Gaplant WIP 4

Yay, an update after 2 months...

Gaplant WIP 3

Quick update on the Gaplant build. I've used Celluclay to make the groundwork and applied some fine sand to it for texture. Also Added a bunch of polystyrene tubes and random junk parts I have. Preparing for painting in the next few weeks.

Inspiration References 1

Stole this idea from Dark Workx's blog. Basically a bunch of line works that I feel inspired by or have directly used in making models. A lot of them are still unused as they require an insane amount of scratch building which I'm not capable of yet. One day, one day...

Gaplant WIP 2

School's started for me so I've been quite busy as it's my last year in high school and I've become a leader in my school's Japan club. I'm in charge of sushi sales apparently. Anyways, onto the work. The binders above have been plated and sanded a bit. I'm going to add a few more plates and I'll be done with these mods and head onto panel line scribing. I'm trying to get this whole project done before the end of the month so I don't plan on making things get too complicated. This project will be entered  into a local plastic model show. In fact, it's the biggest plastic model event here in Vancouver.

Plated it to cover up some exposed polycaps.

Filled in the hollow section, pretty standard mod.

Thighs sanded and ready for primer.

The base for my diorama.

Gaplant WIP 1

The two GMs have been built and the command type has surprisingly good legs. I've revised the diorama and decided to add a Gaplant. I bought it at Imperial Hobby this weekend while I was putting my Zaku III in the display case. I was surprised with a huge crowd of people and giant signs that said "25th Anniversary". Surely enough, there was a 25% off everything sale so I decided to get something I've been thinking about for a while. Thus I revised my diorama plans with this kit.

Hobby Shops in Sapporo

While I was staying in Sapporo, I did go around looking for models. I obtained my HGUC GM and GM Command Space Type from Yodobashi Camera. The store is located right next to the main transit station "Sapporo Station". This station is a terminal for the subway and the train systems and is basically considered the centre of the city. Stupid me didn't take pictures of the inside of the store, so I will try to explain it to the best of my ability.

Zaku III Photoshoot

Finally got the supplies to make the photoshoot. This is my first time trying this so the images aren't exactly as professional as other modelers, but I'll get there.

Next Project

My next project is going to hopefully be a diorama featuring the HGUC GM Command Space Type and the HGUC GM. It's going to be based on one of the scenes in the Gundam Senki 0081 OVA. With all the resupply cables still attached to the units after the ship was destroyed and the two half-destroyed mobile suits holding hands. For those who have never seen the OVA, it can be found here.

Site Update

A new banner for the site that looks 10x less crappy. I've added a link to the right that links to Vanpla, the model group that I'm a part of. If you live in Vancouver or even the rest of Canada, please have a look. It always makes me happy to be able to meet other Canadian modelers. I've also added a follow button as well as the ability to reply to comments(not that anyone comments here anyways >___>)

Back Home

Hello, I just got back home here in Vancouver. Having 2 days without sleep because of travel really put a lot of stress on me. To be truthful, I didn't want to come home at all. I wished I could stay in Japan just a little longer. Imagine my surprise when I came home after 2 months of heaven to the image above....

 I didn't start screaming until after my dad left for work. >__>

Anyways, I'm still suffering from some horrible jet lag. In fact, I just woke up and it's 7pm.
I've been prepping up some supplies so I can finally do the Zaku's photoshoot. I will continue to make a few more posts about my exchange to Japan with more details for those who wish to one day go.

Host Changes

I just got my third host change. As an exchange student I have to live under someone else`s roof. These people are completely volunteering to pay for my transport and food expenses. Sometimes I don`t get along with them and that causes me to have to move. Quite frankly I`ve tried to get along with them as best I could.

My first host parents were ok, though they had a son who partied, smoked and brought his girlfriend all the time to do the do. They dad was never around and I could never get any sleep. As a result, I found myself sleeping in class all the time and my teacher`s got pretty pissed. The host father went down to Sendai in order to organize water filtration so the mom got pretty stressed. There were my host nephews who were pretty fun to hang around. They were 11 and 13 years old. The day before we left, we had a dinner on a yacht styled like a traditional Japanese tatami courtroom.

Second host parents were kinda weird. The dad was always chill, though I would only see him at night for a few hours. The mom however is slightly insane. She was a clean freak who enforced very strict rules on me. Apparently, she has a reputation among the host parents as the other exchange students told me that their host parents knew about her. She appeared pretty nice and even a bit childish at first, but soon enough she showed her real self. I`m wondering if she has a split personality or something as she will be super nice one moment and then pure evil the next.

I broke one too many a rule and she proceeded to swiftly kick me out.

My current and hopefully last host family are pretty amazing. The dad used to work at the Hokkaido Television Broadcasting company, though he retired this year. Right now he`s a volunteer organizer for the Sapporo branch of AFS, my exchange company. He and I share dirty jokes all the time and the mom teaches me how to pick up girls.

All in all, I`ve moved from the suburbs to a downtown area and finally I`m up in the mountain outskirts of Sapporo. Currently, I`m writing this from my host father`s laptop as they don`t know the network password so I can`t use my own computer. Later today is the Toyohira River Fireworks Competition and I`ll be going in a yukata(summer kimono). I`ll be going home next week so I will be able to upload photos and the two people who actually read this blog can see my girly face.

I`m in Japan

So I`ve been in Sapporo, Japan for 3 weeks and I haven`t been able to get on the internet to post anything here. This post will be the first a series for my life in Japan. I`m currently writing this from my school as I have only limited internet access at home. I came here as an exchange student to experience more of Japanese culture and to test out how fluent I am at Japanese.  It turns out that I can carry on a pretty bad conversation for a few minutes at least without having to resort to using a dictionary. I came through an exchange company called "AFS" and I`ll be staying until August 3rd so don`t expect any gunpla posts except maybe a few prebuilds of models that I may buy here. I`m currently living with a host family with a noisy host brother and I`ve been attending a private school here called "Ritsumeikan Keisho" junior and senior highschool. I"ll write a more detailed post on the school later. Since I`ve finally learned how to use the school computers here after a week, please expect more posts in the coming weeks.

Dirfinge Paint Stripping

When I painted the frame of the kit many months ago, I failed to properly sand the legs. Needless to say, I got huge clearly visible seam lines after the airbrushing it. So now I ended up having to strip the paint off.

I'm Back

Just to confirm that I am still alive and have been working on some models. The Zaku III I completed and submitted earliar is still in the shop and I have not gotten it back yet. Seems something went wrong at the group hosting the contest so I think I'm going to go get it back sometime this week and take some better photos. I've made some prebuild for a few models, but for my next project I think I'm going to finish making the Dirfinge and have it in a diorama. Expect some more posts around this week. Anyways, to make up for the lack of posts you can look at these dioramas that I found in a store in Seattle's Japan Town.

Zaku III Finished

Finished the Zaku III and submitted it to the competition. I learned a lot of things during this build and I've improved since the last one. I didn't make the same mistakes as my last build, though I've made new ones. My sanding skills still need a lot of work as the puttied parts still be seen if you look close enough. None are visible in these photos though. The colour scheme was kind of messed up due to me rushing and painting this thing just a day before the deadline. I'll take a proper photoshoot once I get the model back from judging.

Zaku III WIP 4

 

Not really a big update as the Zaku is mostly finished except for the head. This will be my last WIP for the Zaku as I really need to rush to finish and paint the model.

Zaku III WIP 3

Almost finished the Zaku III, but the arms and head still need to be properly attached after what I did to them. Most of the lower body as been completed and are waiting to be painted. I have 17 days left to finish this project and submit it to the Vanpla Zaku Competition. Pictures of the finished project can be expected later on this month.

Zaku III WIP 2

Well, it's been around a month since my last post and I've managed to get some progress on this guy. All the seam lines have been or are in the finishing processes of being removed. I've stared re-sculpting some parts and am about 70% complete minus the paint. Recently, I purchased my first scriber so we'll see how much I can do with that. Hopefully, I won't make a disastrous mistake when scribing panel lines. I will now have to go into overdrive and finish this model quickly as I'm making this for a gunpla competition hosted by the mecha model club Vanpla. The due date is March and the theme is the zaku. You can see all our work and works in progress here: http://vanplaforum.com/index.php.

Zaku III WIP 1

It's been a while since my last post and I've been working on the Zaku III quite a bit. No real reason for not posting, just didn't think I had enough things to mention. Now I've built up a bunch of pictures and thought it was finally time to show them. This is what it currently looks like, notice the changes? The rifle is from Kotobuikya. I also replaced the hideous stock hands which I'll get pictures for in a later post.