Singapore BAKUC 2009

The time of the year has come for our local modellers to showcase their works! Currently, all the entries are displayed at Takashimaya in Orchard. As usual, I made my way down with my camera hoping to see some really good works on show and man... I wasn't disappointed at all...

The first entry I saw struck me like a bolt of lightning. A hell of a monster. My first thought was who the heck in this country can do that!? A Zaku Mobile Suit the creator named Z.E.A.M.A. (Zaku Embedded Assault Mobile Armour). This is definitely top notch work and looks like it belong to the Expert Catogory than Open.

At first glance, I was overwhelmed by its sheer size. I saw a lot of different parts from all genres been used and I could see no expense was spared doing this. Although "kitbash" is easier compared to scratch-building. It's takes a whole new level of skills and understanding to properly bland everything together and make it look original. That is truly an amazing asset to have.

The Zaku feeling just alright at home!

I love that gatling gun.

Nice looking turret.

Superb use of MG Strike launch bay parts. Now I do have a lot of those (evil thoughts).

However, I was hoping for a much impressive and detailed base to go along with that MA. Must be tired after doing that monster ( I will surely). Someone get that guy a red bull!

Here is another entry that impresses me, a souped up Unicorn named SCHNELLGANG. For those of you that think the Unicorn may be a bit devoid of details, you are dead wrong. IMO, adding additional details and pla plates is totally redunant. Rather than concentrating on the gundam. The creator here concentrated on adding weaponary to it. Those gatling guns and boozokas and especially that scratchbuilt beam cannon is really really cool. Now I want to do a Full Weapons Sinanju!

Those wings behind are fully scratchbuilds. It is indeed difficult to scratch something and be so neat about it.

With every nice kit, we will need a nice base to go with it. Here, the creator had made a nce base and the overall presentation of the kit is what that impress me.

Actually, I really like these missile pods.

Here are some of the entries I took pictures of. As my photography sucks, I took only a few of them.

Dynames

Nemo Cannon Custom

Astray with Gundam Deathscythe wings?

Cool painting skills on this Nu Gundam.

Exia Vector, 1/60 scale. Brave use of parts here. Commendable.

MG Exia (Ignition mode). The pose is dynamic and battle damaged is just nice and not overdone. The cape is impressive too!

Shiny Sazabi.

This is a comical one.

Another impressive one, Jupiter Ghost Version DL. Good scratch building with the potential to go even further.

Strike Noir.

A white Strike Freedom.

RGM 79G.

Gundam EZ6 and Gun Tank.

SIEG Zeon -brothers (Zakus) in arms.

Astray Blue Frame.

Another Dynames, I really like the color scheme on this one. The stock base was nicely done too.

Strike Rouge.

Gundam OO Seven swords version. Not resin but scratchbuilt.

Gouf.

Overall, I think that the general standards here has been maintaining at a good level. But it would take considerable effort to improve our standards to higher level. I would wish to see a collective improvement in all participants for next year BAKUC. Good luck everyone!

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FAZZ WIP (Part3)

I did not make it to BAKUC. Actually I managed to finish. But I realised there were quite a few fundamental mistakes I made and I just could not get pass these. THe colour scheme did not turn out to be what I set out to do. So, I had the whole thing taken down and send it back for sanding and fine-tuning.

Well, some pics of the arms.

I have removed bulk of the armors on the forearms to make it slimmer.

The picture above looks fine, but the red actually clashed with my intermediate blue. Something that I overlooked until its too late.

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FAZZ WIP (Part2)

New updates on the legs. This time, I removed the armours on the inner legs as I find them too obstructive and bulky. However, I retain the ones at the calfs.

At this point of time, the legs look a bit short. That has to be retrified later.

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Materials

Hey guys, every now and then I have friends asking me what materials I use for my details and where to get them. Well, maybe I should do a little writeout on this...

The primary material I use are styrene sheets from Evergreen Scale Models. They come in sheets, strips and all types of shapes. I use these a lot for pla-plating and diorama building. You can say they are the "building blocks" of modding.

Locally, you can purchase from a shop call Artfriend situated at Bras Basah complex. They do not come cheap of course. But it's definitely worth it!

http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/

Next, Kotobukiya's Modeling Support Goods or "option parts". They comes in all types of shapes and sizes. From minus molds to thrusters, you can add details to your kits with minimum fuss. As you can see, I stock like a ton of these. Very useful stuff to have around.

They are not that easy to get here although some shops carry some stocks. However the range is quite limited. I usually buy in bulk when I go on my yearly Hong Kong trips.

That's about all for now, I will try to organise a bit so that I can have a technical area for my blog later...

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