Weathering - Sponge Chipping

Greetings and salutations plamo nerds! One of the final steps in the Boros build was some minor weathering to make it look fairly used, and to match the wreckage base I prepared for it. I snapped some pics along the way so I could share my preferred paint chipping technique - the tried and tested sponge method - which is easy to do and can give great results if you really put your heart into it!



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Tallgeese Boros

Ohayou gozaimasu my lovely weeaboos! I'm sure everyone is in a festive holiday mood - it's that time of the year when the expanding of our waistlines is inversely proportional to that of our wallets - that 2-3 week window when we can bring home new kits and get a little less flak for it from our significant others, because they're "self-gifts".  

Me? I won't be growing my backlog (...much). I already have too much to be thankful for this year - a healthy family, a stable job, a new house...and the cherry on top of my triple-scoop sundae? the Boros is finally complete! After almost a year of working on this thing, and more than a few mishaps that almost made me want to rage-quit the project...it is finished. 

Ladies, gentlemen, everyone who identifies as some other obscure gender or thing (hey, Setsuna identifies as a gundam), I give you my best effort yet...
the Tallgeese Boros!

warning: pic heavy!



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Field Report - G.B.P. 3rd Anniversary Event

It was high noon...the perfect time for a showdown as far as gun-slinging cowboys are concerned. But the gathering was meant for a different kind of gunslinger - instead of revolvers, we holstered our airbushes and rattle cans. Instead of .28, .38 or .45 caliber bullets, we used lacquers, acrylics, and enamels. Because the day was not about guns...it was about Gundams! That's right folks, yesterday, GBP (Gundam Bootleg Pilipinas) celebrated it's 3rd anniversary with a build-off and gathering of epic proportions. The people were friendly, the food was great, and the builds? The builds were handsome AF. Hold on to your panties fellas, they're about to drop like Axis...


Warning: Pic Heavy

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Decanting Paint from Spray Cans

What's up plamo nerds? I hope you haven't blown your holiday bonuses on kits that will sit on your backlog shelf for at least 2 years! Remember that you don't just need kits, you'll need other modeling supplies too. Paint in particular is a fast-moving consumable in this hobby, and you can easily go through several jars on a single project. Good thing there are cheap alternatives to hobby-grade paints - the most accessible of which is the humble rattle can. Available at almost every hardware and DIY store, these cans are the typical weapon of choice for a modeler's first foray into painting. Eventually though, many of us graduate to airbrushing, and a bunch of half-empty cans end up collecting dust under our work tables. You can still make the most of those old cans by decanting the paint instead!


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A̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ Removing Detail - Waterslide Decals

Hello again plamo nerds! Due to insistent public demand (actually just one reader, persistent fellow, by the name of Clyde..) I'm doing a double feature today, demonstrating how to remove an already dry waterslide decal. Note however that this method may not work on all decal brands, but I've had success with both Bandai and self-printed decals, provided the decal solution has not fully cured and the model was not topcoated after the decals were placed.



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Adding Detail - Waterslide Decals

Greetings and salutations plamo nerds! I've finished repainting the leg I messed up last week, and it suddenly occurred to me that I never did follow up that Custom Decals tutorial with a proper how-to on waterslide decal application. This is all common knowledge to many experienced builders, but I'm determined to fill this blog with every technique I've learned from the hobby community as a way of giving back, so here you go!

Here's what you'll need:

1. Sharp scissors
2. Hobby knife with a new blade
3. Cutting mat
4. A small, shallow dish for water
5. Hobby tweezers 
6. Cotton swabs and paper towel
7. Your waterslide decal sheet
8. (Optional) Decal solution like Microsol / Mr. Mark Softer, or just plain white vinegar

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Murphy's Law

Hey everyone, I had a spectacularly unsuccessful round of plamo yesterday, and I've been getting some questions about what had happened, so I thought I'd write about it here instead - in annoyingly vivid detail. I find writing about shit that happens to me in this manner is kind of therapeutic...and yes, this is more relevant than the ongoing US elections.

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Featured Seller - GreattoysOnline

Hello plamo fans! Today I'll be featuring another well known store that has been around longer than many of us have been into plastic modeling: GreattoysOnline.com!

Established back in 2001 by enthusiasts just like us, GreattoysOnline has been nurturing otaku / collector culture in the Philippines by providing easy access to Japan and US sourced toys and collectibles for 15 solid years. They have a chain of stores spread out strategically across the metro, and an online store where you can shop in case none of the branches are within an easy commute from where you live. Let's take a closer look at what this store has to offer!

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Cleaning Your Airbrush

Good day plamo nerds! Allow me to share how I clean my airbrush after every painting session. No fancy-schmansy cleaning equipment or chemicals here, just some cheapo hardware store Acrylic Thinner, a small paint dish or cup, some paper towels and a couple of cotton swabs and we're good to go!

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Tallgeese Boros WIP 5

Hello plamo nerds! Here's an update on my current project, the Boros. I finally got around to painting the damn thing after nearly a month of grueling clean up and paint prep. I may have spent more time getting this kit ready for paint than I've spent actually painting previous projects. For a while it felt like an endless cycle of puttying, sanding, priming, sanding, puttying, sanding, priming - but with the recent conclusion of the Back to Basics series, I've gained a new appreciation of the process. I now find mini-bursts of satisfaction just looking at a primed part and feeling how smooth the surface is, and I must confess I've wasted precious build time doing just that. 

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Back to Basics 5: Paint Prep

Greetings plamo nerds, and welcome to the 5th and final installment of Back to Basics! If you've been following the series, you'll recall that every topic up to this point has been about assembly and getting the model's exposed surfaces to look as sharp and clean as possible. We've covered everything from proper removal from the sprue, denubbing, seam fixing, smoothing out surface defects, and getting everything to line up properly. Today we'll focus on a few more steps a modeler can take before finally loading up his brush (or airbrush) with paint.
Hop in!

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Mecha Design Preferences and Peeves

We all love looking at models on the web ( i'm talking about plamo here not victoria's secret) You scroll through your timeline and when you see a build that blows your mind, you Like it, Share it, or even save it for future inspiration. But sometimes you come across a project that, despite all the great feedback it's getting from the community, or how well built or painted it is - just doesn't do anything for you. It's not that you don't appreciate the work or recognize the ability of the builder - it's something about the look or maybe even the pose of the kit that simply doesn't get your mecha mojo going. I'm talking about design preferences - elements of a model that give you a proverbial mecha boner, and peeves - things that annoy the be-jeezus-yamato out of you.



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