Completed MG Astray "Sky Blue" Commission

The MG Astray "Sky Blue" Frame is complete, and it's hard for me to even imagine it being red at this point. This was a great project, and I had a lot of fun doing the custom paint job. I'll be parting ways with it soon though, and I'm very excited to hear what my client thinks! If you'd like your own commission just shoot me an email and I'd be happy to see what I can do:

Gunplacore Commissions

More pictures after the break!

MG Astray Commission WIP 2

For anyone who didn't see the first WIP, this is a commissioned project I've been working on for a few weeks. It's a Master Grade Astray Red Frame with a custom sky blue and black color scheme. I've been making steady progress but life tends to get in the way. Thankfully I should have plenty of free time for a while. Everything is going smoothly and I've just about completed the Mobile Suit itself. Read on for some of my processes.

Iwata Power Jet Review

I've recently started to airbrush a lot more and it came to my attention that my current compressor just wasn't going to cut it long term. I've been using the Iwata Smart Jet for close to 8 months now and it's a great compressor. The only problem is that I like to airbrush at around 20 psi, 12-15 if I'm spraying Alclad or pre-shading, and the Smart Jet has no air regulator; only a bleed valve and an air pressure gauge. This means that it was constantly running while I airbrushed, and believe me, that thing gets hot! I decided to upgrade to the Iwata Power Jet and thought I'd do a product review for anyone interested since I couldn't find a single review for this thing online. Read on for the details.

MG Astray Commission WIP

 

A couple weeks ago I was commissioned to paint an MG Astray Red Frame. My client requested a blue or teal frame with black armor plating. After a little bit of planning, and some terrible attempts at line art (seriously, where do you guys find the templates for your line art) I got down to work. Keep reading for the completed inner frame!

Tutorial: Easy Photo Setups

Gunpla is, for the most part, a solitary activity. The average Gundam Modeler spends hours locked away in their bedroom or basement, toiling away to craft the next best Mobile Suit. When you finally finish that awesome kit that you've been working on for so long, do you just put it on a shelf and let it gather dust? No! You want to show it to people and get critiques and compliments; and to do that, you need to take nice photos. Believe it or not, it's actually quite easy. I see a lot of people advocating light boxes for gunpla photography, but I've found a couple ways to get great results with simple desktop setups. I am by no means a professional photographer, but I wanted to share these methods for anyone interested.

Completed HGUC Unicorn Destroy

Unicorn Destroy is complete! It only took around 10 days on and off work but it was a pretty fun little kit to paint. This marks my completion of the HGUC Kshatriya, Sinanju, and Unicorn, so I'm going to take a break from HG kits and Unicorn Mobile Suits in general since we see them so often. Gallery to follow!

Tutorial: Panel Line Wash

I thought I'd do a small tutorial on how to apply enamel washes to your panel lines. It's a very simple process for panel lining your kits, and it's a lot faster than using a panel line marker. In addition, this technique can be used on painted or unpainted kits, so even beginners can get in on the action provided they have some enamel paint and a little patience. Read on for the process!