What's in for this hobby anyway? written by TOYMAKER

I just finished reading a post by Kenny Lim aka Toymaker and was totally inspired by it. I mean as I've said a million times, my style was the fruit of Kenny's style coz I practically tried to copy his Kampfer back in 2008 and I continue to get inspired by his builds until now. I have been his fan since I started this hobby and reading a post from him about me is always unreal and inspiring for me.



I am NO way near Kenny or the guys he mentioned in his post, but I am really flattered that he even mentioned me along in the same sentence. I have utmost respect for people with Kenny's talent and I have ultimate respect for people with Kenny's humility.



I was a bit irritated in my post that he stated in his blog and I totally agree on his last statement about " What's in for this hobby anyway? Sorry about re-blogging about Kenny's post BUT I just had to keep this ( the link at least ) in my archives as I could read it anytime I need Gunpla inspiration. Thanks a ton bro, very much appreciate it man! Anyways here is the link guys...

What's in for this hobby anyway? written by TOYMAKER

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GN-X Ver Black Pearl bling modeled by Kriz

This is just in today! This 1/144 GN-X is fabulously painted, I somehow keep on reminding myself that this is not the MG GN-X. The beautiful metallic / pearl  painted kit is modeled by Chris Cook aka Kriz / Rmahza and this is his entry in the weathering versus metallics GB at ZeroGunz.



Kriz painted this with all sorts of paint including pearl powders which clogged Kriz's AB during the build. I love the purple ( clear blue + clear red ) on some parts and I will copy the colors for my Eva kit which will also be submitted for the same ZeroGunz GB.



Now for more photos here is the link to ZeroGunz under the Weathering versus Metallics GB...

GN-X Ver Black Pearl bling modeled by Kriz

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MG FAZZ WIP modeling by Kamm

This build is starting to look astonishing! This is being modeled by Jonathan Kaminski aka Kamm and this is actually his first time to do extreme modifications on a kit. I am starting to think that Kamm is lying and he could have had practiced with older unknown builds already.



This is one of the most popular threads in our forums right now and this is also Kamm's entry for a ZeroGunz GB. Kamm plans to weather this behemoth and he actually has some not so secret paints for it soon. For discussions and tons of photos of this FAZZ, you could visit our forums...



MG FAZZ WIP modeling by Kamm

and here is Kamm's 5 minute video of his FAZZ build...

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next feature! :)

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1/30 Starcraft diorama WIP - Zerg painted

This was my first time to paint a creature with an airbrush as this Zerg was originally hand painted 15 years ago. I must say I had so much fun I think I should do this more often. I still struggled painting those small skin patterns but I got the hang of it as I went along.

After priming the Zerg grey, I then post shaded the crevices with flat black and then gave it some nice thin coats of dark yellow paints. I then used browns that were thinned so much to make it very transparent and painted the skin patterns. The main Zerg skin is basically lots and lots of layers of transparent ( due to thinning ) earth colored paints.

I then moved on to spraying clear red over the red parts and also gave the whole kit a mist coat of clear green. The clear green is meant to kill the vibrance of the red and to give the skin tone a greenish reptile feel to it. I then gave the kit 3 layers of RED future to blend all the colors together.

I will now have to detail paint the eyes and teeth and maybe some more skin patterns and give the whole Zerg some enamel washes to make the texture really pop out. Anyways, here is my first attempt on creature painting...

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next update! :)

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Mg Zeta WIP - Khaki colored diorama is now Grey

In my previous update, I added some more damages and a catwalk on the Khaki colored hangar. I also re-primed it with Bosny flat black as preparation for re-coloring it grey as requested by my client. I managed to paint it it's new base color and have also sealed the paint with future.

I painted this with Tamiya acrylics and mixed medium grey with some blue to somehow give it some sort of color. I will then try to bring out the details and make the diorama look more interesting by applying some rust colored washes once the future has cured. Anyways, here are some more photos...

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next update guys! :)

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This hobby is ART... encourage NOT discourage!

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NO more MAC meet ups this 2011!

Just kidding! Aside from the fact that Skype is killing our forums and maybe even our Facebook forum extensions... It is a great way to chat while building kits when you have voice and video chats on. I finished my X-Wing while Skyping and should finish my StarCraft dio this week while Skyping too.



MAC is pretty much international though as most or at least half of are active members are not from the Philippines. In Fact one of the 3 admins is from the US...yes, that will be Kriz. So as much as the actual meet ups here in the Philippines have been fun. We are actually enjoying our meet ups ( video and voice chats ) with our international members and friends so much more.



Kamm has been cursing for almost a week now, PhantomPain sounds like Hero in Heroes, Hummingbird talks like blur in the old Transformers movie, MatX and Kriz are being their usual sinister looking selves, DCMKii has been working with his FSS kit and a few others have started to join the chat these past couple of days.



I also had fun chatting with Toymaker ( Kenny ) for a couple of days now, though he is more comfortable in type chats. Adam Sonar ( creator ) and Lupes of Gundam Australia Forums has joined us last night too! This is great, we are practically having meet ups every night and I get to build Gunpla and practice my english. LOL



I hope to chat with our ZeroGunz brothers one of these days! ZeroGunz was my first forums afterall and it will be really cool to chat with Rayloke and Ryukaze and the other guys!

On a side note: Kamm is bragging about a secret paint that he won't reveal until I do not know! I vow to know the paint and will blog about it! hehehehe

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Berserker Tiger - HMM Saber Tiger Schwartz modeled by Str1ku

I am very proud to present to you a wonderful masterpiece of a Zoids Berserker Tiger kit. The modeler of this build is Yanssen aka Str1ku of Indonesia and his home forum is Netmorks. Most modelers who visits forums would definitely know him, but I figured I'll plucked one of his masterpieces out of our forums and share it to my non-forumer readers.

Str1ku is very much known for his perfect clean finishes and masterful painting but he has also done some weathered builds before. This is one of the great modelers who does not bother to put up his own website or blog but he is definitely one of the greats guys.

This masterpiece in particular does not really need compliments, just look at the photos and you'll be amazed with the painting and the overall composition and presentation. This is a great work of art from a very good humble modeler at that.

I would like to invite you to see TONs of great photos of this build in our MAC forums and hope to see you join in the discussion. Here is the link to Str1ku's Zoids masterpiece...

Berserker Tiger modeled by Str1ku

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next featured guest modeler! :)

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Space Marine modeled by giganticdark

A good friend ( Troy Dendtler ) gave me links to this awesome masterpiece after he saw my 1/30 StarCraft diorama project. This is in 1/15 scale so this is basically double the size of my project. I hope to end up at least even at 1/4 the quality of this build. This masterpiece was done by a modeler he goes by the nick giganticdark.



This build was also my main reason ( aside from the seam lines ) why I primed my Zerg, as I would like to try to paint it more realistically with my AB just like this one. The glossy finish of the alien gives it a nice slippery / slimy look and the patterns on the skin is extra nice! I am excited to paint my Terran too after seeing how he painted his.



This build also makes me want to revisit and repaint the tarp on top of my 1/35 Tieren. Anyways here is the link to their forums and I highly recommend you check it out from page 1 to 13...

Space Marine WIP by giganticdark

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Fearless - 1/30 Starcraft diorama WIP

I just finished my StarWars X-Wing Fighter and thought to work on my old StarCraft Terran kit and my old painted Zerg Hydralisk. I used to play a lot of the old StarCraft game, I never reached the competition level though as I really suck at any computer game up to now.

Just glued ( epoxied ) the Zerg Hydralisk in place and I used an ice cream container cover for the base. I usually use wood as base but figured it ill be faster to just use the ice cream cover. I am thinking of priming the base and re-painting the Hydralisk as I painted it 15 years ago. I am confident I could do a better job painting it now. lol

I will be removing the seam lines of the Terran kit across the legs and arms and should replicate the texture with Tamiya surface primer soon. I will try to do my best on painting the figure's face as this will be my first time to paint one. I am also thinking of adding some bit of details on the Terran but I have to research a bit on how to.

I know that the Terran should have it's visors closed when outdoors... but heck, this is Sci Fi modeling anyways and I want to show the friggin face. lol... I want to add some blood splattered across the base and maybe a few on the Terran later, but does any of you guys know what color should the Zerg blood be??? Anyways, here are a few more photos of the hole thing...

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next post! :)

EDIT: Decided to prime the Zerg Hydralisk as I saw some nasty seam lines across the tail part. I also want to add more textures to the Zerg using putty or surface primer later. Nyways here are the photos...

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next update! :)

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concept MECHA GB: British WWII Drone by eeun

This is the newest finished mecha for our concept MECHA GB and this cool military looking drone is modeled by Ian Raymond aka eeun. The military color scheme is very nice and the overall look of the mecha is impressive.



I love in particular all those hanging thin wires across the legs and the materials used in this build. The main body of this build is an old aluminum stereo knob and there are not much styrene to styrene gluing. I am still waiting for some close up photos from eeun before I could add this to the gallery.



Discussion of this beautiful military inspired mecha in our MAC Forums...

concept MECHA GB: British WWII Drone modeled by eeun

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Finemolds 1/72 Star Wars X-Wing Fighter

click image to enlarge to wallpaper size

I have been working with this beautiful kit for a few days now ( or a week ) and this kit has been my project during our Skyping sessions. I highly recommend this 1/72 kit by Finemolds as I honestly think a first time 9 year old kid could produce great results with this.

I desperately painted the pilot with red and yellow markers to produce orange as I did not have any orange paint last night. I painted the pilot visors with Citadel Bronze, painted the gloves and boots with black fine Gundam markers and gave it a flat brown enamel wash. It came out ok I think as it ill be covered by a tinted cockpit cover anyways.

I made a few booboos during the build but I really enjoyed this kit so much. My base paint had some nasty small orange peels thus I opted to sand the whole kit. The sanding exposed some of the original plastic and chipped away some decals. I like the effect so much I will always sand down kits that I plan to weather from now on. It is I think a great way to show some natural looking chipping effects. 

I also sprayed too much Tamiya smoke as I was eager to finish the kit already. It is a major booboo in a way coz you cannot barely see the pilot because of the heavy tinting. The overall grey color is a bit too dark for my taste too but it looks ok in the photos. I also needed to reduce the amount of grains in the background of the photos so I needed to photoshop the pics a bit more than usual.

So many booboos for a simple relax build but I had so much fun building this. I am now thinking of getting a Tie fighter to accompany this in a small diorama soon. Now here are tons of photos of my first Star Wars model kit and my second finished kit of 2011...

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next completed kit guys! :)

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