Weekend of Food and Pumpkin Carving

This past weekend was spent on nothing but eating and carving pumpkins. I’m gonna need the week to recover from all the food consumed while the carved pumpkins sitting in my living room slowly deteriorate. Friday night was originally planned for a simple gathering of friends to carve some pumpkins. Originally I figured we’d order pizza and do something simple. Unfortunately, as the week progress, those plans changed for the more elaborate. Food was consumed and pumpkins were carved. One of the guys made a Zaku pumpkin, so even tho there’s no models involved, Gundam is still a part of our everyday lives…

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New York in October

Last week, I was in New York for the New York Comic Con/Anime Festival. I was at the NYCC/AF Friday and Saturday; the rest of my time there was spent with Jason and Claire. I had been to NYC once before in my life, and that was August 2001 when some friends and I drove up from South New Jersey to the original Yankee Stadium to watch a Yankees game. I think I remembered snapping a picture of the New York skyline with my old film camera, I’m sure the picture is somewhere in my pile of photos in a box somewhere in my house. But until then, that was my only experience in New York City.

Side note, this will be long. I mean. I was there for almost a week. Pictures alone are overwhelming. But this post features tourist, scantily clad women, gunpla, and food, so what more can one ask in a blog post? You have been warned…

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FAG and the October Model Build Gathering

Finally, some gunpla goodness. This weekend was the October Build Gathering. Folks came and went through out the day and evening and all said, we had about 26 or so people at the gathering. A good thing that they came and went, otherwise, we’d have to implement the patio table and living room tables like we’ve done in the past. I also got some work done of the Full Armor Gundam (FAG). More about the gathering and the FAG after the jump.

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Gouf Custom Conversion DONE!

Ok, final bits for the progress on the kit and now she’s done. As stated in my previous post, I sprayed the final gloss clear over the parts that morning so that when I got off work, I can get down to applying the panel lines. So I did just that when I got home. The panel lines are done with tamiya enamel black thinned with rosonol lighter fluid. The whole job looks rather messy, but the wash solution is left on the surface to dry for a couple of hours. Angel and I had our little mandate and hit up the local stop for the Kogi Truck that night, then headed off to see The Expendables It was decent as an action movie, cheesy lines, a few finny ones, and decent action; not much to write home about.

A few hours later, the wash solution has dried enough that it’s very simple to wipe away the excess ink using a q-tip and paper towels moistened with lighter fluid.

After wiping everything down, the parts are sprayed with the final flat clear coat and then let to dry and cure over night. Waking up this morning, I got down to the final gluing and assembly of all the parts.

Gator needs his GAT!

And on to the final assembly. Now a little trick I use to avoid the pesky problems of paint scratching while assembling, posing, and positioning the kit is to slide some note card paper into the areas that are prone to rubbing together. This way, I can continue to move and reposition the kit until I find the one I like, without having any paint scratching problems. Once I find the pose and position I like, the note card papers come out, and the surface of the parts are unscathed.

Completed pictures after the jump…

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