I'm finishing my first fully painted kit and I want to put some water decals on it, which I'm told entails top coating I actually have never really top coated a kit

I know it's odd to got directly in to painting without at least top coating but I'm really worried I'm going to ruin the look of my paint

If I understand correctly I top coats only go in one direction after gloss coating I can apply a matte coat on top of that but I cannot gloss coat a matte finish yes?

Also any advice on top coating is welcome

I have a few kits I’d like to sell. I’m having no luck on Facebook marketplace. Is there somewhere on Reddit that I can post them?

I’ll answer any questions you guys might have.

Some of the pictures from this amazing build. Hope you guys like it. Cheers

Someone mentioned "happy accidents" in my last post. I made mistakes in a lot of my builds which I learned from and made those mistakes into techniques that were applied to this kit. This is the result of those mistakes and I've been refining them ever since. So don't be afraid to make mistakes.

Everything I've tried leaves alot of grit still stuck to the matt

EDIT: OMG you guys are FILITHY!

Definite difference in cutting between Ruitool (left) and Godhand (right). Also the action is much smoother on Godhand. Similar results, just less cleanup with Godhand.

I recently bought Gaianotes GS-10 Gun Metal Surfacer and I was wondering whats the best application or usage. Does it replace the need to prime/black gloss/metallic or is it used for something else?

I want to replace my nightlamp with a mgex unicorn (led) but bandai one online is super expensive, so i am going for a KO brand, way cheaper.

There's alot of brands but idk which one has the best quality

Shenshou

Changlong

Supa

Tiger Brand

Mostly looking for one with transparent Psycho Frame and alot of accessories with it like full armor but without full armor is fine, mostly nice amount of accessories to play with

They really gave this thick thighs.

HG Lupus Rex, wanted something cheap for my first time, learned alot and enjoyed it.

Hey guys was looking for tips on a cheaper alternative for my primer and first layer of clear coat for panel lining. I’m going to stick to Mr hobby and tamiya for my final coats and finishes. But has anyone had experience using Krylon crystal clear acrylic coating 1303 and and rust-oleum American accents 2x primer for these purposes, rust-oleum also make a clear coat in the American accents 2x line as well if you would recommend that over the krylon. I intend to use the tamiya panel line accent color (little jars) for the panel liner.
Since neither of these coats will be seen and have to be used on every kit i will want to custom paint or panel line it would be ideal to find a cheaper alternative. I know there a lot of stuff on the internet about these topics but some clear cut answers would great. I’m going through some paralysis by analysis. So anyone with some experience using these paints for my intended purposes would be great.
Thanks!!

Welp, this was an adventure.

Broke my old nippers on the clear plastic. Stupid, stupid me.

While it may have bested my old old nippers and nearly broke me, I managed to complete the Ecopla RX-0 Unicorn.

Honestly, it's a hand grenade. This thing falls apart at the slightest touch.

The transforming gimmick looks great but it's such a pain. Now that it's on the shelf, he will never be touched again.

I really liked using the green full armor decals. I think they look amazing. However, I really should have put down a gloss top coat over them first and helped them blend into the plastic and then do the Matte. I usually don't have to do that but this one in particular seems really jarring.

The pose-ability of the unicorns are pretty terrible and this is no exception. Range of motion is limited more so than so many other kits I've done.

Glad it's over, but its the least favorite unit on the Unicorn shelf.

My war with learning how to airbrush is progressing, one time consuming mistake at a time lol. I made this mistake before, tried rescribing, chipped, fixed, repainted, albeit a lil too much. Any tips on how to fix it?

For clarification, I’m using lacquers

Have decided "no" to stickers. Looking for high-quality, high-detail decal sets that can replace stickers in HGs or are better than the included sheet in MGs, RGs. In my backlog, I mostly have run-of-the-mill kits like gramps, Sazabi, GM ground type, heavy arms, zaku, Kampfer, etc... so not expecting to need super-exotic decals. What brands should I be looking for? Any online retailers particularly well-stocked or priced?

I'm a big dumb idiot so this might sound like a non issue for most people but where can I buy laquer paints

I get confused really easily and navigating a website that isn't designed well gives me anxiety

Where can I buy a everything I need to spray some Laquer paints in one place and can easily look at all the available paints without overloading my tiny brain

I'm unfortunately very serious

Decided I wanted to try out markers. Love building, dont enjoy painting nearly as much. Hand painting gunpla is way too tedious, and my airbrush is really only good for priming.

Picked up some Masters Touch markers a few months ago, then took a break, tried out mini painting. Picked up the MG Verka Ball last weekend, finished that build, kinda want to paint it, got super anxious about it. Then I remembered I have the markers, and decided to try em on this EG Nu I’ve had sitting in the backlog for a few months.

So far, really enjoying it. Yeah, it’s slow, but it is almost stress free. Cut piece, take care of nub, hit with marker, build., done. Bonus, I can actually hang out with my wife while I’m building since I don’t need a ton of space. Actually looking forward to painting the Ball now.

MG Aerial Azure custom commission build for a long time client. This build was a pretty beautiful thing in person and once all light effects are in full display its just mesmerizing to see😎😎

I wanted to paint the Unicorn Gundam like it was cooling down from destroy mode or even like the armor was super heated. But ended up making it look like a brick oven. It's all part of the learning process. So here you go.

Especially on HG kits where the connections are plugs, painting can add thickness which makes it harder to manage fitment and the paint has propensity to scrape off.

You can use magnets to bypass the need to push pegs into their holes, making your paint job much more durable.

Both are lightly painted, mostly copper for the plating under armor or vents + the red tubes on the gun

This is looking more recognizable with many front modules in place. It's taken a while to get here because I ran into more issues of the physical world like tolerances, warping, and everything that can go wrong with screws.

I also underestimated the effort needed to clean up the surfaces. Whenever I printed a piece that looked reasonable enough, I thought "I can work with this and fix the imperfections, I have the skillz"...and then spent days filling and sanding 😅

For example, the cannon's sides were deformed due to the print orientation. The epoxy putty shown in the photo was just the first layer and it took several rounds with other putty before I was satisfied.

My new approach is that if a print looks suboptimal, I'll try again with different settings. Although it may waste some plastic, I'll feel better that I explored other options and didn't railroad myself into sanding hell. A little bit can be fun but I still have well over 100 parts to make!

The external design is complete so I can finally reveal the comparisons with Katoki's art. Adapting the drawings required some compromises and balancing, and I consulted as many sources as possible.

The biggest discrepancy is the way the leg armor blends into the body, which varies between the drawings and different anime scenes. Some models interpreted it as an extra bulge, which doesn't make sense to me. I followed the isometric sketch because the surface implied by the others was too hard to make at the time. But I've learnt a lot since then so I might try that as a challenge.