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Read more about the article GM’s Can’t Swim

GM’s Can’t Swim

This is an experiment that didn’t go too badly. I learned a great deal from this experience, granted the end result isn’t all that great, it’s not that bad. It is however, a 1 lb resin paper weight now. The next time I try something similar, it will definitely be in a much smaller size and the planning should be vastly improved. But I do like the final result. This is something I’ve not see too much, so I wanted to try it. I had finished this right before Orangecon 2014 and like everything else, just haven’t had the time to snap some final pictures.

Full gallery after the jump.

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Read more about the article Silly GM, You Can’t Swim!

Silly GM, You Can’t Swim!

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been working on a RG Z’Gok as well as a GMII that would eventually be put together into a simple diorama. The exact plan wasn’t laid out as I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, and I honestly did not know if this “plan” would even be successful. But, I took pictures of the whole process and it sorta turned out how I figured it would. There are some issues that I learned, and should have learned when I first tried this with the Sazabi’s shield. But I am definitely much more confident in this process, so the next time, yes, there will invariably be a next time; this should be much more successful.

Starting off even before the RG Z’Gok was released and before I had snapped together the GMII, I used a stand in GM and a wood base that I had made for the G3 almost 10 years ago. The basic idea is to create a scene with the Z’Gok swimming over a long dead GMII, on it’s way to fight in that one epic battle from Gundam Unicorn. Where all these old Zeon suits spring out of the woodwork. That’s the basic premise. So, on goes the GM stand-in, laying down on the wood base. I then built an acrylic box measured out to the dimensions of the wood base using a hot glue gun to attach the 4 sides. The box is then test fitted over the base with the stand-in GM. Height is checked against my pressure pot to make sure it fits. And my plan is somewhat solid, time to execute.

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Read more about the article All your base are belong to us

All your base are belong to us

Since the last update, the past several days has been spent focused on the base as the Jegan is completed. The process is fairly time consuming as each step takes about a day to fully dry and cure up, if I’m lucky. Depending on the humidity, temperature and thickness of the stuff applied to the surface; the celluclay (Papier-mâché) may take anywhere from one to 5 days to completely dry. Last night, I applied the celluclay to the base and here’s a comparison of the base from the start of the build to now. The light at the end of the tunnel is much brighter now, and this is the last component of the build. Once the celluclay dries, all that is left is the painting and weathering for the base which are some very quick steps in the overall scope of the project.

Aside from the added electronics and surface details, the basic build technique I use for dioramas or bases:

  • Styrene sheets, rods, strips are used for structural details
  • A basic surface of styrofoam, wood blocks, or in this case, a resin asteroid base is used for the main surface dynamics, the basic landscape for the base
  • Plaster cloth is used to encompass everything as well as give a solid surface for the next layer
  • Celluclay is used as the final texture or covering surface over the dried plaster cloth
  • The final steps are paint, weathering, and any sort of ground works such as grass, sand, dirt, rocks, etc.

On to the build progression for this project’s base.

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Read more about the article Revisiting the HGUC Saz – New Base Build

Revisiting the HGUC Saz – New Base Build

Revisiting the HGUC Saz, sort of. Back when I first starting on the Saz project, I had a very elaborate base planned for it. However, just building the Saz burnt me out and any interest in creating an appropriate base to accompany the kit completely waned. This resulted in the simple mirrored base that shows off the leg thrusters and other bits. I got complaints from some peers that it was a bit on the simple side.

Fast forward to SCGMC a few weeks ago, I had the kit displayed with two other HGUC Sazabii. The local distributor came to the event to check it out and also let me know that I had won the semi-final for Bandai’s international Gunpla Builders World Cup 2011; so the Sazabi will be representing North America in the international competition in Hong Kong, December 25, 2011. The SCGMC event was going great and then I was informed that I would be going to Hong Kong to compete; it was icing to an already amazing day.

The following morning, I got an email from the distributor officially confirming that I won the slot, giving me the dates for the event, and also suggesting that I make some improvements on the existing base – suggesting that the mirrored base was a bit on the simple side. Something already agreed upon by several folks. So later on that day, I started planning out the new base which is basically a downsized variant of what I had originally planned for the base when I first started the project.

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