After 4 hours of applying water decal last night, I feel like there's a difference in quality between them. The one supplied with my macross kit (especially vf27) were really hard to applied nicely, but the one for nu, is relatively easy.

BTW, anyone knows where to get water slide decal for RG SF? and how much?

this made me facepalm and wonder why i never thought of this.. i always clip the decals at the corners using the crocodile clips and simply cut them out using scissors.. can become very tedious when it flops about

pure plastic is 2, the 3rd shade is via sticker ala nu ver ka.

no no... i know how to apply... but the problem is how to protect it...
the next day after i apply one of them stick on my finger when i touch it... wonder wat is my mistake

Maybe u put the decal terbalik adi  , the gum side face outside not stick on the plastic.

aiyo so sorry bro, but i did went thro the tutorial pages and other source but for panel lining others put top coat 1st and do it and other just on bare plastic. just wanna know your thoughts and if it makes any difference

IMO, sometimes, it good to experiment with different method to find which is preferable to you. I do decal 1st before panel lining/colour (use marker) because sometime if not careful, the setter/softener liquid can cause smudge to the lining/colour. So I decal 1st, the coat to protect the decal, then only lining/colour.

Hi, I kinda need help from the sifus here. So I tried using a filer to sand off the nubs but after finishing it with 1000 grit and 1500 grit sandpaper, I still couldn't make it as shiny as it was. Here are some samples:


Any ideas on how to remove those scratches? I heard you can use a polishing agent but I don't know whether a car polish is considered one

My experience, coarse and fine is enough if you are going to matte topcoat.

i rmemeber using those to polish nail ones, became shiny also

Damn I don't have 800 grit sandpaper so I used a 600 grit one instead, but sadly scratch marks still there. Is it because I sand it too hard?

Ok, i think i will share a little bit with snapfit... something i just learn recently when i started doing my snapfit kits.
One of the main challenge of snapfitted kit is the task of removing nip marks, without leaving any visible leftover mark. This is especially challenging when doing colored parts; especially blue n red, n other darker colors. One can sand under the nip mark is flat, but is during the cutting process, any damage on the plastic will leave a white spot on the plastic which is almost impossible to remove 100%. So be very careful!

Part on the runner.


Cut it from the runner with a side cutter. Remember to leave some extra nip. This is because no matter how sharp your side cutter is, the cutting action somehow will have some force pressing onto the plastic. This will, especially parts with darker color like red n blue n grey, The force might damage the plastic n leave white spot.


Then, use a sharp knife to slowly "slice" the nip, bit by bit. With this, no pressure will be put onto the plastic. When the nip mark is short enough, mebbe 0.5mm, we can start doing sanding.


My personal habit is start with a file. This is sometimes dangerous because file can be very erosive n it sands down plastic very fast. As a result, if not careful, u might just over sand the whole thing n leave some very deep scratch mark onto the plastic. Here, i file it down until it's almost near the part. u can still see the shape of the nip. notice the white or light color around the nip? this is plastic damage n turn white. but no worry, it's only skin deep n can be easily removed by sand paper.


Sand paper sanding. i start with 800, end with 1,200 grit. This is because i will be finishing with flat coat. IF u wanna do gloss coat, at least end with 2,000 grit n above. For curvy surface, i strongly recommend to use those 3M sanding sponge, the one state "microfine".

Now we can still see some scratches.

Next i use Tamiya compound Coarse (Pic below) to compound it. Actually i do not need to do this because my final finishing is flat. This is just to show an example for those who wants to do gloss or semi gloss.

Besides compound, if u think it's expensive (around RM15 one tube), u can also use nail polisher. Use the finest one, those used for last step polishing or they call it "buff" type.

Other than that, u can even use those CD recovery fluid. The liquid u use, when your DVD has fine scratches, to wipe on the CD/DVD. IT works.


******************************************************************************************************************************

Compared to the pic above, u can see the glossiness of original Bandai plastic. After compound, it's much glossier, something like those HD version.

Ah ok thanks for the answers. I tried googling, but information about them still pretty vague. And yes, very expensive.

ic...that's too bad, but i thought flat coat can't be delivered because it is liquid?

if you find the other thread about all airbrushing/whatsnot painting your kit... you'll find an alternative flat coat... the one you need to use AB...

btw, if anyone can enlighten me, how much is mr hobby flat coat for ab can i get at bts? 

Manual brushing, apparently i don't own a airbrush was about to get one but still not sure yet. A question for the mr hobby paint i have to use thinner? any guides on manual brush painting?

just wanna ask some expert which tools are u guys using i newbie here but i love gunpla n mecha i got 5 mg 2rg n 2 valvrave model all with nub n spurt making the gunpla looks not so nice how to cut it nice and making it nice need help.may noe which cutter using ?

Ok, i think i will share a little bit with snapfit... something i just learn recently when i started doing my snapfit kits.
One of the main challenge of snapfitted kit is the task of removing nip marks, without leaving any visible leftover mark. This is especially challenging when doing colored parts; especially blue n red, n other darker colors. One can sand under the nip mark is flat, but is during the cutting process, any damage on the plastic will leave a white spot on the plastic which is almost impossible to remove 100%. So be very careful!

Part on the runner.


Cut it from the runner with a side cutter. Remember to leave some extra nip. This is because no matter how sharp your side cutter is, the cutting action somehow will have some force pressing onto the plastic. This will, especially parts with darker color like red n blue n grey, The force might damage the plastic n leave white spot.


Then, use a sharp knife to slowly "slice" the nip, bit by bit. With this, no pressure will be put onto the plastic. When the nip mark is short enough, mebbe 0.5mm, we can start doing sanding.


My personal habit is start with a file. This is sometimes dangerous because file can be very erosive n it sands down plastic very fast. As a result, if not careful, u might just over sand the whole thing n leave some very deep scratch mark onto the plastic. Here, i file it down until it's almost near the part. u can still see the shape of the nip. notice the white or light color around the nip? this is plastic damage n turn white. but no worry, it's only skin deep n can be easily removed by sand paper.


Sand paper sanding. i start with 800, end with 1,200 grit. This is because i will be finishing with flat coat. IF u wanna do gloss coat, at least end with 2,000 grit n above. For curvy surface, i strongly recommend to use those 3M sanding sponge, the one state "microfine".

Now we can still see some scratches.

Next i use Tamiya compound Coarse (Pic below) to compound it. Actually i do not need to do this because my final finishing is flat. This is just to show an example for those who wants to do gloss or semi gloss.

Besides compound, if u think it's expensive (around RM15 one tube), u can also use nail polisher. Use the finest one, those used for last step polishing or they call it "buff" type.

Other than that, u can even use those CD recovery fluid. The liquid u use, when your DVD has fine scratches, to wipe on the CD/DVD. IT works.


******************************************************************************************************************************

Compared to the pic above, u can see the glossiness of original Bandai plastic. After compound, it's much glossier, something like those HD version.

gamersarena no polycaps.

My friends went and asked

i think my current gold paint is acrylic base, so enamel based black paint would be next
enamel black paint have to mix with what to paint brush?

or most of here uses AB to paint the black and the gold?

but hand paint can the experts here guide me how to make it more consistent? i had to keep adding the retarder in order for the ink not to dry up, and the colors gets lighter everytime i add the retarder