[WIP] 1/100 Vintage Real type Zaku I WIP 1

So I finally got to start building this kit.

This kinds of kit are perfect if you want to practice and/or improve your basic model kit building skills. These kits doesn't have the snap fitting technology that modern kits have where the pegs lock into other pieces to form different parts of the kit. For this kit you will be required to glue pieces together.

Plus due to the age, this kits design and proportion looks ridiculous compared to today's standards.

Like I said earlier, this kit requires that pieces be glued together. But since I want to paint this too, I'll have to systematically build this so that I can efficiently paint this kit.

Before painting, I need to make sure all the glued areas are clean. That's called SEAM LINE REMOVAL. Basically I want to make a part look one seamless kit. For more realistic looking models, seam line removal is used to hide where pieces join together and make it look like the full scale version.

I think seam line removal is one of the most repetitive phases of model kit building. It's nearly impossible to get all those seam lines in just one passing. After gluing the pieces, we sand the parts then paint primer to check if the seam lines are successfully removed. The primer helps to bring out all the imperfections of a part, whether a rough area that needs finer sanding, or seam lines still showing. If you're still not satisfied with the results, another round of sanding - priming - checking may be done until you're satisfied.

To properly deal with the seam lines, I need to glue parts 1st that would normally lock other parts together. That is OK and all but not if you plan on painting the kit. 

This is where PRE-PAINT MODS come in handy. It involves modding parts that would make painting and assembling much easier.

A common example of this pre-paint mods would be the knee and elbow joints. without doing those mods. I wouldn't be able to reach those edges and corners during painting and will look bad once finished. 

While dealing with specific parts, I like to put it all together every once in a while to get an overall look of the kit, and to see areas that still need to be worked on. 

As of now, I'm still dealing with the seam lines while I plan my color scheme.

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[WIP] RG Unicorn LED mod WIP3

So I was done working on my RG Unicorn but I didn't like displaying it as is. I wanted to be able to present it neatly when I display it. So I decided to work on a display base for this.

My previous wiring design had the connectors at the crotch area of the kit. this is good for displaying the kit with an action base. But for standing poses, the wires are obvious and sometimes a sore to the overall presentation of the kit. Also having the power bank lying beside the kit doesn't look too presentable.

1st thing that I worked on was the power supply for the kit. I had an extra power bank lying around so I just tore it apart to make it as small as possible. 20000mah is a bit of an overkill for this kind of project. :P

I tried tested running the kit for at least 2 days straight and it didn't even drain 1/4 the power bank's capacity. 

On to the kit itself.

Next thing I worked on was replacing the power connectors from the crotch area to one of the feet. I just cut off the connectors from the crotch area and hid the wires in the waist area. I then disassembled on of the feet and soldered a new pair of wires to one of the LEDs in the foot.

For the base, I used a wall clock that looks good with the kit and fit the power bank I used.

I replaced the front glass with 1mm plaplate since I can't drill on glass without risking breaking it. I just cut a hole where the feet would be placed and passed the wire through. Then I just taped the power bank in side the base so I can still remove it easily whenever I need to.

Now it looks much more presentable. And since it has no wires showing, turning it on looks more awesome. :D

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[REVIEW] BSC Haro Review

Today I give you a review of the Billion Spark Craftsmanship(BSC) Haro model kit.

I believe this is the 2nd Gundam related model kit from this company. the 1st being the 1/35 Unicorn gundam head bust. 

Since this is the 1st model kit for this character(that I know of). Everything, from the box art, the manual, and to the kit itself looks original. The kit comes in a thick and sturdy box that opens from the side unlike your regular Gunpla.

The kit's manual is an interesting piece too it using a mix of 3D and actual kit images for its instruction steps.

On to the kit itself.





















Parts look a bit too tick compared to your average gunpla kit. Amount of details are OK for the model's design. Moldings are quite good too. No obvious molding errors. Also the plastic feels a bit too dense so care should be taken when dealing with nubs. Aside from your regular plastic parts. It also has some screws to put in. BSC was kind enough to include a screw driver. The kit also has its own LED unit for the eyes.



Aside from the LED unit for the eyes. The kit also comes with a cool gimmick where both ears are geared to open and close together.





Also the kit comes with swappable parts so you can display Haro with his arms and legs extended.





Also here's a size comparison with the RG Unicorn Gundam. This model is not too big and just fits on one hand.  I think this model is sized with the Gundam Seed version of Haro.

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[WIP] RG Unicorn LED mod WIP2

Picking up where we left off, I've already finished building and modding the lower half of the kit. So now its time to continue.

One major difference of this kit with it's MG or PG counterparts is its head transformation gimmick. Good thing there's still plenty of room to put the LED. Again, modding this area will mean that the transformation gimmick will be sacrificed.

Next that I worked on was the backpack. Like the MG kit, it also has plenty of space for LED and wiring. I didn't bother to adding LEDs to the thrusters since it would require a lot of work, smalled LEDs that I currently don't have, and the light from the LEDs shine through the thrusters anyway.

Next that I worked on was the chest area of the kit. The hard part about this area is that this is where wires from other areas pass through. So I had to take into consideration all the sections as I build this. What I did is I passed the wires through the chest first before putting the armor pieces.Good thing there's just enough space to pass the wires through.

Last part for this build was the arms. I think the forearms was the hardest part of this project. There was just no space there to pass the wires through, plus the pieces are designed to lock into each other, assembling only in a certain order. To address the issue, I made grooves on the pegs so that they can still be inserted even with the wire in place.

 The elbow joints was also another headache, which was solved by scribing a groove onto the joint to make some space.

Once everything is done and assembled, I did a little bit of detailing and marked the panel lines. It really brought out the RG details of this kit.

Considering the 2 week deadline, I'm really satisfied with the result of this project. Some areas can still be improved with enough planning though. 

The panel lines really broke the plain design of the kit so I'm still considering whether to some decals to it.

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