Seeing double

Recently an acquaintance of mine inquired about the differences between the P-Bandai MG Banshee and MG Banshee Final Battle Ver. When my answer of  "nothing" failed to suffice I promised a picture show to validate my somber confession. If you number amongst the curious click the break and dive into a bit of deja vu!

The Build that Never Ends.

Geara Doga...

Stop being so difficult, please. Admittedly a lot of this is my fault for choosing such a complicated kit as my inaugural airbrush project but you haven't helped things either. You could've told me brown wasn't your color. You could've told me you were tired instead of falling over and ruining my hours of hard work, I would've listened I swear...

Damn you gravity!

Insane pleas aside, MG Geara Doga is coming along slowly. Someday it might even come so far as to be complete - hopefully doing so before I loose my mind. The switch to orange armor from a lighter brown seems a brilliant choice, I'm going to have to repaint that leg armor but for the most part the orange armor parts are done. Unfortunately that means it's time for masking as I've chosen (perhaps fooleshly) to employ a duel color scheme on certain parts. 

Goodbye Tan, perhaps next time.

Gundam chocolate? If only!

While the majority of it will be concealed by the armor, I'm really digging the sexy brown used for the frame. It almost looks like the frame is made of chocolate - but don't eat it or you'll die. This ain't my first paint job, nor is it my first brush with mistakes, what it has been however is deeply frustrating. However I can live with freshly painted parts randomly falling over, when the progress promises such a right sexy model kit.

Well that dear readers is all for now, till next time peeps. eL out!

Red's the new Meh... Pt. II

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote here about how underwhelmed I was with the MG Red Warrior going so far as to question the kits unimpressive coloration and ability to stand on what seemed to be tiny baby feet. Well thanks to the great folks over at Gundam Kits Collection we now know that the latest Build Fighters kit can at least assume a standing pose, even if they aren't the most exciting.

Still got nothing good to say about the coloration of this kit, probably going to need to refer to my Sazabi ver Ka color guide whenever this kit ends up in my hands. Anyways that's enough on this topic for this guy, click the link above and check out the rest of the magazine scans.

Red's the new Meh...

Thanks to Gundam Guy blog - love those guys/gals/robots/space aliens - the Gunpla-sphere now knows Bandai will be blessing us with a new Master Grade from the extremely rare Build Fighters line (sarcasm). All chiding aside I'm not against BF kits, but I am against underwhelming kits and based on the images presented to the world the Amazing Red Warrior is angling to be a major disappointment. Seriously have a look at that pose and tell me this kit isn't asking, "well whaddya want from me?"

My what small feet you have? The better to float here confusedly my dear!

Looking over this kit a couple of things immediately jump out at me, 1) why isn't this kit in any standing poses and 2) is this really the same company that produced the wondrous Sazabi Ver Ka? Those feet seem disproportionately small and I can't help but wonder if they'll be up to the challenge of supporting interesting action poses?

Regarding that color separation, I'm hoping the lights at Shazuka are to blame for what can only be described as an unimpressive color scheme. You see a suit such as the Amazing Red Warrior, comprised of geometric shapes cannot survive being painted in one solid color unless those colors reduce the impact of it's rectangular form - think black, white or pink. The reason why the red of the Sinanju works is because of the various curves that create natural shadows and contrast. This particular kit needs a Sazabi Ver Ka style paint job, a tomato red complemented by a strategically placed burgundy or wine, in the above image it looks like that may be the case but one cannot be sure just yet.

One final complaint that has nothing at all to do with the look of the suit itself, but probably speaks more to the popularity of a largely unimpressive show, is of all the designs in your stable dear Bandai why in the hell is it the Red Warrior? Why not a Rozen Zula, Gerbera Tetra, Gundam Kyrios, Gundam Virtue, Leo, Taurus, Jegan, Bawoo, Juaggu, Palace Athene, hell even Ms. Sazabi would've made for a more interesting release? Is this suit really that popular in Asia? Somebody tell me I genuinely want to know.

Before I go let me just say this, I've seen enough HG's done up in various magazines to know that this kit can shine in the right hands, my problem lies with the potential that modelers will be required to bring out the shine which is not the Master Grade way. In any case this kit will still - in some far flung future - find it's way into my collection, maybe by then I'll understand why the Meijin chose this kit over the far superior Amazing versions of the Zaku, Kampfer and Exia?

eL Out

Double X Orchid Divider

Halt and bask in my glory fiend!

Back when GunplAfrica came quietly screaming into the world one of the first posts was a custom kit from modeler Chris Mitchell - which you can see here. Now he hath returned to us with a lovely custom MG Gundam X. For those of you with an appreciation for beauty there are an abundance of pictures for your eyes and some words from the modeler that can be read by clicking the jump.

Sinanju Revisited

With the Type C reviewed and MG Geara Doga not eligible for painting until the sun comes back up, now seems like the perfect time to clean up Sinanju Ver. Decal err Ver Ka. Jokes aside. Built waaay back in the days when I thought nub marks were okay (last year). The Sinaju is plagued with unsightly blemishes.

As you can see in the early days of my building life, I completely neglected proper nub trimming etiquette and instead engaged in haphazard trimming. Little did I know that in less than a years time I'd be thoroughly disgusted by the sight of nub marks. Admittedly some of these marks look rather grotesque and may prove impossible impossible to clean up through sanding alone, if so this Ver Ka will probably experience a change of color - I'd always wanted to custom paint a Sinanju. Well that's enough rambling its off to work with this guy. 

Eye Spy the Fourth

Eye Spy peers at... Master Chief errr. Master Grade RGM-79C GM Type C!

Cheers for: 

• Inadvertantly unique color scheme
• Excellent details
• Waterslide decals
• Cool accessories

Jeers for: 

• Blocky feet
• Limited poseability

Details in the form of praises and criticisms can be found after the break.

Eye Spy the Third

Eye Spy peers at... Tomato Samurai errr... Master Grade Marasai

Cheers for:

• Awesome Samurai reminiscent design.
• Sweet poseability
• Vibrant colors

Jeers for:

• Over-sized Bell Bottoms
• Boring weapons
• Missing accessories

Details in the form of praise and criticisms can be found after the break.

MG Geara Doga W.I.P.

Full disclosure, I'm not a big fan of W.I.P. posts, however since I've been highly inconsistent with blog content I've decided to begin the practice in hopes that it'll lead to more regular posts. I don't intend to post every bit of progress, rather I'll post milestones leading up to the Geara Doga's completion. After that it's review time!

While it's no Sazabi Ver. Ka the Geara Doga has a good number of parts and unlike my previous painted build - MG GN-X - there are very few pieces that can be put together and painted as a whole. This is owed to the orange energy cables that are integrated into nearly every limb. 

The energy cables are rubber as opposed to plastic, so I'm not sure how they'll take to my Tamiya Acrylics. To find out I've snipped part of the runner and primed it in preparation for test painting, which won't be happening for at least a week.

You may have notices all the bags in the previous picture and wondered what was going on? Well that's my method for organizing my parts. I use cheap sandwich bags and label them according to what's inside and what color they'll be painted. This one says "Waist Parts Thrusters Flat Earth II, this means this bag contains two waist thruster parts that will be painted with Tamiya's Flat Earth. Another example would be the shoulder armor (not pictured) which is labeled, "Shoulder Armor Parts White & Orange I". 

Frosted glass looking decidedly defrosted.

And here is the first batch of primer blasted parts. Technically this is the second batch of primered parts however, this is my first crack at applying primer via the airbrush and as is my habit this first attempt hasn't gone perfectly. My disappointment is tempered by the reality that I've already begun improving and expect my technique will become more refined as I continue along. 

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! That shield is going to need a bit more work.

Alright so that's all for this W.I.P., unless something dramatic occurs the next installment likely won't come until the colors get applied. Till then keep them sprue bits flying folk!

Who Knew Ugly Could be so Beautiful

Usually a broken, scratched, incomplete thing is utterly abominable but this battle damaged MG Hyaku Shiki by Dunpeel is absolutely masterful. I mean look at it, that battle damage is something wonderful. I'm going to put it out there right now, this is beyond my current skill level and wll worth a looksee. Also that LED enabled I has quite the sinister air to it if I do say so myself.

Shout out to Gundam Guy blog for shining their light on this amazing peace, head over to the artists page for the full gallery of excellent images.