Monthly Archives: October 2017

Read more about the article Hazel Masking and Resin Booster Shields

Hazel Masking and Resin Booster Shields

Last I left off, I had most of the exterior armor pieces painted. The procrastination for the interior armor painting resulted with those bits getting worked on last. The leg armor pieces were painted but I noticed that there were some details that frame up the vents on the front and back, so those areas were masked off and the inset areas were painted with Mr Super Iron then masked off again to paint the frame areas with alclad magnesium. The contrast looks fairly decent when assembled.

Since I am building the Hazel I version, I want to also have it running all three booster shields. The kit unfortunately, only comes with one. I actually started the mold making process at the same time I started spraying the primer. The mold making process takes a bit of time, but if I wrote everything up as it happens sequentially, it becomes harder to follow some of the steps because things keep jumping from one topic to another. That said, lets finish up the mask and paint sessions.

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Read more about the article P-Bandai MG Hazel Progress

P-Bandai MG Hazel Progress

This kit arrived a few weeks ago while i was finishing up my “RX-78 GP03” Mobile Student entry for SCGMC 2017. So there was a little bit of an overlap on the projects while I waited for things to cure on “Osaka”; I got to clipping and sanding the P-Bandai Hazel. The Hazel variation is the Custom, so we get one gun, 1 booster shield, and 1 normal shield. Fifteen or so years ago, an online acquaintance scratch built a resin conversion using the MG GM Quel and made about 100 copies of it and sold it to the online community. Here’s my build of that kit. The 12 year old conversion kit came with 3 booster shields as well as parts for a Full Armored version of the Hazel. So, I guess I was a little disappointed that the p-Bandai version didn’t come with more booster shields at the very least. But that’s a problem I can easily solve later. For now, I got to snapping and sanding the kit.

More progress after the jump.

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Read more about the article RX-78 GP03 Ver. “Osaka” Completed!

RX-78 GP03 Ver. “Osaka” Completed!

This was a very quick project. These small resin figures are pretty simple and perfect to squeeze in between projects. Last time I posted that the parts were sanded and soaked in an industrial strength cleaner. A day later, they get the scrubbing treatment with a dip in the ultrasonic cleaner and water.

After the scrubbing session, the parts are laid out to air dry. Once all the parts are dry, I can work on the immediate problem areas on the kit. There are a few bubbles and chipped resin, but a short session with some light curing putty and sanding fills and fixes things. This is just on the bare resin. The parts are now ready for priming.

More after the jump!
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Read more about the article IPMS OC OrangeCon 2017 and starting a new resin figure project!

IPMS OC OrangeCon 2017 and starting a new resin figure project!

This past weekend was the annual IPMS Orange County’s Region 8 Contest: OrangeCon. This is always a great contest to attend. More so now to spread the word that is Gunpla. While setting up, an older gentleman looked over at me and exclaimed, “Hey, you’re one of Those Gundam Guys!” This always makes me chuckle. He then proceeded to tell me that he had met me a few years back at a previous OrangeCon with a friend of his that I had known from a previous IPMS Nationals in 2007. The guy was from Arizona and was inspired by our talk about gunpla and brought his own custom made Zaku; pictured below. Apologies for the dark pictures. SciFi is the redheaded stepchild of model competitions, so we’re usually in some dark corner out of the best lit areas!

He said that he was having a blast building gunpla and was building more. He ended up winning 1st place in the Sci/Fi Mech/Gundam category – that got split into SciFi Gundam and Scifi Non Gundam. But more on that later. I chatted with him for a while and told him about our show, but he’s unable to come because he lives in Tucson. Blah, people from all over the country are flying/driving in for SCGMC. But that’s another story. Fellow TGG members Brandon and Jonathan came and entered their kits. They got 2nd and 3rd in the SciFi Gundam category.

More about Orangecon after the jump.

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