What I did on my summer vacation

The new HG Gundam Avalanche Exia!

Yes, I had a week off from work and enjoyed my free time in the sunny locale of chichijima, Japan, which means I spent a lot of time in the ocean. I did, however, sneak a Gundam kit into my luggage when packing in preparation for my trip.

I've been interested in the Avalanche Exia ever since seeing master-modeler Naoki Kimura's 1/100 Avalanche Exia in an older issue of Hobby Japan. But, then again, anything Naoki Kimura does draws my interest. When the Avalanche Exia came out as an HG kit, I took the plunge and picked it up.

Because I was on vacation I was able to build while enjoying other things at the same time. Namely...

Host-supplied Asahi beer! And A&W Root Beer! I can't find this anywhere around Saitama or Tokyo, unless I go to specific international markets, however there is a vending machine on Chichijima which carries A&W Root Beer. I bought an average of two a day. I'm on vacation!

But, oh no! In my haste to get my vacation underway I left home without any tools! Not even side-cutters. Once I made it to my destination I had to search out a hardware store and find something that I could use to cut Gunpla plastic. I ended up getting a pair of 137 yen Nigirihasami cutters. But because these aren't your standard side-cutters I wasn't going to be able to get a good cut when removing the part from the runner. I lacked a design knife to clean up the nubs. What to do? I came up with a pretty ingenious way of removing the part from the runner. My fingers!

For example, here's a standard piece which is attached to the runner by three gates.
First I would cut off the 'lone' connection leaving the two symmetrical connections still attached. Then using my fingers I would rotate the piece so the connections became weak and eventually broke of their own accord.

Then you end up with this. Just some slight trimming and you're good to go. I may incorporate this method when building kits in the future.

Here's the torso. Indeed, you be an Exia.

Each arm is actually assembled using a fair number of parts. There's a lot of places that articulate and the design functions well in this regard. Cleaning up seam lines may be difficult and I haven't yet decided if I will be going this route. It's my vacation, after all. Gotta take it easy.

Upper body finished! Looking good, Ex.

And here's the skirt. I really don't need to go into detail, do I?

With this kit you have the option of building the legs in one of two forms. Big knee caps or small knee caps. Actually, there's more to it than that, but the armour on the front of the legs is where your eyes are drawn.

I built one of each to compare them. I think that big knee cap goes well with the big shoulders, but I'm not a fan of how it looks when viewed from behind. I think I will make some 'changes'.

There are quite a few pieces that are not used when building the Exia Avalanche Dash, but I can't let a nice shield like that go to waste. I just need to find a way to attach it to the MS.

Yes! This will work fine.

Here are all the weapon parts. No real need to show you how they assemble; pretty straight-forward.

The last part I assembled was the 'ski'. I originally planned to leave them off the kit but since I had some free time I thought I would go ahead and assemble them.

The 'ski' looking contraption attaches to the back of the leg and come down underneath the foot. It actually fits really well under the foot and moves with the flexing of the ankle thanks to a clever design.

Here's how it looks with its skis down. Not sure I'm feeling it.

I think it would look better like this!

Will it be possible? I think I can do it. I have everything I need to make it work I just need to 'adjust' a few things.

Here the Exia set up on the stand so as to look like it's flying, complete with all the weapons strapped to its back. That's a lot of stuff.

And then I tucked him away safely for the journey home. See you soon, Exia!

Back to real-life, back to work, and back to Gunpla! (was I ever away?)

Vacation Time!

I really need a break after finishing the Musha Mk-II so I am on vacation for a week. As such I won't be updating this blog until I return.

Enjoy the next week everyone!

Musha Mk-II Gallery

Kit: MG Musha Gundam Mk-II

Here he is, the Musha Mk-II Gundam! This kit saw my first real attempt at using epoxy putty, with better than anticipated results, as well as the use of aftermarket parts.

Frame: Tamiya TS-26 Pure White - I wanted this to represent the clothing that the samurai would wear underneath their armour.
Armour: Tamiya TS-29 Semi Gloss Black, TS-4 German Gray, TS-30 Silver Leaf, TS-46 Light Sand
Decals: Used sparingly. Anything white is the official Bandai waterslides while samueldecal.com provided the silver decals which I used on the emblems.
Other: Kotobukiya Mesh Pipe and Wave Springs


Here's the pic I used on which I based my design and colour scheme.

Here are a couple of comparison shots to show the work done to this kit before painting began.

You can see where I puttied to fill in one of the gaps on the feet. I then used decals to make it look like a cord so it would resemble geta, or japanese footwear.

And here's what I did to the tsuba and the sageo (rope) that affixes the tachi to the mobile suit.
And yes, that knot is tied correctly and it took some time to do it. Damn my big hands!

MG Musha MK-II Step 8: Tying one on!

As this kit is supposed to resemble samurai armour I wanted to do something to the waist area to make it look like it had an obi (belt) of some kind. I detailed here how I modified the waist and chest pieces so now, in this post, I will detail how I got this contraption together.

I had been pondering how to construct it while laying in bed each night (yes, I think about gunpla while drifting off to sleep) so before I even started on it I had a good idea of how I would do it and what I would need.

And all I really needed were some brass rod and a couple of staples.

Step 1: Run the metal spring through the loops as we practiced earlier.

You'll notice the brass rod's length matches the length of the spacing between the belt loops on the side of the waist. I decided to do this because I am going to be hanging the tachi from the belt and if it was just spring the weight of tachi would cause the spring to stretch and sag. This brass rod will be more than enough to support the weight of the tachi.

Step #2: Insert the brass rod.

The 1.5 mm diameter brass rod is just the perfect size to slide into the spring. I had to use a toothpick to push it into the right area so that the belt loops support both ends of the rod. Then I repeated the process for the other side. The Tachi can now hang from either side of the waist.

Step #3: Attaching the spring to the front armour.

This is where the staples come in. I inserted the end of the spring into the hole I had drilled in the front chest armour piece. Then I slid the staple through it perpendicularly so that it acts as a stopper, preventing the spring from coming back out.

Then I repeated the process for the other side.

To get this onto the frame I first attached the front armour to the torso and then attached the waist armour onto the skirt. And Voila! My musha has himself a belt!

Unfortunately, I don't have a good quality pic to show how it turned out. On the plus side, the painting and decaling and assembly is finished. I should have a completed gallery up any day now, although I still have some work to do on the weapons. The construction of the tachi and naginata has been finished and the painting and topcoating completed. I need to tie the sageo (cord) to the tachi and then secure it to the belt and I also need to put the extra-long Naginata together. Hopefully that will be finished tonight!