Hiroki's Gundam Building Tutorial- Planning

Okay lets say you just got a flashy new kit from Hobby Dream, Hobbyco or maybe Ebay perhaps. Do you believe you can do better than most the kits that are being showed on websites, but don't want to invest in an expensive airbrush? This is the tutorial for you! I will cover planning, preparation, painting, assembly, detailing and decaling. The kit that would be used for this set of tutorials is the SD 0 Gundam.

Planning involves concept brainstorming (thinking of what kit to buy and what to do with it), researching to find resources that support or aid with your ideas, choosing the desired finish (matte, semi gloss, gloss or metallic) and selecting the best colours to bring your idea to life. The final step is to buy the kit, paint and tools. 

I want this kit to look like how it was presented in the first episode of the first season of Gundam 00. The first step is to find resources from the internet to serve as your guide. If your idea is totally original find a black and white concept of your base model and add your own colours in. Having physical resources to serve as a guide simplifies the entire process by ten fold.

It is a good idea to choose your finish in advance so that you can buy paints in that finish. Use a colour chart from your desired company. In my case its Tamiya. Apart from buying paint spray cans in the chosen colours it is advisable to buy paint jars in the same or similar colours in case detail painting or a touch up is needed.

There has been a long debate for which type of paint to buy acrylic or enamel. The paint type is your own choice I like enamels because they are thick and easy to apply but however they can be an absolute nightmare to remove. Acrylics are runnier and harder to apply but can be flushed away with water.

After brainstorming the colours I decided on are Ocean Grey, Matte White, Park Green, Haze Grey (to serve as undercoating), Bright Red (to be purchased) and Gold (to be purchased) and Matte Black (to be purchased for metallic undercoating)

The basic tools you will need are a

1. Modelling board

2. Nipper

3.  Hobby knife

The last two items can be substituted with scissors and nail clippers I use two different types of scissors and three different grades of clippers

4. Brushes for detailing (I dont use brushes but be rest assured that my detail painting and touch up results are just as good)

4. Sandpaper.

                                   

Before work begins open the box and check the parts while they are still in the packaging make sure all the parts are there and in good condition this will ensure that you are still eligible for a refund!

Once you are confident that all the parts are complete in all aspects open the bags, wash the trees and pat dry. Although its not common there is still a chance that excess dye may still be on the surface of the tree. Washing serves as a precautionary measure against excess dye ruining your paintjob.

Once all the trees have been washed it is time to prepare the parts for painting!