GregM's model kit builds

[GregM 1109]

Since my better half does a lot of Cosplay on Comic conventions, I come along with her and some friends several times in the year to visit places all around Germany. On the Leipzig book fair 2013, I came across some Pokémon model kits from Bandai. The seller had several of these, ranging from rather small to fairly big. I thought to myself, why not trying one of these, so I ended up with a Pikachu.

These Bandai PokéPla kits are a quite simple build affair. The manual is in Japanese, but the supplied pictures explain pretty much everything. All parts are already molded in their colours, so there's no need for painting. Small details like eye highlights come as decals. The completed models usually feature a few articulated joints.

Here's a build video for you.

Cute, isn't it?

[Tamiya1/10 382]

I guess you don't have to think of doing box art or not.

I wouldn't buy it, but I think it will look nice if one has the entire collection and display them in those arcylic display case. But be warn, Japan has millions of these characters from thumb size to 300mm or larger, cute, sexy, deadly to just out right bad and you'll go broke trying to collect them all. There is a flavour to these characters and rc and die caste are more then enough for me.

[GregM 1109]

On two Comic conventions (Animagic Bonn and Animaco Berlin) this year, I attended the model kit workshops. Within 4 hours each, I built two small sized Manga model kits. This involved getting rid of molding flash, lots of cutting and sanding, cleaning, spray priming, careful brush painting of small details, glueing the parts together - and last but not least steady hands.

Any interest in pictures? Keep in mind that I was at the workshops to learn more about painting techniques, so please do not expect perfect results. But I think this experience will also be hopefully helpful for any future R/C car kit builds, too.

[mr crispy 2293]

I'd like to see the pics Greg, sounds like fun.

[GregM 1109]

Thanks for being interested. Sorry, I'll show you their pics later. One of the finished kits will be slighty rebuild, since some parts broke off accidentally.

However, I'll show you another build I just started today.

Introducting the YF-19 Egg Plane from Hasegawa. The prototype is the Shinsei Industry YF-19 of the Macross Plus animation. Hasegawa's Egg-Planes are a series of cute super-deformed airplane models. This is a plastic model kit bought via Amazon.de for 13 Euro from a Japanese marketplace seller.

Lets get this straight: The mobile phone pictures from the first day didn't turn out that well. I'll be using a proper camera later on for the further progress.


Ahhh... that fine drawn boxart. You'll find photographic pictures on the sides, like shown above.


A peek in the box shows parts trees in several colours, underneath is the manual (Japanese, English, German) as well as a decal sheet.


Let's start by cutting the parts from the sprues, followed by removing the molding flash. The suspension parts will stay on the tree for making painting easier.


Loose test fit. I think you get an idea how the whole plane will look someday.

Please stay tuned for updates.

[GregM 1109]

I had a bit of a paint and primer disaster that involved stripping all the parts with Methoxypropanol PM. However, I recently restarted the build, here's some progress with the tiny, tiny pilots bust and additinal parts.

The bust is roughly 70% done, it needs some refinement, shading and gloss clear (helmet) and flat clear (clothing). The visor is clear green on white primer. The bust is the size of a thumb's nail.

Two clear detail parts that will be added to the main hull. For these unprimed parts, it helps if the paint is only thinned down a little, so it sticks by itself. Don't forget degreasing the parts beforehand.

[GregM 1109]

Meanwhile, I did another build in the last 12 months.

Let me introduce you to Frankenstein's penguin, seen on the right (pic 1) and on the left (pic 2). This is a garage/resin kit with a limited production run handed out by my local garage kit club called Modelkit Universe. Please don't mind the other miscellaneous stuff around.

When I was done filling and smoothing the surface, I brush painted the model. After that, I started scratch building a baseplate made of plywood, using a small circular saw and a hand saw.

More filling, smoothing, engraving and priming.

Attaching styrene sheet tiles to the base.

After careful brush painting and chalk-shading the base and gravestone, the chalk was fixed using a flat clearcoat from a spray can. Then, I added some model grass and moss, and finally, Frankenstein's Penguin itself.

Done!

[mongoose1983 3335]

Fantastic tools and most of all, lots of talent there!

[GregM 1109]

Teaser time!

New pics are coming soon.

[GregM 1109]

Double post alert, lol.

I call him Frank N. Peng. Please see the previous posts for further descriptions.

[GregM 1109]

Here we go with another one!

Yuyuko Saigyouji, known from the Touhou videogame series, is a soft vinyl kit from a capsule. Thus, filling and sanding was somewhat more challenging than with a regular plastic or resin model kit.

As with the penguin kit, I made the baseplate from plywood. The lantern was scratchbuild from styrene sheet and clear plastic, the latter one backed with translucent paper to create a matt effect. Inside is a yellow LED light. The post is made from brass tubing. The base contains a CR2032 battery, and I mounted an on/off switch on the rear. Yuyuko's ghostly eyes are supposed to look like that according to the supplied instruction sheet.

Brush painted, as usual.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Nice work, and nice photography!

[GregM 1109]

Thank you! :)