Gundam Models Discussion Thread

[Sir Dearka]

Originally Posted by SonicSP

Can someone remind me of the release date of the HG Astraea Type F and HG Avalanche Exia?

Looking at Ngee Khiong, the Astraea is scheduled for release in 22nd of April while avalanche Exia is supposed to come in June.

[JC...]

I don't think hand painting is the way for me to go, maybe I'll have more luck with the spray can...

[DC23]

Hand painting is the most difficult way of painting Gundams bro...unless you are painting monsters or something that does not need a smooth finish. Spray cans are good...most of my old kits are spray can painted my Kampfer is spray can painted and it even won at Bakuc bro.

[Deliverance]

Ok, I appreciate the modeling tips a lot Thanks everyone.

So the washing method....For panel lines....so can I do it the following way?

-When I paint my gundam It doesn't matter if i paint it gloss or matt, I will go over it with a top coat that gives it a matt finish. But before I do panel lines after painting Would i spray it with a gloss coating? do the panel lines, then after assembly spray it all with a matt top coat?

I mean I know everyone says to paint it the way "I Myself think it should look" But the thing is i think they should look like the picture XD The way they are in the show. Sadly If somebody could explain to me the difference and benefits as well as cons of acrylic and oil paints, if thats right? Also by the looks of it, for each paint brand the colors aren't the same, though the name is...Tamiya looked good, but is Gunze Sanyo good....im not sure what i mean by good, but Im not sure what paint to use in general, so recommendations and explanations I would appreciate

[X207]

ive started to build my SD lunamaria zaku. i have built all the items that dont need paint, the remaining parts need paint and some milliput. im going to fill in the outer edges inside the sheild (white areas) and the open sections of the buster rifle. the milliput i have dries within 2-3 hours. ive read the instructions but i would like to know some tips when to trim off excess putty before it gets too hard shape. i have to admit building and painting an SD is much more difficult than i expected. the areas that need paint are obviously slightly harder to paint.

[MoonLightShadows]

Hello, My 1/100 00 Raiser.

Spoiler for -:

[GameraBaenre]

Originally Posted by Deliverance

So the washing method....For panel lines....so can I do it the following way?

-When I paint my gundam It doesn't matter if i paint it gloss or matt, I will go over it with a top coat that gives it a matt finish. But before I do panel lines after painting Would i spray it with a gloss coating? do the panel lines, then after assembly spray it all with a matt top coat?

Correct. Think of the matt surface as a sponge and a glossy surface as a very smooth, the ink will stay in the lines over the smooth surface, but will run all over the place if it was a spongy surface.

When you're done, just spray your choice of finish over the kit and you're done.

I mean I know everyone says to paint it the way "I Myself think it should look" But the thing is i think they should look like the picture XD The way they are in the show. Sadly If somebody could explain to me the difference and benefits as well as cons of acrylic and oil paints, if thats right? Also by the looks of it, for each paint brand the colors aren't the same, though the name is...Tamiya looked good, but is Gunze Sanyo good....im not sure what i mean by good, but Im not sure what paint to use in general, so recommendations and explanations I would appreciate

There are three different paint types that most modelers are familiar with:
Lacquer (also know as solvent based) brands of this type of paint are gunze's MR Color, Gaia Notes, Finisher's, Alclad II, etc

Enamels (oil based) - tamiya, model masters, testors, humbrol, etc

Acrylics (alcohol/water soluble) - tamiya, model masters, etc (the bottle will say enamel or acrylic)

Now, each paint type have their own properties specific to them. They will not mix with one another. Lacquers are the strongest paint, meaning that they will eat through an acrylic layer of paint. Acrylics are the weakest paint, meaning they are very delicate on the surface of kits and need a lot of time to fully cure (chemically bond to the plastic).

Acrylics and lacquers are VERY fast drying paints, so they're not recommended for hand painting, unless you use some form of retarder that slows down the drying process. So these paints are usually best for airbrushing. Drying and curing are different ideas, the paint can be dry to the touch, but not cured.

Enamels take the longest to dry, but once dry, they're fully cured. They are very strong paints once they dry, but it takes a while for them to fully dry.

Knowing these properties, you can manipulate them for use such as the wash method, which employs the difference in physical properties of the paints. For example, a kit painted with acrylics can have enamel paints as the wash solution, but cannot use a lacquer wash as the lacquer will eat the acrylic, nor can it use the acrylic as the wash as a wash WILL NOT WORK with two of the same paint types directly over one another.

A kit painted with acrylics can use either enamels or acrylics as the wash solution. An kit painted with enamels can use acrylics.

A general rule of thumb is to just avoid using lacquers as a wash solution.

The best paint for a wash solution is enamel based paints as they are slow drying and oil based, which allows them to flow more easily than other paint types.

Now, as far as color goes. The most noticable difference in color quality is with lacquer based metallics. Lacquer based metallics are the best metallics. The particle size of metallic flakes in acrylics are the WORSE. Enamels are somewhere in between acrylics and lacquers.

Certain colors will be difficult to paint regardless of what type of paint you use. Whites and yellows for example, are the hardest colors to paint because of how heavy they are in pigment.

In my model paints drawer, I have only lacquer paints and enamel paints as I use both. Enamels are used for weathering, panel lines, etc. Lacquers are used for general painting. In the past, I used acrylics, but have switched over to lacquers. I recommend that if you are still unsure about what paint you like, get a single bottle of each paint type with the same color and figure out what works best for you. Then use that as your paint.


Now to my own project I have going on - so far, I have painted the kit using Mr Color lacquer paints for the light gray areas, the metallic blue is Finisher's lacquer paint, metallic indigo to be exact. The internals and metallic areas were done with Alclad II lacquer paints. Next step will be a clear coat for all the parts, followed by water slide decals when they arrive, then another clear coat to seal in the decals, then a panel line wash using enamel paints thinned with napatha based lighter fluid.

But for now, here's what the sucker looks like:

Spoiler:

without the flash:




With the flash:

[Like_Clockwork]

I like the shading, is it looks more drastic then I normally see from your stuff??

[GameraBaenre]

Heh, yeah, I went a little heavier on the shading since I didn't do any shading on the blue areas. Once I panel line and flat coat the gray areas, it should be a little more apparent. Going for an odd juxtaposition for the flat gray and glossy blues...

[JC...]

Originally Posted by DC23

Hand painting is the most difficult way of painting Gundams bro...unless you are painting monsters or something that does not need a smooth finish. Spray cans are good...most of my old kits are spray can painted my Kampfer is spray can painted and it even won at Bakuc bro.

Yeah I've painted a 'monster' before, one of those elephants from Lord of the Rings, I sort of fail at model kits of vehicles and stuff >_> some parts don't look too bad, but some is quite terrible. It's good to hear tha spray cans are decent, though i'll be hand painting a bit off my Masurao since the majority is black.

[Saga_CE]

GameraBaenre: about the GN-X, I want to paint mine all metallic, and I'm looking for color samples pics taken with the same light, etc, to compare them properly.

The GN-X, with original color scheme, needs three tones of gray - very light (almost white), light and dark.
For the latter, Alclad II magnesium seems good. For the first, any bright silver on white surfacer coat seems alright (the silver effect would be weaker than on a black coat, but the color would be lighter... unless you know a very light and powerful chrome paint).
But I can't find a suitable "light chrome" for this project.

Any idea? Thanks.

[GameraBaenre]

If you want a "light chrome" I recommend going with a light aluminum from alclad. A chrome or polished aluminum will be too shiny, at least for my tastes and it clashes with the other tones. The magnesium is good for a medium tone. For a dark tone, I recommend either alclad jet exhaust which is a very dark color, or steel, which is only slightly darker than magnesium.

Check out this site for the metallic tone comparison pictures from Alclad. http://www.alclad2.com/lacquer_colors_closeup.html

Not sure if you're only using alclad paints, but for metallics, you can't go wrong. The only issue is that certain colors are more delicate than others, so when you're putting the kit together after painting, make sure the paint has fully cured.

[JC...]

I think I might paint my Masurao Black & Gold hmmm

[GN0010 Nosferatu]

http://ngeekhiong.blogspot.com/2010/...undam-new.html

EPIC WIN.

[Deliverance]

Alright! That gave me a major insight on how to look for paint! Awesome advice, very kind of you.

I want to get started, sadly My sister lives in longbeach (CA) So I cant see her often so it still may be awhile till I can adopt that air compressor of hers. Can't wait though.

As for DC23.....Ridiculously amazing models XD

Anyways a hobby shop owner directed me to some paint that was apparently already thinned, so i could theoretically buy it and turn the compressor on low to do shading. It sounds really convenient. Also There are mixing jars i can use to mix paint, but I don't really want to make an ENTIRE jar of a custom color, that just doesn't sound efficient, Who here mixes there paint in a similar matter? Anyway I can mix a smaller amount but still keep the same % ratio thats in the color guide?

Also anybody know where I can get news on Bandai's plan for gundam kits? I know they just came out with a master grade 1/100 Wing gundam...Are they going to revisit the Wing series? Its been awhile joyriding to my knowledge that they have had a kit for that show.

On another unrelated note that I posted in a gundam Q&A forum...Where is Gundam 0079 in Anime Legends....you would think sense it has a million models and games after it, they would encourage more sales of that series...unless im just the noob that didn't pick it up
...I mean really, every series except 00 is in Anime Legends...Its the only way to get the old series for close to no money.

[Like_Clockwork]

^ i have jars for my mixed paint, its not really inefficient since...you know you really don't have to fill them up all the way. plus if you're gonna have a lot of paint like for my RX-78-2 OYW PS2 is in an custom colors, i need a jar of the same color for color consistency through out. anime legends is the shit too haha so cheap!

[SonicSP]

Originally Posted by GameraBaenre

Correct. Think of the matt surface as a sponge and a glossy surface as a very smooth, the ink will stay in the lines over the smooth surface, but will run all over the place if it was a spongy surface.

When you're done, just spray your choice of finish over the kit and you're done.



There are three different paint types that most modelers are familiar with:
Lacquer (also know as solvent based) brands of this type of paint are gunze's MR Color, Gaia Notes, Finisher's, Alclad II, etc

Enamels (oil based) - tamiya, model masters, testors, humbrol, etc

Acrylics (alcohol/water soluble) - tamiya, model masters, etc (the bottle will say enamel or acrylic)

Now, each paint type have their own properties specific to them. They will not mix with one another. Lacquers are the strongest paint, meaning that they will eat through an acrylic layer of paint. Acrylics are the weakest paint, meaning they are very delicate on the surface of kits and need a lot of time to fully cure (chemically bond to the plastic).

Acrylics and lacquers are VERY fast drying paints, so they're not recommended for hand painting, unless you use some form of retarder that slows down the drying process. So these paints are usually best for airbrushing. Drying and curing are different ideas, the paint can be dry to the touch, but not cured.

Enamels take the longest to dry, but once dry, they're fully cured. They are very strong paints once they dry, but it takes a while for them to fully dry.

Knowing these properties, you can manipulate them for use such as the wash method, which employs the difference in physical properties of the paints. For example, a kit painted with acrylics can have enamel paints as the wash solution, but cannot use a lacquer wash as the lacquer will eat the acrylic, nor can it use the acrylic as the wash as a wash WILL NOT WORK with two of the same paint types directly over one another.

A kit painted with acrylics can use either enamels or acrylics as the wash solution. An kit painted with enamels can use acrylics.

A general rule of thumb is to just avoid using lacquers as a wash solution.

The best paint for a wash solution is enamel based paints as they are slow drying and oil based, which allows them to flow more easily than other paint types.

Now, as far as color goes. The most noticable difference in color quality is with lacquer based metallics. Lacquer based metallics are the best metallics. The particle size of metallic flakes in acrylics are the WORSE. Enamels are somewhere in between acrylics and lacquers.

Certain colors will be difficult to paint regardless of what type of paint you use. Whites and yellows for example, are the hardest colors to paint because of how heavy they are in pigment.

In my model paints drawer, I have only lacquer paints and enamel paints as I use both. Enamels are used for weathering, panel lines, etc. Lacquers are used for general painting. In the past, I used acrylics, but have switched over to lacquers. I recommend that if you are still unsure about what paint you like, get a single bottle of each paint type with the same color and figure out what works best for you. Then use that as your paint.


Now to my own project I have going on - so far, I have painted the kit using Mr Color lacquer paints for the light gray areas, the metallic blue is Finisher's lacquer paint, metallic indigo to be exact. The internals and metallic areas were done with Alclad II lacquer paints. Next step will be a clear coat for all the parts, followed by water slide decals when they arrive, then another clear coat to seal in the decals, then a panel line wash using enamel paints thinned with napatha based lighter fluid.

But for now, here's what the sucker looks like:

Spoiler:

without the flash:




With the flash:

Oh my God.........that GN-X is............well................I cant even find the words to describe it, but I assure you its a super positive thing I'm trying to say.

[duotiga]

he revamp HGUC ZZ Gundam is a must get

http://medio.bz/item.php?cc=20&item=4543112632760

[X207]

its been a while since ive seen any gundam sereis predatingthe CE era. i cant seem to remember the name for this ms. can some one pls tell me shich one this is?
http://www.dalong.net/review/hg/h31/p/h31_5.jpg

[GameraBaenre]

Originally Posted by X207

its been a while since ive seen any gundam sereis predatingthe CE era. i cant seem to remember the name for this ms. can some one pls tell me shich one this is?
http://www.dalong.net/review/hg/h31/p/h31_5.jpg

Bawoo from ZZ Gundam