Model Building

Read more about the article Goufy Girl Update

Goufy Girl Update

Weekly update time. Motivation for this project is still pretty damn high and I’m having a crap ton of fun working on this project. Years ago when this broke, I just didn’t feel like fixing it because it would have required a complete repaint for some of the parts with custom mixed paints I no longer had so getting the color match would have been impossible. Fast forward to last week, I finally started the repair process. Below are comparison pictures for the broken shoulder piece. The curved spike broke off the pauldron. The spike was glued back and epoxy putty is applied when I first started working on the project.

Once sanded down it starts to look close to the original. The spike insert area also had a little bit of a space, so that was scribed in with some BMC chisels. There are some detail bits that were lost on the break, so a small piece of styrene works to repaint that area. Not too difficult a fix, but a little labor intensive.

Tons of pictures and more progress details after the jump.

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Read more about the article And now back to some Gunpla, sort of …

And now back to some Gunpla, sort of …

I love build gathering for the simple fact that a ton of my goofy ideas result from build interactions with my friends. I’ve been struggling to work on projects for the past two virtual build gatherings. The Ford Mustang GT4 stagnated from frustration. And then I started on an RG Sazabi that I have an idea for, but the motivation for that kit just wasn’t there. I’ve managed to snap the legs and part of the waist in May and started back on it to finish off the waist and upper torso this past build gathering before just boxing the damn thing up and moving on to a more interesting project.

There is a little history for this project. And I have been known to take previously finished projects and just rebuild them. The Neograde Gouf Custom conversion for the MG gouf 2.0 kit was finished almost 10 years ago: Neo Grade Gouf Custom Build. This one is a little different, it was displayed at a local hobby shop and was damaged from a customer handling it. (I have no idea why a hobby shop would allow a customer to handle kits in their display case). But it happened several years ago, almost 5 years ago: Broken Neograde Gouf Custom. And since then, it has sat in a box. Well, not really, it was taken out and used as a reference for the Gouf Custom Zaku Exceed Head conversion and Bust kit I made; that is still available for purchase here: Gouf Custom Zaku Exceed Conversion kit and bust for sale!. But back out of the box and this time, really ripped apart.

More details for this “new” project after the jump.

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Continue ReadingAnd now back to some Gunpla, sort of …
Read more about the article My curse with Fords

My curse with Fords

This project was started the first week of May and should have been done within 2 weeks. It is now approaching the tail end of June and it’s still not done. I keep running into problems with the final body work bits. I realized that I didn’t post up any progress pictures of this build to the blog, so here we go.

This kit was released some time in April, and I went out and grabbed out because it looked pretty cool and I wanted to try some polishing techniques I saw online. Right out of the gate, we get working on the body. It is white, so defects and mold lines are a little hard to see. A quick primer session remedies that, and I can see areas that need to be addressed and sanded down.

The rest of the progress after the jump.

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Read more about the article Tifa Progress Part 2

Tifa Progress Part 2

Six days after starting the project, she’s done. The goal was to finish her before the game got to my house so that I don’t get completely sucked into the game and the project goes into a limbo state. This has definitely happened in the past; so having a deadline really put some focus into the build.

Starting with where I last left off, I had just finished priming the parts. One of the main things primer is good for is to check for mistakes. Little areas of missed sanding spots or even small bubbles on the surface. With the leg, I found some surface defects that needed correcting. Just applying putty over the surface won’t work. The putty doesn’t have a good surface to grip, like I said in the last post. So these little defects are cut open a bit and light curing putty is applied. Cured in a minute, sanded, and then primed again.

Now that the skin areas are all primed and ready, time to get them ready for skin tones. White base is sprayed over all the skin areas to reset the canvas so to speak. Airbrush paints are very thin, so each layer will inherit from the previous. Unless you want a zombie skin tone, white out the grey layer. Eyes are masked to keep the white there.

More details for the final steps in this build after the jump.

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