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Post by Darth Escargot on Aug 6, 2017 9:03:31 GMT -5
The Real Grade kit looks wonderful! I was wondering how large the final size is... for some reason it seems on the smallish side compared to other kits I've seen. Maybe it is the roundish nature of the inner parts? Striking kit, though. Striking clean contrast between the colors, too. The RGs are 1/144 scale, so yeah, they're pretty small. The Mk-II's about 12 cm tall. I didn't like that about them at first because like I guess most Zoiders, I just like my mecha big and bulky. But there's something about the sharp detail at that scale that's really impressive. They don't really lend themselves to painting, though - you can find people online that do paint them, but the parts are so small that it seems like a nightmare to me. I just like to snap one of them together every now and then because you can get such good looking results really just with stickers and sometimes some very minimal detail painting. The tradeoff is that many of them are extremely fragile and you'll have parts flying off almost everytime you try to pose them.
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Post by Darth Escargot on Aug 12, 2017 6:56:40 GMT -5
This week's kit is the MG 3.0 RX 78-2 Gundam. Did a lot of weathering on this one again. roboshopblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/12/master-grade-3-0-rx-78-2-gundam/The next one's going to have to be a Tomy Zoid. For real this time. I'm running low on draft entries about Gundam stuff, and I want to keep that for a rainy day. I'm down to either Madthunder or the MP Zoids at this point. We'll see.
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Post by Maethius on Aug 12, 2017 12:35:33 GMT -5
That MG3 is a wonderful piece... such a classic! great weathering on it! Obviously this one has seen a lot of terrestrial action, eh? Do you physically scar your kits sometimes, or just rely on paint? Your technique is really solid!
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Post by Darth Escargot on Aug 12, 2017 13:01:30 GMT -5
That MG3 is a wonderful piece... such a classic! great weathering on it! Obviously this one has seen a lot of terrestrial action, eh? Do you physically scar your kits sometimes, or just rely on paint? Your technique is really solid! High praise coming from the master himself indeed, heh. Thanks, man, glad you like it. I haven't done too much actual battle damage. I did do cracks on the canopy of the Gun Sniper I posted a few weeks ago, but so far, that's it. Looking back at this one, I kinda think it might have looked good if I had done impact holes on the shield where I did the drybrushed heat marks, though, and it's definitely on my list of things I want to try in the future. One thing I'm looking for a kit to do it on is to have a clear canopy look like it's been shot through with blood spatter from the inside and the pilot's arm hanging out the side like he's been killed. Shouldn't be too hard to do with an HMM, given that the arms on the pilot figures are separate parts. We'll see. Maybe the turret gunner on the Command Wolf or the Dark Horn, those two are in my backlog.
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Post by Maethius on Aug 14, 2017 10:15:37 GMT -5
Hey, my paint skills are really just adequate to pull off a build; I admire the heck out of most of the other painters out there! The canopy idea is a great one. Years ago I modded a Tinkle Sam suit model into a a full blown mech to scale with Warhammer 40k and I blew the "head" off of the Sam; I installed a pilot seat and stuffed around it with computer components and wiring, then had the pilot trying to claw his way out with his remaining arm. It was a very early, amateurish effort, but I did okay. I think one thing that really sold it was that I did the blood in high gloss dark red, so it looked fresh (since it was a snap-shot of the pilot's escape, it seemed appropriate). I would love to scrap an old Zoid kit for a diorama, but I'm too busy with commissions to do a project for myself right now.
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Post by Darth Escargot on Aug 20, 2017 18:50:55 GMT -5
I did the blood in high gloss dark red, so it looked fresh I wonder what clear red would look like if I used it for blood stains. The mess it made in my spray booth when I painted an entire Gundam kit with it certainly looked very convincingly like blood. Hmm. Anyway, the Madthunder review never happened because as it turns out, the gearbox in my OJR Madthunder's dead. The light still comes on, so I'm guessing it's fixable, but I haven't gotten around to it. Of course I could also just replace it with an NJR gearbox, but IIRC those don't have the same color light. We'll see. Anyway, since I couldn't do that, I posted two snapfit reviews of Gundam kits instead. Real Grade UnicornPerfect Grade StrikeI just flat-out don't have anything painted to show off right now. I got pretty far with an HG kit and then realized I had lost an absolutely vital part just as I was kind of going through a slump in motivation anyway, so I stuffed it back in the box and started on an MG Banshee instead. Not really feeling like working on HMMs right now, although I really do keep thinking I should do the Berserk Fuhrer or that OER-style repaint of the Iguan. We'll see. I don't know what it is about these damn Gundams, but I'm kind of enamored with them right now, I'm afraid.
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Post by Darth Escargot on Nov 27, 2017 6:01:11 GMT -5
Finally had time for an update today, but it's just a build review of an RG Gundam. Next will be a fully painted and weathered MG, so that'll be more interesting, and then I'm thinking I'll do the Storm Sworder next because I just got the kit and I'm bumping it to the front of my backlog queue. roboshopblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/27/real-grade-aile-strike-gundam/
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Post by wolves on Dec 28, 2017 4:16:23 GMT -5
Will be following!
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Post by Darth Escargot on Jan 23, 2018 16:20:07 GMT -5
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Post by Maethius on Jan 23, 2018 17:14:39 GMT -5
I am hoping to get my own shop and photo setup ready for the next custom this week.... it has been WAY too long.
I never minded the Battle Cougar, really... though I thought it suffered from the same cheap, lack of detail look that most of the end of OJR like kits suffered. And that it should have been called "Battle Griffon" because... well... yeah. They actually had some nice features in the design; I think this kit could actually make an incredible HMM model. Heck, Maybe if I track down a pair of them I will take a swing at building one.
Your desert DS is one of my favorite repaints of that kit. It really looks like it means business! Still a kit I should try to pick up some day.
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Post by Darth Escargot on Jan 23, 2018 17:20:01 GMT -5
Still a kit I should try to pick up some day. I know you know I'm going to say this, but you really, really should. Other than the hideous colors, it's far and away one of the best HMMs ever. Super-solid, fun to build and easy to work with, no major engineering issues and looks absolutely fantastic. Too bad it's so expensive. I kinda want to get another one, but I have so many other projects to get to and it just seems like a ridiculous expense.
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Post by Leon35 on Jan 28, 2018 13:47:18 GMT -5
I have been looking forward to your blog posts.
Could you do a comparison shot between the Rebirth and the OJR versions? Apparently the heads are different, but the picture provided on Zoids Wikia isn't much to go on.
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Post by Darth Escargot on Feb 8, 2018 9:30:45 GMT -5
I have been looking forward to your blog posts. Could you do a comparison shot between the Rebirth and the OJR versions? Apparently the heads are different, but the picture provided on Zoids Wikia isn't much to go on. Do you mean the King Liger? I've never noticed a difference, but if that's what you're talking about, I'll take a look as soon as I get a chance. Sorry, haven't been checking in here regularly, and I still haven't been able to take pictures.
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Post by Leon35 on Feb 8, 2018 10:03:20 GMT -5
yes. whenever you can.
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Post by Darth Escargot on Feb 8, 2018 12:26:08 GMT -5
Haha, I can't believe I never noticed this, but as the wiki says, the RCZ version has a peg on its head that the OJR doesn't have. You can actually see it in the picture if you look closely (the one on the left is the RCZ.) I'm really not seeing a difference in the colors at all, though. I might be able to take pictures this Sunday.
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