RG Sazabi Snapfit and Quick Review

I asked my daughter ( @verashley05 ) to snapfit this Real Grade Sazabi for me earlier today. I initially thought of putting up a review of this kit at my Youtube channel, but then I decided I will just do a modification and painting video instead. We have Dalong and a ton of youtubers who reviews ootb kits already. 

FIRST IMPRESSION

I love RG! I love RG! I love RG! Bandai Real Grades, even the older ones are so nice and detailed for their size. Actually they are nice and detailed even in comparison to a few MGs. This kit is just a little more than 7 inches tall. The size is perfect for a nice diorama setting. 

I have zero plans on creating a diorama for this as of this writing tho. Maybe a nice little base, but I have zero diorama ideas so far. 

DETAILING 

I love details. I love detailing both my dioramas and my drawings. Detail is my middle name. I love the peeking grey parts. The exposed internals on some of the armor parts. I feel it needs more panel lines. More panel lines will be awesome for more two tone armor painting. I will add a few panel lines to help my two tone painting later and maybe a few of my usual armor trimming too. . I will also add my usual holes. No pla plating for me, as I will focus on painting for this build. 

PAINTING

I will paint this kit with Vallejo Mecha Colors ( seen in the pics ). Will paint it reds ( and red oranges ), metallic Mecha color paints for the internals and will weather it too. Will weather with Vallejo Mecha Weathering paints. Should be fun. I will have a video of my whole painting process at my Youtube Channel. 

CONCLUSION

I am Excited to paint and weather this! I am excited to share my painting process in video. I am excited to do Gunpla again! 

Thanks as always for dropping by! 

Until next update guys! Cheers!

SHOUTOUT as usual!

I only use Vallejo Acrylic paints in all my builds - Acrylicos Vallejo

I get some of my tools from HOBBYMATE Singapore - HobbyMate at Facebook

And get my Vallejo paints from Neutral Grounds Philippines - Neutral Grounds Philippines

I only use Harder & Steenbeck for airbrushing - Harder & Steenbeck Airbrush

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RG Zaku Diorama " The Old Guard " verDC23

It has been sooooooo long since I finished a Gunpla. My very last Gunpla project was my The O II diorama  back in 2010. It was a build intended for my Face-Off against my good friend Kenny Lim aka Toymaker. Kenny as expected got the upper hand ( LOL ).

This project is my very first diorama after 3 years of hiatus and this is also my very first build as a member of TEAM NEXUS!

Basically  this is just a practice build as I have not done any projects ( even non-gunpla ) projects for a while. Just testing the waters if I can still do Gunpla and if I will still enjoy it. Even though this is only a practice build, I wanted to make it a bit special as this RG Zaku was a gift given by Edmund of HobbyMate, Kenny, YiHui and Ben back when they attended our old MAC forums anniversary party.

Anyways, this was fully hand painted ( except the primer ) with VALLEJO paints. I primed it with Bosny grey primer ( spray can ) and used Vallejo Model Color, Vallejo Game Color, Vallejo Water Effects, Vallejo Pigments and Vallejo Washes. The finish is a bit satin on the RG itself, matte on the groundwork and extremely glossy on the water effects. I have yet to cover this with Vallejo Matte Varnish ( except the beach ) as I've said I have yet to buy a new airbrush.

I was having a hard time getting the correct white balance during the photoshoot. My iphone kept on giving me a different balance whenever I point it towards the Zaku versus the groundwork. Out of frustration, I recorded a short video and post it in my Instagram account. Do check the video out guys!

 http://instagram.com/dc23_mecharts

This was a confidence gaining build as I thought I might not be good ( or at least decent ) in building Gunpla anymore. I guess I am ready to pick up my pending commission works now. :)

Thanks as always for dropping by! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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RG Zaku Diorama WIP040814

I thought my recent WIP post about this project would be my last post.

But I got a few suggestions from readers and a commenter that would improve the project. And because I love my readers and followers ( and their suggestions made so much sense ), I had to address them.

First off, I had to break the hangar extrusion at the left side of the diorama. A follower told me it is sticking out like a sore thumb. The angle was bad and it does not make much sense ( see how it looks like HERE ), so I broke it and cut it into half. Now it looks better overall. The hangar extrusion is blending with the theme a little better.

A friend veteran modeler PMed me about the rough texture of the diorama. I used the Vallejo Black Lava texture paint and it looks too rough for 1/144 scale. So I decided to paint over the old ground work and smoothen out the texture a little bit. I used Vallejo Brown Earth texture paint to reduce the profile of the ground work. Now it looks better on 1/144.

Lastly, a commenter suggested that I need to add more debris or weathering on the shield part as it looks too clean. Addressed that by painting over some Black lava paint. I will have to redo all the dry brushing and washes on these parts to blend them with the previous painted parts.

All the suggestions should help make the build look better once done. So thank you for the suggestions guys!

 

 

I painted over some Water Effects paint earlier today... you need to let it dry for 24 hours, but I hope it looks better once I get home from work today. The Water Effects paint will dry into a transparent rubber-like surface. The diorama is shaping up already and I hope to finish it soon! Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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RG Zaku Diorama WIP040614

My Zaku diorama painting sesion today was cut short as I had to drive my pregnant sister in law to the hospital. Currently waiting if she is going to deliver her baby now.

I thought coming out of retirement is going to be easy! But dang I paint so slow these days. So many layers of washes and dry brushing just to get it to look how I want. I am hand painting this project wholly with Vallejo paints and washes. I am having so much fun eventhough I am kinda slow.

I think I am about halfway done painting this project, so this would be my last WIP for this RG Zaku diorama. Hope this project is done by next weekend ( as I do not have time to do Gunpla on weekdays ). 

I like how my RG Zaku is looking so far and this project made me more excited with my 1/48 Zaku hangar diorama. I could apply more weathering techniques because of the larger scale. Woot! 

Anyways, thanks a ton for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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1/144 RG Zaku diorama WIP - initial layout

Highly inspired by the 1/144 Zaku diorama modelled by PICO ( see photo below ), I thought of using my 1/144 Real Grade Zaku that was a gift by Kenny Lim aka TOYMAKER.

I have always thought of using my 1/144 RG Zaku for a diorama. I wanted to make  a decent diorama to make sure I used Kenny's gift well ( insert bro love here ). Then PICO's build struck me like lightning! It took me a couple of weeks to finally come up with a diorama that would be dramatic and scenic like that of PICO's.

My diorama is highly inspired by PICO's diorama but I do not want mine to look like a rip off! So I thought of a landslide scene! Basically my Zaku is trying to hold back landslide to protect people passing through.

I could go with 2 different directions here. Past or present! I mean I could make the Zaku look like it is already part of the mountain side as the landslide happened years back OR I could make it look like the landslide is happening in the present. 

I could also make it look like the diorama is happening on a moon or happening on earth. Anyways, I hope this turns out well. The initial lay out of the scene looks a bit promising though. 

Thanks for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby. :)

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RG Aile Strike now ready to fly to UK...

My recently finished ootb RG Aile Strike Gundam is now ready to fly to United Kingdom! This kit after assembly did not make it to even one week in my house. It was a fun and quick build and I sure did enjoy taking photos of my first ootb build in years. It was a refreshing change from all the sanding and pla plating stuffs that I usually do before shooting paint. It's just snapfit, paint and reassemble.

I disassembled it again for the last time though. This is to aid in the packing and my client's request. I tried to pack it in the smallest box possible as shipping to UK costs like a bomb! I made sure there are no extra spaces as extra spaces is a cause for scratches. All pieces are individually plastic wrapped and place carefully in the cell phone box.

After FedEx has inspected the package, I will add small pieces of papers ( if need be ) inside the box to ensure safety of every piece. FedEx will also cover this with bubble wrap and another external box before shipping it across the planet to UK. Hope this arrives safe and happy in the arms of it's real owner.

I just got full payment through Paypal and will ship this to the client once the money transfer to my bank account is complete. Should finish the two MG Zeta commissions next... Anyways, here are some photos for my client...

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next post! :)

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