Melbourne that bad? Hmm.. Victoria Hobby centre on Swanston and Mind Games (also on Swanston) has got a pretty good community. But not gundam though.

Vic Hobby caters more to normal models like planes, tanks and so forth, while Mind Games handles more of those table top gaming such as Warhammer, etc. But you should be able to get your hobby supplies from there, stuff like brushes, paints, knives, u name it.

But dun ask me where to get Gundams in Melbourne though, I was doing Warhammer when I was in Melbourne

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Added on February 23, 2007, 3:04 pmsay.. how much will the Hi Nu be here in Malaysia?

This post has been edited by fyire: Feb 23 2007, 03:04 PM

Gundam markers, no idea, 'cause I've never used those b4. For such works, like what I used to do on my Warhammer figurines, I just use a hand brush with acrylic paint. For hand painting, either Citadel or Vallejo acrylics r the best.

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Added on February 23, 2007, 11:47 pmThe Meteor fits either the Freedom or the Justice. the Denrobium fits the GP-03 from the 0083 series

This post has been edited by fyire: Feb 23 2007, 11:47 PM

Apparently this works wonders against tamiya acrylics:

http://www.pinesol.com/

Can find it at Ace Hardware

Hmm.. anybody seen much of the Gundam Sentinel series? There's supposed to be one particular one that's almost the size of the Denrobium too. Cant remember the name now, but it used to be displayed in a glass case at that hobby shop that used to be at 1U, near the cinema. Dun think its any of the normal kits though, most likely to be a garage kit.

This post has been edited by fyire: Feb 25 2007, 03:54 AM

RX-93 in progress




Attached thumbnail(s)

Hand Painting's nice

Just make sure to get decent brushes (dun need to be the expensive branded ones, just decent ones will do.)

A size 8 for general purpose painting, a size 4 for the smaller areas, a size 000 for the lining, and another size 8 for the dry brushing.

For paints, I use a mix of Tamiya and Citadel (50% paint mix ratio). The Tamiya allows for the paint to flow off the brush and coat the plastic better, and the citadel mix in the paint allows for a nicer finishing compared to using Tamiya alone.

Here's a pic of a hand painted model, the MG Gyan:

This post has been edited by fyire: Feb 28 2007, 01:00 PM

Brushes r pretty cheap, and can last quite a while if u take care of it well. The price varies, depending on the size. The size 8 that I use costs about RM4 each, or if u r to go for the fabel castel ones, RM8 or so. The smaller ones r cheaper.

To make the brush last, soak them in thinner and wipe clean every few hours or so.

For paints, Tamiya costs RM10 per 10ml bottle, while Citadel costs RM10 per 12ml bottle. U can get the Citadel paints from that hobby shop that does the warhammer stuff over at 2nd floor Amcorp.

for dry brushing, check here:

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/howto/drybrush.htm

hand painting tends to be a lot more paint efficient. basically how I did my rx93 currently in progress is...

base color is gray: 50% Tamiya flat white, 50% citadel white + drop in Tamiya black until the mix turns gray.

dry brush white on top until I get the shade that I want.

Basically I mixed about 1/5 of the bottle of Tamiya and 1/5 of the citadel bottle. Still got 1/3 of that mix left over too. Basically, depending on how u do it, one bottle can last you quite a while.

Well, I got me Strike IWSP and Nu Gundam that way. Bid online, then COD at the shop the next day.

Current progress of me RX-93 Nu Gundam



This post has been edited by fyire: Mar 1 2007, 01:29 AM

oooooo... resin kit been ages since I did one of those.

yeah, very different. gunpla is basically injected plastic. you get all the little plastic pieces done up nicely ready to be cut out and snap assembled, with the polycaps and so forth for movement, with a detailed assembly manual too.

Garage Kits which r usually resin r very different. Its basically one huge chunk of plastic. Not for the faint of heart lar...

Comes in chunks, often with minimal assembly instructions. hell of a lot of cutting, filing and sanding work is needed to get the parts to fit right. Not to mention the super glueing too. For some pieces, u'll need to do your own drilling work to insert metal pins into them for extra strength when u glue them together, depending on the weight of the parts. Non possable too, once done up, that's it.


Tend to be hell of a heavy model as well, seeing that they're like solid chunks of plastic.

here's a resin garage kit that I did up ages ago.. non gundam though.

Hehe.. that shocked?

But anyways, some of the most amazingly done up Gundams that I've seen r resin garage kits too. Anybody remember that really huge Gundam Sentinel EX-S that was on display at that hobby shop that used to be at 1U near old wing near the cinema? That one's a garage kit too. Imagine the amount of time invested into putting together something like that. Getting the parts to stay together is already by itself a huge challenge.

That resin kit where the pic I posted? had to do custom drilling into the back of the kit to fit in metal pins, otherwise the wings will just not stay up. After fitting in the metal pins, its pumping in super glue like mad between the cracks. And even then, I had to tie strings to the wings in order to suspend it up in the air overnight for the glue to set, 'cause they're just too heavy to stay up like that. Then after that, its hell of a lot of puttying and sanding.

If its that tedious for just that, imagine how it must have been like for the fellow who did up that huge Gundam EX-S.

Edit: opps, Deep Striker, not EX-S. The one without legs and carries a really huge gun

This post has been edited by fyire: Mar 2 2007, 02:29 AM

Well, go and get the Hi Nu if you really want it. But examine the parts and the manual first. If you think that u might want to chicken out of doing it as your first one, then do so.

In that case, then go and get yourself a simpler MG Zaku or RX-78 to do up as your first model, then go back to the Hi Nu after that.

here's my newly completed one

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=10608462

Overall its a pretty good and solid model, larger than the MKII by one head too.

Armor plates go on and comes off easilly, unlike some of those where if you want to take off the outer plates to admire the internal frame, you might break something.

I've only gotten this one 'cause the original price's pretty high, but should be available for quite a bit cheaper now. I got mine for RM155 off DC, but there's somebody else here who've gotten it for cheaper than that off Edison apparently.

Dun jump to conclusions lar. They're just as blur no matter who asks them about these stuff. In fact, I've gotten more info on models out of DC compared to XL

Actually, no. The smells of acrylic vs enamel vs laquer paints r quite different. I used to determine which is which by sniffing them (only when my gf isnt around, otherwise she'll give me one good whack for doing it that way)

Well, it was kinda the same for me too when I went over to the MV one. Asked if they've got various models, same thing lar. just the shake of the head and so on.

I take a very very small sniff lar, its not like I go and inhale a few lungfuls of the stuff

Your response kinda reminds me of my 2ndary school chemistry teacher lar.. hehe.. One day she showed me some stuff, and asked me what it is. I said, Natrium Klorida. She asked me, if I'm sure. So I tasted it, and told her, that yup, confirmed its normal table salt. The look on her face was fantastic lar

Looks pretty good though. Where did u get that acguy from? That's one of my targeted ones to get. This fellow is just so possable. Can put him into a lot of cute positions

Well, if u're painting it, then the pink of the rouge dont really matter anyways. If you dun like the pink, you can always paint it back into the original strike colors.

I've done up a GP-03 in the Gundam Z Titan colors too.