Plastic Scale Modelling |OT| Gunpla and Everything Else

FlexMentallo said:

Ah OK. Its definitely not a special edition one. They looked like water slides at a glance but I didn't look too closely.

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The Master Grades in your picture are somewhat heterogeneous when it comes to markings:

• RX-78-2 Ver. 3.0 is all stickers. Something unusual on MGs but it kind of mimics the Real Grade.
  
• Nu Ver.Ka has a bunch of stickers (reflective for the psychoframe and your usual sensors, dark textured for some black pieces) but the markings are water slides. Something that really isn't that common. Not even all Ver.Ka kits come with water slides.
• Char's Zaku II has the most common combination you'll find in Master Grades: transparent stickers for certain markings and dry transfers for others. Some also have reflective stickers for sensors.

most of the newer plated kits do a good job of hiding marks by gating the parts on the sprue in less-visible spots. The HG Titanium Sinanju, for instance. But if its an older mold (cant remember how old the MG Nu is) yeah, you might have gatemarks in noticeable places.

That's what kits with undergates are for. The problem is that you only find those in kits that were planned to have special coating from the very beginning like Hyaku Shiki or Delta Gundam.
Kits that were initially "normal" will always have a couple of spots where the gate marks are visible.
Mega-Shiki is exactly the opposite: based on the Delta Gundam kit but without special coating, it has lots of undergates that serve no purpose.

Time is short, but I just saw this. USA only Ebay 15% off for the next 1.5 hours, code PRIMOSALE
USA Gundam Store's ebay page
and if you buy 3 you get 5% off from them, so 20% off total.

Cracked open my MG Altron last night trying to plan what I want to do with it. I love the original colors so it won't be painted too much (maybe some silver or gold for thrusters and what not. ) Gonna be my last kit before I move.

Thinking about topping either the dark green or the white (not both) with some of that pearl clear as a top coat layer I have left over... Maybe the white parts in sparkly, and the green in just gloss.... hmmmmmmmmmmm

Kotobukiya's Siren from Xenoblade 2
30cm tall
12,000yen

Link

It looks pretty good other than the wings. BTW, if you don't know how to paint, stay away from Koto's kits.

Came across this in my recommended section, and thought of you lovely people.

I am soooo close to being totally done with my GP04 Gerbera. Just did a touch up on panel lines and used some paint on the thrusters. Once my respirator mask comes in I'll be putting on that top coat. I love how this kit looks!

Jim_Cacher said:

12,000yen

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For that price I'd expect something comparable to a top of the line Master Grade or a bit below the simpler Perfect Grades.

Shy said:

Came across this in my recommended section, and thought of you lovely people.

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Seriously impressive.

Jim_Cacher said:

It looks pretty good other than the wings. BTW, if you don't know how to paint, stay away from Koto's kits.

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Are the modern kits also that bad? I noticed my Alteisen kinda needed a lot of detail painting. I ordered a Raftclans Faunea yesterday and I hoped it would be better since it's like 14 years more modern.

xEik said:

For that price I'd expect something comparable to a top of the line Master Grade or a bit below the simpler Perfect Grades.

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Yes, Kotobukiya serves the niche when it comes to license products. If the subject is not what one wants, it will be better to put the money on Bandai's kits.

Euler said:

Are the modern kits also that bad? I noticed my Alteisen kinda needed a lot of detail painting. I ordered a Raftclans Faunea yesterday and I hoped it would be better since it's like 14 years more modern.

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They are getting better. Coloring is definitely not the strength of their kits though.

Jim_Cacher said:

Yes, Kotobukiya serves the niche when it comes to license products. If the subject is not what one wants, it will be better to put the money on Bandai's kits.

They are getting better. Coloring is definitely not the strength of their kits though.

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Hm, I'll see once I get the kit I suppose. I was a bit surprised that the Alt didn't come with any stickers.

Euler said:

Hm, I'll see once I get the kit I suppose. I was a bit surprised that the Alt didn't come with any stickers.

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Hope you enjoy the kit!

BTW, if Kotobukiya releases Poppi Buster, I will buy it in a heartbeat.

The colour separation in the Algebra Soluh I built was good enough, just missing a few parts and it's not even recent.
For the Agni and Interior Union Tellus it seems so so (both still unbuilt) but the Agni is originally a very monochrome robot.

Unlike the Bandai's Gundam series a lot of the IPs Kotobukiya work with didn't intentionally design their stuff to translate easily into a model kit :p

Neo0mj said:

Unlike the Bandai's Gundam series a lot of the IPs Kotobukiya work didn't design their stuff to translate easily into a model kit :p

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Where are the Cross Ange robot kits, though?

Neo0mj said:

Unlike the Bandai's Gundam series a lot of the IPs Kotobukiya work with didn't intentionally design their stuff to translate easily into a model kit :p

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That is a reasonable point I never thought about.

few things i dislike about kotobukiya kits is how hard it's to pose and flimsy, tough i only have zoids kits from them.

Aditya Setiawan said:

few things i dislike about kotobukiya kits is how hard it's to pose and flimsy, tough i only have zoids kits from them.

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Now that is a big flaw with them, especially the older ones. My Armored Core and Muv Luv kits are really difficult to pose. Their Z Knight line, or at least the Type-K, is generally very good at holding itself together.

Jim_Cacher said:

Kotobukiya's Siren from Xenoblade 2
30cm tall
12,000yen

Link

It looks pretty good other than the wings. BTW, if you don't know how to paint, stay away from Koto's kits.

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I dunno, I think Formula looks pretty good out of the box.

I didn't even bother to put on the waterslides.

xEik said:

Then get plamo that is molded in color and doesn't require painting. I assume the one you did was either a military kit (tanks, planes, ships) or a vehicle kit (cars, motorbikes)?

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So, that itch is getting stronger and stronger. How would I go about looking for this kind of models specifically?

Are you familiar with Gundam?
If the answer is no, either tell us what IPs you are into or start watching one of the best mecha anime franchises ever produced (mostly joking).

xEik said:

Are you familiar with Gundam?
If the answer is no, either tell us what IPs you are into or start watching one of the best mecha anime franchises ever produced (mostly joking).

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I can't say that I am. I watched it a bit when I was younger but never followed it properly. I did however own a couple of Gundam toys which I really liked; one was an RX-78-2 and an RB-79 (thanks Google for telling me). I really love the designs though, so I wouldn't really mind getting one either way. And I should probably get into the series, I like sci-fi/mecha stuff mostly.

As far as other IPs, I like Evangelion most of all and Star Wars (which I believe has some kind of kits). And I don't believe other stuff I like has models, but I may be wrong. Knights of Sidonia maybe? Either way, here's my AniList link, if you/anyone wants to give a quick look.

sackboy97 said:

I can't say that I am. I watched it a bit when I was younger but never followed it properly. I did however own a couple of Gundam toys which I really liked; one was an RX-78-2 and an RB-79 (thanks Google for telling me). I really love the designs though, so I wouldn't really mind getting one either way. And I should probably get into the series, I like sci-fi/mecha stuff mostly.

As far as other IPs, I like Evangelion most of all and Star Wars (which I believe has some kind of kits). And I don't believe other stuff I like has models, but I may be wrong. Knights of Sidonia maybe? Either way, here's my AniList link, if you/anyone wants to give a quick look.

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Evangelion has kits, and they are color printed, but a bit tougher from what I heard(softer plastic) however you're in luck the current RX78-2 is the recommended hg starter kit!

Also I'm new to the series too, and I've enjoyed it and the original show dub has aged surprisingly well

sackboy97 said:

I can't say that I am. I watched it a bit when I was younger but never followed it properly. I did however own a couple of Gundam toys which I really liked; one was an RX-78-2 and an RB-79 (thanks Google for telling me). I really love the designs though, so I wouldn't really mind getting one either way. And I should probably get into the series, I like sci-fi/mecha stuff mostly.

As far as other IPs, I like Evangelion most of all and Star Wars (which I believe has some kind of kits). And I don't believe other stuff I like has models, but I may be wrong. Knights of Sidonia maybe? Either way, here's my AniList link, if you/anyone wants to give a quick look.

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There's a ton of great Bandai Star Wars kits. I just finished this one recently.

sackboy97 said:

I can't say that I am. I watched it a bit when I was younger but never followed it properly. I did however own a couple of Gundam toys which I really liked; one was an RX-78-2 and an RB-79 (thanks Google for telling me). I really love the designs though, so I wouldn't really mind getting one either way. And I should probably get into the series, I like sci-fi/mecha stuff mostly.

As far as other IPs, I like Evangelion most of all and Star Wars (which I believe has some kind of kits). And I don't believe other stuff I like has models, but I may be wrong. Knights of Sidonia maybe? Either way, here's my AniList link, if you/anyone wants to give a quick look.

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Knights of Sidonia has had a kit but it seemed a bit expensive for what it offered.
Evangelion, I seem to recall it has newer kits that are better than the one you built.
The Star Wars kits from Bandai are supposed to be easy and look good just out of the box. The only problem being they are only distributed in the US, you cannot buy them normally from Japan either unless you use a reseller service.
For Gundam the general advice is to try a Revive High Grade and decide from there if you want to move to other grades, scales, etc. The recent HG kits are very good compared to the ones released in the late 90s and early 00s. If you can find a Mobile Suit you like the look of, that's always a plus.
Don't hesitate to ask if something you have your eye into is a good choice or not.

Yarbskoo said:

There's a ton of great Bandai Star Wars kits. I just finished this one recently.

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I like your Zidane, I looked for one for a while before giving up. I found a few figs that were either really cheap or extremely expensive

Speaking of Evangelion, here's my Eva-01 out-of-box build:


I think this one came out on 2010 in time for the Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0. It's based on the Rebuild of Eva 1.0 2007 kit, but some parts seem to have been reworked (I have a bunch of unused parts leftover).

I'm planning on painting the green parts with fluorescent paint.

Aries Zeigald said:

Speaking of Evangelion, here's my Eva-01 out-of-box build:

I think this one came out on 2010 in time for the Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0. It's based on the Rebuild of Eva 1.0 2007 kit, but some parts seem to have been reworked (I have a bunch of unused parts leftover).

I'm planning on painting the green parts with fluorescent paint.

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Looks cool, how's the difficulty compared to hg?

Sigh, I wonder if Techromancer got any kits? Although if it did they'd likely be old and hard to get

Mandos said:

Looks cool, how's the difficulty compared to hg?

Sigh, I wonder if Techromancer got any kits? Although if it did they'd likely be old and hard to get

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Part count is higher than an average HG, but lower than an average MG. Difficulty-wise, there aren't any small pieces, maybe the feet is slightly more complex, and the arms (soft rubber) and hands (hard rubber) can be a bit tricky. Otherwise, it's fairly straight forward. There are a few bad nub marks though (I'm gonna paint mine so not an issue for me).

Mandos said:

Evangelion has kits, and they are color printed, but a bit tougher from what I heard(softer plastic) however you're in luck the current RX78-2 is the recommended hg starter kit!
Also I'm new to the series too, and I've enjoyed it and the original show dub has aged surprisingly well

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That's pretty tempting, I always had a soft spot for that one. And it's pretty cheap. One day or another I'll start with the series for sure.

Yarbskoo said:

There's a ton of great Bandai Star Wars kits. I just finished this one recently.

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This one looks great, I'll have to check if I can find it around.

xEik said:

Knights of Sidonia has had a kit but it seemed a bit expensive for what it offered.
Evangelion, I seem to recall it has newer kits that are better than the one you built.
The Star Wars kits from Bandai are supposed to be easy and look good just out of the box. The only problem being they are only distributed in the US, you cannot buy them normally from Japan either unless you use a reseller service.
For Gundam the general advice is to try a Revive High Grade and decide from there if you want to move to other grades, scales, etc. The recent HG kits are very good compared to the ones released in the late 90s and early 00s. If you can find a Mobile Suit you like the look of, that's always a plus.
Don't hesitate to ask if something you have your eye into is a good choice or not.

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The Sidonia one looks quite expensive, you're right. I'll have a look around to see if I can find the SW ones (they'd fit nicely near my SW Lego). I'll probably try to find a decent compromise between the price and a cool looking kit. Luckily Gundams in general look really cool to me.
I'll be back soon-ish once I take a decision ;)

EDIT: I love that there's a whole section for kits on Amazon.co.jp

Aries Zeigald said:

Part count is higher than an average HG, but lower than an average MG. Difficulty-wise, there aren't any small pieces, maybe the feet is slightly more complex, and the arms (soft rubber) and hands (hard rubber) can be a bit tricky. Otherwise, it's fairly straight forward. There are a few bad nub marks though (I'm gonna paint mine so not an issue for me).

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Good to know! Still need to watch one of the Evangelion shows though XD. Thinking when things get more stable(and I have more of a budget) branching out and trying some non Gundam kits(Well and master grade, but there's still tons to do in hg)

Also for some context, Techromancer was an experimental 3D Fighter by Capcom around 2000, somehow got a international Dreamcast release. The designs were by the Macross team, and features homages(or straight up parodies) of just about every classic mech anime you can think of(and even a magical girl one). They are all unique in their own way for the most part(one is a literal pile of junk), although I'm sure you guys could tell the direct inspiration for a few of them. Also every character had a completely different story(and paths that can shift the ton a lot)

Just was a cool mech game

Mandos said:

and even a magical girl one

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If one is looking for a magical girl robot kit you don't need to look further than Hasegawa's Guarayakha's kits from Virtual-On (a videogame with mecha designed by Katoki Hajime, no less).
Variants apart from the regular one include the Hammer Special and the Queen from the Sky.

xEik said:

If one is looking for a magical girl robot kit you don't need to look further than Hasegawa's Guarayakha's kits from Virtual-On (a videogame with mecha designed by Katoki Hajime, no less).
Variants apart from the regular one include the Hammer Special and the Queen from the Sky.

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You know, I still need to try my Saturn copy of virtual on... thing is I could never find a us copy so I have a Japanese one. Designs are top class though, any based off the original designs?

Also this is the design from Tech Romancer I mentioned

Mandos said:

You know, I still need to try my Saturn copy of virtual on... thing is I could never find a us copy so I have a Japanese one. Designs are top class though, any based off the original designs?

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The Hasegawa kits are based mostly on "newer" games like Virtual-On Force and Virtual-On Marz.
There are Kotobukiya kits for the older mechas but I believe they are ancient and most assuredly out of print.

There's actually a shop nearby that carries the Kotobukiya Virtual-On kits. A bit overpriced, but they do have them. Anyone know if they're any good?

Mandos said:

Sigh, I wonder if Techromancer got any kits? Although if it did they'd likely be old and hard to get

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I've never even thought about this before 5 seconds ago but this is now my most requested thing in the universe.

I saw a couple that looked good but they are not shipping outside Japan :(

xEik said:

The Hasegawa kits are based mostly on "newer" games like Virtual-On Force and Virtual-On Marz.
There are Kotobukiya kits for the older mechas but I believe they are ancient and most assuredly out of print.

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What are you talking about? My Raiden is only ten year old!
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TEN YEARS?! God I'm getting old.

sackboy97 said:

I saw a couple that looked good but they are not shipping outside Japan :(

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Which ones did you have in mind?

Cymbal Head said:

I've never even thought about this before 5 seconds ago but this is now my most requested thing in the universe.

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Yep, wanna play a game of name that homage?

Neo0mj said:

What are you talking about? My Raiden is only ten year old!
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TEN YEARS?! God I'm getting old.

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I was under the impression those were from the Saturn era, Dreamcast era at most. So I was assuming those kits might be almost 20 years old but I'm probably wrong.

xEik said:

I was under the impression those were from the Saturn era, Dreamcast era at most. So I was assuming those kits might be almost 20 years old but I'm probably wrong.

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You probably forgot what 20 year old kits looked like.

Neo0mj said:

You probably forgot what 20 year old kits looked like.

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I've built a Master Grade GM 1.0 and it's decent enough in its ancient glory from 1999. A bunch of parts are from the 1995 RX-78-2.
As is the Gundam Alex, old and quirky but it still has a nice presence.

So I don't suppose if I had an idea of a garage kit from Wonfes I wanted there are any middleman services that go to events?

Noooooooo my hg Zeong was destroyed during shipping! Now I have to request a refund from japan through amazon. They wrapped it in bubble wrap with no reinforcement and the sides caved in and destroyed a good number of pieces

Edit: ironically my Gyan came brought fine even though it was in a plastic mailer with a cardboard sleeve. Sigh this is why I normally order things in pairs from the same shipper so they get boxed. I think the bubble wrap did it in

xEik said:

There are Kotobukiya kits for the older mechas but I believe they are ancient and most assuredly out of print.

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I do believe they are out of print like you said, I found a few at a local used store but always been afraid to buy one. Really been wanting that Raiden.

The horror, the horror... sigh why do people think bubble wrap is ok for international shipping. I'm trying to get a refund, or at least a replacement. Least the Gyan was ok so I have something this weekend(this is why I need to order in pairs from Japanese shippers)

Ouch, that sucks. I've had a couple bent pieces but nothing that bad.