Mecha Painting - Episode 2

Hey plamo nerds! Now that the Philippine leg of this year's GBWC is history, it's time we returned to our regular programming schedule here on the blog - starting with a well overdue follow up to the Mecha Painting series!

In this episode we'll talk about the different types of paint used in the hobby, how to properly thin paint in preparation for airbrushing, and I'll also demo some basic exercises and how to clean the airbrush after a painting session. As always your comments and suggestions on how to improve the format are very much appreciated!

That's all for now, until next time, keep building plamo!

Featured Brand - Harder & Steenbeck

Guten tag plamo nerds! It was just another lonely and boring day, about three months ago during my business trip in California, when I suddenly had this bold idea to make my time away from the workbench worthwhile: I was already in the US, so why not try to get in touch with western tool and hobby brands? I could let them know what the blog is about, ask if I could formally introduce their brand to my readers, and perhaps even solicit some samples of their fine products for review. And so I went to work, searching for the right people to get in touch with, sending out emails and PMs left and right. Days passed. Weeks. A month went by without responses from any of the brands that I reached out to. I figured it was a lost cause, and was ready to scratch it off of my list of ideas for the blog - until finally, my phone beeped showing one unread message...

from Harder & Steenbeck.

I nearly fell off my chair. I mean I did send them an email, but knowing that the company was based in Germany, I never got my hopes up, and they were the last company I expected to respond. But there it was, a message from Harder & Steenbeck, saying they were interested in taking me up on my offer. After a couple more email exchanges, we finally set a date for a chat with a representative!


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Mecha Musume - Becky Law

Hey there plamo nerds! I've been publishing one review after another, and it's almost as if this place is turning into a proper blog. We can't have that can we? Time to break up the seriousness with a long-overdue Mecha Musume interview! Today we have a very special guest from Malaysia who started mangling plastic robots long before many of us (myself included) got into the hobby.
A renowned modeler and extremely versatile artist that dabbles in almost every plastic and resin genre there is - ladies and gents allow me to introduce to you all, the talented Becky Law - a.k.a. Becky Customizer!

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Talyer Talk #3 - Char's Airbrush Case

The local plamo community needs reading material. A magazine the likes of Hobby Japan or Dengeki Hobby, but in English would be really nice...something to flip through while waiting for your lady in the salon or when sitting on the porcelain throne. I'm glad some of the top notch modelers have started authoring and printing their own guide books, but there's a void to fill when it comes to plamo related editorial and light reading, which is one of the reasons I maintain this blog. After a barrage of tool reviews, I think a Talyer Talk feature is well overdue. Luckily I stumbled upon a very nice side project by accomplished modeler Polo Bormate on my facebook feed, and he was kind enough to share this custom made airbrush case!

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Meijin Modeler - Mr. Dash

What's up plamo people! The blog has been churning out nothing but fire for the past couple of weeks, and thanks to you lovely nerds we just broke 300K visitors! Two posts a week is quickly becoming the norm, and it's about time we threw a Meijin Modeler feature into the mix. Today's featured modeler is a master of customization. This guy bends plastic to his will like Aang bends air, and he's about to reveal his techniques to the world by way of a full-color mecha customization book! Ladies and gents, please welcome the one and only Mr. Dash!

Click on the read more link for the rest of this post, and look for the discount code towards the end!

Talyer Talk #2 - Workbench Update

Greetings and salutations plamo connoisseurs! Welcome to the 2nd iteration of Talyer Talk! If you missed the first run and have no idea what this series is about, here's the link: Talyer Talk

"Plamo Like A Sir"

I've been making some great progress on the cabinet / workbench, but I had a massive brainfart and forgot to take wiring into consideration when I had the damn thing built. I had no choice but to make modifications to the existing structure. At least the shelving was removable, otherwise it would have been a real pain. Jump in if you'd like to check out my mediocre wire-wrangling efforts, and if you're in the market for the perfect plamo toolbox, I found a couple that are hard to beat!

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Mecha Musume - Ezia Tori

Happy hearts month plamo weeabs! I'm sure many of you are taking a break from your WIPs and have been cutting back on plamo expenses in preparation for Valentines day. Despite being the brutish and barbaric men of macho manliness that we are, I know for a fact that we all cave for our special someone on the 14th - and anyone in a relationship who claims otherwise is a big fat liar.

But for the members of the lonely hearts club, don't drown your sorrows in paint thinner just yet, because this feature post just might cheer you up!

If I asked you to imagine a girl's room, the first thing that comes to mind is pink, right? A dresser littered with beauty products, bottles of nail polish, and an assortment of makeup equipment. Shelves would be stacked with either stuffed animals, a collection of barbie dolls, or Nicholas Sparks books, depending on her age.

Although our guest for today does have a penchant for pink things, take a closer look at her room and you will quickly realize that there's something unique about this girl. In place of nail polish, model grade paints adorn her desk. Instead of fuzzy bears and mushy novels, an army of mecha stands guard on her shelves. Ladies and gents, please welcome our featured Mecha Musume for today - the founder of Gunpla Girls herself - miss Ezia Tori!

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Talyer Talk

Good day plamo nerds! I've finally finished relocating all my plamo stuff to the new place, and I'm super stoked (that's what the kids say these days) to get back to work on my mecha projects. But before I pop the cherry of this brand new mecha "talyer" (english: shop), I thought I'd talk about it a little bit and share some photos while it's still a "virgin" so to speak. I've been working out of a plastic bin for years and never really had a dedicated work space up until this point, so you'll have to indulge me a moment as I show off my shiny new cabinet. May she be a vessel of creativity, a fortress of frugality, and a dependable ally as I voyage into the outer reaches of the plamo universe - my very own beast of possibility.

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Mecha Musume - Evon Tan

What's up my fellow plamo nerds? I'll tell you what's up...our visit count that's what! The blog is nearing the 300k mark - and although that number is just loose change compared to the traffic on blogs that cover mainstream subject matter like fashion and food, I consider it a major milestone for a home-based, plamo-oriented one. I'd like to thank you all for supporting Otaku On A Budget. What started as a personal journal on my adventures as a mecha modeler has blossomed into something much larger - and I owe it all to you guys and gals! 

Speaking of gals, where mah gurls at?! I know you're out there...lurking in the forums and facebook groups, maybe too shy to speak up or show off your talents in the male-dominated mecha community. 

I only say dominated because guys in this hobby probably outnumber girls 5:1, maybe even 10:1 - But that's not to say they are out-skilled. No sir-ee they are most definitely not! And for that reason it's about time the ladies had the spotlight. Today we kick off a new series entitled Mecha Musume!

Now now boys, let me make this perfectly clear. Our version of Mecha Musume refers to female mecha modelers. If you're expecting armor-clad girls in bikinis, leave now. And for heaven's sake, can we be mature about all this? Seriously, if anyone so much as leaves an inappropriate comment, the perpetrator WILL be fed to the social media wolves. It's those creep advances that discourage girls from taking up the hobby in the first place, so please, take your excess testosterone elsewhere.

In this series we have a casual chat with a female modeler, and find out how and why she got into what many believe is a male-oriented hobby. I'm hoping these interviews will help break that very cliche, and inspire more females to get into plamo. I sent out the invites a few days ago, and what a pleasant surprise it was to find that almost every single modeler I contacted responded positively.

The first to heed the call for this noble cause has already been sharing her work online for some time. She's an illustrator and model by profession who likes to spend her spare time applying her many talents to mecha modeling. Ladies and gents, let's all welcome Evon Tan!


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The 3rd Party Revolution

Greetings and salutations plamo nerds! Unless you live under a rock like Patrick Star, you're probably aware of the new 3rd party (aka bootleg, knock-off) kits that have recently hit the mecha market. I'm talking about Daban and Dragon Momoko's Strike Freedom, both based off of Bandai's Metal Build version, and the Providence Gundam by a new company called DevilArts. All three kits do not currently exist in Bandai's lineup, further blurring the line between what is original and what is a knockoff. It's been going on for some time now, but I think a major phenomenon is happening in the mecha modeling world. It's similar to how nearly every consumer product out there, from cars to computers to clothes, right down to the very underpants you're wearing (or not wearing) at this very moment, came to exist today.





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2016 Wrap Up

Happy new year plamo nerds! It's been such an incredible year for the blog, my adventures in plamo and my personal life. I thought I'd do some reflecting as we jump into 2017, looking back on what I learned, my achievements and failures in the past twelve months - and hopefully commit some of those lessons into long-term memory.

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Fantastic Builds and How to Find Them

I've never been to Japan. Well, technically I have set foot in Japan but connecting flights through Narita don't really count as visits. I don't speak or read Japanese, and my vocabulary is limited to about a dozen words and phrases that I've picked up from anime, such as "sugoi!", "nani?!?!", "kusoo.."  and admittedly, "yameteeee!" . But in my quest to uncover the ultimate mecha modeling techniques I found myself in the Japanese cyberspace wonderland.

For a while I was lost - It seemed like every link I clicked on led to strange fetish porn (what is up with all that goo?!), or an ad for pills that claim to grow your junk a couple of inches. Eventually I learned to adapt - and I began to find blog after blog, website after website of mecha plamo at it's finest... and there I came to realize the truth - the best mecha modelers are from Japan, and no one can ever convince me otherwise.

I began following Japanese modelers on social media. Many even maintain their own blogs, some of which I've already featured in the Superbuilds series. Their pages are treasure troves of information and mecha eye candy that will keep you browsing for hours. The formats differ and the layouts can be quite confusing to navigate, but all you need is patience and persistence - and modelers such as ourselves already have those two traits in spades.

Will you choose to stay within the confines of facebook, and continue to believe that the best builds in the world can already be found in mainstream competitions such as the GBWC - or will you take the time and effort to dig deeper? The choice is yours.

"You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. 

You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes..."

-Morpheus (The Matrix)

Click on the Read More link to take the Red Pill...

Meijin Modeler - Win Eiam Ong

For many of us, upgrading to an airbrush is the logical choice if we intend to get better at painting our models...But once in a while an artist comes along with enough talent to succeed using the most humble of tools - a good old fashioned paintbrush. He has conquered Thailand's GBWC twice in a row with his mind bending concepts and excellent craftsmanship, and went on to take home the title of GBWC grand champion for 2015. His entry this year is just as awesome if not even better, and he is off to Japan once again to compete with the rest of the world's plamo elite. Ladies and gentlemen, today we get to know more about the one they call The Paint Pusher...our featured Meijin Modeler, Mr. Win Eiam-Ong!

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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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Superbuilds III

Good day plamo nerds, it's time for a long overdue episode of Superbuilds! Cleanliness is next to godliness, as the old saying goes, and it couldn't be more true for the godlike abilities of the builders we're going to check out today. Their work is so clean even the sharpest and most experienced eyes would be hard pressed to find faults in their finishes. Let's go!

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Featured Seller - Magnet Manila

Hello plamo fans! I'd like to introduce you all to Magnet Manila, an online store that sells - you guessed it - magnets! But these aren't your typical souvenir thingamabobs holding up a collection of fast food delivery flyers on the fridge door. They sell NdFeb (aka Neodymium) - lightweight yet extremely powerful magnets that should be a staple in a custom modeler's toolbox!




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Meijin Modeler - Joshua Darrah

Greetings plamates! Welcome to another edition of Meijin Modeler- where we get up-close and personal with some of our most admired mecha builders, to gain insight on how they work, how they play, and possibly get an idea of why they're so damn good at what they do!

      Our featured modeler for today has a very unique way of customizing his kits: a technique that requires the ultimate in plamo surgery precision, which catapulted his one-of-a-kind entry to the top spot in the Australian leg of last year's GBWC, earning him a shot at the world title. Ladies, gents, and everything in between - I give you the one man who went and won himself a GBWC trophy with an unpainted kit...
Joshua Darrah!



Click on the Read More link for the rest of this post... (warning pic heavy)

Android Overdose

Greetings and salutations my fellow Otakus, thanks for dropping by! First off, if you couldn't tell by the title and header photo, this isn't a plamo related post and you're most welcome to bail. But for those of  you who have been kind enough to follow even my non-build related ramblings, you'd know that I'm also a huge fan of the Android OS. Since the Froyo days (Android 2.2 circa 2010) I've been fascinated by the level of customization one can achieve with an Android device, and through the years, the platform has matured into a mobile computing powerhouse that has given a certain fruit company a run for its money.


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A New Chapter

Chapters can span hundreds of pages, sometimes only a few, but that does not make them any less significant to the story. After only 11 months of service as data mining manager for the country's top loyalty program, I decided to turn in my resignation. It was a high-stakes / high-rewards kind of job: one where I had a voice, where I could establish myself as an innovator and rub elbows with some of the industry's I.T. elite - but when you're a husband, a father, and a breadwinner there are things you simply cannot lay on the line - your health, your family time, and your sanity to name a few.

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I'm Still Here!

Greetings fellow otakus, I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates on the blog and for turning down a number of commission requests sent my way over the 1st half of the year. I really wish I had the time to help you with your projects, but my life has been pretty chaotic since the start of the year.  Allow me to elaborate...

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