1/100 Serpent Custom

[Boxster]

This is the one that got my hooked. A reworked model for my nephew I originally built in the 90's.

Seeing how a lot of these Gundam builders like to paint their kits showroom clean. I felt war machines of any kind that seen battle will not be clean, period.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/490241...055109749RpNZkq

http://community.webshots.com/photo/490241...055109749zVBzJc

http://community.webshots.com/photo/490241...055109749JzoRnB

http://community.webshots.com/photo/490241...055109749HNFNOq

B

 

[dualedge]

Very sweet. And I totally agree. I like to see these things with weathering so they look like giant battle robots instead of little toys. Of course, I guess they sort of ARE little toys BUT that fact aside, the weathering helps me envision them hundreds of feet tall

I've also built this kit and will get some pics to post. I tend to go a bit more toward military colors where things like blues and reds are used. Instead I like to use olive drab and aircraft grays and then add weathering to make them look a bit more used. I love what you did with the Serpent. That's a very cool model.

 

[Boxster]

Hey Dual,

Many thanks.

Yeah, I seen a lot of Gundams in various websites and most tend to lean towards to the super clean showroom clean of these machines which I think will look more realistic having at least some weatherings on it. Hmmm, even the prepainted and built toy Gundams are weathered.

Very cool, I look forward to your Serpent.

I do like Gundams in military colours more than the loud colours they are designed with. This is why I am pretty happy when I found the MG Zeta C Plus which is all in gray.

In the works, I have a Duel Gundam and a Blue Frame which I also will spray into military colours. But I have to make some massive guns for them first as I am trying to make them look different.

Thanks again and yes, please share your work there too.

B

 

[dualedge]

Sounds like we're on the same wavelength.

Here's my 1/100 Serpent - the pics are a bit blurry. My camera sucks in inside lighting so I had to slap some prints on the scanner (yuck). Hopefully it'll give you an idea of what I did with the weathering though.

I didn't really think the Serpent needed those gatling guns since he already had two big-ass guns and since Heavyarms has room for 4 I gave 'em to him...

 

[Boxster]

Hey Dual,

Whoa. I like your Serpent. Looks like it jumped out of the anime. Nice, I like it plus I like the silver ring on the gun too. There is nothing like personal touches to a Gundam or any mechs.

In the anime, both the bunch of Serpents and the single Heavy Arm are pretty banged up. Heh heh, yeah, the Serpent have way too much weapons. Nice, I hope you got some more lined up. Sure like to see them.

B

 

[dualedge]

Here's a couple more pics... these two are 1:144 scale but they were cool to build anyway.

I forget the first guy's name but I thought he had a cool samurai kind of look to him. The other guy is just called "Flat" I believe because he folds down into a kind of vehicle mode. And an extra pic of my Heavyarms.

 

[Boxster]

I don't remember seeing the second one. Thanks for sharing, I like the look of both of these mechs and your armour-like weathering on them. I presumed they are not Gundams? I remember some Gundam models that can transformed into something else too but I am a late comer to Gundams so, I am still trying to know their ranges of mechs.

Ahhh, yes, the Heavy Arm with all compartment opened and ready to fire. Fierce looking mech. The splatter weathering reminded me of the tanks I saw returning from execise and considering how huge those Gatlings are, I think you got it right on.

For my Heavy Arms. I am trying to replace the elbow polycaps to a scratch build units. I am also considering extending both the thighs armour plates to that of the anime or simply forget it. However, I will scratch build a gatling for the 1st version HA, which is white and red test colour.

Do share some more of your works there, DL.

B

 

[dualedge]

Yeah, I thought the Heavyarms looked better with really heavily weathered olive drab in place of the blue. Gave it more of a tank sort of look I thought. It contrasts well with the light aircraft grey on the legs.

I had to look up the names for the other two. They are from the Turn A Gundam series (?). The first one is called Mobile Kapool and the second one is the Mobile Suit Flat

It's probably been a couple of years since I built any though I have several waiting to be built. Of course, when I was building them, I'd just go somewhere like that GundamShop.com or Hobby Link Japan and browse the different categories. I'd just pick whatever I thought looked cool.

As I mentioned, I've got a few master grade kits I want to build including the Kaempfer and the RGM-79 Sniper. I've also got a master grade Patlabor mech I need to get back to.

 

[Boxster]

Oh yes, I agreed with that one.

So both are from the Gundam reange of mechs. Cool, learning new stuff everyday.

I don't build 1/144 due to the size and the only 1/144 I have is the Freedom from the Meteor Unit. Here is a link of it in progress, couldn't resist not adding 3mm to the body and sharpen the whatucallit wing thingies with plastic sheets.

Yeah, I know what you meant about kits piling up. I got the same problem.

B

 

[dualedge]

I don't really care for the 1:144 kits either now. I had picked up one or two to mess around with about 5 or 6 years ago and enjoyed building them. Then I decided to try my hand at 1:100 kit and really enjoyed it a lot more. Haven't really gone back to the 1:144 scale since. Some of them are okay but why bother when you can get a Master Grade or a regular 1:100 kit and detail it better. I haven't tried a Perfect Grade yet but I'd like to give one a shot eventually.

I like the detail and articulation of the Master Grade kits. I'm sure I'd like the Perfect Grade even better but it's kind of hard to justify $100-$200 on a single model kit right now with my lack of hobby funds. But maybe one day...

 

[Boxster]

Oh yeah, tell me about hobby fund.

For the moment, I am still trying to build a good size collection of the kits I want. More on the wishlist than on my shelves. The 1/100 NG kits are doing good for me, better if I do not need to modify them like the works on the Sword Impulse.

The PG kits are very well engineered. I do not think there is other model kits out there so well engineered and yes, the price for both MG and PG suck turkey juice big time. I think the only place to buy these kits cheaply is in Japan. I heard they got sales like 30-50% off the Japanese retail price from time to time. Makes me want to swim there all the time.

B