Bandai HG 1/144 Civilian Astray DSSD Custom English Manual & Color Guide

The Civilian Astray of Deep Space Survey and Development (DSSD) from Gundam Seed Stargazer anime shorts. First time I saw this kit I was, wait what?, this thing was in Stargazer? *snicker* This is a variant of the beautifully crafted Astray mechs of Orb and was released by Bandai as a 1/144 High Grade model kit in 2007.

Bandai SD Sazabi English Manual & Color Guide

From Char's Counterattack comes the Sazabi, released this month by Bandai as Super Deformed model kit. Personally, one of my most favorite mecha designs, it helps too that this is such a massive mecha that could only befit a pilot such as Char Aznable.

Bandai MG 1/100 Aile Strike Gundam Ver. RM English Manual & Color Guide

Released this month by Bandai is the 1/100 Master Grade Aile Strike Gundam ver RM. The remastered Aile Strike Gundam was flown by protagonist Kira Yamato from the Gundam Seed anime series. After the Aile Strike Gundam, Kira Yamato transitioned into the more powerful Freedom Gundam.

Bandai HG 1/144 Mobile BuCue English Manual & Color Guide

Part of the Gundam Seed universe is the Mobile BuCue which was masterfully released by Bandai as a 1/144 High Grade model kit. The Mobile BuCue has some tank treads on the back of its front and rear legs to allow it to travel in a prone position. Like its appearance, it is a fearsome opponent on the battlefield, with its quickness, low center of gravity, and its extreme maneuverability give it a huge tactical advantage over bipedal mobile suits.

Bandai HG 1/144 Verde Buster Gundam English Manual & Color Guide

Released in 2006 by Bandai as a 1/144 High Grade model kit was the Verde Buster Gundam of Shams Couza from Gundam Seed Stargazer. In the anime, Shams Couza was voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya, who also happens to be the voice actor of Michael Braun from Macross Frontier.

Bandai HG 1/144 Kerberos BuCUE Hound English Manual & Color Guide

The dreaded Kerberos BuCUE Hound from the Gundam Seed Stargazer series of shorts was released as a 1/144 High Grade model kit by Bandai in 2006. I liked how this mecha was portrayed in the series, their pack tactics were scary and gruesome as heck, just ask Mudie Holcroft.

Revell 1/48 F-105G Thunderchief “Wild Weasel” Completed shots

Really had a blast building the Revell 1/48 F-105G Thunderchief “Wild Weasel”. The first time I saw the lines of the Wild Weasel variant of the F-105G Thunderchief, it was love at first sight. It was a testament to the United States way of building their military aircraft up from World War II to that era, a large frame to fit a powerful engine.

Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith

Just finished reading Jean Edward Smith's Eisenhower in War and Peace and I have to say that it was a fine enough book that I couldn't put it down. I've been on a World War II book reading binge these past few months and seeing that it had a good rating on Amazon I decided to pick it up. I surely wasn't disappointed, Mr. Smith's book is one of the most comprehensive articles written on President Eisenhower. This book is based on personal diaries, first hand interviews of those closely associated with President Eisenhower and recently unclassified documents. Just to show how timely the book is. It's quite a long book (766 pages) so be prepared to rest your eyes a lot.

Bandai HG 1/144 Blu Duel Gundam English Manual & Color Guide

Released in 2006 by Bandai was the Blu Duel Gundam of Mudie Holcroft from Gundam Seed Stargazer as a 1/144 High Grade model kit. Mudie Holcroft piloted the Blu Duel Gundam as part of the secret Earth Federation group known as Phantom Pain.

Bandai HG 1/144 Murasame English Manual & Color Guide

Released in 2006 by Bandai for the Gundam Seed Destiny series is the 1/144 High Grade Murasame. The Murasame is the primary mobile suit of Orb as seen in the Gundam Seed Destiny anime series. One unique thing about this mobile suit is its ability to transform to a very fierce looking mobile armor mode with forward swept wings. Kinda reminds me of the Slipstream's X-30 Conquest from GI Joe *snicker*

SD Gundam AGE-1 (Normal, Spallow, Titus) English Manual

Released in 2012 by Bandai was the Super Deformed variant of the Gundam AGE-1 that can be built as the Normal, Spallow or Titus. They are the primary mecha for the Gundam AGE anime series that was released specifically to target a younger and newer generation of Gundam fans.

Here Comes the Pain

I'm working on the Revell 1/48 F-105G Thunderchief “Wild Weasel” right now and this next step of the build I'd like to refer to as "Here Comes the Pain." The Thunderchief is one of the meanest looking airplanes out there with one of the most audacious jobs, but the reason for that title for this post is not because of those two.

It's because of this:

50% Off on Classic Ubisoft games at GOG

Good Old Games just announced that there will be a weekend sale on classic Ubisoft games on their site. Sale will last till May 21 at 3:59AM. Some of the popular titles included in this sale are Heroes of Might and Magic series, Farcry 1&2, Prince of Persia series and Settlers 3.

I'm thankful for GOG for giving a second lease on the classic games that I've grown up with. Some of the games that I have bought from GOG are Syndicate and Medal of Honor, lost track of a couple of weekends because of them *snicker*

Bandai SD Sinanju English Manual & Color Guide

Released in 2001 by Bandai was the Sinanju of Full Frontal from Gundam Unicorn as a Super Deformed kit. Definitely one of the most popular designs to come out of Gundam UC. This kit flies out of the hobby store faster than you can say "Sinanju"...hehehe, ok that's hyperbole on my part, but I remember seeing a Master Grade ver Ka Sinanju in a local store priced way above normal and after a week it still got bought.

Bandai SD Kshatriya English Manual & Color Guide

Released in 2011 by Bandai was the Super Deformed version of Marida Cruz's Kshatriya from the Gundam Unicorn OVA. Aside from the Kshatriya, this kit also comes with a small Loto mobile suit as a side-dish *snicker*

Bandai MG 1/100 RGZ-91 Re-GZ English Color Guide & Paint Conversion Chart

Released in 2001 by Bandai is the 1/100 RGZ-91 Re-GZ as a Master Grade model kit. This was piloted by Gundam UC protagonist, Amuro Ray in the Char's Counterattack anime. There was also a 1/144 High Grade version of this released in 2008.

MG Geara Doga for Pre-order

Up for pre-order already is the 1/100 Master Grade Geara Doga from the Gundam UC line. It's supposed to be scheduled for release by July of 2013. I have to admit that I was initially fooled when I first glanced on this, as I thought it was the Jagd Doga, now that is one kit I want to see released as a Master Grade kit.

MG RX-78-2 Gundam Ver.3.0 for Pre-Order

I'm assuming that this is what all the fuss is about in the Gunpla facebook page of South Asia. It's a given that every RX-78-2 release is a symbolic route marker for any significant technological change or new line release by Bandai in the Gundam product line. Pre-order started yesterday in some online shops while this kit is projected to be available by August of this year.

Bandai HG 1/144 RX-78GP03 Dendrobium English Color Guide

One of the most awesome kits to ever be released by Bandai in 2002 was the very massive 1/144 High Grade RX-78GP03 Dendrobium from Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory. The Dendrobium kit consists of the Stamen mobile suit and the Orchis docking behemoth. Prepare to make some space in your room whenever you buy this kit, as to say that this kit is huge is an understatement.

Bandai 1/1000 Garmillas Ship Set 1 English Manual & Color Guide

Released in January by Bandai was the 1/1000 Gamiras Ship Set 1 from the Spaceship Yamato 2199 anime series. It comprises of two ships, the Garmillas destroyer class and the Kerukapia class high speed cruiser. Some parts of this will need to be glued and included decals will need to be applied, so some scale model building skills will be required to put this kit together.

P-Bandai MG 1/100 Tallgeese II English Manual & Color Guide

Released by Bandai as an exclusive release (which means that not all stores will carry this) was the 1/100 Master Grade Tallgeese II of Treize Khushrenada from Gundam Wing. I'm officially out of the loop with regards to whats been happening in the Gundam modeling world, so when reader Mario sent this to me I initially thought this was a hoax...hehehe, I should really get my head above water often now.

Happy Mother's Day

I want to greet that special group of women out there, yes them. They who brought us out into this world, raised us, taught us, comforted us and suffered for us so that we could be who we are right now. Because nothing in this world can ever compare to the love that a mother has for her child.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there!

Bandai HG 1/144 Full Armor Unicorn Gundam (Unicorn Mode) English Manual & Color Guide

Released by Bandai is the 1/144 High Grade release of the very beautifully designed Full Armor Unicorn Gundam from the Gundam UC OVA. Prior to this, Bandai had already released a 1/100 Master Grade version of the Full Armor Unicorn Gundam. This kit conveniently comes with some support stands for the boosters on the back to prevent the Full Armor Unicorn from toppling over when it is displayed.

Bandai RG 1/144 Destiny Gundam English Manual & Color Guide

Released last April by Bandai was the 1/144 Real Grade Destiny Gundam from Gundam Seed Destiny Anime series. The Destiny Gundam was piloted by Shinn Asuka of ZAFT. I don't have any real love for Shinn Asuka, considering how he treated my main man Kira Yamato in Gundam Seed Destiny *snicker*

1/48 Arii Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat Completed Pics

Finished building this 1/48 Arii Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat together with the 1/48 F4U-1A Corsair. By doing this I was able to save on some paint by painting the dark blue parts of this together. I wasn't disappointed with this build as I was looking for a simple relax build with a scale model kit without much parts.

1/48 Arii Chance Vought F4U-1A Corsair Completed Pics

Just finished building the 1/48 Arii Chance Vought F4U-1A Corsair of mine and I have to say that it was a fun build. Learned a lot during this build. Some experiments worked out fine on this build others didn't, I therefore can't say that this will be the last Corsair I will ever build. Considering also that the Corsair is one of my most favorite plane designs, I definitely see myself building a whole lot more of these in the future.

Starting the Week Right

Starting the week right by listening to some Blur...nothing like some good pickme up music to get the juices flowing... *snicker*

Creating replica antenna wire for scale model kits

Am almost finished with the 1/48 Arii Chance Vought F4U-1A Corsair that I'm building and I thought it would be nifty to add the antenna wire that stretches from the forward antenna to the tail of the Corsair. I thought of cutting out a sprue from the runner of an old kit, putting it to a flame then stretching it out with my hands. I saw my brother do this once I thought it would be as easy. Problem with me is that I have shaky hands. So that method didn't actually do well for me, the moment I tried to stretch out it would break immediately. Thankfully Divine Intervention came in when I was trying for the upteenth time to make a wire out of the old sprue.

The method I accidentally ran into starts like this. Look for an area with cool tiles, like in the kitchen or a bathroom. Cut out an ample length sprue then burn the end of it with a candle till it starts to burn.

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge

Just finished reading for the second time; With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge. This book was one of the two books that was used as a source material for the Pacific series of HBO. The other being Robert Leckie's Helmet for my pillow. After seeing the series I wanted to read the books to delve further into the experience that these men had fighting the war in the Pacific.