Bandai PG 1/60 RX-178 Gundam Mk II AEUG English Color Guide & Paint Conversion Chart

Bandai PG 1/60 Zeta Gundam English Color Guide & Paint Conversion Chart

Bandai PG 1/60 RX-178 Gundam Mk II Titans ver English Color Guide & Paint Conversion Chart

Spaceship Yamato Submarine Hack

Saw this blog post with a video of a Spaceship Yamato converted to an R/C submarine and being driven in a swimming pool.

1/72 YF-25 Prophecy English Color Guide

Color Guide of the limited edition 1/72 YF-25 Prophecy was translated to English. From my understanding of the YF-25 that was in the Macross Frontier movie, it was supposed to be the prototype for the VF-25 Messiah's used by SMS.

1/100 GN-002 Gundam Dynames Assembly Part IV

Just posting a delayed update on the Gundam Dynames I'm building right now. Where we left off, I decided to strip the dark green paint and do over again with Pylox singa green by Nippon Paints.

Storage

Packed up all my toys and model kits and hid them in one of our cabinet's top shelf. We have guests arriving who are going to be staying in the room which I use as my model kit assembly and display room for my collection. As soon as they leave I'll put these back in the room and display them out again.

And with this, I'm starting to see the logic why people invest heavily in see through glass cabinets with locks in them *snicker*

Which Generation had the better GI Joe Toys?

A few days before Christmas my wife and I went to the mall to buy a gift for our nephew and I just happened to walk by the rack with GI Joe toys.

Having been a long time fan of GI Joe, with a stable of figures in my collection (which I still have to fix), I couldn't help but notice how crappy the re-issue of the 3.5 inch figures are. Mostly because of the quality of the plastic and the painting.

Bandai HG 1/144 Masurao English Color Guide and Manual

Bandai 1/72 VF-25F Armored Messiah Valkyrie English Manual and Color Guide

Started translating the Japanese manual of the 1/72 VF-25F Armored Valkyrie of Alto Saotome from Macross Frontier. I like how the armored Valkyrie design evolved with the arrival of the VF-25 Messiah.

In the first Macross series, the armored GBP-1S could only be deployed in Battroid mode. If the pilot wanted to switch modes it had to ditch first the armor and in the process lose the protection if offered. But with the VF-25, the pilot could keep the armor on and switch through all three modes (fighter, gerwalk, battroid) without a hitch.

Common Gundam and Bandai Model Kit Colors

I guess one benefit of having translated all these color guides from Japanese to English is that I started having a feel as to the common colors that are used to paint these model kits. I cross checked that with the Mr. Color series of paints by GSI Creos and made a list of the popular colors that you will most likely need a lot of in your paint inventory. That is of course if you are planning to color it with an air brush.

Here's a list of the most common colors that are often repeated in each model kit from Bandai. The Letter-Number code enclosed in parenthesis are its product reference no. for easier look up.

Master Grade RX-0 Unicorn Gundam Ver Ka English Color Guide

Update: Translated construciton manual of the Master Grade RX-0 Unicorn Gundam ver Ka can be found here.

Am not really familiar nor fond of the design of the Gundam Unicorn. I'm hoping that once the movie comes out it will change my opinion of it. This is in contrast with the Gundam Astay Blue Frame that I had bought without first knowing anything about. Guess I liked the design so much that I didn't care much for the story. Talk about an easy victim of mass marketing brainwashing... hehehe

Bandai PG 1/60 Strike Gundam English Manual, Color Guide & Paint Conversion Chart

Color Guide for the Perfect Grade 1/60 Strike Gundam was translated from Japanese to English. I can't really say much about the Strike Gundam because I've had no experience watching the first Gundam Seed series. I've watched Gundam Seed Destiny though and found it entertaining.

Would sure love to see though what it feels like to build a perfect grade Gundam. The perfect grade line is said to be the epoch of plamodel construction because of the articulation and sheer amount of parts. Not to mention, I like it also because its a big 1/60 scale model kit.

RX-93 ν2 Hi-Nu Gundam English Color Guide

Update (03/30/2010): English Construction Manual of the RX-93 Hi Nu Gundam can be found here.

Amuro Ray's RX-93 ν2 Hi-Nu Gundam from Beltorchika's Children is definitely one of my most favorite Gundam Designs with its fins and distinct shade of blue. The Master Grade version of this is definitely out of my reach right now, so I had to settle for the HG version of the Hi-Nu Gundam.

Bandai 1/72 VF-27 Lucifer Translated English Manual & Color Guide

Update (12/21/2009): Japanese to English Translation complete... woohoo!

Just saw the construction manual of the 1/72 VF-27 Lucifer posted at Dalong.net. Couldn't resist translating it to English for the sake of honing my Japanese skills. Definitely one of the best designs made by Shoji Kawamori for the Macross Frontier series. I just feel that its a nightmare to paint if you don't have an air brush, given the color mix needed in its color guide.

Kindly read my little disclaimer before using this translated guide. It might not be complete right now, but kindly check back once in a while as I will post the translated pages once I'm done. I also posted before on what the symbols in a Bandai model kit's manual means.

1/100 Gundam Virtue English Color Guide

Update (04/26/2010): the color "cyan red" is actually "shine red", my mistake, sorry...

Update (03/30/2010): English Construction Manual of the 1/100 Gundam Virtue can be found here.

Was looking at the 1/100 Gundam Virtue model kit at the mall. The Gundam Virtue was piloted by Tierra Erde and was seen in the Gundam 00 Season 1 series. Its the biggest Gundam in the arsenal of Celestial Being owing to its role as the heavy bombardment specialist. The Gundam Virtue also plays host to the super-secret Gundam Nadleeh. Which is one reason why the Virtue is slightly expensive than the other Gundam 00 1/100 non-grade kits of Bandai.

Bandai Macross Quarter

Some pictures and literature for the Macross Quarter toy was posted at the Tamashii web site. The Macross Quarter was scheduled for release on December 19, 2009. The Macross Quarter is the battleship of the Private Military Group known as the SMS that functions as security for the Macross Frontier.

With the picture below you can see a comparison of the box of the Quarter vs the Chogokin 1/60 VF-25F Messiah of Alto Saotome. Then beside that is a shot of the inside of the box. Last picture shows the 5 parts that make up the Macross Quarter.

Translation of the 00 Raiser Instruction English Manual is finished

Finally finished translating the 00 Raiser Instruction Manual to English. Hence also the apparent lack of posts in this site. Well maybe for one day only...hehehe. Can't really tell either how accurate my translation is considering that I don't have a 00 Raiser kit to build where I can cross check my translations.

Definitely though what helped in the translation was my prior knowledge of the terms and practices used in model kit building as well as in the Gundam 00 series.

1/100 GN-002 Gundam Dynames Part III

Decided to strip the dark green paint off the Gundam Dynames because I wasn't comfortable with the color. Plus of course, I was able to find a much closer color, Pylox Singa Green during my hunt for some TOA plastic primer. There is still a shortage of plastic primer as I was only able to scrounge two cans worth. When I asked them if I could order for more they said that it wasn't possible because they just take what the supplier gives them...blehhh.

1/100 GN-002 Gundam Dynames Part II

The manual of the Gundam Dynames has you starting the build at the chest area. I noticed that my model builds slows down whenever I come against a decision on what paint color to use. This time it was the main green color of the Gundam Dynames.

1/100 Gundam Kyrios Assembly Final Pictures

Update: Almost a year after this build, I actually decided to retouch this model kit, as seen here.

Had some time to take pictures of the 1/100 Gundam Kyrios that I finished assembling a few weeks back. No fancy DSLR camera, just your basic point and shoot. Though I do usually use the macro and portrait mode when taking pictures. I also adjust the exposure of the camera to make it more sensitive to light resulting in a brighter picture.

1/100 GN-002 Gundam Dynames

Started to build already the 1/100 Gundam Dynames flown by Lockon Stratos in the first season of Gundam 00. The Dynames is the long-range specialist of Celestial Being with the capability to hit targets from orbital distance from the ground. Of course by using a more specialized weapon package. Default weapons include the sniper rifle, two beam pistols and two beam sabers. As the series progressed the Dynames was upgraded to have a wing like shield armor that can cover majority of the frontal area.

Lighting Check

Decided to change the light bulbs in my work and painting area. My eyes are overworked already having to look at the small parts of the model kit, I didn't want the low light to compound the problem further.

I remember before when I was applying for some personal insurance the agent asked me what I did for a living and she said that we could actually increase the coverage of the insurance plan to specific parts of the body so if in case an accident happens to it you can get a higher insurance money as well as medical coverage for that part. Of course we determined that at my job the body part that was most likely to get damaged were my eyes due to the constant exposure to the monitor screen of a computer. Ever since I became aware of that I had become more conscious of taking good care of my eyes.

Master Grade Rick Dias 2.0 Rebuild Part VI

Continued from here. Re-painting is officially finished for the Rick Dias. Still thinking however on whether I should gloss it or not. Also I'm deciding on what to use to panel line it with because I'm thinking of ordering some Gundam markers online...hmmmm. Definitely though I'll put on the stickers this time.

Master Grade Rick Dias 2.0 Rebuild Part V

Continuing from here. Started working on the arms already of the Rick Dias. Tasks that needed to be done were the stripping of the paint for the red parts then applying primer. While the blue parts of the arms and power cables had to be cleaned then primed with plastic primer. Afterwards of course was the painting.

Amiami makes permanent SAL shipping option for International customers

Amiami officially announced on their site that they are making SAL shipping a permanent option in their English site for overseas customers. Prior to that only EMS was the only shipping option, but after a few days they gave in to their customers requests and offered Registered SAL shipping on a trial basis.

Bandai MG 1/100 Qubeley Mk-II Elpeo Puru version English Color Guide & Paint Conversion Chart

Gundam ZZ's Elpeo Puru's Qubeley has been given the Master Grade treatment by Bandai and was released just recently last month. I can't really say much about Elpeo Puru since I haven't watched Gundam ZZ yet. The first time I saw the Qubeley was in Gundam Zeta wherein it was piloted by Haman Karn of the Neo-Zeon.

From my understanding of the Qubeley, is that its instrumentation is modified to take into effect the abilities of New Types. That's why Haman Karn and other cyber new types are very adept in piloting it. Personally though I don't like the design of the Qubeley. I find it too bug like. I know that the Japanese are fond of bugs, with kids and adults taking them as pets. That exposure during childhood is probably why there is a hint of bug anatomy in some mecha design. In Japan there seems to be a rather lucrative market in bug collecting.

Anti-Smoking Hobby

One reason I've decided to build model kits is so that I can stave off the urge to light up. The logic behind that is to have something else to do whenever the hunger for nicotine kicks in. Above is a picture of Mild Seven Lights, probably the most popular brand in Japan. I smoked that a lot when I was still there. Cigarette's ain't cheap in Japan, had I not been smoking I would have saved a lot more money.

1/72 VF-27 Lucifer Normal Type : Cannon Fodder version

Update 01/29/2010: Posted a few days ago at the Bandai Hobby Site, looks like this has a name already. VF-27 Lucifer Normal Type


Just saw this at Amiami's site. Scheduled for release next year by February 2010 is a 1/72 model kit of the cannon fodder variant of the VF-27. No official title yet as to what its being called, so I'm just calling it the cannon fodder variant. Pilots of this version, as seen in the Macross Frontier series, are the Antares Squadron of the Macross Galaxy and Grace O'Connor.

1/100 MG GN-X from Gundam 00

Update (01/16/2010):Product page of the GN-X is now up at the bandai hobby site.

Update (12/28/2009): Bandai posted a picture of the completed GN-X in their site

Whoa, didn't see this coming! A Master Grade GN-X (pronounced Jinx) from the Gundam 00 Season 1 Anime. The first ever Mobile Suit used by the Earth Forces that had a fake GN Drive and could match up squarely with the Gundam's of Celestial Being when they didn't have their Trans Am feature on. The picture below is of an unpainted prototype of the GN-X.

Master Grade Rick Dias 2.0 Rebuild Part IV

Most of the legs are done except for one more cowl. My mind is slipping because I forgot to include this in the schedule of parts to be painted today. Aside from that, I finished repainting the head and chest.

Japanese TV Prank Show

I remember watching these type of Japanese prank shows and laughing my arse off when I was there. I actually ended up coughing due to too much laughing on my part after watching this.

Just deviating slightly from the normal mecha posts of this blog to show an interesting facet of Japanese media.

Rick Dias 2.0 Rebuild Part III

Continuing again from here. Still working on one of the legs right now of the Master Grade Rick Dias. This time I decided to change some colors on the Rick Dias.

Bandai PG 1/60 00 Raiser English Manual, Color Guide & Paint Conversion Chart

I realized after I translated the PG 00 Raiser's color guide that its been quite some time already since I last translated something as part of my exercises to learn Japanese for the certification exams. And thanks to my recent introduction to Dalong.net, a great source for manuals, I've decided to try and translate the Perfect Grade 00 Raiser manual to English. Kindly read the disclaimer before proceeding with this.

Cleaning Clogged Spray Head

Noticed that the spray pattern of the spray can I was using was getting erratic. And globs of paint was starting to show on the surface of the part being sprayed. The instruction manual painted at the side of the spray can always tells you to turn over the can after spraying and spraying a few squirts to prevent the paint from jamming up the spray can, I was wondering however why this was still happening after doing this.

The spray can was still heavy so it was impossible that the low air pressure of an empty can could have been the cause of the erratic spray pattern.

PG 00 Raiser Color Guide

Update (12/04/2009) : Just wanted to point out that "0 Raiser supplementary weapons, etc grey parts" is not a typo. This grey is specifically for the 0 Raiser that is piloted by Saji Crossroad and not the 00 Raiser combination of the 00 Gundam and the 0 Raiser.

Did a quick translation of the Color Guide for the Perfect Grade 00 Raiser by Bandai to English from its original Japanese. Click on the image below to enlarge it.

Rick Dias 2.0 Rebuild Part II

In the modelling world, the journey of a thousand miles begins first by opening the user manual. Had to brush up on the manual to make sure that I was disassembling the Rick Dias correctly, wouldn't want to suffer a broken part during this step. As mentioned before, I've decided to rebuild the Rick Dias because of a botched painting job that resulted in the paint being so easily stripped from the mecha. Ideally by now I should be taking photos of the finished Gundam Kyrios, but since I'm using an alternative marker for panel lining that needs more than a day to dry, I have some time to spare.

Master Grade Rick Dias ver 2.0

I've decided to re-do the painting of the Master Grade Rick Dias I built a few months back. The reason being that the coat of Future I painted on the kit didn't really solve the paint stripping issue I was facing. Initially I thought it was just the red paint, turns out also the black paint had the same problem. Its only the Pylox Metallic Graphite that's not having any problem with sticking to the model kit.

Favorite Gundam 00 Songs

I have to say that I can't help but hum two songs in the Gundam 00 soundtrack because of the catchiness of the tune. I think its because having been a fan of the "grunge" bands of Seattle during the early nineties with their style of rock, I'm naturally predisposed to that type of music.

Hobby Search to Offer SAL Shipping in January 2010

Hobby Search posted in their site today that they will offer SAL shipping by January of next year in an effort to help reduce customer's shipping costs.

Gundam Marker Alternative

Update:Uni-Posca Paint Markers are also good Gundam Marker alternatives

I never panel lined a model kit before when I was building it as a kid. Only now when I started building Gundam Model kits did I realize that they really look good with the panel lines colored. Panel lining was traditionally done by thinning out some paint then using a super fine brush and capillary action to let the paint run through the panel lines. Now it can be done more easily and painlessly with the use of a Gundam Marker.

Bandai Hobby Launches Redesigned English Site

Bandai announced today that they're launching their redesigned English language page. So far while looking through the site there isn't much in terms of info. The new products page seems to be the only thing that has informative value.

Watashi No Kare wa Pairroto - Megumi Nakajima Version

Update 12/01/2009: Thank You for correcting me Mark!, it was "Mari" Iijima... one must never write posts when one is sleepy... :D

I was never a huge fan of Mari Iijima's singing of Watashi No Kare Wa Pairroto (My Boyfriend is a Pilot) in the original Macross Series. It was only when I heard Megumi Nakajima's modern rendition of the song in the Macross Frontier series was I truly impressed with it. Plus of course the animation of the singing during the Miss Macross contest was quite cute. It was great that the creators decided to pay homage to this iconic song.

History of Arcadia/Yamato Toy's Macross Line for 2003

2003 was the year Yamato toys starts to ramp up production of their Macross line with a large volume of new product releases. 2003 was also the year where the 1/72 line of Macross Plus toys was coming to an end as after this year they didn't release anymore products of this scale. The good news is that the perfect transformation 1/48 opened up the way for the 1/60 perfect transformation VF's. List of Macross Toys created in 2000-2002 by Yamato can be found here.

2003