Trepang Chen WIP
There's not much to post right now, we are really busy studying for exams (yes, AGAIN!) and when we're done for the day we don't have much energy left. While our hobbies are on the back burner, I figured I could finally post the WIP pictures of Chen. I announced it when I posted Chen's gallery and then somehow forgot.
Whenever I finish a GK I reget not having taken pictures but when I'm working on one, my hands are usually dirty and wet from resin, paint, putty or glue. I also get so absorbed in the work that I just don't want to bother. But there's so much to say when you've actually worked on a kit. Details you cannot spot when you decide to buy it on a website. So for the most part I have no WIPs at all but Chen got at least a few.
Agnes Boulange 1/6 (Volks)
When I pick a kit for myself to build and paint, you can be sure that I REALLY want to have it on my shelf. And although I know nothing of the character Agnes (from Shukufuku no Campanella), I love her elaborate design. Volks has created a Campanella GK series and they're all very pretty. It's tempting but I'll probably refrain from getting them all. With about 5 kits I can finish per year, I have to pick them carefully. It's not like I don't want to build more, but winter makes it hard to sand and paint without catching all the poisonous fumes and dusts. And building GKs is very time-consuming.
This time around I tried to use laquer-based paint and I have to say I'm impressed how smooth the paintjob becomes. Which means my comprehensive GK guide will have yet another section on paint. orz I'll never finish this guide... There's so much more to learn and I'm faced with new challenges with each new kit.
Chen 1/8 Trepang
It's been a while since my last GK gallery post but the weather is improving and I can finally work outside which makes it all more enjoyable. So mayble I'll actually get something done. This time it looks like I'm running out of kits, there's one kit waiting to be finished and a few preordered (no idea when they're going to be released). I've waited for Chen about a year too, E2046 has a wide range of kits but that also means you have to wait quite long for a kit which is not so popular.
Chen is an easy kit with few parts but mind you, building GKs is a lot of work nonetheless so I've spend a full week building her.
A more detailed WIP post will follow tomorrow although I don't have as many photos as I'd like to have. I just happen to be too lazy when messing with tools and paint to wash my hands and fetch the camera.
So today here's Chen's gallery for you to enjoy 
Nyan~
Nicely lit DIY Figure-Display-Cabinets
A common problem with most of the figure display case solutions out there is lighting - how do you put enough (and nice) light in your display so the figures look good but the whole place doesn't get filled by bulky bulbs, PSUs, cables and the like. We like to show a method of building cheap yet good looking lighting for custom glass displays as well as the common and popular IKEA DETOLF using inexpensive led-strips.
Also, as we (and probably many many others) like to use plain glass shelfs (as they're easy to mount and look good) to display figures there is the very common problem of dust and dirty laying down on the figures. The other thing we propose here is a nice method to build sturdy yet good looking glass cover you can simply place on the shelf over the figures (a box with two open sides: backside and bottom).
For building and setup instructions for those two cool concepts, please look inside .
Custom Figure Display, Part 2
Heyyas there,
here comes part two of the "custom modelkit/figure display" series (or whatever you'd call it). A custom display for figures, modelkits, whatever - you name it! It's a crossover between a glass-case/cabinet and a shelf. It combines the idea of hanging it on the wall with a glass-case so the figures/GKs don't collect too much dust. This time - unfortuneatly - i don't have pictures of the quality and detail of the other tutorials, but i will try to describe the working parts as good as possible.
Tenshi Hinanai 1/8 Sakura Zensen
Although the ones who collect PVCs are constantly enraged by the release of a few kits per year which are *really* outstanding and kit only (no PVC version), it makes a kit builder proud to own those. This one is such a kit, a very light and still dynamic pose and also a very impressive one despite the scale (because of the sword and the extraordinary base).
My third kit (okay, technically the fourth) and I feel I still have lots to learn. She's a very fragile one, when assembled and it is one of those things I still have no idea how to do it better: how to glue on those crystals or small ribbons you can't pin and make it STABLE. My painting has improved with a more bold approach to highlights and shadows (I used the awesome prototype pictures of Sakura Zensen as reference), an attempt to manipulating different gloss levels for different parts (with which I'm very pleased) and my first time being confronted with clear parts.
I got new tools this time around too (so still not there to having everything for building kits). new wire, a clear plexiglas base that won't distract from the figure (you can't see it because of the "clouds" but it's pretty) and beautiful colored inks which work wonderful on clears. Thus, I am still furiously writing on the article for a full garage kit building tutorial but it lacks pictures and well, I'm not done yet. Time to tackle another kit! I bet there are still many mistakes to make and to avoid.
Alice Margatroid 1/6 (T's System)
The kit that got me into building GKs, it's such a cute one (especially with her dolls Shanghai and Hourai). T's System has a lovely Touhou GK line and they're still releasing more. Most of the painting is done with the airbrush, details were hand-brushed (I love doing details!).
She's on display for quite a while now, I forgot when I actually finished her but she had been the reason for much frustration and headache. Every part of her decided to break off spontaneously until I had enough and pinned everything I could! One should still be careful with the dolls but other than that I think she shouldn't be prone to falling apart anymore.
Mina, Model-Kit Diary
As figures are somehow fun and so is tinkering. So how about combining those two? "Garage Modelkits" offer you the (IMO) nicest way of doing so. What you'll get is a resin casted model in parts, you've gotta file it, grind it, polish it, paint it and glue it together. It takes up shitloads of your time, so be careful not to let that new hobby eat too much of your time - if you decide to try it / stick with it.
Anyways, we've (as in Eefi and NebuK 
) tried our first garage kit, Mina, from the Densha Otoko opening:
Mina, our first modelkit, finished
As we've run into many problems, gear and methode wise, we thought we'd publish a small "buildlog" or "modelkit diary". Mind you, this is by no means a guide or tutorial as we've only tried to find our way into the Resin Kit World . Still if you're preparing to do your first kit this post may give you some kind of idea what you're diving into.
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