Bandai HG 1/144 RX-78GP03 Gundam

Appeared in: Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory

Estimated duration: 3 weeks

Bandai 1/60 PG MS-06 Zaku 2

Appeared in: One Year War

Estimated duration: 4 weeks

Bandai MG 1/100 Exia

Appeared in: Gundam OO

Estimated duration: 1 weeks

Super G 1/100 Resin Case NZ-666 Kshatriya

Appeared in: Gundam Unicorn

Estimated duration: 12 weeks

Bandai 1/100 MG MSN-04 Acguy

Appeared in: One Year War

Estimated duration: 2 weeks

Bandai 1/60 PG MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam

Appeared in: Z Gundam

Estimated duration: 24 weeks

Monday 22 August 2011

Project #1: Bandai 1/8 MG Kamen Rider Skull

The project:
Ironically, instead of Gundam, I have decided to build a Kamen Rider as a "get-back-to-hobby" project.
It's something new from Bandai and I have always been fascinated by Kamen Rider since young. Building 1 will satisfied 2 things I had in mind:
1) kill my boredom at home during my recuperating time after my surgery...
2) something simpler to refresh my hobby interest.

Time required to complete: 2 weeks. (been resting and sleeping.. so it took a longer time)

The box cover:

The Building Process:

Started off with cutting all parts from the "tree" then join all required parts using the join-glue-sand down process. Since this is a refresher project, I've decided not to do any modification.

Overview:


The Torso:
Its made of a few pieces which makes the posing so fluid. I noticed that the upper torso joints are too ugly if I snap fit it. So decided to join-glue-sand down. The lower groin part has a 2 piece joint that went thru the similar process. Hopefully the photo shows what I'm trying to say:



The Arms:
Its pretty straightforward part to explain. Only need to join the forearm and everything else just need to sand down and join.



The Legs:
Toughest part is to join and sand down the knee part. Was deciding if I should sand the whole thing, apply putty and redraw the lines. But decided to keep this simple as I'm suppose to be recuperating (another words... lazy). So, decided to fold the sand paper and sand inbetween each line...



The Head:
Decided to fix the skeleton only and leave the rest intact for easy spraying. After all, a small seam is acceptable as in Kamen Riders are suppose to be human wearing a mask. 



The Mistakes:
The head part is where I made a major mistake... Was thinking all the parts on the head will fit nicely.. but damn was I wrong.. and the worst part is I discovered it after I spray painted all the parts! The back part of the head will have a huge seam and it needs to be filled in with putty! I scrambled and filled the seam with my 6 years old Tamiya putty (although it has become thick, I used my 6 years old thinner to soften it). Masking was a nightmare... but manage to do it and sprayed the entire head. Did all this in the middle of the night! Results were not that great as part of the seams was still visible.. 

The Conclusion:
Fantastic build and really enjoyed this project. Bandai really makes very good model kit. And this is no exception. This will not be a 1 off project. With the release of the original Kamen Rider, I'm definitely getting it and build it. Look out for it!

Completed Model Gallery:











Next Project: