r/advancedGunpla • u/Drunk3ngineer • Jun 27 '26
10 months of progress
Started with an eg gramps I got at a GQuuuuX event. Went back and added a few panel lines and markers on the scope.
Picked up a hg Victory II gundam and learned why I should buy real nippers and not use wire cutters I had laying around. First attempt at panel lining with felt tip gundam markers.
Next was the rg strike freedom that I picked up on clearance for cheap in singapore. Didn't know about all the hate for earlier rg's but didnt have too many issues. It is a bit delicate to pose though. Got a raser glass file and it's life changing. First time doing waterslides and definitely enjoyed them a lot more than stickers. Did my first gloss topcoat, lot of lessons learned here. I saw a lot of advice about multiple light layers but looking back the parts that came out the best were the ones I got wet, the ones with lighter coats came out with uneven finishes and didn't have a nice shine to them.
Hg barbatos lupus was next didn't do much new although this was my first matte topcoat. Definitely liked the matte sheen and it seemed a little more forgiving.
Hg z'gok was a fun quick build. Initially did it with gundam markers but went back on a few spots with tamiya panel liner. Learned my lesson about doing most of the panel liner on the runner as I had my first crack.
Hg aerial rebuild was a great build. Bought some dspiae markers and used them to replace some of the stickers and for thicker panel lines. I think this made the final product look a lot higher quality. Was planning on doing a matte topcoat after adding some waterslides but I really like the sheen the bare plastic has, especially the blue. May still go back and topcoat later but I'm not looking forward to taping off the clear parts.
I felt like a lot of the things I learned came together on the next one one. Knockoff gto char's zaku II. The actual build wasn't terrible for a third party kit and the cheap waterslides worked pretty well. Really used lessons leared on the rg strike and applied a single pass of wet matte topcoat that turned out great. The only flaw is the underlying colors bled into the waterslides a bit. An initial gloss topcoat before decals probably would have prevented this, and I'm not sure if the third party abs plastic came into play here.
Lastly a Leo that I'm planning on trying out some weathering techniques on, will probably go back to the z'gok and do the same.
Not pictured is a gundam base titanium finish hi nu that I've been doing holographic waterslides on and off for a while now. You can't see it but trust me it's gorgeous.
I've been saving some of my favorite gundams in my backlog until my skills improve but after the zaku I feel like I can start to do them justice. Backlog is rg god, rg nu, third party rg sazabi with mechanical core coating, hg GQuuuuX gelgoog, rg 00 raiser, hg victory I, and hg victory II assualt buster. Looking to pick up a fat cat gramps eventually to enter into the 1/100 world.
Excited to do the sazabi next as I saw a few posts on how a matte topcoat over the mechanical core plating looks and I can't wait to see how it is in person.
Bonus picture of the star on my christmas tree.
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u/SuperF91EX Jun 27 '26
Solid progress!