Experimenting with Nail Polish

Greetings fellow otakus! Despite my busy building schedule, I'm always on the lookout for budget friendly plamo ideas. I recently stumbled upon this concept of using nail polish as paint. A quick googling revealed that the car modeling community has been doing it for a while, and they've been getting really nice results. Some gunpla builders like Ghost of Zeon have also been putting it to good use. This got me super excited, because nail polish is a lot cheaper than hobby grade paints. Instead of asking a billion questions, I decided I'd give it a try myself.

For the experiment, I bought 1 bottle of nail polish (<$1), a bottle of acetone (<$1) and a small bottle of Mr. Color lacquer thinner ($2.50).  I got the lacquer thinner because according to many guides, nail polish is actually a lacquer. I prepared a couple of extra parts, one of which was primed with Mr. Surfacer 1200, and a few plastic spoons.


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Commission Finished - MG Kampfer

Good day plamo otakus! I was able to get some work done on my commission projects over the weekend - surface prep on an SD Zeong, a bit of snap building on an MG Zaku Cannon, and best of all, I completed the MG Kampfer!

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Back to Basics 1: Cutting Parts from the Sprue

Hello fellow otakus! As promised, I'm doing a "Back to Basics" series, which will feature some rudimentary plamo techniques along with some tips and tricks I picked up along the way. I know there are a ton of these tutorials online, and my methods might not even be the optimal approach, so if you have any suggestions feel free to contribute in the comments section below.

Let's start off with the most basic of the basic - how to properly remove a part from the sprue.

You'll need:
1. A kit
2. Side cutters



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Adding Detail - Dry Transfer Decals

Hello fellow otakus! Here's a quick guide on how to use those dry transfer decals that come with many MG kits.

You'll need the following:
1. hobby knife
2. cutting mat
3. masking tape
4. round-tipped object (like a ball point pen's cap)

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Basics or Bust: Reflections on Custom Building

Not too long ago I joined my first live event, and had my ass handed to me. It felt bad, of course, for someone to tell you your work isn't going to cut it because it lacked the basics. It sank in after a while, and then I felt ashamed. Not of my entry, but of myself - that I had the audacity to submit something I knew wasn't optimal. I went there expecting to fail, and so I did, miserably. I knew I was going to fail, because I was aware of the flaws on my entry. Why didn't I fix them? Why did I not do it properly? Why did I think the errors I could notice myself might be overlooked by the judges? I took some time to reflect on my actions, and I decided it would be good to share my findings with the community.






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Commission WIP - MG Kampfer

Good day plamo fanatics! It's going to be a hectic week once again, thanks to a ton of commission projects I've got lined up. Next on my itinerary is an MG Kampfer. Here's where I am at the moment...

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G No Reconguista and Gundam Build Fighters Try - First Impressions

It's been an eventful week in the world of Gundam - with the conclusion of the Philippine leg of the GBWC, both new anime series: G no Reconguista and Gundam Build Fighters Try came out. If you haven't seen them yet, you can watch them here:

G no Reconguista
GBF Try

Here's my two centavos on the first few episodes...

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Adding Detail - Masking

Hello plamo nerds! Here's a simple guide on how to do some basic masking that will help bring out the details on your model.

Here's what you'll need:
1. Masking Tape (Tamiya or Style-X, or any hobby-grade masking tape)
2. Hobby knife
3. Cutting mat
4. Tweezers

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GBWC 2014 - Philippines

Hello Plamo fans! Just got back from an extended weekend, the highlight of which was the Gunpla Builders World Cup held at Robinsons Magnolia! Unfortunately I was not able to go myself, but my bro-in-law was able to drop by the event and snap some pics.

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Commission Finished - MG GM Sniper

Hello fellow otakus! Here is the finished MG GM Sniper. I'm going to be sad to see him go, but I hope the owner appreciates it as much as I enjoyed building it!

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