Hyaku-Shiki finished.

well, more or less finished.


I plan on repainting the red parts, as the Clear Red is sticking really shitty to the Chrome Silver.
Also the guns aren't painted yet. Otherwise I am quite satisfied. :)

I updated the plamo tutorial videos as well with two new videos from season 2 of puramo tsukurou. (a German tank and a Ford GT40)

Plamo Tsukurou Season 2 reencode success!

I'm making good progress with the Hyaku-Shiki now. Only a few golden parts remain to be painted and I need to pick up light green color for the headlights.

Also I FINALLY managed to encode the rmvb files of plamo tsukurou season 2 into xvid. Sure wasn't easy. Had to write an avisynth script first to demux the audio as pcm in VirtualDubMOD, the convert it into a 2 channel wav file in winamp 2.x (was some weird 6channel before), then encode the wav into mp3 in BeSweet. Next I had to write another avisynth script, to load up the rmvb with fixed framerate (rmvb seems to have variable framerate? at least if i loaded it the normal way i'd get heavy desyncing with the audio) and the encoded mp3. This script I loaded int VirtualDub and encoded it into xvid. Volia, ready for upload.

Update: I finished uploading the first of the reencoded episodes. It's a build of the Fine Molds Millennium Falcon, pretty nice. See HERE for links.

Hyaku-Shiki inner frame & more

Finished the inner frame with a mix of Gun Metal and Black. Also the metallic red parts, which i painted with Clear Red mixed with a bit of Red and Brown over Chrome Silver (all Tamiya acryl colors) to get a dark red metallic effect. Can't say the color is sticking too well to the chrome silver. Also painted the main body armor and the 'backpack' in Black mixed with Royal Blue.

I also started with the gold armor parts, gave them a black base coat and sprayed Alclad2 Gold color on them. It's important to spray it in THIN layers I found out.... and the surface you apply it to has to be smooth and clean, you will see everything afterwards. But the gold sure does look good.

Action Base

The two Action Bases I ordered from rainbowten (great shop for gunpla stuff btw) arrived today. Makes my Qubeley much more poseable, a must have I'd say and it's cheap too.
On the Hyaku-Shiki front there still isn't too much progress. I got colors for the metallic red parts. (Chrome Silver for the base, and Clear Red to get the metallc red effect).



Oh yeah, completed uploading the first season of Plamo Tsukurou. The second season will now follow, but it only has one episode with gunpla (which I already uploaded), the rest are regular plastic models.

Gunpla/Plamo Tutorial Videos

UPDATE
Over the last few days fuji tv has steadily been taking down youtube videos.  Sorry, not much I can do about that.

Here are youtube links to the Japanese model making TV show Plamo Tsukurou. If you want those episodes in better quality and/or want to spend some money, buy the DVDs! CDjapan and Amazon.co.jp have them for sale.
More info, also about upcoming episodes on the FujiTV website:
http://wwwz.fujitv.co.jp/otn/b_hp/100000023.html

FujiTV show Plamo Tsukurou (プラモつくろう) ~ translates roughly into '(plastic)model making'. Sometimes also written as Puramo Tsukurou.
This show shows pro builders building their kits. 20 episodes total.

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FujiTV show Plamo Tsukurou CUSTOM (プラモつくろう CUSTOM) ~ translates roughly into 'custom plastic model making'
This is the second season, episodes are one hour long now, and a lot more episodes also show diorama building.

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FujiTV show Plamo Tsukurou CUSTOM Specials
This is essentially Season 3 - The episodes are now 1.5 hours long and feature two models.

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Hobbyist step by step Gunpla Tutorial on a Master Grade Crossbone Ver. Ka Gundam
part1 part2 part3 part4

Older Kits

Some older (or builds that i am not so happy with) kits are linked here:

Gundam Collection NZ-333 α-Azieru (1/400) (2008)
Master Grade RX-178 Gundam Mk-II 2.o (2008)
Master Grade Hyaku Shiki (2008)

Hyaku-Shiki Hasshin!!

I started building the Hyakushiki. As with the Qubeley I did a snapfit first, without paint or glue.
The yellow plastic parts feel a bit brittle compared to the other parts and the Qubeley plastic, but I didn't really have any problems. The kit felt a bit easier to build than the Qubeley and painting should be easier too. My plan for coloring is Gold (got Alclad 2 gold, which according to the internet ist the best gold paint ever graced the earth) for the golden armor, Gray/Gun Metal for the internal parts and flat Black for the torso (and not dark blue). The red parts I'll paint metallic red.


Oh and I ditched the Ballute System, no need for that.

Qubeley

*Update: made some new pics*




*endupdate*

I repainted the gray parts in a darker gray. Looks better now, and I got an Action Base 1 for it.

AMX-004 Qubeley finished!

Yesterday I did some weathering and sumire (panel line coloring) on the parts. The panel lines I painted with a wash of brown email color. The weathering on some parts I did with the dry brush technique with brown email color. Next I dry brushed the internal mechanic parts with silver email color.


Today I added a few decals, clear coated everything with Future mixed with Tamiya Acryl Flat Base for a flat finish and built the Qubeley again.
Here it is:

I will make some more pictures tomorrow when the light is better.

Oh and today my Hyakushiki (+ ballute system) arrived!

The gray Qubeley parts

Airbrushed all the gray parts today. (except the jointed hands, how the hell am i supposed to paint those !?) The gray, I call it sand-gray, turned out really well. For the gray I mixed White, Brown and a bit Black together. I didn't prime the parts before painting, didn't see the point when painting gray.

Color mixing is difficult

I painted some more parts today. As I plan to alternate the color scheme a little bit, I painted the blue parts black and the purple parts in a grayish gun metal blue green with a hint of purple. The color didn't really turn out the way I intended to, but it doesn't look bad. I mixed Royal Blue, Gun Metal, some Purple, a bit Black and a bit White (all Tamiya acryls). It turned out like a dark blue/gray with a bit metallic effect.
Up next are the gray and the pink parts and I'm done with the main coloring.
After that i will do some sumire in a light brownish color and I plan some subtle weathering.
... We'll see how that turns out.

Painting & shading all the white parts.

My second package hangs at the customs, but i managed to fill the dent with glue and lots of sanding. I painted all the white parts with white and a HINT of brown. Did about two coats of that. Then I put some shading on a few parts. At the 'vents' on the wings for example. Last I painted it again, but with pure white, mainly in the center of the parts, for highlight.
Then i added a glossy clear coat of Future for adding some decals later on. The final finish will be matte.
All this stuff i read on forums and tutorials. This video of a professional builder building a Qubeley was helpful too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFixV8jwDLA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D64BCJkiKs

Qubeley head modification, priming

I glued the two head parts together and cut out a little bridge so i can fit in the 'eyes' after painting it. This should give me less hassle than masking the eyes and removes a quite visible seam between the two head parts. Sanding away the excessive glue made the seam smooth, but i found another small dent at the front of the head, so i still need my putty :(




Next i primed the white parts with white Tamiya primer. My priming technique sucks! Used up almost the whole can (large) for only the white parts. I think i have to buy another can for the rest of the parts, plus i also need primer for the Hyaku.



Other news is that i got notice from my local customs office, they are holding my package with the Hyaku Shiki and the Putty and want me to show them some bills and stuff.

Qubeley sanding, and some tools

Sanded the white parts with P1000 wet-sanding paper today. All except the head unit as i am still waiting for my second parcel to arrive which contains the Hyaku Shiki and some Tamiya Putty which I need to close some seams in the head unit.



Here's a pic of my airbrush, colors and the German version of Future.

Mission 001 - Building my first Gundam Kit

I ordered my first (two) Gundam model kits from Japan. They will be my first model kits since i was maybe ten.
Got myself a Qubeley and a Hyaku Shiki, both Master Grade. They were shipped in separate parcels and the Qubeley arrived already, so i'll start building that one first.



Snap fitted it first, which was fairly easy and took 3~4 hours.



For a pretty finish i need to airbrush it, so i ordered an airbrush kit with compressor and pistol as well as plenty of Tamiya acrylic colors. Next step will be taking the Qubeley apart again, smoothing out all rough spots and sanding the whole thing before priming.