primer is kind of paint with small particles inside - it serves dual purpose as I explained before. You can get primer from other makers but it seems Tamiya and Gunze are the two most popular - Tamiya has a small pray can that can be found cheap depends on shops and sales day whereas Gunze has the primer in bottle so you can use w/ air brush

if you don't want to paint, say the white area you can leave it out though in my case after done fixing seam line and sanding I need to prime/paint anyway

if you don't fix seam line and just snap assemble you can put the flat top coat to kill that plastic sheen which makes the kit like toy

Gundam marker can be useful especially for panel lining though you can use the Routering(?) pen as substitute and it can be found cheaper

it really depends on what you want to achieve
just applying the top coat will give pretty good result with PG kit provided you did the clean assembly but on the other spectrum there are modellers who paint the entire inner frame and outer armours inside and out...

if you trim the peg and do other necessary mod other area for easy removal then you can assemble and disaasemble at will

This post has been edited by dj898: Apr 20 2006, 09:47 AM

Fodder Soldier:
mate I'm no expert and that example you used is one of my very early model.
I'm bit embarassed and flattended if someone think that one's good - I'm planning re-do that one some time in future

Here are some of later ones - PG kits - and hopefully not as bad as that PG Mk-II.

PG Zaku II
PG Gundam

and if anyone's curious here's the one of early PG Gundam I did.
Yes I know it sucks...
At least the new one I built is much more neat and clean - too clean actually and I may put the weathering down the track like I did with PG Zaku II

This post has been edited by dj898: Apr 20 2006, 01:46 PM

no worries mate

for the air compressor I've heard people built their own one using compressor and what not from left over of small bar freezer???

another hobby of mine is collecting game console titles - last time I checked (Oct 05) I have over 600+ titles for several last-gen, curren-gen consoles.

I'd started to collect since early 90s so it's been over a decade now
and constant headache to missus

for PG model they are finished with semi glossy - well I added the flatten agent to glossy top coat I had at that time - but it came out bit too glossy for my liking.

sadly I don't have much choice with top coat as I cannot but in bulk and if I ran out with matt I have to do with glossy one.

I only build MG in 1/100 and PG models - though nowadays spend more time to re-do or fix my old kts due to the lack of time. Only time I had go at building new one is when someone paid me to do. Here's the latest one I build on the commission.

I haven't built 1/144 kits since high school and that was a very long time ago

This post has been edited by dj898: Apr 20 2006, 02:47 PM

for me only Gunpla on display is this ver 1.5 Ramba Ral Gundam diorama
missus tolerates 'coz it has the large wooden base



the rest are all packed away or given away

for the web site to teach?
there are already enough web sites with more skilled modellers out there and I'm not that skilled enough to teach others more like still a lot to learn

I've learnt a lot from military/airplane modellers web site as well as working with few of highly skilled modellers in the past (well before I got married that is)

This post has been edited by dj898: Apr 20 2006, 09:37 PM

i have 7 PG kits built over the time and still one unopened box...
with MG i'd probably built about 20+ though half of them were given away and currently have about 10 MG plus 8 new MG kits

i'd say quality over quantity he he

actually for collection I sometimes pick up odd items when ever I visit Osaka
I picked up old LED portable game machine as well as watch portable game and console game titles

for PG I usually pick up used kit or unfinished kit from friends so it didn't cost me much. Only kit I paid the full price are that unopened Gundam PG kit with two Custom Set boxes

IMHO you get what you pay with compressor and air brush.
the initial outlay maybe high but you will be using 'em for years to come - provided you take good care

if that is 1/100 scale MG kit there is archtecture figure line at 1/100 scale
believe the human figure in the picture is 1/72 scale which is way too big for 1/100 scale kit

actually you could use N scale figures from railway model line
N scale is 1/166 but close enough to 1/144 and they usually come in pre-painted - though cost a lot for the pack of 6-12 figures

for 1/100 scale MG kits you can use either HO scale figure or TT figures though only TT figures I could find is for Archtecture figure line - you know the small figure they use on the building miniature

You need to find these...
(they are all in 1/100 scale)





p.s. and HO scale shop model I picked up at half price sales day last month
http://www.imageshack.com
these kits tend to cost a lot so watch out and if you ever see at discounted price get 'em while you can

This post has been edited by dj898: Apr 24 2006, 07:00 PM

won't much of help since don't think you have railway model chain we have over here...

I looked up on yellow pages and called one of shops specialising in building miniatures for archtectures and they told me to check out couple of shops and HobbyCo in the city had couple of these a.m.r.i. figures. There are more in this range like tables, chairs, and etc. all in 1/100 scale from what I heard from the shop

I suggest to try to contact one of those model/miniature shops in your area and ask where they get those small figures

in terms of marketing as far as Bandai is concerned Seed/Destiny was total flop.

you may not agree but they only sold fair number of DVD but just not enough plastic kits to warrant the success. After all if Gundam line doesn't move the plastic kits then that line is considered to be a failure.

also many people who grown up watching the original Gundam are now in their 30/40 with disposable income and they are the driving force behind the Gundam sales in Japan hence why you will always see Bandai keep releasing the more expensive line ups in first/zeta Gundam era...

now in twenty years time when the people who grown up watching seed are in 30/40 we will see Bandai Namco releasing stacks of Seed MG/PG line ups - maybe...

This post has been edited by dj898: Apr 27 2006, 12:37 PM

some of you may remember my PG AEUG Mk-II with heavy shadow...
well I finally repainted it in Titanz colour and tried the washing using the light grey for the panel line. Well with dark blue colour you cannot use the black line and easiest way to achieve the panel lining is by using the washing with light grey. Before washing I basically pull apart everything and spray inside and out while some parts I stripped the painting or what little they have. and I salvage some parts off mate's junk PG Mk-II Titanz kit to make up couple of parts I broke or gotten too weak after stripping

well enough word, here are the pictures of three modules ready for assembly...
Except that I broke one of pin at the waste so till it's cured I could not put it back together...

Torso
Legs
Backpack

Shield and beam rifle are the next.
As I using the old kit I didn't bother to fix the seam line issue with rifle though next time I build PG Mk-II I definately going to do proper job plus full inner metal fram painting...

I will upload more pictures when I had time to setup the rig to take proper photo.
The above one is quick test shot under single Halogen at the kitchen table at mid night right after I've done rifle and shield...

for the colour mixture can't remember exactly coz it was some left over from previous job. The initial photo were taken with the flash and it kind of brought out those panel line. As you can see in this photo they are not so noticeable...



This post has been edited by dj898: May 3 2006, 10:37 AM

yes it does.
not sure what happened - probable lack of battery power, flash and poor lighting have got to do with it...

wait for the proper photos...

since I was doing repainting of PG Mk-II in Titanz colour about mid way through I grabbed the old PG Gundam and repainted it in Titanz Test Team colour scheme.
As I couldn't get hold of TTT decal in 1/60 scale nor print out with the paper ran out already I just used one from some left overs...
Still few minor areas to fix/change the colour scheme but overall it's almost done - though I'm yet to decide to paint the inner frame. You see this being one of oldest PG kit I built the finish is awful to say the least... sad.gif

test

Yes I know the rifle has rather big seam line but it was made at the time when I was less skilled and frankly I wasn't in the mood nor spare time to fix - busy was doing Mk-II at the same time. Besides I can always grab the spare PG beam rifle and paint in grey

actually that guy is Korean
and what's so crazy about gtting 1/24 HY2M Gundam?

I have one myself you know?!

Now if we talk about 1/12 scale Zaku II statue for home display that is bit crazy me think...

but then there's a guy in Seoul who has 1/32 Ex-S resin kit in his apartment hooked up to 240 VAC for lighting! O_O

This post has been edited by dj898: May 9 2006, 12:25 PM