WIP: HG Cherudim

I'm almost done with this one.

Fresh built Cherudim soaking up some sun.

I decided to get up early on a saturday morning (the 10th) to paint this kit so I can avoid the extremely hot temperature in the afternoon. I sorted the parts a few days before painting. I used Blu Tack on some parts and masking tape on the others to stick them to the skewers. I used Tamiya Racing Green and German Gray for the arm and leg frames and also the backpack. I didn't paint the white parts anymore because the nub marks disappeared after sanding them.

Sorting the parts before painting.

I used the green highlighter again for the clear parts. The clear pieces lie on top of the sticky surface of the masking tape to hold them in place while I paint them.

The result after applying the first few coats. I left it to dry on my table then I would occasionally paint it to let the color settle well on the surface. By the way, I applied the green paint on the surface inside the clear part, not the outer part where you can touch it when attached to the gunpla.

Above are the Shield Bits after painting. I applied a thin coat of Primer Gray before painting it green because white nub marks were visible even after I sanded it. The part felt smooth when you touch it but the white, raw plastic was very visible.

Most of the parts are now assembled. I'm still in the process of decal application.

Pilot drawing pens are very similar to Black Gundam markers. The best one to use for panel lining is tip size .01. I also used 0.2 and 0.3 to paint/fill in black parts on Cherudim's rifle.

Then I used a Staedler 5B drawing pencil to darken the slits on the Shield Bits. If you took drafting classes in high school, then you know the different pencil grades used for drawing. B pencils are dark, while H pencils are very light. I think you can use them for panel lining if you don't want to use ink because the lines could look too dark on the model.

Photoshoot will be done after decal application and top coating.

HG Gundam 00

I haven't done a photoshoot for quite some time so forgive me if some images look a bit dark. I'll try to adjust my lighting when I take pics of Cherudim.

I could have finished this kit earlier but I ran out of blue spray paint. 00's backpack also got ruined when bubbles appeared after I left it to dry so I had to apply another coat of paint to cover it.

You can see here the plastic I inserted into the GN Drives.









The Figma stand was quite effective for a 1/144 scale model like this one.







I forgot to take off the red part on his antenna before I sprayed it with top coat so now it doesn't look clear anymore.



GN-X makes a cameo. Completed this kit after Exia but I'm still not sure if I would paint this one too.







The green highlighing pen I used on the clear parts gave a satisfactory result.



Setsuna's love interests.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

I know I'm supposed to post Gundam 00's pics but let me blog about the first episode of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood before I do that.

I thought this season of FMA would be on a different setting. Turns out, this time the anime will be loyal to the story line of the manga unlike the fist series. I'm a huge fan of FMA. It aired on Animax before at the same time Cartoon Network was airing Gundam Seed Destiny so I was really in anime heaven back then.

Edward still not keen on discussing his height issue =)

It was really nice to see the characters on TV again. Animax did an amazing job of being able to air the episode within the same week as Japan, with English subtitles.

The Flame Alchemist getting a facial to cool him off.



Armstrong, the exhibitionist, still has a spark/star floating next to his face.

I'm really excited for the next episode. The preview showed the time when they were still kids, so I guess this would be some sort of flashback on how everything started. This is a very promising show, the animation looks superb and the characters are kick-ass but funny at the same time.

I got the pics from Random Curiosity, a blog full of amazing screenshots and reviews of the latest anime.

WIP: HG 00

I will probably post the pics of the completed Gundam 00 tomorrow. First, I want to highlight some of the steps I took in making this Gunpla.

The articulation for the High Grade line keeps on getting better. Gundam 00 is not expensive at all and you still get a good gunpla. The model is very flexible; there are many points of articulation on the arms and legs.

I decided to cut off some plastic from the runner of the part connectors (PC?) and put it inside the holes of the two GN Drives. I was watching the 2nd season when I noticed that one of the holes connects with the 0 Raiser in docking mode. I went to Dalong's site to check his scans of the 0 Raiser's manual, and I saw there that the hole on the bottom is necessary to connect it to 0 Raiser. I removed the plastic I inserted inside the GN Drives but stil left the other two. I dont have 0 Raiser yet but of I want to buy one after I get the other two Celestial Being mechas. I sliced a thin strip of the silver foil sticker to accesorize the GN Drives, then colored it with Green Highlighting pen. The ink doesn't settle well on the foil sticker but it still gives off a hint of green when light hits it.

As expected from HG kits, the antenna is not sharp coz it might be dangerous to younger modelers I guess. I used my hobby knife to cut off the extra bits then sanded it. I spray painted it white to serve as the primer because I was gonna hand paint it yellow.

I think I should get me some Gundam Markers so I dont have to hand paint small parts like the antenna.

For the clear parts, I didn't use the Sponge trick anymore (HG Exia). I used a green highlighter pen. It took several coatings to get the clear plastic look green. I left it on my desk to dry then applied more coats from time to time. After Decal application, I snapped all the parts together for Top Coating, but left off the clear parts and the GN Drives coz I dont want them to look flat.

Kinda sucks coz I didn't take enough work-in-progress pics. I will try to get more pictures for HG Cherudim. Next post will be Gundam 00's photoshoot.

Conclusion of Gundam 00 Season 2

Just finished the final episode of Gundam 00. I'm not gonna do an episode summary because I believe every fan already saw this episode. I just want to share my thoughts about this Gundam series.

Pic from Random Curiosity

I think season 2 was better than season 1. I liked how the camaraderie developed between the meisters and the entire crew of Ptolemaios/Ptolemy. During the 1st season, the meisters reminded me of how the pilots in Gundam Wing treated each other. They didn't act like they belong to the same organization. I guess it was Neil/Lockon who made the crew gel together.

Season 2 has many interesting twists. Events happened fast it almost felt like the episode was longer than 24 minutes (21 less the op and end songs). Based on other people's opinions which I read from the blogs, this series didn't borrow too many elements/copied scenarios from the other classic Gundam series. Except maybe the likeness of 0 Gundam to RX-78 =)

I like the characters, including the antagonists coz they were effective. Many didnt like Marina because they thought she was useless. For me, she was a symbol for those who can't fight in a war but desires so much to be able to contribute something. She's also essential because she and Setsuna had a connection even though they barely knew each other.

The innovators dress funny and have weird names but they did a good job in pulling the strings behind the events which happened in the series. I pitied Healing (cutie next to Anew) when she got beaten by Hallelujah, but I guess she deserves it coz she was a bee-yotch.

Tieria grew on me. At first I cant accept that he's a he, not a she. Hallelujah is a better fighter than Allelujah. I guess Allelujah was the weakest among the meisters. Whenever I think about an episode of 00 season 2 I just watched, Allelujah crosses my mind and interrupts me while shouting "Marie! Mariiiieeee!" During season 1, it was Haro (Lockon! Lockon!)

I liked how they made Setsuna and Saji appear older, you can really tell that some time lapsed between season 1 and 2. Heero from Wing and Saji are almost the same, but I liked Setsuna better coz of the way his character developed towards the end.

Neil was the good guy, Lyle was the bad dude, but Lyle was way cooler for me. Sad that Anew had to die, but why did someone who looks like her but with glasses appear behind the female president during the speech? Maybe Tieria created a new Anew (sounds funny, I know) as a parting gift to Lockon, coz Anew was the only sane Innovade.

I LOVE the two ending songs; Friends by Stephanie and Trust You by Yuna Ito. The songs were used in perfect timing during the dramatic endings of several episodes in season 1 and 2.

So now we'll have to wait until 2010 to see the movie and the new gundams (and plamo of course). Maybe the "Dialogue" will happen between the people from Earth and Jupiter. That is why Jupiter was on the background at the ending. Just a guess.

I really enjoyed the episodes of Gundam 00 and tried my best to skip episode reviews from the bloggers I follow to avoid spoilers. But after watching an episode, I'll go to Gordonator and Gundamaniac to read their funny captions. I also love to admire the sharp animation of Gundam 00. Each episode, especially the fight scenes, looked awesome.

Now I need a new anime to watch. I belive FMA season 2 will be shown on Animax. First time to simultaneously air an anime at the same time with Japan. Now that is something to look forward to =)