Gunpla evolution

Gundam TR-6 [Woundwort] (11/8/2019)

New post in 7 years! First build in 8 years!!
Been a long time, luckily the supplies still work to execute this build.
Finally driven enough to build a kit.

This one has been in the backlog for more than a year, still relatively new. Its a refreshing build as the design differs from the usual Gundam design, a petite frame with weird proportions. Overall a mechanically graceful design. Theres abundant details in the mold, those cables and bars and circles made me want to paint them all to bring them out. Articulation good enough to strike many poses but its only weapon is the rifle.

The play really expands when you pair this with the Expansion Parts from the recent P-Bandai re release of the HG Hazel kits. With these parts you can attach limbs from other AoZ kits (and some HGUC kits) to the Woundwort.

Do check out the gallery link under the image.

An upgrade

Gundam Astraea TDPsp1 (7/1/2011)

An upgrade for the Astraea TDP build from 2008! The reason for this is that having bought the retail version of Astraea (which is still not built at time of post), I thought I should do something to differentiate them. What I did is change the V-fin to the F2 type and repaint some of the red parts blue.

Have decided to name it TDPsp1 which means 'Twin Drive Pack Service Pack 1'. An upgrade, lol.

Used about half a day to do it, as one feet has to be redone due to a too thick coat of paint.

Got hooves?

Cherudim Gundam (28/2/2009)

Worked on this one from end-February to early-March.
Found the design a bit plain so I did a tiny bit of detailing on the arms, drilled holes at the shoulder armour and some lines at the lower arms. Work went rather well with no disasters.

Nice kit. Compared to 00, Cherudim has better 'abdominal' articulation but lacks at the feet-ankle joint. Cherudim has some fresh design for the feet, looks pretty cool but like hooves to me. The small surface area and limited articulation of the feet makes it harder for it to stand properly.

With the new weapons introduced in the anime, I wonder how Bandai will release them. In another 'Trans-am gloss injection' kit?

[6/4] Practically the whole day on phototaking. Was experimenting with a table lamp as light source. Moving the lamp around trying to light up dark areas but in turn introducing shadows here and there. Somehow my camera don't capture the green well. Will post the photos soon.

Self-owned Reversal

O Raiser (21/2/2009)

Second kit of 2009, spent 2 half days on it.
Can be said to be my first non-humanoid kit, I think.
Ok, a few posts down theres Primrose.

Looks pretty nice. The side binders feels like its loosely connected to the main body but somehow it holds pretty well. The kit only has 2 pieces of parts, the least number I've ever seen in a HG.

Then comes the combination with the 00 Gundam kit completed last month. Thats where I messed up. I thought those 3 holes on the GN Drives are just holes, I filled them up. It was until I wanted to do the combination then I realized that the hole is used to attach the side binder on. PANIC!!! Buy another 00 or Raiser? No, to save money, I made 2 custom connectors (pic in the 00 Gundam photoshoot) to swap with the original and all went well. Phew.

King of Kings

00 Gundam (16/1/2009)

My first build of 2009!
Spent 2 days on it.

All the new joints and polycaps make this build rather fresh and interesting. Painting on the clear blue is a bit tricky. One thing I don't like is the 3 deep "holes" at the GN Drives so I filled them up with putty. Not as skilled as the modeller of DHM, I just painted and lined the detail on the flat surface. Tried scratching a few panel lines, very few, didn't turn out that good though.

[24/2] Spent the whole day phototaking 00 and Raiser. Tried to strike dynamic poses to utilize the flexibility of the kit. The GN Drives held stiff with the shield and the binders. The shield attaches loosely to the arm, fine if you don't touch it much. Transforming the GN Sword to Rifle mode and back has loosen the handle, now sometimes the sword bends splitting the handle when it is attached to the side armor. Swapping parts for the joint GN Sword further loosen the hinge of the splitting handle.

Final build of '08

Gundam TR-1 [Hazel Owsla] (29/12/2008)

A second Hazel Custom kit to complement the Primose parts. Even though it has the compact shoulder armor to differentiate it from the Hazel Custom, I added a little bit of red and used grey in place of black. Pretty snappy, used 2 days for it.

Primrose was nice as an escape pod but in body mode its not that nice. The connector for the right arm slags downward and they are kind of loose. I like it better with the Hazel body in Chobam armor (a mode I named "Owsla Original"). But the Primrose bodies still looks good on the Hazel and Advanced Hazel.

With the photoshoot I brought out the Hrududu and played parts swapping. The AoZ series is actually fun to play with but I would feel more comfortable playing and parts swapping if they are toys not models.

Little flyer

Primrose (23/12/2003)

Went on to this right after Hrairoo, got to keep the modelling mojo flowing. Anyway its been in the box for almost 2 years (same goes to the other AoZ kits left) better get it done up.

Being an FG (Furoku Grade, "Gift Grade") its all white, spent quite some time painting and spraying this one tray kit. Did one in white and one in Titans colors. It looks fun, its got the escape pod mode, the body mode and it can "socialise" with other AoZ parts. But as soon as its painted you won't want to do anything funny as it will scratch the paint. The beam cannon has superb detail that was hard to paint.

As said the escape pod mode was fun, part swapping then photo frenzy.

Yellow disaster

Gaplant TR-5 [Hrairoo] (19/12/2008)

Took me 4 days to complete this guy. Firstly is the problem with the chrome yellow color, the yellow in the bottle is drying out and I discovered it too late. Fought with the bad paint for almost 1 day. Another reason is because of a family occasion.

I'm really impressed with the details under the skirt armor and amount of verniers of this kit. But its a bit heavy and flimsy when you start posing in. Transformation to fight mode is a hassle and I scratched off some paint while doing so. Had problem making it hold the long rifle as the rifle butt is kind of in the way.

Not really poseable but it looks nice just standing there.

GN Beam Pistols

Dynames' GN Beam Pistols (3/12/2008)

The Dynames kit itself is the same kit fixed up early this year but with a touch up coat for the grey parts. Ordered the runner that has the pistol parts from HLJ back in October, turned out to be pretty pricey.

Anyway just fixed it up a few days ago and after that as usual went photoshooting crazy on it.

Akai Overload 2

Gundam Astraea Type-F [Custom Model] (~23/8/2008)

Date recorded as end of project as I did this one over a period of free time here and there. Basically its just an extra set of parts to switch with the previously posted Astraea F. The main hard part is the V-fin of the Custom Model, its modded with epoxy putty from an Exia V-fin. Don't really look perfect as its my first time doing this. Well, at least it turned out pretty decent looking.

Overall satisfied.

Akai Overload

Gundam Astraea Type-F (8/8/2008)

Well the date is so nice that I decided to start a kit (and that long weekend is a factor too). Done over a span of 3 days with day 1 - head operations, day 2 - spray paint, day 3 - spray paint, pannel line and assembly. Used up 2 cans of red spray for this guy. Not quite done with it yet, the shield is in the works done(as of 17/8) and there is one other thing planned for it.

Had to "seal" movement of the knee joint as it scratches the paint.
Solved by a bit of gap widening (as of 19/8).
Pretty sad, thats why I don't usually go into such big paint jobs.

Didn't cut myself when building this kit, theres enough red already.
A red Gundam for National Day.

Twin Drive Pack

Twin Drive Pack (21/7/08)

Well, this can be said to be my biggest gunpla project so far for the year. The idea first came from the 00 Gundam dual GN Drive design and a bit of my desire to beef up Astraea. Not much of a scratchbuilder at all so I found myself staring at the picture of 00 Gundam time to time. Then it struck me to finally make use of that extra Strike Noir. Bought another Exia (totalling to 4). Then with the parts and a bit of plaplate, the Pack is made.

The Twin Drive Pack is compatible with Exia too and partially compatible with Strike Noir and WeissStahl.

Celestial Being

Celestial Being Gundams

Got the 1/144 CB Gundams together and took some shots yesterday.

The Skinny (from The Bulk)

Gundam Nadleeh (30/6/2008)

At first it looks to be a simple kit, only 3 main pieces of runners. But I took one day just to get the reddish color right. Mixing 3 to 4 times, removing paint and repainting. I'm just not skillful enough. The paint job is not that good but I got to move on. Having the red done, I finished the other parts the next day. The legs looks pretty plain if I go according to the box so I painted more grey on it.

The beam sabers actually fit nicely in the fist compared to Kyrios which is rather loose. Had problems posing with the GN Cannons as the fist don't really grip well enough and the cannon just sort of rotate/swing down. Nadheeh has flexible legs but the arms are pretty normal like the rest.

The photoshoot got fun when I started part swapping with Virtue. Did a bit of experimenting with my camera's flash too.

The Bulk

Gundam Virtue (23/6/2008)

Its bulky but it looks good. Another first, my first "fat" Gundam. There are hints of Nadleh here and there, most obvious is the "internal skeleton" of the arm. The backpack is removeable to reveal the GN Drive.

This one has the most weight out of the other G00 Gundams, mainly contributed by the four GN Field generators and the GN Bazooka. One of the GN Field generators' cover is pretty loose, closing up easily. Another beautiful kit you can stare at for ages.

Realised that I've forgotten some yellow for the bazooka so I got it painted, touched up the GN Field generators too. Then did a mini shoot for the updated kit.

An orange one..

Gundam Kyrios (10/6/2008)

Another kit done after much procrastination. Handpainted the gray area this time as they are too many and to large for markers. Had to buy orange paint just for the rear skirt too. As usual there is blood shed in the making as I never fail to cut myself while trimming the parts. Nice part fit but in exchange theres painting to do.

The flight mode looks pretty. Its sturdy but theres a part change involved. I find it pretty poseable and had fun taking pics of it.

A tangible piece of SRW

Huckebein Mk-III (20/5/2008)

Finally decided to get down and finish another kit. This time its not a Bandai kit, this guy is from Kotobukiya. Pretty refreshing building a non-Bandai kit. It has some interesting part seperation. The main body is ok but the back pack and Fang Slasher has some fitting problem.

With more skill and patience it can become a really beautiful kit.

Not so recent works

Recently rediscovered a link to the old Machine Mess forums. Found some of my previous posts there and remembered of the old photoshoots I moved to another PB account when Yahoo Photos closed down.

Some notable ones:

Strike and Astray (11/2004): These 2 can be said to be the first 1/144 kits properly done up by me. Remember having the old Re-GZ and Jegan 1/144 kits way back but they are done pretty badly.
Gundam WeissStahl (26/6/2005): My first (and only) 1/144 kitbash. Its made up of a Freedom Gundam and M1 Astray which I bought for modding my SDs. Sword is from Retsumaru and guns from a Kotobukiya weapons set.

SEEDshooting 1, 2 & Extended (2003?): 3 photoshoots focusing mainly on the SEED SDs. There are 3 SD Strikes featured. The first is built as normal, the second is bought for the arms for use in my S.W.S kitbash with the 1/144 NG Striker packs, the third was kitbashed with the HG Freedom Gundam. I had Astray fixed with an inverted M1 Astray backpack. Then comes the official Freedom SD. Quite some time after SEEDshooting I completed SD Aegis(2005?).

Sorry for the blur pics as I have lousy phototaking skills at that time. :P

Last of '07, first of '08

I think I'll use this blog to record my gunpla builds.

The last kits of 2007, completed in November '07:

(Exia-11/07, Ryuubi-10/11/07, Chouhi-11/07, Kan-u-11/07)

First kits of 2008, completed early January '08:

(Astraea-2/1/08, Dynames-4/1/08)

Stargazer Gundam

Using my new digicam I took photos of the last gunpla I fixed up in 2006.
This kit has a simple but refreshing design and I like the reflective gold stickers.

View more pics here

I've got things to show but I don't have the words to follow ..T-T