MG Sinanju WISP- Completed Model

This is it. Take a good look. A home look. This is how the MG Sinanju looks like out of the box (minus the gold obviously) before I infest it with 300+ of Katoki’s signature senseless decals and drown it in top coat. This will be the last WISP post for Sinanju as I won’t be updating on my decaling progress so the next Sinanju-related post will be the final review everyone’s been waiting for ^^;. Then again…

Sinanju has a powerful and solid stance. Don’t think I’ll ever need to worry about it falling or something. It has plenty of weight to keep it planted.

Just a few subtle action poses. Can’t show off everything now otherwise I won’t have anything left for the real photoshoot ^^;. Enjoy!

MG Sinanju WISP- Actual Height

Here’s a more meaningful WISP than last time. Let’s check out the height of this monster!

Sinanju’s height is almost exactly equal to Unicorn’s Destroy Mode height- it’s almost impossible to tell which one is really taller (it’s Sinanju in case you wanna know)! I think this would make Sinanju the first tallest MG that can still pose (Ex-S, Perfect Ziong, Sazabi are limited to just standing).

The legs are very solid and very well engineered. Nothing unnecessary and all sliding parts serve a real function in its articulation. Very impressive. The nub marks are pretty bad on the legs as they are thick, usually on spots that curves or worse… in such a spot and angle where it is hard to clip off with the right hand. Overall, it still doesn’t show as bad but it was tiring (and futile) trying to clean them off without messing up a little.

I’m almost finish! Just the backpack and weapons to go then it’s on to stage 2! Decals… *shudders*

MG Sinanju Painting Tips

So needing to paint the gold trims on the Sinanju might’ve put some of you off from this kit. Some of you, like me, aren’t exactly meticulous with your hands to paint. Well, here are a few ways of tackling Sinanju’s gold trims courtesy of Dengeki Hobby (and one from me ^^).

1. Cut out the black and apply only the gold trim

This one should come as a no-brainer to anyone who doesn’t want to paint. While it looks easy, you actually need to be very careful so as to not cut into the gold itself. For the most part, it is pretty easy but think… how are you going to tackle the gold curves at the wrist and collar? and do you think you can get the black area between the emblem’s wings? This is just some of the more apparent issues you will run into if you take this route. A very sharp knife is needed for this but that sharpness also increases your chance of screwing up.

2. Applying the water slide decals

Like the gold foil stickers, it’s best that you also trim the decal right at the border of the actual gold trim. With this route, it’s also necessary that you shell out the extra money for Mr. Mark Softener or Mr. Mark Setter. They are toxic chemicals that softens and “melts” the decal onto the plastic so it sticks otherwise it can fall off or make the gold trim look like ass.

3. Paint with Gundam Marker

You can pick up a gold Gundam marker and paint the trim with it directly or dispense the paint into a dish and use a brush (why not just buy a bottle of Mr. Hobby Gold in this case?). Don’t be deceived by the pictures. The paintjob in the photo above is like…smoother than the foil sticker. As easy as it looks, there’s no way any mere mortals can do such a clean job with a Gundam marker(not to mention it’s not THAT easy to clean off excess as well). The photos made the process look like cake. Use a real touch black (or the panel line Gundam marker) to sharpen the edges.

4. Spray paint

Exactly as it looks. Spray paint all in gold then color in the black. This seems like the hardest route to take. Again, not as easy as the photos make it out to be…

5. Masking and spraypaint.

THIS is my favorite route (not). Meticulously cut tiny rectangles and just mask the whole thing (repeatedly!) before spraypainting! Very effective but very time consuming and tedious… so this is not very efficient. Props to you if you want to do this. The blue bottle in the picture is Mr. Masking Sol.

And now… here’s a tip from yours truly…

6.PAINT THE FOIL STICKERS

This idea came to my mind after I got really frustrated with the rounded edges and curves on the shield. This method is simple; just paint the foil stickers and apply. You’ll still get the painted look but the lines will be cleaner. It’s also much easier this way too since you’re not fretting about getting paint all over. HOWEVER! There are some drawbacks…

– You can only do this for half of the foil sheets. Mainly The foil stickers that doesn’t have any black in them. Still, this is a great time saver.

– This doesn’t save you from the cracks/gaps/seams that the foil stickers will leave from fitment

– Crease marks and bends are more noticeable due to the paint.

– You can risk having the paint seeping into the adhesive part.

– a pointer: do either spray a little top coat or primer onto the foil sticker. The paint doesn’t stick well onto the foil. I had to apply multiple layers.

Since I have an ego over foil stickers, I only used this method on the red part of the shield (pictured above). That’s as far as I’ll go. The black part of the shield is handbrushed. The two blends perfectly. I’ll continue to handbrush the rest of the model. This method is only a last resort for the painting route to escape tough situations.

Hope this helps some of you. I won’t be updating again until Saturday or Sunday. I have a four page essay I need to type up by Friday xD.

MG Sinanju WISP- Shield Angst

I’m beginning to understand Busterbeam’s pain a little more now. I’m going to punch Katoki if I ever meet the guy in Japan. I’m not only under the impression that he doesn’t apply the decals and stickers to the models that he designed but now I’m also under the impression he doesn’t even build the kit himself to see if things are sensible.

The shield is gonna annoy the **** out of me when I do Sinanju’s photoshoot. The shield attaches VERY POORLY to the forearm- it doesn’t clamp on completely and easily pops off. Shoulder attachments? The law of gravity makes the shield DROP immediately since the tiny arm can’t hold it up at all so you can kiss that gimmick goodbye. The shield itself looks great though… after spending oh so much effort into painting it. I’m glad I got that over with.

Shoulders- Remember… paint the yellow vents gold while it is still on the runner for obvious reasons. Was thinking of painting the thrusters but thought I’d pass on it this time.

I’ll apply the decals and top coat after the entire model is complete. There’s 147 unique decals with most having duplicates for different sides so that’s probably 330+ decals that I’ll be applying. Weeee!

MG Sinanju WISP- Paint vs. Decals vs. Stickers

If you’re gonna paint the Sinanju, the shield is probably THE most troublesome part to handle. All the curves and rounded edges can be a harsh nightmare. Thought I’d take this time to crush anyone’s hope who is still thinking that the foil stickers or waterslide decals that came with Sinanju is “not that bad” ^^;.

First off, the water decals are PATHETIC (upper left corner). It has fitment issues thanks to the clear borders around the part. Of course you can take care of it by trimming it off around the actual decal but that requires delicate work. I did my best to make it fit… and it just doesn’t work. At this point, might as well paint it gold. The gold on the waterslide decals has a very dark tone to it… almost like bronze.

Okay… the foil stickers might not look TOO BAD on just one side but if you think about how the rest of the shield can also be covered in that same bling bling champagne gold then you might realize how cheap and obnoxious it will look. The fitment is fine but this is just for that one sticker. The light tone of the gold plus the sheer reflectiveness of the foil doesn’t work well with the rest of Sinanju though.

A bit of a blurry shot but you’ve seen enough of the gold paint on other areas already. At the very end, I’m glad I stuck with the paint process. It requires a buttload of more work and patience but it really pays off. I also prefer some minor brushstroke impurities here and there than ultra bling stickers that makes the model look extremely cheap. Now I don’t have to keep wondering if it was worth ditching the foil stickers for.

Hei hei… back to work…

MG Sinanju WISP- Arms and Hands

Oh man… I can see it. All the badass poses Sinanju will be able to pull off. The arms can do it, no doubt. If it can do Fabulous Lelouch poses, then it can do ANY poses!

So far, I think the gold is blending in really nicely with the red ^^.

Sinanju’s arms are actually one of the more sophisticated I’ve seen in a MG; there is a lot going on internally (namely sliding parts and a “detachable” wrist). The arms are completely symmetrical so the only thing differentiate between left and right is the hand. It’s really amazing just watching the parts slide as the arm bend. Goes to show Bandai worked their magic on this part.

Waiting for my “cheat sheet” before I start the decal work. More WISP to come later.

Motivational Winner

SPINSTRIKU… got a good chuckle out of this one xD. The subtitle is an unwanted bonus (only one certain explicit scene comes to mind… if you don’t get it, don’t worry about it. Anyone linking to it or mentioning it will be insta-nuked from this blog >_>). *ahem* Anyway… Congratulations, Tachikaze! You can email me where you want it to be shipped and I’ll ship it over to ya when I can be free. It might be a week or so though ^^;. You’ll get it for sure.

Here’s the other two’s final entry…

“Doggy Style” might’ve worked but the pose didn’t fit in ^^;. “Smart Robot” is smart… but can anyone make out what it is reading?

Time to share a few thoughts on the contestants (going in the order I received them)…

Gunpla – Plastic’ve never looked so good indeed. Nice choice on using Wing Ver. ka for that ^^

Sousei no Aquarion- I got a pretty good kick out of this one. More of an insane joke though. I only got it because I’m playing SRWZ- Aquarion’s intro stage had the characters seemingly having orgasms during a gettai scene >_>; (big WTF)

Gunpla- When 2D girls just aren’t enough… turn to mecha Girls instead. Effective xD

Ketchup – While I understand the “Fancy Ketchup” tidbit.. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be related to Astraea’s fancy launcher? Someone (creator) please explain ^^;

Sennen Goroshi- Almost worked… picture didn’t worked out though ^^;

Eye Contact- haha I liked this one… only because I know the joke xD

Trans-Am- Could’ve used a wittier subtitle ^^;

Kamehameha- I liked this one. Oh… and God Gundam would like a word with you :P

Broken Leg Joints- where’s the “NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!”?

Mobile Suit Gundam Bros- lol @ the one-sided weaponry

Friends- could barely read the speech bubbles @_@

All Hail Gundamnnia- Liked the “Zero” pun xD

Articulation- love the sync pose xD

Watch What you say- amen to that…

Gunpla- This one didn’t really do it for me. shorry ^^;

Gunpla- You guys can comment on this one. This was my entry xD.

Hammer was Almost Caught- Haha a wanted poster. I didn’t get the “almost caught” part though ^^;

Overall, this was a fun contest. There’s a nice turnout this time. Hope everyone had a few nice laughs. There was *almost* a case of “NO U!” though and even a Gundamaniac impersonator (I made that person apologize). Please try to keep the flames down next time. Remember, these contests are mainly done in good fun so just enjoy it.

Many things need to be assessed from this contest. For starters, I should probably not reveal the prize until the end next time so no one knows what they’re fighting for- From a jar of pickled daikon to maybe a worthwhile Master Grade. Who knows? har har. Second, polls aren’t exactly safe so have to think of another way to decide winner while still keeping everyone involved. Please share any ideas that you may have ^^.

Once again, thank you for playing!

Now on Sinanju…*cough…stares at the pile of pieces on the floor*… I know it’s been awhile since you’ve heard from me on this but I barely have any time this week. Got a few papers due on Friday and an exam coming up so there are more important priorities ^^;. Still aiming to finish it by the end of the month though.

MG Sinanju WISP- Head and Body

Here’s the first of my Work in Slow Progress of MG Sinanju…

Let me know your honest opinion about the gold paint job. The painting really put a strain on my eyes (and I’m already kinda blind as is ^^;). It took probably a little over two hours to paint all that gold in but should probably go faster and smoother now that I got the hang of it. Masking the parts is futile as I find it faster and easier to just paint carefully and clean up whatever mess I have afterwards with a toothpick and rubbing alcohol.

I’ll still touch it up some more before spraying top coat on it. Judginging from the impurities, I’ll say one needs to apply at least 5-7 layers of gold paint (handbrushed) to look the most solid. I only applied three.

Oh how I want to give up on this model. Laziness kicking in XD. This project will probably carry me into February… *sigh*

Contest update: The 1/144 Rasiel Giveaway only have 11 entries so far and deadline is this friday so I’m thinking I could just put everyone into the finals ^^. Is anyone else still preparing theirs?