An army of ZAKUs

Moving in...

2011-12-15T17:57:00.002+08:00

Juggling work with moving house is tiring! My 'study' is complete, and I finally have place to display my figurines and model kits.

IKEA - cheaper than most, but assembling everything was no easy task!!!

Still not too sure if removing the tiles and having bare cement flooring was a good idea...

But having eleven detolfs is definitely a good idea! Now I have too much space :)

'Yet-to-be-built' kits and empty boxes go up top!

Love the new room, and many thanks to the missus for allowing me to renovate it just the way I wanted. Figurines are in, now to move my gunpla from the old place. Gunplas cannot go back in the box when shifting - major headache.

On a not so nice note, under the bright white lighting, I noticed that two of my older figurines - QB Alice and QB Shizuka have a few faint light brownish discolouration spots :(

I wonder if there is anything I can do, short of repainting them?

My Cave - WIP

2011-11-06T23:46:00.000+08:00

The view from the first floor

One more month before we move to the new house, and both me and the missus have been hard at work replenishing our fast diminishing 'house renovation budget'. Despite our best efforts, the costs keep on escalating...

Meanwhile, the contractor and his 'not always so merry' men have been hard at work too. The house is starting to look the way we envisioned it to be. Still, there seem to be an unending amount of additional work that needs to be completed before we can actually start moving our furniture and other stuff in.

As the rest of the house is being renovated, my room/cave is essentially being de-renovated! Wanted to have an industrial/warehouse feel to my working space, and despite initial objection from my more rational half, I eventually got my way.

Industrial type sockets for the win!

Getting those 50cm IKEA FOTO pendant lamps to complete the look.

This is the only room in the house without built in cupboards and a plaster ceiling. The walls have been repainted plain white (none of those fancy pansy off white variants here!) and all the floor tiles have been removed. My only worry now would be that the ceiling lamps will make the room look too cramped, maybe I should have gotten the smaller 38cm version instead... hmm...

SUCCESS - The team that was supposed to install the air conditioners actually called and asked if I really wanted to install a unit in the 'store room' :P

Recolouring... and it's no gundam!

2011-10-12T23:22:00.000+08:00

Been a while since I posted anything about my new place... we finally found a replacement contractor person, and progress has since been picking up pace.

The first thing that caught my attention when the real estate agent opened the door was this set of stairs leading up to the first floor. It just screams 'attention whore!!!' and I've been itching to dabble in a bit of amateur home makeover ever since :P

'Out of the box' colour.

Seeing that it would take me literally a whole truckload of Mr Color to properly complete the paintjob, I recruited some professional help. They came with plaster and cement, but the wall itself was surprisingly well done and smooth. No need for any sanding or other surface prep work (I'm looking at you Bandai!). First, we decided to paint most of the house in a shade of beige.

Next up was a layer of dark brown.

I really wish I brought my Nikon this morning, The iPhone camera couldn't quite get the exposure right. Or maybe I'm just a lousy photographer. Sigh.

And then a much lighter clay-brown paint.

Forgot to actually ask the painter for his permission to post his mugshot on the internet, hence the pixel mosaic. The new house paints from Nippon are amazing - almost odourless. Unlike hobby paints :(

And we're done!

Not really my own piece of work, but am rather pleased with the results. The real test comes when I bring the missus to see it this Saturday - fingers and toes crossed in hope that she will actually like my three tone 'feature' wall.

More toys at work!

2011-09-19T00:56:00.000+08:00

Almost done with a project that should help increase my current company's reputation, and ideally this will translate into more sales.
Hopefully I'd be able to fine tune everything before I drive the current accounting staff temporarily assigned to me crazy!

But yeah, back to toys @ work!

Both are good luck gifts from the missus, but I do suspect that she was secretly complaining about my moody disposition and rather short temper these few months with the daruma!

Taiwanese made (at least that's what the vendor said!) maneki neko and daruma doll

The black maneki neko supposedly guards against backstabbers and gossip (yeah, rite) the daruma doll is well... since both eyes are already painted makes a decent good luck charm and a handy coin box for my loose change. The sheer ridiculousness of an oversized frowning pink bugger juxtaposed against my 1001 flowcharts and SOPs is often enough to calm frayed nerves!

Another hectic week ahead, but it is almost payday! My credit card limit is in serious need of resuscitation.

On another less jolly note, I just found out that I am inherently useless and am unable to handle nor convey my concerns to those around me who are grieving - i am an insensitive jerk and retarded emotionally... :-(

An update from work

2011-09-16T11:47:00.000+08:00

I am swamped with work!!! But work is good. Haven't had such an interesting challenge for ages... and with the help of my team, we will drag our company kicking and screaming to another level of professionalism. Yes.

But since I am spending more time in the office than at home, gunpla backlog mountain has ballooned to Everest like heights!!! The good news is that they've given me my own room at work, which means I'd be able to slowly populate it with toys :-)I've taken a real liking to Wave's 1/10 Beach Queen figurines - they are relatively cheap, small enough to plonk on a table without taking too much space and simple enough to be manhandled by colleagues without fear of parts falling off.

Rinko and Takane from LovePlus - These make great conversation starters and ice breakers, essential for my internal audit / business process restructuring job!

I've got a quiet unused corner in the room, maybe I'd try to set up a mini lightbox for the iphone.The best thing about having a room is that you can have toys shipped to the office and the missus will never find out! Hehehe... unless of course if she reads my blog. Hmm...

To Infinity And Beyond :-)

2011-08-16T23:46:00.000+08:00

Too bad Revoltech didn't go all out and release the rest of the gang :(

Didn't realise that it's been almost 3 months since I started the new job... very busy nowadays, but the work is extra rewarding. Tasked with streamlining some of the company's workflow and S.O.Ps... good challenging fun.

Tried to get some time off for gunpla, but the workaholic in me said no, so decided to finally unbox the two toy story revoltechs i bought almost a year ago for a photo session... and found out that the trusty DSLR was out of juice :-(

Switched to iPhone instead, and despite a few shots where the phone got the exposure wrong, the end results aren't half bad - the above shot is sans photoshopping!

And oh yeah, my designer/contractor person ditched me at the last minute, so the new place got delayed. Sigh.

New WIP & More Importantly New JOB

2011-06-04T20:16:00.000+08:00

Kinda pumped up about starting a new job this coming Monday, so was unable to get much sleep last night. As such, decided to work on some of my gunpla backlog.

With all the hype that the RG series is getting at the moment, and consequently the huge overload of Strike Gundam works nowadays, decided to build something relatively rarer, but very different!

Moving On Up (Non Hobby Related Post)...

2011-05-04T19:13:00.000+08:00

Well, at least it isn't another Queen's Blade figurine review... Been quite busy these past few months looking for a new house as well as a new job to pay for it! My current 990 sq.ft service apartment just doesn't cut it anymore - the missus does not have enough wardrobe space for her clothes, shoes and accessories nor do I have enough space to store my junk. This was probably the most expensive purchase I will ever make for the foreseeable future, so blogging and gunpla had to take a back seat while we searched all around town for the perfect place that suit our needs and budget. Trust me, it wasn't easy - most of the places we liked we sadly could not afford while those we could afford we did not like.

We finally decided to settle for this place in one of the further suburbs from town. The resort-like gated and guarded concept was love at first sight, and although it was honestly slightly out of our comfort zone, we just had to have it! Above is the view of the ground floor living area - but more importantly the entrance to my future gunpla/study/home office 'hideout'.

At present, I squeeze everything into a single display cabinet, but having measured the room, I can actually fit in quite a number IKEA Detolfs and still have ample space to put in a work desk and a bookcase. Happy days indeed. Initially wanted to ask someone to carpenter me some built-in shelving, but baulked at the costs (almost 3 times the cost of using ready made IKEA items!). To be honest, it was only having finally gotten the mortgage sorted out and with the keys in hand that it dawned upon me just how expensive renovation will cost and the amount of work that needs to be done before we can actually move in!

The boring end of the room - I still need to actually work in this room so a proper desk is a necessary concession, otherwise I'd try to fit in even more display cabinets. The house has five rooms - but having planned to turn this one into my man-cave, another ground floor room into an over-sized shoe cabinet and one of the upstairs rooms into a walk in wardrobe for the missus, we are ironically left with merely two bedrooms - exactly the same as what we have now!

If there is any part of the room that I dislike, it would be the door... boring wooden plank door. Might want to replace it with a glass door. Had the room not been tiled, would have gone with the 'warehouse' look of bare cement flooring and grey walls with metal fixtures all round, but alas.

Am hoping to finish everything up by the beginning of August so that we can move in before our wedding anniversary so I will probably post some room WIP photos on and off.

PS. Anyone has any tips on how to move figurines and gunpla from one location to another? Much appreciated.

Queen's Blade Bandit of the Wilderness Risty

2010-12-22T02:32:00.002+08:00

Hmm... I seem to buy Megahouse Queen's Blade figurines in pairs more often than not - first Alice & Mellona, then Alleyne & Ymir, Elina & Nowa last month and now Mirim and Risty. Risty is the polar opposite of Mirim - Mirim is cute and petite, Risty is muscular and tall. Mirim has a technologically advanced (in the QB timeline anyways) weapon/armour contraption whereas Risty sports a good old fashioned buckler and morning star combo.

Risty sure isn't your typical anime figurine. For starters, she does not have large come-hither eyes. Instead she looks as if she is seriously contemplating smashing in your skull... Sexy. As is the norm from Megahouse nowadays, good attention to detail and colouring - here you can even see her teeth.

Unlike the majority of the QB girls, Risty DOES look as if she can really take care of herself in a fight. Definitely not a wannabe cosplayer with weapons - she is ridiculously ripped and the sculpt does live up to expectations. It is a pity that her battle scars look a tad unrealistic. They resemble battle damage on Gundams more than scars imho.

Considering how often real life warriors use tattoos to telegraph their badass-ness, I am surprised that very few of the QB characters have tattoos. Not grounded in reality much eh, not that I am complaining though :) Risty's looks great but up close it appears painted on - which is exactly what it is. Her wristband, as with the rest of her skimpy outfit is very nicely done. No non fitting parts headache here. Unlike Mirim (which was franky inexcusable!).

Risty is supposed to be a bandit/amazonian warrior, so instead of shoes (or more aptly in the case of anime heroines - high heels) she wears sandals. Medieval Birkenstocks, anyone? I dislike the colour of her stand... why bright red? I prefer the clear ones.

I might be nitpicking here but Risty's hair looks odd. Just doesn't look natural to me, and she seems to be suffering split ends from hell! Guess there isn't time to visit a saloon and sit down for a treatment session when you're busy pillaging and plundering :P Her morning star IS bigger than her head, and easily rivals RX78-2's.

Her buckler looks as if it has seen much use, but being white seems unfinished. Could have done with a bit more work here, but seeing that very few will display her with her back turned, it isn't really a big deal. As seen in the photo below, the underside of that same buckler looks great. Also, for those who care about such things - Risty is castoff-able.

I have resisted saying this until now, but she does in fact resemble an anime-fied version of Red Sonja. Very western fantasy-ish, and I was indeed initially a bit reluctant to get her. She was on sale (again probably due to her not being the stereotypical QB figurine). No regrets getting her though - a solid 7/10 in my books.

I like her so much that I've actually posted four full length shots of her :) A question to Megahouse/Hobby Japan; what's the deal with the shiny red colour - Ymir, Mirim, Risty and Ta-Nyan (which I find plain and uninspiring) have very similar colour schemes? Alleyne's cape is also of the same colour! Can we please have some more colour variety?

Finally, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.

[edit] Uh oh, this is my 3rd figurine post in a row... must get back to gunpla-ing. My next post will be about mecha... I promise :)

Queen's Blade Rebellion Ultra Vibration Valkyrie Mirim

2010-12-13T01:14:00.001+08:00

Oops, I did it again! When I saw what appears to be Queen's Blade's take on good old Ironman, I just had to have her. She arrived in the mail yesterday morning, and as I haven't done one in a looooong time, decided to write a short figurine review. It is, afterall a welcome break from the monotony of clipping parts off runners, sanding and surfacing etc.

As with most of Megahouse's more recent releases, she is very detailed and the paint job on her is very nicely done. Shooting with a white background does not do justice to her valkyrie feather headpiece - it is truly stunning but a tad fragile.

Feathers on both legs as well. Beautiful, but honestly on seeing how easy it would be to accidentally snap one off, I am kinda reluctant to move her around much. Note the shading on her armor pieces. Top notch this, and definitely the best I have seen on a Megahouse figurine. Mirim is not even the latest release from them - she was released late 2009 iinm. Impressive.

Good attention to detail even on the shield arm, which is hardly visible behind that shield. Megahouse seems to have improved a lot - Echidna's arm comes off as a single piece when you cast her off. This one seperates into 3 pieces! If only Megahouse would be kind enough to have an instruction sheet as to how to remove the plastic wrappings these figurines come with.

The shield comes in two pieces - the center bit pops out... I have no idea why. Mayhaps someone who has the actual game book can explain more. Again, good details and painting. Eat this Marcus Fenix... who needs a lancer rifle when you can have a chainsaw shield and sword?!?

As with the shield, the chain sword is also full of win :) Unfortunately, despite all her plus points, she is a BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.

Her armour does not fit :( Firstly, it is a pain removing what can nominally be called her armour - her thongs has to be yanked back into position. Scary, and strangely inappropriate methinks. And once you've managed to get that into position, you'd notice that it does not fit!!! Beware - I actually broke mine while trying to jostle the pegs into position. Nothing a little super glue cannot discreetly fix though. Wanted to try modding this part a bit to see if I could get them to fit, so I basically carried on with the photo shoot without fixing her.

[Edit] Managed to get one side to fit in. The 'strap' is at least three quarters of a centimetre too short! Girls nowadays all want to wear XS! :P Gave up on the modding for now and out came the superglue.

I haven't had much trouble with Megahouse figurines before so this really took me by surprise. A wasted opportunity - Mirim IS a looker. Perhaps this is a necessary concession to have the figurine castoff-able. As for me, I do not care much for nudity, not on pieces of plastic anyways. Verdict - 5/10. And this is including a bonus point for the hilarious moniker!

Megahouse Queen's Blade Figurines

2010-12-01T12:00:00.002+08:00

Was getting bored with my current Ikea Detolf display so decided to mix things up a bit. A quick rummage into the toy storage and HOLY CRAP! For someone who has never played any incarnations of the game, thinks that the anime was a waste of time and gives nary a thought to the castoff-ableness of PVC figurines, I have quite a surprising number of Megahouse's QB releases!

Here they are in the order in which I vaguely remember acquiring them.

Queen's Gate Alice

Queen's Blade Melona

Queen's Blade Shizuka

Queen's Blade Leina

Queen's Blade Rebellion Ymir

Queen's Blade Alleyne

Queen's Blade Echidna

Queen's Blade Airi

Queen's Blade Elina

Queen's Blade Nowa

I don't exactly go out of the way to get them, so I am perplexed as to how on earth did I actually end up having more sexy, semi nekkid QB characters displayed as compared to completed Gundams!!! Must reign in the inner pervert in me! At 1/8 scale, the girls are slightly larger than MGs and until I move to our new place, shelf space is a premium... sigh.

Interestingly, as some of these were released waaaay back, it really shows how much Megahouse has improved in terms of figurine manufacturing and design. Can you spot which are the older releases and which are the more recent ones?

Bruce Lee Keroro

2010-11-11T16:47:00.001+08:00

Since Astro is going to be having a 'Bruce Lee Tribute' week soon, I decided it was time to complete something I have planned a while back but not yet started on.

This is a kitbash of Keroro #08: Afro Gunso and Keroro #21: Dark Keroro. I got both for MYR10 each at the bi-annual Litt Tak warehouse sale. Good value for money them, those Keroro kits.

However, they hardly seem popular as they are perpetually on sale. Most of the local stockists also do not carry Keroro kits anymore...

Not even a robot dancing Keroro can boost sales :( It is mind-boggling to me that rehashed Sangou SD kits still sell moderately well whereas Keropla and Pokepla get left on the shelves.

There's a hole at the back that is a perfect fit for Revoltech stands. Good for posing but the problem is I do not have a spare Revoltech stand. Sigh. Also, the back of his afro opens up to fit his boxing gloves.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!!! Oh wait, that's Ali, not Lee... lol.

Jia You - add oil. I hope I got the chinese characters right. Sometimes I do regret not pursuing Chinese lessons back in school, being a 'banana' sucks.

Hobby Supplies Used
Basecoat:
Mr. Surfacer 1000
Mr. Base White 1000
Thinner:
Mr. Color Thinner
Paints:
Mr. Color
Topcoat:
Mr. Super Clear (Semi Gloss)
Others:
CopicModeler Lining Markers
Mr. Masking Sol neo
Tamiya Masking Tape

Fable III Review

2010-11-07T22:31:00.000+08:00

I have completed the main storyline of Fable III. It was short. I am not satisfied. The current 82.30% scoreline over at gamerankings is a lie. Here is what I think of Peter Molyneux's latest 'masterpiece'. There will be plot spoilers mixed in here, so be warned.

Always nice to start with compliments, so the good points first.

The Positives

1) The voice acting is top notch. Very few lines feel out of place, and the scripted cutscenes are well voiced and animated. There seems to be a greater variety of 'banter' too, as it was only towards the end of the game did some of the repeated lines start to grate.

2) The story is magnificent. I avoided previews and reviews almost like the plague, and as such the twists and turns of the story was a pleasant change from the usual videogaming fare. The actual transition from being a pampered prince to rebel leader and eventually to being an actual monarch is pure genius. Having to make promises to various factions while trying to raise an rebellion, and being given the option to keep or break them as a king AND seeing the repercussions impact the game world is truly a step up from the moral decisions of Fable II. Marvelous.

3) Albion looks much nicer than before. Villagers look more polished and varied too. The important NPCs look even better than before, and the game still manages to keep its unique semi-cartoonish, over exaggerated look. Impaling a balverine in mid air IS and LOOKS satisfying.

4) Reaver. He's back. He's even more demented and hedonistical than ever. Barrel of laughs, hogs the screen whenever he's around.

5) Reaver... oh wait I've already mentioned that. Oh well... King Sabine then :P

The Negatives

1) Where are the freaking menus??? Bloody flaming heck, menus exist for a reason. Quick, orderly and tidy. By omiting menus almost entirely, Fable III seems to have de-evolved. Shops no longer sell a list of items - as everything for sale is displayed, you sometimes end up with shops only having enough space to sell TWO items. Weapon shops only carry FOUR weapons. This is reminescant of early CGA RPGs when you get to chose between like a sword or an axe and nothing else!!!

2) The sanctuary. A waste of John Cleese's talents. Nothing more than a cumbersome and slow inventory menu. Novel but useless idea imho. Also, would someone please please teach me how to check what is actually in my inventory without me having to step into a pawn shop?

3) Over simplification. Everything seems dumbed down. The best parts of Fable II has been discarded. Button mashing combat, not that the limited variety of baddies put up any challenge at all. No more expression wheel. You normally get three buttons when interacting with villagers (if you bother to unlock all the expression chests). You WILL end up dancing with EVERYBODY. Stupid interface is stupid.

4) Very short (albeit engaging story). I've managed to complete all the available sidequest barring those that unlock after Albion is saved by sacrificing a mere 3 days of gunpla-ing. I somehow remember Fable II being longer and more varied in its sidequests. Having to either dig up some item or become a postman in order to befriend villagers gets old very fast.

5) The abrupt ending. A jump from 121 days left to 1 day removed from the climatic and possibly post game breaking event? What gives?

6) Hype. The curse of PM once again. Holding hands mechanism, sanctuary, morphing weapons, menuless interface blah blah blah. Meh. All that programming time would and should have been spent to increase the amount and variety of missions, enemies and oh well... other 'normal' gameplay elements. Innovation for innovation's sake is dumb - if it ain't broken don't bloody fix it. Fix the myraid of glitches instead!!!

A real pity this... just like its predecessor, Fable III had a very real shot at greatness. I cannot help but think that the game got derailed by PM's 'grand vision' and ultimately came up short once again. Final verdict - 6/10 for me.

Fable III

2010-11-03T10:08:00.009+08:00

Wow. That is a HUGE box.

Never was a fan of limited edition games. Whatever supposed 'freebie collectible' that comes bundled in usually ends up forgotten rather quickly. And publishers must be catching on to this trend as well - recent limited editions also come with free DLCs. Now that I DO care for, hence this giant box.

But I digress, back to Fable III then. Peter Molyneux is the best used car salesman ever. Period. Despite his games not having lived up to his promises for some time now, we still help make them bestsellers.

At only 5 hours in, I will not even attempt to write a mockery of a review. You can find all the reviews you need here. So far Fable III feels like a better looking, more refined Fable II... in most places. My main gripe is that the expression wheel from before is gone, and I cannot seem to find the option of not dancing with any sour old coot on the streets just because the only other alternative shown is to fart in their faces.

Two of the often mentioned 'innovations' are a waste of programming time if you ask me. The 'Sanctuary' is nothing but a fancy 3D menu in which your character can walk about. Hello Lionhead Studios - menus are there for a reason. They get things done, quickly and simply. Next up is the 'Road to Rule' which imho is a glorified skill tree. The 'touch' mechanism... this one I've got mixed feelings about. It does feel satisfying leading a damsel of distress out of the sewers (sewers, again???) but having to lead a portly overweight merchant by the hand is err... discomforting.

Thankfully, the quirky British humour is still intact (the loading screen posters are hilarious!) and the voice acting is top notch. Haven't encountered any bugs of yet, so Microsoft probably gave Lionhead Studios a right spank on the buttocks after Fable II :) So far, this is typical Peter Molyneux fare, he tries so hard to implement 'new' ideas to the detriment of other gameplay elements. If it ain't broken don't fix it :( Sigh.

P.S. In many ways the simplification and streamlining (not necessarily a good thing IMHO) reminds me of Final Fantasy XIII. Is this really what the masses want?

P.P.S. The story here seems much more cohesive and interesting though, so will be taking a short break from plamo. Be back next week. Promise.

MG Freedom Gundam - Gallery

2010-10-26T17:15:00.001+08:00

It was abandoned for almost a calendar year, but here it is, my very own MG Freedom Gundam. Firstly, I do apologize for the crappy quality of the photos. My ‘cut out box and single Ikea lamp’ photo setup was meant for SD sized models, and an MG could not fit inside. Hence I had to make do with a simple piece of cardboard tacked to the wall and some Photoshop editing. Sorry.

Most of the inner frame, white armor bits and the wings were completed last December iirc. And then, I just plain lost interest, and put them aside when real life took a turn for the worse. Needed a whole nine months to sort things out and by then, the non top coated metallic inner frame had oxidized somewhat and lost a bit of its sheen.

The initial plan was to have a shiny metallic inner frame and flat coated exterior armor… in the end I just top coated everything with Mr Super Clear Flat. All I had to do left were to complete the weapons, backpack and some shading on the armor before moving on the panel lining and decaling.

Maybe I was feeling kinda guilty, or maybe I simply had too much free time on my hands but I kinda went overboard and stuck on as many decals as I could! I hope I didn’t overdo it. The stand was ‘borrowed’ from a clear MG Freedom kit I picked up waaaaaaay back.

I love that shield design. Unfortunately some parts actually broke when I tried to change poses, I suppose painting the inner frame does make the smaller parts more brittle. Had to salvage some joints and connectors from the same clear MG Freedom. Guess I’d stick to a single pose again. The size of the wings/backpack also make the MG a tad back heavy - a display stand is a must have! This MG was meant to fly!

Not surprisingly, the wings are the best part of the Freedom Gundam. Too bad Bandai chose to mould it in the shade of blue that I really dislike. Of the whole project, I’d say the most time was spent on recolouring and shading the wings.

Loads of talk and hype on the upcoming PG Strike Gundam, but if I had to choose a second Kira Yamato Gundam to PG-fy, I would have gone with the Freedom. It has much better lines and is less cluttered looking.

I’m just glad that it’s been completed. First time painting an MG - made some mistakes and learnt quite a fair bit - both about modeling and photography. The next MG in queue would be Cagalli’s rebadged Strike Rouge Gundam for a Zero G group build, although that will most likely be in January next year as I have also committed to finishing up a D-Style White Glint for LYN’s SD Groupbuild. Currently working on a Keroro kitbash as well! Aye, back with a zest I am.

Hobby Supplies Used
Basecoat:
Mr. Surfacer 1000
Mr. Base White 1000
Thinner:
Mr. Color Thinner
Paints:
Mr. Color
Topcoat:
Mr. Super Clear (Flat)
Others:
CopicModeler Lining Markers
Mr. Mark Setter
Mr. Mark Softer
Tamiya Masking Tape

Pink Acguy - WIP Report

2010-10-25T13:28:00.000+08:00

Here's the long overdue semi WIP/quick review on the pink acguy. Unlike others, I really do not have the knack nor drive to write WIPs so this will be a quick one. I got the lineart from an internet forum a while back (cannae remember the actual http, but hey, thanks!). Wanted a cute pink exterior, but at the same time an edgy, steel like 'inner frame'. It was a close decision between having light purple hands and the normal grey ones... but in the end i went for simplicity.

Contents of the box. This being my first HGUC, was surprised that the colour seperation is pretty accurate. The second thing that made me go "Eh?!?" was the size of the actual model. It may be old but good value for money this.

Didn't take too long to get all the parts removed from their runners. There is a clear runner provided for Acguy's scalp and his monoeye. Very minimal foil stickers - only one if i recall correctly, for the aforementioned monoeye. Comes bundled with swap parts to extend his arms.

Primed - Mr Surfacer 1000 for the grey parts (which were to be painted black) and Mr White Surfacer 1000 for the rest. The clear parts were put aside until later.

I worked on the pink and grey bits first. All the non black parts were pre-shaded slightly. The pink used was Mr Color 63 - Pink straight out of the bottle - a pain in the butt as it took hours of thin layers to get right. The grey was actually Mr Color - 107 Character White with a tiny drop of Mr Color Black - 2 mixed in.

The black parts were a breeze to paint. Could have gone for metallic gun metal, but sadly my supply of that was used up for the MG Freedom, and the shops were as usual, out.

Assembled! The elongating arm is nice, but near impossible to swap out. The monoeye at this stage was painted clear blue, but I wasn't too happy with its visibility. In the end I stuck on a piece of round crystal sticker - the kind the missus uses to decorate her handphone covers.

And we're done! Topcoated with Mr Super Clear Gloss. The decals were leftovers from previous projects.

All in all, took everything took around two weeks - I AM slothlike :)

Gallery here.

PLUM Pangya Kooh - Gallery and Review

2010-10-19T23:02:00.003+08:00

Managed to finish off Kooh's golf club this morning and immediately ran into a major problem. I had an inkling that the morning star head (which seems to be made of some kinda solid plastic) will be unwieldy but I did not expect her hand's 3 piece construction to FAIL! Pop the club into her hand and move the pointy bit off the ground = palm falls off! Will probably have to cement the thing sometime down the road, which is a real pity cause that'll limit her poseability.

To say that I am disappointed with the kit would be a HUGE understatement. She is rather detailed, and with a little bit of elbow grease can be made to look real decent. I have tried to approach this with as open a mind as possible - given that Plum's relatively new to the plamo industry but this kit is plain SUBSTANDARD. Never have I had to sand away so many non flush parts, shave parts off so many pegs and or widen so many holes on a single kit and still end up with a kit that is as flimsy as this. Hello - Bandai's solved these problems like ten years ago?

Still, Kooh's a good break from the usual routine of gundams and yet more gundams. Never played 'Pangya' or even real life golf but I do find her design appealing (not so much for the mould design and seamline placement though - this is one kit I really really regret not having put in the extra effort to remove them). Another minus point is the lack of stickers or decals of any kind, especially for the eyelashes and eyebrows. Kotobukiya provides these for both its HoiHoi-san and Megaman lines, both of which are within the same price range as this kit.

Being limited to one or two very similar poses suck big time but hey, this IS my favourite shot! Bwahahah. She's a bit more poseable without her morning star - her torso is made up of two pieces which allows a small but helpful degree of movement... which sadly brings us back to the issue of the joints not being firm enough. Sigh. From the lack of English reviews of her on the internet, I'd wager that sales was bad... but not bad enough to stop Plum from continuing to release more kits! I think I'll pass though.

Final Verdict: Not worth the time and effort methinks. If you aren't serious about correcting her myriad of flaws, stay away.

Hobby Supplies Used
Basecoat:
Mr. Surfacer 1000
Mr. Base White 1000
Thinner:
Mr. Color Thinner
Paints:
Mr. Color
Mr. Metal Color
Topcoat:
Mr. Super Clear (Semi Gloss & Gloss)
Others:
CopicModeler Lining Markers
Mr. Masking Sol neo
Mr. Mark Setter
loads and loads of Tamiya Masking Tape!

WIPs here and here.

PLUM Pangya Kooh - WIP Update

2010-10-18T17:04:00.003+08:00

First of all, many thanks to Gaijin Gunpla for helping me out with reference photos of Kooh. Without them I would never have had the determination to complete her, and this kit would be consigned to my perpetual WIP box, doomed to be forgotten and one day cannibalised for other projects.

Replenished my supplies over the weekend, and got back to work. I did most of the masking this time using 'Mr Masking Sol neo' which dries into some green goo that you can peel off once you're done colouring. Not particularly easy to use, but gets the job done well enough. Despite shaving off parts of certain pegs, the kit still does not fit well. There are numerous parts that are not flush. Will topcoat her soon, and then apply a bit more force as I do not want to damage the paintjob at the moment. And, Kooh is kinda flimsy too - does not feel solid nor well built... more like a bootleg Bandai knockoff actually.

As you can see, she's nearly done. Only the detailing on her golf club left - initially I wanted to make that silver, alongside with the small buckles on her maid outfit... but honestly I've kinda run out of steam. I hope she doesn't look wierd with a silver club but without any silver trimmings on her outfit.

Will try to wrap things up within a week and see if she looks good enough to warrant the purchase of Pangya kits #2 and #3. At the moment, despite the flaws of Kooh I'm more inclined towards 'Yes'. A masochist I am, am I not?

PLUM Pangya Kooh - WIP

2010-10-14T18:55:00.002+08:00

Silly, I know. But I feel really really worn out today (both with this supposedly 'filler-in-between-MGs' build and seeing my beloved football club suffer the indignity of being dragged thru various courts) so am hoping that a bit of goofing around will help :) Honestly, never in my wildest dreams would I have predicted that picking up gunpla-ing will lead to me AB-ing a pair of lolita panties!

Picked this up a couple of months ago. Box looked good enough, and perhaps I had Koto's HoiHoi-san series in mind, so did not open up the actual box to check the contents. Big mistake.

For something that costs more than an HG and almost as much as the older MGs, it has a pitifully small amount of runners and terrible colour seperation! No waterslide decals for eyeslashes and eyebrows :( Not confident of painting these on by me own, so sadly this means no repainting of the skin tones.

After about a week's work. I've actually run out of masking tape and black paint - my regular supply shop doesn't have any in stock which means a much needed break then. No self respecting anime character has black hair so I repainted Kooh's purple. Also makes her black hair ribbon stick out much better.

Actually, I do not mind masking all that much. But the kit fits poorly. The white (plain wrong that...) polycaps aren't snug like Bandai's. The one for the left ponytail was so loose that I had to wrap a piece of masking tape over the ball joint before popping it into place. TERRIBLE. Not many reviews of this kit floating around on the internet, so am not too sure if it is a problem with my particular kit or a manufacturing/design flaw (or did i mess up?!?). Finally the seamlines are... sigh. If you look closely at her legs, that seamline wasn't half as obvious when i painted that part. Unfortunately, with the very very old school design of snap fitting both sides together and have them hold a piece of double ball joint... grr... if I knew it was gonna be this bad, I would have tried cementing the parts together. Too late to turn back now though... kinda lazy to repaint. My bad.

And speaking of 'my bads', I still haven't posted up the WIP of the pink acguy. The photos are all uploaded, but i just don't have a clue what to write! I wonder how people like Z and NK do it almost daily.

Edit 1 - Hmm... Plum has released two more Pangya kits... kinda tempted to get them, despite the flaws of this one. What do you guys think? Worth the effort and money?
Edit 2 - Replaced makeshift photos with better ones.

MSM-04 Acguy

2010-10-10T00:01:00.005+08:00

Well, today’s the tenth of October two thousand ten - the day I promised myself that I would relaunch my long dormant blog. And what better way to get the ball rolling than my very own pink Acguy!

When I first got into gunpla, taking random photos of an Acguy everywhere was kinda of the ‘in’ thing and I have always wanted one… in pink. I figured the MG was a bit too large to comfortably carry around, hence this HGUC model. Even then, this 1/144 scale model is rather hefty (in fact the body/torso really does feel and weigh like a potato) and comes to about 2/3 the height of a standard MG.

Acguy has such beautiful, clean lines. And despite being an ‘enemy’ Gundam, its peculiar design is without a doubt CUTE. The stubby arms, short legs, huge feet and oversized head further enhances its oddball looks. And the miniscule backpack - pure win! I would say that this is probably the one gunpla that looks cuter in its ‘normal’ proportions as opposed to the SD proportions. And mine is pink! Not terribly original I’d admit, but as I mentioned earlier, something I really really wanted.

The HG version, unlike its bigger MG brother comes with interchangeable parts. Unfortunately, parts swapping is certainly not my forte, and I have given up extending the arms! The parts just won’t come off, especially after I painted them! #&*$@ WHO NEEDS EXTENDABLE ARMS ANYWAYS?!?

Articulation wise, it does most of the standard poses quite well. Most of its joints are slightly extendable, not by much but enough for you to wrestle it into a variety of poses. Just do not expect MG levels of flexibility. However, the biggest letdown is that it CANNOT sit in its ultra moe meditating pose. Or at least I haven’t been able to bend its legs into position.

That claw is awesome. And the kit also comes with three other ‘hand’ designs - one with retracted claws, the torpedo ‘hand’ (thankfully no MG spring action gimmick) and the torpedo/center cannon ’hand’ combo as well as some sort of bookend cap should you feel the urge to have a one armed Acguy. Me? I’d take the claw any day, paired with the nice round torpedo launchers on the other arm.

Although it lacks a proper inner frame, what little bits that are there are in fact well detailed. The soles of the feet are particularly nice, but without a stand there are limited poses where one can see them. That ‘08’ refers to the house number of me and the missus’ new home and is one of only two decals I applied. I also did not panel line Acguy as I wasn’t keen on breaking its natural flowing lines. Methinks this minimalist approach turned out pretty well.

The head is odd. The two pieces on top actually come off (reminds me of the upper shell of a crab really… hmm… hungry… must go eat chilli crabs tonight!), then remove the clear ‘skull cap’ and you’ll find a monoeye that sits in a track that goes all the way around its head. The monoeye can also be moved vertically up its head! I wish there was some way to move the eye without disassembling the top of the head.

And finally, the backpack. As with the rest of Acguy, goofy looking. Those tiny thrusters move up and down.

Am so looking to bringing this little fella around on trips. My blog mascot.

~~Next week - pink Acguy‘s step-by-step WIP~~. Writing that was harder than I'd ever imagined, but here it is.

2 More Days but...

2010-10-08T17:00:00.000+08:00

This isn't part of the 'ten-ten-ten' project. Having had something sitting unfinished for a year on one's table is a mark of a serial procrastinator and something that I'm desperate to change. More on this (and pics too) later, but I'm so relieved to finally complete my MG Freedom!

Ten Ten Ten - One more week

2010-10-03T22:06:00.008+08:00

One more week before the official relaunch of this blog of mine. A lot of changes in my life these past few months, gunpla-ing unfortunately had to take a back seat.

And just as I was about to pick up the pace again, one of the gunpla news mainstays - Ngee Khiong decides to call it a day. Read more here. Terrible news indeed. Dude, you have your reasons and I respect that, but you just cannot change the world by yourself! Again, thanks for all your hard work, your blog updates will be sorely missed.

And oh, that Freedom's been abandoned for a year! Hopefully I'd finally complete it within a fortnight.

Relaunch Teaser

2010-09-27T16:41:00.002+08:00

Relaunch Teaser

2010-09-19T20:07:00.002+08:00

Relaunch Teaser

2010-09-09T18:08:00.001+08:00

Relaunch Teaser

2010-09-07T00:36:00.004+08:00

Hot Chocolate

2009-05-25T00:19:00.008+08:00

Nitro Super Sonic Valentine Version a.k.a. Soniko! Preordered in November, arrived in March after a two month delay in her release date. I was really really looking forward to her, but in the end the long long wait made everything seem a little bit anticlimatic. I took some photos of her, ready for the review about a week after, but photobucket's strict censorship nuked most of the pics, which meant more delays in getting the review ready! Imageshack to the rescue :)

To be honest, I wasn't too pleased with the actual figurine. Orchid Seed did not do justice to the source material at all! Ever wondered why the first picture seems to be the only angle covered in the promotional campaign? Well, there is a fugly seamline on the other side which wasn't on the prototype! She is castoff-able, hence the need to remove the hands, but can't the seamline be at least a little bit more subtle?

And for mine, you have to stretch her legs to insert the pegs (I know, I know, this sounds so wrong). However, the colour and finish is otherwise very nicely done. Oh, and no complains about her tush, no sir, none at all!

She comes with the aforementioned chocolate cake (pictured here by a fellow LYN forumer, 2015315) and a pair of plastic slippers. Both very detailed.

-Update- Two months down the road and my Soniko is starting to lean :( Bad. Also, the hand holding the chocolate cake is giving way, and the cake looks as if it will eventually fall off! Very Bad.

You can see for yourself here. Not safe for work photos (together with an image of the original source material she was based on). Again I stress - NOT SAFE FOR WORK. Includes (hopefully artsy and not sleezy) castoff-ed photos .

I think I'd be sticking to Gunpla and all things mecha from now on.

Plastic Oldies

2009-05-01T23:38:00.008+08:00

Dug up a few old SD kits from my childhood days the last time I was back in my hometown. Most of these were bought when I was around twelve years old, which means some of them are almost twenty years old. Considering that they were toys, and were treated as such by myself and also gnawed upon by my pet dogs, most are in surprisingly good shape!

First up are two GARM kits that are going to get their own SDX releases soon – the first being Command Gundam.

This fella was always one of my favourites. He had this big ass missile launcher stuck on his shoulders, a pretty mean looking stubby sub machine gun and light and sound action! Strange though, I thought all gunplas are made in Japan – the sticker on his launcher clearly says ‘Made in Hong Kong’!

Press the button on top of his missile pack and the sensor on his head lights up and you also get some missile ‘swoosh’ sounds… if memory fails me not that is. The battery is long drained and I have yet to try getting a replacement.

This Command Gundam’s dark green. He had a counterpart that was black in colour, but to my horror by the time I saved up enough money, that was already gone. Quite pricey too these two – around RM40ish each, which was a substantial chunk of pocket money back then. To put things into perspective, a bowl of soup noodles from the canteen used to cost RM0.50. The regular SDs were around RM15.

Next up is one of the antagonists – Satan (or was it Devil) Gundam. He’s a RM15 regular, nothing fancy, but I do suppose he was rather popular as he’s also being re-released in SDX format.

He came with a doppelganger and an extra set of fists. Every time I see these old kits, I cringe at the seam lines and nubs. Bandai has come a long long way since then.

Nothing fancy, but if you move his tail, his wings flap - which was waaaaaaay cool back then! Minimal articulation elsewhere though.

The first two made the time hop in their dusty old shoebox relatively intact, but another of my favourites wasn’t so lucky. This Jagd Doga’s right arm sadly snapped. Nothing a little bit of cement couldn’t fix though, but he’d never move that arm again.

He also comes with a beam saber, but nothing else iirc. What made him special was that if you wiggled his backpack, his head makes a pecking motion! Never knew his true name until I watched the anime, and to me, he’d always be the ‘Green Parrot!’

I’m looking at repainting and restoring these and some other old kits that I managed to salvage (including a very neat Patlabor SD Helldiver) some day, once I feel confident enough with my modeling skills and have managed to get someone to custom make some waterslide decals for me. Some of the old stickers are starting to peel off, and aren’t generic, unfortunately. For the moment though, these go back into their time capsule, with extra padding materials of course!

New Blog Design, New Camera, Old SDs

2009-04-20T16:25:00.011+08:00

It’s been a whole week, and I have pretty much finalized everything. This pink template is here to stay.

It’s been a while since I started blogging about two of my passions – gunpla-ing and photography. Truth be told though, I haven’t been serious about photography for more than ten years, and my previous camera was the good old Nikon FM2 and F90! Yes, it has been that long!

So imagine my surprise when I went back to my hometown earlier this year and saw a DSLR just sitting on the shelf. It turned out that my camera collecting dad bought it earlier but found it too heavy and cumbersome for his liking. A quick “Can I have it then?” later and hey, I have a spanking new toy.

The Coolpix that I was using before this was a decent piece of equipment but it does not even come close to the Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5 – 4.5G and Speedlight SB800 combo I managed to leech of my dad.

The D70 has its quirks methinks – constant slight underexposure of pics, off white white balance (!), at the same time I am still constantly getting to grips with the technology (where does the film go!?!) and the kit lens isn’t fast enough nor does it focus close enough for my likings, but beggars can’t be choosers, eh? And best of all – I finally get to control the depth of field in my photos! Hello aperture! Took a bunch of new photos of my old SDs...

70mm at f/5, focused on Dearka’s Zaku

70mm at f/5, focused on Yzak’s Zaku

70mm at f/16, focused on Dearka’s Zaku

Speaking of which, I seem to have lost a bit of motivation on gunpla-ing of late. One would have thought that being unemployed at the moment that I would have loads of extra time to clear my backlog, but strangely time seems to fly by and yet no new work. There always seem to be something ‘else’ that needs my attention...

...like trying to figure out how to justify spending money on this AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED to the missus!

Sadly, another incomplete Zaku, Heine's machine still lacks his backpack and is missing a heat axe - must start gunpla-ing again!!!

Systems Test

2009-04-15T00:40:00.008+08:00

Almost done with the repairs... decided to revamp the blog design a little bit in order to make things look less cluttered.

Not too good at this html thingy, so if you see any problems with the blog (wonky alignment, broken links, pictures not displaying properly etc etc) do not hesitate to drop me a word via the chat box.

Posting sneak peaks on my current projects...

Fei Long Freedom - Kira comes to Lacus' rescue, sans backpack!

My obsession with pink knows no bounds! Strike Rouge MG - Clear Colour Version.

Maintenance

2009-04-14T00:11:00.009+08:00

A squadron of pesky GMs have slipped thru the Zaku defence net. Site under critical maintenance and repairs for now.

We thank you for your patience!

Long overdue blog update...

2009-03-16T13:43:00.006+08:00

It's been a while. Things haven't turned out terribly well to be honest, got my CPA accredition and certificate last week but still unable to find a suitable job... meaning money's a bit on the tight side, living off the missus is bad for the ego.

Dusting off some old kits to remake, here is the first in what i will deem my Keroro 'Real Frog' series. Will eventually remake all five funnies, each with a different camo pattern. Having some problems getting the proper decals for them though, so might leave them without any? What do you guys think?

Decals or no decals?

The other leg's a bit loose, probably due to me rushing the initial build a few years back :(

Have also been working on and off on my first MG - the Freedom Gundam but am finding it a little difficult to motivate meself to update the blog... i wonder how people like Ngee Khiong get the energy to update their blogs day in day out? Respect!!!

Some MG WIP photos... It's hard to look menacing when you don't have hands! C&Cs welcomed. Building an MG is so different from building an SD.

Paladin Zaku and friends!

2009-01-18T19:51:00.005+08:00

It has been a while since there were any updates on LYN's Zaku Groupbuild, which is unofficially over with the Christmas gathering/SD showoff at one of the local Gundam retailers. TQ Auntie Lenny @ Glory System Enterprise! We are now tentatively working on a Sango groupbuild for Bakuc.

However, there are some Zakus from the forumers which are simply too good to miss. First up, ShinAsuka calls his Zaku 'Paladin' but I prefer to call it Musha Zaku instead heheh!

This is the 'Sword and Shield Mode' and the two photos below are of the Zaku in its 'Angel Wing Mode. Kit bash and scratch build sifu!

And in the meanwhile, Striderozy took the 'groupbuild' literally and built us a whole group of Zakus, including the very cool red and white hospital zaku from gundam astray. I wonder if he will be working on the nifty backpack next?

Bad day at work...

2009-01-17T12:59:00.002+08:00

So decided to take some time off and build an SD the wifey got at super inflated prices from evilbay for me...

A simple snap fit with stickers and the only touch up i did was to cover the nubs of this extra finish version with a silver gundam marker.

Haven't gotten any new figurines of late, no thanks to the combination of the terribly high yen to ringgit exchange rate and the fact that i have, for better or worse,resigned from my audit position.

Animal Crossing: City Folk

2008-12-17T22:55:00.004+08:00

A timeless Gamecube classic revisited! Animal Crossing: City Folk is really an old game repackaged (is a port of the NDS Animal Crossing: Wild World which in turn was a port of the original Animal Crossing on the Gamecube). Everything, from the looks to the gameplay is the same, and so does my in-game abode. The extra memory does mean that the four players no longer need to bunk together as in Wild World anymore.

Hey! King Tut's been given a coat of gloss! Everything looks better though and there are a number of additional (and outrageous) costumes and items to collect. Watermelon anyone? There's a lot of other subtle changes that fans of the series will notice.

Fishing is back too and so far I've managed to catch a few new ones such as the football fish, lobster and the sea butterfly. More variety of ocean fish does mean that fishing isn't as profitable as before... The best new feature (aside from wifi connectivity) is the snazzy built in camera which lets you take snapshots and save them to an SD card.

Nintendo included the ability to transfer over not all but most of your catalog from Wild World, which is rather convenient for us old timers. Now if they could just let us skip the tutorial from Tom Nook...

The museum's received a makeover too and looks better than before. There's also a not so secret place to store gyroids :) That's ZPBS-1001 by the way, the latest Gundam model heheh!

The first Animal Crossing made me skip classes like no tomorrow, but having to work turns the 'real clock' system into a real pain. Still, like a good coffee, a dose of psychedelic escapism keeps me going all day!

In a nutshell, if the first Animal Crossing didn't catch your fancy, neither will this one. However, if you're a long time fan, be prepared to get detached from reality all over again!

Year end peak period... number crunching madness

2008-12-17T00:08:00.004+08:00

It's the beginning of the peak period for number crunchers so updates will be few and far between, at least until the beginning of January when i finally complete my CPA mentorship and leave auditing for good.

Went to the local Gundam distributor's warehouse sale on Saturday and picked up this nifty little fella... SD Strike Freedom Clear Version for RM20 (which is around USD6 nowadays). Will post more pics, probably with the clear Force Impulse. These guys are addictive - only snap fitting required! Maybe i should get the three brothers' Sango box set as well.

Will also need to redo most of the pics here to make things load faster... if i get the time.

SD Zaku Warrior (Meer Campbell's Live Concert Version)

2008-11-24T19:23:00.008+08:00

Meer Campbell would like to inroduce you to her new SD Zaku Warrior - Live Concert Edition! This is my entry for the LYN SD Groupbuild.

When i first started making this fella, i dinnae realise that Bandai has already produced a 1/144 HG version. And once I found out, it was very much a case of making mine more kawaii than Bandai's. Got myself that HG kit as well and was tempted to use the HG hands here, but didn't want poor Sima Yi Sazabi's sacrifice to be in vain :) The microphone came from the Afro Keroro kit and the decals were from Samuel Decals.

Not too happy with the shield, the yellow isn't too even and I really must start working on removing them seamlines.

I was hoping to capture Meer's overtly bubbly and annoyingly cheerful persona, and this was a very fun and satisfying build overall.

Pia Carrot GO - Horiuchi Sana

2008-11-20T01:42:00.007+08:00

Here's the second of my two succubi. This one's a Kotobukiya re-release and I was lucky enough to get her cheaply from one of the local figurine stores.

Nothing cheap about her looks and finish though, there's decent attention to details and the overall skin tone is very accurate. She came with a much appreciated cleavage swap :)

Who needs cast off-able clothing when you have a face like hers! Am really really pleased with Sana, shame on me for thinking that all Kotobukiya made were Zoid models and option parts for gunpla!

Wings to die for. In all honesty though, she lacks the finer details seen in the two recent queen's blade figurines from Megahouse.

Signing off with the obligatory pantsu shot! Somehow i was expecting blue and white stripes instead of black...

PS. What exactly is Pia Carrot about anyways?

SD Force Impulse (Clear Version)

2008-11-16T11:03:00.004+08:00

Not normally one to buy clear limited edition gunpla, but the white unmarked box that this came in was somewhat intriguing. Wasn't too disappointed with the end result either - in fact i kinda like it.

Huge shoulderpads ala the 80's and an even larger backpack.Also came with a small Silhouette Flyer which could be part swapped and attached onto the backpack. Of the 'main' Seed/Seed Destiny Gundams, i like this backpack the most. Came with foil stickers but i chose not to use all of those (they have this annoying tendency to fall off after a while!). As in the normal version, this SD kit also comes with a small stand. Unfortunately, the stand makes the SD look downwards a bit and makes posing awkward.

Not as well articulated nor posable as the SD Zaku's, no thanks to those oversized shoulder pads.

The quality of the actual plastic Bandai uses for these clear kits is much better than those used for normal kits. Very little imperfections, and glossy smooth. Still, is there a way to get rid of the nubs properly? I doubt sanding ala normal kits work here.

When the going gets tough, Shinn reaches for his trusty beam sabers... or at least he tries to. This is no MG, and poor Force Impulse cannot quite reach the handles!!!

Queen's Blade - Mellowna

2008-11-11T10:52:00.008+08:00

Mellowna from Queen's Blade was released round about the same time as Alice but I only got mine a fortnight later. It would appear that she isn't as popular as Alice. Why? She's got everything that Alice doesn't!!!

She's sweet, nubile and busty too, unlike scrawny Alice. Given the choice, I'd pick Mellowna any day.

She's all covered in pink goo too, and it forms her part of her hair and what little clothing she has. She's not very subtle is she? She's also got a err... pet dildo? Not much to cast off in the first place. Not that I'm complaining.

Alice has her hairclips, Mellowna has her shoes. Pretty nifty and neat. I would say that Megahouse has really got their act together, these two new releases are much nicer than the previous Queen's Blade figurines.

A slight disappointment here - the support peg is clearly visible under her butt. Had the goo not been transparent there would be no problems at all, and surely the sculptor should not have missed something so elementary?

Queen's Blade - Alice

2008-11-11T10:16:00.005+08:00

Got this figurine a while back without realising that it was cast-offable. Only realised that there was something fishy going on when I had to remove plastic protective covers from under her clothing when I got home. Good thing I got her before the Japanese Yen decided to do its astronomical leap (or is it the Malaysian Ringgit that's taking a nosedive of epic proportions?). Seems like this is one hot figurine too, all sold out in KL. Who can resist a sultry underaged looking succubus, eh? A bit too anorexic for my likings though, to be honest.

Pose looks a tad stiff, and I worry that she'll lean forward over time.

She is so flat. Those look more like mosquito bites, but you're not gonna see them here, gotta keep this blog somewhat safe for work!

Very good attention to details, with the gunblades and her hair clips being the highlights. Her unbalanced pantsu too is a very nice touch. Mutated teddy bear hair clips are super kawaii!

Can someone explain to me why is one gun chrome and the other blue?

SD Gunner Zaku Phantom (Dearka Elsman's Colours)

2008-11-11T01:44:00.002+08:00

With my decals nowhere to be found and the deadline for the groupbuild just round the corner, I might have to submit this ZGMF-1001/A1 Gunner ZAKU Phantom as my entry. Hopefully no one else is making a similar machine. Nothing much to add from before, except to repeat the fact that I THINK BANDAI ARE RACISTS as Dearka doesn't have a single SD machine! And he appears in both Seed and Seed Destiny! Ooi!!!

SD Slash Zaku Phantom (Yzak Joule's Colours)

2008-11-11T01:28:00.008+08:00

Better photos of what in my opinion is one of the coolest Zakus in the whole Cosmic Era timeline. ZGMF-1001/K Slash ZAKU Phantom. Piloted by one of my favourite characters as well, the hot headed original emo boy Yzak Joule. :)
Move over Shinn.

Unlike the earlier photos, you can actually get a better look at my noobish attempts in making the Slash Zaku pack. Personally, I think having a two handed weapon sorta diminishes the amount of poses one can make...

A big shout out goes to 8tv8 from the lowyat.net forums for showing us how to mod the FG 1/144 gatlings to fit an SD backpack. Thanks!

SD Gunner Zaku Warrior (Lunamaria's Colours)

2008-11-11T01:21:00.003+08:00

ZGMF-1000/A1 Gunner ZAKU Warrior, Lunamaria Hawke's starter Zaku. Completed this a few days ago but never took any photos of it until now. This Wizard pack was the 'guinea pig' for Dearka's machine. Made a bit of a mess of it to be honest, but hopefully it ain't so obvious...

SD GATX-207 Blitz Gundam & A New Photobooth

2008-11-11T01:06:00.010+08:00

Dropped by the local grocery shop and asked for a used box after dinner. Luckily, unlike 7 Eleven, the friendly old man at the counter gave me one. 30 minutes and 3 manila cardboards later, I had my very first photobooth.
Finally able to take decent photos of Blitz, my very first AB gunpla kit and still one of my firm favourites. Recently managed to find a sheet of Bandai decals with the actual marking GATX-207, so I might want to decal him again...

Also, couldn't resist taking a snapshot of my current WIP, Meer's Pink Zaku. Due to a mix up by Pos Malaysia, the decals are on their way back to Hong Kong - returned to sender :(

Note to self - go Fedex from now onwards!!!

The box cost me nothing and the manila cardboards were RM1.50 each, money well spent I would say. What do you guys think?

DraGoonFly's Out Of The Blue Entry

2008-10-22T21:29:00.002+08:00

It is soooo nice to get surprise entries. This is DraGoonFly's Celestial Being Zaku Warrior. The blue metallic is awesome is it not? Sorta reminds me that the lack of Zaku's in Gundam 00 is a huge no no!

HoNeYdEwBoY's Darth Vader Zaku

2008-10-22T21:18:00.005+08:00

Pictures are a bit blur, but this is our youngest member's entry (at least that's what we think, someone younger please come and dethrone him!). He calls it his Vader Zaku but i prefer to call it Zaku Warrior Gold Frame Amatsu!
This is also HoNeYdEwBoY's very first attempt at painting... heheheh another potential 'Slave to the fumes' then.

Kukubeh - Enter The Master

2008-10-16T20:52:00.004+08:00

We don't call Kukubeh a handpainting master for no reason. Here is his 20% complete Zaku. He loves sango SDs, and it shows to does it not - the intricate armour like trimmings? I hereby christian thee Sir Sango Zaku!

Striderozy's Groupbuild Zakus

2008-10-08T16:41:00.003+08:00

More updates on Striderozy's Zakus. He has a Live Concert Version too! And his is nearly complete... and his blaze has a nice super shiny gatling gun as well whereas mine has to make do with a puny cleaver.

I really really need to speed up.

Lowyat.NET SD Groupbuild Update - 2 new Zakus!

2008-10-03T10:30:00.006+08:00

More pics of WIP Zakus from the lads. Will get one of them to write a wall of text later. Recently we've gotten a few new members frequenting the thread, hopefully they'll get poisoned and join in too. Two more months to go.

Here's kukubeh's just primed Zaku Warrior. If his past works are anything to go by, this is going to be on intricately painted beauty. He IS afterall our handpainting guru.

Up next is the master of gloss Striderozy and his Slash Zaku Phantom. No one amongst our little group is as handy with spray cans as he is, and his version puts mine to shame - colour is much closer to the anime.

8tvt's WIP - Slash Zaku Ver Ka? Unicorn Zaku?

2008-09-07T12:23:00.005+08:00

Modded using parts from the 1/144 Seed Slash Zaku and SD Rey's Zaku Phantom.

Salvaging for parts!

2008-09-03T23:31:00.005+08:00

1/144 kits are such a good, cheap and ready source of parts for modding SDs!

Lowyat.NET SD Groupbuild - It's ZAKUs!

2008-09-01T01:46:00.026+08:00

As some of you might know, we have a small group of devout SD collecters at Lowyat.NET - http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/765315 . Everyone has got different preferences and many of us are just starting out - gunpla noobs :)

Our very first group build is well on its way and here are some examples of the potential entrants. For those of you who are interested, do feel free to register at the forums - the more the merrier!!!

Above's an SD slash zaku phantom WIP by 8tvt.

Meanwhile, cyruz13 is working on the experimental SD Providence ZAKU.

Looks sweet don't they? Both are modded from 1/144 kits, and i am sure there will be many more coming.

Me? I might just build an army of standard Zakus to accompany these 'special' ones. Zakus are supposed to be cannon fodder anyways - i'd probably leave the modding to the rest of the boys and push onwards with building my army!

For one, I think it is blasphemy that one of my favourite seed characters - Dearka Elsman does not have his mecha in SD form! No Buster and no Phamtom Zaku nor Gunner Zaku Warrior either!!! Even Amalfie who dies early on has his Blitz, and those forgettable Stargazer guys have their mecha! Bandai wtf?

Surfacers - Budget vs Convenience

2008-08-31T01:21:00.008+08:00

Mr Hobby's white and grey primer for gunpla comes basically in two forms - in a spraycan or in a bottle.

Bottles are a lot cheaper at around RM12 but would require thinning with Mr Thinner and needs to be applied with an air brush. However, try as I might, I've been unable to get the mixture quite right - either i get a totally phailed runny solution or i get more spiderwebs than Spiderman during a bad day in the office! Been asking around, everyone seems to have a different mix ratio, but sadly none work for me.

Which means I'm stuck with spraycans as my only option - not a very economical one at that. One can will prime just about four SDs. At RM36 per can that's around RM9 per gunpla. Bad. Mr Base White isn't exactly easy to find either in KL.

So anyone care to teach me the 'proper' way to use the bottle form before I go bust?

Present From Wifey

2008-08-25T00:54:00.010+08:00

My wife rocks. She got me this out of the blue earlier last week. SIF EX Air Gear Noyamano Ringo Hentai-Mask Ver isn't too bad as a first figurine at all, is it?

Some issues with the QC though, as you can see in the close up there's a bit of a paint chip on one of the strands of hair :( Someone suggested AB-ing it a bit, but methinks my skill levels aren't up to it yet!

Goodsmile and Max Factory figurines are supposedly better made, so i guess i'd stick to those from now on. Still, why would you be looking at her hair when you can be a looking at this...

No idea what the anime is about, but as she came with a pair of roller blades, i'd wager it's something akin to the old Dreamcast game - Jet Set Radio, which was totally wicked. Gotta check it out, hopefully it isn't as flat a letdown as Ringo's butt :)

Nevertheless, Ringo rocks (and so does wifey!)

BB297 - SD Stargazer Gundam

2008-08-21T09:51:00.010+08:00

This little fella has always seemed extra cool to me, being almost all white and having a giant O ring attached to his butt :)

Turned out to be a pain to paint, with awful amounts of masking. Couldn't quite get the gold colour to come off nicely using the technique recommended to me (black --> chrome silver --> clear yellow), got frustrated and decided to fall back to the trusty gold gundam markers.

And while making this, i decided to actually go and watch the three 15 minute episodes. Big mistake, the net-anime series imho is all hype and no substance. Totally lost interest in completing the little guy after that so rushed the finish. Feel kinda bad for him really, but methinks he didn't turn out all that bad after all. I particularly like that blue DSSD decal!

BB264 - SD Blitz Gundam

2008-08-21T00:37:00.008+08:00

A fortnight ago, annual bonus in hand, I finally managed to persuade myself to fork out a thick wad of hard earned cash to buy an air compressor and an airbrush. And to immediately part with even more money to buy surfacers, paints, thinners, topcoats etc etc. Never expected gunpla-ing to be so darn expensive!

Here is the first AB-ed gunpla I've ever made. Money well spent?

Thank goodness the hand-me-down Coolpix 5400 from me parents has a pretty nifty macro mode. Still, i need to get myself a proper tripod, a decent flash and an instructions manual for the darn thing. It looks like a brick too, nothing like the sleek digital cameras that fit snugly in your pocket nowadays. Also need a copy of photoshop, using http://www.splashup.com/ just doesn't feel right.

Update: Making weekly trips to the local hobby shop for supplier now. Ouch!