Nice builds. I’ve considered getting V2 of the Zeta. Just haven’t gotten around to it.
I built the Master Grade (MG) versions of the Shining Gundam and the Wing Gundam (both Endless Waltz and TV Versions) years ago. Unfortunately, they were destroyed in a move. My brother bought the God Gundam kit for me since he knew I was hurt and as a joke in the context of the show. I honestly let it sit for about 10 years.
Then in 2019, I got the itch to build things again. I finally completed the God Gundam in January of last year.
I used to, but I never got serious about it with painting them or anything cause the level of investment needed to make them REALLY look good was just too much for me. But just making the plastic kits as is was also unsatisfying, so I just stopped altogether eventually.
I just do minor details and clean off the nubs. I intended to topcoat them with a matte finish but stopped because it got too cold. A full year going through all the seasons and they still aren’t painted
The only gundam that I want to do something custom with is the Strike Rouge. My favorite Decepticon is Skywarp, so I wanted to do a custom paint scheme. I’ve painted pieces before, but nothing this small.
I got a couple for Christmas 2 years ago, I’ve finished 2 out of the 3 I got. Nothing custom like these but I was definitely surprised by the complexity involved though.
The last one is a higher grade so I’ve been putting it off lol.
here’s something also GUNDAM-related, though a little different;
“China Kousaka” and “MOBILE DOLL Sarah” from BUILD FIGHTERS and BUILD DIVERS, respectively;
Alot of the stuff you can do to make your model look better are the little things, sanding or filing away at any mold lines and flashing, and cleaning up spruce marks are all easy to do.
And you need less than $10 to do it with, some fine side cutters, a hobby knife with a sharp blade, and some emery boards for nails and maybe a finger nail buffer board is all you need. And if joints are too loose coating the ball joint surface with some super glue helps to thicken the part and make joints on models more stiff.
You can go with the God Hand Nippers, but I’ve been using a set from Home Depot that were about $10. The God Hand’s are great, but as a novice, I don’t think they are worth it (yet).
As far as sanding the nubs down, I got some craft sticks and a few sheets sandpaper of various grits.
Use some thinly spread hot glue or rubber cement to attach a section to the craft stick.
After attaching one side, do the same for the other side and fold it over.
Trim it so you have edges with no overlap.
Now you have sanding sticks of varying grits. In my arsenal, I have 150, 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000.
Unless the nibs are god awful, I never use the 150 or 220.
If you scroll up to the pic with of the God Gundam, this is the whole eye section. Colored it all in black and used a small detail brush and a dab of reflective green paint from a gundam marker to do the effect without the stickers.
As a bonus, you can also see one of the sanding sticks I made and the nippers that I use.
It’s also how I painted Prime’s eyes with a mix of blue and white paint.
I love gunplay but unfortunately I’m artistically challenged. I’m moving into a bigger space soon. Thinking about using the garage as an airbrush gunplay room.
I hear this is an awesome hobby to get into, but of course I have my reservations both about price and how nerdy this is. Should I watch the shows? Is this worth it?
You don’t have to from my understanding. I don’t build myself but it is similar to most model building you can get more out of it if you are a fan of the shows the model is from but if you just like the design that is also fine.
Most of the shows are entertaining and I recommend most Gundam shows. There is also a more kid friendly Gundam Build show that is ok but it touches more on the Gunpla culture. However none of that really matters if you want amd have the time to take the time to build and/or customize a robot figure you do it.
Probably should have rephrased. I’m wondering how much commitment I have to put into the series, the ironic use of “nerd” is how I used it. Thanks for telling me about the different shows though. I’ll look into it.
