WE'VE MOVED

We've moved to Word Press!

www.korewagundam.wordpress.com

Check us out there!

New Site is Up

Hey Gang,

The New Location's up.

Visit

http://korewagundam.wordpress.com/


Jaa~

New Location

Hey Gang,

The move will be to http://www.korewagundam.wordpress.com/ - the sites still under construction so please be patient!

Jaa~

We're Moving!

Hey Gang,

Korewa Gundam will be moving shortly. I want things to go very smoothly so there it is a 1,2,3 - switch over.

The move will be to wordpress. The main reason is that Blogger is a little to stiff when it comes to adjusting the site.

I want to get more active with Korewa Gundam, and so part of that will be having categories much like Z's site, which you can see here.

I'll keep you guys posted. Also, I just read how to take close up pictures on my camera, so I want to get a few shots of the S Gundam's Incom unit that I finished last night.

Big weekend for me, I'll be very busy!

Jaa~

S Gundam Update: Arms Done

Finished the S Gundam arms tonight. This was the first time I tried using masking tape to do multiple colors on the shoulders. (Click on the Photos for more details). First I painted the whole piece in normal red, then applied various strips of masking tape, then painted the whole piece again in a different mix of red. Once dried, removing the tape leaves the the design, I'm really happy how it turned out.

Here's more detail on the left. One small bit of the Gundam System decal didn't stick, but I'll live with it. Fixing that one spot could potential ruin everything else.

Here's the arms together.

Here's the right arm. You can see the striping design better here.

Left again with the wing binder attached. You can see the metallic grey on the wing binder joint. I used the metallic grey for the venting in the shoulder too.

The PIII decal needed to go on the shoulder in my opinion. I love the Pegasus III. I'm still not entirely certain if its just the Nehl Argama or not, but its still one of my most favorite Assault Carriers in the Gundam Universe. I wish I could find a model of it, but I have the Albion to build so that'll have to do for now.

I'm going to take a look at the instruction book tonight to figure out what section I'll work on next. I suppose I could just go in order, but that would be the legs, and I might want to do the whole upper body first. I'll keep you guys posted.

Until next time -

Jaa~

Sorry for the Delay in Updates.....

I've been battling it out at my work this week, starting my new position and whatnot. I'll update soon!

- Jaa

S Gundam: Oh My! It's Thursday!

Whoops. It's Thursday already. This week slipped by so fast!

Just about done with the shoulders of the S. I've been reading my cameral manual non-stop so hopefully I'll be able to take some actually view-able pictures tonight or tomorrow.

I have to admit, there is a lot of beauty to the inner frame of the S Gundam's shoulders. None of which is seen unless you're willing to disassemble and un-do a few screws. Yes, screws. The S Gundam was produced back when Bandai still included parts that needed screws for a firm connection. Regardless, the final product should be a beauty.

Anyway, I'll post pictures once the shoulders are done.

Until then,

Jaa ~

S Gundam Update

A few updates tonight.:

First, finished the wing stabilizers. I think they turned out pretty good. I used Wave System's decals for the striping on the mounts. I had to mix Light Ghost Grey, Engine Grey and just a drop or two of Flat Black to get the Light Grey of the mounts.

I also finished the inner shoulder armor frames. Unfortunately, I had cancel my plans to do the shoulder armor split. I have a small hack saw which would work, but quite frankly, I just don't want to risk it. I'll make my own modifications, including an idea I had for the INCOM unit in the head.

I like to use a Gold Gundam marker for the detailing. I also use a Chrome Silver Sharpie brand marker. The gold and silver work great for hydraulics.

I also finished the shoulder lift bars. The fin blade stabilizer that sticks out of the shoulder frame is Light Grey like the mount.

Finally, I have to say, I've fallen in love with a new brand of paint. I made it known last post that I use Testors Acrylic paints, but I came across Tamiya Paint this weekend, and picked up a Metallic Grey for various parts on the Gundam. I love it. It looks fantastic, goes on perfectly smooth and still is Acrylic so it washes out with water. I may have to switch over all my paint to Tamiya after this.

More to come this week. I'm hoping on finishing both arms/shoulders in full.

Jaa~

MG S Gundam

Quick update tonight,

Finished the forearms and top stabilizer wings (base). I like the how the red turned out, I ended up mixing International Orange with Guard Red for a nice, deep combat Red.

Had a little trouble detailing the Red outline on the wing. It'll take some more work, I think.

I also finished painting the wing mounts tonight as well.

More to come, I plan on having the wings completely done, including the latch clips and mounts. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Jaa~

MG S Gundam: First Post

Well here we are, this is my first post and the beginning of the S Gundam construction.

To begin every kit I build, I first wash all the sheets with warm water and a little soap or detergent.

Then its on to the primer. Primer comes in 3 main colors: white, grey and black. The darker the primer, the dark your colors will end up when painting. Priming the pieces also serves as a surfacer, filling small holes, and also gives the paint something to cling to.




I usually spray a fine layer from about 6 inches away. Once this dries, construction can begin. Each part requires sanding, as to remove the excess primer, leaving the bare minimum. Clipping the parts with a spur-nipper and sanding down the spur flash needs to be done anyway.








Before Air brushing, I still hand paint a layer first, this creates a much more adhering surface, and gives a much smoother final surface for the final product. Here are two pieces for the forearm of the S Gundam. I normally will build a unit's core fighter (if available) first, however, with the S, I decided to start from the begining, which is the arms.



Here's a close-up of a forearm panel so you can see what the final product will look like. Typically, I will detail in sections. So once all the forearm parts are painted, I put them all together, then add detail lining and decals before moving on.

White tends to be the most difficult color to air brush. However, I use (oddly enough) Testors Acryllic paints, so when air brushing with white, the paint tends to dry almost on contact, which avoids any "pooling" on the parts. I do recommend buying a bottle of acryllic thinner. Many say that water works fine, but in my experience, one small drop of thinner does wonders to avoid any clogging in the air brush (which happens if you let paint sit for a while and it dries within the passage ways).

I stopped here tonight. I really wish this picture was more clear and I'm going to have to figure out my new camera at some point because the close-ups turn out terrible. Anyway, what you see here is one of the back stabilizer wings. In the G Cruiser mode, this surves as main wing of the fighter. The reason I took this picture is to show what trouble can be found in a part that should have two seperate colors, but Bandai molded in one (for cost effective reasons). The edge of the wing should be Red. The wing itself should be white. See the issue? What I will end up doing is, now that the edge has been air brushed, I will use masking tape and cover the red sections, re-sand and paint the rest of the wing with white. Remove the tape and I should have a nice looking duel colored wing.

Stay tuned for more!

Trying something new..

Hey gang,

So I've decided, as I'm becoming more and more excited and obsessive about my MG S Gundam project, that I'm going to, starting tonight, document and post full updates on my progression and progress!

This way, you can see just how I go about painting, and assembling a kit step by step.

I don't plan on having every single moment documented, but once or twice a week show where I am.

Also, any modifications, or steps taken 'out of the norm' will be fully explained so that you don't see a plain piece in one picture, and a completely changed final result with no discription.

So until tonight (and believe me, getting through the rest of this day is going to be a pain!)

Jaa~

The Problem with My Brain...

Well, I'm all set to start working on the MG S Gundam. Still have no idea where he'll go when he's done but I'll deal with that when I get there (how odd that I refer to a MS as a 'he').

Anyway, I want to use Erix93's color scheme shown here. You can check out Eric and his friends site here. They do amazing work. I love Eric's S Gundam design.

The problem with my brain though, is I start looking at all the modifications Eric made to the kit and realize I don't think I could possibly do that. Some of them I could pull off. Some not at all. I like how the shoulder armor seperates and I emailed Eric to see if there is any change in how it would mount to the should joint of the kit or not.

But from looking at Eric's modifications, I went to look at other items that can be used, products to be bought and soon found myself in a whirlwind of items I, for some reason, seem convinced I need.

The truth of the matter is, I'll never be able to produce something like this. Whether its lack of time, lack of patience, lack of materials or lack of money, its far beyond my reach.

So I need to remember that the whole idea is to have fun while you build the kit and enjoy your own skills as they progress, right?

I'm still going to try that whole armor seperation thing on the shoulders though!

I'll keep you guys posted.

-jaa-

Max Capacity!!

*Edit: Click on the pictures for a much clearer picture!*

Okay, its crunch time...literally. Here's a picture of my main Gundam Shelf.

Yikes, right? I'm "packed to the rafters" as they say and really, before I begin the S Gundam, I need to figure something out for more space.

I took some closer shots so you guys can see what I'm working with.

Here's the left side of the shelf. My Powered GM MG Conversion kit, the PG Mk. II, and MG GPo1 are the most easily viewed. They're all painted kits. The Mk.II and Gp01 are hand painted, the Powered GM marks my first Air Brushing attempt (and resin conversion as well!) Around them are the GFF FA Gundam and Gundam 05, MiA Gundam Hazel, Zaku II Ultimate Op. Stand Art, and various Robust Silhouettes. I think the HCM Pro Death Scythe was jut cut off in the shot.

Here's the right side of the shelf. My PG RX-78-1, MG Alex, and MG Zaku II F2 can be seen. My MG Blue Destiny Conversion is just cut off, but you can see its 100mm Machine Gun behind the Zaku II. Then we have the GFF Nu Gundam and F90-2 along with the Ultimate Op Stand Art Gundam Mk.II Titans. You can just see the wing of the HCM Pro Wing Gundam as well.

And here's the master piece. The GP04 Bust that I waited for more than a month arrived and look at what an Amazing job GundamPro Shop did (Ebay seller GundamProShop) - I don't have the lights on, as I want to conserve the batter for as long as possible. You can also see the MG X1 behind it, both are actually dead center on my shelf.

Here's my TV. My MG Gp02 and 1/144 Resin FA Gundam Mk.II as well as my DX V2 Assault were moved to the TV as clearly, there is no room on the main shelf. How is the GP02 actually holding it's shield you ask? It's permanently plastered to the display stand. I grew tired of it falling all the time. This works great though! The FA Gundam Mk.II is mounted on it's display stand in a similar fashion to the V2...a copper pipe running strait between the legs and attached into the base. He's very very fragile (I think it was a re-cast resin kit...actually, I'm sure of it) so this way, he won't fall ever again!

Here's my Ultimate Operation Shelf. Q did a post today on various "Gashapon" collectibles in Japan, and Ultimate Operation is by far my favorite. The GP01, FA Gundam, Aile Strike and Dom Tropen can be seen, but the shelf actually goes down about four more cubes on each side. On top is my 1/100 Leopard Destroy (He's been through a lot...lost most of its weapons in moving) and 1/100 Burning/God Gundam from G Gundam. Its actually a toy, but it was a present so I keep it on display. I'm not a huge fan of G Gundam, but the Burning Gundam is pretty cool. It's fun to use in Dynasty Warriors Gundam for Xbox 360.

Finally, here's the "collective shot" of the shelf again. I added my Ez8 High Mobility Custom MG Conversion (of my own design..it was pretty tough) and you can see it on the far right side next to the Zaku II.

I gotta figure something out guys! I need a new shelf or something because I have the MG S Gundam, MG Aile Strike, and MG Z plus to add, plus a kit of the Mobile Assault Carrier Albion from 0083, and a 1/144 GM Cold Climate as well!



Until next time -

Jaa~

Robot Damashii Line

I'm going to post on this, even though I just left a comment on Ngee's blog as well.

I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in the Robot Damashii line. You can see the Robot Damashii Diary here. Don't get me wrong, they look amazing and I would love to add a few to my collection. But If Katoki-san is really as involved as the line claims, then I think its time the Gundam line branches off from OO Gundam.

I know the series is a big money maker right now, but I'm sure fans of the older series would agree that it would be nice to see some other timelines. UC, AW AC, CE are all left untouched so far.

The V2 Gundam from Victory Gundam would be a great addition, seems the V Gundam line hasn't really been explored by any of the current action figure lines (Robot Damashii, GFF, HCM Pro, etc).

I suppose this is a ranting post, but I want to get on board with the Robot Damashii line, and so far, I don't have a reason too.

Hopefully they have more in store for the development as the line gets older.

Lack of Posts

I have to apologize for the lack of recent posts. I've had a rough couple of weeks, with my friend recently passing away due to breast cancer just last week and so I haven't had any time to get much done.

I'll be back this week though.

My G System GP04 Bust came in from GundamPro Shop on Ebay, and its perfect! I'll have pictures up soon.

I'm also working steadily at fully repairing and mounting my 1/144 resin FA Gundam Mk.II. Its supposed to be a fully pose-able kit, but because its a re-cast, the parts don't fit that well. He took a fall off my shelf a few years ago and I haven't fixed him since.

Jaa mata -

The Force is Strong With This One...

In my 26 years, I've managed to narrow my interests down to a quartet of specific mythos:

The first, of course, is Mobile Suit Gundam, this is truly untouchable in terms of the four powerhouses.

The other three, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Monster Hunter tend to be in a continual battle royale for the number two spot.

Right now, that number two spot is Star Wars. And unfortunately for my resin FA Gundam Mk.II, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed hit the shelves in the US yesterday..I picked up a copy on my way home from work (I had been playing the demo on Xbox Live for about 3 weeks now)

Let me paint you a quick picture of Force Unleashed.

You're a Sith (Vader's Apprentice) -

Vader sends you on missions that are top secret. He doesn't want the Emperor to know about you so you need to wipe out Imperials and Rebels.

A Stormtrooper draws near....

You can either:

• Deflect his blaster shot with your lightsaber and kill him.
• Use the force to push (read: blast) him into a huge steel door
• Use the force to lift him, then hurl him into
• a door - a pit - lava - other Stormtroopers - anything else you can see
• Use the force to lift him, shock him with lightning then
• drop him dead on the ground - or see above options
• Use the force to lift him off the ground, chuck your lightsaber at him - then see all above option
• Use your lightsaber to kill him with various awesome moves and combos (
• Or any of the above options combined, plus an infinite number of other options.

You can also unlock different uniforms, and various lightsaber crystals that affect the strength and color of your blade.

This game is awesome, truly awesome. It will be hard for me to balance playing the game and working on the plethora of models I need to fix up before starting on the S Gundam, but there are worse problems in life to try and figure out!

Till next time -

Ja Matta~

Crossbone Gundam Follow up

Being anal-retentive, I've been looking at the pictures of My Crossbone Gundam from the last post and cringing ever so often.

So I wanted to note a couple of things:

The face looks horrible, I know. The Head was one of the most complex units I've ever put together. For one thing, the face vents, which to me, make the Gundam, were very hard to work with. The top slot was molded into the upper half of the face plate, which is fine - but with the design of the Crossbone, the upper half slides up to allow excess heat to escape - this doesn't work so well with a small scale model though and the lower face vent is molded into the separation between the upper and lower halves of the plate, which doesn't look right, as you can see.

The head has the detail of a 1/60 perfect grade, but at a 1/100 scale and I had a hard time with the grey under section of the eyes.

I also accidentally threw out the chin piece, which had me nearly pulling my hair out this weekend. I used the chin piece of my old MG Gundam Mk II, so it looks a bit too big. Luckily it fit though.

The head really just fell apart on this kit. The V Fin and Skull & Crossbones were easy, but everything else just was more difficult than I had expected.

Also, the inside of the Beam Sabers (in the upper chest) does not appear white like it does in the photos. I believe this is the flash from the camera reflecting on the paint in there.

I'll stop because I'll end up tearing my work apart on this. He looks a lot better without a super-zoomed in photo, trust me, and I do like how he turned out, but these pictures sort of highlight my mistakes. Bleh.

Until next time -

Jaa ~

Crossbone Gundam X1 Ver Ka Kit Review

Well, I finished my X1 today, so I thought I’d do a kit review.

The Master Grade Crossbone Gundam X1, Ver. Ka represents the pinnacle of Bandai’s Gunpla kits, with the exception of the newer 0079 kits being released.

The X1 uses very simple, yet tremendously sturdy designs for all of its inner frame, allowing you to a multitude of poses.

Here’s a shot of the inner leg frame under construction

Compared to the older kits, Bandai chose less inter connected parts, but modified the joints, allowing for more posability as well as tremendous support for the kit’s balance.

The new ball joints work very well to allow balance in the legs.

Here’s the completed lower half of the X1. (sorry for the inverted pic, Blogger isn't cooperating tonight)

The armor panels attach to the outer frame perfectly, allowing move

ment in the thigh, ankle and foot.

The X1 also comes with the core block system, one of my favorite concepts in the Gundam Universe. I actually build the core fighter first, which was nice as I could display it in my collection as it can completely stand along as its own model, much like all the other kits that have core fighters.

I botched a few things though. I didn’t start air-brushing until I got to the X thrusters, so the body of the jet looks a little less smooth. You’ll notice too that I switched out the yellow for gold. I do this for all of my kits. I don’t really care for the whole “school bus yellow” idea on a war machine, and gold seems to add a bit more realism to the kit. I’m regretting not painting those red “v” decals on the thrusters. I used the stickers and they didn’t line up well, so the look a little off.

Here’s the upper body before assembly. Again, the arms (while not pictured here well) use the same, simple, yet study inner frame design, which works great. I mixed the blue coloring myself, and I think it turned out pretty dang well. The cockpit is open here, but without the core fighter, there’s nothing inside.

The X1 uses the Zambuster Beam Rifle. The Zambuster separates into the Beam Zamber Sword and Buster Gun. I had a hard time painting the grey trim, and the heat dagger handles actually tuck into the back of the calf unit, so I had to make sure the paint wasn’t too thick which is tough for white!

So here is the final product. I have the X1 tearing off the beam cloak. The cloak that comes with the kit is pretty terrible, but I did manage to burn some “beam holes” into it. I just didn’t like how it looked attached so I thought this works well.

The whole thing is painted. I use black spray primer, then sand and air brush section individually. The kit is amazing, but I do have one gripe (besides the beam cloak), some of the parts are attached to the trays in awkward areas. For example, the thumb pieces, are attached at the base and tip, its pretty tough to sand the flash point down on a tiny little thumb. Other than that, this has been a blast!

But now I’m running into some trouble. Here’s the X1 among my collection…

As you can see…I’m at full capacity! (I even moved some Robust Silhouette figures and my DX V2 Assault Buster Gundam to the top of my TV~!)

My next project is the S Gundam, but before that, I have a bunch of repairs to do, including my resin 1/144 Full Armor Mk.II – but before that….I gotta find some space!

Until next time guys,

Jaa matta~

Gundam Vs Gundam on PSP

I’m really excited for Gundam vs. Gundam on PSP.

For one, the PSP, in my own opinion, is quite a little power house. My favorite game is easily Monster Hunter 2nd G, but I do love the Gundam Battle Chronicle Series.

GvG looks amazing. I’ve reviewed another “Vs.” game here, OMNI vs. Zaft, but this title will encompass every series…including Double 0 and my personal favorite, X!

It is currently scheduled to be released in November, for readers in the US, not to worry, PSP does not have a country code built in, so Japanese format games work just fine…provided you have a rudimentary understanding of the Japanese language.

Gundam StandArt

I have to hand it to my fiancee, she's so very supportive of my Gundam craziness. You would think most women would think it's silly, but honestly, my wife-to-be loves to help me hunt down Gundam merchandise, and often gets as excited about it as I do (well...almost, I mean, c'mon).

I had mentioned to her tonight that I would like to get a hold of the Gundam StandArt recent release of the RX-78-2 or RX-78-3. I love the design. If you can't see the pictures well, one of the things I really love is the thrusters in the back are rectangular. Instead of two circle thrusters on each side, this version (and the old Ultimate Operation Fusion Works version) have rectangular thrusters instead. I don't know why, but I love that look on the Gundam.




Not to mention that I love how Fusion Works's mobile suit designs tend to exagerate the shoulders and make most of thier models (especially Gundam type units) look more...Beefy I guess. And given that I love the S Gundam and it's giant shoulder armor, you can see why I would like this style so much.

The StandArt collection is great. I currently own the Gundam Mk.II (Titan's colors) and MS-06J Zaku II from the first collection. I bought the full set, but gave the Wing 0 Custom and AEUG Mk.II to my good friend (secretly, I really wish I would have kept them!)

I hope she can find either the Gundam or the G3. While normally I would push for the G3, I find that I'm lacking in RX-78-2s in my collection, so I think this beauty would be a fitting addition.

Oh! and on a side note - Its been a full month since I placed my order for the GP04 Bust from Gundam ProShop. The proprietor, George, seems like a nice guy, and I can't wait until I get his email that its finished.

Until next time~

Jaa~

PS - Don't forget to vote on the new POLL OF THE WEEK!