Gundam Models Discussion Thread

[Sworra]

Originally Posted by X207

ive done most of the painting on my 144 akatsuki. i only need to paint the beam rifle and the beam saber. i dont have clear pink nor clear red paint to use on the beam saber. is it possible to make a flat pink and use some paint thinner to make it clear to get a color close to the saber colour?

ive tried a test with the etching decals on a runner, i really like the etching decals. it sure beats using water to apply decals.

Thinner won't do anything. It would just thin your paint that would be it.. here is an idea not to sure if it will work but if you have any clear finish ( top coat) decan it if its in a spray can let the stuff settle for an hour and then maybe try and put a few drops of food colouring into the clear finish. If you just have a regular bottle of clear finish then just add the food colouring into a seperate bottle so you don't waste the whole bottle for one colour. I'm not to sure if this would work i haven't tried it but test it to see if it does work.

With etching decals i find annoying cause they can just stick to anything if you put the slightest point of pressure on the decal, and then your screwed cause its rubbed on something else besides your model. lol i've had some bad experiences with them.. I like how well they go on cause you can't really see the edge of the decal but i prefer water. Plus when using water you can position your decal after its on your model instead of trying to line it up with minimum visibility with etch decals.

[X207]

Originally Posted by Sworra

Thinner won't do anything. It would just thin your paint that would be it.. here is an idea not to sure if it will work but if you have any clear finish ( top coat) decan it if its in a spray can let the stuff settle for an hour and then maybe try and put a few drops of food colouring into the clear finish. If you just have a regular bottle of clear finish then just add the food colouring into a seperate bottle so you don't waste the whole bottle for one colour. I'm not to sure if this would work i haven't tried it but test it to see if it does work.

With etching decals i find annoying cause they can just stick to anything if you put the slightest point of pressure on the decal, and then your screwed cause its rubbed on something else besides your model. lol i've had some bad experiences with them.. I like how well they go on cause you can't really see the edge of the decal but i prefer water. Plus when using water you can position your decal after its on your model instead of trying to line it up with minimum visibility with etch decals.

thanks. i do have top coat but its a matt finish, im not sure it will look. i do remember that the dull finish frosted. i do have a humbrol matt finish that doesnt frost it. im sure i'll find some way to get the beam sabers colored.

thank you for the warning with the etching decals. ive had my share of anoyances with water decals already. i have a 1/72 commanche helicopter, one of my better RL models but not my best (too much glue on the landing gear). one of the water decals is torn, it looks decent but i found it moves too easily when removing the plastic upon application.

[Sworra]

I guess its a trip to the Hobby Store. In Montreal is there a local shop you goto. I'm assuming they would have some there?

Good luck.

[X207]

Originally Posted by Sworra

I guess its a trip to the Hobby Store. In Montreal is there a local shop you goto. I'm assuming they would have some there?

Good luck.

we do have some but not many places for gunpla unfortunately (4-5).

[SonicSP]

Originally Posted by X207

ive done most of the painting on my 144 akatsuki. i only need to paint the beam rifle and the beam saber. i dont have clear pink nor clear red paint to use on the beam saber. is it possible to make a flat pink and use some paint thinner to make it clear to get a color close to the saber colour?

ive tried a test with the etching decals on a runner, i really like the etching decals. it sure beats using water to apply decals.

There was a time I used a paint market on clear saber. Like many months after that, I got tired of the solid color and used thinner on it and yes I got a nice clear orange color from it.

So yes, if it works for me, there is a chance it will work for you. I've only tried it once though Im not exactly sure whether the success can be repeated and also I left it solid for months at least so Im not sure whether how important of a factor it was.

[JC...]

Tamiya clear paint is good for beams and stuff. And I have no place to buy gunpla locally T_T
well, there was one place but when I returned there to buy the gunpla I couldn't find it at all, lol, I'm gonna look again and if not I'll just ask if what happened to them. lol.

[X207]

Originally Posted by SonicSP

There was a time I used a paint market on clear saber. Like many months after that, I got tired of the solid color and used thinner on it and yes I got a nice clear orange color from it.

So yes, if it works for me, there is a chance it will work for you. I've only tried it once though Im not exactly sure whether the success can be repeated and also I left it solid for months at least so Im not sure whether how important of a factor it was.

thanks, i guess i'll need to play around with the thinner content better. so far my attempts were inconsistent. how well to markers hold up when used to color clear parts?
is it just me or when you paint parts in relatively light colours that the seams between the show up even if the 2 joining surfaces are clear of any paint? i know i can use plastic cement to glue the parts and sand down to remove evidence of seams but im not willing to do that to any gundam models. are there any options to paint saber beams if the runner i came from is a solic color?

Originally Posted by JC...

Tamiya clear paint is good for beams and stuff. And I have no place to buy gunpla locally T_T
well, there was one place but when I returned there to buy the gunpla I couldn't find it at all, lol, I'm gonna look again and if not I'll just ask if what happened to them. lol.

thank you jc, i forgot i had tamiya clear but i use acrylics once every 10 blue moons. i'll take a look into that for the saber beams.

lol i had that experience also. theres 1 scifi anime store in montreal but his previous shop location info wasnt removed from the internet maps. i only found out of the old location several months after i found the current location.

[SonicSP]

I don't know, if the runner is solid I don't think there's a way to make it appear clear.








Question: what exactly does primer do anyways? I just applied like a shor while go but Im
not sure what it does.

[Tormenk]

It helps paint stick better and makes any mistakes more apparent, like poor sanding or gaps.

Anyways, Ngee Khiong has news up for MG V Dash Gundam up, as well as the individual release of the V Core Booster, slated for July release.

[X207]

Originally Posted by SonicSP

I don't know, if the runner is solid I don't think there's a way to make it appear clear.

Question: what exactly does primer do anyways? I just applied like a shor while go but Im
not sure what it does.

i know i cant make it clear at all, its how to go about using solid colors to do it, ie paint finish and shading to make it look a deeper color in the center.

[Sworra]

Originally Posted by SonicSP

Question: what exactly does primer do anyways? I just applied like a shor while go but Im
not sure what it does.

Primer does several things. The ones i know of are.
1. It gives nuetral colour so if you are wanting to paint with a lighter paint like yellow, orange, etc you won't have to do not so many coats of paint. Plus it will give you the right aspect of that colour.

2. Primer is used for nicks and scratches if you sand your pieces and want to see where you missed, Primer will identify where you missed from where you sanded.

3. Filling in seamlines i've seen people use Primer to get rid of hard seamlines that just wont go away.

That is probably all know about primer and what its used for.

Any other suggestions always welcome.

[BioRanger]

Originally Posted by Tormenk

It helps paint stick better and makes any mistakes more apparent, like poor sanding or gaps.

Anyways, Ngee Khiong has news up for MG V Dash Gundam up, as well as the individual release of the V Core Booster, slated for July release.

It also has news for HG Gundam Astraea, the normal one, not the F-Type.

[faizfaiz]

hey ive heard one of the staff in toyshop which sells gundams that they earned alot n they mark up very damn high... should we continue support this shop?

[JC...]

I messed up my Masurao, but I might buy another one. I still haven't finished it yet though. lol.

[fizzmaister]

Originally Posted by faizfaiz

hey ive heard one of the staff in toyshop which sells gundams that they earned alot n they mark up very damn high... should we continue support this shop?

A good rule of thumb is, "the smaller the shop, the higher the markup." It's not unheard of for mom and pop places to markup the price 100%. That if they buy something for $20.00 plus shipping, they'll sell it at $40.00. This isn't ripping people off as much as they don't have high volume going through, so they need to make a profit in high markups. Go ahead and support them, unless you can find a better deal online, that's the fairest way of choosing who to support.

[Sir Dearka]

Originally Posted by Tormenk

Anyways, Ngee Khiong has news up for MG V Dash Gundam up, as well as the individual release of the V Core Booster, slated for July release.

Nice. Too bad I don't see any reason to buy it myself, though.
But it is a good sign that they make upgrades for the older series' MGs.

[SonicSP]

Awwww man, I JUST broke my airbrush just now trying to paint my Astraea F kit into the normal colors. And now.....it gets announced.

Of course I knew it would come our knowing Bandai but still......


Had to more than half of the painting done before it broke. Had to continue the rest by hand, fortunately they're just small parts and that most of the red to white conversion is done. Ah and it was my first ever color conversion process too...

Time to save up for a new one, not sure whether this one is fixable or not. I think it was caused by accidently using non thinned paint.....[although it looked thinned thin to me......probably not due to the way the airbrush acted and stopped working after that]

[duotiga]

HG Avalanche Exia comes with the display base


how am i right for hg astrea coming...

HG 1/144 Gundam Astraea
* Can choose the cone-shaped (GN Drive) for the backpack.
* Weapons: Proto GN Sword, GN Launcher, GN beam rifle, GN beam saber x2, Shield
* 6 runners in total. Comes with foil sticker
* July release, 1,680 Yen (inclusive of tax).

MG V-dash is coming also...


* 4 aircraft units of V Gundam's system up in one package
* Comes with parts to convert to type Hexa
* Display base for V Dash Gundam not included, it's in the V Core Booster set.
* Weapons and accessories: beam rifle, beam smart gun, beam javelin, Overhang cannon, gatling gun, rocket launcher (left & right), disposable buzz (? - ディスポーザブルバズ) x2, beam shield, display base.
* 24 runners in total. Comes with foil sticker x2, clear sticker x2, dry transfer decal x2, and construction manual x2.
* July release, 6,090 Yen (inclusive of tax).

MG V Core Booster Ver. Ka
* Individual release of V Core Booster with display base and various weapons for V Gundam.
* Can combine with V Gundam to become V Dash Gundam.
* Includes a display base for V Dash Gundam.
* Weapons and accessories: beam rifle, beam smart gun, beam javelin, Overhang cannon, gatling gun, rocket launcher (left & right), disposable buzz (? - ディスポーザブルバズ) x2, display base.
* 13 runners in total. Comes with foil sticker, clear sticker and dry transfer decal.
* July release, 2,310 Yen (inclusive of tax).

fmr ngee khiong

[Zantetsuken]

Is the MG Gundam Mark II 2.0 a good MG to start? Or are there more recommended starting MG? And please no Freedom, Justice, and Destiny.

[vektar]

Originally Posted by Zantetsuken

Is the MG Gundam Mark II 2.0 a good MG to start? Or are there more recommended starting MG? And please no Freedom, Justice, and Destiny.

the MKII 2.o is a awesome MG, has a good amount of parts and nice detail so it should be a bit tough for a new comer to the MG line but its well worth the effort. Just dont get the Zeta 2.o its not a very good kit. It does look nice but its a pain.