Humable Model Gundam RX-78-2 Part 3

Stingy
The action poses of Humable Model Gundam RX-78-2 after the introduction on its various parts back in October.



The upper body which follows the design of MG Gundam Ver. 2.0 is fine with me, but the small feet and legs seem really funny from certain views XD


Comparison with the HGUC version. Almost accurate to 1/144 scale, but that's not the case when compared to God Gundam Hyper Mode from the same set.



Very wide articulation range for most of the parts that move. ^^







The shield can be mounted to the mounted, although the way it's done is not the same as the Gunpla version at all.


A perfect fit to the clip-on type connector of Action Display 2 is a great bonus of this figure. ^^






Beam rifle, shield and beam-less beam saber are seriously not enough to exhibit the action of Gundam RX-78-2. As shown in one of the images above, the scale is about right to the HGUC version, so we can borrow his weapons to be used on this Humable Model.

It's time to bring on the beam saber in the next review. ^^

MG F91 Part 6

Hi-ho, Silver! Away!
Finally, it's not about the display base anymore XD

But if you're thinking the amount of painting will go any less on the actual model itself as compared to the display base, then you might be surprised to see just how many spots on the model which are not molded in their exact color.

Well, that's if you follow the color scheme shown in the manual really. All the painting I did is optional.

First component to go is the shoulder armors


Images from the manual and box art are showing that the wall inside the verniers are in yellow - a feature to be seen on all similar parts of F91, and white for the frames of the heat radiating fins.

The first part should be no problem I believe, but for the later, painting white on black is always hard for me.

Back to Gundam Markers it is. ^^


First round of painting.


Panel-lined the details inside the shoulder armors.


Scratch away excessive paint of the verniers when they dried.


The completed shoulder armors - with panel-lines drawn on their exterior as well.


While the fins have different part numbering, they are all of the same size. Had to make sure of that in case the numbering is important to determine which one is to be assembled onto the model first later on.


Should have ended with panel-lining the individual lines on each fin to cover up the spilled white paint, but I succumbed to my penchant for shiny painted parts here and there on my model, so...


Gundam Marker Gold scores again ^^



The heat radiating fins look like they are performing their task all the time on my F91 from now on. XD


Lining up the fins onto Tack-It plaster for them to dry.
Do their look like sailing yachts in the picture? XD


All parts for the shoulder armors.

MG F91 Part 5

And the cheat code is ...
The initial plan was to have all the work done in this review put together with the canopy last night, but the decision to use a whiteboard marker on it put me off a bit on the overall work progress. ^^;

The final stage of work on the display base: last bit of painting on some of the parts and detailing the cockpit.


The most amount of painting needed for the display base is gray for the thrusters and bases of the beam cannon, five for each on the entire base.

Normally, I would torture myself using Gundam Marker and toothpick on such tight spots unreachable by the tip of the Gundam Marker, but not this time. The amount of painting is a bit too much for Gundam Marker, and some spot are just too narrow to work on, especially the spot between the thruster and the wall around and behind it.

It would be so much more convenient if the thrusters are molded separately from the base, just like the beam cannons. I suppose with that, the base would be wider for the tip of the marker to maneuver in there.

And if the thrusters are molded in black just like the beam cannons, I won't even bother to paint them anyway XD

So this time I'll hand paint the different spots instead. The color used is:


Gaia Color 074 Neutral Gray IV (15ml)

Just the paint itself isn't enough of course, two more items are needed:
- Mr. Hobby Leveling Thinner
- Tamiya Modeling Brush Flat No. 01

The result from the painting:


As you can see, I actually painted the walls of the thrusters and beam cannons in gray as well. That is because I think it's appropriate to treat them as the mecha components of the MA.

Then again, another reason is I'm too lazy to dodge those parts when painting, and too lazy to clean them off later as well. XD

But of course, those excessive paint sticking at the edges are scratched off when the paint dried completely.

Next up: detailing the cockpit ^^


Panel-line the different parts first.


Markers and pens of various colors are used to show the different components on the dashboard around the pilot seat.


Finally, cleaned off excessive paint and panel-lined the dashboard again.
The colors used for the panel are randomly painted actually, but I chose bright and shiny colors like metallic green, silver and gold to be used as these colors are more outstanding, and would be easier to spot when the canopy is being put on top of the cockpit.

The entire display base before and after: ^^



And a try on assembling the different parts:



Can see Iron Mask's head and some of the colors on the dashboard now. ^^
Another posting with just one part done. XD But finally, I've completed the display base. Will be moving on to the actual model of F91 next. ^^

MG F91 Part 4

Told you to use a green highlighter, you idiot!
Was hoping that things would be a little easy for me after the first round of painting on the display base, but the first move sent everything down the drain. ^^;


Initially, I wasn't going to use a normal whiteboard marker (green) to paint the interior of the clear canopy. I was actually opting to use a green highlighter instead, just like those clear parts for the GN Drive and GN Condensers of my Exias. Somehow somewhere along the wire connecting my brain with my hand broke and it reached for a whiteboard marker instead.

The result was a complete disaster, as you can see in the image above, the ink from the marker blotted at different spots and the canopy now looks like some ridiculous art work from my kindergarden days. ^^; I wasn't panic at that moment, since it happens all the time anyway. Painted some parts, the paint doesn't work, rub the it off and try again. That has been my way all along.

The panic only kicked in when I found that all the regular tools I used to clean off the paint useless. Alcohol, water, correction fluid remover or the usually very dependable Yoko-Yoko raised their white flags against the stubborn paint, which I shall now call stain ^^;

For a moment there, I actually felt amazed with just how resolute the stain decided to stay inside the canopy. XD It's really amazing, I've never see how hopeless all those mentioned tools are against this stain. Nothing was able to move the stain at all, as if it had fused with the clear part XD

And of course, the regretful thought of, "Told you to use a green highlighter, you idiot!" just kept on lashing my mind all that while. ^^; Being yelled at by yourself was such a dreadful experience. ^^;

In the end, I brought the part to the kitchen and cleaned it using a cellulose sponge and cleaning detergent. Sure enough, the rough surface of the cellulose sponge is superior to the stain and the paint came off, but it was a bitter victory, as the clear part is no longer clear. ^^;


It's now completed blurred with all the scratches from the treatment with the cellulose sponge. ^^;

Maybe I should be feeling lucky at this point that the whole thing didn't break from the rough cleaning process just now. ^^;

Well, the task now has changed from cleaning the stain to clearing the scratch marks, and I have (about) the right tool for this.



Mr. Compound from Mr. Hobby. This one is Super Fine 8000. 25ml, the price is about RM40.

Now, the thing I learned about Mr. Compound is that its purpose is almost similar to paper file, but it's used for clear parts, and it's always used on the surface, not for the interior. ^^; The effect is like glossy polish.

Another thing I know, is that you should start with a smaller number (600 - coarse), then bigger (3000 - fine), and finally this largest 8000, just like how you sand a Gunpla part.

Here's an example of how magical compound is in turning clear part to almost crystal-like demonstrated by Master Nobuyoshi Ochi (越智信善). He used a different brand though. It's this video that fascinated me about compound actually.


Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.
Anyway, I'm not ambitious to try anything like that. I'm just a desperate person trying to get rid of those scratch marks XD

After about 8 or 9 rounds of rubbing using Mr. Compound, the result:


Left (before) and right (after).
Some nasty scratch marks are still clearly visible, but the whole part isn't that blurry anymore. ^^

After another few round of polishing, I decided to call it done (before running into the risk of breaking it ^^;) and paint it.

And this time, green highlighter it is! ^^


Way better now ...


... for sure. ^^;



Great to see that Iron Mask is visible under the canopy. ^^
Oops, seems like I managed to get done with one part only again this round ^^; Will get the entire base done in the next review.

Hopefully ^^;

MG F91 Part 3

You go for the stink, huh?
Finished with the figure yesterday, time to move on to another really troublesome part, the display base Rafflesia.

It's a single part molded only in red, which is the base color alright, but there are many other smaller places that need to be painted, like the cockpit, thrusters, and the whips as well, which came as black parts instead of green. I'll start with the relatively easier places to paint first before moving onto the details.

By the way, Rafflesia is really a good inspiration for designing your Mobile Armor isn't it? Apart from the sheer size of the flower, the stink can really work well in scaring visitors away, just as how the numerous whips of this MA kept all its enemies at bay in the movie ^^;



Gundam Marker GM19 Metallic Violet for the 5 thrusters and areas around the cockpit.
Not exactly easy for the later as they descend into the deeper and narrower splits.


Clean up some of the excessive paint on the top layer.
Not exactly easy either as the round elevation of the base isn't a good place to work on for knife to scratch off the paint.


Completed, with panel-lines drawn.


5 gray splits on top of the base painted with Gundam Marker Gray.


Connector from the base to the display stand is painted using Gundam Marker Black.
The really narrow wall in between the base and the connector is painted with a toothpick first, before painting the larger area using the market directly.


Completed



Painted the whips with oil-based paint marker green.


Great to see that the color of the painted whips matches the color of the wire very closely. ^^
Except for the whips, supposedly easier parts to be painted weren't that easy actually ^^; Hopefully the next round of work on the more delicate part of the base would be better. ^^

MG F91 Part 2

Where are you looking at, old man?
Starting to recover from the "shock" to work on MG F91. XD

The priority is given to two parts that were in my head the moment I got this kit: the display base (Rafflesia) and its pilot figure. Just the later for this review today.

The pilot figure of the base is Iron Mask, and while it's accurately sculptured to look like the character from the movie, there's one serious problem about how he sits in his cockpit:



Meditating there, old man?
How can one sits so casually when there's one enemy MS, a Gundam some more, flying so close by trying to kill you in your cockpit? XD

There's this great scene from the movie towards the end, when Iron Mask was shown to be looking around his cockpit in great panic trying to spot where F91 is and which one as well, thanks to the Gundam's ability to generate "After Image". That would be a much better image of Iron Mask for this model I believe.

Definitely better than sitting idly in the cockpit waiting to die (even though that's exactly what's coming anyway). ^^;

There are 1/100 figures in MGs released much earlier than F91 that were designed with much better expression actually, like the technicians in MG Gundam Mk. II Ver. 2.0 and Zeta Ver. 2.0. The later has the arm portion of the figure molded separately from the body, which work pretty well too. So it's quite a pity that Bandai decided not to design so for Iron Mask. Maybe all pilot figures in their cockpits should look all the same for Bandai. ^^;

Anyhow, I have the plan to make Iron Mask more expressive in his cockpit. My idea is:
- his arms must be lifted - not sure what to do in the cockpit;
- his head must be tilted - not sure where his enemy is.


The first thing to do is to chop off the head and arm. The head is easy, as a clip with the nipper will take it off. The arms are a bit tricky though, since they are connected to either sides of the body, cutting them off will pretty much destroy their shape.

The arms from the figure itself aren't useful for the one I'm trying to make. Not only is their shape distorted after being separated from the body, the pose is not natural-looking as according to my plan either. So I'm thinking of making new arms for Iron Mask instead.


For the forearm, I just pick a part from a white runner and start trimming it all the way down to become what is seemingly, a forearm XD Not much special trick here, just a little bit of time and caution when cutting the runner.

You can probably see what is seemingly, his fingers too, though the shape isn't really accurate XD

For the elbow - the important part that connect the figure to the new forearm, I used Tack-It, a type of reusable rubbery plaster you use to stick notes or some small items on the wall. The material is in white, the same color as the figure. So it can be painted as part of the figure later. It's soft, so working out some shape from it isn't much of a problem. It's not oil-based as well, so it's very suitable to be used for plastic parts like Gunplas.


However, unlike Putty, Tack-It doesn't harden over time, so the shape remains volatile always. That's fine with this figure, because it's going to sit in its cockpit protected by the cover (forever) after being assembled. Nothing can disrupt it at that stage.

Plus, it doesn't come off that easily anyway. ^^

The result:


Finish with modifying the figure, it's time to paint it. ^^

From the box art:



* Silver - Gundam Marker Silver - head
* Red - shown but not used
* Panel-liner for the lines
* Purple - Normal marker - chest & cloak
* Gold - Normal pen - replacing yellow for the shoulder and abdomen.


Step 1: Panel-line the different parts of the body


Step 2: Purple for the shoulder and abdomen


Step 3: Black for the rest of the body except the back, chest and cloak


Step 4: Gold for the back, chest and cloak



Step 5: Silver for the head
When the paints have dried, I glue the head back to the neck using plamo glue, with the head tilted a bit to the left.

Initially, the position of the head is more "ridiculous", as Iron mask seems to be exhibiting the ability of an owl in turning the head around XD In the end, I give it a more subtle position - where a normal average person can tilt his or her head to XD




The last stage of the work on Iron Mask is further cleaning up the gold paint on the abdomen. There is quite a bit of excessive paint from the gold pen sticking on his pants there. That is covered simply by painting black over it.

Done with the figure, I will move on to the next part - the display base (Rafflesia) in the next review.

Po*** ***ky

Kagami! Kagami! Wasuremono! Wasuremono!
I must say, I'm quite a fan of "Lucky Star" ^^ The characters are very adorable and I enjoyed the lighthearted jokes very much.

One of the funny things about the anime is the appearance of the same thing over and over again, like the conversation of the girls which always seems to be involving something "stinky" ^^;

And this one of course:



Pocky XD
I've heard about this snack in the past, but never tasted it before (might be quite surprising to many people outside my charming island of Borneo), so when I saw the box with the same name at the supermarket this afternoon, I thought I had to give it a try.

Not quite the one you see in the anime "Lucky Star", but quite close anyway ^^



Pocky says, "Sawatdee Khrab" XD


Unlike the original Pocky, or that as seen in "Lucky Star", the one I got has banana cream on top of chocolate sticks. Then again, there are plenty of flavors for Pocky, so I guess this is just one of them.

As it turns out, the colors are just the opposite of what you get in the anime XD

Anyway, my favorite snack of all time is this:



Danisa Butter Cookies - being eating this since the age of five. ^^