Wing Zero Gundam

potchip

Having an airbrush is essential for building gundams if you want to move beyond building out of box. Perhaps it's just my lack of skill in brush painting, I found with a brush I churn out something less than the plain plastic that begins the journey.

don't think so

an airbrush it's good but not essential

rapgoo

klick: thanks do you also have gundam kits?

Yes, I do Gundams as well--my little brother and I have built almost 20 or 30 of them, I've lost count. My personal favorites are Zakus. I'm a Zaku nut. I've got 4 or 5 of them, three of which are models, and I built about half of my brother's Zaku. I've done 1/144th and 1/100th Gundams, and have found that 1/100th require the least clean up work (filling seams, etc.), but the most detail painting.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. Klik

Do you fancy yourself a modeler or assembler?

Gundam as a genre of modelling focus on certain aspects but not others. Many years ago I built a couple gundam kits, even attempted airbrushing them (with spray can propellent), and came up with decent (but expensive) outcomes. But had I stuck with the setup I would probably still be doing much the same now.

After a hiatus I resumed modeling again, but this time I built a couple aircrafts, then bikes, cars and finally ships. I'm now a 90% ship modeller and occassionally dabble in other genres when I feel like it. I will say that I've learnt a lot more about model making, from cross genres than if I stuck with gundam kits.

It changes your mind set  - for example,

- Detail for me now is not a few panel lines or knobs - All gundam kits look woefully plain to me out of box

- I don't see 'seams' the same way as before, in the past it's something I deal with. Now I look for ways to eliminate it in the first place eg by removing locating pins and properly align parts

- I no longer shy away from multiple painting sequence or masking - I accept it as a fact of life.

- I have a basic understanding of how real things look - an aspect that's often missed by gundam modelers because the lack of real-life pictures of their subject. I now know to weather subtly and with restriant.

Having an airbrush is essential for building gundams if you want to move beyond building out of box. Perhaps it's just my lack of skill in brush painting, I found with a brush I churn out something less than the plain plastic that begins the journey.

Aircraft building taught me pre-shading and post shading, and basic assembly skills like gap filling/seam elimination and panel lining. Armour would've told me weathering techniques (but I don't do armour so I practice this on my other models!) Ships pushed my understanding of detail to a totally new level, and the importance of planning. Auto honed my patience to achieve that 'perfect' golossy finish.

Ask anything you would like.

I started building on gundams and noone gives them any respect except for those that build them, its sad.  I moved from gundam (not stoped building them, just started new stuff) to armor kits, from armor to figures, from figures to cars and airplanes (Im rubbish at those, honestly) and from that to, what I am doing now, sculpting my own figures.  It is all related and honestly, you can learn ALOT from doing the other model types, and that goes for Gundam too, armor builders can learn alot from us, so can air and cars.

PGs are kinda expensive thats my main concern haha, smeagol thanks i try to start on another kit if i could find some time, just my luck that i have no extra time to even look up my facebook haha, thanks my friend  hope i could ask some more tips on you specially hand brushing tech

That would be jumping head first into the deep end of an empty pool for our friend. 

One step at a time

Have been building Gundam kits for years.  Try building the 1/60 Perfect Grade of Wing Zero!!!   Awesome kit!!!!

Any thinner will eat plastic, you dont want to ever put plastic in thinner.  You can wipe it off quickly, but thats about it. 

Shadowing can be done with airbrushes and with hand brushing its all in the technique.  Dont get ahead of your self though, do the basics one step at a time.  If you want, I say get a kit and do it step by step on this thead and ill wlak you through it

ah i see, actually besides from the putty and the nail file, i already carry the equipments, i already ordered the stuff you showed me, and im kinda excited for them to arrive, about the paints, one thing i can't do is the shadowing, its like giving a depth on the model, i saw some vids on how they do it but i require an airbrush, do i really need an airbrush, cause i saw some modelers who rely on hand brushes, on your opinion what do you prefer? thank you for the tips i will use them well, and also one thing i notice lacquer thinner kinda destroys the plastic if you trying to rub of the paint,

First, here is a list of supplies that you will need if you want to do this properly.

Sprue Cutter - NEVER twist a part to get it off of the sprue.  You should cut it off, scissors can work, but there not great, what is really good are those strong nail cutters, not the little things, but the ones that look like pliers they sell at stores like Rite Aid.  A good place to start is here.

http://www.megahobby.com/plasticmodelspruecutter.aspx

Needle Files - Second you will want a set of needle files, for removing the nub left from the sprue off of the part, if you dont it looks bad and can make the parts not fit together correctly.

Here is a nice set

http://www.amazon.com/Needle-Files-Wire-Work-Wrapping/dp/B000SP0JKS

Sand Paper - You are going to want some really high grit sand paper, and some low grit.  You use sand paper to get rid of nubs on non flat surfaces, for getting rid of burns and imperfections, for smoothing down glue and putty.  You use a low grit for the main issue, and the high grit sand paper to smooth the surface and get a nice smooth finish.  Grit is the number of burs on the paper.

I recommend this, I would not use it when there is paint on the kit, because there not the cheap stuff, but they have the low and high grit you need for Gundam kits, though some have been known to use grit up to 2500 (like me)

http://www.scalehobbyist.com/catagories/Paint_and_Construction/TES00008802/product.php?s=4-3&t=2-2&u=2-2&pg=2&ppp=24&sb=stocknumber&so=a&e=0

Filler Putty - Filler Putty is extremely important.  Its a putty that, once it hits the air, starts to cure and eventually becomes as hard as the plastic you use it on.  You put the putty on seam lines you want to remove.  The putty moves into the seam and hardens.  You sand down the excess from the surface until you only see the putty in the seam.  When you paint it it will look smooth and like one piece, removing the entire seam if done right.

http://www.amazon.com/Squadron-White-Putty-2-3-oz/dp/B000H7L6RC

Spray Primer - Primer is a type of paint you put down first, it adheres to the plastic and makes it so that other paint adheres just as well.  Some oils and such in plastic parts can make it hard for paints to stick to the model.  Color wise, a Gray primer will cause the colors to be dull, a White will cause them to be more vibrant.  If you are going to do a glossy Gundam coat, use white, if you are going to make it flat and more realistic, use Gray. 

Paint Types - Last thing for now, paint types.  Three main types of paint you will run across, Acrylic, Enamel, And Lacquer. 

You will find Lacquer in things like Tamiya Spray paints, it can eat paint that is under it, I find it the BEST to use as a primer and to use as the main coat, deatiling over top of it.  Lacquer requires a specific type of thinner, Lacquer thinner, and this thinner will eat ALL other paint.  I use lacquer thinner to clean all of my brushes.

Enamel is the most common type you will find.  It can use general mineral spirits to thin it.  It doesn't really eat other paints, I have used it over top of all types of paint.  Its best to use as a base coat or a main color, leaving Acrylic to detail.

Acrylic paint is a water based paint, it can be thinned and cleaned with water.  It doesnt attack any other kinds of paint and is ideal for washes and detail work.  I do all my detailing in acrylic, as if I make a mistake I can use some water on a rag to just wipe the paint off while not damaging the enamel or lacquer base coat.  If I used enamel, I would have to wipe it off then repaint the whole area.

MAJ: go dig out that deathscythe i bet that gonna look cool

Randy: nice thats a good model, actually bandai had improve the MG version for their model kits, and they are now more durable at more articulated than the 2004 version, plus i saw some review on gundams that they customized the kit by adding L.E.Ds on a 1/100 scale, if ever you would be interested on building gundam models again, i suggest that you try the impulse gundam MG, its has a good detail and a bit more challenging than other MGs i built 

klick: thanks do you also have gundam kits?

smeagol: thanks men, hmm i have the basic crafting tools, includes the blade side cutter, and extra fine cement(tamiya), sand paper- but i do use it much, for painting i've got a set of brushes from size 3 to 00, ive got a set of acrylic tester and enamel tester paints, and white and gray spray can,and of course a set of gundam markers, and fine gundam marker, also set of tech pens, lastly i also use a sharpie metalic silver, im hopping i could get a airbrush kits, but i can't find thing a little cheaper that 100+ bucks, well actually i never got any kind of lesson from building model kits haha 

awesome builds. last build i did was a MG Zeta Plus.

First off, Mike, dig that kit out.  The Gundam Wing kits are amazing for learning and practicing, honestly... you will NEVER find a kit that requires as much work as those do.  You could do tanks for years and get more work filling seams on a single Gundam kit

Ok Rapgoo, I am going to give you a massive tutorial on how to do Gundam kits, and it will transfer to every other type of kits.  First, tell me what tools and supplies you have.

also and if you ever have any more suggestions and comments i will really help a lot thanks :)

thanks for your comment guy, smeagol thank you so much my friend i learned something new, im just new also on making models thanks i appreciate all your comments

My son gave me a "Death Scythe" from the Gundam Wng series several years ago.  You make me want to dig it out.

Welcome to the forums.

Your off to a nice start, but like a lot of beginners now a days, your not taught the basics and skip steps.  You need to work on removal of seam lines, all of your kits have them and it hurts your finished product.

VEERRY Well Done!! You certainly give this Gundam credit. Welcome to the (small, but growing) club of Gundam builders! It's always a good thing to see another modeller building Gundams.

keep up the great work!

Klik