Let me get one thing off my chest first. Master Grade kits rawk. For the amount of money I paid (which wasn't exactly a lot by gunpla standards)... the level of detail and atriculate poses you can get outta this MG is amazing. When I placed the MG Aile Strike next to my 1/144 HG Dynames... I went like... whoa...

I can't even begin to fathom how mind-blowing the Perfect Grade version is gonna look like...

Anyways, this blog entry is dedicated to the 1 month plus duration that went into assembling the gunpla during the spare time I had after I coming home from work. Honestly, if you're planning on assembling this with no changes whatsoever, you can probably get it done in about half a day or so. But I wanted to add something different to this MG Aile Strike, so it took a little longer.

Here's the color scheme which I decided on, which way before I actually started any work.

1. Blue parts - Candy Blue (RM7.00)
2. Red parts - Candy Red (RM7.00)
3. Yellow parts - Candy Yellow (RM7.00)
4. Grey parts - Gunmetal (RM25.00)
5. White parts - Pearl White (RM7.00)
6. Strikerpack Black Parts - Pearl Black (RM7.00)
7. Base for candy paint - Decorative Chrome (RM9.00)

As you can see, it required quite a few cans of Anchor. But no biggie, since my nearby hardware store carries all these colors.

All except for the gunmetal... which Anchor doesn't carry. So I had to drop by one of those hobby shops and get it from Tamiya instead.

You might think it's ok... but this little can is much smaller than it looks.

In fact... it's so freakin small... it's only a quarter the size of one regular can of Anchor spray paint. And yet it cost 5 times as much!

Suck blood.

That is the reason why I dun wanna go down the branded way of doing things. But for this particular color... I didn't have a choice.

All set.

So here goes :

Here're the blue armor parts before they're painted. Plenty of washing and sanding before hand.

This was followed by several layers of chrome paint, and let to dry.

Then came the candy blue. The candy paint is very brittle when dry, so it WAS EXTREMELY EASY TO SCREW UP DURING ASSEMBLY. This I found out the hard way.

Here're some of the yellow bits chromed...

... before being blasted with several layers of candy yellow. Which look rather 'gold-ish'. Me like.

As I mentioned earlier, the paintjob was extremely easy to screw up. So I spent the bulk of my time, scrapping and sanding off the errors. For certain parts... it took up to 3 tries before I got the effect I wanted.

But when it came out right... it was well worth the effort. But hell... it was tiring.

It kept raining last month, so I had to keep the freshly painted parts in a low humidity area (or risk getting a dull finish). So I converted one of my closets into a DIY dry box by adding in 2 packs of Thirsty Hippo.

Once all the paint job was done, assembly didn't take much time. But yet again, I had to be very careful to make sure I don't scratch the painted parts. This I did countless times... and it hurts like hell. I ended up touching up the errors with a Gundam Marker since candy paint surfaces were impossible to fix.

The decals were fun to put on... but a bitch to remove when you get it wrong. I actually accidentally peeled off a 2 cm section of candy red paint, and had to redo the entire wing section.

I decided to skip inking the panel lines this time round, as I wasn't confident enough of doing a good job after my experience with the HG Dynames.

Most of the time, the inking look nice from a distance... but when you zoom in to have a closer look... you'll go... ughhhh..

Also, I felt that the Strike look pretty okay without inks... so I decided to let it be. Gunpla purists can go ahead and lynch me now...

The stand which came with the kit was muthafarking big. Hell... it was supposed to be a section of the launching pad on the battleship ArchAngel... so I couldn't really place it on my shelf above the tv.

So I bought a separate white 1/100 stand from Robot Master for about 20 bucks... which looks much better.

Here're some shots of the completed Aile Strike :

I stuck the two beam sabres together with some tape to create something which looks like the double edged light sabre Darth Maul uses... haha...

One of the more popular poses... the launching sequence.

This is definitely my favorite pose... Strike brandishing two Armor Schneiders... ready for close melee combat.

"I just flew into 16th floor... and a gagak attacked me..."

Side profile...

A butt shot of the Striker Pack...

"Still flyin... still flyin... aiyak... battery habis..."

1/144 HG Dynames vs 1/100 MG Aile Strike...

"Move aside you punny bugger... coming through..."

???

This fella is definitely earning a permanent spot on my shelf...

Full frontal...

Happi gila sial... ehehehe... ehehehe...

Tu dia... dia mali lagi...

Setiap hari pulak... pasti ada kongkek...

Satu kali mau... tiap tiap hari mau... isk...

Boss... janji sumpah... laman I ni takde benda cam ni...

• My eyes are blurry from the many late nights, and my hands are like sandpaper from the constant washing with turpentine.
• It's muthafarking frustrating to redo the parts over and over again everytime I screw up the candy paintjob.
• It totally robbed me of my life over the past month and made me enemy #1 among my apt neighbours.

But other than that, it was a pretty fun build, eventhough it was riddled with plenty of mistakes along the way. I learnt a lot from this master grade Gundam Aile Strike kit. I screwed up the Striker Pack pretty badly during assembly, and a quarter worth of the dry decals ended up in the dustbin; but hey... it's worth the experience.

A rather expensive one though...

Anyways, here're some sneak peaks at the results. 

I think I'm not going to panel line the figure this time round... the gundam marker will stay in the drawer.

More pics some other time.

Need to hit the sack... zzzzzzzzzz...

Leaders... so lazy... so uncreative... they just recycle history.

If it works for Dr. M... it'll work for us too.

Hell yeah.

Oh... sodom-mia...

Sorry to dissapoint you... you won't find any on this site...

Very friendly golden retriever.

This little pup was super adorable.

A pair of pomeranians. Very poofy... macam cushion.

This cutie here looks like a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel... but I could be wrong coz it was a little hard to recognize after it dunked itself into the sea.

This fella here I believe is a Japanese Chin.

This Yorkshire Terrier thinks it's on a Vogue photoshoot by the sea.

The owner of this pair of beagles was more than accomodating to let us play with his pride and joy.

You're one cool dude... thanks!

Toy poodles made their presense felt too.

I R CHOW CHOW...

There was another bigger one, black somemore... but the pic came out way too blur to post.

Japanese Chin is happy... ;)

More toy poodles... complete with mini skirt some more...

I absolutely adore this beautiful looking retriever.

It took 2 cans of hair spray to get this look ok?

Where de paparazi when u need them?

I got slobbered in the face kaw kaw by this pair of beagle... I luv them to bits!

It's nice to be able to take my mind off things for just a while.

These little moments come far and few nowadays.

It's gonna be a really punishing 2 months ahead for me.

At the jetty, to board the ferry.

The super boring ride to the island.

The infamous doorless kancil on the island resort.

Where're the damn guns?

Oh... here they are.

A closer look at the weapons of pain.

The 'warzone'... which is littered with barrels and wooden barriers for cover.

Yours truly (left) with Sukuchi... before entering the zone.

I only suffered some splash damage (no biggie) when I was ambushed halfway into the game, while concentrating too hard on trying to score a headshot.

The same couldn't be said about my teammate; Kira Tomato... who got hit multiple times at close range by a chick at the end. Loads of bruises... but plenty of smiles.

And this little thingy over here are what S&M dreams are made of... the ball of pain.

Went home at sundown, after a short buffet dinner at the resort.

It was overall ok... paintballing IS fun...  ;)

Rats bring diseases.

Rats are nothing but bad news.

Rats are good for nothing scum of the earth.

Why didn't I just run the pest over?

I eyeballed my rear view mirror again.

Another car was approaching.

.

.

.

He swerved as well.

.

.

.

I had a choice of either M. Night Sharmalan's "The Happening" or Tsui Hark's "Missing". CL wanted to watch the latter ever since it came out, so we went ahead with it. I kinda like Tsui Hark's movies so it was no biggie.

Basically, it revolves around the story of this high profile photographer dude who tried to propose to his girl by hiding the engagement engagement ring in this ancient underwater ruins off the coast of Japan during one of his dives with her. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned and the romantic underwater proposal goes horribly wrong.

The local cinemas tried marketing this movie as a supernatural flick, but honestly, it didn't feel like one. It was more like a cross between a thriller and a drama. The cinematography was really good with plenty of awe inspiring underwater shots. The first half of the movie had great pacing and the story unfolded beautifully.

Unfortunately, the second half was't as good. It was like Tsui Hark suddenly kinda lost direction and couldn't decide how to end the movie. There were several points whereby I thought that was how the movie was going end, but it suddenly took a 180 degree turn and revealed a totally new angle to the story.

Thankfully, there were several nicely done scenes which were done nicely and you could really feel the tug on your heart. The scene where Guo Xiao Dong and Lee Sinje's characters finally embrace after all the madness they went through was really touching.

This, I feel, was worth the price of the ticket alone.

Ultimately, if you could spare slightly more than 2 hours during a lazy weekend, this movie might be worth your time...  ;)

Smart, witty, interesting as hell.

The nation's most notorious blogger.

It's time for all the pretenders to go fly kite.

The king is back.

So last weekend, I attempted a 2nd try to rectify the problems I had earlier. I used a bigger subject this time; the casing for my shower. The first thing I did was to fore-go the black base coat and went straight for a chrome base. And made sure it dried properly this time. 

Once that was done, I carefully applied the candy paint (I chose red this time) and made sure thin, even coats were deposited on the surface. After about 4 to 5 coats, I was suprised to see that the results this time were much more satisfactory.

I finally manage to achieve the almost liquid looking surface effect... which actually look very similar to a wet, translucent piece of FOX crystal candy.

I'm tempted to call this Ironman Hot Rod Red...  :P

And yesterday, I finally took delivery of the Aile Strike I asked ikan to help me obtain from Kayel. After playing around with the HG version of Dynames some time ago, I decided to jump several grades and go directly for the Master Grade this round. Not exactly cheap, but I think I can handle it.

I'm also planning to totally revamp the way I build gunpla this time round. I'm going to take my own sweet time, and make sure the detailing are better than my first experience. And this meant I need more equipment compared to previously.

For this project, I'm giving myself a 2 month time frame... give or take a little.

Since this is going to be the last gunpla I'm building this year, it's time to go for broke. I've upgraded my arsenal of Anchor spray inventory to a somewhat ridiculous count. And I still think Anchor can give me the result I want without reverting to airbrushes.

This time, I'm keeping to the original colour scheme of the Aile; albeit slightly modified in terms of shades (I got some comment that the previous color scheme I chose for my Dynames looks like shit... literally... so I'll heed the advice).

It's time to get serious.

Bring it on.

Why didn't I try harder in the past?

Things could have been different, if only I tried, if only I was more attentive?

Why am I sitting here alone teary eyed?

Why did this have to happen?

Why am I being punished this way?

In an ideal world, questions such as these would not need to be answered, as it would not have materialized in the first place. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, nor are the ppl living in it perfect either. This isn't your fault, so do not be so hard on yourself. Do not allow yourself to wallow in self pity, nor give yourself false hopes on expectings "things" would change for the better.

What matters now is the man in the mirror.

Time will be your best friend. Given enough of it, even the biggest of scars will fade.

You know who you are.

Be strong dude, take care good of yourself.

About 1km from destination, I heard a loud "kling... klong... kling... klong..." from my left rear tire... then suddenly the car started pulling to the left.

Stop car immediately by the curbside.

Check what happened. Was expecting a nail or something.

I saw this.

A farking sparkplug.

Yes... a muthafarking sparkplug jammed deep into my barely 5 month old Yokohama. Which cause an almost immediate air pressure loss.

This is the 2nd time in less than 2 years I had to pull out the blardy space saver tire.

And the sun was freakin hot.

Damn sien.

When it rains... it farking pours.

Idiots.

Read more over here.

I dare not imagine the ripple effect this is going to have on inflation.

Even the middle class is going to be screaming bloody murder... just think of what is going to happen to those living below the poverty line.

Every single household item in our life is gonna be dearer come August.

My favorite wan tan mee is going to cost 5 bucks a plate soon... sigh...

Update : Well... it's comfirmed. It caught me by suprise as I didn't expect it to happen so soon. RM2.70 a litre for RON97 petrol is gonna hurt, for those of us used to the old price of RM1.92 (especially when I use approx 1400++ litres a year).

But I shouldn't complain cause this is to be expected with the spiralling global crude oil prices.

DAMN U BUSH... THIS IS YOUR FARKING LEGACY!!!

AND FARK U ADUH-LA BODOH-WI AND YOUR CIBAI WAYANG KULIT STYLE ANNOUNCEMENTS! ALWAYS SAY... TAKDE... TAKDE... JANGAN DENGAR KHABAR ANGIN. LAST TIME GENERAL ELECTIONS OSO SAY WON'T HAPPEN, NEXT DAY TERUS ANNOUNCE IT"S ON. NOW FEW DAYS AGO SAY WON'T HAPPEN TILL AUGUST... JAM PUKUL 5 PETANG LATER CAKAP HARGA MINYAK TERUS NAIK AT MIDNIGHT. NIAMA MANGKUK HAYUN MIA PM... BALIK TIDOOOOOOR LA... PORRRRDAAAAAAH!!!

I won't bother to queue up with the rest of the kiasu bastets on this island who most probably will be lining up all the way to Bukit Mertajam to fill up one last time for cheap fuel before midnight.

Brace yourself for the onslaught of ensuing price increases on everything else. God speed.

**Update 2 : So fast... Tenaga nasional oreidi raise electricity rates by 18% for home users and 26% for business users... mampus liao this time... dunno wot else will go up...

Corrections... dunno wot else won't go up is a better question. What now? Ask Bank Negara to raise interest rates again to artificially combat inflation? Ini macam my housing loan combined with rising prices on everything else, can send me to an early grave liao...

Woot!!!

The secret to eye popping candy color paint is that it's a transparent kinda paint, which depends on how bright or reflective the base coat is to provide the shine and depth which makes it's so attractive. However, it's also a bitch to work with, as I unfortunately found out while trying out some experiments for a new DIY project I'm gonna work on soon.

Using the information I gathered from the net, I found out that applying candy paint is going to be a 3 step process. I used an old cap from a spraycan as my subject for this paint test.

First, we need to give the cap a black base coat to cover all the imperfections on the surface.

Next, we need to prep the surface by applying a chrome paintjob onto the black base coat. I used decorative chrome from an Anchor spraycan for this.

After waiting for the paint to dry, give it a good buff using a very soft cloth to give it a better shine.

Once that's done, it's time to apply the candy paint. I bought a can of candy blue, and gave the cap several thin coats of the paint. And here's where everything went wrong.

As you can see from the above pics, 3 major things went terribly wrong. The first was that any dust or grime will have a severe effect on the surface finish. And I saw a really horrible surface finish on the cap.

Next, the candy paint sort of 'ate' into the chrome mid-layer coat. And this left really ugly black spots all over the surface (the black spots are actually the black base coat showing).

And finally, I found that chrome finish from a can is hopeless. It looks pretty when applied on it's own. But when you add another top coat, the mirror like finish dulls into a matte finish and there were blemishes everywhere.

So, I took another unused spray cap to try and see if I could work around the problem. I cleaned the cap thoroughly this time. Then I waited longer for the black base coat to dry. I also applied thicker layers of chrome paint, hoping that the candy paint won't eat through this time.

All that gave me this. It looks marginally better than the first attempt. At least there weren't so many blemishes this time. However, I'm still extremely unsatisfied with the results. It wasn't anywhere good enough to be called successful.

My opinion is, candy paint works best with properly chromed surfaces. Off the shelf chrome paint just won't do, and will not make candy paint look at it's best. It's way too much work and the results are at best average. Don't even think about a showroom shine.

The day finally came.

After ddcat, followed by pim... the mighty ikan (yes... the cbb noob in the middle) has decided to move on to greener pastures.

Who would have thought, from random dota outings... led to you being one of the handful of closer buddies I have (which includes the Hendrix and lately, the dota clan).

I dare say it's been great having a fren who stays real and grounded; a rare find in this world which is filled to the brim with pretentious farts.

And thanks for the tips on surviving in this hellhole... seriously... u gave some really different, but useful insight into handling things.

GLHF dude.

And stay in touch bitch, we'll miss you.

Politicians from the ruling party like yourself, are proponents of various keris wielding draconian policies which in fact, are the very essense that make this state of mind impossible in the first place.

Come to think of it, it's a little ironic as Mr. Joe Public never had a problem with this (and that means every Ahmad, Muthu and Ah Seng on the street) until you idiots bring these sentiments up everytime we were asked to cast our ballots. And that's when the whole racial circus starts.

And now you have the balls to ask us to swallow these type of LPPL rhetorics.

Hypocritical scum, go die and wallow in the flames of hell.

P.S. : What the fuck is this??? This nation is going to hell... and we're strapped along with a one way ticket with it.

The automatic hot air hand dryer. It's interesting why ppl insist on using these when it never really ever dries the moisture off your hands, and you'll still find yourself wiping them against your butt to wick off the last few remaining bits of water droplets.

I've seen my fair share of weird uses for this thing as well. So far, I've spotted ppl using it to dry toothbrushes (which makes me ask myself why ppl bother to bring their toothbrushes to the office in the first place), ppl drying the bottom portion of their shirts which got wet due to a sudden gush from an overpowerful tap, kids who yank their t-shirt collars forward and stand just underneath the dryer so that they balloon up looking like miniature Hindenburgs. I've even seen a bangla using the warm air from the dryer to warm his nuts on a particularly chilly day... but that's another story for another day.

But this young contractor dude who's working on the walls of my company office takes the cake. You know how 'in' it is nowadays to have the spiky, heavily layered Jap-looking hairdo? The look which can only be achieved by applying half a gallon of hairwax and blowing it into perfection with nothing less than a jet stream from an Airbus 380?

Well, this resourceful dude used the hot air hand dryer in my office loo to style his artifical blonde mane into an absolute towering... crowning glory.

I dunno how long he was kneeling underneath the dryer... but damn...

Cloud Strife pun kalah...