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I know I’ve hinted at this in my other build but I’m making a dedicated thread to all the OZ Mobile Suits I’ll be pumping out here. once again I used the glass file to get the nub marks off. that piece on the leg was partially annoying. I don’t understand why they couldn’t just include it on one of the leg halves…. Not a bad kit! A few loose parts but perfectly suitable. For the face I cut out some foil to put behind the visor. It does really make it pop I think! Ready to fight some Gundams! Or are we? It is the Alliance Space forces color… I went to comparing what I had previously used to paint the MKII. I determined that some colors would work while others wouldn’t. I tried using glue stick glue to attach the small parts onto the skewers rather than trying to figure something out with the clips. It actually worked really well! Was firm enough to paint with and easy enough to take off when done. We primed everything first of course. it may be called “royal blue” but it’ll always be Titan’s blue to me! This was the tricky part… my normal blue was far too dark to use. I had to lighten it up. When all was said and done I ended up using 3 parts white, 1 part blue, 1 part red, and equal parts (if not more) thinner (alcohol). It’s not perfect but I think it’s a pretty handsome blue that came out. I don’t think it’s too far off the mark… I think the OZ space forces would be proud! What do you think? Up next is a pair of twins. I plan on going more unconventional with them. Stay tuned!

So after a long hiatus due to back injury I’m back to building some Gunpla! So far she’s been an interesting build. A little bit of Déjà vu to the Red Frame which is to be expected for this. It is certainly one of the shiniest kits I’ve ever dealt with, which makes sanding down the parts both more crucial and more painful to do, but these nub marks can be a devil to get out, especially for something so shiny. On the note of nub marks, I’ve added a new tool to my arsenal and I cannot recommend it enough. Especially if you do straight builds and don’t paint. The glass file is quite remarkable at greatly diminishing nub marks. Between my earlier technique with the Xacto knife and this I can sometimes even get the marks to nearly disappear. It might be hard to show with pictures but trust me there’s a difference. I’m taking a more half measure approach in this build in the interest of saving time. Since I’m a little bit more familiar with the kit I’m only building half the limbs and only partially putting together the chest. This will help me identify any parts I might want to customize on the full build (Which I doubt I’ll do) while letting me save time from fully building the whole thing just to take it apart later. I am separating everything accordingly though so I when I paint I’ll have a good idea of what parts go where. I learned awhile ago that it’s good to paint limbs together (for example I want to paint the legs and all their parts in the same go around). I’m sad to say that I pulled a stupid stunt and unless the part miraculously reappears I may have thrown away the connecting joint for the entire mobile suit (who can blame me there are a TON of runners!). While dismayed as I am, I can’t let circumstances dictate my limitations. I’ve already concocted a plan to salvage this particular project, and all it will take is a helping hand from a distant relative… Stay tuned for more Astray business! If things go as I hope the next part should be particularly exciting and new!

I thought I’d take a different approach with my RG Red Frame kit and try to document it more fully here. This was a wonderful birthday present from my wife! Here’s a picture of my set up and tools. To recap some of what I’ve done already I’ve complete the lower half of the unit so far. The great thing with these RG kits are the inner frame. At first glance I assumed more of the frame would be exposed on this particular unit, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the amount of armor on the limbs. Still while I don’t enjoy exposing the frame I like to at least prep the parts as best as I could. I’ve adopted the technique of cleaning up these nub marks with an Xacto knife, but not the way most might think. I’ll angle the blade and basically scrap away from the cutting end. while it doesn’t always remove the mark I find it has a pretty good ratio of success. Besides my goal is more or less to make the surface even since I’ll end up painting everything anyways. To really get it clean I’ll use some sand paper, or in this case a nail file. Typically I use two different grits, while the nail file is finer than some grades it still eats up the surface some. What I’ll do after the tougher stuff is follow up with a piece of wet sand paper (I feel like this is 1000 grit, but I forgot I’ve had it for so long). Wet sand paper is great because you can use it dry like this, and later (typically between paint coats) you can use it wet with water to make an even finer finish. Anyone whose put an RG together can attest to the frame plastic being a softer material than the rest of the pieces but the same technique works for the regular parts as well After.... It’s worth noting that not every time I will sand a piece, sometimes it’ll clean up just fine with the blade. There’s not a whole lot of scribing and what not that I can do with this kit but I suspect I can make it shine once I get to painting it! Right now the plan is to assemble the kit together vanilla then take it apart for painting. Stay tuned for more developments as they come!

Hikaru waited at the Gundam Base for his younger sisters who were currently fulfilling their duties as Puru image girls. They made time for him, but there were points where they were pulled away and he was left alone. His parents had been having them bring him to the Gundam Base so he wouldn't become a complete shut-in. There were still times like this where they had to go record voice lines or officiate events in GBN that he wasn't part of, which left him little to do. The latest anime/GBN crossover event left them busy. As he pondered what Gunpla to build to pass the time, he saw two high school-aged boys storm out of a room he'd never been in before. “Can you believe that? Who uses a system that wrecks the Gunpla you use with it?” One half-shouted angrily. “At least you won. My GOUF Ignited was pretty much destroyed...” The other one said, more grumbling than shouting. The two left the Gundam Base in clear irritation, making Hikaru curious. Navigating his wheelchair to the room and entering, he realized what what had made the pair angry. There was a Gunpla Duel setup in the room, and the system still had the two discarded Gunpla within. One was a High Grade ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited and the other was a High Grade ZGMF-1100/K Slash ZAKU Warrior. Indeed, the GOUF was very heavily damaged while the ZAKU had damage to some of its more superficial shoulder and ankle armor, its shield, its stock beam tomahawk, and its its leg energy piping. Laying claim to the parts, Hikaru headed to the build table and also took stock of various discarded pieces and runners which he'd collected from the establishment for turning into plastic for his 3D Printer. Noting some verniers, and a Heat Hawk with a broken handle, he got to work. Painting the parts wasn't possible right now, though he detailed seams with an ultra fine permanent marker and filed down various nubs. The base units were made stock by rookies, and he had to use the plastic spudger tool in a few places to disassemble the unit to fix things. The similarities between the GOUF Ignited and the ZAKU Warrior meant some parts commonality for fixing the internal frame. The eventual end result was a ZAKU Warrior with stripped down shoulder and ankle armor, a GOUF Ignited Shield which had heated spikes and a pair of "Draupnir" Beam Guns in the face that held a Tempest Composite Beam Sword, racks on the hips that could store E-Pacs or missiles, extra verniers in the legs where there were once power cable connectors, and an optional Slash Wizard Pack. “Not bad for trash parts...” Hikaru said, smiling to himself. His new ZAKU Warrior Light Armor may not have been the best build he made, but it wasn't something to be ashamed of at least. Scanning it with the GBN scanner parts in his wheelchair and resolving to use that data to maintain or improve it later, he re-entered the empty Gunpla Duel room. Placing it onto the device where the ZAKU Warrior originally was, he accessed the system to fine-tune its specifications. He was also more than a little curious about how the Gunpla Duel system worked. It was a bit before his time, after all.

It takes two gundams, a guard frame and a GM to make this thing and it's still mostly two grunt suits. Already repaired the donors and I wanna make a dedicated kitbash custom in the future.