July 26, 2015

HGUC RX-178 Gundam MK II (AEUG colour)

Second finished work in this year!
Started working on HGUC MK II as a side project of another side project.
Didn't expect to finish this kit first but Bandai announced HGUC MK II 2.0 this year so had to hurry up before losing interest and motivation like other WIP projects I have.   


Replaced stock hands with regular size 1/144 HD Builders Parts ones from Bandai. 

Tweaked the proportion a little.
Arms still look funny and thin without weapons.




The right trigger hand has movable index finger and could hold beam saber.
I cleared as much plastic as possible inside 


 and modded the saber handle so it wouldn't have problem squeezing through the tiny space. 


yet I forgot to take thickness of the paint into consideration .....can only hold rifle and bazooka. 

 Duel wielding thanks to the left trigger hand from the builder parts.

I was a little reluctant to build and paint this bazooka because I just finished the same bazooka from GM Type C not long ago. 

   
Close-up

You will notice the chest area has very rough surface.
I screwed up the first top coat and had to re-apply several clear coats to reverse the whitening and get the semi-gloss look.






By now you probably have noticed the sloppy job on seam line at several spots on top of everything.
There were more when I sprayed the base coat but I was able to remove many of them by gently sanding the uneven areas with 1000 grit sandpaper.


 

Don't have any finished gunpla from Zeta era except this Rick-Dias painted long time ago.

Glad I didn't get the AEUG version as my second RG MK II. Will probably convert the RG into prototype so only 3 units of MK II remains in my collection after buying the revive one.


With GM Kai finished last month.
 

  






 




Feel like I learned more about how to fix screw-up than the actual painting skills from this work.
I did try some shading but can hardly tell from these pictures or in person.





July 23, 2015

HG 1/144 Dahack OOB & mini review

Built this last week. Start liking the design because of the model kit.

OOB without any sticker.
You can see the colour separation for this kit is excellent. 

Back

The detail is well above average for a HG kit.
Notice all that small details on the grey piece.

 
Foot

 

Same height as HGUC Gundam but Dahack seems smaller due to tiny joints and heels.

The face piece is tiny as well.
Though two square details beneath the eyes are fuzzy and almost unrecognizable, which is common for Bandai kits to miss some fine details here and there. 


When I saw the online OOB pictures, I thought the yellow parts all had rounded and undefined shape.
Turned out the yellow vents under the chest are relatively sharp. 
Almost like scratch-built ones.

With stickers and some paints.

One major flaw for this kit is that the arm has less than 45 degree side way movement.

 

New beam saber effect part from SB-15 runner, can only be found in some G-Reco kits. 
Comparison with SB-6 beam (pink one), the most common beam saber in HGUC kits.  
 
Love how the beam shield is generated from hand.

Dahack somehow reminds me of the Gadessa family in Gundam 00.


If only Bandai would release Dharma, the outer shell of Dahack.

Overall, Dahack is a very high quality HG kit well worth the price (1800 yen). 
Strongly recommend picking this up if you are a fan of the series or anyone who likes interesting design with nice details and won't be bothered by the limited articulations.