DMK Bumblebee WIP 1

    Here's my last post for 2011, fellas!! As the world (or at least everyone in my timezone) counts down to 2012, I'm home fitting some parts and working on my TF project. As mentioned earlier, the goal here is to use the Dual Model Kit Bumblebee set by Takara Tomy and mod it into something resembling the G1 version, yet retaining the sleek mecha feel of the movie.

Unicron (25th Anniversary Special Ed)

    Just like any robot-lover, I've got a stash of Transformers toys to go along with my Gundam collection. I keep tellin' myself that I'll get down to painting the TFs one day but I'm always too busy working on Gundams to start. LOL. So I guess TFs are the lazy modeller's way of buying something off-the-shelf to fulfill an ownership need, and that's that. Nothing else to work on. (Kinda like women's shopping habits, if ya ask me.) A hazardous mentality (for your wallet) too. Ha. But you know wad? It's XMAS so what da heck rite? Hurhur.

GBWC 2011 Winners Round-up

    Aaaaand we're back to Gundam business even before Christmas is officially over! So for those of you in the know, the GBWC Finals in HK just wrapped and the GRAND WINNER has been announced. This would probably be one of his best Xmas presents EVER for Jeff Ho of Malaysia. Yep folks, Jeff's just been crowned the World Champ for this year's 2011. Congrats to Malaysia! You can see more of his masterpiece, the KShatriya IV here.

WINNER'S CIRCLE: ALL HYBRID RX-78 by sori.Kim (Korea)

    Here's a belated post that I just have to add for my personal archives and reference. It's a 1/60 RX done up in Amuro Ray colours (in my opinion) by GBWC Korea champ Sori Kim. What can I say man? This seems like a clean build but look closely and you'll see how exquisitely weathered his colours and textures are. This is realism at its cleanest best! I love the rust stains, chip and washes. Gives it a lot of weight and depth. You can actually believe that's Gundanium alloyed armour there. Enjoy!

Winners' Circe: KSHATRIYA by Budi Salim (Indonesia)

    Some overdue stuff from GBWC - A nicely detailed Kshatriya by Budi Salim, which was the Indonesian champ. Nice colour tones here to lend details, and the segmentation of armour, especially on the wings for intricacy. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL

    Nothing much to post today except - MERRY CHRISTMAS fellas! Hope all of you got the Christmas presents that you want this year (Gundams gundams gundams!!!!). I'll be putting up a lot more WIP posts of my latest project soon so stay tuned. Until then, kick back and enjoy the festivities with friends and families. May all of you have a good one. Christmas greetings too, from my cat Skippy....(The other one's too big and fat to be carried. LOL)   :)

What does a Transformer look like naked?

    Don't be fooled. This isn't Terminator. It's the Dual Kit Bumblebee from Takara Tomy! I started on this project way before my GBWC but had to put it on hold obviously. And now I'm back on it. Last I left it, I've finished painting and detailing up the internal frame. I'm now considering if I should just go for an OOB look and finish off the yellow armour bits for the movie look, or try something ambitious and mod it beyond the original shape into something else!

CENOTE by Ani (2011 Ora-Zaku Winner)

    Alright fellas, while we've been talking about the GBWC, which by the way, ain't over yet, Japan just concluded their annual Ora-Zaku championships. For those of you who have not heard of the Ora-Zaku before, it is THE competition of competitions for Gunpla. It is the MOTHER of all gunpla competitions, exclusive only to the Japanese, where elite masters pit their skills against each other. This is the cream of the crop, folks. And naturally, I have to feature 'Cenote' by Ani on my blog.

HYAKU SHIKI (WIP revealed)

    Hi fellas, I was going through my stash of photos and I realised I haven't posted the WIP pics for the Hyaku Shiki Revised yet! And so, without much ado, here they are! My apologies if there are parts unaccounted for in the pics, as I did not have the time to stop and snap a pic at every step. It was a mad rush to the GBWC finish line! I still have light years to go before my mod skills reach the standard of the pros out there, but if any of you have queries about how I did certain parts that are not illustrated here, feel free to message me. Here goes:

Art of Transformers: Livio Ramondelli tribute

Megatron Full Armour

    It's hard not to be a fan of Transformers if you like Gundams, and especially if you grew up in the 80s. I just need to keep these gorgeous illustrations from the covers and pages of the Chaos series in the TF comics published by IDW. Particularly, the luscious art of my idol Livio Ramondelli. Just look at the texture and lighting of his artwork. Sublime! You can even come up with some design, dio, colouring and weathering ideas from his drawings for Gundam, why not? Long live Livio!!

Gundam Age EP 9 Review (and stuff)

    Following on the Gundam Age series momentum, I'll get to Ep9 shortly, but before that, I've gotta comment on the preview picture of Generation 2 of the series, which was released by Gundam Guy. And in the background, we see the Age-Raiser Gundam...sorry...I meant Age-2 Gundam!! LOL.

Bumblebee (Alternative designs?)

    I've got a bee in my bonnet recently. A bumblebee. Hurhur. Y'all know that lovable Autobot scout from Transformers. Well I'm thinking that I might wanna convert this little yellow fellow into something cooler than the movie version.

Transformers: The Ride (Universal Studios Singapore)

    For those of you in Singapore and the US, here's a pic at what the new Transformers The Ride will look like! It's already up and running at Universal Studios Singapore, where I managed to preview it and get some pics for you guys (job perk). Michael Bay came down for the opening a week ago. I hear the US version is due next year in Hollywood.

Masterclass: GP05 by Forma UC

    Every once in a while I'll be featuring some works by the Jap maestros themselves. These are collated stuff taken from my various surfing expeditions for gundam porn. lol. Naturally, stuff by the Japanese still sets the standard. I present to you, an impeccably detailed GP, customised to perfection. I'm not sure about the name of this modeller, but I think it's safe to assume he's a member of nBlood, a high-level group of Jap modellers, whose works certainly are the benchmark we should strive to meet and surpass.

Hot Toys Captain America

   And since it's off-season, here's a non-mecha post - Captain America by Hot Toys!!!! Woohoo. I'm not exactly a huge fan of Hot Toys 'cos their prices are not cheap and there's nothing much you can do with an action figure doll other than to put it on display. But I bought the Cap at the Toy Convention coupla months back when it was available for pre-order at $200, which is a steal by Hot Toys standards.

GUNDAM AGE EP 8 REVIEW

    Let's get back to the ongoing Gundam Age series!! I've skipped a few Eps cos I don't wanna bore you guys out with a review for every single show. I'll only talk about ones where there are things to talk about, and Ep 8 didn't offer anything mind-blowing in terms of plot, but it did have lotsa action and new suits. Namely, Age Gundam's brute form - the Titus, is revealed.

The O - Land combat version by Sopp0310

    I just have to feature this monster. It seems The O is a perfect canvas for monstrosity...Monstrosity in a GOOD way. There's something about its grotesque shape and form that lends itself to some awesome mods, and in the right hands, such as those we've seen from DC23, Toymaker, and now, this fella whose name I'm still not sure of (anybody know?), here is yet another crazy incarnation of this monster suit.

Winners' Circle: Sazabi by Moscower

    Alright fellas, this one deserves a feature just solely based on the fact that it's the representative from my own country for the 2011 GBWC Finals in HK! To be honest, I totally overlooked this monster in the beginning, but upon close inspection and after you see Moscower's WIP pics, you'll realise how high-level his mods are. They're INSANE! I think judge Kawaguchi san probably thought it was resin kit!!!

S'pore GBWC 2011 results

    Woohoo a 3rd place finish is good enough for me this year! This is my first time breaking into the Top 3 placing, since starting out as Best Newcomer last year. Once again, two persons that deserve the biggest thanks for this result (which to be honest, I wasn't expecting - there're a coupla more impressive entires in this year's compy so I thought my chances were slim for even a Top 3): Toymaker, as always, for his guidance, and *ahem* my girlfriend, for her patience with this hobby.

Winners' Circle: Kshatriya IV by Jeff Ho

    I'm rooting for this fella even though it's not from my country. Need I say more? This is the winner from Malaysia - a BADASS four-legged Kshatriya with a cannon arm. Exquisite use of shaded tones, and you won't even believe it if I told you this is apparently Jeff's first time attempting a weathered build. WOW.

Winners' Circle: WISH by yamatatu

        Here's something I thought I should have in my archives just for personal record. As y'all should know by now, it's Japan's winner for the GBWC, which means this is what you're up against if you represent your country in the Finals in HK next month. 

GBWC 2011 M'sia (Coverage and results)

    WOW it seems results from around the region are flying in left right and centre! I've just gotten permission from two gracious people - Zero G members Wax, and Becky Law to use their pics of the entries over in Malaysia, when the results there got announced. From the pics alone I dare say the standard of kits in Malaysia is better than ours! So if any of you haven't already heard, here's a lowdown of the Msian entries, and the grand winner who'll go to Japan for the Finals (above). A sublimely weathered four-legged monster Kshatriya by Jeff Ho. Congrats bro!

GBWC 2011 Philipppines (coverage and results)

    While we await the results for the GBWC here in S'pore, lets hop over for a peek at what's going down in the Philippines! Judging from the slew of pics, they have tons of entries man. Special thanks to Dark Workx and Don (DC23), for whom all the pics you see here are from.

GBWC INDON FEATURE & RESULTS

    Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I gather from a Thai forum that the results over in Indo are out.

GBWC S'pore feature

    Alright fellas, it's that time of the year again when the Gundam compy comes to town! This year's one coincides also with the annual Gundam Expo, so besides competition entries, there are products and sneak peeks galore from Bandai.

THE O - by toymaker

    Most of you who read my blog are probably already readers of Toymaker's blog anyway, but I have to post this for my own personal reference. In my opinion it's a big shame this kit didn't make it to our GBWC in S'pore cos it's still a work-in-progress. There's a base and a BFG to come, and more detailing of parts.

GBWC 2011: HYAKU SHIKI REVISED

 
 Thanks for being patient folks! And now, with just two days to go, I've finally got decent photos of my entry to showcase. I present to you - Hyaku Shiki Revised. (The Forgotten Warrior)

5 MORE DAYS!!! GOODIES LOWDOWN

Alright fellas, I just got more info on the limited goodies that will be available at the Gundam Expo/ GBWC event next week. Check 'em out below! Are you drooling yet? Heh.

JAPAN GBWC RESULTS

Let's take some of the attention away from things happening on our side of the world for a while, and look at the GBWC on Japan's side, shall we? Yep, the Japs are taking part in this year's compy too. Their results are out. The pics are taken from Crunchyroll, so due credit to them.

THE FORGOTTEN WARRIOR

   

    This is what you do after a big weight have been lifted off your shoulders since completing my GBWC entry in time for the deadline. I guess you can call it...a 'release'. LOL. While I'm still working on proper photos of my Delta to post, I just felt like spinning a side story for the project, which weaves into the Trinity Secret War saga that I did for a group build by some of my friends last year. People who don't like to read, you can tune out here, 'cos it's mostly words. But if you're kind enough to indulge me on this, you can more or less guess what MS (nope it's not the Delta, even though I use that as a base kit!) I will be presenting for the competition. I hope that my words entertain. Enjoy folks!

EMO POST

   
    As we near the deadline of submission for my competition, I can't help but feel excited yet pensive at the same time, over some everyday observations and stuff about life in general. There are still some touch-ups that I would like to do on my Delta, but I'm not sure if I have that luxury....I do however, have the luxury of posting this though. Lol. So here goes....

THE FINAL PEEK

    Okay guys, I'm just being a tease but ya know, it's only over a week more to the competition. I'm in the final strecth now and painting my dio. The delta is done and I'm eager to show it but I like the suspense at this time, so just bear with me and once I get some proper photography done and the entry's been signed and sealed into the compy, I'll post everything, including WIPs. For now, let's just have fun with these! :P

GUNDAM EXPO IS COMING TO TOWN!!!

    It's finally here, folks! The annual Gundam Expo for Singapore, held in conjunction this year with the GBWC for which I'll be participating in. What's there to expect? Lots of limited edition exclusive items, the latest line-up of kits and possible sneak peeks at coming ones, an appearance by Mr MG himself Kawaguchi san (creator of the MG kits), and a Bearguy display and competition. Woot! Oh, did I leave out the ahem, Gundam girls? LOL.

    On a side note, the organisers are also looking for promoters to help them with the event. Interested parties can call Shengtai's (local distributor of Bandai's kits) office and ask for Jeff: 6743-3636

    See y'all there!

gundam age ep4 review

 
 This is probably a bit late guys, sorry, as I've been busy completing my GBWC project. I'm in the final stretch now and should be able to finish by the deadline (one more wk!) barring no major screwups!! Anyway, back to Gundam Age. Episode 4 sees our hero introduced to wiseguy ace Woolf Enneacle.

Project GBWC sneak peek

    I've been busy all working on my GBWC entry. It's down to the final stretch!! While I won't be posting anymore WIPs 'cos I seriously don't have the time to flip on a cam and take pics, here's a warped 'lil' pic at how the final product's gonna look like. Lol.

GUNDAM AGE EP 3 review

        Just came off watching Ep 3 of Gundam Age. I'll say this. This one delivers the punch I've been looking out for since Ep 1. While Ep 1 didn't really have the epic entrance of a Gundam like Setsuna's Exia in 00, this Ep takes the cake in terms of fireworks, battle scenes and character depth.

WHAT'S YOUR GUN?

    My new fad of the moment are guns. They are the most underrated part of Gunpla, I feel. Cos most people concentrate on the mecha itself or the dio as a whole. But few give serious thought and work to guns. If I had all the time in the world for my GBWC piece, I'll give some serious effort to the gun. After all, a Gundam is only as good as its weapons, no? lol. Here are a few alternative concepts from non-Gundam genres that I've come across. Good for inspiration. Seen better? Feel free to share any of yours!

DELTA MAXIMUS WIP2

I elongated the neck so that the head can swivel left and right without obstruction by the collar armour, as is what usually happens with OOB kits. Then just added a bit of wiring details.

    One of the last few GBWC WIPs I'll be posting as I near the final phase and go into tunnel-vision mode guys! I'm about done detailing up the torso of my Delta, as you will see.

Panel-line scribing

   Okay this is just a quick post for one of my readers Darkworkx, who asked about panel line scribing. I found it a bit too cumbersome to explain it at the box chat on the side. Firstly, this video is NOT by me. Just something I found on Youtube. It's also not the ONLY method of scribing panel lines, but I think it's pretty comprehensive.

GUNDAM AGE EP2 REVIEW

    Okay guys, I've had my weekly dose of Gundam Age. After the second and latest episode, here're my thoughts (Beware - Spoilers ahead!):

HG 1/144 ZEDAS commentary

    Check it out, fellas - New images of the enemy in Gundam Age - the Zedas MS (are they even mobile suits??) have been released on Gundam Guy. Here are my thoughts on the design - NOT BAD. Not bad at all, actually! I was all ready to condemn the Age designs, but I gotta admit, some of them are starting to grow on me.

DELTA MAXIMUS WIP

 

    Okay fellas, finally I've got something decent enough to show. THIS, is my GBWC project - the Delta Maximus!!! As you can see, it's still nowhere near completion. But I think I've got the rough form of the mecha pinned down. The objective was to armour up the Delta Plus, give it an alternate colour scheme, and turn it into one souped up version as badass as the Sinanju, but as heroic as any Gundam.

GUNDAM AGE EP1 review

    I've just finished watching the first episode of Gundam Age. So thought I'd list down some observations without too much spoilers.

GUNDAM CENTRAL?

    I'm excited fellas. Cos HAG's workshop is finally opening. Yeah you heard right, friends in Singapore. HAG is opening a workshop...an ACTUAL workshop that will sell kits, supplies AND hold classes with airbrush facilities to boot. Oh, and throw in displays too. The works.

Songs to make gundams by

    When I was a basketball player for my school, I would psyche myself up by listening to some kickass music just before a game. It may be a song, or a soundtrack from a movie, whatever. You know....the kind that gives you goosebumps....that makes you wanna go out there and take over. The kind that they play in those sports movies, where the team's running past the lockers, through the narrow corridor and into the arena for their make-or-break game, or in movies where the hero and stuff arrives. Hero music. Crap that, as you're taking a shave in the morning and listening to, makes you feel as though your shave's gonna decide the fate of the world, or stuff that makes you feel like you're a genius at work, even if you're just taking a shit. LOL

Gundam Age HG (in action)

    Howzit goin guys? Since y'all been so patient I've decided to give you Gundam Age 1 in all his Ninja glory! As I've said, Bandai deserves credit for the engineering behind this one. So simplistic, yet sublimely elegant. That's all I can say. While I still have my reservations about the designs of this series, lets just sit back and watch this kit come to life eh? I'm tellin' you. He's one BADASS NINJA. Check it:

MASTER CHIEF ACTION FIGURE

    While my GBWC project is currently brewing, but at a very slow rate, just thought I'd indulge myself here on a recent action figure I picked up. Sorry Gundam/ TF/ mecha fans, this one's not for you. But I reckon that if you've got an eye for sci-fi robo stuff, there's room for your tastes to expand! :P

FULL ARMOUR MADNESS (Part II)

  I just have to post this for my own personal archives. Hot on the heels of Full Armour designs (which are my latest craze), I managed to unearth more crazy shit from Ninjascience's photostream. YOWZA! These look like Gundams and Five Star Stories kitbashed to detailed perfection. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but if only they made kits like these....!!! lol (Full credit to Ninjascience for images)

FULL ARMOUR MADNESS

    I've been into full armour designs lately. Which is a first for me cos I've always preferred sleek, dynamic forms like the Exia. But surfing the net opened my eyes to some really rad full armour mechs out there. What's a full armour concept? Well basically just take a gundam, and stack as much shit onto it as you can till it looks impenetrable. And viola! But it has to look kickass of course. Here are some of my favourites, all from Ninjascience's Flikr stream. This guy's got some really great online collections. Check em out..

A NEW AGE?

    We've all seen the hero suit for the new series Gundam Age. To be honest, I was not very impressed when I first set eyes on it. It just looked like a mash up between 0 Gundam, RX, and Beginning Gundam. Didn't really feel very fresh to me. Then Gundam Guy recently announced two more evolved designs of the AGE 1 Gundam. Feelings are mixed....Granted, they are better than I thought it would be (I didn't have much high hopes after the first one! :P), but they still left the hardcore Gundam fan somewhat....wanting.