don't like using them. If they don't work for you, try something else. (Of course, you may find that you do like them with practice, and that's great if you do).

The best thing about Gunpla is that it's about what you enjoy, and there's no wrong way to do it. Straight-building a high grade with zero paint is can be just as fun and rewarding as building a Perfect Grade and airbrushing every part.

well i liked your lining on the wing zero, that's why i got the gm20-21 i think the most stress was from decaling so i just left the weapons unbuilt in the box for the strike. just too draining. but i think it paid off and made strike look decent. this is my first time handling decals so small.

in terms of the gm 01 pen it takes me a long time to get it right. (4-5 wipe offs and re tries) but with the gm20 it applies evenly much quicker. there's still some areas i need to use the fine point marker but the gm20 is pretty handy so far.

on whites, i still use a combo of the marker and the pencil bc the pencil give a lighter shade of grey. especially on the really chalk white shiny plastics. somehow the grey gundam marker ink ends up looking a bit too dark so using the pencil makes it it blend better. but yeah, when the panel lines looks bad it gives me stress... lol the part on the strike i felt were the most stressful were the should pads. i felt if these lines are done too heavy it makes the x105 label look horrible so i made sure to redo that part several times so the lines blend with the shade x105 and O.M.N.I letters. redid that 7x... (OCD with noob skill= long time)

on the bright side, getting the tips to thumb off the ink and using toothpick, i was able to discover to create some nice fade effects in areas prior were driving me crazy. (those small tiny rectangles)

so in a way that opened doors and i was pretty happy succeeding in pane-lining. ok, back to de-active destiny

[Hikuro]

Ultimately it is what you wanna do then you should do it. I did similarly and didn't really work that well. I've actually heard few good things about auto paint. got good amount of priming down.

[mikeszekely]

Well, Walmart has metallic paint of every color besides red.

I grabbed a can of Krylon satin clear coat, but I was wondering, Hikuro, if you wouldn't mind posting pics of something you coated with it vs. something you coated with the flat clear coat.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

i jsut picked up the sharpie metallics from staples, going to give it a whirl on destiny

[Hikuro]

Dunno how well you'll see the differences between the Flat and the Satin so here's what I can offer you.

This GM Custom was done in Flat Clear Coat from Kryon, it's enamel base and tends to melt the plastic a bit which scares me. It's actually done some damage to my kits and makes them sort of brittle. It also erases gundam markers.

Then here is the Sinanju I did back couple months ago using Krylon's Satin Clear. It's still got a bit of a dullness to it, but just enough of a sheen to stand out amongst my kits. The cracking you see on the black is due to the Acrylic clear coat not wanting to bond with the enamel paint that's also on top of a lacquer clear coat due to the reverse wash I did to accent the colors.