Gundam

Gunpla Build - Hiatus 2021-01-30

Hey folks. Just wanted to let you know that the build of the Zaku I Sniper Type is going to go on a brief hiatus. And I do mean brief - I expect it to be on hold for a week, maybe two tops (though considering how slowly the build’s been going, something tells me no one would even notice!)

The main reason for this is that I ordered some new Tamiya Modeling Compound, one that happens to have all the colors I needed to weather the Zaku:

I figured I’d wait for it to arrive and see if it leads to even better results than my current techniques (and if not, oh well! It was worth a shot, right?)

Thoughts on Gundam Unicorn 2021-01-24 After almost a decade, I finally, finally got around to watching Gundam Unicorn. It was not worth my time. Unicorn is by far one of the most beloved Gundam stories in recent memory, and if I’m being honest, I’m not entirely surprised. In this modern geek culture, pleasing fans is like shooting fish in a barrel. They are easily pleased by very specific (read: lazy, superficial, and sometimes disturbing) tropes and creative decisions, and Unicorn has these in spades. Read More

Gunpla Build - High Grade Zaku I Sniper Type Part 1 2021-01-23

Delays

I’ll admit, this build is taking quite a long time. That is because I am trying to do a full body weathering job. I still don’t have a lot of experience with weathering, so I have to (and want to) take my time. If I don’t have a couple of solid hours on a given night to work on the model. I simply won’t try. Lately, the problem has been more that I haven’t had the energy to build, but there’s not much of a difference between “I don’t have X hours to spare” and “I can’t stay awake for X hours”.

Last night, I took a look at my pile of finished pieces and realized I had almost - but not quite - enough of them to justify writing about. I decided to grit my teeth and stay up a bit late to knock out a few more.

Wing Zero with a Lance 2021-01-21

Last month I claimed that the Wing Zero would look better with a melee weapon than with a rifle. I finally got around to testing my theory out. Let’s see how it went.

The Weapon

I don’t have that many loose/spare melee weapons, and of the ones I have, most of them are Zaku Heat Hawks. Those are a bit too small for what I had in mind, which left me with only one option - the Lance that came with the Iron Blooded Orphans accessory set I bought years ago. There was just one little problem - the lance was the very first thing I ever tried to hand paint, and it looks like …. well, it looks like this:

Gunpla Birthday - Gundam Logo Displays 2021-01-19

Here is my second birthday present. My wife found these on Amazon:

The product listing simply refers to them as “Gundam Logo Display”. I did a little bit of digging on them, and it left me more confused than before. They are being sold on Amazon (via an official Bandai store), as well as a few other hobby stores, but they’re also up for preorder on the official Premium Bandai site. Wait … preorder? Premium Bandai? What’s going on with that? Most P-Bandai merch isn’t available through other channels.

Gunpla Birthday - SD Unicorn Gundam 2021-01-18

My kids are increasingly taking in interest in my favorite things, at least as much as a toddler can genuinely take interest in something. That includes Gundam, or “Gingum” as they like to call it. To be clear, they aren’t watching it (aside from 20 minutes of Gundam Build Fighters), and they don’t really know what it’s about. They just know that I have a bunch of these robot things and that they look cool. They’ve also been desperate to build a model kit with me, which is something I simply haven’t been able to accommodate. There are too many sharp objects, paints, etc. that they simply should not be near, and they’d easily break or lose the pieces.

And yet, they ended up getting their wish anyway. Look at what they gave me as an early birthday present:

I might not be able to build a High Grade with my kids, but an SD Gundam? I figured that that was something we could do together. So we sat down this afternoon and put this little guy together. Let’s talk about it, shall we?

Gunpla Chronicles - The Lost Episode 2021-01-15

In the intro to my last post, I relayed the story of how I ruined a model kit - specifically, a High Grade Zaku I - back in the summer of 2017. However, that wa only half of the story. That Zaku was one of two models I purchased that summer. I almost ruined the second one too, but I managed to salvage it to the best of my ability. It still stands on my shelf to this day, though I never wrote a build post for it. Seeing as how I’ve spent so much time revisiting old builds lately, I figured it was about time to cover this “lost” model, warts and all. Let’s roll back the clock and look at the High Grade, Rambal Ral Custom Bugu.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Zaku I Sniper Type 2021-01-11

I only ever ruined a model kit once. It was back in 2017, and it was due to a serious, full body case of clearcoat fog, which I attempted to fix with more and more layers of topcoat. Unfortunately, outdoor conditions were such that this only made the problem worse. By the time it was all done, the paint was a goopy, sticky mess even well after it dried. I was so upset with myself that I threw the finished model in the trash¹.

The model in question was Char Aznable’s Zaku I from Gundam: The Origin. The only traces of it I have left are some spare parts in a bag. Call me dramatic, but I very nearly quit building model kits after this fiasco. At the very least it has haunted me ever since.

And it looked so good before I ruined it. RIP

Now it is time for some of closure. My next build is the Zaku I Sniper Type:

New kits! 2021-01-10

Christmas time means gift cards, and these days there’s nothing I like getting with gift cards more than model kits. Due to how much Gunpla typically costs, I can easily get pretty darn close to $25, or $50, or $35, or whatever balance I have to spend. That means no lingering balance on the card, and very little out of pocket costs for me. It’s a win win.

This season I got an excellent haul:

You can catch a glimpse of the Barbatos Lupus Rex (which I bought in the fall) way off in the back, waiting for its turn to be built

I feel bad grabbing four kits at once, especially after complaining about the current model kit shortage, but if everyone else is going to scoop them up with reckless abandon, why can’t I?¹

Gunpla Build - High Grade Wing Zero Followup 2021-01-09

This build went off the rails. Several times in fact.

First, I found myself in a bit of a foul mood around halfway through. I decided that I was tired of taking so many WIP photos. All the shots of loose parts, and semi-completed components - I was done with it all. I felt that it wasn’t really offering anything interesting or insightful to the audience. I decided that I would just work on the build, and maybe take photos of the finished body parts.

It was around that time that I had a COVID-19 scare. I ended up having to isolate in a room for three days while awaiting my test results. When they came back negative I was beyond relief, but I was also mentally and emotionally drained. Once I started feeling better¹, I went to the basement and realized that almost all the individual components of the Wing Zero were either complete, or were ready to be assembled. However, I hadn’t taken photos of any of them. After everything that had happened recently, I decided that I wasn’t in the mood for photography, so on Christmas Eve I did the final assembly, and that was that. The completed model looked great, and I was happy.