POISON MONKEYS: March 2012

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

GUNDAM AGE WIP1

Posted by WAYLANDER

This is actually my first time attempting some serious weathering. And yup, as you can tell from the seemingly large hand guards here, this is my 1/48 Age Gundam. I'm still a long way from completion though, although I've gotten over painting, panel lining and decaling for the hardest parts - the whites! LOL. Now I'm experimenting with some weathering techniques on the finished white bits first.

Bumblebee

One of the two Dual Model Kit (DMK) released by Takara Tomy. Bumblebee is relatively small compared to DMK Optimus Prime. But since the parts are small, hand painting is required.

Posted By Altezen

Destroy Gundam

One of my toughest work todate.At the scale 1/144, this piece stands about 50 cm with it rear cannons and a 1/60 Impulse Gundam was used as the base kit for the conversion. Involving heavy modifications and scratch-building, took me three months to complete. In all, 50 boxes of Epoxy Putty were used. I had to order directly from the supplier since no shop carried that much stock.

The toughest part would be the backpack since it has curved surfaces and symmetrically challenging. Can this transform to Attack Mode? The answer is "yes".

Posted by Altezen

Duel Gundam [SD]

Finally completed this little fellow. This is my first ever SD Gundam and I am quite satisfied with the final product although there are some areas I need to work on. As usual I guess.....

One reason why I only produce one SD after so many years is that I hold the impression that it is more tedious than the other scales. Well I'm right, and wrong as well. The parts may be difficult to mask, but it hones my patience and attention to details even more. It may sound weird, but I required more planning when doing SDs compared to the other scales! hahaha...

I have choosen to fashion this SD Duel to a NG 1/100 version I did back in 2006. I thought it is something cool to have a SD version of your previous work.

Posted By Toymaker

Posted by Toymaker

Decepticon Brawl

Posted by Altezen

Legend Gundam

The NG Legend Gundam has the best proportion compared to the rest of the Seeds and the final product looks fabulous! Painting the base was fun as well.

Posted by Toymaker

FORMANIA SAZABI BUST

When the Formania series was announced, I was skeptic. Can Bandai really mass produce highly detailed models? Well after two releases, they prove me wrong. The Nu Gundam half bust was fantastic but the Sazabi blew my away. I could have grab a few if I have the spare cash because it is an hot item. When I bought this for The Timertraveler, I thought it deserves some special treatment. Although it came with a limited acrylic base, I thought that a mechanical/ maintenance set up would complement it.

So, I had a black acrylic base custom made and started on my "mini" maintenance project.

Poster by Toymaker

Gundam Exia [MG]

MG Exia is finally completed! This time instead of the usual blue, I chose to use purple for this one. I'm having problems with the white balance of the camera thus was not able to capture the purple colour.

Like what I said previously, this MG Exia really a remarkable kit. There is not much additional details needed and there are quite a few gimmicks as well. THe LED is really a plus to me too.

Posted by Toymaker

Posted by Altezen

Wing Gundam Ver. KA

Did this one back in 2005. Only managed to take photos of it when I took it off the display at a local model shop. At that point of time, I wanted to focus more on my paint job rather than modifications. So this one is basically OOB (Out-of-Box).

Posted by Toymaker

Cherudim Avalanche Custom

My latest work, a Cherudim Gundam kitbash. Parts from the Avalanche Exia were used. And I took reference from the Cherudim Saga and Dynames Storm customs. Both are very cool mechas!

Overall, I achieve what I set out to do, to create another variation. I like the colour scheme a lot although it can be a bit "dark".

Enough said, here come the pics....

Posted by Toymaker

I have being gunning for this one before it's release. So when I got hold of it, all other projects were dropped temporarily to do this. Basically an OOB work, I decided to brush up my metallic finishing. All parts were painted silver with gloss black as base. And I applied different shades of red for various parts.

Gundam Exia [1/60]

So I have completed it! This will be my first 1/60 scale Gundam. I tried some minor modds and panel lines and it turned out just alright. And since this is a commissioned work, I think original the original colour scheme would be better.

I am quite satisfied with the colours, most of the parts I used GAIA paints as I find they given you a more vibrant colours. However, the stickers provided for the orbs are really a chore. I have to paint the one on the body as I could not do a good job with the stickers .

Overall, this is a decent kit and to be frank, anything that is 1/60 always looks impressive. PG or no PG....

Posted by Toymaker

Devastator

Leon's most spectacular repaint todate, the Devastator!

SCRAPPER

Optimus Prime (Leader Class)

Leon mentioned to me that the Leader Class Optimus Prime is one of the toughest he encountered so far. Not only are the parts small, most of them can't be airbrushed. So more hand painting is required. The flames on the truck is another killer. I have seen others who simply sprayed a top coat over it. Here, he specially scratched a weapon from some gundam parts. What do you say?

BUSTER GUNDAM

A non-grade Buster Gundam done by Leon. It came in first at the local gundam competition many years back. The Buster Gundam is one of my favourite gundams in the Seed series. How I wish it was the Buster who gets the Perfect Grade treatment and not Astray, sob....

Some of you probably seen this a few weeks ago. But I think I should post here just to show you how awesome this is! This PG GP01 with maintenance setup was done by Leon and it is darn impressive. The additional crates, containers structures really make this one stand out. And the orange colour scheme really goes well with the mecha (much to my surprise). Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will post more once I can get a closer look at it....

A battle damaged Freedom Gundam by Leon. Enjoy! A picture frame was used as its base. Quite a neat trick .....

Inner chest is painted in gold to give it the "glow" effect.

When Leon first showed this to me for the first time, I told myself this could not have been a toy! I thought this Megatron looked actually like the one in the movie. The metallic colour is dead on, very suitable for this Transformer.

TOY REVIEW: MG Banshee

Finally I got my hands on this. Banshee is definitely cooler than Unicorn. Maybe because it is a black suit which looks cooler.

Like the previous versions, construction is more complex since it can transforms into two modes, Unicorn and Destroy.

Posted by TOYMAKER

PG MK II (High Mobility Type)

Posted by Altezen

This one is one of the many comissioned works by Leon Ku. No matter how many times you look at it, a PG Grade gundam ALWAYS look impressive when you are done. With some scratch-building, modifications and a few kitbashed parts, a new variation is born - Gundam MKII (High Mobility Type). Enjoy people!

Posted by TOYMAKER

OK. This ain't finished. That's the bottom line. I still have tons of decals to add and I have not even finish the BFG and base. But nevertheless, I will post some pictures of it since Mr Donc has already done up his. THe purpose of this build is to give the O an overhaul. I guess by now you guys have seen enough of those monstrous versions. So I have decided on the onset to do a "slim" version of the O. Of course there are not a single reference I can find out there. I tried several designs but could not find a suitable frame for it.

Posted by TOYMAKER

A few months ago, I was approached to build a Transformer kit for Singapore's first ever Cybertron Con. We have two Dual Model Kits (DMK) to choose from. Both Leon and I opted for Optimus Prime.These DMKs are hot stuff and much sought after in the market.

Posted by WAYLANDER

Here's a WIP build that's been a long time coming.This was for a display piece for last year's 2011 GBWC. The objective is to detail it up like Jap maestro Keita's MG SF. So here goes:

Posted by TOYMAKER

The 2010 BMKWC Finals was a blast and we were very very lucky to win the Group category. The other entries were terrific and I will share with you guys later. Now, I will present to you, "TRINITY".

Posted by TOYMAKER

When I set out to do this, I foresaw two challenges:-

1. In terms of proportion, design and shape, this MG is "Perfect" in a sense. Any additional modifications and detailing seem redundant. The shape of the armors make it difficult to add pla-plates and panel lines.

2. I had to fight against the general perception of a glossy Sinanju. With the amount of detailing and lines I am adding, it would be more prudent for me to do a flat coat. I believe that "Glossy" will be pretty distracting if I want the audience to see my modifications.

Posted by Toymaker

I finally completed this. It took me quite awhile because I have been trying a few colour schemes and was undecided on the best one. Eventually I went for something refreshing for this classic MS.

Till now, I am still stumped at how I manged to pull this one off. During construction, I could not visualise the final product, compared to my previous works. It was like walking blindfolded. It was why I derived greater satisfaction when I did manged to complete it. This kit actually push my modification skills further and there is no doubt, I gained a lot of experience and new techniques. However, personally I felt that I still can push the boundaries and I see this kit as a "stepping stone".

MS-18E Kampfer [Kanji] Custom

Posted by TOYMAKER

This kit took me about two months to finish on the average of three hours per day. Overall the whole experience was pretty enjoyable except for one problem, the quality of the plastic for this kit. Throughout the entire process, several parts cracked and broke on me and that left me with little choice but to buy another replacement. The plastic is very brittle and have to be handle with care.

Posted by TOYMAKER

This was my entry for BAKUC 2006. A few months ago, I was flipping through the the Gundam Weapons and came across some fantastic works of this Japanese modeller, Motoo OSUMI. His creation, "Goblins the gravity vanguard" was really mesmerizing. Eventually, I went ahead with a conversion using a MG Sazabi with such a concept in mind.

Posted by TOYMAKER

I decided to spend some time to work on the PG Strike last evening. No matter how many times I do this, it always look so daunting at first. So many runners and parts! Well, I have been asked to do a PG Strike together with the 3 striker systems namely launcher, sword and Aile Strikers.

As explained earlier, I won't be simply slap on the 1/60 Non Grade Aile Striker parts on the PG Strike and call it a final product. I will probably do a little revamp and redesign the Launcher and Sword striker systems to match the complexity of the PG Strike. I will document my progress here as often as possible.

Posted by WAYLANDER

A little something to share with you guys - a resin RX Ver Ka. 1/100 conversion, using the inner frame of the MG RX 2.0.

Posted by TOYMAKER

Building this kit was certainly fulfilling and there is no doubt this will not be the last one I'll be doing. The EX-S is one of my favourite designs in Gundam Sentinel. It looks very impressive even when unpainted. Assembly is pretty straight-forward considering there were hundreds of parts and minimum masking was required.

Posted by TOYMAKER

This was my entry for the Singapore BAKAC 2005. After trying a few "maintenance" themes, I decided to try it on a larger scale. I chosen the NU Gundam because I'm a fan of the "Char's Counterattack" series and I always find the design and size of the Gundams awesome.

I took about two months to finish this entry and I'm quite satisfied with the end results. Here's a sketch I did for the concept of the diaroma.