What is FFA? How does an airbrush work? HGUC? All those questions can be a bit overwhelming for someone just starting with Gunpla. On this page I’ll try to clear up some of the vagueness. This page is divided into 4 sections; Tools, Modeling, Airbrushing and Gundam. Remember that this is just my point of view and the way I work. This is not the only one. Start doing it yourself and you will find your won style!Learning is an active process. We learn by doing…

Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.
- Dale Carnegie

Tools

Building

Side cutter – Used for cutting parts from the plastic sprue. Make sure you leave a little bit of the sprue still attached to the piece. This can be cleaned up later.

Knife – If there is still a small nub on the part that just has been cut off you can remove it with this or a similar small and sharp knife. The knife is also very useful to cut out piece of PA plate when you are scratch building a particular part of a kit.

Files/sandpaper - To really finish off seams or nubs you can file them down with some sandpaper or files. I use two sorts of files that you can find in a drugstore in the nail section. Normally these things are used to file nails and polish them afterwards.

Pin vice – This is a more special tool that you won’t use much when you’re are a beginner at Gunpla. It’s a tool that can hold small drill bits varying from 0,2 mm till more than 3 mm. It can then be used by hand and is useful for drilling out vents, gun barrels or to place pins in the joints of a model to fix the position.

Screwdriver – Some Master Grade Gunpla kits or higher grades have little screws in the joints or even more complicated a small LED system. In order to be able to work with these things you need the appropriate tools.

Painting

Technical pens – These can be used to bring out details in your kit. The difference is very visible and has great impact on the kit itself.

Masking tape -To hold two pieces together while modeling or just to mask of a certain part while painting. Masking tape is multi-useful. I like to use Tamiya’s masking tape for the edges and for larger area’s I use some no-brand tape. The (more expensive) Tamiya tape is thinner, sticks better and hase no little vines in it. You sure get what you pay for!

Sticks -These are crucial for airbrushing your parts. I always stick them into the holes were pegs go, use some tape (inside out) or use some UHU Patafix. You can also use aligatorclips to hold the parts on the sticks.

UHU Patafix -This is the German equivalent of the American Blu-Tack. It’s a sort of gum that sticks very well and is normally used to keep posters up I use it to mask of very complex parts or stick little pieces to sticks. It can also be used to mask to creat a camouflage pattern. I found out that when you repeatedly pull it out en knead it back together it get’s warmer and more sticky.

Primer – This chemically prepares the plastic for the paint. It makes sure the paint sticks to the part and it also doubles as a very fine filler for some small scratches. The primer shown in the photo has three different degrees from coarse to fine (Mr.Surfacer 500, 1000 and 1200). If you want a perfect smooth finish you should use the 1200. Dabbing on the 500 can create a cast-iron effect.

Paint – Used for cutting parts from the plastic sprue. Make sure you leave a little bit of the sprue still attached to the piece. This can be cleaned up later.

Finish – As for the finished there also tons of different types of clearcoats. Mr.Color has it’s range of spraycan clear coats from flat to super gloss, Tamiya has some, but I like to stick to a more cheaper version called Future Floor Acrylic (FFA) in the U.S. and it’s called ‘Parket Plus’ overhere in the Netherlands.

(Tamiya) Flat Base - These is also a Mr.Color Flat Base and they both work the same. It’s just an additive that makes the paint flat(ter). By adjusting the amount added you can control how flat you want your paint to be. I normally use the Tamiya flat base with Future to create a flat clear coat.

Modeling & Painting Tips

Seam line removal

First of all. This is not the one way to do this (as all the other tips are) but it’s just the one I use and I find easy to work. It all starts  with the test fitting of the kit. In that stage you can see what areas will need masking,  which parts can be already glued and where the seam lines will be and need to be removed.

While test fitting the kit I always cut off the pegs with a side cutter. This makes it a lot easier to reassemble the parts later on and makes them easier to release. When a seam that needs to be fixed is found your assemble the parts but leave a very thin opening in between. Then dab some thin cement in the small gap. The capillary effect will make the glue run through the gap, but be sure to apply more than enough.

When the gaps are filled the parts are pressed together. If enough glue is used this is the moment were you cantell. The glue will come out of the gap as you squeeze the parts together. Let that dry and harden for a full day and you can easily cut it away and sand down the seams. Your part is now ready for primer!

After a first layer of primer it is good to sand over the seamlines again. That way you will really get a smooth finish and any recessed area’s will be filled with primer of sanded out. With a second layer of primer added your part is ready for it’s paint.

Masking a recessed area

Sometimes masking can be very tricky. On my MG Nemo I wanted to make the inside of the shield look like it existed of a frame and some metal within that frame. Most of the time it is easier to mask of recesses. This is really simple, because when you mask off that recess area you can just trim the edges of the tape with a very (read: brandnew) sharp blade. Take a look at thes pictures of the shield I mentioned.

1. – First I layed out pieces of masking tape on the shield. I then took a pointy cocktail stick and pressed the tape in the recessed area’s. Make sure you press really good so that when you cut the edges the tape won’t shift. Now take out your knife and put in a new blade. The sharper the blade the easier this is. Slowly and carfully trim of all the maskingtape that is not necessary or in the way.

2. – After applying the paint I removed the tape and look at the result!

Masking circles

Masking a circle can be very usefull for monoeye kits or just to create a pattern. Only tool you need for this is a holepuncher. You can get these in most hobby/arts&craft stores. I use one that has different sizes. This tutorial explains how to make masking tape dots. But the leftovers can be used as masking tape holes ofcourse.

1. -Get out your tools and be prepared! In order to make the masking tape more easy to handle I use a piece of cardboard and place the tape on it. Now punch some holes in the order or pattern you want.

2. – The little holes that you have cut out will be stuck inside the pipe. In this case I want those out because I need the dots of masking tape. You can use a cocktail stick to poke out the dots of cardboard.

3. -There they are. These are the dots you want. But you still need to remove the tape from the circles…

4. -Using a (sharp) knife you can get behind the masking tape and peel it off. Now it’s stuck to the blade of your knife and readdy to apply!

Airbrushing

What is Future (or Future Floor acrylic or FFA)?

It’s basicly a liquid that you would normally use to protect your floor. As it turns out it is also great for airbrushing (or hand brushing) a clear coat on your models. It is glossy on it’s own, but when you use a little bit of Tamiya Flat Base you can get a whole range of clear coats from super gloss to super flat. Don’t use too much Flat Base or you end up with a mixture with clouds and white spots in it. Too much is more than 30% of the total mixture.

FFA can be thinned down with ammoniac based solvents. And it turns out that that typical liquid also can be found around the house. Overhere in the Netherlands it’s called Glassex, but in the United States it is known as Windex. I never  thin down FFA and use it straight from the bottle in my airbrush. Future Floor acrylic and Windex is called different in other countries. So make sure you also see The Complete Future page.

Fichten Foo has written an article about FFA and the ratio’s of Tamiya Flat Base too use for a flat coat.

Gundam Terminology

The Gundam kits are also called Gunpla. This comes from the words Gundam and Plastic kit. Gunpla is also the term I’ll use. There are lots of other Gundam figures that are not especially kits, but more actions figures like Gundam Fix Figuration (GFF) or Mobile Suit in Action (MSIA). As far as Gunpla is concerned there are different levels of kits called ‘grades’. I will sum some of them up and describe them all a little bit. First of all there are basicly five different grades. Each grade has kits in one or two different sizes or scales.

Speed Grade (1/200) – These are partially painted kits that need very little contruction. The details are ok, but not as good as the HCMPro kits. Which are more like action figures.

First Grade (1/144) – Allready a bit more complex and bigger then SG, but these kits still lack mobility. Also, there is no painted parts, but therefore the part count is a bit higher so more parts means less painting in the details. These kits are excellent for kids and youngsters.

High Grade (1/144 & 1/100) – This is where the party starts. These kits get a bit more difficult because of more parts and better posability. Within this HG range there are some sub-grades you can say. There is the 1/144 High Grade Universal Century (HGUC), small kits that are pretty detailed and posable for such a small scale. For the 1/100 HG there is the High Grade Gundam Seed (HGGSeed) and High Grade Gundam 00 (HG00). Paint can make these kits look even better, but is not so much needed as on the a FG.

Master Grade (1/100) – Personally I like this grade the best. The kits are very well posable and contain lots of parts which makes painting details almost unneccasairy. The newer MG’s use an innerframe which on it’s own looks awesome too (check it out on the Nemo). Another big difference is the fact that most MG’s come with a sheet of dry transfers too really finish of the model.

Perfect Grade (1/60) – This grade has the biggest scale size and really is the top-notch! There are some other kits that are the same scale (Real Detail just HG’s in 1/60 scale and HY2M “Glorious Series”), but they don’t have the amount of details, parts of posability as a PG. PG’s are also most of the time equiped with LED’s or even a voice chip.

Apart from these grades there is a line of Gundam’s called Super Deformerd or commonly known as SD. These are miniature versions of the Gundam with oversized heads. Small baby like Gunpla as you might want to say.