My Recent Acquisitions - 1/60 PG RX 78-2

This was half price (ish) on HLJ.com and I had to get it. I don't know why but I really love the design of this classic Gundam. I used to hate it but it's really grown on me - Mainly since I saw Sori Kim's version! His painting is just stunning and it really opened my eyes to what you can do with such a deceptively 'basic' looking model. I won't be using the same colour scheme but I really hope to replicate the weathering style.

My Recent Acquisitions - 1/100 Garbaldy

I've been a big fan of Kallamity's work for a while now, but his models have always been far out of my reach. Whether it was the limited availability or the high prices of the models, there was always a reason I couldn't get hold of one. I was browsing the website longingly, as I have a habit of doing, and I noticed that he only had 12 of the 2nd Run 1/100 Garbaldy's left. I originally wanted a Briegel as most people do, but the more I looked at it the more the Garbaldy grew on me. I didn't have the money at the time, so I emailed Luca to ask if he'd accept a deposit to secure one of the remaining models - it actually turns out he had 8 left, not 12, and he hadn't been able to update the website.

I won Mecha 2012! / Taking a break

Didn't expect this to happen! 

The much anticipated results of the Mecha 2012 competition over at Mechalounge.com have been released. Yesterday Hannah and I took a break from cleaning to huddled around my phone whilst shuffling about in our old empty flat trying to find the spot with the best 3G signal. I've never heard her screech so loudly when they announced my entry as the winning entry for my category (Modified Plastic), and when the the link for mvm3897's best of show came up we where both speechless when he announced my entry as his favourite, and best of show! I've always been a massive fan of Matt's work and he's a real inspiration to me, so for him to pick my model as his favourite means a hell of a lot.

Here are the two videos, I urge you to watch the entire 17 minutes of the announcement video as the other winning entries are spectacular. Decay has also announced the winners on his site with photos, so that's well worth checking out

I just want to thank everyone at Mecha Lounge - The organisers of the competition, Kamm & Sneeper1980. All the other staff that helped organise and moderate the competition, like Harry, Hummingbird & Decay off the top of my head (sorry if I forgot anyone). Also the judges who took their time out to sort through all the hundreds of entries to pick the best ones, and finally all the awesome community members over at Mecha Lounge, it's seriously cool forum to be a part of at the moment. 

Secondly: I'll be taking a bit of a break from Gunpla for a few months. We're currently in temporary accommodation and all my modelling stuff is in storage until we find a proper place to live. I guess this will give me a chance to do some digital painting and photography.

Mecha 2012 - 1/100 MG Sazabi Ver. Gav [Project Hades] Completed

Holy Shit-Bananas. 

Well, here it is. The 1/100 MG Sazabi [Hades Pattern], my entry for Mecha 2012 over at the Mecha Lounge.

It almost didn't happen. I nearly gave up so many times when things just weren't going my way. One such instance about 5 weeks ago when I started painting - I used the wrong type of salt in the salt & hairspray technique and because I was in a rush I didn't test the salt on one piece first the entire paint job was completely covered in huge salty white splotches forcing me to strip the whole model and start again.

Mecha 2012 - 1/100 MG Sazabi Ver. Gav [Project Hades] WIP 5 (I've only gone and bloody finished it!)

HELL YES.

Here's the finished build, all primed and ready for painting. Colour scheme to follow this week, really need to get cracking!

Mecha 2012 - 1/100 MG Sazabi Ver. Gav [Project Hades] WIP 4 (Ran out of primer...)

So these legs would be pretty much finished had I remembered to buy primer last week. It'l arrive at some point next week I imagine, so I suppose I'd better start detailing up the torso (the last part to do). Y'know, I may even finish this bugger before the deadline.

Mecha 2012 - 1/100 MG Sazabi Ver. Gav [Project Hades] WIP 3 (Big Gun)

Bit of a long one so I'll split into two posts - This one will be about the 'Dark Lance' that I was going on about in the first WIP post. I'm pretty pleased with my stroke of genius to use the shield to form the body of the weapon, as it fits in with the model really well. I had the shield left over as I knew this model would not be using it, and I was thinking for weeks about how I was going to build the massive weapon that this thing needed - it took a while to click but is seemed obvious once I started building. 

Mecha 2012 - 1/100 MG Sazabi Ver. Gav [Project Hades] WIP 2

It's been a crap couple of months in terms of finding time for Gunpla! I seriously don't think I'm going to get this build done in time for the deadline, bit I'm going to give it my best shot...

Mecha 2012 - 1/100 MG Sazabi Ver. Gav [Project Hades] WIP 1

Here's some progress on my Mecha 2012 entry. For those of you who don't know, Mecha 2012 is an epic competition running over on the MAC Forums. Tonnes of epic prizes and the best in the world competing. I don't expect to win or anything, but it's a great opportunity to up my game, the competition is pushing me to try new things and really push the boat out. It's a great thing to be a part of, and if you havn't had a look yet, I suggest you check out some of the 300 entries, there's some cracking stuff going on over there.

There has been a distinct lack of progress from me this year. This is due to several things.. We lost our flat, so have been spending the last 6 weekends looking for a new one, which we thankfully have now found. I have also started a new job, which has been tiring me out. I gotta drive 100 miles a day to and from, so I haven't had time to do anything else whilst settling in. Oh, and in the new flat I've got a whole room for model making and painting, so I don't have to use the coffee table any more and might even be able to take some half decent WIP photos!

Anyway, back to my piece of crap entry! Starting off with the Sazabi, I decided I wanted it to be a long range heavy tank like mech, who towers over the battlefield dealing massive long range damage and having super heavy front armour to take all the punishment it will no doubt attract. I went with the theme 'Hades' as I see it being this big purple and black monster with a huuuge long range lance like cannon.