S S G U N P L A

recycle bin: gundam tutorials / extra containers

January 12, 2013

nub removal

January 12, 2013

removing nubs is an essential procedure when building gunpla, if not taken out properly it may weaken the plastic or ruin the final look of your model. this process is will lengthen your assembly but it would make a nicely built model

materials:

> pliers

> hobby knife/ sharp cutter

> different grits of sandpaper (500 or higher)

> disposable mask (optional)

> gloves (optional)

so whats a nub? a nub is a piece of plastic that sticks out of the main part when not properly cut, and its really annoying to look at.

so to start of this tutorial, cut away from the piece. by doing so it reduces the chance of the plastic being damaged.

heres a small diagram on where to cut:

piece |----\-- gate
^ cut

you understand? so why cut away instead of cutting it closer and making the job easier? i wouldn't want you to risk accidentally cutting the part itself and end up damaging it. its quite easy to spot since weakened plastic leaves a small white mark on the area where the sprue was cut.

so now thats done, you are going to remove the nub with your hobby knife or cutter. carefully slide the cutter in a forward sideward movement. while your pushing the blade, slowly slide it sideward at the same time, because if you just simply push the blade, you risk stressing the plastic, leaving a white mark at the end of the nub which would look bad especially if your doing a paint less build .

be careful not to cut yourself while doing this.

start doing this process from the top of the nub, and slowly work your way down. repeat this until the blade glides smoothly across the surface of the plastic. but the work here isn't done, though not clearly visible, there are still small, rough plastic leftover.

to remove this, rip a small piece of fine sand paper, i suggest starting with 600 grit.

sand lightly, and finish with 1500 grit or higher. (the higher the number the smoother the surface.)

the nubs should not be seen and the surface should be smooth to the touch. don't think its too easy, imagine if you do it to a hundred more parts, its really tiring and needs a lot of patience, but it does give fantastic results.

i don't usually do this step by step, but for those who don't paint their kits, this makes a big difference.

dry brushing

gundam tutorials: weathering / basic dry brushing

December 18, 2012

hey guys! welcome to weathering 101 which is dry brushing. the good thing about dry brushing is that it's effects are not permanent unlike battle damage, and can be easily washed off with its specific thinner. so what is dry brushing? dry brushing is a painting technique that adds extra details on your gundam like burns, scratches, rusting, and many more. this is also accepted as battle damage, though its not the very serious ones. dry brushing, takes more time than an ordinary paint job, but it is very useful in making your model look more realistic.

materials:

>small flat tipped brush

>acrylic paints ( black ) it depends on your wanted effect

>piece of paper/ cloth

>cotton buds

>thinner

>graphite pencil

in this tutorial i would only be using black just as an example on how dry brushing works, but there are a lot more pigments used in dry brushing.

first, shake the paint bottle a couple of times before opening. when opened there should be a small amount of paint stored on the cap.

using the paint stored on the cap, dip your brush adding a little paint on the tip.

since we are not going to use most of it, rid the excess by dabbing your brush on a piece of paper or cloth.

keep wiping until paint is barley, or not coming of it.

to know if its about right, it should look more like the one on the right side.
(the lighter one)
once thats done, you can proceed to brushing the piece.

lightly brush the edges and the curves of the part, you must do this multiple times before you actually get to see the effect on the piece.
get this right, and it should look like this.

tah-dah! master piece. it looks pretty rough huh? so for the people who don't really like this kind of look (like me), you could "fix" it a bit, by doing the step below.

start by dipping a cotton bud in a dish of thinner and carefully smudge the paint about the piece towards the flow of gravity. this would slightly tint the whole piece making the weathering smoother and even.

make sure to focus on the damage on the part before you proceed on weathering anything else, because it's damage right? try making it stand out more by starting the dry brushing from there.

the final step, using a graphite pencil, shade the edges of the piece to give it a metallic shine.

and thats it, try experimenting on other colors for the dry brush technique like: black for burns, silver for scratches, and brown for rust, make your own combinations to make your gundam look more interesting!

P.S. dry brushing ruins your brush in time, so i suggest you use an old one while doing this.

file

gundam tutorials: battle damaging / basic armour damage

December 16, 2012

gundam webster tutorials and guides introduction

December 16, 2012

battle damage

gundam tutorials: battle damage / melting

December 16, 2012

assembly

gundam building guide

November 28, 2012

barbecue sticks

spray painting

November 12, 2012

paining with spray cans or what we call spray painting is a quicker and even way to cover the surface of the part with paint, than just simply hand brushing. this can be a good alternate for an airbrush if one knows how to make use of it well. spray cans release a larger amount of paint in a wider area which makes it harder to use than an air brush.

materials:

>barbecue sticks

>spray paints

>styrofoam or a box

>top coat (optional)

first step is finding a place where to hold the part while painting. this is a very important step because you should find a way to hold the piece without covering any important area from paint.

th parts with sockets make this process much easier, just find a barbecue stick that fits snugly into the socket and use that as the handle while painting like this:

for parts with plugs, using alligator clips or any type of clip whatsoever to hold it.

its all up to you how you want to hold the part, and once you find a way to hold your piece its on to the painting phase.

shake the bottle well a few times before spraying. test spray the can upside down to make sure the nozzle isn't clogged up. keep the part and the can around 15cm in distance and spray in a diagonal motion around the part, spray in single bursts until you get a nice thin layer of paint on the piece. don't spray continuously or else the paint will pool on the edges and this could cover important details, you wouldn't want that. oh, and by the way you should always remember to wear gloves, painting over your your hand isn't nice at all.

always remember to find a well ventilated area to spray, outdoors is a good idea because the fumes real eased by the spray can isn't good for the your health. spraying with a mask on can also help stop paint getting into your breathing system.

after multiple layers [3] the paint has fully covered the piece, now find a nice place for it to dry.

barbecue sticks and styrofoam are a pair to be used to stand the parts as it dries.