Gundam Discussion - Twilight Axis

[Edelweiss]

The colonel guy

Sergei Smirnov, the "Wild Bear of Russia."



Never forget.

[Mrbeansman]

So I recently became employed again. Where do guys find is the best site to shop for Gunpla?

[Edelweiss]

My go-tos:

http://tatsuhobby.com/webstore/index...ain_page=index California-based. They're really good at finding old kits, and taking special requests.. also rather competitive in price on most stuff. Customer service is top-tier; if I didn't know any better, i'd say they have someone doing nothing but monitoring their e-mail 24/7, as i've gotten responses quickly at virtually every time of day (even past midnight).

http://www.hobbyfan.com/ California-based. I go through them for resin kits and random shit no one else seems to get; prices are very good, but this is due to their delayed stocking schedules, so it's up to you if you think 10-20 (or sometimes more) dollars is worth a month-long delay or so.

http://www.hlj.com/top/Gun Located in and ships from Japan. Kind of the ultimate in general retail for Japanese hobby tools, supplies, etc. May find some great deals, but they're maybe slightly more expensive over US options as far as kits go, though they also can ship quickly when shit is released in Japan, whereas our domestics will be delayed by weeks. They're also probably the only retailer who will ever stock any/enough of reproduction runs of old kits (I post the Bandai Hobby release schedule for each month, so we know when to go looking on HLJ). They have a Private Warehouse feature that can hold onto shit for you until everything is in, for up to 60 days, saving you shipping costs. I'd probably go EMS or FedEx, there's a reason this is a thing:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/ Georgia-based. They're loaded with paints and shit. Also carry Gunpla, but kind of expensive.

http://www.amiami.com/ Located in and ships from Japan. Another good source, not quite as extensive as HLJ in terms of tools and supplies.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/ Located in and ships from Japan. It's like HLJ, but they seem to stock less of some things, and seemingly are the only ones to get many B-Club resin kits and the like. Regardless of if you buy from them though, they're kind of the Dalong.net of resin kits and researching tools/option parts/etc.

http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/ It's sorta... hard to navigate, but Mandarake is almost legendary for delivering on some hilariously bargain-price recent-old kits. Do keep in mind you are shopping from a "network" of shops, so it may be entirely possible to have to pay seperate shipping from each shop. That aside, there's some fantastic finds here, and not limited to just Gundam.

http://gginfinite.com/home.php California-based. Relatively competitive with other domestics, good customer service. They're the only US-based option for exclusive kits (generally speaking) aside from the terrors of eBay and stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/ Obviously, they sell everything but nuclear weapons.

So, depending how much you're willing to invest, i'd reccommend these: http://www.hlj.com/product/MNESPN-120. They're fucking ridiculous; easily the best nippers i've ever used, and there's a good reason they're called God Hand. You're probably going to have little or no nub marks left behind on a piece with these. And if you do, the knife below will do away with them in short order.

This retractible knife, http://www.hlj.com/product/OLF203B, is my favorite knife. It's got a very solid feel, excellent construction, cuts very well, and makes X-actos pretty sad in comparison. Really, all of Olfa's tools are top-notch; rather cheap, and the blades are very good all around.

Sandpaper is kind of a mix of things: I strongly recommend some variable grits of wet-or-dry sand papers (domestic options are perfectly good). There's also sanding cloth, and sanding pads (HLJ carries the former, and Hobbylinc the latter).

Lastly, I can't recommend Future enough for giving clear parts some amazing clarity and general gloss-coats; it also hides minor scratches. One bottle will last a long time, and it's both handbrushable AND also airbrushable when thinned with some acryllic thinner. It's retard-easy to remove and clean too if you fuck up: just hit it with some Windex. It also mixes very well with clear acryllics, but also food coloring to make some really vibrant clear paints.

As an aside, the only brand of adhesive I know this works with is UHU Tac: take the whole pack, and apply about a pea-sized amount of petroleum jelly to it, and mix/knead it in your hand. That shit is going to get sticky as fuck, and has tons of uses; it can get stickier to a point, until it becomes unworkable sadly, with more jelly (maybe practice with small amounts until you find your preferred ratio). Very handy for older kits that lacked the peg-slot grips modern MGs have (HGs are still hit-or-miss to a degree).

Finally, this site is really a requirement for anyone who wants to research kits in any capacity: http://dalong.net/. The limitation is that this only covers kits from the first Master Grades and High Grades (mid-90s) through contemporary releases. 1999/Hobby Search can cover you for the old stuff and resin kits though.

[Omniyoji]

Ugh, Gunpla. The lil'boy inside me wants this so much, especially the Mercurius

[Mrbeansman]

You always deliver Edelweiss. Incidentally your encyclopedic Gundam knowledge combined with your server location made me think you were a good XI buddy of mine posting on BG in secret to keep cred with the anti BG crowd in our LS.

[Edelweiss]

I started on Sylph back in '04, then moved to Midgardsormr, then we got meshed with Quetzalcotl, and quit in November 2011; in-game I don't think I was anything special. lol I'm very certain we've probably interacted in some way though, during the years I was on Quetzalcotl.

And i'm really no Mark Simmons, though I do try. lol

Aside: I guess Mandarake got omitted from the list somehow, I fixed that.

[Edelweiss]

By the way, as if Gundam Breaker couldn't get any better, now confirmed that glorious OPs like "Men of Destiny," "Resolution," "Silent Voice," and many more songs (OP and ED both, aside from other tracks) will be included in the game soundtrack.

Also, in Famitsu this month, there's supposed to be some screenshots, of which the (amusing) one is many old 1/400 Big Zams against a PG-scale RX-78-2 (in other words, a bunch of 15 cm. tall Big Zams versus a 28.8 cm. Gundam). Good times await.

[Edelweiss]

Ugh, Gunpla. The lil'boy inside me wants this so much, especially the Mercurius

No photo for some reason, could just crop the pilot figures out of the "renewal" ones.. but anyway, the old 1/144 Wing line:
http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN48137
http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN48138

The discontinued "renewal" versions that included pilot figures (and were more expensive):
http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN77160
http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN77161

Hobby Search's manual scans and images:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10161221
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10161219

If you wanted to get close to the quality of the pro-built ones in that image, and judging by the age, they used something like Kotobukiya's 1/144 closed-fist hands (http://www.hlj.com/product/KBYMB-32 these seem very close, so the ones in the image may be the old, old version). Fixed-pose is cool and all, but sonic-welded, fully-posable hands exist now (http://www.hlj.com/product/YLSPPC-T95), and are pretty much superior (though delicate, so don't hamhand it). Some simple painting is going to be involved too, but it's not nearly as bad as you might think.

[Cleverness]

Would of been even shittier if they made Lockon survive at the end of S1.

I think I would have dropped 00 S2 if they said he somehow survived that when it was blatantly obvious he died. Already dealt with that once in SEED, never again.

[Omniyoji]

No photo for some reason, could just crop the pilot figures out of the "renewal" ones.. but anyway, the old 1/144 Wing line:
http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN48137
http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN48138

The discontinued "renewal" versions that included pilot figures (and were more expensive):
http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN77160
http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN77161

Hobby Search's manual scans and images:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10161221
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10161219

If you wanted to get close to the quality of the pro-built ones in that image, and judging by the age, they used something like Kotobukiya's 1/144 closed-fist hands (http://www.hlj.com/product/KBYMB-32 these seem very close, so the ones in the image may be the old, old version). Fixed-pose is cool and all, but sonic-welded, fully-posable hands exist now (http://www.hlj.com/product/YLSPPC-T95), and are pretty much superior (though delicate, so don't hamhand it). Some simple painting is going to be involved too, but it's not nearly as bad as you might think.

I was actually hoping it wasn't a custom, but rather a rare kit I couldn't find. Figured I'd have to do some modding. Didn't know tho they had released a newer version of those kits. I have the older non figure ones. I have about a dozen GW kits in storage from my High School days. I'm still a newbie but a perfectionist so the extra work just seems like a lot more. Appreciate the resources.

Thanks Edel~

[Edelweiss]

I was actually hoping it wasn't a custom, but rather a rare kit I couldn't find. Figured I'd have to do some modding. Didn't know tho they had released a newer version of those kits. I have the older non figure ones. I have about a dozen GW kits in storage from my High School days. I'm still a newbie but a perfectionist so the extra work just seems like a lot more. Appreciate the resources.

Thanks Edel~

After studying them more closely, I think the builder just went over the panel lines with a scribing tool to make them appear sharper (they may have used a small and medium thickness scribing blade, since certain lines appear thicker); this is actually pretty common for old kits. Aside from the hands, everything on them is stock, and basically it just comes down to painting and panellining with a thin enamel wash (or careful hand painting).

Also some minor drilling on those shoulder verniers, to add to the illusion of depth (curiously, doesn't look like they did it on the crotch one).

[Edelweiss]

http://bandai-hobby.net/site/schedule.html

April schedule is up.

As no one should be surprised by, there's a metric fuckton of SEED on the schedule for this month, though it is maybe a little surprising that not one of them are 1/100s.

The old 08th Team 1/144s are back in production this month: the Ground Gundam, EZ-8, and Gouf Custom have HGUCs (superior to their old counterparts), so the older kits of them are probably only worth getting for practice. The Ground GM and Gouf Flight-type do not have a HGUC kit however. Also of note: Ground Gundam vs. Zaku II set is back as well.

And of course, the Builder's Parts line is in constant demand, so it isn't much surprise that everything is getting reproduction runs this month.

[Mrbeansman]

Why are there now 4 SEED Real grades and not a single 00 or Wing one? I'd love a Wing Zero Real Grade Custom or original.

edit Technically 5 with the Sky Grasper.

[Edelweiss]

SEED is just that popular with the younger Millennials (though let us not discount the fact that the remasters are probably the greatest factor); prior to Unicorn coming along, the SEEDs were the most successful (in sales terms) aside from 0079 and Zeta. Fortunately, Wing does have Glory of the Losers (manga) and Frozen Teardrop (novel) going on (though virtually no MSes have really been illustrated outside of stuff in-book); so it probably has a better shot than G, X, Turn A, and (sadly) even 00.

[Xajii]

I am gonna need an Exia real grade stat

[Edelweiss]

Wouldn't hold your breath on that though, sadly.

At least the 00 MGs were quite good (especially since they have the GN Drive LEDs, which would likely be an issue for a RG as far as accessibility/removal is concerned). Hit the clear parts with some Future to make them pop, and it's absolutely beautiful.

[Mrbeansman]

So was there really never a MG of the original Wing Zero? All searches I made into the subject only bring up the Custom that while amazing in its on respect doesn't dig into my love of Transform mechanics at all.

[SurRival]

There is not one. There are some designs of an MG-esque Wing Zero in the Glory of the Loser's manga but you'll probably have to wait a bit until Unicorn falls off the radar.
A lot of people mod one from the MG.

[Edelweiss]

Unfortunately, no.

There was a resin conversion kit made some time back (2010 maybe): http://tatsuhobby.com/webstore/index...roducts_id=597. It's not really exact to the lineart, and it doesn't transform. There was a custom build for Dengeki Hobby some years ago when the MG Wing (TV) came out, that used it's frame and the old HG 1/100 Wing Zero (http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN48288/Gun); it was pretty damn close to perfect.

It's possible that we'll get a Wing Zero (TV) next January or something (since the month has pretty much become Wingsville); as I understand it, the Wing Zero of the Glory of the Losers manga will use the backpack design of the TV version. If (or more realistically, when) it does get a MG, relative to other MS, Wing Zero's transformation is very simple and it shouldn't be a problem to pull it off from the engineering standpoint.

The Tallgeese finally became a thing in MG this past January, and it was right there with the V2 and Wing Zero (TV) for people's wishlists. They're selling pretty good, so i'm sure we haven't seen the last of the Wing MGs. Don't be shocked if the Search Eye sensor on the chest is designed to work with an LED too; Wing Zero's torso is large enough to accomodate one.

[Insanecyclone]

May get back into Gunpla one day again. At least I'll have something to do when bored and it's sort of a hobby. Will probably buy from Tatsu since their in cali and HGs are pretty cheap to start out.