Dealing and Coping with GUNPLA BurnOut

NO! No I am not experiencing Gunpla Burnout these days. Far from it. I am too anxious to start working on the main kit of my GBWC 2014 entry and I am currently enjoying joggling time in working on my commissioned works these days.I just thought of sharing my experience about the so called Gunpla Burnout.

I experienced a major "Gunpla Burnout" after 2011. I rushed my The O II Hauer in time for GBWC 2011. However the rules did not allow me to enter my The O. The expert category for multiple time winners of any Bandai sponsored competition only allowed friggin OOTB builds. I lost interest after that.

I almost unfriended Gunpla friends in Facebook and hated seeing Gunpla or Gundam updates everyday. I did not update my blog, I basically went awol. Although there are other reasons why I left Gunpla, not being able to enter my The O was definitely one of them.

The photos above are far in between. After my MG The O II custom back in 2011, my next finished Gunpla was the RG Zaku finished last April 2014. 

28 months of NO Gunpla!!! That's 2 years and 4 months! If that did not qualify as Gunpla Burnout, I do not know what does? 

In between 28 months, I did a few miniatures ( see photos below ). Although it seemed that painting minis did not help me to go back to Gunpla, at least my basic modeling skills did not deteriorate much. Working with minis will make you use your hobby knife and makes you hand paint a bit.

If not for painting minis, I could have been cycling the whole time while getting tattoos in between. 

Thanks to minis, I kinda honed my hand painting skills. I did custom bases all the time. Some people think that modeling cars or armor is the best solution to battle Gunpla Burnout. Not for me. Its painting minis for yours truly.

Working with other model kits like cars, armors and plane is almost similar to Gunpla ( albeit harder Imho ). So I do not find it as a cure for Gunpla Burnout as it requires the same amount of patience and the same skills ( maybe more ) to finish one. I know its different for everybody, but its painting minis for me.

WHY? Painting minis is quicker than Gunpla. You get fullfilled faster. You learn a different set of skills to work on one and you get to do dioramas, err bases everytime. No sanding required, you just need to scrape of mold lines and then you prime and paint. I am over simplying minis, but you need to experience it to appreciate it. The photos below shows a few of my completed minis...

I highly doubt I will experience Gunpla Burnout ever again. I have set up a nice workshop in my new house and I just need a nicely built spray booth soon. I wasted 28 months of NO Gunpla already and would try not to let any Bandai sponsored competition pass from now on. I am confident to say that my passion for Gunpla is back, if not more than  before.

However, if Gunpla Burnout does strikes back. I think painting minis will help me cure it. Only this time I know I will be back to Gunpla sooner than 28 months. 

So that is basically your cure for Gunpla Burnout. Try new things, learn new skills and just enjoy the hobby! It's definitelly minis for me... I hope you find yours! 

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Hope to be back soon! :)

 

Hmmm, blogging felt so easy way back.

My previous blog post was back in May of 2013, it felt like a decade ago though. I plan to get back to the hobby once I have set up a nice work station in my house. No plans of getting back to 210 lbs though. My house is currently under construction, which gives me hope that I will finally be able to set up a work station for this hobby I used to love so much.

Basically I lost my house a couple of years back, my camera broke then eventually my trusty old laptop broke down too. All these events led to being lazy with the hobby.

I sincerely apologize to all my pending commission projects ( international and local ). I promise to make it up to you some way or another. I plan to finish all those commish if everyone is still interested or I could give back your down payments. No excuses whatsoever, just had a rough patch these past few years.

I am back on top of the hill now! Not really, but I think I can go back to the hobby sooner than later.

I should be meeting with an old Gunpla friend in Kenny Lim ( of Singapore ) aka TOYMAKER this month. Just seeing the dude should fire me up! That dude sure will inspire and motivate me again to pick up my art knife. Kenny is that handsome.

I will try to update my gallery with kits and toy repaints I finished last year. This blog should be fun or at least busy again this year. I just need to re-learn how to tweak with htmls and stuff. Hope to show stuffs soon. 

Til' next post guys! Just Enjoy the Hobby! :)

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Everybody Needs a Hobby

 

It's been a while since I posted a musing or sort of a rant here in my blog. I feel like ranting today though as I feel like letting out how I feel these days. Blogging has always been a nice outlet for me whenever I don't see anyone that is fit to talk to.

Readers of this blog are mostly people of my same age or people that are younger. I hope the younger dudes get something from this post.

I abruptly resurrected and took up this hobby last month as the politics at work has been very unbearable already. I am not directly involve in the politics, although I strongly felt and acted upon the situation. Funny that I ended up accused as one of the main culprit of the events for the past few months.

I cared so much for these people that I tried to protect all these months. Although I would admit that the word "caring" would be the last word you'll think of if you base your judgment on how I look ( tattoos and all ).

Again at the start of the chaos at the end of the year, I was totally not part of the shit. However I felt like getting involve to try to fix the situation as it was getting out of hand.

The ending was simple... I cared too much, I intervened too much, I protected these people too much... I ended up as the main suspect!

Sooooo many lessons learned!

Love your work, Enjoy your work, Work hard, Be nice to people and never EVER involve yourself in any politics at work.

You involved yourself as you felt it was the fair, right or just thing to do at that time. However as I learned and realized it the hard way... Corporate stuff and corporate politics is shit! It does not matter if your intentions were good, or your actions were just or you feel like protecting friends at that time.

Corporate shit is shit as it is. Corporate politics is illogical, unjust, unfair and at the end of it all... You realize that the people you protected needed no support or protection all those times. I should have protected myself in the first place.

So lesson learned, protect yourself as NO one will do that for you at work, work hard, love your work, be nice to people, care less and stay away from corporate shit.

This HOBBY also played a vital role in all this stuff. This hobby has kept me sane enough to survive the shit last month. Everybody needs a hobby... As it will help you CARE LESS about corporate shit at work.

Hope you find this read useful or entertaining at the very least.

Work Hard but be Nice to People. Care less and Protect yourself always! :)

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DC23 mecharts fixed and repaired!

Much apologies to the visitors of this old blog site. I have neglected this site for a long time since I left the hobby last year. I have not updated the galleries or tutorials for a long time and due to the changes in the blog / site name ( dc23hobbies.com / dc23mecharts.com ) the past few years... some links got broken.

Again much apologies to everyone. Great news though! I just fixed all ( hope so ) broken links within this site and have given it a new brighter look to boost. I also re-installed the Cbox ( chat box ) at my sidebar for quick inquiries. And I am sticking to the old blogspot name this time around. Too lazy and broke to buy domain names every year.

As I am so fond of posting quick snaps at my Instagram account these days, I have also added a cool widget on top showing my recent Instagram photos. I will also be working on another blogger site soon that would feature very good up and coming modelers. So stay tuned guys! Have fun and just enjoy the hobby! :)

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Follow DC23 @ Instagram!

Hi guys! Just a shoutout as I like to invite you to follow me @ Instagram. I spend more time checking and posting at Instagram these days. So any inquiries and shoutouts will be noticed more than here in my blog or even in Facebook.

I know you'll get a bit of random stuffs in my Instagram as I post food, tattoo sessions, family and toy photography a bit. But I will also surely post some quick WIP photos and Gunpla updates there as well.

My Instagram account is DC23_mecharts, see you at Instagram guys and hope to share more plastic stuffs soon! Have fun and just enjoy the hobby! :)

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Custom Z'gok verDC23 up next!

So let's get started! Research time for my first commission work after retirement. This is my "coming out of Gunpla retirement project"! A Z'gok!

A local ( Philippines ) client asked me to commish a custom Z'gok for him that would look very version DC23. The catch is to get crazy on a MG kit without much limitations.

I am not a kitbash modeler... So the kit would not look like a combination ala transformer sort of look. My style would be over detailing of surfaces and this should have a weathered finish once done.

My google research did not yield much results... So I guess I am off to the drawing board. Will have to get the kit soon to get the feel of what to do with it.

The Photos below are pretty handsome looking references of a custom Z'gok...i should be able to create something original with this old master grade kit soon. Stay tuned guys! :)

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Cleaning up my Gunpla workbench...

I am halfway done cleaning up and setting up my Gunpla tools, workbench, work area, display cabinet and kits. So dang tired at this point but have to move on to start on a practice kit or miniature by weekend.

The sad news is that my airbrush is broken and all dried up, most of my supplies like cement and a few paints are all dried up too! And a few tools are rusted! Oh well, it's fun collecting tools anyways.

It's very fun to see my old unbuilt kits and some other stuffs given by old friends from all over. I do not know where to start as I have sooooo many kits. Maybe I could start painting a small miniature just to get things started.

Anyways, will clean up more kits and tools after this post. Stay tuned! :)

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I am BACK to Gunpla!!!

I'm back guys and I have a "coming out of Gunpla retirement commission project" I will be posting soon!

This guy helped me out of retirement coz he told me he wanted a verDC23 kit. I have not touched a plastic kit for a while now, but my new client's enthusiasm made me want to play with plastic again.

Add the fact that I desperately need an outlet from work as it has been HELL at work this past few months. I hope this hobby would help keep my sanity in check and keep my mind off my day job, at least during weekends.

The first thing I have to do is set up a workbench, clean up my tools and maybe snap fit something to get the feel of plastic in my hands again.

Anyways, excited to post updates on my newest commission project soon! Stay tuned guys! :)

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Tattoo craze version DC23

I stopped painting or even touching plastic or any model kit back in July 2012. I practically focused on my day job as I was aiming for a promotion back then.

I got promoted already! For the narrow minded people of the world, I am not going back to my hobby and forget about my real job. It's not like i could do modeling at work anyways.

I feel that i need my hobby back to basically keep my sanity and get my mind off work when at home.

So many good and bad stuffs has happened since August 2012... The thing that standa out us my new tattoo sleeve on my right arm though.

I have always pride myself for looking like an artist. I decided to lose my ponytail last year and felt it was about time i get some ink. I designed most of my tattoos on my sketchpad and my very talented tattoo artist Mia interprets it under my skin.

4 sessions to go to complete my right arm full tattoo sleeve. I am pretty sure you'll get bored with my tattoo updates from now on. Hehe

Now here are some photos of my sleeve so far...

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It's been a while...

I have not blogged for a while and have not touched any plastic or paint for sooooo long. We are about to be released from the hospital in a few hours, and i suddenly felt like re-assembling my PG Aile Strike Gundam all of a sudden. My only PG was a gift from Kenny Lim aka Toymaker of Singapore way back 2012?

It has been and still is very challenging at work these past few months since November last year. I got promoted last year as assistant manager which was the goal and which was the main reason i did away with any form of hobby.

It has been very stressful emotionally and physically at work these past few weeks... And i think i need my old hobby back! I do not think i will be competitive in the plastic hobby again though, as our local organizer does not allow old folks in the main event anyways. I think Just snapping plastic or painting minis could releave stress from work. I think my hobby could keep me sane for the time being.

I am blogging for the first time through an app in my iphone5... If this works, heck! I should be blogging more these days! Stay tuned!

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