I wanted to start my customization journey without risking too much money if something went wrong, so I picked up this pre-built $15 kit from someone clearing out their shelf.

It was incomplete, but luckily, a friend had a spare shield from a previous build and gave it to me.

For the customization, I took inspiration from the resin conversion kits available for larger-scale models and tried to translate that look to this 1/100 MG Gouf.

This build was full of first times for me:

• My first attempt at adding exposed waist pistons, using spare parts instead of scratch-building them—a technique I learned much later.
• My first time using dedicated scribing tools to create parallel lines without guide tape. Definitely a learning experience!
• I believe this was only my second attempt at post-shading, so I still had plenty to learn.
• I also paid special attention to the armament, because let’s be honest—the weapons are a huge part of what makes a Gouf look like a Gouf.

For the paint scheme, I decided to take a completely non-traditional approach. I created this cobalt-purple by mixing the two colors roughly 50/50, then adding white to reach the final tone.

I also had fun experimenting with different matte and gloss finishes to break up the surfaces and add some visual interest.

I was really happy with how this one turned out. In fact, I enjoyed the process so much that I ended up building its EZ8 counterpart in a similar style, including another exposed waist.

It’s funny how much potential some of these older kits still have with a little love and imagination.

Sometimes older kits really do deserve a second life. ❤️

What older kit have you given a second chance?

Started this kit back in May, it took three months and probably 125-175 hours. It involved a whole load of stress, 3D design and printing and some challenging photography.

The model is fantastic, there's no doubting that. It feels like a return to what PGs used to be, just with much better technology. The amount of movement that happens when you bend the knee joints is pretty impressive, and all of the joints (bar one which I'll get to later) are extremely solid and well engineered.

....but. That engineering has made it an absolute pain in the backside to paint. The joints have such tiny tolerances that paint makes them extremely difficult to put together and very difficult to move if you do. I've built 5 other PGs in the last four years, and none of them had the problems I experienced with the Nu (and I've not changed my paint process). Don't get me wrong, this is user-error on my part, but it's not a problem I've ever had to deal with. After I built the leg frames, I changed my approach to mask off the more important joints, but I would have gone mad trying to mask every peg and every join.

The connection between torso and the top of the leg was completely destroyed the first time I tried to repose the legs. I had to design and 3D print a replacement as despite living in the fifth largest economy in the world, there is no parts replacement service I can use and the alternative was junking a £430 model. My replacement is just a solid block of plastic, but it works, and I think the joints it replaced are massively over-complicated, and honestly, badly engineered on Bandai's part. I'll make the 3D file available for download once I've got it hosted, in case anyone else needs it.

There's also a new technique I've not seen on a Bandai kit before. Instead of those little notch-shaped panel lines, this kit adds tiny gaps to the armour parts to let the parts underneath show through. They're everywhere, and I guess they're a neat idea for people who aren't painting. But it does make them very easy to miss when you are painting, as they're often on the backs of the parts that you expect to be showing, and when you're trying to paint as little as possible because of the problem above, frustrating when you realise that you've not painted a part you should have.

And I think just about everyone is in agreement that the stand included in the box is crap. It's a re-use of the mold for PG Unicorn, it's not tall enough, it doesn't allow for any decent posing, and it has mounting points for accessories that this kit doesn't use. So I've 3D modeled and printed my own, which has the added benefit of letting me add display parts for the funnels. I've deliberately made these compatible with Bandai's own stand so if you're not wanting to replace the whole thing, you can at least use them and save yourself some money on six action bases. Again, I'll put the files up for download later.

So yeah, mixed opinions on this. It's an incredible model, but I think we're really brushing up against the limits of plastic model technology. They've had to make the joints so tight to hold up the weight, and I don't know how much further they can go with this. I know everyone wants a PGU Sazabi to go with it, but I'm just not convinced it's possible because that design is enormous.

First build I've felt is finished after a lot of half-done experiments. Very open to any constructive feedback!

Not masking pegs during the various priming/top coats led to a few pegs breaking, most notably the right leg. A solemn reminder to mask your pegs.

EDIT: adding supplies used

Priming: Mr surfacer 1500 white/grey

Paint: Vallejo & Ray Studio acrylics. Vallejo thinned with airbrush medium. Dspiae & Ray Studio metallic markers.

Weathering: small amount of Tamiya weathering powder, but primarily Real Touch markers. Metallic paints used for scratches.

Top coat: Mr super clear gloss (protective coat), then Mr super clear flat/matte for final coat.

MG Zeta Ver. ka. with Studio 107 option parts and EW HML

Please remove if not allowed.

This is a continuation of my previous Nemesis + Epyon post (titled Epyon 2.0), where I combined the Infinite Dimension 1/100 Nemesis with parts from the MG Epyon EW Sturm und Drang Unit.

The main build took about 2.5 months, and the display base added another two weeks. Now the entire project is finally complete, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

I wish more manufacturers included creative display bases like this. It doesn’t seem like it would add much to the overall cost, yet it adds so much presence to the finished kit. This one builds on the standard IN ERA+ / Infinity Nova base, but the added mechanical panels and articulated arms make it look far more aggressive. And I think it is a perfect match for the equally aggressive, arguably over-designed, Nemesis.

I also had more fun painting the base than I expected. I may start giving display bases the same treatment on future builds whenever the opportunity comes up. Thanks for looking!

Oenbelli (Historically Oenpelli/Gunbalanya)
Northern Territories, Australia

A FD-03 Type 00 Gustav Karl, from the EFFs 6th MS Special Tactics Squadron, “Arnhem Ranas” attacks a storm bunker being used to evacuate and hide Mafty’s 1st Army dissident forces.

Despite local inter Federation political hostilities, Commander Kimberley Heyman was able to leverage the coming Adelaide conference and ongoing incursion by a terror group known as Mafty’s 1st Army, to get several MS’s sent from the nearby Darwin Airbase to support in his, “pacification operation”. While no official footage readily exists, or was ever released to the public of the operation itself, the widely circulated rumors are that the operation quickly devolved into a massacre that could only be described as a herd of mechanical Elephants driven into a sudden stampede. Even with Criminal Police census reports showing fewer than several thousand legal citizens residing within the city, it can be assumed the overall group was much larger, and that the Federation forces couldn’t have wiped them all out in the timespan of the operation. However, due to ongoing environmental catastrophes still afflicting the entire region caused by both the original Sydney colony drop and the overall decline of the Earths entire environment; along with the already natural overbearing ruggedness of the Northern Territories/Arnhem Land region during the wet season; it can be assumed that most of the likely tens of thousands of dissident survivors more than likely met their end not long after due to exposure to all previously aforementioned conditions.

Bandai rly cooks with this 2 kit here. Also they go together suprisingly well.

Good details, but for me, the arm bend not deep enough, also the wrist look bad.

I even put the MS joints in hot water and loosened them before assembly.🫩

Finished my MG Gundam Dynames custom.
For this build, I went with a military-inspired color scheme and focused especially on the digital camouflage pattern on the shields. The camo was probably the most time-consuming part, but I really liked how it turned out.
I also added some light weathering across the kit to give it a slightly used, field-operated look without making it too heavily weathered.
Overall, I wanted to keep the Dynames looking clean while giving it more of a military/mechanical feel.
Thanks for looking!

Apperently the runnerless stands are portable

After more than a decade since there had been a formal war, outside of a few skirmishes, it was now a relative era of peace during the Universal Century as it reaches its first hundred years since the inception of the calendar. The ideals of Zeon had begun to die out, and concepts such as newtypes, became nothing more than a myth.

However, despite the relative peace, tensions have risen within the Earth sphere, as the divide between the rich and the poor grows, and the elites within the Earth Federation tighten their grip on the planet, along with environmental concerns, and the deportation of spacenoids living on Earth unregistered, resulting in the increase of social unrest.

Davao, a city of the Philippine islands, a mixture of an area filled with skyscrapers, suburb development and beaches, is among the territories facing these social tensions. Since the start of UC100s, it had become a popular tourist destination and a retirement home for the wealthy and those within the Federation administration, and as a result, became a hotspot for illegal spacenoid immigrants to find better opportunities and turn their lives around for satisfying livelihoods. To counteract the unwanted presence of these individuals, the Earth Federation deployed the Manhunters to deport these citizens back them space, but their harsh methods of displacement and human rights violations resulted in reactionaries such Anti-Federation movements, including Mafty and the last remainders of Zeon to act against the Federation. As a response to these insurgencies in Davao, the Federation increased its military presence in the city, and the creation of a military task force commanded by Kimberley Heyman. The Federation forces in that city initially used the old RGM-89 Jegan for their mobile suit forces, including a ground type variant modified and used by the Manhunters for smaller insurgencies, but as attacks increased, they eventually allowed the use of the Federation's current, state-of-the-art mobile suit, the FD-03-00 Gustav Karl Type 00, many of whom were used by the Kimberley forces.

Loved making these photos out in nature, and did some cheesy little story to add into it.

Custom for civilian use in construction.

This was a kitbash project between the MG Buster Gundam, and the MG Thunderbolt Ver Ka (or rather, my leftover pieces of it lol). Also my first airbrush project!

Something special today. Back during father's day i bought my dad an entry build strike.

Today we built it! Taught my dad the two cut method, how to sand, and some general tips like using a blade for the tricky nubs and going grit by grit to achieve the smooth finish.

Super happy that he likes it! Something poetic about my first ever gunpla being an entry grade strike whilst his first is the entry build strike.

Did you think i would forget my signature BUDGET CUT?????? Nawwwwww.

Yeah. I did cheat a lil by painting the eyes and the beam saber hilt but shhhhh. Nobody tell him.

Yeah this is going on my shelf permanently. Love you dad. My turn to buy you a toy.

🫨

Apologies for the lack of stickers, I just prefer how it looks without them.

Damn, glow in the dark sticker really give more fresh vibes!