yeah, that is always a huge problem with bandais extra finish versions :P
models that are designed to be chrome plated or to get an extra finish have undergated pieces. the places where you have to cut off the pieces from the sprue are designed not to leave a mark in a visible place.
but most of these extra finish models are just the regular model with the finish coating but without undergating.
prime examples for models like this that i actually own where you have REALLY terrible cut marks are the MG hyper mode G gundam and the MG/HG unicorn titanium finish version.
on the G gundam it isnt THAT bad because you can fix it with a metallic gold marker. but on my unicorn there are really terrible black marks on the white armor :P

http://www.abload.de/img/img_0090xka11.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/img_0091hlbt0.jpg

and there is no way to fix that because it would ruin the effect of the finish.
plus, you have to be extra careful with this thing because the finish likes to come of very easily.

a good example for this is the MG sinanju titanium finish version though! because the armor is painted in this really dark ruby red you dont see the black marks at all! and it looks simply amazing^^

Yeah that is one problem i tend to stay away from extra finished kits. I'd prefer to save myself some money and get the regular version and paint it fancy myself instead of seeing nub marks. Right now im putting together the Akatsuki 1/100 NG and i must say its a pretty good kit, i have no problems with nub marks on this kit. But i can understand with other kits that have both regular and extra finish.

the unicorn and sinanju were my 3rd and 4th kit respectively (i guess)^^ i had no idea about how much extra finish versions suck at the time :P
building the titanium finish sinanju was quite the experience though. i remember how much in awe i was when i took my first look at the pieces! it is simply beautiful...
when i go just by how the kit looks it is definitely my favorite. its thats beautiful^^

and the titanium finish unicorn looks alright in unicorn more. you can hide most of the marks that way and because it looks more solid that way because you dont see the gaps in the armor that you see in destroy mode the finish really looks awesome.

wow, did you do those subtle weathering on the edges? looks really good! in the first pic it looks like the nubmarks were battle-damage. :)

thanks but no, that wasnt me^^ there just is none of that finish on the edges. but i agree, it does look good there!
maybe they do that on purpose. i dont know.

also, they showed this behind the 1/1 gundam statue:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4EOPyZkaaX...e98/s640/1.jpg

i really hope these are hints as to which new RGs we will be getting! O_O

^ Dammit, don't get my hopes up. :eyespin::heh:

Though I atleast hope for a Zeta before these two.

the zeta gundam is a transforming machine though... for that to work they would have to make an entirely new RG frame.
i suppose before they do that they will make a bunch of kits that use the same basic frame^^
although a zeta would be nice. i still need a model of it...

Damn! Looking at them I was half expecting we'll get MG ver. 2.0 of them, or better yet, MG Evolve ver. :uhoh:

Agreed! I want 2.0 versions of them as well. An Evolve version is perfectly fine for me too. An MG Sazabi that MOVES is what I want T_T

BTW, I already received my MC Nightingale. My sister has the camera (I don't have one) so I can't still take a pic. I wouldn't dare to start doing it unless I have a camera. I want its review to be detailed as possible so that I can help those who'll buy.

just got meself a MG nemo on ebay for 14 bucks plus a little shipping^^
its already built but for roughly 18 bucks total i really dont care.
i do like the green armor color but maybe i will paint it in unicorn colors... im not quite sure yet :P it also has all the decals on, that would be quite a shame if i removed them or covered them all with paint...

Unless you're absolutely confident with your painting skill, I suggest you don't ;). Especially if the decals are already on. It'd be quite a waste to remove those decals, unless they are sloppily applied.

it would definitely be a shame but to be honest, i can live without decals.
and i would only have to paint the green armor pieces which isnt that much of a big deal. there arent even that many green pieces. and with my airbrush and two coats of enamel paint this really shouldnt be a problem!
i will wait until its here, then i will decide what im gonna do with it^^
the only real problem might be the visor. the zeta version has an orange visor but the unicorn version has a blue one... and painting clear pieces a different color is kind of impossible :T

well you could always get custom decals and reapply them.. That should be easy for you since you did that for your unicorn action base.

yeah, i would just need a new sheat of decal paper. printing decals is pretty easy.
but as i said, im waiting until i actually have the model here^^ i have no idea how well the person whim i bought it from has put it together, making plans for it right now wouldnt make sense.
i mean, maybe it looks really great and a dash of top coat is enough^^
also, since i cant paint the orange clear visor blue the unicorn standard EFF colors wouldnt make a whole lot of sense. so maybe i will come up with a custom colorscheme, i dunno.

If you decide to do anything with it, take a before and after picture. Would like to see the difference.

sure^^ right now i think i will be weathering it. i really like the green afterall, so why not? i have all the paints that i need for that here afterall.

I mean, we rarely get green EF MSs beside this, GM Sniper, and Jegan. Personally, I will have that green over other colors and the decals are just the icing on the cake ;).

its true. green really is a rather rare good guy color.
so as i said, i will probably just weather it a little^^ i got all the needed paints and a dremel for some slight battledamage for the edges.

about to do finish hguc delta gundam, left the right hand & legs. my comment for the chrome gold, it is better than hg 1/144 akatsuki as when you do, there is no fingerprint marks unlike previous kit which is a good thing as when doing akatsuki the fingerprint marks can be annoying

well, at least that means that the extra price for the chrome plating is worth it^^ but personally i still wouldnt want to pay more than your average MG for a single HG!

Damn, if Bandai decide to make Delta into MG, I'm sure it will cost arms and legs :uhoh: (assuming they use the same or better chrome plating).

Yup, I'm guessing it'll be 8000¥ at least, and probably higher. Not that much into shiny suits myself, so I'm not really bothered by it, but still... Would be funny if it were more expensive than some PGs (at least strike is only like 12000¥). Well, funny as in "haha, I'll have to live in a box in the park now"-funny.

Haven't seen many SD Age-1 reviews online aside from 2OldForToys, rrobert...
o_O

there arent really a whole lot of people who review SD kits. i suppose thats because they are so simple and most people in the west go directly for the HG and MG models.

What I'm wishing for is not chrome gold but Matt gold or similar to what they did to the hg1/144 gyphs set (zeta, mk2 & hyakushiki) that kind of gold for hyakushiki.

prefer this kind

http://www.1999.co.jp/itbig04/10047727a.jpg

I usually go MG, but occasionally I get SD.

my used MG nemo arroved today^^
i wont post any before/after photos. partially because im ill and i totally forgot to take a before photo but mainly because its really just the nemo. nothing was broken or badly built and it arrived in one piece at my place.
im also done weathering it. the parts are out of the water now (i will explain later) and are drying right now. after that i will apply top coat and once that has died i will post some photos^^
but im already happy with how it turned out! the youtube tutorials that i have watched helped a lot.

I have a question about hand painting.

I have those bottles of Tamiya X series paints. I think they're acrylic. So does that mean I can take a little bit of paint and then mix it with plain water to paint the kit? Like I do that, and then paint again, let it dry, paint again, etc? And then put on a Tamiya matte finish top coat.

yeah, tamiya X paints are acrylic and can be thinned with water^^ but dont use too much or the paint will get too runny and forms pools in corners.
the way i do it i just dip my brush in water to make it wet and then i dip it into some paint. usually thats enough water to make the paint behave properly. just try it first on a seperate piece of plastic to make sure you are satisfied with the ratio between paint and water.

Well I plan on doing this...

Get paint on a cup or something. Get a dropper and put in like a drop of water, check the paint, and add more water as needed til it has that milky consistency as I've read a lot of people go for...

The X doesnt mean acrylic, just check the bottle. It should be stated somewhere whether it is enamel or acrylic.


edit: this is enamel:
http://www.car-model-kit.cz/watermar...__x1_email.jpg

this is acrylic:
http://pics.towerhobbies.com/image/t/tamr8101.jpg

not too hard to see the words enamel or acrylic...

But acrylic I can thin with water?

Whenever I start making my GunPla kits, I plan on sanding off the nubs and then hand painting everything. I tried that spray paint but they were expensive and I think they were lacquer...they smell so bad.

>_<

yes. water works.

Question though.... Is the plastic different on MG, HG, SD, etc?

From my experience so far, the plastic of SD, HG, & MG kits is pretty much the same (I have some kits from all three categories). Still, in some particular kits, some parts are made from different material like the rubber feet & palms/fists from MG God, the rubber inner frame shoulders from MG Alex, the rubbery V-fin from MG V Gundam, etc. I don’t have to mention about clear parts and effect parts, right?

I don't think anyone actually paints the clear parts and effect parts... =P

all bandai models use polystyrene for the armor and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) for the frame (except for the AGE-1 which seems to use PS for everything). i dont know what the polycaps and effect parts are made out of though.

also, my nemo is pretty much done^^

http://www.abload.de/img/img_0094zvbze.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/img_0097ilx8l.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/img_00999eyzc.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/img_0100nmxtm.jpg

i especially like how the shield turned out!
the dirt on the armor is essentially actual dirt^^ i still had some pigments that i got at a games workshop store. i mixed them with water and just poured the solution over the pieces :P then i realized that actually too much dirt stuck to the armor so i threw every piece into a washing basin with warm water.
i think the result looks very natural because thats how the dirt set on the armor! and i love that.

So what's different about the different plastics?

PS
ABS
..etc.

o_O

Mega Size 1/48 Gundam AGE-2 Normal - Hobby Japan (May Issue)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KK1O02usbp...eA/s1600/1.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jKzqprkBs7...F4/s1600/2.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r6p6hd7_ZA...bE/s1600/3.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GM8wzf_Rqa...MY/s1600/4.jpg