The Start of the Serpent Custom
My first Gunpla arrived, and I dug right in. (for those of you not in the know, gunpla are model kits that let you build fully articulated Gundam mechs ranging from about 5 inches to over a foot tall).
See, I initially had a bigger order coming because the 08th MS team was the first real complete Gundam series I watched, so that's where my attachment lies (kinda like how for most people, the first Dr. Who they watch is THEIR Dr. Who). But with back orders I have no clue when thats actually gonna ship.
While I was getting excited to hurry up and wait, I realized hey wouldn't it be great to actually have my first model not be one i particularly care a lot about? Something I can test stuff with?
Thus began the search for a cheap 1/100 decent sized High Grade kit I liked the look of, and had big enough areas to paint. The Serpent Custom fit the bill, and had free 2 day shipping.
That brings us to today:
You're gonna be walking thought this with me right from the start, so if you're new too, strap in, and if you're experienced, feel free to post some tips and hints as i learn from experience. I do have some background in assembling and painting 28mm wargaming figures, but this is definitely plenty different. Luckily, I think I did my homework enought to be prepared.
Step 1: Check contents
Looking good! You'll notice the color scheme doesn't QUITE match the box art, especially for the guns, but thats ok because we'll be painting anyway and I had looked this up and was prepared for it. We'll mostly be ignoring the few stickers because we're painting and they're just for color, no text. The exception is the eye jewel we will add. Four decent sized Gundam runners, 3 BIG weapon runners (seriously, those are a lot of massive guns), and two people and some polycaps)
Step 2: Dig right in!
Opening up the manual to step one, I locate my first part, and using my trusty sharp tools, (a xuron nipper and a standard hobby knife) I get to work on those nubs
First I cut the gate a little way off the part, just to get the part off the runner. This is pretty soft plastic, so If i just went straight for the close cut, I'd risk the extra pressure/odd angle/stress actually pulling the plastic on the part a little. This way, any deformation from my initial cut happens on the gate itself, which we'll then get rid of.. Then, once it's loose, i go back for a closer shave with the nippers.
Still a little bit of nub left, but not quite enough to get with the nippers. Time for some bladework!
Ahhh..... Much better. It feels smooth to the touch, but theres still some scratches visible. Time for the popsicle sticks of smoothness! I have a bunch of popsicle sticks/tongue depressors I've glued various strips of sandpaper on. For this project I'm going to use between 1000 and 2500 grit, because I should have mostly shaved everything to just need smoothing, I dont think I'm going to be actually sanding much off.
Silky smooth! Oh, and I never forget to hydrate either. A nice victory sip for my first cleaned part.
Now I could start assembling here, but I want to paint this so i want to wash off all the sanding dust before I prime, and I'm going to prime in batches. So I'm just going to bag up all the parts from each step until I've cut off and shaved and sanded each part and they're all ready for priming. I've got smaller bags inside the bags for each step if there's subassemblies or left/right that could be confused if left loose together.
I could probably just assemble small assemblies and prime those, but I don't want to prime the polycaps and I'm not convinced I'll be able to mask them well enough. And since its my first model I just want to fully paint each piece, where as later on I may be able to intuitively understand what can and cant be reached to paint, or can/can't be seen when its assembled. A little more of the same, and...... First session complete at 7 steps bagged.
Step 8 is the final step where we cut out all the big guns, and 9 and 10 are just snapping things in, so as soon as we finish prepping those big guns we can move on to priming everything, which will then mean painting! I've got a whole ton of vallejo model color just waiting to be applied. I guess that means I need to hurry up and finalize a color scheme! Off white with grey and black armor always looks good, but I was thinking maybe we make this the SEA serpent, and I try my hand at some blue camo like the navy uses, either digital or brushstroke or a modified dazzle. What do you think?
Stay tuned for more progress - let me know if I did something sub-optimally - and I may also be posting up my comparison of the various retailers I looked at for kits, so keep an eye out for that as well!
While I was getting excited to hurry up and wait, I realized hey wouldn't it be great to actually have my first model not be one i particularly care a lot about? Something I can test stuff with?
Thus began the search for a cheap 1/100 decent sized High Grade kit I liked the look of, and had big enough areas to paint. The Serpent Custom fit the bill, and had free 2 day shipping.
That brings us to today:
You're gonna be walking thought this with me right from the start, so if you're new too, strap in, and if you're experienced, feel free to post some tips and hints as i learn from experience. I do have some background in assembling and painting 28mm wargaming figures, but this is definitely plenty different. Luckily, I think I did my homework enought to be prepared.
Step 1: Check contents
Looking good! You'll notice the color scheme doesn't QUITE match the box art, especially for the guns, but thats ok because we'll be painting anyway and I had looked this up and was prepared for it. We'll mostly be ignoring the few stickers because we're painting and they're just for color, no text. The exception is the eye jewel we will add. Four decent sized Gundam runners, 3 BIG weapon runners (seriously, those are a lot of massive guns), and two people and some polycaps)
Step 2: Dig right in!
Opening up the manual to step one, I locate my first part, and using my trusty sharp tools, (a xuron nipper and a standard hobby knife) I get to work on those nubs
First I cut the gate a little way off the part, just to get the part off the runner. This is pretty soft plastic, so If i just went straight for the close cut, I'd risk the extra pressure/odd angle/stress actually pulling the plastic on the part a little. This way, any deformation from my initial cut happens on the gate itself, which we'll then get rid of.. Then, once it's loose, i go back for a closer shave with the nippers.
Still a little bit of nub left, but not quite enough to get with the nippers. Time for some bladework!
Ahhh..... Much better. It feels smooth to the touch, but theres still some scratches visible. Time for the popsicle sticks of smoothness! I have a bunch of popsicle sticks/tongue depressors I've glued various strips of sandpaper on. For this project I'm going to use between 1000 and 2500 grit, because I should have mostly shaved everything to just need smoothing, I dont think I'm going to be actually sanding much off.
Silky smooth! Oh, and I never forget to hydrate either. A nice victory sip for my first cleaned part.
Now I could start assembling here, but I want to paint this so i want to wash off all the sanding dust before I prime, and I'm going to prime in batches. So I'm just going to bag up all the parts from each step until I've cut off and shaved and sanded each part and they're all ready for priming. I've got smaller bags inside the bags for each step if there's subassemblies or left/right that could be confused if left loose together.
I could probably just assemble small assemblies and prime those, but I don't want to prime the polycaps and I'm not convinced I'll be able to mask them well enough. And since its my first model I just want to fully paint each piece, where as later on I may be able to intuitively understand what can and cant be reached to paint, or can/can't be seen when its assembled. A little more of the same, and...... First session complete at 7 steps bagged.
Step 8 is the final step where we cut out all the big guns, and 9 and 10 are just snapping things in, so as soon as we finish prepping those big guns we can move on to priming everything, which will then mean painting! I've got a whole ton of vallejo model color just waiting to be applied. I guess that means I need to hurry up and finalize a color scheme! Off white with grey and black armor always looks good, but I was thinking maybe we make this the SEA serpent, and I try my hand at some blue camo like the navy uses, either digital or brushstroke or a modified dazzle. What do you think?
Stay tuned for more progress - let me know if I did something sub-optimally - and I may also be posting up my comparison of the various retailers I looked at for kits, so keep an eye out for that as well!
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