Otaku

Nicely lit DIY Figure-Display-Cabinets

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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 :).

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Custom Figure Display, Part 2

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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.

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Tenshi Hinanai 1/8 Sakura Zensen

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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.

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Mahjongg madness, DIY Mahjongg table

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Okay, so what do we have here? As you may know from previous posts or the tag-cloud we are quite into the game of Mahjongg, playing Riichi rules. What we’ve been missing all the time was a fantastic automatic mahjongg table. Of course it is much too expensive and huge – on top of that those beasts of machanics engeneering need frequend service – which isn’t available in Europe (it seems like this one was a rumor and is not true for the ones linked above…). So we set out to build one Ourselves (of course no automatic one as we are no team of engeneers with a fully equipped work shop). Read on for details and building instructions.

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Pocky The Review

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Finally! We’re done with all the photo taking issues. As promised, here’s the review I’ve been wanting to write since I got that Pocky heap last Christmas! They’ve been lying around for so long…

Flavors are listed in no particular order. Unfortunately, I can’t claim this review to be complete. Glico has released so many different Pocky and it’s even harder to get everything outside Japan. Nevertheless, I’ve got quite a bunch and pretty pictures too 😉 (And I’ll make sure I add future Pocky additions to this review if I should ever get my hands on more.)

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Figure Buying Guide

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It all started with the Konata Figma that I wanted to have and no matter how hard I looked for her, she wasn’t available anywhere (you can always try eBay but in most cases you pay a high price). As ridiculous as it may sound but competition between figure collectors is fierce. Popular figures are gone in no time and people are capable of hogging sites at 4 am in the morning to get limited ones.
From what I’ve seen, it’s easier to get figures when they’re available for preorder if you really want them. Of course you can hope for sales (and they happen a lot!) but most probably those for sale aren’t the ones you want.

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Mina, Model-Kit Diary

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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 :P) 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 :P. 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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Itazura Neko Coin Bank

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First seen on alafista.com that the preorder was open for these coin banks on Strapya. I couldn’t resist getting one because the instant I saw this, I knew this is (and ever will be) the most awesome coin bank ever produced by mankind. You can still get it here :3 and it will make a great gift for children and adults alike.

Edit: They are again available at Strapya or at Play-Asia too!

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