Another Century Episode R

Hmmm as developments for this game are released im getting pretty intrigued by it. This video confirms a very impressive line up of machines. Machines that werent previously shown in screenies have been announced including Strike Freedom, Infinite Justice, Lancelot Albion, Shinkirou, Mordred, Tristan and the Gurren Seiten Hakkoushiki and much more.

BAKUC Competition Update 3

First off there has been a special request for a name change, our friend who was formerly called Mangagastrawberitartcreme will now known as Sok. And one last piece of news which shocked me when I heard it, is that...Hiroki might not be able to complete his model in time for Smash. He's got a 3D girlfriend...Yes, he has abandoned his 2D girlfriends and opted for a 3D version. In the name of all that is moe, this, I think is blasphemy. =P

Anyhoo, back to the topic at hand. My custom Infinite Justice is coming along nicely...better than what I expected initially. My only problem is that I can't seem to find my fine paint brush for adding in some extra details on the head and chest pieces. Of course this paint brush will be used for minor touch up work.

Sok's Zaku is in the still being painted. She prefers to have all the pieces painted before she'll begin to assemble it. At this point in time painting has been put on hold for one obvious reason...we're out of paint. Yeap, the Zaku is a paint guzzler, but the finish looks great. Below are some of the pieces that has been completed this week.

Note guys, that the white pieces are in fact silver..it is just the lighting that gives it that look. More paint for the Zaku will be purchased sometime this week so painting can continue.

So visit us again next week for more updates...and in the mean time, I'll see if I can convince Hiroki to continue with his model.

BAKUC Gundam Building Competition Update 2

Well with a little under a month before Hiroki, myself and Mangagastrawberitartcreme submit our entries for the competition...it is good to know that officially all three of us has started on building our models.

Hiroki has been updating his progress separately, so I'll just update you guys on mine and Mangagastrawberitartcreme.

Our final custom color scheme for the Zaku and Infinite Justice has been decided. So we're up to the painting and building part. To keep things as manageable as possible the sensible thing to do is to paint and build each individual part of the body before moving onto the next. Mangagastrawberitartcreme is working on the head piece while I'm waiting on one final color before I can start to assemble the body together.

Much to Hiroki's shock horror my painting method was completely unorthodox, but once the paint dried on the parts, he had to admit that the results turned out well. Some one was feeling very smug about it all =P

Regardless, since Hiroki knows more about paints than I do, I still took his guidance on board and tried to apply whilst I was painting the silver areas of my Infinite Justice.

So more images for you guys to see.

I know that I am not the worlds best coloring in artist, but these are just rough guides that I will be using for my model. There will be more updates in the coming week, since I only the weekend to work on the model so more updates next week.

Kenji no Nippon Yasumi Pt 3

From where I left off last time I am still in Kyoto. Some of well known touristy areas that I visited are as follows:

Arashiyama: this small and quiet location is around 15min-20min west of Kyoto. The fastest way to get there would be by train and the JR pass will cover that. To get there you need to travel on the JR Sagano line (also known as the JR Sanin line), once you get there it is a 5-10 minute walk to some of the main attractions.

The main temple at Arashiyama is Tenryuji Temple, and is a short walk from the station. The entry fee is about 300 Yen. The temple has statues dedicated to Buddha throughout the temple grounds.  Unfortunately a lot of the signs and tourist information are written in Japanese so I wasn’t able to understand fully the history of this temple. Having walked the designated path around the temple, I reached the exit and entered the Bamboo Grove. 

 The Bamboo Grove was the main reason why I wanted to visit Arashiyama. However left feeling abit disappointed as the walk was extremely short. Still it was an experience just to be there and be surrounded by all the bamboo...it kind of makes you feel like you are part of the movie House of Flying Daggers. At the entrance to the grove, you can’t help but to feel that when you take a step in you are transported back in time. As you are walking through the grove you feel really relaxed and you have no care in the world. This feeling was soon to be dashed as I came to the exit. Walking at normal pace it would have taken no more than 5 minutes to complete. But I took my time, so I ended up taking 15 minutes. ^^

Whilst in Tenryuji temple I lost track of Rose…she’s old enough and could take care of herself. But we soon found each other at the end of the Bamboo Grove and headed towards Arashiyama town centre for lunch. We both entered this delightful little restaurant. I can’t remember what I ordered but I did take a picture of what I had, but it tasted fantastic. I had the traditional fare, misou soup, rice, and grilled fish. All of this came out on a wooden tray...and I had hot cup of green tea to wash it all down. All this cost around $25 Australian dollars.

After lunch we headed towards Hozu River, but again, we lost each other. Rose has a tendency to dive head first into a shop.  Sooo I ended up leaving her in which ever shop was in, and continued towards the river. One of the famous landmarks at Arashiyama is the Togetsukyo Bridge (Crossing Moon Bridge). Unfortunately the Sakura hasn’t fully bloomed at this point in time. Otherwise the entire area would have looked magnificent, with Togetsukyo bridge and the mountains as the back drop draped in a fabric of pink…whoa I can sure dream there.

After about an hour and a bit i met up with Rose again on the other side of the river. Since I had gone across the other side and had gone exploring for a bit. It was actually great to get away from all the crowds and noise. After we had met up, Rose told me that she had dropped her little point and shoot camera. I suggested to her to get a dslr as the camera had a huge crack across the LCD display. With out little adventure at Arashiyama done, we decided to head back to Kyoto. There are other attractions there, which sadly I didn't get the chance to do. If you ever get the chance to go, you should try out the Hozu River Boat Tours, and the Sagano Romantic Train.

After getting back to Kyoto, we had a bit of rest before we decided to head out and pay a visit to Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion). From the Aoi-So Inn, it was roughly a 3km walk, which was actually good since it allowed me to explore the area on foot, so should I ever walk the streets of Kyoto again at least the area would be familiar to me. So, after about a 45min walk, we did arrived at Kinkakuji.

The Golden Pavilion itself looks just like in the images that I had seen before coming to Japan. The Golden Pavilion itself had been restored a few times due to fires and just the wear and tear of the elements. The entry fee to the site is roughly 600¥. The short walk from the main entrance opened up to the main attractions. For me, the sight didn't disappoint, with the body of water in the foreground and the building in background it looked magnificent. Like I mentioned earlier, the building itself has been restored a few times, but the garden itself hasn't been altered since it was first made. Kinkakuji was listed as a World Heritage site back in 1994.

Thats it for the time being, check back again soon, I will have more posts about my trip to Japan soon enough.

MG Exia Progress 2

Its Saturday so unless you need to work its a written law that it has to be a cruisey and fun day! Apart from indulging at the spa and steam room at the pool I continued with my BAKUC entry the MG Exia! Although the chest parts I completed earlier were good I believed I could do better. I repainted them and the colours came out to be sharper I was on drive to make this model as perfect as I could make it. The slightest scratch to the paintwork resulted in the parts being sanded down and sent back to be resprayed.

As requested in the BAKUC rules the models had to be on a display base. I previously had a reject MG Zeta 2.0 so I recycled the base to make my maintenance diorama. In due date the figure of Setsuna will be painted and posed as shown The Exia model itself will be standing on top of the mounts. Keep up to date with my updates because the only chance you will get to see this kit in mint condition without battle damage is on this blog!

BAKUC Update- Hiroki's MG Exia Ignition Mode

I had a free day from work today and believe me I went nuts!!! As Kenji mentioned I am submitting a MG Exia Ignition Mode for BAKUC. This model is in fact my last one so the truth is I am not holding back, I have visions to end on a high note and create something that is way better than Ive previously attempted.

Each piece has three coats black under layer, metallic coat and regular surface colour. The final appearance is a granular consistency that gives the plastic a more realistic look. As reported before  this kit will have slight battle damage look out for later updates where the second metallic coat will be put to good use!

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