Fell victim to the flu bug some 3 days ago, which meant I spent quite some time sleeping my days away. Ironically, I took Friday off... wasted my damn leave nia. But today, I finally decided to start working on the 1/144 scale Gundam Dynames which Ikan helped me purchase from KL. Ya... after being racun-ed kaw kaw and fed with non-stop supply of Gundam 00, Gundam Seed + Destiny... I thought... what the heck... I wanna try my hands building one of these models as well. Ya-la... I'm a fanboy... so sue me...

I decided not to go for the 1/100, because I don't have any prior experience in modelling kits, so I thought I better start small and try experimenting on the 1/144 first. At least if I screw things up, I don't feel that bad. But before working on the kit, I decided to read through Danny Choo's Gundam Modeling Tutorial for some advice. This fella is like Veda of Gundam knowledge... kowtow...

So here goes.

The 1/144 HG model kit came in a rather smallish box, which consists of a bunch of multi colored runners and a manual; which is in Japanese no less. Great help if your don't read Kimochi language... pif. But it was well illustrated so it doesn't take a nuclear scientist to understand the damn thing.

This is how it's supposed to look once you put A+B+C together.

Nice no?

At this point of time, I'm feeling a little blur, coz I really hate tiny things and this box came with a whole plethora of tiny stuff. Dammit... tiny stuff scares me... and I felt a little frustrated on how to put everything together. I'm still baffled by how Ikan managing to put 3 gundams together in one weekend... u're crazy man...

Before I started this project, I've already made up my mind that I'm gonna change the color scheme of my model Dynames. I don't really like the Hari Raya green splashed all over his armor and the yellow bits look a little gay as well. I know Gundam diehards are going to lynch me for this blasphemy... but I can't help it... and I wanna try if I can make it look a little better.

So I ran thru quite a number of color schemes in my head and tried to think what looks best on this small model. At first I wanted to go for the Exia blue scheme... but that is just wrong. Then I saw one of those Gundam Strike Noir, which looked interesting, but I later felt the dark color scheme would just drown away all the details on an already small model. Someone suggested pink... but I think Nadleeh will kill me for ripping him/her(?) off.

So my main goal was to try and make this 1/144 kit look a little more expensive than what it really cost. This is one of the cheaper ones (40 bucks only actually), so there is only that much I can do. But I think it can be improved.

If you take a look at the runners, they are already colored. But it looks a little flat... imho.

Tamiya sells small cans of aerosol paints which are specially formulated for modelling kits. But these costs an arm and a leg. Especially when I'm planing to use like 4 separate colors plus one gloss top coat. So I decided to try re-coloring it using off the shelf aerosol sprays instead.

So I dropped by the neighbourhood hardware store, and purchased about 30 bucks worth of spray paint.

This is what I had in mind :

• Replace the original white color with pearl white (which shimmers under proper lighting).
• The stock grey color will be traded for a pearl black finish; which should help highlight the details on the pieces better.
• The yellow bits will be replaced by a chrome finish, which I think is a more serious look.
• The hari raya green color will be replaced by a rustic brown kinda look. I chose rozel brown for this purpose. I hope this will still match the military scheme of Dynames.
• I decided to maintain the red bits, but will finish it with a coat of clear coat to make it glossier.

With that settled, I can start working on the model. First thing was to give the runner a good scrub using some detergent and a good rinse. This is to make sure the paint will adhere properly to the surface as grime will ruin the finish.

Yes... those are bits of spring onion in the sink from the last night's dinner... pft...

Once that's done, we can start spraying the runners. Make sure you spray in a well ventilated area, or you risk respiratory failure... like what almost happened to me. I enjoy these aerosol fumes... so I don't know how much I inhaled until my head started spinning like a top.

Important thing is to make sure you don't overspray, or you'll end up with a thick layer of paint which will peel horribly later during assembly. This I found out the hard way... sienz...

Next, leave everything to dry. Once that's done, it's time to start the actual assembly.

You'll need a sharp blade. I decided to get a pair of flush cut pliers as well, since it helps speed up the cutting process and it minimizes the damage to the runners.

A pair in the hobby shop costs 80 bucks. No way. I got an almost similar pair at the hardware store for around a quarter of that price.

Along the way, I found that I missed some areas during the earlier spraying. And that meant going back and respraying the parts. Not exactly too hard... but it's damn tiring to do double work.

Btw... you can get this texture by holding the spraycan a little further than usual from the items you want to spray. It gives that grainy look, as the spray droplets will be further apart when it falls on the parts. If you want a glossier look, place the spray nozzle closer.

One thing to remember when assembling the kit... is to READ THE FARKING MANUAL. I tried assembling the thing without consulting the paperwork, and I ended up having to pry the thing open again after I found that things doesn't fit; almost breaking several parts in the process. So don't do a John Woo like me and spare yourself the pain.

I found that the 1/144 kit lacks quite a bit of detail compared to it's 1/100 counterpart. So I decided to get a Gundam marker (12 bucks a pop... this is daylight robbery sial...!!!) and add in some details to compensate. It's a little hard to do, but it does make some difference. Use a pencil eraser to clean up the smudges.

It took me about 2 afternoons to get everything done (yes... I'm a slow worker... beh syiok ah?), but eventually, everything came together in the end. And so, here's my 1/144 scale Gundam Dynames with a slightly altered color scheme.

Full frontal.

Btw... those red bit on the antenna? Those are chimou decals... damn Bandai too cheap to provide those... blek... :P

Back shot.

Crom butt nozzles.

Full GN Shield... an army can't stop me!!!

Janie's got a gun.

Happy sial... ;)

Part 2 : Touching up chips and kinks.