Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Lessons learned from completing HGUC ReZEL

Mentioned in the previous post, I've been working on a High Grade Gundam kit. Finally completed it with lots of frustration in between. Come to think about it, all the frustration was due to my own fault. There are a few lessons I've learned after really completing a gundam (i.e. panel lining and painting the kit to make it anime accurate). Not only I've painted the kit but I changed the color scheme.

I would have maintained it at the original color if I had known that the orange spray can was close to the original color. If I were to use the orange spray, a new problem might arise. I usually spray the paint too close to the model and the model ends up having thick paint atthe corner.

The main lesson learned from this project is patience. What I did was paint/color the required parts and instead of leaving it to dry 24 hrs or more I left it to dry for about 1 hour then picked d pieces and either fixed the model or paint another color onto it.

A good example is the red color I painted. After coloring the required part red, I left it there for 30 mins to an hour then I would take fix it up. The result of this is having the red color on my fingers and when I touch another part i.e. white or light grey, there will be red fingerprints on it. I will then curse myself and get frustrated cleaning the mess. The worse part is after cleaning the mess, my fingers would have already touched another part and I will have to clean that up too.

Another thing I learn is panel lining. The tip of the pen I got for panel lining is a tad too big to fit into some of the lines. I should have gotten the 0.05mm tip instead of the 0.1mm tip. Some modellers online say 0.2 is enough for panel lining. Imagine how frustrating it would be if I were to use the 0.2mm.

I also feel that the 0.1mm is a bit too thick for the 1/144 model. Maybe it will be just nice for the 1/100, 1/60 or 1/48 scale model. If I have the chance to do a 1/144 model, I may try either using a 0.05mm pen or the 0.5mm mechanical pencil. Tried the pencil once and color is not too outstanding which looks ok to me but I will have to complete the entire model using pencil to panel line before I can deicide if it is too soft.

Thirdly, when doing any model work space is a very important factor. No matter how big or small the model will be, you will require a big space to work comfortably. The space where I was working on this model was small and also shared with other people throughout the day. I had to put the runners all around me. Once I took a runner out for coloring and forgot to keep it back in the box when I was done with the work. I was shocked to find the missing runner for the wings when I started working on the model again. I had to go back to the place I was working on and hope no-one saw the runner and threw it away. Luckily the runner was still where I left it and I am more careful after that incident.

Fourth lesson is to make sure you have the time to work on the model. When I did this model, I couldn't concentrate on it fully as were constant interruptions. Only manage to work on the model without interruptions on a few occasion. Once interruptions happen, you will lose your work process and will forget what to do next.

Fifth lesson of the day is to make sure that when you are working on your model, weather taking it out to work on a small part, doing major coloring or fixing or just to look at it, the person with you is ok with it. Not good feeling to just start on a fast and small portion of the model even when the person is busy and when that person finished their work and shows their unhappy and disgusted face when they see you working on the model.

Sixth lesson is about putting the stickers or decals on the kit. You need to be extra careful to place it corretly before sticking it. I managed to put the sticker on the opposite side of each other. Only notice it when I fixed the parts back to the main model. Tried to remove it but did not work so I have to live with the mistake. Sigh

I guess those are the lessons learned from building this model. Overall, it was a fun experience. When the model was finished, I felt relieved and didn't it was so taxing just to build a small model. I think I will take some time off from building another gunpla but will be looking out for either another HG or an RG kit.

Photos of the completed kit will be coming soon.

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