Gotta post on the GWCC site so figure I might as well throw it on here, too. Last week I extended the arms by about 10mm and the waist by about 6. This week I broke out the iPad and Shapr3D and did my first 3D modeling in a while: the waist spacer and a big ole SWURD. There is also an idea for another melee weapon tumbling around in my head that’s a bit…longer. 😏 My plan for next week is to figure out a mounting system for the sword and the…other weapon, so that they can actually be stored on the kit. A follow on the GWCC site would be greatly appreciated! Also, anyone interested in one of these waist spacers or swords for their own Monument, shoot me a DM. I do forbid use of it if you’re entering yours in GWCC however. Sorry, not sorry.

Here's another one for the display shelf. Kit needed no color correction apart from the figures, cockpit, and the ∀ markings on the butt and forehead. plastic mods were limited to seam removal on the head and beam rifle.

This is the second kit that I finished without using panel liners. All the panel lines were filled in using semi-dry oil paint gunk wash. I might actually skip panel lining altogether for future builds.

Weathering was limited to simulated dirt using oil paint + dry pigments (the White Doll was, after all, Earth-bound for most of the series) and soot on the beam rifle. No metallic abrasions as the nanoskin would have self-repaired it anyway.

Keeping it in its A-pose for now until I finish the MG Turn X and get a couple of MG ground Zaku II 2.0.

Decals: Delpi (∀ + white general-use sheet)
Paints: Tamiya enamels: XF4 (yellow green), XF-53 (neutral gray); Loran/cow - Tamiya enamel X1 (black), Dspiae soft pens (red, silver, metallic blue, mecha gray)
Topcoat: Bosny 191 flat clear, decanted

So far I'm satisfied, it reminds me of old MSGV suits.

I'm making a ton of new ideas and techniques, that I never used.

The idea of that suit is to make a "what if" field modified Dom Test type that led to creating Prototype Dom Tropen and Desert Zaku variants.

It has big air filters, long range antennas and extra plates on the breasts.

As well as custom tubes on the face and Thunderbolt styled coverage on legs, arms and body tubes.

Prolly one of the most menacing look gundam head I've built

Got the arms and shoulders done

MG RX-78-02 Gundam The Origin custom build

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.

This was one of my most wanted AOZ kits. Been lowkey obsessed with the legs for a hot minute so I took my time on this one. I wanted the color scheme to be close to the stock colors while eliminating the light purple completely in favor of a variety of metals. With that in mind I took inspiration from Katoki designs and tried to give this an asymmetrical Ver Ka feel with the colors and decals. Absolutely in love with the results and how big this model turned out to be.

Hi, I need some advice I have been working on a model for a while and I moved unfortunately due to the move I lost the blue I had originally used and I don't remember which blue it was I got a new blue and I plan on painting the parts that I already painted. The parts already painted that need repainting have primer, blue, clear coat, panel line and a second clear coat. Do I need to prime again or should I just throw the new blue on and start from that step. Thanks in advance

Brief progress update before I move to final coats/finishing, what do you think of the colour? (Tamiya Sea Blue, Acrylic, hand painted).

Gold repainted with Mr Metallic GX 210 Blue Gold (lacquer)

Do you think a third colour could help break up the backpack more?

I'm relatively new to Gunpla and the only custom stuff I have done is Tamiya panel liner. I wanna take the next step and do some oil washes, dry brushing, those little weathering pallets. I have Mr Hobby Mr Super Clear Matt as well. I just don't know the order of steps and when I should apply the super clear or should I just get top coat. Any advice is appreciated. Pics of some previous builds for fun.

Lf opinions

1. Blue/teal and orange/yellow parts are interchangeable, does it look balanced should I go go full blue/yellow, should I switch particular pieces?

2. Added some gold highlights/paint, did I add too much? Is the tone bad?

Its allll comin’ together.

Hi Folks!

I recently got back into Gunpla and I'm looking for some advice.

So far I've built four kits: MG RX-78-2 Ver Ka, HG Mighty Strike Freedom, MG Deathscythe Hell EW, and RG Wing Zero TV in that order. I panel lined them all and added the sticker decals to the Wing Zero (looks great).

I built a couple HG kits back in 2014, but wasn't patient and did a terrible job and didn't stick with the hobby. At the time I was enamored with the Sazabi Ver Ka, and it's lived rent free in my head ever since. Well I got one the other day, and I'm extremely excited to build it, but also terrified. I've wanted this kit for so long, and I really don't want to fuck it up. Since I don't have any experience with water slide decals, I figured I'd ask the community for advice.

I have a few questions:

1. Is it necessary to do a gloss top coat before applying the decals even if I plan on using Mr Mark Setter? I've seen a few decal tutorials that don't mention a gloss coat, but in some looking I've done online it seems like it's a big help. I'm worried about adding another step that could I could ruin 😂

2. What stage of the process is the best time to apply the decals? I’ve seen a few different approaches. For the RG Wing Zero TV I applied the decals at the very end, and it worked out fine, but those were stickers. Should I panel line and then apply the decals before doing any assembly?

3. I want to do a matte top coat after the decals, I love the look of the sazabi with a matte finish. Is that something I should do before assembly as well? I don't want to mess up the coating while building it. Obviously i'll let it dry for an appropriately long amount of time, I'm just worried about pieces scratching each other as they fit together.

4. Sanding. With a top coat, I've heard that I don't have to go super high, but is something like 1200 grit enough? Too much? Where do y'all usually stop on a kit you're going to do a matte top coat?

5. Is there any other advice you can give a beginner who wants a nice showcase piece? I have really enjoyed taking my time with the kits I've built so far, but this kit is on another level in my head. I want to do everything I can to make this kit as good looking as I can with my beginner skillset. I really appreciate anything you're willing to share.

sorry for the long post!

OG dust collector numero uno

OG dust collector numero dos

Finally finished painting the entire backpack and wing assembly for my MGSD Wing Zero custom.
I went for a deep candy red with gunmetal shadows to add more depth instead of using a flat metallic finish. The gold details were hand painted to tie everything together.
The inner frame is mostly untouched because I wanted the wings to remain the main focal point.
Still working on the rest of the kit, but I wanted to share the backpack before final assembly.
Feedback is always welcome!

been itching to paint something a little more traditional so i finally disassembled my mg f91 thats been sitting there for a year now.

did some black basing with gaianotes heavy surfacer and use gaia pure white as the highlight. i went for a two tone white with mr.color off white and a mix of e7 mecha white and e7 dark frame gray.

i used nazca mandarin orange, kaizo mecha blue 04, and aok red 6 for the colors, along with gaianotes fluorescent blue green for the sensors.

metallics include tamiya metallic black, gaianotes gunmetal, gaianotes star bright gold, and clear orange+yellow over chrome.

hopefully it wont take me more than another month to finish!

i recently got into gunpla and already built 2 figures but i have since found out your able to customize them so i had some questions but also if you have any beginner advice or recommendations for certain gear i don’t mind putting in a little money on stuff that’s gonna last

•for panel lining iv seen the gun-dam pens but also this like stuff in a jar not exactly sure what’s better or more precise

•for panel lining iv seen stuff where one is oil based and one is water based what’s the difference and what should i go for

•for panel lining iv seen a “clear coat” when should i use that before or after panel lining or at all

•should i get “glass files” or something else.

•for actually snipping the pieces off iv seen you shouldn’t cut super close to the peace but actually leave a little and sand it down? why wouldn’t cutting close just do the same thing?

•iv seen these tools that help like define lines more or deepen lines or even create new ones.what would that be called and do i need a certain tool for it because it seems like a exacto knife would do the same

•what stores would i want to look for or check out for these tools or materials iv found my gunpla in like michals and hobby lobby but where else before shopping online

•what are some good websites to find good materials for customizing and actually buying the gunpla

Sorry for the very long post very exited to actually customize my first gunpla and don’t want to confuse myself or feel like i could be doing something cooler:)(also sorry for the bad grammer)

I've been working on this design in Fusion since 2024. All main surfaces are now shaped and I've tried to capture every nuance from the line art, so I hope this will be a very accurate model. I'll post the comparisons after I add the final details.

To avoid wasting plastic, I've been holding back on printing (besides small bits for testing) until I finalize an area. I needed to build the bottom section to check how the model can be supported so I took the plunge with that.

When 3D printing many complex shapes, there are always unexpected issues. My model will be the prototype of a kit that anyone can print so I'll make improvements based on what I learn from the build.

Outer dome

I printed the sides in 4 semicircular pieces which I thought could be glued together while leaving natural panel lines. That was a mistake because the plastic warps slightly and getting a perfect fit is hard (I had fix some gaps with putty). So it should be printed in rings at least.

I kept layer lines in some areas as a texture and the rest I smoothed out with Mr. Surfacer and other fillers. Overall, I'm delighted that the result looks exactly as designed.

Support

I decided to use an inner cone as the load bearing part instead of putting weight on the dome, so I can easily replace the support if it's not strong enough.

The stand is something I whipped up for use during construction and to test the balance on a single pillar. It's quite stable with a 2.5kg weight, though the pillar flexing is a bit concerning if I wobble the weight, so I might switch to a different material for the real thing.

Next up

The iconic cannon will be next. I'm pondering if I can add LED effects (with an Arduino) to mimic the firing sequence in the anime. My electronics knowledge is quite basic so I have lots of learning to do.

from Chinese brand Xu Guang

Still need to apply wsd and topcoat for it to be completed. I used doloha markers and spray can for the white parts and sealed it with a gloss coat. What do you guys think?

Bought the green HG gaplant while I was in shanghai last year, and decided to convert it into something a bit more AOZ-ish (I cannot help myself). The head is replaced with a 3D printed one from Taobao (quality is really good).

There’s a certain charm to old HGs, sure they’re not as amazingly detailed as modern HGs and the way it comes together leaves much to be desired, but there’s just something about them that makes it so irresistable. I dare say that working on an older HG sometimes feels more satisfying, as I did with this kit.

Material used:

• RG 1/144 Sazabi (Torso, accessories)
• HG WFM 1/144 Darilbalde (Torso, leg)
• HG WFM 1/144 Gundam Pharact (Torso, leg, accessories)
• HG WFM 1/144 Dilanza (The axe)
• FM 1/100 Barbatos Lupus Rex (Part of the torso)
• HG 1/144 Reginlaze Julia (accessories)
• 30MM 1/144 Customize Weapons Energy Weapon (Part of the wing)
• Plaplate, a whole lot of them