Who would be interested in a guide on how to build Japanese Garage Kits?
Building those Kits is different from plastic models due to the way that the kits are produced, scale and generally structured(fewer parts), also there is a different set of pitfalls and trouble areas. Also a few new skills/tools will be needed.
I was thinking of starting of with an easy Anime figure and than maybe later on doing a Vinyl Kit and a Mecha Kit.
Most probably the guide will be hosted on my website due to the size that it would take photos, etc which I think would make it too heavy for the forums.
The Guide will bassically follow me through the build and I will highlite certain areas and give additional info on specific skill and sun-areas.
hey, Id be happy to do this. However, does it have to be anime? Or can it simply be a resin figure similar to those. Check my website and youll see lots of examples.
Nice figs! You ain’t a gremlin by any chance?? [;)]
I am willing to do the guide, problems is that I am not familiar with the realistic figures like yours, my forte lies in the Anime genre.
Granted I got a Lady Z somewhere floating at home.
Personally, I think that most westerners tend to accent and emphasize their figures too much. There is only very subtle shading in the Anime figures and the skin-tone is very different with hardly any shading on them if at all. Remember we don’t got for realism.
Maybe you can do one for your type of figures and I do one relating to Anime ones.
Would be nice to see the comparison between western and eastern styles.
Count me in on this one! As Peter Knows, I’m interested in the idea of building an anime figure (Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion)… I know nothing about do so, however, but i find this appealing. It’s like learning to build model kits again! [:D]
I went by one of the local hobby shops today and you’re right… Rei is a popular character! I found 3 kits, but all plastic/vinyl… None of them had the Evangelion logo, or the sculptor’s name… these are probably pirated, right (I know how adamant peter feels about getting the original thing and not a resin re-cast)… Is Vinyl harder to work with?
I also saw a couple of built and painted anime figures, and the eyes were something else! i dunno if i can do that… especially since i don’t have an airbrush… [sigh]
It was for me, when I picked up my first resin Kit 7yrs ago I couldn’t even read the instructions due to lack of Japanese, up till than all I had done were AM and similar stuff.
Luckily I met a few people that later on took me by the hand and showed me how to do it.
In the meantime I picked up up quiet a bit of experience and also LOTS of reading materials on “How to do” stuff.
No, not really. But vinyl does not hold as sharp detail as resin does due to the way it manufactured. Assembly is a bit easier, but vinyl takes a lot of trimming and test-fitting. Forgot to mention there are also many Vinyl recasts, easier and cheaper to produce than resin ones.
Painting once the Kit is primed it does not matter what the underlying material is as you paint on top of the primer.
BTW, did you see J-Hulks reply on the other thread?
I think I got about 10 different guides on how to do the Eyes, I will look for the easiest one to include. And an airbrush is the worst you can use, FYI, there are AM eye decals out there. [;)]
Eyes take a LOT of practice and most people do so on a piece of paper, and once you learned it someone shows a shortcut. [}:)]
Hopefully, I will have something up within the next few days to get people started. Still choosing a nice Kit from the shelf.
Hey, how goes your Webpage guide thingie, MMF?
Also, I haven’t found an original Resin kit here yet… so i’m going to buy a little prepainted rei ayanami figurine for the time being… it also may give my clues on how to paint a resin kit when i get it! [:)]
Slow at the moment busy with X-mas preparations and Year-end stuff for clients. Will try to get more up soon.
You checked the “Intro”, it will give you a vague idea of what to expect.
Original Kits are tough to find outside of Japan unless you know you got a shop that stocks them.
My offer still stands to get you one over here and to send it.
hey guys, sorry Ive been away so long. Ive been so busy here lately.Ive been meaning to post a few pics of the couple of anime chics that Ive actually done. I had so much trouble with the assembly of these buggers , that I pretty much just dont like doing them now. Maybe I just got some poor kits, but they were very difficult to build. One of them the legs were way off! I had to keep heating them up and bending them in order to get them to fit right. And they still looked too big. The problem was, it was a chic with a g-string bikini on, and the legs attached at the g-string. But the legs/butt was too big! So basically it juts looked as if her cheeks were just flowing around the bikini bottom. Even after I shaved some off. I dont think I bothered taking pictures of her finished. Anyway, maybe one day I’ll try another and hopefully have better results.
MMF: where is the link to your site? I didnt see it anywhere.
I will post the link later on today, the guide at the moment is on a free server.
Still busy doing stuff on my web-site and will post the URL once it is finished and I got the guide incorporated.
Sounds like you got a bunch of recasts there, granted quality can vary widely between manufacturers over here but it should not be too bad for a mass-produced Kit.
Which Kits were those and who produced/sold them? G-Taste by any chance? That is a range of sick kits. [;)]
Splitting the parts along clothing seams and similar seems to be now the norm amongst Japanese Kits, perviously they split them mid-thigh or mid-upper arm. Which of course resulted in the need for filling and sanding to make the joint disappear 100%. [:D]
I can provide pics of such nice joints, some had/got gaps of up to 1~2mm.
I got the first draft up and running, not finished yet and the pictures are still a bit blurry. Don’t have a good photo shooting environment at the moment, nor my good Digi-camera.
At the moment it is split into 3 sections:
1.) What is a garage Kit
2.) Buying a Garage/Event Only Kit
3.) Getting started & surface preparation…
The next section will take a bit of time as I will need to prep a kit for the photo shoot, Might go with the Scopedog kit pictured in the guide, small and easy for pinning.
That’s really good, MMF! I’d take you up on your kind offer, but i don’t have the finances for that just yet (still living on allowance)! Maybe after chirstmas… [;)]