This is my blog, let Gunpla be immortalized here! Pt. 3

Hello again, Gunpla Builders! I am back with another small tutorial for the builders. This time, I will discuss about the great art of painting Gunpla. Painting is a useful skill that allows you to customize and enhance your model kits with dazzling colours and precise details.

To start off, we need to go over the three different kinds of paint as well as the different kinds of methodology for getting colours on your gunpla.

From: The Model Basement
A small selection of Tamiya's acrylic paints.

First of all, there is Acrylic paint. These paints are water based, meaning they dry quickly and can be thinned by water from your faucet. Other than coming in a unique range of colours, they specialize in staying on plastic once dry, but have regular strength when adhering to a Model Kit.

Example of an Enamel paint bottle.

The second type of paint is Enamel, or oil-based paint. It dries to a sturdy and glossy finish, and is more sturdy to varying temperatures than other kinds of paint. It requires mostly different kinds of oil to thin, and is slightly toxic.

A bottle of Tamiya Lacquer paint.

The third type of paint is suitably called a more advanced word, with how complicated and dangerous usage can be. Lacquer paints are some of the most toxic liquids used to paint, but they finish beautifully. They can also be 'hot' and melt polystyrene or plastic if mishandled. It can only be applied using an airbrush.

Lacquers should only be used as undercoats, as they are 'hot' and will destroy underlying Acrylic or Enamel coats if they are applied improperly. The main skill is in knowing what techniques there are, and having a steady hand to apply paint.

With that, the three topics of Gunpla paint are explained. Next time, I will discuss the techniques around these paints and also explain the basics of building as well. Farewell for now, Builders!

This is my blog, let Gunpla be immortalized here! (Pt.2)

Box art of a typical Real Grade.

Hello again, readers. Once again, I will show you the different intricacies of Gundam Model kits. This time, we will embark on the journey to the higher-end kit grades.



First, we have the Real Grades. These 1/144 kits are advertised to carry the detail of 1/100 Master Grades in the compact presence of regular palm-sized High Grades. The box art of these are very stylish, and carry a presence of style including their black under-boxes.

Image source: Gundam Wikia

The engineering of these kits are higher than a regular High Grade, and they specialize in pose-ability. The parts are much more smaller and resemble the surface detail of a Master Grade, and they even include inner frames that come in large parts on a specially molded runner. One of the best qualities of all of the Real Grades is that the cost is comparable to a High Grade.

Image source: Wikimedia

The last main Grade available is the PG, or Perfect Grade. From the name, you can make the correct assumption that these kits are cream-of-the-crop top-of-the-line Gunpla. They introduce a gigantic 1/60th scale, so they take up a lot of space and use it well. Details are numerous and immersive, and the inner frame is very stable as well as articulated.

Typical box art of a Perfect Grade.

The boxes these kits come in are large, almost the size of a heavy suitcase. The number of pieces are more vastly numerous than any other kit grade.

The engineering and building of Gunpla is only the beginning in terms of Gunpla in general. There are many smaller grades which I didn't include and wanted to mention, such as 1/100 REborn, SDs, SDEX, and Mega Size.

I will see you guys later. The next post will be about the methods of painting your gunpla.





This is my blog, let Gunpla be immortalized here!

Image source: Gundam Wikia

Greetings, readers. This is Jakob, or rather Crimson Avenger. This blog is going to be about the adventures and hilarity I can create when I build Plastic Model kits from Japan based on a mecha anime. While the name 'Gunpla' may sound strange, it's actually a portmanteau of Gundam and Plastic.

Gunpla comes in different scales, which go up in size but not necessarily quality. HG (High Grade) is the baseline of the modern kit, evolved from the FG (First Grade) which debuted in the 80s when Gundam launched its first TV series.

 

A typical HG boxart.

These kits feature basic parts, but are preferable for being the most sturdy and 'playable' of the lines. They have basic detail and lots of stickers to make up for it.

Image source: Gundam Wikia

The bigger siblings of HGs are the MGs (Master Grade), which tote an inner frame as well as a chunky 1/100 scale. Their detail is much better, and the foil stickers are less numerous. There are also special decals that involve taping the decal to the kit or dipping the decal in water before applying it.

Since these kits have much more surface detail, their parts tend to become much smaller and therefore more brittle. The complicated mechanisms pumped into each Master Grade kit make them less sturdy, enough to make them likely to fall apart just from the kind of play that HGs can withstand.

A typical MG Boxart.

Currently, I own quite an amount of Gunpla that composes of many HGs and some MGs. The other grades will be introduced later in the blog, so check back for an update. With that, I need to cut this blog post short. I hope to see you all down in those comments soon!