Strike Freedom - Real Grade

First Gundam of 2013 and my first Real Grade (RG 1/144)

I gave up High Grades (HG 1/144) after building my first Master Grade (MG 1/100) but had read nothing but good reviews about these recent releases from Bandai which seem to be shrunk down versions of the quite expensive Perfect Grade (PG 1/60) kits.

The kit, with great box art

Lots in here for what is a fairly small scale

Feet (the parts behind are required to make a single foot as seen in front)

The engineering of the legs is simply stunning. You cut one large piece off and the joints are all molded in and just start moving with no extra work required.

Lower body and torso done, these come together like a MG with smaller parts :-)

Completed arm and all the parts for its twin.

Armed :-)

Shouldered, these open slightly to reveal the gold underneath.

Face. Even without panel lining it looks good.

Skirt/thruster things fitted to the side, they can rotate back if needed. Backpack on.

Its quite heavy so he has a lil lean on.

Panel lining underway.

Dissasembled for flat coating (makes it look less plastic)

And fully extended with blasters in the hip and dual beam sabres linked at the bases for a Darth Maul look :-)

Finally in the cabinet with some friends

I would highly recommend these Real Grade kits to anyone wanting to try Gundam's. I have 2 more on the way and will be trying out painting etc.

These are very affordable and are priced very well.

Muddy Supply Run - My First Diorama

So this was another first for me in an attempt to get some skills in this hobby and to prepare for some builds I want to do during the year.
This is my first military vehicle and my first diorama or base with more than 2 colours on it even :-)

This kit is a cheap lil italeri kit, the Commando Car aka Jeep


Comes with a driver and a couple of small clear parts.


Only 2 frames here, a little flash and some seam lines showing but nothing worse than I expected and nothing that cant be cleaned up or hidden.


Its a weird feeling getting this far without even looking at the paint racks.



Ok, most of the Jeep is assembled and ready for paint


Primed with Tamiya Fine from the rattle can


Some VMA black in thew shadows (this was just the first coat)


First coat of VMA Olive Drab


Meanwhile work starts on the weapons (where the lack of detial starts to show) and stowage.


Basically assembled so a quick clear coat to protect the work so far


Base is cheap MDF from the local craft store clear-coated to stop anything soaking in. Premixed tile gout going to be the base of the mud.


Didnt want to drag the jeep through wet grout so made a simple jig to mark out approximate tyre marks


Does not look mush at the moment but hopefully it comes together ok


I masked the edge with liquid mask and tape to try and keep things tidier and started with the Tamiya Diorama base wet earth


Phew, it fits in the tracks :-)


More Tamiya Diorama earths and its starting to take shape.


AK Damp Earth and some Secret Weapon water add to the muddy look.


The rocks we more grout in a Woodland Senics mould, which took 2 days to dry :-/ painted with light grey primer and then a Flory Models concrete wash before the AK damp earth was used to blend them into the mud.
Damp earth and African dirt was used on the jeep.



The driver is annoying to fit, the steering wheel only just fits.


Everything was flatcoated and the masking removed


Driver painted and seated, no great but will do. Stowage added


Now its time to get really muddy :-)


Lil bit more Water and wet effects and the Jeep is attached to the base.


Final pics will be added once i get my portable booth back

Revell F-117A Knighthawk 1/48 - Last build of 2013

I guess this is more follow as I built as it pretty much done minus final pics that will follow once i get my DSLR back from my mates place where it was left at new years.

This is my first 'jet' build (excluding an eggplane) in many many years, aprox 15-20 years since i did a f14 badly :-) but the kit has been staring back at me and I wanted something I could get done by 2014 so it is far from perfect but im happy to have it in the cabinet

(click on images for a larger pic)

The kit, nuff said


Not a huge amount of parts with some very large parts. (all primed with Army Painter black primer on the frame to start with)


Tinted clear parts, pity most of it will be painted over or be a small light (this kit would be easy to light with some small LEDS)


Decal sheet for 2 versions, each with 2 variants


Cockpit, no aftermarket parts here (or anywhere in this kit)


Quick wash helps the details pop


Seat is far from perfect but with the limited amount of it being seen it will do.


Decal for front panel cam out quite nicely.


Seat done.


Took enough paints to get the seat done.


Front bay, sprayed with VMA white, hoses picjked out in red and silver then washed with Vallejo Grey wash


Cockpit 90% assembled. Unsure if the pilot is going in or not at this stage.


Getting the wings to join properly was probably the least fun part of this puild


The wings also house the rear landing gear bays


Wings attached (the trays in the background are the generic a4 size warehouse ones so this will be a good size on the shelf)


Vintage Revell


Lid is on :-)


Cockpit masking was fun with the sharp zig zags at the back


Painted the pilot, not that excited by it so leaning towards a landed with cockpit up pose


All the other little parts for the wheels, landing gear, landing bay doors etc


I love this putty for small gaps in tight corners like this


Printed these bases on a generic colour laser printer at work, will glue to something for a base.


Rear landing gear


The primer makes a decent top coat for a stealth finish


Warehouse stationary canvas board will do as the base


Glued on fine, but intead or grabbing the clearcoat i grabbed the black primer, many 4 letter words were used and the bench was left in favour of beer at this point


Looks pretty evil like this (i use cheap kitchen 'chux' wipes as a filter of the booth when using rattle cans so they can be easily and regularly changed)


Almost all parts are ready to go


Base update, as I was worred there might not be enough weight in the nose so I have embedded a mini magnet into the base, ill add the other side to the front wheel of needed.


Luckily I had the other slighly more stained looking pattern, which after drying and matt coat got a concrete wash which helped it look less like paper.


Ready for decals


How could I say no to she sharkmouth variant :-) Pencil was used to try and give some texture/depth to the intakes.


Knighthaks first steps on its new legs


AK products used to bring the stains to life


Cockpit on (that was a tricky job getting it to balance) and it is done.