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Have been hitting a serious wall with gunpla and the 3D scanner, so I decided to switch scales from 1/144 and 1/100 to 1/1 for a little bit.

The Mark I mask was a good warm-up project; I followed Adam Savage’s paint process for the prop fairly closely though I definitely rushed the Molotow before it had a chance to properly cure. Regardless, it was good to shake off the cobwebs and to try some Tamiya weathering palettes I've had kicking around. (I found a decent model on Thingiverse.)

We finally got around to watching The Mandalorian and I knew pretty much right away I had to do a helmet. I wans't wild about the colors but I've pretty much fallen in love with the Heavy Infantry design. I'm definitely kicking myself for using the pre-sliced model to save time becasue I'm in filler/sanding hell, but I'm otherwise very pleased with how it's turning out. Check out Red Bow Props where I bought the model files.

Finally, I have no affinity for the 2017 Ghost in the Shell movie but some of the prop designs are ludicrously cool—particularly the Major's thermoptic pistol. Again, I found a great 3D model to start with and ran the print with a 2:1 blend of clear and smoky black Siraya Tech Simple resin. As long as everything goes according to plan it should have that nice translucent effect once I'm done finishing it.

We're probably moving in the next few months so fingers crossed I'll have a bigger/more permanent workshop space soon. In the meantime, I'm seeing if I can switch to Zbrush as a better modeling/sculpting environment for resin kits or expansion parts for gunpla.

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Remember this guy? Been playing with some new tools in my toolbox. 

Can you guess what I’m working on next?

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welp

You ever have your landlord demand to tear up your floors in order to perform plumbing maintenance during a pandemic, only to realize after the dust has settled that a lot* of gunpla got knocked into the trash in the process?

Fuck.

Anyway. I think I’m back in the custom build groove so I may have some projects up here relatively shortly.

Stay safe, stay healthy.

*Three MGs, at least two HGs, and my first top-coated kit, the RG GP01. Not that I’m mad.

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Boom! Finally finished my Guntank Early Type Ver. White Base. I’ve had this one in the hopper for a long time (I finished painting all the way back in September) but finally picked up the momentum to finish some limited weathering and top-coating. I’d originally swapped in the original HG kit’s missile launchers in lieu of the Early Type’s machine guns but ended up going back to the regular guns; something about the proportions just didn’t add up. 

There’s a little wear from handling and some matte coat build-up in a few spots but this was my first weathered kit and I’m really pleased with the final effect. Grungy, but not completely beat to hell. In that vein, I was very happy to hear Bandai’s releasing the HG RX-78-02—so I’m thinking I may try to do a full Origin-style set of the White Base mobile suits.

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Been a minute. Moved last summer so I’m finally starting to get back into a good groove. Picked up a few older projects so here’s hoping I’ll have stuff to share soon.

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Firebase Leo, Pt. II

Getting close to a final design for the Leo custom I started putting together [a while back](https://poly-cap.tumblr.com/post/183234630678/firebase-leo-after-all-the-detailing-and-cleanup). Though I really wanted to make the folding armor panels work there was something about the fully-kneeling position which didn’t sit right with me—if it was a long-range artillery unit, why was it so heavily-armored?

Instead, I started thinking of it as a more as a “man”-portable artillery piece providing fire from unconventional positioning (mountains, etc.) and the changes started coming together. I switched to a Leo NPD to save the “normal” version for a stock build and to accommodate the weird column head which felt appropriate for sensors, scopes, and what-have-you. Will stew on this for a while yet to make sure I’m really happy with the design changes but I’m pretty satisfied where it stands now.

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Been feeling a bit burnt out so working on a light custom project. Hoping to finish modifications and paint before the end of next week (or I get distracted by whatever the next shiny thing is).

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I stumbled across the Gundam Legilis a while back and was quite taken with it; unfortunately, it hasn’t been re-released in ages and costs a small fortune. Instead, I’ve started customizing a Geara Ghirarga to get somewhere close to it and I’m quite happy with it so far.

I used some Krylon Colormaster paint/primer to get a feel for how my modifications were sitting but unfortunately it oversprayed a ton. As a result, most of the kit is sitting in a SimpleGreen bath right now—so I’m amusing myself by mocking out the final colors.

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Really happy with how the Gerbera Tetra turned out. Didn’t love the kit when I first assembled it but detail painting made an awfully big difference. Waiting on the chrome to cure then it goes in the queue for top coat.

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Well, I hit a bit of a wall. In the spirit of celebrating my first year of gunpla I was finally getting back around to the detailing the RG RX-78-2. (My partner gave it to me for my birthday last year.) In short order I snapped it up, loved it, and then moved on to my next kit for fear of screwing up the finer points with sloppy detail work.

Which brought me to last week where I was miserably trying to fix a snapped Real Grade inner frame with no luck. As best I can tell I hadn’t loosened up the frame and a particularly nasty build-up of dust did it in. With no means of fixing the guts of a double-elbow and keeping its mobility I resigned it to the spare parts bin*.

It’s a big bummer and it kind of encapsulates the distinct ambivlance I’ve been feeling toward RG kits. The level of detail is incredible but after a few dozen HG kits I don’t have much patience for Real Grade fragility and fiddiliness. However, I stumbled onto a chance deal on the RG Sazabi and have been pretty impressed and interested with the first few parts I’ve done there.

All told, I’m probably not hitting my deadline of a nice display shelf of “finished” kits by my one-year point and I’ve come to terms with it. (To take a break I did my first sewing project and it was actually pretty fascinating?) Regardless, hoping to continue putting a bow on kits rather than expanding my lengthy, lengthy backlog even further.

*I’ve since decided this is a good chance to mess with a detailed diorama, so who knows if it will see day again.

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Firebase Leo

After all the detailing and cleanup work I did on the RG Wing and Tallgeese I needed a palate cleanser—so I’ve started work on what I’m tentatively calling “Firebase Leo”. A few inspirations:

I’m following ZakuAurelius’ “Trash to Treasure” series and while I’d never call the Leo trash I liked his use of the super-chunky Solomon Express designs.

The P-Bandai HG Leo variants are really neat in that they haven’t really changed the Leo itself; they’re plugging into a flexible base design with cool packs and accessories. In that spirit, I’ve challenged myself to leave the base Leo alone and only create or modify attachements.

Looking to other grunt suits for inspiration, I found the Tieren Long-Range Cannon Type from 00 which seemed like a shoo-in. (Who couldn’t love a mobile suit with a stonking big gun for a head?)

With that in mind, I started slicing up a HG Strike Rouge IWSP I’d gotten on the cheap was off to the races with its backpack and attachments. Frankly, the original cannons were nowhere ridiculous enough which led to me temporarily liberating some cannons from the HG Barbatos & Kutan set. And, while I was at it, I also decided to get weird with some custom hinges in the knee armor.

I’m not in love with the rear support legs and the arms/torso need some armor but generally I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made so far. Currently waiting on replacement cannons from some HG IBO MS Option Set kits so I can properly modify and mount them but am working on additional armor in the interim.

Kits/parts used: HGAC Leo, HGSMSV Strike Rouge IWSP, HGBF Striker GN-X, HGIBO Gundam Barbatos & LDTB Kutan HGBC Ballden Arm Arms, HGBC Mega Ride Launcher

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I started this hobby nearly a year ago with the RG Wing Gundam so I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate its birthday: detailed, decaled, and posed with the RG Tallgeese.

There are plenty of stress marks (who knew that cuticle trimmers were bad for models) but I couldn’t be happier with how much I cleaned up and all progress I’ve made:

Detailed and panel lined

Waterslides from SamuelDecal

Top coated with Pledge Floor Gloss and Tamiya X-21

I’ve come a long way on other techniques as well but it felt fitting to nail it on the essentials with this project. And, now that I have a makeshift photo booth which is putting out decent results, I’m looking forward to documenting the rest of my projects thus far.

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WIP of my first kitbash. I started with the concept image for the shorter build as a high-manueverability brawler though the taller version is growing on me. RG Unicorn to scale. (The taller one is feeling more and more like a Barbartos variant rather than its own thing?)

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It’s a Gunpla blog

Hey hey. I started building Gunpla for the first time this spring and figured I’d start a blog. A quick recap:

My partner was gone for a weekend so I built the RG-20 Wing Gundam out of nostalgia for the show and a way to kill time.

Watched Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, then bought the RG-27 Unicorn and RG-28 Banshee Norn from a local shop.

Bought the RG-12 Zephyranthes and the RG-26 Zaku from a shop an hour’s drive away…

(Three months pass.)

Bought the HGUC-204 for… reasons.

Which is how I ended up with my twenty-fourth Gunpla kit three months later. So. Here goes.