Haro's Gunpla Meter

Hello everyone! I've just added a new and simple way of reviewing the kits. To be more concise and straightforward, Haro will show us how the kits are ranked and reviewed.

Why Snap Fit?

Why Snap Fit? A review of 00 Gundam Raiser No-grade 1:100 has the answers why I rebuilt it. Certainly if you're going to simply make an out of the box build and not go beyond it then there is nothing to talk about it except of course certain ways on how to make a smooth and clean straight-build. But there are questions come to play on why do we commonly Snap-Fit our kits.

What will be the Paint/Color Scheme? Visualisation takes a better place once the model is in the palm of your hands after the snap fitting it. Choosing which kind of color will suit or not in each part of the kit gives you a more in-depth idea and concept so that it can be more tailored to your taste. It's also good to take a picture. I even play with the colors in photoshop so I can imagine vividly the colors.

Any Modifications? If you're a hard core gunpla maker then snap fitting is a sure kind of way to study all the parts- proportions, scale, articulations, etc. before starting the mods. This method really takes out a hell of imagination and artistic sense. And sometimes it's a make or break thing when dealing with mods. I have seen some awesome modifications and messy ones. So if you want take it to another level then snap fitting before the mods is the way to go.

Which Part/s to Paint or not? During the time when I built my first kit, I was so eager to custom paint it. Not paying attention to the value of snap fitting.  A grave mistake! I painted each part first before assembling them. And when assembling took place.... there are parts that are so difficult to fit together. It was because I even had painted the pegs and some of the joints. Bandai was so damn good that the parts are really measured to last millimeter so that when fitting the parts they snap perfectly.

Then, I finally realized that I had ruined my first kit's paint job after I had already assembled other kits. So I decided to rebuild it and fix the paint job. I disassembled and painted again the messed-up parts. So the photos you see here are my 00gundam's re-incarnation. The Raiser is not yet finished so for now here they are. No photoshop tricks here... these are all raw pics:)

Gunpla Assembly Icon Guides

Ever wondered what are those icons in our gunpla manuals? I had came accross to this image below. (Gosh I forgot what the site was.) Hopefully, the translations will speak for the icons themselves. Especially, if you're a newbie in dealing with the different parts of the runners, gates, and etc. I remember my first encounter in assembling my new kit. I was quite hesitant at that time in every gate that I cut and every part that I snap fit. the instruction manual was really Japanese and solely intended for Japan use only - as Bandai had written in cover.

Deathscythe Hell Custom HG-The Review

Here is a jump to my 3rd gunpla. Not posting yet about my second one which I finished almost a month ago, I think there are some quite interesting details which I will discuss later on my next blog. I haven't had the time to post anything for quite such a long time since my 00 Raiser. But for now, here is the menacing Deathscythe Hell Custom from the Endless Waltz movie piloted by Duo Maxwell. From my experience of assembling gunpla kits of the 00 gundam series, I would say there are a lot of flaws that I have seen in the joints, articulation, and panels of the parts in this High Grade from way back 1998. I can easily compare for example like the knee articulation alone that even the No Grade version of the 00 series beats this HG. The knee cap  exposes the joint way too deep. It separates from the movement of the joint. Unlike from the 00 Raiser the knee armor cap goes along with the movement of the joint.  Nonetheless, it's a point of interest to anyone who would make kits from the Wing series.

But anyway, a positive thing about this kit is its look and peculiarity. Some may say its awkward because of its bat wings look a like. But personally, I find it unique and creative for the designer of this kit to conceptualize and produce this in the 90's much more so if it is an MG. I added only a few details for this kit. I put stainless cylinders on the shoulders, drilled  holes on the panels, coil overs at the sides of the abdomen- these customisations I will discuss on my next blog. Paints are spray cans and gunmetal.

First 00 Gundam & first customized

  



My first customized gundam kit. Likewise I would say it's my first gundam kit as well. For a newbie, it's not that I'm bragging what I posted here but I'm just honestly proud of whatever I have customized to my 00 raiser. It took me sometime in pondering if I gonna purchase this gundam kit. I have been an avid follower of the 00 Series from the Seed Destiny Series. And now I'm hooked in the Unicorn Episodes. I have just finished watching the  episode 3. And now I am eagerly awaiting the succeeding episodes to come.

Customisation took me a lot of time with my imagination in what type of paint to be used, color combination, preparations, etc. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to picture the procedures I have made just like from other sites that showed the way they assembled their kits because I was quite anxious if what I will do will be enough or okay. To give further detail, I used acrylic spray cans. The limbs which I really like, have a combination of two (2) paints. It's a combination of gold sparkle and graphite finish. Having the graphite applied first and while it is wet I sprayed on the gold sparkle in order for it to react with graphite - giving it a so called gold-carbon finish look! The rest, blue and red, are also sprayed on with my graphite finish.

So there you go.... in my next posting, I'll explain in further how I accomplished such customization. But for now, all the photos below are all raw images and are unedited! - no photoshop here or whatever photo effects and tricks.