Color that I use - Color for Gundam

At first, I'd follow the guideline in the Gunpla manual to buy all the mentioned color. After a few round of modeling test, I concluded that other than the exception case i.e. the color of MG Infinite Justice, I'll only need the following color for most of my color application.

Mr Color List
1. White
2. Character White
3. Cobalt Blue
4. Red Madder
5. Character Yellow
6. Neutral Grey
7. Midnight Blue
8. Navy Blue
9. Bright Green
10. Fluorescent Pink
11. Fluorescent Yellow
12. Fluorescent Orange
13. Fluorescent Green
14. Super Clear Semi Gloss
15. Clear Yellow
16. Clear Orange
17. Clear Blue
18. Clear Green
19. Steel

And here's some example on how I'd mix my Gundam Color.

1. Blue
Cobalt Blue + little bit of fluorescent pink + white (if needed)

2. Red
Red Madder + little bit of fluorescent orange + white (if needed)

3. Yellow
Character Yellow + white + little bit of fluorescent yellow

4. Frame Color
Steel

5. Gray Color
Neutral grey + Midnight Blue/Navy Blue (Prefer Midnight Blue most of the time)

6. Dark Blue
Cobalt Blue + Midnight Blue/Navy Blue (Prefer Midnight Blue most of the time)

7. Dark Red
Red Madder + Midnight Blue/Navy Blue (prefer Midnight Blue most of the time)

8. Dark Yellow
Character Yellow + Midnight Blue/Navy Blue (prefer Midnight Blue most of the time)

9. Black
Midnight Blue

10. Camera Eyes
Clear + little bit of Clear Orange/Clear Green/Clear Yellow (depending on the color of the camera eyes)

Again, these served as references. It may not necessary has to be followed.

Color that I use - Brand

In the beginning, I used Tamiya color because it is widely available. After I had a taste on using Mr Color spray paint, I find that Mr Color is much more suitable for a Gundam model kit instead. Why do I say that?

1. Tamiya Acrylic Color (Price: RM 15 per bottle, RM 25 or more for thinner)
The Tamiya Acrylic Color is widely available since there's an authorized Tamiya shop here in Kuala Lumpur that do sell these colors. The finishing result is great, and they do produce some of the very nice metallic color and alternative primer color as well.

However, I find that the color surface is quite sticky, and if not careful, the painted parts can become thicker and would jam up especially the joining. This is what happened to my MG F91, which after applying the Tamiya color, the hand join is stuck inside the arm and I can't move it or to take it out. I resorted to brute force and the consequence of that is a broken join.

Tamiya Acrylic Color has to be thinned with the Tamiya Acrylic Thinner. However, I did saw a video on YouTube recently and found out that the Tamiya Acrylic paint can be mixed with water, but it never shows whether it can be mixed with water for airbrushing because the modeler is mixing it with water for hand painting.

2. Mr Color Acrylic Paint (Price: RM9 per bottle, RM 55 for 400ml leveling thinner)
Mr Color is the reference color for all Gunpla. It is quite hard to find it in Kuala Lumpur, and I heard that it was once banned from export. Now however, I noticed that some local hobbyist shops are still able to import them in.

Mr Color is much more suitable to Gunpla is because the surface is not as sticky as the Tamiya color. Plus, even after painting/spraying/airbrush the Gunpla, the surface is smooth, and the join will not be affected by it. That's the fact why I'd say that Mr Color Acrylic Paint is much suitable as compare to Tamiya Acrylic Color.

Mr Color has to be thinned with the Mr Color Thinner. I used the Leveling Thinner because it is formulated to thin color for airbrushing purpose. Compare to Tamiya Acrylic Color, Mr Color's bottle is smaller, but one bottle is enough to spray on at least 1 to 2 Gunpla (depending on color usage).

Apart from the acrylic color, there are Mr Metal Color and Mr Aqueos Color as well. Mr Metal Color is like the normal acrylic paint, only thing is that it will gives a metallic feeling after polishing the painted surface. I find that Mr Metal Color is hard to deal with because the polishing requires a lot of patient and could possibly scratch the color away. Plus, one of the colors, Burn Iron, would require extra attention in thinning it because if it is not sufficiently thinned for airbrush, it will cloak up the handpiece. Mr Metal Color can be thinned with the same thinner used for Mr Color.

Mr Aqueos color on the other hand is water based paint, which is the reference color for Gunpla, where the instruction manual will always recommend the usage of water based paint for safety reason. For airbrushing however, it has to be thinned with the Aqueos thinner, which is specially formulated in order to give better result for airbrushing purpose. I don't use Mr Aqueos color because the color choice seems to be much lesser as compare to its acrylic counterpart.

3. Tamiya Enamel Color (Price: RM10 per bottle, RM20 for 20ml enamel thinner)
I'm not sure whether this is considered as lacquer paint or not, so I'll use the word enamel instead. I used the Tamiya Enamel Color for the purpose to fill the panel line. It is done by thinning the enamel color with thinner, and then using a fine brush, drop the color onto the panel line and let it flow. The excessive color can be wiped away by using a swab/cotton bud dipped with some enamel thinner.

Applying enamel color for panel line is a very difficult process because sometime I'll get the whole panel line being wiped away as well. So, I'll have to practice some more on it. The enamel thinner will not dissolve the acrylic surface, which I've tasted it. However, it not careful, the color can still be scratched off. Also, Zippo Oil (yes, the matches Zippo) can be used to thin the enamel color in this application. Some modelers would prefer Zippo oil (on YouTube, I came across at least 3 of them, and all are applying it on Gunpla) for the reason that it would give a much better balance result between the panel line color and the base color.

One thing really bothering me is that the authorized Tamiya dealer in Malaysia do not bring in this enamel color. I have to buy this from the shop where I got my Mr Color from.

Conclusion
Apart from the mentioned color, the Japanese modelers are "spoil" with a lot of other color choices that we can't get it here in Kuala Lumpur. I.e. Gaia Note's Gaia Color, which produces a series of acrylic paint that's as good if not better than Mr Color. Then, there's HG Color, which is a series of color that can be mixed with Mr Color.

Although Mr Color is much suitable for Gunpla, that doesn't mean Tamiya Acrylic Color is useless. I do give praise to some of the Tamiya Acrylic color especially the Gold Leaf and the Chrome Silver; somehow for me, these 2 colors are better than the Mr Color Gold and Silver in the finishing result.

Tools and Colors for Spraying

When I first started to spray my Gunpla, I used the Tamiya color spray that costs about RM 15.00 per can (about 15 years ago). The last time I bought used a Tamiya spray can is during working with the model kit that I mentioned in Phase-2, which each can costs about RM 25.00. Now, a can of Tamiya spray can costs more than RM25, probably almost reaching RM30 or over.

Using the spray can is very costly, what's more if you're going to work on Gundam that requires a lot of different colors. So I decided to invest some money to buy a airbrush and a compressor so that I could spray using those small bottle acrylic paint, which would gives me a lot more choices of colors for my Gundam. So, here's the list of items that I have for the spraying.

1. Airbrush Handpiece (Price: above RM250)
I bought mine from a shop in Petaling Street of Kuala Lumpur. The brand of this handpiece is Sparmax, a Taiwanese company that specializes in making airbrush and compressor. The one that I have comes with a 7cc attached cup, and a 0.3mm nozzle double action hand piece.

2. Airbrush Compressor (Price: above RM500)
It is also bought from the same shop and it is also made by Sparmax. This compressor comes with a pressure regulator and moist trap. It is not designed to be used for long hour; the maximum operating time is 1 hour according to the instruction manual. The reason for it not able to operate for long hour is because it lacks an air tank. There's another model with an air tank, which costs more than RM700. So why didn't I buy that one instead? The reason is because I don't have enough cash for it and I'm in anxious mode because I've been waiting for 2 whole years to save cash for this thing. Yet, I have no complain about it because it still do the job.

3. Paint Stirrer (Price: about RM15.00)
Paint stirrer is what you need to stir the mixed paint. I bought mine from Tamiya. It comes in a packet with 2 inside it.

4. Mixing Bottle (Price: about RM20 to RM 30)
I have 2 different types of mixing bottle - 20 milliliters (6 of them) and 40 milliliters (6 of them). They are all from Tamiya, and I bought all of them online.

5. Masking tape (Price: about RM8 onwards)
The masking tape that I used is from Tamiya. It comes in different sizes and the bigger it is, the more costly it will be. The color of this masking tape is normally yellow. It is used to mask area that you don't want to be painted/sprayed. This thing is designed to be used for modelling, so don't use the masking tape that can be bought from stationary shop because those are not formulated for modelling purpose. I used those masking tape for once, and not only that there are still color leaking, it also pull off the masked paint surface, totally ruin everything.

6. Masking liquid (Price: about RM10)
Masking liquid function that same as masking liquid. The differences are it comes in liquid form and it could also pull off the color of the masked surface. The one that I have is from Mr Hobby. I use it to mask clear parts, and also to add extra masking to a masked surface of masking tape to cover up the loop holes.

7. Bamboo Stick (Get it from any supermarket or grocery store)
The normal bamboo stick used for barbecue can be used to hold the spraying parts for spraying purpose. I used them to hold the parts with the use of some masking tape (any type, but to stick the surface of a plastic part, I would use the one for modelling).

8. Polystyrene foam board
The polystyrene foam board can be bought from any stationary shop or you could even salvage them from any electrical item packaging. I used them to hold the bamboo stick mentioned above.

9. Swab
I used the swab for the purpose to wipe out some excessive color during applying panel line. It can be used to wipe on marker pen type color (water based) to produce weathering effect. There are some made by Tamiya called the precision swab, which comes in either the normal round shape or a triangular shape. I found that the triangular shape swab is good to be used on narrow surfaces, but on a wide surface, it is not that efficient as compare to the round type. They come in different sizes as well, and they costs about RM8.xx if you buy it online.

Conlusion
The necessary items over here are the airbrush handpiece and compressor because they are the necessary tool for spraying, or rather airbrushing a model. In a long run, the costs is a lot cheaper than using spray can. Although there are situation where spray can is much more efficient, but in my application, which I mostly do Gunpla, airbrushing is much more cost efficient because I'm dealing with mostly small parts. Masking tape is the next inline, because some Gunpla kit would require you to mask some surface to spray another color onto it. Then the mixing jar and the stirrer are necessary as well. The bamboo stick and foam board are a reference; it is not necessary that you should follow what I'm using, you might have your own way to hold the parts. Then, lastly the swab, which is not necessary if you're not going to apply i.e. panel line or weathering.

Extra Tools and Materials that I have

Continue from my last post, apart from the basic stuff, I do have a few more extra tools. Below is a list of them.

1. Line Engraver (Price: More than RM 50)
The line engraver that I have is from Hasegawa, which I bought online. It is now selling for about RM42++ without shipment. It has a sharp needle end. I use it to scribe panel line on surfaces.

2. Scribing Knife (Price: About RM15)
This is a knife that used to either scribe some new panel lines or to make the panel lines more deeper. I find it very hard to use if I'm going to scribe lines that are connected in different angles because I'll either get the connecting too big or damage the surface. Still, it is very handy and could produce some cool results if you know how to handle it. The one that I have is the Tamiya plastic scriber, which is the same as the one from Olfa.

3. Modelling Needle (Price: About RM 30)
I saw the usage of this needle in some modelling hobby show, that it is used to either make guideline for scribing a panel line, or to poke some hole on surface. I bought mine from the Internet, which is made from Kotobukiya. The line engraver that I mentioned earlier on can be used for the same purpose, but this one is much bigger.

4. Sponge File (Price: RM 16.xx)
This is a very useful tool. It is basically a sand paper but in the form of a sponge. This thing is not cheap and it comes in a piece of a sponge that's quite small as well. There are different grids to sponge file as well, and the numbering is the same as the numbering of the sand paper - the bigger the number the finer it is. What this sponge and to is that you can use it to sand down the round surface without flattening it.

5. Waterproof Sand Paper (Price: starting at RM 2.xx)
The waterproof sand paper like its name implied, can be used to sand surfaces with water. The usage of waterproof sand paper is to make the sanding surface to be free from dust, making it a clean surface. I use it to sand the painted surface to correct a painting mistake, but I've seen video of modeller using it to sand a surface before painting, should a surface primer is not used.

6. Sanding stick or sanding block (Price: NA, made myself from pla-plate)
I saw some videos that there are modellers using a block with sand paper on it to sand surfaces. There are tools like that available on most of the online hobby shop, but I decided to make one my self by using the pla-plate (plastic plate) that I bought during my trip to Japan in 2007, and then cut and stick the sand paper onto it by using a double sided tape. I must say that it helps by making the sanding process much easier to do.

7. File (Price: above RM20)
Yes, there's a tool called file, which comes in different shape and sizes like flat, round, or pointy end. The usage of file is like a sand paper, which is to sand a surface. The different is that file is made from hard metal material, and normally it is very rough. It is used when there's a large area of surface needs to be sand off tremendously. The one that I have is a 3 pieces basic file set from Tamiya, which is very basic. The more advance version of files for heavy modelers do cost a lot, i.e. one single flat file from Tamiya is about RM 20, and the bigger the size, the more costly it will be.

Calculating Cost for Tools and Materials for Building Gunpla

The reason I put this up is to have a clear view on how much would it cost to build a Gunpla according to my experience. Since last year, I think I've spent quite a lot of money to get the necessary materials, i.e. color, sand paper, surface primer (Japanese call it surfacer), and some tools.

First, when dealing with a model kit, tools are required to work on the kit. The tools and materials which I deemed would be a necessity is as follow.

1. Modeling Cutter (Price: RM 30 - RM 110)
This is at least the necessary equipment. The usage is to cut the parts of a model kit from the runners. I used a Tamiya cutter that cost me RM99. There are some cheaper one that can be found on the Internet or in Kuala Lumpur, which cost below RM50. Note that the cutter that can be bought from hardware shop is not suitable for modeling because unlike the modeling cutter, it doesn't has a flat cutting surface.

2. Design Knife (Price: below RM 50)
Design knife is basically an art tool that it's a knife that holds like a pen. I use it to scribe out parting line on a part, deepening the panel line, cutting decal sheet, and all other tasks related to cutting. It is a handy tool that has to be handled extra careful because this tool is very sharp. I cut my left index finger before, which is not very pleasant.

3. Sand Paper (Grid 400, 600, 1000, Price: Starting at RM 10)
Sand paper is necessary because it helps to sand down the surface, esp. the section where the remaining of the gate is (section connecting to a runner) to give a smooth surface. There are different grid of sand paper, and the higher the number, the finer the sand paper would be. Grid 400 and 600 are the one that usually used to sand the surface. I personally prefer grid 400 'coz it's just right. I did notice that most of the Japanese modeler that I could find on YouTube for a Gunpla would use grid 600.

4. Cement - (Price: Starting at RM20)
I still remember that a bottle of Tamiya costs only RM15, but with the Yen going up, that day is long gone. The usage of a cement is to glue 2 plastic parts together. Unlike Super Glue, what a cement does is that it would melt the surface of the plastic, and when the 2 plastic parts are glued together, the excess of the plastic would bulge out. With some sanding work after the it dries, the parting line at the joint where the cement is applied would be gone and looks like one part (only to parts without uneven surface). Note that there are several types of cement, and I happen to have a normal one and a fluid type. Unlike the normal type, the fluid type normally applied after the parts are joint together or barely joint together because it can flow into the tiny gap.

5. Putty - (Price: Starting at RM 15)
Putty is used to cover up pot and visible parting lines between 2 joint parts. It is very useful but very hard to master the usage. There are different types of putty, such as the normal putty, epoxy putty, polyester putty, and the latest that I found out is a super glue like quick dry putty. The normal putty i.e. comes in a tube form, which it has to be thinned with thinner (not from the hardware shop) in order to have it liquidized before applying to the target surface. Once a putty is hardened (any type), sanding need to be done in order to get a smooth surface.

Conclusion
It may not necessarily that one must have all the above, but at least this could serve as a point of reference on where to start. I recall that I spent about RM200 plus just to get the above, which apart from the paper and the putty, the rest still last until now. Cutter is really a necessity because it really fasten up the process. I recall that when I don't have the money to buy the stuff, I have to use a craft knife instead, which is painful. I did try to use a cutter from the normal hardware shop, but the result is either the part surface is damaged or covered with rust and oil since those cutter has to be covered with oil to avoid corrosion.

So what is Phase 3/Stage 3/Wave 3?

I must admit that I'm a very poor blogger because I don't really remember what I wrote before and I don't really like to refer back to my previous entries for reference. As a result of that, I forgot most of the terms that I planned to use back from the past.

Anyway, phase 3/stage 3/wave 3 is another stage where I tried to improve on my modeling technique. The following is a list of things that happened during this phase/stage/wave.

1. Acquire an airbrush compressor set from Venus Art.
2. Learning how to airbrush the model.
3. Applying water slide decal.
4. Minor modification (on Strike Freedom, Hi-Nu Gundam, Strike Noir, and RX-78 Gundam).
5. Color mixing.
6. Highlighting (RX-78 Gundam only).
7. Using enamel color to fill the panel line (Strike Noir, Infinite Justice, all VF-25 Messiah, and RX-79 Gundam only).
   
8. Dry brushing (on 2 of the VF-25 Messiah Valkyrie, but does not succeed).

And to end this stage, here are some pictures of some of the kits that I did.

Collection front view

Collection front view 2

Collection front view 3

Collection top view 1

Collection top view 2

Collection back view

Close-up on Hi-Nu Gundam

Close-up on Strike Noir

Next, I'll be going to work on my latest PG kit. Currently I'm working on the PG 1/60 Astray Red Frame, and then I'll be working on the PG 1/60 Double O Raiser. Stay tune.

Bandai MG 1/100 Gundam RX-78-2 Ver. 2.0 (w/ Picture)

I've previously wrote about Gundam RX-78-2, so here are some pictures of this kit.

Front view

Front view 2

Back view

Front close-up view

Action - fingers

Action pose 1

Action pose 2

As I mentioned previously (I think), the articulation of this kit is by far the best as compare to the rest of my collection. Of course, it can't be compare to my other kit i.e. MG Strike Freedom or even MG Unicorn Gundam because they're all made differently with different emphasis.

RX-78-2 Gundam is the first Gundam appeared in TV screen back in the year 1979 (or 1980), and its pilot is Amuro Ray, the first notorious Gundam pilot (to the opposing site of course) that has become a legend in the Universal Century (UC) time line. If you would like to know more, try to google it, and you'll be able to find a lot of resources related to Gundam.

For starter, the first Gundam story is set in Universal Century, a time line denotes the era of space colonization, where human have started to move and live in space colony around the earth. Then, a war breakout between the people living in the space colony against the earth federation, which I don't really know much about the detail so please google it. The 2 factions are Earth Federation and Zeon. Gundam is the first humanoid machine made by the Earth Federation to go against the Zeon's mass production humanoid machine called Zaku II. Amuro Ray, the hero of this first series, came to pilot the Gundam accidentally and that would eventually leading him to become the main pilot of the machine. His main rival is Char Aznable, another popular character from the Universal Century timeline, known as the "Red Comet".

So that's all for this time. Next, I'll be explaining why do I have this Phase 3/Stage 3 coding.

Bandai MG 1/100 Infinite Justice Gundam (w/ Picture)

Infinite Justice Gundam, the brother machine of Strike Freedom Gundam that appears in Gundam Seed Destiny, piloted by Athrun Zala. This kit has the same inner frame of Strike Freedom Gundam, and in the setting of the animation, the inner frame is in silver color.

Front view

Back view

On Action Base

On Action Base top view

Front close-up

Another front close-up

Although the inner frame is identical to Strike Freedom (except the bottom pelvis part), it can't squat down like Strike Freedom due to the restriction imposed by the feet armor. What this kit capable of doing is to re-produce the kicking scene as seen in Seed Destiny where it utilizes its beam weapon on its leg, i.e. to dodge the beam boomerang of Destiny Gundam.

I'm very satisfy with this kit after I finished making it because I'm able to put much of what I've learned from my past Gundam modeling experience, plus some other modeling techniques that I learned online onto this kit. Although it may not be that nice as compare to the work of a pro, it is a job well done at least for me.

Bandai MG 1/100 Strike Noir Gundam

Photos of the MG 1/100 Strike Noir Gundam. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, this kit is reusing most of the parts from MG 1/100 Strike Gundam especially the frame. I personally didn't own a MG 1/100 Strike Gundam, but the reason I know is because it's all over the world wide web, and runners would have MG 1/100 Strike Gundam name on it.

Front view

Back view

On Action Base

On Action Base 2

Front close-up view

Close-up head

The uniqueness of Strike Noir in my own opinion is the design of the head. The yellow V-Fin antenna is so close to the eyes that from certain angle, one would think that it doesn't have eyes or it looks weird. To me, that's kind of cool.

As this kit is reusing the inner frame mostly from MG Strike, the leg won't be able to pose much because the tight part that connects to the pelvis joint is not created like the MG Strike Freedom, which has a part that would connect to the pelvis and then to the tight that would allow the whole leg to rotate. Despite this drawback, it does not stop this kit from posing some nice actions. This kit is indeed a action kit.

The other drawback that I faced with this kit is the Noir Striker Pack, where the left wing is quite loose, thus making the whole wing difficult to stay at one position. It may has something to do with the way that I sand the parts.

A little bit of info here, Strike Noir is actually a customized mobile suite for the protagonist in Gundam Seed Stargazer. Strike Noir is a combination of Strike E + Noir Striker Pack. In the Gundam Seed Astray universe, there's another Strike E exists that utilizes the I.W.S.P system, which is the predecessor of Noir Striker Pack. Further info can be found from the Seed MSV site.

Bandai MG 1/100 Unicorn Gundam Ver. Ka

Some photos of Unicorn Gundam that I've taken with the help of my friend. I only taking the photo of it in Destroy Mode because I'm too lazy to change it into Unicorn Mode and back again :D.

Front view

Back View

Back View Close-Up

On Action Base

Front Close-Up

The other reason why I don't want to change it back to Unicorn Mode because scare that I may accidentally break something on this kit. This kit is flimsy as compare to my other kit due to the reason of the transformation gimmick. Still, I have no complain about this kit because it is such a beauty. The regret that I have is that I'm not able to put on the Gundam Decal, the dry transfer type decal to some of the surface especially the metallic colored frame because it won't stick. So, I've given up on it to avoid further blemishing it.

Bandai MG Hi-Nu Gundam (w/ Picture)

With the help from my friend, I was able to take some photos of the model kit that I did, which I put them under my own code "Hobby Phase 3", which I'll explain after I put up all the photos first. Here are some photos of this Bandai MG 1/100 Hi-Nu Gundam that I did early last year.

On display stand, with one fin funnel on action

From the back

From the front with a little action

Close up from the front

Another close up from the front

This kit is quite sturdy, but when the fin funnel are installed, it can become quite hard to balance because for some reason the pelvis joint is a bit lose. Then, the tight-knee moving mechanism on the left leg cannot be done smoothly because I broke the holding part of the inner piston that would hold the piston from coming out from the piston container on the tight. Finally, the fin funnel connector at the back, the one inside the fin funnel carrier is very loose. The reason is because the plastic nut that connects the fjn funnel connector is slowly tearing apart, thus making the connector not able to stay put at a position. I only knew about this after I snapped and glued and colored the carrier.

Still, I'm satisfy with this kit because it looks great.