These decals are crap. They slide off the paper very easily, even in cold water, but once they go down, they do NOT want to slide around on the model. Mr. Mark Setter seems to have no effect on their ability to be repositioned once on the model’s surface. I had to get them exactly right the first time, otherwise they’d be a PITA to move around. Not only that, but they broke easily and I’d have lots of air bubbles under them. I’m using Tamiya Mark Fit Super Strong and these decals do NOT want to conform. I’m having to make cuts with my hobby knife and even then they still do not want to cooperate. Driving me nuts.
The paint job is Testors Model Master Acryl Camouflage Gray, and the reflector dish, impulse engines, nacelle Bussards, and flux chillers were done with Gaia Notes’ Arpeggio line of glow-in-the-dark fluorescent lacquer paints. This should look pretty cool once I find my blacklights in my hobby closet of doom.
I’ll need to give this a Mr. Hobby semi-gloss, then paint the nav lights and such. I’ll use a black alcohol pen to color in all the windows to add that detail.
Here they are. I had to buy more 2mm brass rod because the length I had in Asuka’s leg wasn’t long enough and she began leaning forward. I removed it and put in a longer segment and now there’s no more problem. I’m still thinking that I might paint the base and print out a custom decal for it.
On the last Friday of June, after dinner in Maebashi we went to Bookman’s Academy, a nice two-story bookstore on the road straight south from the sushi restaurant we ate at. This bookstore not only has a great selection of modeling magazines, but upstairs in the “subculture” category, there are many books about modeling. First I’ll show you the magazine section.
Here you’ll see Armour Modelling with Umi Shinonome gracing the cover with her own color of paint (as shown above), Artpla, a Model Art mook on painting, Model Cars, a mook on modeling tools (I believe by Model Art), Figure King (covering pre-painted figures as well as kits), Macross Mechanics (a mook devoted to Macross modeling), a mook on painting techniques for WWII camouflage patterns from various countries, and something about the Yamato. To the far right you’ll see a couple of magazines about firearm replicas, which I am really not into. Looking down, you’ll see this:
Here are issues of Hobby Japan, Model Graphix, Scale Aviation, and Model Art. Oh, but that’s not all. I actually didn’t show you the row of modeling mooks on the shelf between these two pictures.
Here is a look at the Macross Mechanics modeling mook. This is the summer issue. Alright, now let’s head upstairs to the subculture section. This should blow you away.
Here are the magazines along the top. Gundam Archives is put out by Model Graphix magazine. These are mooks that are collections of Gunpla builds featured in the magazine. They also have Macross Archives and Votoms Archives that I’ve seen. In the middle is the SD Gundam Perfect Modeling Manual, and to the right is one on Ultraman models.
Look at all of these Gunpla modeling books! Here they have the Gundam Sentinel book, a compilation of the Sentinel articles once featured in Model Graphix magazine. Lots of other stuff too, like Hobby Japan Vintage, Hobby Japan Extra (these are mooks focusing on different subjects), more Gundam Archives issues, a book on Gundam MSV, and I spot a Scope Dog Votoms book. Looks like it might come with a model, the way it’s in a box like that.
Lots of other stuff, too! Model lighting, AFV, a book on building an F-14 Tomcat which actually covers the work of an American modeler building Tamiya’s Tomcat, various 72nd scale plane modeling books, and so on. This is the store where I bought the book showcasing modeling workbenches of several famous modelers, as well as the model lighting book by Dorobou Hige.
Here’s the Votoms Archives mook I mentioned, with a look inside. I love the paint scraping detail on the legs, from the armored skirt. Fantastic detail.
Here’s a book called “Soul of the 1/72 Scale” (ナナニイの魂) which covers multiple plane subjects in that scale.
Bookman’s Academy has such a fantastic selection of modeling books. I always enjoy going to this store with my family.
Mayu discovered a store called Kuroda Toy Doll （黒田人形店）in Maebashi’s Central Shopping Arcade on the internet and on Saturday we went there to check it out. Shoutengai （商店街）are covered shopping arcades and a tradition of Japan. Unfortunately, sometimes these shopping arcades have grown unsuccessful over the years with empty real estate. In English they call this one Maebashi Rose Avenue and this is where Kuroda is located. We’ve only ever been to this shopping arcade once before, when we happened to be in the area during the Tanabata Festival in July several years ago.
Kuroda specializes in traditional toys, so basically nothing which involves video screens. The first thing I noticed upon entering was their selection of Tomica cars.
Misato’s car from Evangelion.
Macross and Gundam Tomica!
Back to the Future Part III and Castle of Cagliostro cars. I bought the BttF III Delorean with the ’50s tires at Village Vanguard earlier this year. I hadn’t seen the one with train wheels until now.
A nice, modest selection of plastic models was there. Here’s the Gunpla selection. I bought the F91 Gundam kit at this store.
Here are car, ship, castle, and other plastic models.
An RC Delorean from Back to the Future! I’ve never seen this before.
There were many older anime and game figures. Here’s Kasumi from Dead or Alive and Mai from King of Fighters.
Plenty of traditional, wooden toys too. A meow-meow tower and… a toy for Klingons? Oh never mind… that would be “Qapla,” not “Kapla.”
There were so many different toys there, such as kendama, plush dolls, and so on. My daughter Ulan wanted the bullet plushy from Super Mario Bros and I got the F91 Gundam model. It’s a neat store.
Here they are after painting their eyes and eyebrows. The main paints were airbrushed with V-Color paints and the eyes were done with acrylic paints. I’m particularly happy with how Asuka’s eyes turned out.
Here they are after I shaded their hair. I used dark blue pastel chalk to do the recessed areas of Rei’s hair and an acrylic goache mix of burnt umber and red to do Asuka’s hair. For some reason, pastel chalks were not sticking to Asuka’s hair. Probably too glossy. Then I did a flat clear coat of V-Color to seal them in and stop the shine. I think I’m ready for assembly now.
Living in smaller living conditions in Japan, there is an art to maximizing the space you have. I found these pictures on Pinterest and found them interesting. One thing to note is the absence of the “carpet monster” that Western modelers often complain about. Homes in Japan may have area rugs, but do not have permanently-carpeted rooms. You’ll see tatami rooms, but not carpet. I don’t like carpet, nor tatami for that matter. Anyhow, check out these pictures.
This fellow has a bunk bed and uses the bed on top as a place to stash his models. The model workbench fits underneath that nicely. The extractor booth’s air hose seems permanently attached to the window. Very clean and orderly, with a convenient L-shaped desk.
This is pretty incredible. This person turned a closet into a workbench! Very adequate lighting, and the tiny video screen for entertainment or whatever is a nice touch. No idea what it’s hooked up to, but that would be perfect for a Raspberry Pi computer, I think.
Holy cow! This is a chaotic mess, yet I admire how much stuff he’s managed to cramp into this small space. I’m about halfway to this guy’s level. Unlike the pictures above with the clean floors, if this guy loses a small piece on the floor, he’ll have quite a task on hand to find it. I like his poster of a Mitsubishi F-2 on the wall.
I also came across these photos on Pinterest and realized that they belong together. Here are four tall shelf racks. I love his tastes in models! It’s all character modeling. Can you spot what you like? I see Knight Rider, Mad Max, Gachaman, Star Wars, plenty of Gundam, Yamato, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, plenty of Gerry Anderson stuff, Votoms, and of course Macross. He even has that big Mega Force kit! Bonus points for keeping model categories together like that. (Click the images to expand, then open them in a new tab in your browser to see even closer detail to see the boxes.)
Again we see air hoses permanently attached outside. This is a nice idea. I have to crack my window and hang the air hoses out, but that means that mosquitos can come in unless I spray mosquito repellant onto the curtain. Speaking of which, I should buy some now that the weather has warmed up.
This is a bit too claustrophobic for my tastes. This guy is working on a Ma.K kit. He’s got paint bottles to the right. What’s in those boxes? It looks like the room is larger beyond those boxes.
This is pretty cool. A nice modeling workbench in the corner of the room. With that plastic drawer there though, where does his legs go? It’s packed solid underneath. Nice extractor though. It’s illuminated within. Nice.
Incredible. This guy obviously likes a lot of Gunpla.
Good golly, that’s a lot of resin garage kits! Super cramped work area too. At least there’s anime to watch.
Alright, this is not cramped at all. Just lots of neat stuff going on all at once. Nice window to let in plenty of light, too. Looks cozy.
Nothing says “modeling in Japan” more than sitting on a small table on a tatami mat floor. Oh yes, and with a blanket for your lap.
I’ll take pictures of my own workbench. Currently it’s just a big mess at the moment. I’ll put that in another post later.
So last night I finished my Luluce model kit. I went back to the Sanyodo Bookstore I posted about in the previous post and bought optional hair and body parts to give her black pigtails and sexy tits. Luluce comes with a nice ponytail, but her hair is like a dark gray and I prefer black. I think I’ll paint the ponytail hair parts with Mr. Hobby Lascius black hair color. I might paint the pigtail parts to match.
I’m on vacation at the in-laws’ place this week. Here I have a modeling table with various modeling supplies I keep here to work on models whenever we stay here. What I need to do is pop the parts apart and sand down the gates better. When I get home, I plan to do a flat coat on the flesh parts. I can use a Faber Castel pencil to do some shading on her butt cheeks and underboobs, then give it another flat coat to seal it in. I think I’ll also do a wash of Tamiya panel line accent color on her hair to give it more life, then do a flat coat on that too. Maybe do a semigloss finish on her outfit.
After sanding work, I may need to use some plastic polish to smooth it, or just very high grit sanding sponges. After a clear coat, it should provide a painted look.
In Komagane City, Nagano Prefecture there is a bookstore called Sanyodo with a fantastic modeling section. There I spotted Aoshima’s new Back to the Future Delorean from the 2nd movie! The first Delorean was released earlier this year. This is the first time seeing this second kit at a store.
I went there to pick up the latest Modelgraphix magazine (featuring Votoms dioramas) and OH BOY they now have a HUGE plamo section! Tons of neat supplies and everything too. Not just Gundams, but plenty of Macross, Votoms, Crusher Joe, shmups game ships, cars, planes… wow. Several years ago I picked up the Bandai mini Millennium Falcon there, but at that time the model section was pretty limited to just some Gundams. So, I was very impressed to see that their modest modeling section has been expanded to a few aisles even.
And check this out. They even stock Vallejo acrylic paints there. You don’t normally see these paints at regular hobby stores in Japan.
So yeah, plenty of great modeling supplies to be found there. I’m very impressed.
I picked up a Bandai “30 Minutes Sisters” kit. Girl #3 named Luluce. She has such a pretty, dark skin complexion and a cute ponytail. She is the one I was interested in getting, but never got around to buying before she disappeared. Maybe these kits were repopped because that model store had tons of them in stock.
I was actually looking for Kaiyodo’s R2-D2 sofubi kit when I found this. These kits are 1:6 scale, making Artoo twice as big as Bandai’s 1:12 scale kit. Plus it’s hollow inside, making it perfect for lighting. I found Artoo for a decent price on YAJ, but the seller said that he couldn’t verify the contents. Then I noticed that Artoo’s main barrel body was not in the photograph. Good thing I noticed that before bidding! There was another one listed on YAJ, but it was actually a link to Yahoo Flea Market and the seller would only accept PayPay. PayPay is a form of digital money (somewhat like PayPal), but the only way to have a PayPay account is to have a smartphone. It’s bad enough that some places only provide coupons to smartphone users or the only way to make an appointment at the tax office is via Line on a smartphone, but between payments only attainable through a smartphone and the totalitarian push for “vaccine passports” on one’s phone, it’s easy for anyone with pattern recognition ability to see how we’re being herded towards the Mark of the Beast. It makes me sick.
Seeing that Artoo kit only available through PayPay was my motivation for getting a Mercari account, as I mentioned in my previous post. There I can find that kit listed and I can pay cash at a convenience store for Mercari purchases.
Anyhow, while I did not get an Artoo sofubi, I did see this figure of Han Solo, and it was only like 3,200 yen! The detail is exquisite. The previous owner had already cut off the excess vinyl and fit the arms onto the torso. Look at how well-sculpted it is! This is definitely Harrison Ford’s face.
His head looks big because I am up close with my camera. There is also a Princess Leia kit, but her head looks too big. I can’t tell if it is sculpted like that, or if it is just the way it was photographed (like how I inadvertently made Han’s face too big in my picture). Like Han, Leia is dressed in her white gown from A New Hope. Unfortunately, she isn’t holding her laser pistol in that kit. This Han kit includes his blaster molded in black resin. So cool.
Of course, I’ll paint this with V-Color paints. I think I’ll get the Artoo sofubi kit next month since I’ve got a bunch of crap to pay for and I’ve already paid too much on model kits this month.
