Gundam Building Tips?
 

I decided to pickup a few Gundam kits today, and I'm just wondering if you guys had any tips so I can build one that looks pretty good.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...ideoid=4792084

From that video, it seems like it's really handy to have an airbrush as well as a fine tipped brush? For the little nubs that attach onto the plastic sheet, what's the best way to remove it? And for sanding down the edges, what type of grit would be recommended? And lastly, which place in Vancouver could I get my hands on some Gundam pens/paint. I bought my Gundams from Sakura Media, and I don't think I saw any of those (I'll check tomorrow).

Thanks

Crystal Mall/Aberdeen has pens for sale
heres a blog u can check out
http://fudoushin.wordpress.com/

a pretty good gunpla blog..
tho he doesnt paint
if u do paint, then yes..i believe 1000grit is decent

Don't even bother with the gundam markers. If you want to go, go hard and go all the way. If not, just build it nicely and be done with it. Half-assing one WILL show up:thumbsup: Take it from someone that has spent way too much money on these kits.

A decent airbrush+compressor and some putty/sandpaper will go a LONG way. You need time and dedication to this. I have so many half-finished models its crushing to my soul.

best advice is to take your sweet ass time with it, rushing to build it will only fuck it up son

DON'T GLUE YOURSELF TO THE TABLE.

But honestly, try not to get impatient. I know that 99% of people get impatient near the end of their projects and end up breaking things... etc..

Just take your time with everything and the effort will short.

hehe true true.. is it the 1/100 scale.. or the perfect grade ones.. >.> oo

so the only tip is take ur time..
bwahah

ok..the pens are useful if one knows how to use it well..if not, they turn out like crap

putty is use to fill lines...
if not, you can glue it together and the excess can be sanded off to fill the lines

i still have like 4 boxes waiting to be built -___-

I don't get what the putty is meant to do. Why would I need to fill the lines with it? I thought you just painted the pieces, and used the markers to add in color to the lines on the pieces?

I saw a bunch of tools today at that comic place next to Gamer's Workshop today in Metrotown, they had pretty much everything. They had paint in jars ($3), and spraycans ($8). Are they a good price or can I find better elsewhere? I take it I'd use the spray for pieces that need a coat, and the use a fine tip + the jar of paint for fine details?

Putty is pretty advanced stuff. It's meant to fill in the panel lines you create when joining two pieces together. Sometimes there are "gaps" between those pieces (like on a shield) where its supposed to be relatively flat. You putty it, then sand it down then paint so the panel gap is gone!

Just take things one step at a time, don't expect a masterpiece on your first try and it'll be all good

I gave up on gumdam cause it takes wayyy to much time ... i had over 20 models before but I sold them all just cause it was getting way to addicting and my hands look like shit cause of the glue....

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll try on a new Gundam. I currently have a Wing Zero Custom from the Endless Waltz OVA completed, but not painted or anything, just clipped together. Would it better to paint a new Gundam or a pre-existing one? I want to get the Heavyarms Custom from the same OVA as well, so that's probably my next project.

http://kusakusa.files.wordpress.com/...2/harms_05.jpg

Looks so nice, but I doubt mine will look that good, LOL.

Has anyone ever heard of Hobbywave? I did a Google for "Gundam Vancouver" and they were the first entry on the results page with a map to the location. Apparently they have a location on Production Way? From looking on the site, they have lots of varieties, and focus a lot on models, so it'd be nice to get to talk to some of the employees :D

EDIT: NVM, they don't do pickup :(

lol, give me a break, PAINTING a gundam is shit simple in terms of painting models. look how big they are, you hardly have to highlight, you just need fine brushes, and fine motor skills and some time.

painting isnt necessary nowadays. An older kit like the heavyarms will require a paint job. mainly where the canons are and such. Painting the model and have it look good WILL require putty to hide the seam lines.

if not, that blog i posted does have some pretty neat tutorials on building w/o the paint. Its better on the newer kits or the MG kits, but the 1/100 heavy arms and such are so garbage

Crystal mall has alot of older Wing kits

heres my MG Gouf Custom from like..many many years ago..painted, but wasnt too advanced so the seam lines were not covered..i am wayy better now

take the time to work, never rush

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3660/...0fe434.jpg?v=0

Here is my tips for building gundams: Start with a big scale, something like 1:1 would be very easy to make it look realistic.

Without a crane, you can start to build it laid back on the ground like this, feel free to show off to a few of your friends:
http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resou...dam_crisis.jpg

And then you get a crane to stand it back up in the middle of your local park, like this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hidMXyToC8...M_RX78_2_1.jpg

If you can't find a crane large enough, you can hire some illegal immigrants from China and try to disassemble your finished Gundam from the ground, and put it back on a stand piece by piece. Make sure they don't replace your JDM tyte parts with Chinese knockoffs:
http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content...m-statue-1.jpg

anyone know where i can get an MG Unicorn Gundam Ver. Ka?

holy hell... seriously? it's like someone bought bulk from costco and loaded up :haha:

I saw that one at Crystal Mall's second floor in the front store display. I think they have it inside too.

I bought a bunch of supplies today from that same store. The stock is quite big, and there's a small section of paints that are a lot cheaper than the new Ages Three and Up at Metro. I haven't gotten any paints yet though, will probably get it later this week.

Now my next big question is that for spray painting the runners like in this tutorial (http://www.dannychoo.com/adp/eng/213...+Tutorial.html), how exactly do I tell which color to use on each part? Do I just look at the completed example on the side of the box, and compare with each part on the runners? And as for the color guide in the booklet, I can simply use those colors right?

Also, has anyone seen this locally? HG 1/144 Heavyarms Custom - Endless Waltz OVA. I checked both Crystal Mall and Metro. Maybe I can find it at the nightmarket?

http://www.hobbywave.com/images/hobb...arms_c_spp.jpg

thanks man, gonna head over there sometime and get me one of those, probably around 80-100 bucks @@

for the older kits like heavy arms, if they arent here locally, you might have to get them online

Has anyone seen the MG sinanju sold here? don't remember seeing it last time I checked out crystal

Theres this place called jhobby in Richmond in the mall with Supermarket 2000. They stock a bunch of older kits that places like Sakura usually don't have.

I checked today for ya, and it's $65.99 :D It's called Toys Planet. There's actually two of them on the same floor, and I know for sure they have it in the one where the stock is on the right side and the counter on the left (younger cashier, not the old guy).

the old Hobbyplus owners setup shop at Admiralty Center in Richmond. Small shop but they have quite a bit of old and new kits.

there used to be a gundamworkshop at taikoo centre in richmond next to admiralty, they gave some free building courses, learnt alot, using fine brushes and diluted black water based paint instead of gundam markers will fill the lines nicely without giving it a hard solid fake look. and use plastic cement and sand it down to fill the seams of when you connect two parts together without having to use putty....u can hardly see the lines after. then get a can of topcoat ( kinda like clearcoat ) that u can get in gloss, semi gloss, and matte without painting to achieve a textured look!! hope that helped..

woot thanks man, just got me one :D

was 61.99 :D the titanium version is 91.99:eek: