Gunpla Chronicles 2: Accessorize

After finishing the Core Fighter, I continued to stay small, working on the Gundam's weapons before getting to the mobile suit itself.  I began with the Beam Rifle, which has a nice two tone look in this kit:

There's not much to say here.  There aren't any nasty marks on the plastic, and I got some nice panel lining on the grey sections of the piece.  I also managed to get the red sticker around the barrel of the rifle to line up nicely.

Next up was the shield.  There's one noticeable flaw on this one - the yellow cross on the front of the shield is uneven at the bottom.  I blame this on overeager sanding.  It isn't hugely glaring, but I'm still disappointed with myself:

On the bright side, I'm happy with how the stickering worked out.  The shield has many stickers which go on its left and right sides, and I think I got them to line up quite well.

The Hyper Bazooka rounds out our assortment of armements.  If the shield was all about sticker alignment, the bazooka was an exercise in proper panel lining.  This thing has a lot of panels, and its small size means that accidental smudging was all too easy.  I had one fit with the eraser that was so bad I had to call in reinforcements (otherwise known as a Qtip).  I can't complain about the finished product though:

Taken as a whole, the unevenness of the cross was my only major gaffe, which means I did a better overall job with these weapons than I did with the Zaku's.  I had a lot trouble applying the stickers on those, and I left one side of the Heat Hawk with what I can only describe as "battle damage".  I'm really happy with my work so far, but all of this has been a warmup for the real thing.  Time to build the Gundam itself.

Gunpla Chronicles 2 - Core Fighter Update

Before I begin the meat of this post, I have an update on the Core Fighter.  I read on numerous gunpla sites that panel lining marker can be removed with a pencil eraser.  I thought it sounded too good to be true, but take a look at what happened when I took an extra fat eraser to the top of the craft:

Good as new! And in a hilarious twist of fate, I lost one of the two stickers that are supposed to go where I just removed the marker.  Thankfully, I didn't like the look of the stickers anyway, so I don't
mind the loss (and I'm still happy that I removed the marker - it looks perfect the way it is now).

I also looked more thoroughly into how to effectively use sandpaper on model kits.  Call me naive, but I didn't realize that you could actually smooth out the look of plastic by using very high grit sandpaper.  While none of the sheets I have are as fine grit as the ones the super Gunpla builders suggested using, they were good enough to fix up the bottom of the Core Fighter.  The lighting in the picture below isn't quite as good as the previous shot of the underside, but I can vouch for the fact that that huge scratch has been buffed out about as nicely as it looks here.

With my two major crises resolved, it was time to apply the remaining stickers. Here's how it looks as it waits to be sprayed with some clear coat paint:

... those stickers look a hell of a lot worse in the picture than they do in real life.

In my last post, I was far from happy with the way the Core Fighter was shaping up, but after being patient and correctly applying these fixes, I think it looks pretty fantastic.  Perhaps it was a good thing that I faced such a challenge right off the bat.  It helped me prove to myself that I can tackle this kit with a better mindset, and that ultimately, I have what it takes to improve.

Gunpla Chronicles 2 - Building the Core Fighter

One of the coolest things about the Real Grade RX 78-2 is the inclusion of a working Core Fighter.  The tiny aircraft can actually be used to help form the torso of the Gundam just like in the show.  Due to its small size, I decided it was a good place to begin.

Before beginning this build, I told myself that I needed to improve on my skills and make fewer mistakes.  To that end, I got a few additional tools to help me out, most notably a set of hobby sandpaper sheets to use in place of the very coarse grit nail file I abused the Zaku with.  Unfortunately, by the end of the first night of work on the Core Fighter, I feel like I haven't gotten any better, and may have even got worse.  Here's a picture of what I wound up with:

You can't quite see it, but the clear plastic of the windshield is a bit scratched up.  Furthermore, those big black panel markings on the top of the fighter are dreadfully ugly, and it turns out that I placed them in a spot where stickers are supposed to go.  I'm not really sure if I can remove them now that they've dried, but I'm crossing my fingers that I can find a reasonable solution.

Here's a picture of the bottom of the fighter as its in docking mode:

There's a nice big scratch running down the left side.  I think this might have been the result of overly aggressive sanding, which means that my new tools are actually doing me more harm than good at this point.

If there is one thing I did learn from my first build, it is the importance of being able to walk away when things look bad, so you can return to it with an actual gameplan, rather than futzing around with desperate, half assed attempts at a solution.  I left this one alone for now, but rest assured that I'm not done with it yet.

Gunpla Chronicles 2

The first series of Gunpla Chronicles entries detailed my attempts to build the Real Grade Char's Custom Zaku II.  While I didn't do a very good job of updating my progress down the stretch, I did get manage to finish the kit.  I found the experience to be challenging, educational, and ultimately rewarding.  While I made more than a few mistakes (and nearly broke one of the leg pieces permanently), I still think the Zaku came out better than I expected for a first try.  To this day I cannot  work in my office without stopping to admire the thing.

I don't know how much farther I plan to take Gunpla as a hobby (I lack the time, money and space to build kits on a regular basis), but ever since last spring I knew I wanted to build at least one more kit to tide me over for the foreseeable future. Now, almost a year later, it's time.

After doing more research on Gunpla, I decided I wanted to stick with the Real Grade line.  The kits are reasonably priced, their small size is perfect for my office, and they are incredibly detailed and well articulated.  I also knew that the choice of which kit to build would not be easy.  After building the Zaku, there aren't many models in the Real Grade line which I care about, not when it is so heavily represented by mobile suits from Gundam Seed.  But of the remaning options, I still had to decide between two of my favorite mechs of all time - the original RX 78-2 Gundam, and the Gundam Mark II.  I like the look of the Mark II better, but the nostalgia factor of the RX 78 was undeniable.  Ultimately, the choice was driven by an overwhelming feeling of obsessive compulsion; Char's Zaku would look out of place standing next to the more advanced Mark II.  Indeed, it had to be paired with its nemesis, the RX 78.  And so it was done.

It may be old school, but it still can't help but look badass

Wish me luck folks.