Paint-related questions:

1. Where do you guys buy your paints? I'm looking at acrylics for hand-brusing and spray-can enamels for base paints.

2. Can craft acrylic paints that you can find in arts supply shops be used for painting gunpla?

3. I've read around and it seems that some acrylic paints will glob up if you try to thin them with water and some will thin just fine. Can the standard Tamiya paints that you can find in shops like Time Machine in Times Square be diluted with water?

4. What is the recommended ratio for thinning acrylic paints for hand-painting in Malaysia?

5. Is it safe to use spray-can top-coats on acrylic paint layers?

Well, I was actually wondering where you guys bought your paints. About seven years ago, I could get them in places like Toys and Hobbies, but since I've actually not built any Gunpla for so long, I'm kind of out of the loop and a bit miffed that most of the old places I went to are no longer around.

Can I assume then that you guys usually get it through mail order or contacts?

This post has been edited by ThisIsBoletaria: Apr 9 2015, 10:58 AM

Just to make sure I got this right: even if I'm using an acrylic-based spray top-coat, it can still melt the acrylic paint layer?

I just finished snap-fitting the standard RG Exia.

There is one major articulation problem. When the front skirt armour is installed, the leg cannot be lifted very far because the front thigh armour (which is very thick) gets blocked by the front skirt.

Minor gripes:

- The flexible hands' fingets are too fiddly and the palm socket too loose to hold the GN Blade. Unless you plan on modding the palm sockets, using the fixed weapon-holding hand will be your best bet.

- The shoulder armour can pop off if you're not careful turning the arms and posing. Just adjust position and be careful.

- My God, the special plastic bits for the GN cables are fiddly, especially the ones on the head. You will suffer putting those in.

- MY GOD the yellow face vents are super tiny and easily to lose if you drop them. I'm going to have to duplicate the single one I have with epoxy putty.

In the end, though, the RG Exia is pretty even without any painting. Good luck finding one for now, since it seems to be out of stock everywhere.

EDIT:

While I'm at it, I might as well talk about the HG G-Lucifer.

As an HG, this is a much simpler build than the RG Exia. I literally finished snap-fitting and sanding the kit in four hours flat, compared to the RG Exia that took me about three days (spread over the course of about 3 weeks). It is quite a unique-looking feminine design with the three giant bits forming a billowing skirt behind the MS. It reminds me a lot of the Qubeley coupled with the Kampfer's head.

Poseability is alright. I'm a bit disappointed the legs can't turn at the hip since the internal frame there allows rotating movement about its axis. The size of the gap at the end of the shoulder armour is also not large enough or indented enoudh to allow the arm to raise horizontally completely.

The kit comes with an additional pair of hands with fingers that are spread out like in the box artwork. However, the space between the fingers has a thin layer of plastic that makes it look like it has webbed hands. That will need a lot of work and touching up to make it look good.

Last gripe is that it doesn't come with enough beam saber blades to put into all three bits. You only get six standard ones which is enough to fully equip one of the three.

But all that aside, it's a pretty and good kit for the price.

This post has been edited by ThisIsBoletaria: Apr 22 2015, 09:52 PM