One Year War GB 2011-2012 !Extended time! 30sept 2012

these are old ones kits? don't seems have the "ex" series details .

Nice paint work on it

 I think the old ones are actually better than the EX series. At least the Musai anyway. It's way overdetailed.

Hey F91,

Here are the old and new Musai light cruisers that I built.

First the old 1/1200 scale kit:

And this is the newer 1/1700 scale EX kit:

I built and painted both models at the same time using the same colors and weathering techniques, in order to make a comparison between the two.  They were base coated with flat black, then the green was highly thinned and misted on in patches centering on the panels and details.  I used Testors MM enamels all the way.

Personally, I liked the EX kit a lot, but was a little disappointed that Bandai chose a smaller scale than their classic kit.  I chose to use the plastic vanes on the sides of the hull, as I thought the PE parts looked too 2-dimensional.  The old kit was kind of dumpy by comparison, but was very enjoyable to build nevertheless.  I added scribed styrene sheet to the engine intakes (Radiators?  No air in space...) and Kotobukiya rockets to the exhausts as the kit engine pods were blank on both ends.  I also added some clear plastic windows for the bridge, cut from an old CD case and tinted with Tamiya clear orange.

BTW, great stuff on the GB!  Congrats to the guys who finished their models.  I loved the Big Zam - I have a soft spot for the wacky Zeon mobile armors.  Sorry I haven't been active, as I have been too busy to get any bench time.  But I promise to resume work shortly.  Keep up the good work guys!

Oooooh...that second kit is pretty sweet. Guessing I need to go to Japan to find one?

Dupes,

Oh bunky, Hobbylink Japan and 1999 are both out.  So yeah, I guess you'd have to go to Japan or have a buddy who lives there root one out of a hobby shop for you.  But man, the exchange rate against the dollar is really bad right now.

Magnific musai(s) Real G

the "ex" models are drammatically detailed  

I disagree too for the little scale used, at least a 15 cm finished ship was good

Also prices for these kits (at least in italy ) are about 30\40 €!!!! too expensive imho

Dupes probably these kits are imported in USA too

heres the ex kits reviews and sprues

http://www.dalong.net/review/ex/ex20/ex20_p.htm

http://www.dalong.net/review/ex/ex20/ex20_i.htm

http://www.dalong.net/review/ex/ex23/ex23_p.htm

http://www.dalong.net/review/ex/ex23/ex23_i.htm

just today done the gloss coat on the Gogg legs, tomorrow these parts ready for washing lines/decals stage 

BSYamato,

Nice linkie!  I can't read Korean, but it appears that the kit on the site is a little different from the one I have.  It has additional details that my kit lacks, like the open bay options and the "shortie" radiator stacks.  The stand is also different.  I wonder if the kit is a Korean knock-off with enhanced features?  Anyone ever see this kit?

BTW, too bad Bandai never kitted a 1/400 Salamis cruiser to go with their Musai.

Gundam store and more has them in stock

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban925800.html

Also, the smaller turrets on the Salamis and Magellan are machine guns, not mega particle cannons.  The Mousai only has missles and mega particle cannons.

Before the advent of mobile suits combat was done Napoleonic style, with ships in lines doing massive broadsides.  Zeon was trying to set up massive space cannons (and other ones can be seen completed and used in the series) that would take out a ship in a single shot.  The ones we see later in the series are amplified, power wise, to beable to take out whole swaths of a fleet but they are the size of small moons.

with the advent of mobile suits the ships mega particle cannons could not target and hit the quick mobile suits and the Zaku Is and IIs would move in quickly and just cut massive holes in the fleet before pulling back, not often loosing many.  This caused the Federation to arm their Balls, which until then were used for space construction and repair on the battleships.

Nice explain smeagol in future want to build up a diorama involved a zaku (or some other ms) dismounting a federate ship with axe , or hands (the part of ship scratched naturally )

RealG me too not good with korean laguage

i use the site... only for the kit pictures, is not bandai official but the site is costantly updated and all mg, hg ex models etc are reviewed like the ships above, sprue shots and buided.

http://www.dalong.net/

also cliking the sub menus you have the english option but only for names

it's a good site to not get strange surprises when buy something from gunpla or kotobukiya mechs

Also all kits are compared with a cigarettes pack to istant have an idea of kits dimension 

Also all instructions are scanned if somene lost originals.

Great buildups, but I still prefer the older one because of it's size and simplicity. The small scale of the EX, along with the panel lines everywhere is just too busy for my taste.

I CAN read some Korean...but apparently the vocabulary I learned in the Army didn't have much to do with scale modeling. Heh.

Whoah, that 1/400 Musai on GSaM looks AMAZING!

I have the 1/400, but I'm not sure if I will ever finish it...

dupes

Whoah, that 1/400 Musai on GSaM looks AMAZING!

Price also too much amazing

F-91 why don't sell your 1/400 musai? (not to me )

RealG where's parked your 1/400 musai?

bsyamato,

My 1/400 Musai is still waiting to be finished.  The big pieces have been assembled and cleaned up, but the smaller bits like the radiator stacks and turrets still need work.  I'm still undecided on how to clean up the the turrets.  It might be easier to sand off the raised details and rebuild them, rather than trying to preserve them while cleaning up the heavy mold parting line.

One bit of warning for builders of this kit is that the engine pylons need to be reinforced.  The engines are very heavy and cause the pylons to droop a bit.  When I started building my kit, I just started gluing like mad,and only realized when it was too late that the pylons weren't stiff enough.  Too bad Bandai didn't include a bent metal plate to go inside the pylon halves.

The other trouble I had was that the Komusai shuttle is a jam fit into the docking recess.  The fins really scrape the cutouts in the Musai's hull.  I'm not sure if I glued the fins in at a slightly incorrect angle, but I will have to glue the Komusai in place as a result.  The rest of the movable parts will also be glued shut, as playing around with them will also scrape paint.  That's okay with me, as I just wanted a stupendously huge static model of the Musai.

not good things for an expensive kit like it waiting for updates ,i'm sure you able to fix these problems

some goggdates, nothing great but updates

dry brushed and glosses some piece... effectively the 70% of kit's pieces

G, if bandai does anything they make darned sure their kits are TOP NOTCH.  I would email them about the problem you found, if only to let them know for any re-release or future products.

Smeagol,

Does Bandai listen to gaijin comments?  I'm Japanese-American, which probably ranks even lower in their ratings!  (Actually, I'm made in the USA, but with some parts from Japan.  )  I know that they are responsive to customer input, and their products reflect it.  I wonder if they would seriously re-engineer an existing kit?  I think the jam fit problem is moot if you don't paint the model - the kit is from a line of pre-painted kits and little rubbery mobile suits.

I'll just make some supports for the engines when I store the model.  Too many kits and too little time to dwell on such things.  My resolution for 2012 is to finish more kits!

But Smeagol, I will look into getting feedback to Bandai.  They have already started to address some things I was thinking about in their HGUC line, like the hip joints with the pin that allows the thighs to rotate, and better detailed hands.  The MG Zaku cannon was one of the first kits that I have seen that has a clear rear facing camera.  The only thing really disappointing is that the new UC kits have slowed to a trickle.

I cant say if bandai will ignore ya because your part japanese or whatnot, but I doubt it.  If your buying their most expensive kits I think they will listen. 

I do doubt they will re-engineer it but it could help to fix that problem in the future.  Sort of how like they made the frames on MG and PG stronger to withstand the weight of the kit's own parts,  unlike the first PGs.

I'm also disapointed at the slow trickle of UC kits, way to much from these new series and the designs are justl... eh and so are the series themselves...

I AM excited for the Mg release of all the ver KA Gundam Wing kits.  I want the Heavyarms ver Ka very baddly.

Hey guys, it's not too late to join? I recently got back into the Gundam series and picked up a couple 1/144 kits. Can I join up with a 1/144 Gundam Ez8 and depending on how that goes I may build a 1/144 Gouf Flight Type as well. I've never built a Gunpla before and I'm really excited to start one.

Erik

Wellcome aboard Geist

as write on your previous post, end if the GB is 1° may 2012

asap adding you in the roster

working again on the gouf inner frame.. lots of pieces again to prime , some picture soon

Can I get on the list? 1/1200 Musai and Magellan.

F91 wellcome aboard you too updating the roster 

Geist , if you're totally newbe on gundam kits grade take a look at page 4 of the gb for a good explain from smeagol about this topic

after finished falkland and harrier gb i now have more time (and space) to attack my two ms

partial inner parts, half of them second mat black primed and other half first layer

naturally wheels are not gouf parts

smooted also the shoulder inner armor frame (i know when the gouf is finished no one will notice this ..i just did so )

lots.. lots of pieces again to sand , possibly engrave some panel line, and prime

now remember why i finished only an MG till now

resuming also the gogg

time to move on

bsyamato

 

Geist , if you're totally newbe on gundam kits grade take a look at page 4 of the gb for a good explain from smeagol about this topic

 

 

I work at a hobby shop so I'm fairly familiar with the different grades but Smeagol's write up was a great insight.

Erik

LOL kits can't reserve surprise to you

I'm glad you appreciated my write up.  I went back and read it last night while I was stressing out to calm me down, I wouldn't mind RE-writing it just to make it a bit clearer.

I love being home from school on break, I have so much spare time when I'm not working it's crazy. I made a tone of progress on the Ez8 in the last 2 days. 

I started like I do on my tanks by building sub-assembles, of course it's a little more complicated with a Gundam since I just can't paint it all at once lol.

I'm really not used to dealing with this many seams, they're usually hidden on my tanks or I can just weather over them. I was able to paint the off white sections tonight and was happy with the clean up I did on the seams. They're not perfect but since this is my first Gunpla I'm not going to be too picky. It is a learning experience after all. Over all I'm having a great time building the Ez8 and I'm going to have a hard time stoping myself from buying more Gunpla kits lol.

Erik

On hg and hguc seams are not a particular problem, is simple to remove, main problem on the ez8 engineering is the joint between the knees and legs parts, if you want to fix the gundam in a pose is not a problem but if you want keep it posable some good problem pop up.You glued already the white parts of legs?

A few tips.

First take the male parts of the pegs that let you snap it together and sand them on an angle, it lets you easily build and fit to make sure everything is correct.

Second the closest you get to the newer kits the less and less seams you will see to the point that a just released kit will have ZERO seams.

Another thing, get the older HGUC kits like the one you have, or the GM or original gundam... you will have SO MANY SEAMS to fix that by the end you will be a MASTER at fixing them.

Lastly, dunno what you know of the series but the Ez8 is a hodgepodge.  It was built using scrap and left over parts from damaged or destroyed Gundam and Gm units.  There was only one and it was beat to crap before it was even constructed so its important to NOT paint it in a gloss super smooth finish.  Its one of the few designs that never had a factory pristine condition.  After it actually got out onto the field it got the living crap beat out of it as well.  So rust, rain weathering, battle damage, cracks in the armor, blast holes, anything is fair game.

bsyamato

, main problem on the ez8 engineering is the joint between the knees and legs parts, if you want to fix the gundam in a pose is not a problem but if you want keep it posable some good problem pop up.You glued already the white parts of legs?

What type of problems exactly? The legs are completely glued but I left the knees poseable. 

That's the plan, it's one of the reasons I got the Ez8 in the first place actually, I knew that I could beat the crap out of it like one of my tanks. 

Erik