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The inner frames are a great feat of engineering for sure, but have since been abandoned in newer real grade kits in favour of a scaled down master grade type of inner frame. The advanced joints are still used for parts of the real grade kits for things like the Nu funnels and Tallgeese thrusters, but they can be a pain for articulation if you mess up the joints a little when constructing. They are pretty amazing the first time you make them though!
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Feb 17, 2020 06:45
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Null of Undefined posted:Finished building my new gunpla bench. Plenty of organizing left to be done but I'm really happy with how it looks. That's hot. I wish I had woodworking skills and tools because I keep thinking about an actual proper workbench rather than an old dining room table in the basement. JackDarko posted:I love this new hobby. It does wonders for me in terms of mindfulness and helping me with feelings of anxiety. I can't help but set goals for myself with pretty much anything I do, and I'm hoping to be able to start airbrushing kits by 2021. It's really wonderful what Gunpla and scale modeling does for mindfulness and mental wellness. It allows us to focus in a world where countless things deny and sap that focus. There's nothing as refreshing as a mandatory uni-task in the multitask era.
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Feb 17, 2020 14:17
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I've dialed down a bit lately but I did kind of a lot of kits (20+) after switching jobs about nine months ago. That's a good chunk of money spent on plastic but I feel it's worth it in terms of dollars per hour of entertainment. It really gave me something relaxing to do which could be done in short increments after getting the kids to bed when I've got limited time and energy. I find it friendlier than playing videogames or working on personal programming projects or whatever, in that I'm very confident that I'll make measurable progress and relax. Sometimes I'm just not up for failure and frustration. Like, it's work, but it's not hard, and while the risk of wrecking a kit is still there I'm pretty confident at this point that I won't screw up that badly.
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Feb 17, 2020 19:56
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MJP posted:That's hot. I wish I had woodworking skills and tools because I keep thinking about an actual proper workbench rather than an old dining room table in the basement. Here's the thing: you can get wood cut to size for free at Lowe's, and a lot of plans don't call for any joinery or advanced techniques. You probably already have most of what you need to put it together (hammer/mallet, drill, wood glue, screws/nails). I'm inching towards it myself, though I've been putting it off until my partner and I get the overbuilt, fugly futon disassembled and carted out of our craft room. drat thing takes up half the square footage and has more bolts than my car. 
Kraven Moorhed fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Feb 17, 2020 |
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Feb 17, 2020 20:02
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MJP posted:That's hot. I wish I had woodworking skills and tools because I keep thinking about an actual proper workbench rather than an old dining room table in the basement. You can do it! This is the first thing I've ever made with wood so any skills I possess I picked up while I was doing this. You can rent tools from hardware stores for super cheap, and any lumber yard can cut the wood you buy to size! (I cut mine all myself but that's because my main motivation was to learn how to do this) and there's a billion free workbench plans on the internet
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Feb 17, 2020 20:22
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YanniRotten posted:I've dialed down a bit lately but I did kind of a lot of kits (20+) after switching jobs about nine months ago. That's a good chunk of money spent on plastic but I feel it's worth it in terms of dollars per hour of entertainment. this needs to be stressed more when people ask how much your robits cost you.
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Feb 17, 2020 20:42
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My PG Gundam Mk-II fell off the top shelf. I have no idea how, it was in a stable pose and back to the wall exactly for that reason. The miracle though is nothing actually broke. The accessories all came off, it popped apart at the waist and a few panels came off but nothing cracked, snapped or bent. Needless to say though it's going to sit on the low shelf from now on, at least until I can get a couple of fancy glass door cabinets.
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Feb 17, 2020 21:24
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For big ones that I pose without stands, I get some Velcro strips with tape on the back, just cut a small piece for each foot and it should keep things nice and sturdy.
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Feb 17, 2020 22:42
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JackDarko posted:Some scattered thoughts on this beautiful hobby down below for anyone bored reading this thread.
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Feb 18, 2020 00:13
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Can anyone give me a basic rundown on what I'll need to paint a few pieces and have it look good? I'm not looking to do anything extensive, I mostly just want to replace stickers - the ubiquitous black and green "eye" stickers, specifically, as well as the yellow stickers that go on the HGFC Master Gundam, and a few other things of that scale. Edit: Also am I in for a bad time if I get the Crossbone as my first RG? I've done plenty of HGs and MGs, but RGs having tiny parts and the Crossbone being particularly small on top of that makes me nervous. DoubleDonut fucked around with this message at 11:13 on Feb 18, 2020 |
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Feb 18, 2020 11:03
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Nope that's one of the better ones, it's very very tiny though.
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Feb 18, 2020 13:49
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DoubleDonut posted:Can anyone give me a basic rundown on what I'll need to paint a few pieces and have it look good? I'm not looking to do anything extensive, I mostly just want to replace stickers - the ubiquitous black and green "eye" stickers, specifically, as well as the yellow stickers that go on the HGFC Master Gundam, and a few other things of that scale. A couple small bottles of Tamiya or Vallejo acrylics in your preferred colors, some acrylic primer (grey's a good all-around choice), and a #1 brush will cover you. A sable brush is nicer and will keep a point better than a synthetic fiber, but costs significantly more, so only get one if you think you're going to be regularly doing small detail work. If you do, buy one off an actual art supplier, since a lot of the sable brushes on Amazon are counterfeit. You could also get a decent metallic to replicate the eye sticker backing, inks to make the eyes properly translucent, masking tape to keep things sharp, thinners and glaze media, a rattlecan of matte varnish, brush soap and and and As with anything involving modelling work, you can go very cheap and basic, or you can also immediately dive down a terrifying rabbit hole of complexity and cost. It's kinda up to you how far you go with it.
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Feb 18, 2020 14:17
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Speaking of acrylic paints... I bought some ready-mixed acrylic washes (Vallejo) to try my hand at lining. The black works great, runs through the panel details really well. The grey on the other hand is a real struggle. It's the same consistency so it runs really well, but when it dries it's very patchy. Would I get better results if I mixed the wash myself or is grey just a pain in the butt for some reason?
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Feb 18, 2020 14:28
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Try shaking up the bottle firm, it may be some of the pigmentation has really seperated to the black, failing that, try a second coat. Which range of Vallejo washes are you using? I use Model Color a lot and I quite like them. For doing things like panel lining, washes and weathering, do goons recommend gloss varnishing first?
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Feb 18, 2020 14:54
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cohsae posted:Speaking of acrylic paints... So it's always possible you just got a crappy batch. It's equally possible there's some separation going. Shake the hell out of the bottle - if you get to the point where you're physically tired of doing it, bored out of your mind, and you know there's no possible way that you could be doing anything productive at this point, keep going for another 30 seconds. If it's still jacked up after that, see if Vallejo will replace it. Flipswitch posted:Try shaking up the bottle firm, it may be some of the pigmentation has really seperated to the black, failing that, try a second coat. Which range of Vallejo washes are you using? I use Model Color a lot and I quite like them. Strongly recommended. You won't always want to gloss coat before you start, but those are pretty rare occasions and by that point you'll have a notion as to whether or not it's a good idea for the effect you're trying to get.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:02
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Flipswitch posted:Try shaking up the bottle firm, it may be some of the pigmentation has really seperated to the black, failing that, try a second coat. Which range of Vallejo washes are you using? I use Model Color a lot and I quite like them. Over flat paint: yes Over floss or semigloss paint: not usually Bare plastic: depends on if the washes will eat into the plastic or not Some people varnish every pass of weathering but if you let the paint cure you won’t usually have a problem.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:04
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cohsae posted:Speaking of acrylic paints... I use a couple vallejo grey washes and they just kinda leave tide marks everywhere, it sucks.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:08
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I use vallejo for aibrushing and they are awesome, but I've always had more luck with enamel paint washes.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:50
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You can also drop a ball bearing or BB into a bottle of paint that doesn’t like to mix well to add some agitation while you shake. Used to do that with metallic nail polish back when I was into that sort of thing.
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Feb 18, 2020 19:01
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Is there a reason to use gloss varnish over a matte or satin? Outside of just finishing my painted gaming miniatures I don't know much about varnishing miniatures.
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Feb 18, 2020 19:32
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Flipswitch posted:Is there a reason to use gloss varnish over a matte or satin? Outside of just finishing my painted gaming miniatures I don't know much about varnishing miniatures. I can't speak to miniatures, but for gunpla using gloss first gives you a smooth surface for decals and a protective layer over your paint for whatever panel line wash or other effects you want to layer on. That way if you then need to take some off you don't get at your base colors underneath. A lot of people will gloss → details and decals → satin/matte to finish
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Feb 18, 2020 19:34
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Gloss is slicker and harder. For stuff like washes, it'll give you a more uniform look. Satin and matte varnishes can make a wash spider a bit, because they're rougher. You can always do gloss -> weathering -> matte, to seal everything up and make it nice and flat again. That's actually the preferred way to do stuff like decals. E: beaten with nicer arrows, but it works for Gundams, scale models and miniatures just as well. Glaze your tiny men before you wash them for sharp lines.
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Feb 18, 2020 19:35
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Vallejo washes are crap, but it's not because of the brand it's because it's acrylic. Dries way to fast so lighter colours will not look right. You can get away with black but it still won't look as good as a enamel wash. Enamels good as it will run through the panel lines evenly, the thinner will evaporate quickly and the paint will take longer to dry and has better self levelling properties.
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Feb 18, 2020 20:20
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Thanks for the replies dudes. Off to work on robots I go!
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Feb 18, 2020 20:25
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MJP posted:It's really wonderful what Gunpla and scale modeling does for mindfulness and mental wellness. It allows us to focus in a world where countless things deny and sap that focus. There's nothing as refreshing as a mandatory uni-task in the multitask era. This is exactly why I try to get in 2 or 3 building sessions a week at my desk. And here's what I've been working on !  I'm thinking panel lines, some black checkerboarding, swap in a weapon that actually looks cool, get a good pose in, and some terrain.
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Feb 18, 2020 22:38
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Building is definitely really good for my mental health, but I wanged up my hand again last week and intricate poo poo is not working for me at the moment  Might go pick up some Legos in the meantime. I need the stress relief, but it's not really stress relief when I don't have the motor skills to do it right.
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Feb 18, 2020 22:49
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JackDarko posted:I love this new hobby. It does wonders for me in terms of mindfulness and helping me with feelings of anxiety. I can't help but set goals for myself with pretty much anything I do, and I'm hoping to be able to start airbrushing kits by 2021. I feel the same way - a means by which to put my brain in my fingers for a while. I will fully admit that, though I rationally know it's a glorified commercial, Build Fighters (and Try), made it so I want to build as if I could actually go into Gunpla Battle. My shelves are currently full and I haven't found anything I've just totally fallen in love with for a bit so I think my next project will be to get some 30MM lots and try to learn how to paint just like you! Here's the last one I completed:  MG Freedom Gundam Took me about a month to complete, and like a really good book I almost felt sad when I was done with it. Here's the shelves now:   (Sorry about the lighting, house is still a work in progress) I've really fallen back in love with this. Hopefully soon I'll feel ready to try out a PG, though I have no idea where I'd put it!
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Feb 18, 2020 23:44
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tsaofen posted:Here's the shelves now: Don't apologize, that shelf looks dope af. My robots are all crammed together on a couple tiny shelves, or on top of my lovely printer that I want to yeet off the roof of my apartment building.
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Feb 19, 2020 01:27
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tsaofen posted:I feel the same way - a means by which to put my brain in my fingers for a while. I will fully admit that, though I rationally know it's a glorified commercial, Build Fighters (and Try), made it so I want to build as if I could actually go into Gunpla Battle. Those shows got me into the hobby as well. I finished Build Divers and almost immediately bought the hg gundam astaroth. I'll post pics of mine once I build my gundam sandrock. Holding off right now cause it's my last one right now. After it's done I'm planning to get am rg build strike or mg barbatos or exia. I've also been inspired by all this to try and develop a tabletop game for mecha battles. Once I've got rules I'm going to use my gunpla to test it out.
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Feb 19, 2020 02:58
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Those shelves are great, I'm keen to having some of my robo dudes on display.
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Feb 19, 2020 10:37
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I build the Figure-Rise Mechanics HARO this week and thought it was really cool, if deceptively fragile--two separate parts broke unexpectedly while disassembling it (but along seams that made the repairs hard to notice). One cool thing I didn't realize was that it comes with a stand-in "power unit" that you can replace with the LED unit, but it's actually nearly the same part (even with a partial cutout for the JST connectors the LED unit uses). It should be no problem for me to turn it into an actual LED unit, and one with a more-conveniently located power switch than the official one (which is annoying to access, since you have to remove a couple parts to remove the power unit and toggle the switch). The only significant issue is that one of the pieces of the shell was slightly warped and did not sit flush on the surface. It's a molding issue, not a build issue--they also include a copy of the runner in transparent green, which was unwarped and fit together flush. The warped piece is the correct dimensions and looked right when pressed flat, but without adding magnets or gluing it it sticks out.   I tried to find out if this was just an issue with mine, so I pulled up two review videos--one showed it unwarped, and the other showed warping on the same piece at the same location (although they didn't comment on it). I found one deleted reddit post from December asking if anyone else had this issue, but nothing else there. Maybe the initial run was fine, but they messed something up on subsequent production runs? Since this was only a $20 kit, I decided to try "fixing" it. I decided that dipping the part in hot water and bending it by hand would probably be the easiest thing to do, so I went for it. And it sorta worked, but there was a complication.  I heated it up too hot and didn't cool it quickly enough, so the polystyrene shrunk. Luckily it was only on one side of the part (i only partially submerged it in water), but annoyingly the stresses in the plastic around where the runner used to be attached formed a divot. I'm probably just gonna try repairing it by cementing a bit of the tag from the runner onto it and then doing a bunch of filing and sanding lol. If I were to try this again, it probably would have worked better if I had insulated the thinner bits of the part (with modeling clay probably), along with everything except the region I wanted to bend. And maybe it would have warped less if i heated it quickly, bent it and then instantly cooled it. Alternatively, I could have tried to soften the plastic by applying a bunch of plastic cement on the under side and allow it to be absorbed, and then bend it (and then clamped it in place until it was cured)--I have no idea if this would work or not, but it seems like something to try.
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Feb 19, 2020 21:24
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FWIW my one doesn't all line up 100%.
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Feb 19, 2020 21:28
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Did some panel lines on my 30mm at lunch. I also stole a proper Mobile Suit weapon from another kit; the stock will need some modification but it looks right to me. I may make a third pass on the knees, they're still sloppy.
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Feb 19, 2020 22:00
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I'm not particularly jazzed that the safety helmet escort Jegan and the Varguil are P-Bandai, that premium for what amounts to a regular rear end HG kit is harsh. I'm digging the Messer though.
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Feb 19, 2020 23:45
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This owns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imUFv-ySzo4
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Feb 20, 2020 05:49
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Tasteful weathering!
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Feb 20, 2020 05:54
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Finished an ancient Mazinger Z kit today. I’ll never take a Bandai kit for granted ever again A bunch of the parts were rubber which was an interesting painting challenge. Rocket Punch works at least
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Feb 20, 2020 09:17
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Null of Undefined posted:Finished an ancient Mazinger Z kit today. I’ll never take a Bandai kit for granted ever again That IS a Bandai kit, just FYI.  I have the Great Mazinger from that line. That kit made me despise any model kit stupid enough to need screws - I literally put my blood into finishing that POS.
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Feb 20, 2020 09:23
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Null of Undefined posted:Over flat paint: yes It's over bare plastic, so I'm assuming yes? - as the plastic surface probably wouldn't catch the detail/weathering very well without a varnish to hold onto, right? I'll be painting future kits, but not this 30mm dude.
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Feb 20, 2020 12:20
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Slanderer posted:I build the Figure-Rise Mechanics HARO this week and thought it was really cool, if deceptively fragile--two separate parts broke unexpectedly while disassembling it (but along seams that made the repairs hard to notice). One cool thing I didn't realize was that it comes with a stand-in "power unit" that you can replace with the LED unit, but it's actually nearly the same part (even with a partial cutout for the JST connectors the LED unit uses). It should be no problem for me to turn it into an actual LED unit, and one with a more-conveniently located power switch than the official one (which is annoying to access, since you have to remove a couple parts to remove the power unit and toggle the switch). Thanks for the info post! I bought the pink version a couple weeks ago but I haven't gotten around to building it yet (or anything else from that order, really..) but I'll report back if it has the same issues. Right now it's pretty hard to tell while the parts are all still attached to the runners..
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Feb 20, 2020 12:38
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