MSN-006S Sinanju 1/100 MG WIP

Was strolling around Chinatown few weeks ago and stumbled across Sinanju kit at local store.
Was feeling quite uneasy whether I’m getting a knock off or not, but as it turned out to be kit is quite legit without any missing or broken pieces.

Kit itself is great, unlike most of the Gundams that I have assembled doesn’t have much panel lining to do. That is quite a relief.

Detolf overhaul.

Detolf itself is certainly a fine piece of Swedish ingenuity. Just think about it, four pieces of tampered glass, few metal rods, chrome hinges and couple of boards made of a wooden scraps! All this for around $60, brilliant!

Wouldn’t you mind having a mirror in your Detolf, so you won’t only stare on the fronts of your figurines, Gundams or pristine Victorian pottery for what so not? I certainly wouldn’t!

June loot.

Slowly, but surely my collection of figures and Gundams getting bigger and bigger.

Astray red frame and MSN-06S Sinanju – most recent additions to my armor brigade.
Astray Red frame got stuck at JFK customs and was sitting there for about a month.

Additions to the armor brigate: GN-001 Gundam Exia.

This kit was sitting in the box since January, got it to familiarize myself with the large 1/60 kits. I must say this kit is large, but giving it a second thought, I might notice it can’t serve as a reference for a Perfect Grade kits.

Painting it was somehow a challenge. Getting the white color just right for the first time turned into a disaster. According to the manual – 100% white and a drop of blue. Well, in my case the drop was to large and color turned into a blueish smudge. Have to notice: mixing white with gloss or matte blue will produce different results – learned it the hard way as well.

Additions to the armor brigate: MS-06F Zaku Minelayer.

For a past couple of months had been really tied up with whole lots of trouble, pleasant and not very. First, found a new job, yay! Now, I have to drive almost hour and a half north across NYC and it’s suburbs. Have to get used to it, no other way around. New schedule, new surroundings, and lots new things to learn. Because of that had to halt almost all my hobby activities.

Was planning on posting a report on my gunpla progress in February, apparently that did not happen. But, you know what they say: “Better late then never”.

So, here it goes.
In one of my previous articles I was bragging about custom painting MS-06F Zaku Minelayer. Really like the grey/black color scheme, I think it very well suits this gundam.

That would be my second painted gunpla, tried to do my best to mix colors right. I think I’m right on the money.

+1 armor unit and more to come. Garance figure review.

Well, it’s been quite a while since I posted something substantial in my blog, been quite wrapped up in stuff lately. But, nevertheless…
Against all odds I successfully finished my first fully painted Gundam. RX-78/C.A. it is. Can`t say it turned out great, but you know the proverb: “Things don’t work the first time”, and they certainly did not. My first and major mistake was not to primer the kit and spray acrylic paint straight on the plastic, to say the least, it was a disaster. Paint scraped off real easy, leaving bare plastic underneath. With a twitch of a thumbnail I`ve been left with a ruined part. Read an article that suggested to leave acrylic paint to dry for at least a weak. A weak! That statement startled me.
Wrapped up the kit with lots of clear coat, which seems to strengthen the paint, preventing it from scraping off. On my next kit – Zaku Minelayer I used plain Rust-Oleum automotive plastic primer, which worked out perfectly, stinks like hell, though. It coats a little bit thick, I might say, but acceptable.

RX-78 before painting, and after.

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam: full burst mode. Asembly complete.

First time building an MG kit. Second time building a Gundam, heh. Started a little bit slow. Took me about two days to assemble whole kit. Darn, so many pieces, and that gold plated parts, have to be careful not to scrape the paint.

Another Pre-Christmas Acquisition

Recently, I’ve introduced myself to a Gundam modeling. As it tunned out to be, this hobby is addictive as hell!

Shortly after fully assembling my first model, I ordered another three. Using those Christmas online sales in full.

My biggest acquisition so far, and my first Master Grade Gundam that I shall be putting together – Striker Freedom Gundam “Full Burst Mode”. Actually, package arrived yesterday, but I was too involved with the kit, to scramble a posting. Writing this a day later have different views on the build.
Peculiar fact is that, at first I didn’t want to paint this Gundam at all, giving it a second thought, I have to drop some paint on it no matter what.
As far as the other two kits go, I have something in mind for them as well.

Tank got a mobile armor unit under his command.

So, the build is over. Spent about 6 hour over two days on this Gundam, care to remind that was my first build, but everything went smooth, though.

And here we have it: 1/100 Vent Savior Gundam from Seed vs. Astray.

Pre-Christmas loot.

HLJ – Hobby Link Japan, that is. One of my favorite online anime-related merchandise store had a Pre-Christmas sale and free shipping offer, certainly I could not miss on this one. It’s a pity that there weren’t any interesting figures on sale, but instead I got few other goodies to fill my shelves with.