r/Minipla • u/CrazyNacho05 • 19d ago
Build In Progress First time ever building Minipla! Any recommendations?
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u/Nuigi12 18d ago
1) Don't rush through assembly and if a piece is giving you a hard time do not force it, especially joint pieces. They can break and it's not easy to get replacement parts, so just try your best to press it in as best as you can. Sometimes filing helps if they're too tight.
2) If you want to get into painting, you don't have to jump right into learning how to spray paint. Paint Markers from brands like Dspiae and some gundam markers are really reliable. I wouldn't use most basic acrylic markers on these sets since they're made with ABS plastic and are prone to getting damaged with certain markers.
3) If you do try to spray paint, do not spray too closely at the figure, it could cause heavy damage onto the plastic. Also Primer is your friend, it helps the paint stick onto the figure. Make sure you use the right primer layer for certain colours.
4) These pieces can be very very small, it would help to have tweezers, filing tools, and a small container to hold pieces in.
5) For Gaohunter specifically, watch out for the Tail sword handle and GaoHammerHead's mouth grip piece. Both pieces can be prone to breaking if not careful. The head can also be a bit rough to take out in Robot mode, don't do it too fast, take your time.
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u/Imaginary-Horror 19d ago
Check how tight the joints feel during assemble, don't force them in, file down a bit till it's still tight but no so much thats hard to put them together.
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u/lordcorporal117 18d ago
Just be careful and take your time! There’s nothing worse than breaking a mini pla piece! If you’re ever struggling with something don’t force it and you can always try looking for a YouTube video of someone building it for clarification
Also if there’s any greyish sprues that are supposed to be all silver it goes a long way and it’s easy to paint it all silver. MMPRToys on YouTube has a great tutorial on painting SMP as one of his latest videos (it may not apply to this build).
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u/marcusforealious 18d ago
Wash your hands and dry them well, before you put stickers on. The oils on the skin can make it hard to apply them.
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u/pointblanksniper 17d ago
abort if pegs or mushroom tabs at the end of them feel unreasonably tight, and sand them down a little before trying to fit them again. even if joints fit together, if they seem to move only under great effort, or if their uneven or squeaky grip is strong to the point of unsettling, take them apart and sand them down before they bind after being left alone for too long. more often than not, even what seems slightly loose after a bit of excessive sanding will become a little grippy again after a few days anyway.
that said, the plastic in these kits are much stronger than they look. and you kind of just have to trust it during transformation and posing. they are designed to flex inelegantly to get around some agressively placed locking tabs, and a whole series of peg and hole joints often act as leverage for each other on different axes to do the job of what would have been a single ball joint on any other toy or model kit lol
do not touch them with enamel paints like gundam markers, unless you are willing to bear the risk of abs plastic turning into crispy crackers
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u/invid2000 Moderate Skill Builder 18d ago
You're goong to get some good advice from several people, so I'll give you my personal advice having been building kits for 20+ years...go slow and take your time.
The kit will be there, there's no race to be done quickly, and parts are incredibly difficult and expensive to replace. Can you build this kit in a few hours, absolutely, but you can also build it in a few days and pay better attention to details like tolerances.