There are a spots on this kit that lack some detail or leave very noticeable holes because something went in its place on the original MG. For example a part that really bothers me is this spot in his chest. You can clearly see when you look down it the pegs that hold it in place.

So I added a thin sheet of pla-plate to cover up the hole.

Then added a Kotobukiya nozzle option part to add some detail to the blank spot.

What it looks like in place:

I also didn’t like this exposed polycap on his shoulder joint:

So I added some minus mold that I sanded down to make it thinner to the shoulder to cover it up.

I also added some 1/16th” magnets to the shoulder armor to make painting easier.

Everything in place:

The gun is also lacking some detail, which I am not quite done with. This particular spot is on the front of the gun, originally the part had a cable coming into the back of it, but the conversion doesn’t use it.

So I covered up the hole with some plate. I will probably add some minus mold or something to give it some detail.

This part is also extremely flat and boring:

So I drilled some holes to match the look of the front of the barrel:

That is all for now.

I’ve got to working on my Core Works EX-S ver. 2 conversion kit quite a bit over the weekend while watching Heroes season 1 on DVD. My goal is to have in finished by the end of May for the Conversion Kit contest over at MechaModelComp. For my first conversion kit I don’t believe I have bitten off more than I can chew at all but I have run into a couple of fitting issues with the kit, which is normal for a conversion I am told. One particularly pain in the ass piece has been the pelvic armor, the resin piece refused to fit properly so I cut off the top of the original piece from the MG kit and attached to the actually changed part of the resin piece with some two part epoxy resin. It doesn’t look like much now but when it is primed you won’t even be able to tell they were separate pieces.

I have also added magnets into the feet, thanks to seeing Mr. Greeds WIP and giving me the idea to do the same. They are a little large but they work great on the foot. I ordered some half the size (1/8th”) for the shoulder armor and a few other pieces, but they haven’t come in yet.

Other than that construction is going smoothly and I have been removing seem lines where needed, noticeably on the back pack. I started using Tamiya extra thin cement in the little glass bottle. I like it so much better than any of the Testor’s crap I have used. The giant blue shoulder things (wtf are those anyways? propellant tanks or something?) are going to be a pain to remove the seem lines, my plan so far is to paint the insides of them as separate pieces then glue them together, remove the seem, mask and paint the outside. In case anyone is wondering I am going with the pretty standard ver. Ka color scheme (mostly blue and white) but I am going to do smallish digi-camo squares on the blue instead of the larger box pattern you normally see on the ver. Ka.

This is certainly the largest model I have built yet, it easily towers over my GM custom even when not on its base.

He is a little sneak peak at the project my roommate is working on, can you guess what it is?

Our first attempt at casting a mold is the dark blue one, the silicone mixture wasn’t correctly proportioned… oops. But the pieces turned out pretty good after making correct molds.

Decided to start shooting some photos with my DSLR.  I got this camera with the main intention of being able to shoot my projects and models.  The kits lens isn’t the best thing in the world and I am looking into getting a macro lens which should be far better for shooting scale models in the future.  The depth of field on the current lens is just a little too shallow.  I also got a tripod which will help greatly in doing long exposures to avoid having harsh shadows on my models. Anyways, I think the camera will really improve the visuals of the site, because I know for damn sure the this new camera is a hell of a lot better than the iPhone’s pathetic camera.

Hyaku-Shiki Photoshoot In The Kitchen

Here are a few example shots I did with it:

MG Hyaku-Shiki

 MG RX-78-2 Ver. O.Y.W.

I have been quite busy with family and friends (life outside the internet… scary) and haven’t had a chance to post anything in awhile. But, despite that I have experienced some new things that are worth worth talking touching on briefly. I saw two new movies over the Christmas/New Years season, National Treasure 2 and AVPR. Both of which I can say were not spectacular in anyway, but they were good popcorn flicks. National Treasure followed the same formula of the first movie. However, in this film, Riley, the partner of Nicolas Cage’s character was even funnier than he was in the first and really provided the comic relief. AVPR was what I expected going into the movie, cheesy dialog and gore. But it delivered on what the name implies, Aliens fighting Predators, and plenty of human bystander casualties.

For Christmas my parents got me an awesome CORE-WOrKS EX-S conversion kit. The pieces are huge and the proportions looks so much better than just the plain master grade. This one I will truly try to make my masterpiece. After I finish my Hyaku-Shiki, Zeta 2.0, and CORE-WOrKS Double Zeta.

New Years Eve was a heck of a party over at Nate’s, my co-blogger on Spoylr, house. Friends, alcohol, and Rock Band were present, which in my book is the formula for a good time. The new DLC for Rock Band is pretty good, particularly Limelight by Rush. New Years day I was playing some Mario Galaxy with Nate (who is almost TOO good at collecting star bits) when I decided that my Wii needed something fresh, so we decided to go get Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. I didn’t buy a zapper, but the game is fun without it. Using the Wiimote doesn’t quite capture the feel of a true lightgun shooter like House of the Dead, but it is pretty close. The game doesn’t really need the nunchuck, so perhaps with one of those gun attachments it would be a little better.

Overall it was good holiday season. As a New Year’s resolution I would like to blog more often. Happy New Year everyone from the writer’s of Spoylr.

Holy crap, they did it, Vicious Project made me like the Nu Gundam. I realize now that the thing I didn’t like all this time about the MG Nu was the poor proportions, it just never looked like the anime equivalent. Well the guys over at Vicious Project made this Evolve beauty. Only one slight problem; it is three hundred bones. Seriously!? For a conversion kit? That is close to $400 with the required Master Grade and shipping costs. Sorry guys, but I will wait for the hobbyfan recast.

There it is, in full completeness, with decals and all; the Unicorn Gundam designed by Katoki Hajime. I am so glad that I have a roommate who also builds Gundams or I would have to drop the cash for two of these just to have one in each mode because they both look so good.

These three models are all badass in their own right but which one do you guys think is the coolest. The first is the standard Master Grade made by Bandai. The second is the CORE-WOrKS conversion kit of the MG RX-93 Nu Gundam (making it significantly taller than the other two). The third is the Vicious Project (a new model team from the guys who used to work for CORE-WOrKs), which is a conversion of the MG Hi-Nu (you can sort of see the similarities between the two conversion kits). My favorite is the Vicious Project, even though it is a tad Gundam SEEDy looking with its slender proportions.

[poll=2]

I ordered this beast about three months ago from Hobbyfan.com and it just came in this afternoon. I would have loved to get an original cast directly from Core Works but sadly it is a discontinued model. I am really excited for this one because not only will it be my first conversion kit, it will be my first time working with resin. It came with a ton of pieces and the cast looks really nice. Minimum warping and air-bubbles to be found. I can’t wait to put this kit together, but I must finish my Hyaku-Shiki and Zeta 2.0 Master Grades first. My triad of Zeta Gundam goodness is nearly ready. The only question remains: do I buy the MG Gundam Mk.II or no (I basically watched one get built from beginning to end with Forrest)?

If you are like me and really enjoy Gundam for what it used to be and not the gay boy-toy fan service it has become (Gundam Seed and the new Gundam 00), then you should love the Unicorn Gundam. A new novel series by Harutoshi Fukui that takes place in the Universal Century. If you also enjoy Gunpla (Gundam Models) like I do then you should be really excited for this amazing looking new Master Grade kit from Bandai. I found these new pictures over at the Hobby Fanatics forums and I have to say the detail looks really impressive. Bandai did say it would be close to Perfect Grade quality in a 1/100 Master Grade (we will see about that). It can transform into its “destroy mode” while still maintaining it’s correct proportions, which has always been a problem with Bandai’s transforming kits. I can’t wait to get my hand’s on this masterpiece. It would look so much better than it already does with some paint, decals, and panel lines!