MG Geara Doga Review

All my Master Grade (MG) gunpla so far are gundams so this is my first mono eye MG kit that I bought. The geara doga first appeared in Char's Counter-attack and also in Gundam Unicorn but by then it is already mostly replaced by geara zulu as the Neo Zeon main mass-produced mobile suit. From its design, it resembles the zaku 2 but is a bit bulkier and with more thrusters.

It is an out of box build. If some parts looks like it is loosely attached, it is done on purpose so that it is easier for me to disassemble afterwards as I have plans to modify it.

The colours on this kit is great with good colour separation, the orange parts complement the green parts well. The energy piping on this kit is unique as it is made of rubber instead of the normal piping found on a zaku which is made up of many small circular pieces. The piping secure well and look great but at some angles the mold line can be seen.

The backpack's design is interesting as normally there is only thrusters facing downwards but in this case there are thrusters facing all four directions. The design is logical as in space without gravity, the thrusters should not be facing only downwards.

I used a colour filter here so the colour looks different 

It has average articulation but has some cool gimmick such as exposing the inner frame and yellow piping at the knee when you bend it and having a slot at the torso for you to add led to light up the head.

For accessories, it comes with a head part and another beam riffle to make the commander type. It also comes with the beam effect parts and two hands with movable fingers.

I like the design of the beam sabre as it looks much more menacing than the generic beam sabre.

   Although it does not have much panel lines or details on those large armour parts, it does make up for it with the other more prominent features like the piping and thrusters which really adds to the overall look. There is also hardly any seam lines so it is rather well designed. It is definitely a good kit to buy.

Non-scale Evangelion-02 Review

This is a non-scale kit of Evangelion-02 from the movie Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. This is a birthday present from my dear friend. It's my first non-gundam bandai kit so it is an interesting build for me. I haven't watched the anime so I am not too familiar with the back story of it.  

For this kit you need some cement for the open hands which is something different from a normal gundam kit. This is just a out of box build where I just snap fit it together without panel lines and decals. 

The colour separation of the kit is great, the major colours comes mostly in different parts. However for some small parts, you are given stickers for it. You can also use gundam markers for colouring if you are not too fond of stickers.

Evangelion 02 has a much more humanoid shape as compared to a gundam. The build is interesting especially so on the throat area where the throat moves upwards as you move the head upwards. The white part of the arms is actually made of rubber like material, giving it a more natural look at the elbow. 

What really impressed me is the articulation of the kit. I feel that it is as articulate as a action figure. It is also compatible with an action base 1 which you can use for more types of action poses. 

For this kit, it also comes with the flight pack which in my opinion looks much cooler than the original. For accessories, it comes with the two types of guns as seen on the pictures above and two daggers. It also comes with a wide variety of hands.

For size comparison, it is much taller than your average size MG like the trans-am exia.

Overall, I am pleased with the kit. I would say that it is closer to an HG 1/100 or NG kit in gunpla terms due to the lack of inner frame but it is much more articulate than any gunpla I built. For a humanoid model kit, the proportions are great and it looks cool with the flight pack. 

GBWC Singapore 2014

Last Sunday was the result day for GBWC Singapore 2014. Although I did not win anything, it was a fruitful experience. After collecting my kit after the event ended, there is a chance for us to meet with Master Kawaguchi for a mini consultation session. He expertly pointed out all the flaws of my kit such as the masking was not done properly when painting and since the centre part of the kit is where most people look at first glance, it needs to be done perfectly. Furthermore, when scratch building the shields, I need to ensure that the pla-plates at the sides need to be done properly so that it isn't that obvious that it was scratch-built and only when all the inner parts are done properly then add the design on the shields. He also said the yellow used blends well with the main kit colour and the overall design was quite balanced. When I asked him how to improve on the base itself, he commented that I should think about how the tieren moves and the normal terrain that it normally operates in so maybe add a bit of dirt and mud but he also said that if the focus of the work is on the kit itself then the simple base like that is fine. In the end, I managed to get his autograph.

I totally agree with his comments and one of the lessons learnt is not to start too late. For this event, it was an impromptu decision as I  only decided to enter it after the group build and there was hardly a month before school starts so it was very rushed. Moreover, I made a silly mistake of not mixing the paint properly so the paint turns out darker at the start and gets lighter towards the end making it impossible for me to repaint it without changing the tone of the colour. However, I did had fun coming up with the design and after modifying the tieren, it really makes it an unique piece in my collection.

Thanks for reading.

Tieren Phalanx Completed

This project is inspired by gundam build fighters where I modify the Tieren based solely on what weapons and amour that I want it to have in a battle. The name "phalanx" is inspired from mahouka so I tried to make its shields the main point of the kit.

The tieren being bulky so I think that a buster sword is the most compatible with its size. Thus, I took the tactical arms from a NG Blue Frame Second L and modify the sword with the design cues from the tactical arms from the master grade version where I added pla plates to the edges and removed the hilt.

I changed the signal backpack from the original tieren to a weapon backpack by attaching a grand slam sword from MG strike IWSP and its original machine gun.

   All full armoured up. The decals are from Samuel decals and some of them are from left overs from my FA unicorn decals. The base are basically made from left-over pla plates and putty. The base looks plain but that is all I could do in the time constraint.

Tieren Phalanx WIP

I had completed the kit a few months ago but didn't have the time to update the blog till now. It is basically a project for me to work with pla plates for the first time.

0.3mm or 0.5 mm pla plates? It is a question that I thought about when I wanted to buy pla plates for the first time. After working with both thickness, I find 0.3 mm plates are like thick sheets of paper so they are good for detailing and good for curve surfaces as they are flexible enough. For 0.5 mm plates, they are more stiff so they are good for scratch building rigid structures and detailing parts where you want the details to protrude out more but are not good for curved surfaces.

 The shoulder shields are built from 0.5 mm pla plates and the external lines on the shields are made from 0.3 mm plates. 

After pla plating, painting is another headache as with all the added details, they would need to be masked if you want them in different colours. There are two ways of masking, namely masking tape from tamiya or masking solution from mr hobby. After working with both ways, I find it more reassuring to use masking tape over masking solution as the masking solution turns translucent after a while so sometimes I will missed out some edges. The masking solution is also hard to control where you apply it to especially on raised surface and uneven surfaces.

1/100 Tieren Ground Type Review

This is a birthday present from my friend, I have assembled it years ago but I am taking it out to do some modifications to it. Since I am taking photos of how the tieren looks out of the box, I might as well do a review of it.

In the anime, the Tieren did not have much impressive battle scenes, especially for the ground type are typically depicted as weak units (but every unit is weak compared to the gundam in the early part of gundam 00) while the aces uses a commander type and taozi. However, looking at the model kit itself, it makes you appreciates the design more. I like the overall design as it resembles a zeon mobile suit with its mono eye and shoulder shields.

Despite its bulky appearance, it has quite good articulation. The upper torso can rotate 360 degrees, tilt front and back and even left and right. The orange armour parts offers a good contrast to the green color scheme. It comes with three types of weapons like the bazooka, machine gun and a combat knife. For a non-grade, the amount of details on it is quite decent.

This will be my next project. The objectives will be to try working with pla-plates, to use lacquer paints instead of acrylic for painting and scratch building, all for the first time. Hopefully, I can complete it before the school semester starts and enter the GWBC Singapore.

Blade Liger Completed

My completed work

I wanted to create a scene with the blade liger leaping off a slope but it seems the base is too small.

There are a lot of new things that I tried with this project like using an airbrush, a hobby knife, a side cutter during assembly of the kit (I used to use scissor and nail clipper), various weathering techniques and try making a custom base. 

 

I think the weathering is overdone, that it looks a bit too dirty. Perhaps some battle damage may make it look a bit better but I just couldn't bear to damage this kit as blade liger is my favourite zoid.

 I added zeke in the last two photos, it kind of blend well to the background. I am using the action base 1 stand to support the liger since it is not made for it, the support is kind of wobbly. 

By the time I started on this post, the group build is a ready over. I find the group build to be an eye-opening experience with lots of impressive entries. Lots of room for me to improve on my work, especially in the basics. 

Thanks for dropping by.

WIP Blade Liger

Lots of delay in the work due to the need to wait for both airbrush and spraybooth to be available. The spraybooth even broke down after a week due to the faulty adapter. I also damaged my airbrush nozzle which I have to get spare part as it is my first time airbrushing.

One of the reason I bought an airbrush is to try the hair spray technique for weathering. I find the technique quite difficult to get a good result as the base coat get in the way of the blue color tone, making it darker than I liked.

Hair spray technique consist of spraying the inner coat of paint with hairspray and sprinkled with salt. Then spray the intended color over it and when it drys use a toothbrush to brush of the salt to reveal the inner coat of paint. The type of salt used cannot be too fine as the more I paint the more of it get dissolved and the numerous coats of paint also make it hard to create the chipping effect especially on those parts without the salt.

The second weathering technique I used on the non-blue parts is the sponge technique which involve using a sponge with minimal paint to add rust effects. It is a much easier technique and it looks great. Although, it may not be the most realistic looking, it is the easiest to do.

The third technique I used is oil wash. It basically used to tinge the surface with a darker tone. I used brown oil paint thinned with enamel thinner till it is very diluted to cover the whole kit after the painting is done.

The last technique I used is tamiya weathering master. It is more of an add on. It can make certain parts have a more rusted look. It is quite easy to apply as it comes in compact packages with a brush.

HMM Blade Liger AB Bang Ver. Unboxing

 

The Blade Liger has always been one of the iconic zoids from the anime Zoids The Chaotic Century and subsequently The Guardian Force. The anime is also one of my favourite animes which I watch when I was in primary school but it was quite long ago so I have forgotten some of its story. If you are wondering who is Bang, it is actually Van if you watch the english dub version of the anime.

 Opening the box, you will see the runners. Nothing surprising here, if you are used to building gunpla. As you can see the pieces are already colored so you do not have to paint them if you do not want to. 

  Here you can see sliver and gold pieces and the clear parts. There are springs provided as well.

The instruction booklet and the decal sheet here but it is strange that the instruction does not show you where to put the decals on. The Van, Fiona, zeke and the zeke fused zoid core are all painted, something seldom done in gunpla so good job to Kotobukiya.

This is my second HMM zoid and I am looking forward to building it. I am thinking of trying something new on it like weathering techniques, diorama etc. I hope that it will turn out well and hope that I will be able to finish it in time for the group build.