×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
So You Want To Build A Gundam Model


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
Posts: 1302
Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 11:29 am Reply with quote
If you have access to a hobby shop you can also get structures, trees and vehicles that will work with the various Gundam scales. So you can go full on making as nice a scene as possible with your model. Very Happy

Mark Gosdin
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
PingSoni
Subscriber



Joined: 05 Dec 2008
Posts: 195
Location: Lansing MI
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 12:17 pm Reply with quote
Thank you for writing this article, and for your website! I've had two models sitting around for a while now, that I've been hesitant to dive into putting together: an HGUC 1/144 Gundam GP01Fb 'Linkin Park Edition' and a Kotobukiya 1/12 KOS-MOS Version 1 (from the Xenosaga JRPG). I think your article will give me the nudge I need to get going with these.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Monster Hunter



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 335
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:10 pm Reply with quote
Ah Victory Gundam the gundam of happiness and joy for children of all ages.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Monster Hunter



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 335
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:13 pm Reply with quote
I use to build gundam kits when I was younger I had most of the suits from wing and from other assorted animes. I mostly did the 1/144 scale kits and I once did a 1/100 they were fun and I loved to play with them. By the time though I stopped building and playing with them there were a lot of broken ones. Arm slots breaking off, tabs snapping, leg joints unable to hold anymore and other assorted breaks the model kits were just not meant to be played with.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:32 pm Reply with quote
I really like SD Gundam kits. I was into the aesthetic early on as a fan thanks to the video games (still some of the best Gundam games there are), and the nice thing about them is, they don't take that long to build and still look good with minimal detail work (painting, panel lines). Often none at all.

Admittedly, the more recent kits take longer to build since they sized them up a bit. They have legs now! They really do look amazing and are worth it in that respect, though. And still aren't that demanding.

But, I think the SD Gundam G Generation Zero and G Generation F kits are great for newbies. Don't take that long to build, look pretty good with no detail work, look even better with some.

Being from the late 90's/early 00's, they were really easy to find for years, although now it looks like they're tapering off. Still, I do often see a few random ones at cons and some sites.

For particulars, the Gundam Ez8 kit is an easy one to recommend.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Monster Hunter



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 335
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:37 pm Reply with quote
Kicksville wrote:

For particulars, the Gundam Ez8 kit is an easy one to recommend.


Ah the EZ-8 gundam is one of my favorite gundams and part of my favorite gundam series 8th MS Team. No super powers, no kid pilots, no psychic abilities to make them the best pilots ever, no super powerful gundams, just a team of Federation MS pilots with above average MS against Zeon forces on Earth it was amazing. The fight between Shiro in the EZ-8 and Norris in the Gouf Custom is still one of if not the greatest MS fight of all time.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Triltaison



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 717
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:49 pm Reply with quote
I work in a store that sells a lot of anime merchandise (the real stuff -not bootlegs), and I'm the one that usually assembles our figures for the display cabinets. The first Gundam I ever dealt with was this 1/60 Perfect Grade Wing Zero Custom. The owner wanted to put it out in the front cabinet, but someone else had assembled it years previously and did it incorrectly. So, my job was to fix the broken parts (his hips and legs were screwed together incorrectly, the "feathers" were facing every which way, the wiring was wrong, etc) and get him standing again.

Having never worked with a Gundam kit at all before, I do not recommend your starting point being the fixing of someone else's work on a Perfect Grade. On the plus side, I feel like I could assemble anything now.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
rizuchan
Collector Extraordinaire



Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 974
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:56 pm Reply with quote
No articles on painting? Or are there not a lot of people that paint their Gundam models (aside from the panel lines)?

I never cared much for Gundams themselves but I've recently gotten back into Zoids models. The great thing about these models is you can do as little or as much work as you want on them. You can just pull all the pieces out and build it for fun, or you can painstakingly clean and sand each piece so it looks clean, and then paint details. Either way you have a nice, finished model.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
LightningZangetsu27



Joined: 23 Nov 2013
Posts: 90
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 2:02 pm Reply with quote
well this I can do its like from the article here my model making for Warhammer Fantasy[Age of Sigmar is considered non existent] instead of making the unit look splendid its just about the one model which i rather like
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Renshenzu



Joined: 19 May 2014
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 2:48 pm Reply with quote
I had a lot of Gundam Wing and G Gundam gunpla in middle school. Maybe it's time I revisit this hobby.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Levonr



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 807
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 2:54 pm Reply with quote
rizuchan wrote:
No articles on painting? Or are there not a lot of people that paint their Gundam models (aside from the panel lines)?


This article is aimed at newbies. There are a lot of people who paint Gundam, the paints are a pretty big market themselves. Most Gunpla fans paint. I usually only ever see newbies not paint.

rizuchan wrote:
I've recently gotten back into Zoids models. The great thing about these models is you can do as little or as much work as you want on them. You can just pull all the pieces out and build it for fun, or you can painstakingly clean and sand each piece so it looks clean, and then paint details. Either way you have a nice, finished model.


Yeah, the same as Gundam models.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
rizuchan
Collector Extraordinaire



Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 974
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 3:05 pm Reply with quote
Levonr wrote:

This article is aimed at newbies. There are a lot of people who paint Gundam, the paints are a pretty big market themselves. Most Gunpla fans paint. I usually only ever see newbies not paint.


I meant that none of the articles linked at the bottom, or as far as I could tell anywhere on the gunpla101 blog the author linked to really mentioned painting aside from the base/topcoat.

I had figured that Gundams and Zoids were pretty much the same minus the shape. So I just found it a little strange paint wasn't mentioned at all.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Levonr



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 807
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 3:49 pm Reply with quote
Besides the paint there are also decals. The cheaper kits use stickers like we see in this demonstration. Which are horrible, only people new to models use stickers & don't paint. Adding paint & actual water decals turns a model from looking like a plastic toy to a statue(for all models Gundam, Zoids, FSS, Evangelion, Patlabor, etc.).

If you buy the cheaper models with only sticker decals I recommend not using them and instead buying some decal sheets which have many different decals and sizes. They aren't expensive and each come with a lot that can be useful for multiple models.
http://www.gundamplanet.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=decals&x=0&y=0
Cut out the decal as close as possible, soak in water for a little and then slide it on and pat it dry. You can use something like Mr. Setter and Mr. Softer to apply the decal even better. Then topcoat the model.


rizuchan wrote:

I meant that none of the articles linked at the bottom, or as far as I could tell anywhere on the gunpla101 blog the author linked to really mentioned painting aside from the base/topcoat.


That blog and this article are the same person. She doesn't seem to paint is all. They say "We are not Gunpla masters.".
This article is not aimed at master model fans.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber



Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3017
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 4:07 pm Reply with quote
Great article!

Bandai is about to completely retool their SD brand with a series of highly detailed, "SD EX Standard" kits for each of the most popular Gundam designs (Exia, Wing, Aile Strike, Unicorn, etc.). The first EX Standard kits will be released at the end of the month, and like most SD models, will be perfect for newcomers to the gunpla hobby!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Animelover12313



Joined: 07 May 2014
Posts: 278
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:29 pm Reply with quote
I recently got into assembling Gunpla and the first one I made was a Gunpla SD 123 from 1994. Although not as detailed as the new ones but I still loves it a lot Very Happy.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group