Anyone ever done this? Update 5-3-2010 WIP

yea, there are a few gundam experts around here.  If you have any questions just ask, Id be happy to help you.

Have you built a gundam before?

I LOVE this suit! I have one in 1/144th scale, and a pre-built miniature one in 1/200th. Didn't know they make a 1/100th model kit one.

as for your question, this suit, as it appears in Gundam 00 is a light pea-green color for HRL forces, medium dark-ish blue for the World forces at the end of the second season, with the only other color show being a pink Tauzi version. I assume you have the original version, so, if you want to go by the ones as shown in the show, go pea-green or Medium to dark blue.

Needless to say, it is SciFi, so making it with whatever custom paint scheme you want won't offend anyone. Mobile suit pilots are known for custom-painting thier suits....

Smeagal

No I have never built a Gundam. Have wanted to for about a year after I started watching Gunplas blog that shows different model builders from Japan. Many Gundams built there. Saw this one at a hobby shop in Charleston, SC and it got my attention. I am normally a tank and plane guy with the occassional car or ship thrown in.

Klik,

I was thinking of a camo pattern either like the new US digital camo or a modification of the German Ambush scheme. If anyone else has ideas I would love to hear them.

Can you guys give me a brief history of Gundam?

Yes, I have painted Gundams in other schemes.

I've tried WW2 allied Olive Drab & modern Desert Sand.  The problem is BOTH these schemes are monocromatic(sp?) or just One color all over.
But with all the new finishing techniques around today (ie-filters, washes, chips, colored pencils, powders) it is possible to make a 1 color paint job-  *PoP!!*  for lack of a better term.

I have been wanting to try a 3-color NATO camo scheme.  Tamiya even makes all 3 of the colors needed- NATO green, NATO brown, & NATO black- in paintbottle or rattlecan, your choice. Also I have wanted to try some of the German WW2 camo schemes too, but there's just to many models and there's NEVER going to be enough time.

Anyway my point, paint your mobile suit however you'd like. It is Your gundam after all.
-Ray

PS- Remember the paint will build-up ON & IN the areas ment to be press-fit together and this will affect how well they fit. Just scrape the paint away from the areas BEFORE you try to press them.

OMFG I just had all this typed up, accidenatlly hit back, and lost it all!

OMFG

ok, history of gundam, started in 79 with the series Mobile suit gundam.  which is in the universal century timeline and it spans many diffrent series.

Gundam Seed, 00, wing, X, G Gundam.  there more popular in the states but not as popular in Japan.  Alot of it is recycled plots from the Uc story line.

as far as the story,

space colonies, one declares independence (zeon, side 3) drop a colony (side 2) on earth, sinking a hunk of Australia into the ocean.  Zeon takes over most of the earth and space using their superior mobile suit technology.  The Earth Federation develops the gundam and a newtype Teenager managed to pilot it (while under attack by Zeon) and ends up being the pilot, the Gundam wins the war for the Federation.  thats a tiny short synopsis of the first series (very tiny)

Mobile suits are piloted by 1 (sometimes two in the early series)  They use multiple cameras for visuals and targeting.  Mobile suits are not the only weapons, there are space battleships of multiple classes, infantry, tanks, air support, etc etc.

Id go into more depth but I did and it got erased... any Qs just ask

Also, check this site out for some really good ideas http://www.bakuc.com/

Well here is where I am so far. Got the torso and one arm built. Having lots of fun with this. Cany wait to get me another Gundam. Are there any aftermarket decals out there for Gundams? Nothing is fully attached yet just lightly stuck in place.

Ok, so you asked for a brief history...

The suit you have, the Tieren, is from the most recent Gundam Series, Gundam 00, which takes place just after mankind began colonizing. This being said, Planet Earth is still divided. There are three factions: the Union (consisting of the Americas and Japan), the A.E.U. (the Advanced European Union, consiting of, Duh, Europe, and parts of Africa), and the Human Reform League (HRL, in my previous post, which consists of Russia, China and the rest of Asia). All three sides enjoy a tenuous peace that is shattered with the arrival of particle-powered Gundams that use firepower no one has ever heard of.

In the time line of Gundam 00, the World has turned to Solar Power, and all mobile suits and various other technologies run off power collected by giant orbital elevators that have solar collectors on the end (there are three pillars, one controlled by each of the factions)

The suit you have is used and fielded by the Human Reform League, whose paints the suit a dull pea-greenish color, but the suit appears later painted a blue when fielded by international forces (the three factions eventually unite to try to defeat the Gundams, and use suits from all three factions, just painted blue).

Sorry, that's not as breif as I would have liked it to be. Hopefully someday, the series will be on DVD, so you can watch it. I won't tell you more for fear of ruining it for you...

Yea, before it got deleted my brief history was about 3 pages long.

There are Aftermarket parts, ALOT of them.  Check it

For decals go here, there from Bandai, but there good.

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/gumode.html

(great store for everything gundam)

For all kinds of after market use Mecha skunk, Iv talked to the owner before, he used to be on a gundam forum I was on, he had good quality products.

http://www.mechaskunk.com/

Leme give you a few tips, before snapping the kit together stick an exacto in the holes and spin it, opening them up for easy unsnapping.

After you snap it all together like that find what parts can be all built together in sub-sections, what subsections can be painted as one part, what needs to be painted seperatly.

Paint the parts on their own then build it.

lastly, MAKE SURE you get all the seams, the biggest problem with gundam kits is the seams, they really stand out and there are alot of them.  do a few gundams and you will be a Seam Master

Also, if I might recomend some kits I have built and feel are very good kits for their money and quality.

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban953119.html

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban955520.html

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban923714.html

A favorite of mine http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban931412.html I have Three.

This is also a personal favorite

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban946732.html I have built two of these

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/uncehacuirxt.html This is one of the coolest ones I have in my collection.  Though, I built it before I painted my kits, but I did such a beautiful job of filling in the pannel lines that I dont wana damage it.

Ok, blargh, another post to this friend for background info if he wants it.

In the UC all the stories basicly follow the same sort of plot with some deviation, a few of them taking place in the same time as the first series.

for Gundam Wing five Gundams are sent to earth from the colonies to be used for terrorist activities agaisnt the earth sphere's military who are very oppressive.

G Gundam is wierd, its like dragonball with robots.  All the space colonies (based off of nations (neo japan, neo america, neo germany) send Gundams to fight in a giant tournament on earth.

Gundam X is diffrent from the others, it follows a what if based on the original series if a dozen colonies had been droped on earth instead of one.  Its has a very post apocalyptic storyline

Gundam Seed basically is the original gundam series and Zeta gundam mixed into one homogenized series, plots characters and such are all recycled.

Turn A Gundam is an odd one.  Humanity, on earth, is developed to about the point of the 20th century, maybe earlier, the 19th or so, still using Bi-planes.  earthlings that in the past been relocated to the moon and not allowed to return invade earth.  The story is based around a moonrace scout that joined the earth militia using the Turn A gundam to fight.

Turn A is the oddest of the series for two reasons.  First the mecha design is completely different from any of the previous series.

compared to

The biggest thing in Turn A is the revelation that all of the diffrent series and timelines are part of the same timeline, with the Universal Century being 3000 years before Turn A.   You can see two of the 'good guys' using unearth Zaku I and Zaku II suits

Smeagol

Already planned on building and painting in subassemblies. looking at the instructions I plan out my attack on every part. as I figure it I will have the torso, pelvis area, arms, legs, and weapons. i will check those sites for after market. YES there are a lot of seams but thankfully I have much practice on armor and aircraft.

Thats good to hear.

Here is a tip that alot of us use and it SO helpful.

Arm and leg joints, like the first one on this page

What you do with the joint that the top and bottom of the arm go into. 

The joint would look like the first image in the following picture.  What you CAN do is cut it to look like the second.  That way you can paint it seperatly and paint the diffrent arm parts without having to do alot of painstaking detail painting to make sure that all of that is covered.

By cutting that joint into a c joint it lets you snap the arm into the joint, it wont fall appart (though it may need gluing to keep it in position, they dont hold weight as well once cut) but it helps alot for painting.

Smeagol

I have actually been watching several Zaku Minelayers on ebay and a few sniper kits. I love the look of them. Kinda big and mean looking and without all of the colors. Really want to do some of the Heavy Arms kits and Deathscythe kits

The Zaku II 2.0 kit is absolutely beautiful, really it is, so many details.

The Zaku I snipers are good kits, there simple but there nice.

Id hold off on the heavyarms and deathscythe.  Bandai is probing the waters.  They will put out a flagship mech kit and if it does good, they start a series.  they put out limited edition versions of the Sazabi and the Nu gundam, they sold well, now we have a new massive line of char's counter attack model kits in Mg and Hg.  they just released a Wing gundam 2.0, so if that girl sells well, were liable to see GOOD kits from gundam wing.  right now, there not that good

other than the webstores is there a site out there that gives all the types of Gundams and affiliation with pics?

http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/index.htm

Its a great site, so much information

Just a head up.

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban945382.html

There on sale, almost 40% off.  Its not the sniper kit, but its close to it.