Weathered OR Clean for my PG SF???

I am having second thoughts on the eventual finishing of my OLD Boys GB project if I will do a clean build or a weathered build due to Mr.Gav's WIP photos of his PG RX build.

Unlike Mr.Gav of Gavin Lee Manners, I very seldom do clean builds. I think I only have a couple of clean builds which are my MG Acguy and my commissioned work RG Aile Strike Gundam. I originally wanted to finish my PG SF clean... but as I've said Mr.Gav's work on his PG RX is poison!!! Great stuff as always and I am looking forward to the completed build!

I am as always leaning towards weathering my PG... I just think it will blend better on my diorama. I just can't make up my mind. Oh well... will see sooner than later. Will work on the diorama this weekend as I am itchy to weather and hand paint all of sudden.

Do check out Mr.Gav at his website at Gavin Lee Manners and also check his new account at Instagram...

GAVINMANNERS @Instagram

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PG Strike Freedom verDC23 Armor Trimming WIP

While I am writing this post, I am actually restraining myself not to show my progress on the diorama of this build so far ( to keep the element of surprise ). I made changes on the diorama last weekend as this Perfect Grade SF is not the original kit for it. Although I said I will no longer post updates of this build here in my blog, I love sharing so much I just can't keep all of my updates to myself. lol

Just a little over a couple of months to go ( October 1 ) before submission at GBWC 2014 here in the Philippines and I just started my entry a couple of weekends ago. I managed to do a bit of modifications on the armor parts and will continue to do so until I am happy with my armor trimming. After armor separation and trimming... will work on adding pla plates and panel lines to the kit.

The plan is NOT to kit bash 3 to 5 MG kits to this Perfect Grade kit and make it look ridiculous. I do not want to sacrifice 5 kits and this expensive PG kit just to try to win at GBWC 2014 ( I am so guilty of this as you can see in my old contest gallery HERE ). The focus is to create a living room showcase out of this for my new house, not a cluster - fuk of my collection modified into one kit. lol

My objective and design goal is simple...

1. Make the Unicorn Gundam Destroy Mode look like it is wearing a sweat shirt. So I plan to expose the gold internals thru armor separation and armor trimming as much as I can.
2. Maximize what this Bandai kit has to offer. I will try not to use too much Kotobukiya option parts, metal parts and builder's parts as much as possible.
3. Try to paint it as clean as I can.

All the design goals and build objectives above are very difficult for me. I used to slap too much pla plates, kotobukiya parts and paint unskillfully all of my old Bandai contest entries for the past 3 years ( 2008 to 2010 ). But then again, old habits die hard much like restraining myself to post my updates. 

Hope I can pull this off though. I like my armor separation and armor trimming so far... will see my progress after next weekend. Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next update guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :b

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GAIA Color Lacquer Paints

I love my Vallejo Model Colors for hand painting and dioramas. However acrylic paints on Bandai Gunpla kits are very prone to scratches. I personally do not re-pose my kits once painted, specially Gunpla on dioramas. I thought my clients would like to re-pose their commissioned works though.

So I decided to shift to GAIA Color Lacquer Paints for the internals. Might or might not use Gaia for the armor parts... So bought some metallics for the meantime. I will definitely use these paints on all my commissioned works and my Perfect Grade Strike Freedom, so stay tuned guys!

A ton of thanks to RENAN SALUMBRE for the paints! Look for him at Facebook for Gaia Color paint orders. 

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PG Strike Freedom SHUTDOWN

Just decided to shutdown my PG Strike Freedom project. This is already the time of the year to get serious with my GBWC 2014 entry, as it will be my first time to join a Bandai sponsored competition since 2010. All contestants have barely a couple of months to work on their projects... And 2 months for a PG Strike Freedom is not easy.

I do not mean shutting down and stopping work on my PG Strike Freedom, what I mean is that I will shutdown or stop posting work in progress updates from now on. Besides I do not see any posts from competition anyways. So I think it's normal to do the same. I really wish to see masterpieces during the contest this year... I hope all the secrecy is dang worth the wait! Lol

How I miss the age of the FORUMS! I miss my first ever forums which was Zerogunz. Zerogunz or Zero-G forums was my home. It was a Malaysia-based forums full of friendly and highly talented modelers. We get to inspire each other through informative work in progress updates everyday. I also miss my very own MAC forums. An uber friendly forums that I think inspired a lot of young modelers to pick up their art knives and start getting serious with their hobby.

Oh well, unlike forums... You only get to see photos and short captions of other modeler's builds these days at Facebook. Not as organize as forums and you do not get the same information as in forums. Anyways, I thought of sharing a few color scheme designs I did in Photoshop yesterday. I used to asked at Zero-G forums what color scheme to choose for my old builds... here they are...

So I guess unlike sharing work in progress updates everyday at forums... It is but fitting to adapt and not post detailed updates at Facebook. Will do post some work in progress photos once my PG Strike Freedom is ready to roll out! 

See you in October! Just enjoy the hobby guys! :)

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Perfect Grade Strike Freedom BFG WIP

Finished snap fitting my PG Strike Freedom during the weekend. I was also able cement the parts with seam lines and could sand those off today ( after giving the cement a day to cure ). I was also able to come up with a Big Fu...ing Gun ( or Bayonet ) and am pretty happy with the rough design as of now. I also plan to create a sort of shield for this build and should do so by next weekend.

Honestly I am having second thoughts if I will push to enter this for GBWC as my original planned kit has just arrived. Besides rushing my first owned Perfect Grade is not a good idea. Will see if what kit to push thru for the Bandai competition once I get home and snapfit my classic ZZ Gundam kit.

Thanks a ton for dropping by! Until next update guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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1986 Bandai 1/100 Full Action ZZ Gundam

I just got a super nice classic Bandai 1/100 model kit today! Woot!!!

This Classic 1986 Bandai 1/100 Full Action ZZ Gundam was shipped to me by the client of my 1/144 Tieren Ground Type verDC23. This kit came with a few pla plates and is my original entry for GBWC 2014. I asked my client ( a Filipino from Japan ) to get me a MG ZZ Gundam and a HGUC EZ8 but both were unavailable. He then sent me this instead, which looks really nice too!

Although I have bought the PG Strike Freedom that I have been working on for less than a week... I can't wait to go home and snapfit this classic! Will see and check if I could do enough modifications on this beautiful kit to merit as an entry for GBWC this year.

I will continue work on my PG Strike Freedom sparingly but will not rush it for GBWC. Anyways, do stay tuned as I try to create something special out of this old Bandai kit.

A ton of thanks to Anonymous at Facebook for this beauty!

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OLD BOYS Group Build and GBWC 2014 Philippines Entry

BANKEE ( Official distributor of Bandai Gunpla model kits in the Philippines ) has just released the RULES and MECHANICS of the upcoming Gunpla Builders World Cup this year! And to my utmost delight, I may now join the Open Category once again! It has been a while since the rules allowed me to join ( see post here ) and I am very excited to start my work on my kit this weekend!

The PG Strike Freedom is not my original plan to enter for this year's GBWC. However unlike previous years, they have moved the competition a month earlier ( usually November ). So I only have barely 3 months to go. I know and I feel that I model kits slower than previous years, so instead of submitting this PG Strike Freedom for our OLD BOYS GB, I will need to enter this same kit as my GBWC entry. Not much choice as you can only do so much in less than 3 months.

Not much custom PG Strike Freedom around the net though ( lazy to search around much ). I have been googling in vain although I found a few great kits from other modelers...

• Custom PG 1/60 Strike Freedom Gundam modeled by Terry Wong  
• Custom PG Strike Freedom modeled by zgmfxg
• Custom PG Strike Freedom modeled by Waylander  

The objective of the build is to try not to KITBASH 10 Master Grade kits and come up with a clustterfuk design. I admire the work of last year's World Champion so much, will try to come up with an interesting kit without putting the boosters of my MG EXS on top of the shoulders of this PG Strike Freedom. I am pretty sure my chance of winning is slimmer, but will stick to my goal of not kitbashing like a madman just to try to win ( LOL ). Do not get me wrong, there are a lot of very talented kitbashers out there with very impressive stuffs! But let's be honest, some works are not so good.

Anyways, goodluck to all particpants. Just enjoy the hobby, enjoy the process, and let the battle begin!!!

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Hero Clix Tidehunter commissioned work

I got a request at Facebook if I could paint this little bugger. The guy sounded so passionate and enthused with this little Hero Clix Tidehunter figure, I thought why not give it a try. 

Nothing much to see in this post, but I wanted to archive a few photos of it before priming and painting. Not much details or rather, details are soft unlike the miniatures that I love to paint. I do like the character design though and should be fun to hand paint nevertheless. 

Looking forward to showing you the results once I finish painting this little thing. Thanks as always for dropping by. Until next update guys. Just enjoy the hobby!

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Transformers 4 Age of Extinction Quick Review

I just saw the 4th installment of the Transformers Age of Extinction yesterday. 

I watched it with my 3 kids and wife, ate a lot of pizza and popcorn and sat there for 165 minutes of mind blowing special effects.

I am not a movie critic or anything, although I would say I am a movie enthusiast as I am a visual effects artist by profession. So unlike movie critics, I did not come to the movie house expecting good character development or complex thrilling sub plots.

I do think Michael Bay tried to show character development and subplots, but as expected they are weak and was obviously not the main concern of the production.

I also must say that I am not a big fan of how the Transformers look in the first place, as I grew up loving the 80's blocky versions instead. I did appreciate Bay for trying to please the old school fans by showing Optimus Prime in his classic look during the first part of the film. 

So not so good plot, subplots, character design and character development aside. The Transformers 4 still delivered the goods in my book. The film is practically 120 minutes of blown buildings, transforming and fighting robots and out of this world action packed scenes. You sit down in the theatre expecting crazy visual effects and you will get crazy visual effects. 

However, for some odd reason, Even with the impressive visual effects. The film was not the sort of experience wherein you talk about it for hours after watching. My wife and kids went straight to shopping at Powebooks and did not even check out the action figures at Toys R Us. 

Highly impressive out of this world visual effects that felt you've all seen it before. This film is best in DVD as my little 6 year old son could skip ( fast forward and rewind ) to the action scenes of the film. Not a film worth sitting for almost 3 hours in a dark room, in my honest opinion.

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Winsor & Newton Artisan WATER Mixable OIL Colour

Yes guys, you read the title right, these OIL paints are WATER soluble! I have been using these paints for so many years now. I used them as weathering paints for my Gunplas and also used them as washes for my dioramas and miniatures.

Experienced modelers would know that although enamels and other non-acrylic paints give you pretty good results when it comes to weathering, these non-acrylic paints HARM the plastics of our model kits in varying levels. Enamel paints are Gunpla Killers Guys!!!

I have been using acrylic Vallejo washes, paints and pigments for so many years, instead of enamels and other paints that harm Gunpla plastic. They are a charm to work with ( if you know what you are doing ), as they dry really fast. Vallejo paints give you vibrant weathering that are very easy to use but give you a different challenge due to their really fast drying time.

I thought of sharing my SECRET weathering paints today. I highly recommend them as you sort of get the best of OIL and ACRYLIC paints. These Winson and Newton paints works like OIL paints as you can manage and control them longer ( slower drying time ). These oil paints are water soluble ( no friggin idea how oil paint is water soluble ), so it feels like you are using acrylic paints.

Imagine using paints with the great properties of OIL paints minus the harmful effects on plastics and with a faster drying time ( than true oil paints ). These paints are inventions from heaven! Do try a tube and I will give your money back if you are not happy with them. LOL

Weather those gunpla away guys! Happy modeling! 

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