Ok, we’ve been working behind the scenes planning out this year’s Southern California Gundam Model Competition event. We have a bigger room booked at the same location as last year. We’ve also go tons of new ideas to add into the mix. The group of us shot a quick little infomercial: Saturday November 17, 2012 Fullerton Holiday Inn Royal Ballroom 2932 East Nutwood Avenue Fullerton, CA 92831
Sticky-Tack Camouflage Masking
On my recent Rick Dom II I used the rolled sticky-tack masking method. The idea is that the rolled edge of the sticky tack gives you a slightly soft edge on your camouflage that simulates a to-scale overspray patterns from a paint gun. It’s very common among airplane modelers. Since I don’t see this camouflage technique used much in the world of Gunpla, I decided to make a tutorial. Aircraft modelers often use sticky tack to create camouflage patterns on their airplanes. One method is to blow up the instruction manual to match the size of the model and cut out the camouflage pattern. They put sticky-tack on the back of it and stick it to the model. The sticky-tack raises the edge of the paper mask and allows some of the spray to slip under it and create a … Read More
Gundam Kit Chart
I came across this in a Gundam catalog and thought everyone could get some use out of it when looking for a kit. These are scans of all available kits as of February 2011.  They are ordered by series, so whichever kit you are looking for should be easy to find.  Of course,  to the right of kit name is three columns, letting you know whether there is a High Grade, Master Grade or Perfect Grade available. Enjoy!
Wood Grain Technique
This technique combines a few other basic techniques together to create a fairly realistic looking natural wood grain effect. The first step is to paint the parts with a light and neutral wood color, for this example, I used tan. Take note of the type of paint used (lacquer, enamel, acrylic). Depending on the type of paint used, a protective clear coat may be required. This is similar to the wash technique for panel lines – using the different properties of different paint types. For this example, I used Mr Color tan, a lacquer based paint. The next step is an exercise in dry brushing. I mixed vallejo acrylics burnt sienna and light brown. Notice that I’m using an acrylic based paint for the dry brushing. I can also use an enamel based paint. These two paints won’t mix with … Read More
Decal Creation Tutorial
Sometime in 2010 I finally finished this… I worked on this decal tutorial on and off for at least a year. When you see it in its 37-page glory I think you’ll see why it took so long to finish. Rather than make another massive multi-part series of webpages like I did with my scratchbuilding tutorial, I just made this PDF: Funaka’s Creating Custom Decals.pdf Now you too can make decals like these!!! :)
Panel Lines – Enamel Wash
There are hundreds of methods for doing panel lines. The best method is what works best for you. What you are comfortable with, what you are used to using. It’s a good idea to try out several techniques before settling down on your favorite technique. In the past, I have used gundam markers, very fine mechanical pencils, and very fine technical pens; but I have settled on the enamel (oil) wash method as my primary panel line method. It’s very cost efficient in comparison to some of the other techniques. But there are very specific steps that need to be taken for this process to be successful. Again, there are a hundred different ways to panel line, this just one method – and it is VERY specific. Surface should be gloss coated with either a lacquer based clear or acrylic … Read More
How to fix seams
Taking a look at your standard gunpla box, you will notice how nice the kit in the pictures look. It is after you put the kits together that you notice differences between the kit presented on the box and the kit you have just snapped together. One of those differences you notice is on the two part pieces, they all look like they’re one whole piece, the line down the middle of these parts are missing. Granted this could be photoshop at work done to remove those lines; but for most model builders, those lines were removed using simple techniques. There are several ways to fix seams in model kits. What works best for one person, may not be what works best for another. This article will discuss a few methods for filling in seams. The first method is to … Read More