A mixture of Gunpla, Cooking, SCUBA, Corgis, and Life

Read more about the article Volks Revy Progress

Volks Revy Progress

I was meaning to write up a quick little post before my business trip to Toronto two weeks ago. We see how well that panned out. So better late then never. And I have much more material to write about since I’ve progressed a little more since I returned from the trip. To start off things, I had originally pinned her together using the small guides and clues in the resin from the sculptor. Some of those worked, some not so much. The main parts I want to keep the pins are in the feet and legs to the lower torso. Since she’s freestanding, I want as much inner support as possible. I had also pinned together the arms and head piece but didn’t get as good a placement for the pins in those areas so the fit was slightly off. It’s not a big deal, I can just go and use glue for those areas and they’re not load bearing so again, not an issue.

Moving on, this kit actually came with some extra parts. There’s an extra Barretta, an extra holster, an extra gun clip, extra hand and an extra head piece. They’re not duplicate parts, but option parts; which is pretty damn cool. There are two options for the head; one to hold the extra gun clip in her mouth, and one with her mouth closed. There are two left hands, one to hold a magazine clip, and one that holds the extra Barretta. With that, there’s an extra right side holster. So I have the option of having one gun holstered (which is a third gun that is just the barrel piece and handle – put with the holster, looks like a holstered weapon) or two empty holsters. Indecision got the better of me so I turned to using small rare earth magnets. I had originally planned on pinning this, but the parts are a bit too small for that to work.

Holes were drilled into the hands, the guns, and the holster pieces. Magnets glued into position taking care with the proper polarities, and the problem of multiple build options is solved.

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Read more about the article Gunpla posing and photography

Gunpla posing and photography

Going back to school

It’s been a few weeks since I finished the Sucker Punch diorama; so I’ve had some time for the thing to marinate. I asked my friend Jason, who’s an artist by profession and went to school for such what he thought about the diorama. We started building gunpla together when we were young, so there is familiarity with the material. I had gotten a few comments, some rather long and intense about the posing in the diorama. And having recently finished it; I wasn’t really in a position to defend or analyse it at that time. And I also believe that pride has a great deal to do with this as well. It is very difficult to take criticism on a piece of work one makes. We tend to go on the defensive more often than open up our minds to view things from other perspectives. This is all fine and well if you’re building for yourself and no one ever sees your work. But once you post it up publically, or enter competitions; then things change. You’re putting your work out there to be judged – regardless of if you asked for it or not. And when I first posted the work online, I completely dismissed the comments that criticized the work.

Now that a decent amount of time has passed, I believe I am ready and can objectively revisit the work. So the question I asked Jason is what he thought about the pose – Zogok punching Cold Climate GM. On a personal level, it didn’t really sit well with me either; but I was having trouble formulating what was wrong. I tried a few things suggested online but nothing clicked. I needed to go back to school. I didn’t know what was bothering me about the kit the more I looked at it.

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Read more about the article Southern California Gundam Model Competition 2015

Southern California Gundam Model Competition 2015

SCGMC is a gunpla competition held in Southern California in November. Saturday, November 14, 2015 to be exact. It is a niche model competition focusing mostly on gunpla. Other anime models are always welcomed and highly encouraged, such as Mak, Five Star Stories, Macross/Robotech, Evangelion, Votoms, etc. Anime resin figures are also very much welcomed. That said, each year, there is a special theme; this year’s theme is the 1/144 City Diorama. We create the special theme each year to help push builders to explore techniques outside their sphere of comfort. There is a special award for this theme; but it is only 1 of a current listing of 11 categories.

SCGMC is about anime/mecha model building. So to promote that, we have 11 categories that spans the Gundam universe, other anime mecha, resin figures, and dioramas in general.

scgmc_2015

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Read more about the article New Figure Build: 1/7 Revy by Volks

New Figure Build: 1/7 Revy by Volks

A few days of rest after AX is always healthy; but I’m still fairly gunplaed out after pushing pretty hard to finish the sucker punch diorama. I’ve still not taken a quick video showing the kit with all it’s lights and morse conversation between the two zeonic suits; but I’ll get around to it soon.

From AX, Volks was in the exhibit hall and while I didn’t really put much faith in seeing resin kits. The booth was fairly simple with some display pieces; and historically, most booths with these figures were not selling kits. I did notice some FSS kits they were selling, all plastic and no resin. But I asked about resin figures and they pointed to a sign right in front of me with their whole line of charagumi kits. Picking up my jaw off the floor, I immediately asked if they had the Revy kit. I’ve been interested in this kit for a while as well as the Saber kit; but I was immediately suckered into picking up the Revy kit. I am usually pretty good at walking away from AX without picking up a single kit; but damn, I could not pass up getting at least one kit from Volks. I hope they did well enough that they come back next year.

Cracking open the kit, the parts separation is amazing. They are using colored resin. There are still gates that need to be removed and mold lines that need sanding. But baring any pinholes, it would be as simple as just clear coating the thing, gluing everything together, and adding the decals. But like the colored bandai kits, I will be priming and painting this kit. It will definitely be an easier resin figure kit; but the same work for any resin kit is needed.

Another note about this kit is the extra parts. The kit comes with two heads, one with her mouth open biting down on a gun mag; then another with her mouth closed. There are also options on her left hand, either holding another gun mag, or holding the second gun. This leads to options for the holsters; an extra empty holster and one that has a gun holstered. Pretty damn cool to include all these extra parts; and effectively, all the parts can be painted and then interchanged.

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