[DISPLAY] RG Amazing Red Warrior

Painting is finally finished. It isn't perfect but this project turned out better than what I expected.

I do plan on putting decals, maybe that for a different time.

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[TUTORIAL] MG Zaku 2 Monoeye LED mod

Here's a bit of tutorial on how I would mod the MG Zaku 2 mono-eye to light up using LEDs.

I used 0603 SMD LED for the mono-eye since I plan to keep the articulation gimmick in the eye. 

First, I cut off the peg that is used to insert into the clear piece of the eye. Then drill holes where the wires will go. 

I can't drill straight through to the back of the mono-eye piece ping the piece will be turning and the wires might prevent the eye from turning. So instead I drilled 2 holes on each side of the mono-eye piece so that when the piece turns, it will not hit the guide post behind the moving mono-eye piece. I left enough slack in the wires to make sure they don't get pulled too much when the eye turns.

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[WIP] RG Amazing Red Warrior WIP 4

It's been quite a while since I worked on this kit. Primarily because I haven't got the time and skill to start painting my kits. But thanks to the previous long weekend, I finally had the chance to setup my airbrush set and start painting this.

I first primed the parts using an industrial grade primer in a spray can.

I'm using a DIY airbrush set. You can see I have multiple pumps connected together just so I can get the pressure I needed. This setup actually ended being more expensive than just buying a hobby grade air pump. But I don't want to waste any more money so I'm making the most out of this.

I'm using polyurethane paints, commonly used in automobiles. I got this from a paint shop where the owner is also a plamo builder.

I've managed to paint most of the kit during the weekend.Though there a few rough spots and some paint inconsistencies, I'm really satisfied with what I achieved here.

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[REVIEW] Kotobukiya Flying Base R

Here's a little review of the Kotobukiya Flying Base R I got over the weekend.

The kit is packaged neatly in a small plastic bag similar to other MSG goods Kotobukiya has. 

The base is a bit small, a little smaller than the Action Base 1 but a lot bigger than the Action Base 2. Parts are packaged neatly in their own sections in the plastic. Also notable are the pre-built stands. Though the connectors are still in their runners.

I say this base is most suitable for 1/144 scale Gunpla, as seen here with an AG Age 1 Normal Gundam

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[WIP] MG Phenex WIP 3

I really had a lot to be thankful for this weekend. One of which is the amount of stuff I was able to do in regards of the ongoing projects.

Back to the MG Phenex, I worked on the other parts of the body that haven't been wired yet.

Lighting the backpack was pretty straightforward. No excessive modding was done to accommodate the wiring. I just made sure that I connect all the necessary wires together inside the backpack so I only have 1 pair of wire going out of the part.

The shoulders were a little easy too thanks to the size of the SMD LED. The LEDs fit well in the gaps between the armor and frame pieces. I'm not sure why but the shoulder armor tends to not fully close. I've also experienced this with my MG Banshee Titanium finish.

I've decided to combine the wires here in the shoulders so that the number of wires going into the body would be decreased. 

I think the chest required the most number of LEDs since it is covered by clear pieces all around. Here you can see the amount of wires coming out of the chest. Let alone the other parts that will be connected here. 

Combining the wires in the waist area was really stressful since I had to pass the wires around the pieces in certain ways so that the pieces would close properly. After successfully passing the wires through the waist area, it's now time to combine them. Part of passing the wires through the waist part also required that they go in each side depending on their polarity. Keeping each polarity on either side makes makes the assembly harder but makes combining the wires easier,

Combining the upper and lower halves through the stomach area was the easiest solution instead of in the waist area which would require that I pass through the upper sections wires through the complicated waist area. 

It's finally taking shape. Unfortunately, with all the LEDs connected, it appears that the LEDs are now under powered since there are some parts that appear to be lit poorly. Hopefully a better power supply, like a power bank, fixes this issue.

I believe this is a common issue with the MG Unicorn Design. The waist area is loose and the only thing holding it together is a locking tab at the back. But the tab itself tends to get loose quite easily. I'm still thinking of a way to secure this connection.

I've also started working on the Armed Armor DEs. Though I still have to rewire some areas since it's not well lit specially the bottom area as seen from the pic above.

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[WIP] Petit'gguy LED Mod WIP 1

Working on the MG Phenex was really starting to stress me out. So I decided to a little side project to release some stress.

I've had this Petit'gguy for quite some time now but didn't know what to do in terms of lighting it up. I originally wanted to just light the eyes up but I think it would look creepy specially in the night.

So in line with the cute theme of this kit, I wanted to make it either blush or glow in the heart. For the Petit'gguy, I think the blush effect would be easier to do since that big head makes a lot of room.

First thing I did was paint the insides of the part black. This is to prevent light bleeding. I had to apply multiple coats to make sure no amount of light will show. 

Once the insides have been painted, it's now time to clean off the areas where we want the light to bleed. For this project, I made a spot on each cheek to simulate the blushing.

Then its time to install the LEDs. using only 1 LED looked a bit too dim for me so I used 2 LEDs and pointed them directly at the light bleed points. I only used blutack here for now since this current setup is temporary.

Once that's done we can close the 2 halves of the head together.

The effect really looks good specially since the kit is already colored pink. This would definitely look better if it would have a fade in/out effect and a proximity sensor that would activate whenever someone is approaching the kit.

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