I'm On a Roll, Kind Of

Today saw the airbrushing of my Zaku II Kai completed:

From Panzers, Zakus, and Models Oh My!

From Panzers, Zakus, and Models Oh My!

Yum, Stahlhelm

From Panzers, Zakus, and Models Oh My!

Thank God For Liquid Mask

From Panzers, Zakus, and Models Oh My!

A Little Touch Up Needed

I'm most happy with how the color tones come out. Other than a few blemishes, mainly on the body due to insufficiently thick layers of liquid mask, the entire project is ready for highlighting, decals, weathering, and sealing. And here I thought I was almost done. At any rate, to the extent of applying and mixing some washes to the model I visited Micheal's today and picked up a round tipped brush that would hold much wash. However, I also got distracted by a five-dollar balsa wood model:

From Panzers, Zakus, and Models Oh My!

I thought it would be a fun and frivolous little project to complete with a friend (who had accompanied me, and picked up a similar model). Boy was I wrong, the cryptic instructions and amount of pieces saw to it that the model took me no less than four hours. I guess I have something to show for it though.

I Actually Got Some Work Done!

This week was crazy at school and I most certainly felt I earned my weekend. Even though I still have more work to do, I thought I would reward myself by sticking and priming the various parts of my Zaku, and here it is:

From Panzers, Zakus, and Models Oh My!

The priming was conducted in a moderate phoenix dusk. In all honesty I'm very surprised by how well the test pieces were turning out; I expected priming to be impossible this afternoon. Due to waning sunlight, more than a few pieces had some blemishes not due to excessive priming, but due to lingering dust from the adhesive residue of my blu-tac. I don't expect it to present any real problem though, the small hairs and spots come off with a light brush.

Actually my biggest concern is how I will deal with some of the moving joints and parts that did not receive full coverage (as they were concealed by other parts) or if they will chip later. But hey I guess that's what this project is for; to determine proper procedures for future models.

Also, I happened to come across this at a local hobby store and just couldn't resist:

From Panzers, Zakus, and Models Oh My!

From Panzers, Zakus, and Models Oh My!

Initial inspect reveals it's a pretty slick model. All of the details and dimensions seem to be fairly accurate. However, I like to overdo things to the point where I will barely finish them so to that extent I've ordered Osprey's Modeling the Panther book, which is chock full of fantastic modeling ideas for the 1/35 Panther. About 85 pages I believe, I can't wait!

Another Month, Another Make-over

As you may have noticed by now, my blog has received yet another make-over. Needless to say I've lost direction a little bit if you look at the date of the last update. At first, it was mostly work. However, since then my modeling focus has also shifted back to WWII, and in a big way! Don't fret though; I'm still doing gunpla.

But what kind of WWII modeling do I do exactly you ask? Mostly 15mm miniatures for the popular game, Flames of War. In fact, mostly germans as well! Yes, I'm addicted to Panzers, Camouflage Patterns, Stukas, and other things all of German variety!  Here is sample of some of my work:

From Miniatures

From Miniatures

From Miniatures

From Miniatures

In total, I have probably about a battalion of infantry and a battalion of tanks as well as various support elements that I've modeled over the past few years. I model at other other scales as well (currently looking to do a 1:35 or so sized Panther tank; any suggestions on brand?), but this is by far my largest endeavor in the matter.

Oh, I should also mention I played around with candy as modeling material. Here is my best attempt at making a Tiger tank out of Rice Crispies, Fruit Roll-ups, Peeps, and a Lollipop in a piece of work I've dubbed "The Peeping Tiger":

From Miniatures

From Miniatures

Yeah, it was a rather interesting luncheon with my in-laws. They were making Peepshi (sushi candy), and I suddenly received the inspiration to make a Tiger tank out  of the materials. It's still sitting on my dining table in fact (some 3 days later). I figure once mold starts growing on it I can call it rust and thereafter "restore it" with some sandblasting.

Now, these miniatures aren't just for looking good; they are also for gaming! I currently have an ongoing project to make a board of terrain for the local big event, Shifting Sands. Being Italian themed this year, I must model Hangman's Hill (300m south of Monte Cassino), Nationale Route 6, and the Hitler Line. So far I've bought some research books on the subject, as well as a large board of wood and lots of MDF foam. More pictures to come later, perhaps of an airbrushed Zaku this weekend weather permitting!

A Quick Update

Unfortunately nothing more is done; the weather this weekend wasn't very favorable. For the first time in months, Pheonix was barraged with a sporadic, but heavy, rain for the entire weekend. It didn't make much of a difference as I was heavily involved in a 1v1 Tournament we had going on over at GameReplays.org. Being an editor in the Company of Heroes section, I had plenty to do.

However I did see the special screening of Gundam Unicorn. With such a name, I was skeptical at first. However, after vicious mobile suit fights in colonies, causing massive civilian casualties and rampant destruction, I was thoroughly convinced that maybe this series isn't going to be a moeblob weeaboo failboat. One thing is for sure: the NZ-666 Kshatriya (or Quin Mantha V2) is extremely sexy.

I want a kit. And now. It seems there's only an HGUC kit in stores at the moment, but I'm much more interested in a MG kit. Does anybody know if there's plans to make one? At 60 USD it's probably a very impressive HGUC kit though, along the lines of the latest HGUC Sazabi.

At any rate, this Zaku definitely still has my immediate attention, and will hopefully help me refine my technique for future projects.

Ramblings of a Gunpla Novice

As my blog was only made as of two days ago, there is a lot of catching up to do in regards to the Zaku II "Kai" I am working on. After watching Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket again I was feeling in a particularly Gundam enthusiastic mood when I stumbled across Gaijin's racecar-yellow Sinaju. Inspired by its sleek German stylings I decided I must too model myself a sleek suit. Having just watched Gundam 0080 the sleek contours of the Zaku II "Kai" immediately came to mind and I ordered away! All in all I've ordered a hefty amount of material for one HGUC kit:

• HGUC Zaku II "Kai" 
• Decal Sheet from Samueldecal
  
• Assorted new Vajello Model Air colors
  
• New can of Armory Grey Primer
  

The model itself came last week and as you can see the box is rather mangled:

A bit of shame as I like to save the box artwork for collages later. Next time I'll have to order from somewhere else.

While the arrival of the new paints will prevent me from doing any painting at all until Friday, I was able to get an extensive amount of preparatory work done. The Zaku II FZ has been semi-assembled and is ready to be mounted and micro-masked for priming and then airbrushing. I've also used some Vajello pumice I normally use for basing to fill in any gaps between pieces. Seamless shoulders for me too! Woot!

Parts galore!

I'm leaving the cables on the sprue for easy access to other parts of the model and also for their easy painting.

Can't wait to do some poses with this.

A nice thick shield. 

Super cool alternative head!

There was one accident though. While cutting off the rubber ball joint for the head I accidentally made a tiny incision into the next of the joint itself, thinking it was part of the sprue. While at the time the minor cut didn't seem like a big deal, it proved to be disastrous. The ball joint later gave away completely while I was examining the flexibility of the head! The broken ball joint was even stuck inside the head although with a bit of tenacity and an exacto-knife I managed to get it out. I've since repaired it with superglue, but that will be a eventual fragile point of the finished model. It's not a completely devastating anyways as the head itself has really poor mobility.

Along with probably all future products, I'll be airbrushing this Zaku with my handy Aztec A470. To that extent, I have acquired the following materials:

• Blu-tac alternative
  
• 11" wooden sticks
  
• A cardboard box
  
• A sheet of styrofoam insulation (more on this below)
  

After thirty minutes of effort this Sunday, I constructed two shallow boxes with styrofoam inserts. They will serve to hold the wooden sticks to which the parts will be attached to throughout the rest of the process.

I've also dug out my old masking materials. Most of the time my Flames of War miniatures didn't require them so this is going to be a bit of a new area for me. As you can see below, I have both the worlds tiniest masking tape (okay maybe there are smaller) and some liquid mask as well. I'm thinking for now I will use the tape for any joints that I need to mask, and the liquid mask for any panels I wish to mask for whatever reason.

That about concludes preparation. So any time after Friday when the weather (and my homework load) is favorable I'll get to the fun part: priming and airbrushing! I can't wait.

A New Model, A New Blog

My online tag is eviltediz43. I live in Pheonix, Arizona where Gundam fans are few and far in between, but I am most certainly one of then. Since before I even hit the double digits in terms of age I have been modelling. For the most part I make 15mm models for the table-top game Flames of War. In fact almost exclusively until recently.

Inspired by Gaijin Gunpla's simply superb yellow sinaju I have expanded my modelling horizons to gunpla kits as well. To that extent, I have set up this blog, "Mobile Suits of Zeon". It is named so blandly partly because of my lack of creativity and that I know I will be making almost 100% Zeon kits. By documenting my modelling process as well as the end result I hope to provide myself with a detailed log to look back at, and hopefully some entertainment and even a few tips for you, the readers. 

For my first kit, I've decided to build a Zaku II "Kai" as seen in Gundam 0080. Something about the futuristic styling of it simply appeals to me. So without further adieu my first kit: 

As you can see, I've already made a lot of progress:

For a 2000ish kit, it is very solid. All of the joints are very robust and flexible. The hands in particular are well made; the model doesn't suffer from "limp wrist". However, there are only three hands for the model, each of which is not ambidextrous.

That's all for now though, I'll talk about the progress I've made so far in future post.