Here is a quick look and preview of the 1/100 MBV-04-G Temjin Ver.1P from Kotobukiya which I just bought over the internet recently from hlj.com.

Not to keep  you waiting any further, let us move on to preview the initial snapshots of the 1/100 MBV-04-G Temjin Ver.1P built straight out of box first before talking any further.

Below are a breakdown of my initial thoughts after straight-building this kit out-of-box;

• The kit comes with only 14 runners which makes assembly a breeze. You could straight-build the kit and complete the assembly in less than a day.
• Colors for majority of each individual parts are molded accurately which saves time for repainting if you’re planning to straight-build it out-of-box.
• The kit holds pretty well with the exception on the shoulder and lower arm areas, the joining at these areas feels awfully fragile. They could actually breakdown if you exert pressure on them.
• As usual, Kotobukiya kits are expensive. They cost slightly more than your average Master Grade kits. You are advised not to buy them on impulsive unless you really really want them that badly or other manufacturers don’t offer a similar kit.

That sums up my initial thoughts and comments about this kit at the moment, I’ll try and get more detailed & specific when it’s completed. Just for the update on the progress, I’ve just finished the priming phase today. Should everything goes well, we should be seeing it completed by end of next week or the week after.

Did you also recently purchased a 1/100 MBV-04-G Temjin just like me or are you in the midst of planning to get one? What are your thoughts and comments if you have one already? If not, has this preview actually spur you to add this to your shopping list?

There will be no update from 22nd – 26th June as I will be going back to camp for army reservice.

I had originally scheduled 2 pre-dated posts (June Loot & ??? Preview)  for this week. Unfortunatel,y they were not in the latest database backup during the last backupwhen the site went ‘kaput’. So there will not be any updates in the coming week. :s

Sharing with everyone photos of the winning entries for the Singapore Gundam 00 & Sangokuden Model Kit Challenge 2009 which just recently ended. Gundam 00 Open Category Winners

1st - 00 Raiser by izzaku81

2nd - Overflag Booster by Eddie

3rd - Cherudim Avalanche Custom by Toymaker

Best New Challenger by MOSCOWER

Merit Prize

BB Sangokuden Open Category Winners BB Sangokuden Junior Category Winners

Credits to [spruecutters.com] for the photos

My mind has been in a whirl lately;  I seemed to have tried too hard getting everything done at the same time which backfired and resulted in not getting a single stuff done.

Back to the topic, I need some feedbacks from everyone. Well, as you can see I’ve changed into a new wordpress theme called ‘thematic’. With that being said, here comes a series of questions which I need your valuable feedback(s).

• As compared to the previous theme, which layout one is better?
• Is the content (reading text) on single post too narrow that you find them hard to read?
• Is the text hard to read?
• Are the images now too small? (they are now being resized to 375px)
• Is there anything that you wished to see in this blog?
• Any other feedbacks and suggestions that you wished to add that is not listed above?

Looking forward to the feedbacks and suggestions that you guys be offering. Thanks for the help everyone!

One of the gundam plastic model kits that I bought in the past when I first started on gunpla building. Never had the chance to take photos of it in the past since I don’t have a camera back then.

Figured that this would be a good time to show some of the gunplas that I’ve built in the past, so I took the chance to take some photos of it now that I have my own camera.

As you all can see from the photos, sprue marks & other flaws are all visible because I didn’t have the proper tools for gunpla building when I was younger. Yellowing at seam joints occurred as a result of not being coated over with a top coat. sigh..

Lesson learnt, never underestimate the importance of protecting you plamos by coating it over with a top coat after your completion of work, if you want them to last for a long long time.

On a sidenote, as some of you have already realised, I have just changed into a new theme after the old one suddenly screwed up on me. Everything was in a mess and out of place, so rather than salvaging it,  I’ve decided to changed the theme totally to save the trouble and stress.  So far I’ve only updated 2 pages(10 posts in each page) of the latest ones with another 15 more to go, so do not be surprised if you see some of the older post in disarray. Additionally, blogrolls, RSS and others are now temporarily offline for now, they will be back once again when I decided how to rearrange them in this new layout.

I planned to rollout the changes slowly and completed before end of June, with some new ideas I hope to implement. I’ll go over them once I’ve completed and worked them out.

This battle-damaged Cherudim Gundam diorama is done by lee3000 who intended to submit it as an entry for the upcoming Gundam 00 Mid-Year Competition over in Singapore.

A glimpse of Cherudim Gundam in one piece before he is being subjected to some battle-damage for his idea of diorama and setup. Below are some snapshots of what he do and how he did it to accomplish the battle-damage effect.

Wires are being inserted into crippled limbs to add realism to a battle-damaged mobile suit.

Initial look after subjecting the poor gundam to some cruel and inhuman torture.

The wire has been repainted.


Close-up shots of Cherudim Gundam after being weathered using dark brown oil pastel.

If you’re wondering how these ‘laser holes’ on Cherudim Gundam are made, they are created by pushing a burning joss stick into the gunpla. If done correctly, this will created a bulge surrounding the hole. Thereafter, a ball type drill bit is used clear the contents of the hole to make them clean. Lastly, some thin cement is applied to the holes to melt them.

Completed diorama. (Trees are first painted with Orange followed by Salmon Red)
Original shots from the 2nd ending

What do you think of his Gundam 00 diorama?  And how did it fare when compared against the Gundam 00 ending 2 look?

Visit NG 1/100 Cherudim Gundam for the full details on lee3000 in-depth details plus all the photos on the WIP.

via [Plamo.outhere]

The rumor that was floating around the internet finally came true. Bandai has revealed that they will be releasing a Master Grade in July at the 48th Shizuoka Hobby Show 2009.

I like the Boxart design, do you like it too?

Parts for Exia-Re is actually included. If you can include the optional parts for Exia-Re, why do you not go all the way and included a GN-Sword III?

However just like Z, I’m not too thrilled about the news despite that the Exia finally made it to the Master Grade release. Compared to the 1/100, there isn’t much improvements, the proportions isn’t really all that fantastic as compared to GMRevo’s Exia and WonderExcellence’s Exia. I was actually hoping that the MG release will be something close to those 2. Also,the GN Sword looks somewhat fat instead of being long and sharp.

The MG Gundam Exia is set for July release, with the Regular version priced at 3,990 Yen, and the Ignition Mode priced at 6,875 Yen (inclusive of tax), with Ignition Mode First Batch Release Ver. – 5,250 Yen. With the latter release to commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the MG series.

Knowing Bandai, you can expect a variety of different rendition the MG Exia just like it predecessors before, expect another release with the GN-Sword III included or better yet a Gundam Exia Avalanche. So unless, you really want it that badly, I’ll suggest that you hold off that purchase for now.

Despite not being overall pleased with this release, I still going to get it just for the sake of that Exia-Re mode.

So guys, are you gonna grab that MG Exia off the shelves , the moment it hits your local stores or online hobby stores?

Finally got myself to finish this Kotobukiya SRWOG non-scale Cybuster model kit after leaving it half-complete for years. I’ve painted it in blue instead of pearl white because I remembered it was in blue the first time I saw it and it wasn’t till further SRW games that it was changed to pearl white.

It’s a love and hate relaionship for Kotobukiya as usual, details are splendid but the build is far from ideal. I loved Cybuster but hated this model kit. The Cybuster was the first non-gundam mech that I took a liking to when I first started playing the SRW series ; the GameBoy SRW2 was the first srw game that I first came into contact with and is also when Cybuster first made its debut appearance. Enjoy the sample photos below 1st before I continue to talk about what I think of this kit.

There’s plenty to complain about this kit despite it looking good. Let’s start with its overall built for starters, it’s fragile; I’ve lost the number of times this kit broke into half when I tried to set it in different poses for the photoshoot. And it’s very sharp too, I pricked myself countless times while assemblying it together. It’s not a bad thing since one of Cybuster’s characteristics is it’s sharp edge, Cybuster wouldn’t be Cybuster without its sharp ends.

Another issue with this kit is its weight distribution; the wings at the back are really heavy, almost as heavy as the upper torso. When trying to pose it just standing alone, the kit will lean backwards and thrust its lower body forward at you. -_- And because the wings are heavy, they frequently fall off when you try to adjust the wings.

Despite mentioning mentioning many times that I’ll stay off Kotobukiya model kit after encountering these problems with the R-1 & Cybuster, I doubt I can keep my word since the next few kits that I’m eyeing are Linebarrel Overdrive mode and the recently released Virutal-on classic Temjin.

Kotobukiya kits are great to look at but don’t ever expect to come out in one piece after playing it.

What do you guys think of my custom-painted Cybuster, and what are your experience with Kotobukiya kits and views on them?

You can go to Kotobukiya SRWOG Non-scale Cybuster to view the entire set of photos.

GP-03 Dendrobium on display. Couldn’t figure the exact scale or which grade was it, any ideas from you guys?

Perfect Grade Gundam Astray Red Frame on display. Still undecided whether to get it or not.

Destiny Gundam (top) and Gundam Exia (below). Life-size scale, approximately 2m tall inclusive of its platfrom below. Freedom Gundam was also on display but I skipped it as there was a couple taking photos with it.

Finally, I shall review  my loot for the month of April during my trip to Taiwan.

I’m now a proud owner of Mr. Super Booth from Gunze Sangyo.

Got this for a steal, thanks to the shop owner who offered to sell me at a price before the Yen currency increase. The booth came in a large box spanning 60+ cm and costs me NT5000 which converts into approximately 146.922 USD. Price HLJ is selling is $184.16 USD, without shipping charges included.

(*P.S: I’ll add in the scanned image of the name card at a latter for those interested or dropping by Taiwan in future. Great service by them, highly recommended)

Despite getting this for a bargain, I had 2 terrible accidents with it.

Accident 1: If you see the picture from the top, you’ll realize that the plastic funnel cover is actually missing. (Click on link to Mr. Super Booth for illustration) I accidentally discarded it together with package box, mistaking it for a plastic protection cover during my last day in my haste to repack my luggage, so that I will pass the restriction standard for hand-carry luggage. In case you’re wondering, the restriction for hand-carry/cabin luggage is that the combined dimension (length x breadth x height) of the luggage must not exceed 100cm.

Since the whole box set is already 60+ cm long in length alone, there is not way it can stay within the combined dimension of 100cm set by the airlines. (A check at HLJ later, confirmed my suspicion that the whole piece was definitely more than 100cm in combined dimension; Actual dimension – 63.0 x 38.5 x 19.8 cm ) Checking in the box  is a no-go too since I do not have a luggage that big to store it nor is it reasonable for me to go and purchase a new luggage just to store it especially when I’m not a frequent flyer myself. And most importantly, is that I don’t feel safe checking it in since it’s a pretty expensive item without a case. Can you imagine the scenario where you try to collect it after you landed, onlyto find it stolen after a long wait O.o!!

Accident 2: In my excitement to check and test out my new equipment, I went on to test it immediately the next day after I woke up. That’s when accident no.2 happened. If you’re familiar with Japanese applicances especially when you buy parellel imported game consoles,etc , you’ll know that they all run at 100/110V. No problem if you’re living in the States. The real problem comes when you’re living in Singapore like me, when the power supply runs at 230V/240V. I got a scare of my life when I saw smoke coming out from the fan after plugging it in and starting it up, which was then I realised the power difference and also the fact that I needed a step-down transformer to get booth to run safely. Incredibly enough, it survived the ordeal and is still working fine after I tested it again with the transformer. Phew~

Moral of the story, always read through the instructions thoroughly before proceeding further. Embarrassingly, this is something I have always fail to do despite after doing plamo for so long. 

Gundam 00 gashapon that I’ve gotten. ‘Gashapon’ is actually capsule toy obtained coin-operated toy vending machines. They were actually unintented acquistion resulted from the excess coins I still had on me during my last day in Taiwan. So to get rid of them,  I decided try my luck at the gashapon machine to see I could get a complete set with my remaining coins. Unfortunately, as you guys can see I only managed to get 3 out of 4 missing out on Arios (And gotten 3 extra Seravee  & 1 extra Cherudim during my attempt).

This SD Arios Gundam is done by ambitious using SD 00 Gundam head and together with a HG kit(which i fail to identify, help me out by naming it in your comment if you can identify it) plus some G parts for the gattling gun & thrusters. I’ll keep it short and let you finish viewing first before saying any further.

Some personal opinion and views after initial viewing, the SD Arios Gundam is  a good mod but just a bit short of hitting the grade,  ‘great’. Why so? As you can see, the proportions are somewhat off on the head portion. It looks fine, if not, great from the top-down view but when you start to look at it from the front and bottom-up view, you’ll realise that the face looks squarish and box-like. And the head movement seems to be really limited too judging from the above pictures.

I may be just being a little picky here though, since this SD mod can also successfully perform a Mobile Armor (MA) transformation. If I would need to give points for it, it would be 3.5/5 stars rating.

Drop by and check out the rest of ambitiou’s gallery if you haven’t done so before, which has other works such as Gundam MK2; which is one of his most recent work and others like HG 00 Gundam and Quebely, just to name some of them.

So, what are your thoughts or views regarding this SD Arios Gundam after seeing it? And how many stars/point would you rate it?

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