Finally and I mean finally the weather got a little better, was getting tired of cloudy days, rainy days and windy days which seemed almost like tornadoes sometimes. So I took this chance to take some outside pictures of Unicorn which I wanted so much to take them. Definitely my favorite kit so far, well in terms of design because the joints could have been a little better but for me Unicorn is a kit to display in normal positions and not like Zaku ver 2.0 which seems more like a toy with so many articulations that can do almost everything that a PG can do 
.
Protecting the town perhaps? We never know whats inside the pilot’s head do we?!
I had a bit of a problem with the panel lines because the paint on the gundam marker was running out, so when I pick up a new kit I’ll get some new markers and repaint some areas.
Ok now this was for pure fun, for quite some time I’ve been having an idea of taking pictures of my gundams and make them look like they’re holding lightsabers ^^.
Bang Bang, whatever is up there is dead.
What’s that?! Oh just pretty clouds.
Destroy Mode aka BADASS Mode
Stop looking at my back, it’s really annoying.
I don’t know about you but I really love how this picture came out ^_^.
Pulling out the beam saber, or should I go for two?
En Garde.
So goodbye for now, hope you enjoyed the pictures.
I made a small video with pictures of Unicorn, most them were took when it was still being built so ask not why are those building materials around.
I guess I can resume all my thoughts in on only familiar expression :
KAKKOII!!!! xD
Love first and fifth pictures
That Unicorn is definitely amazing to me. Gosh! Visiting your gundam articles makes me more and more interrested into trying to build one on my own ^^;
I kindda like this Unicorn style. Is there a kit you’d recommend me to start with?
And good job playing with the light saber effect
It looks great.
A starting model…..hum…. well starting with a Master Grade or a High Grade there’s not much difference, well the price and the number of pieces is a lot different.
I recommend you for starters a Gundam 00 High Grade 1/100, just pick one, Exia, Dynames, etc…. your choice buddy
Very nice! I might have to get that one after I get off my arse and put together my 1/100th MG Strike Freedom Gundam
nice photos there
especially the last one, too bad there’s no cloud on that one 
I really love seeing people take outdoor shots with their collection, you delivered on it ^^ The last few ones involving the beam sabers look great.
nice shots! i like the lightsaber effects. ^^;
Nice shots ! I’ll eventually get to build mine as well, probably sometime next year (yeah my backlog is huge
). Just one question, how do you fix mistakes with the marker ?
@bob-san: Unicorn is a great piece of art, the articulations are not as good as some “older” kits, but as I mentioned Unicorn is not a kit for you to make good looking poses still I recommend it a lot.
@ron~: thx ^^. Well the Destroy mode pictures were taken in the day before the normal mode ones. Sometimes I prefer when there are not clouds because I get more sun light and when it has many clouds its hard to get a good light.
@shin: I’m glad you like the shots.
@gordon: yeah the lightsaber effects are a must ^^. One day I’ll take a picture with more gundams making Jedi like poses
@ravhin: fixing mistakes with the marker? What do you mean? Like, you out of line when you were doing the panel lines making excess of paint? If that’s it then it’s simple, grab a white rubber/eraser (borracha) and clean it smoothly ^^, attention this will only work if you’re using a thin gundam marker not the fat ones and if you’re using another pen to make the panel lines then you might want to use some alcohol with a sheet of toilet paper to clean it. Hope this helped
@Belela-san: Thank you, as I’m in a phase of experimenting stuff while fulling painting my first kit I can use as much experiences as I can
. Thing is as I top coated the kit with matt top coat the surface is not smooth which makes it realy hard to use an eraser effectively. I’ll make some experiments to see if some diluted alcohol cleans the paint without ruining the coats below.
Oh yeah if you ever consider painting a kit like these don’t use matt top coat before panel lining and applying decals
What I see most people do is they paint the kit then they do the panel lines, apply the decals and stickers and then in the end they apply the top coat, of course using a rubber when the kit is painted it’s hard to use it.
So most people tend to “paint” the panel lines then use some sort of chemical (it could be alcohol I don’t know) to clean the excess, search on youtube for gunpla or plamo.
Watch this it really helps (if you haven’t seen it):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OwRuq-DqfgM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LpXiwQnnJ3I
Ok thanks. So you’d recommend a High Grade 1/100. I’ll check that. Gundam from 00 are nice, but I am really impressed by this Unicorn style. That’s what I am more willing to build… later… maybe ^^;
But be careful… I’ll blame you if I cross this line :p
Actually… photoshopping the beam sabers was like cheating, LOL!
Still, nice job, nice plated silver on the bazooka.
One thing’s really annoying me after looking at those close-ups… Somehow… I lost some love for this kit. Don’t ask, I’ll get around it some day.
So many kits to build, so little time…
@Belela-san: I am aware of the theory, the problem is that there is always some things they don’t tell you
What they use to clean the lines chemically is usually thinner, but the markers are enamel and I don’t have the respective thinner. I thought about using alcohol which might have worked, but there was the risk of it stripping the paint coat. If you use an acrylic paint coat and enamel markers , since the enamel thinner doesn’t react with acrylics it’s usually safe.
I also tried a technical pen in some lines (rotring rapidograph) and that thing is awesome. Much thinner then the gundam markers and has a much better paint flow. It also dries a bit slower so it’s easier to clean.
Still the problem was truly the top coat. Those videos are great but they usually don’t show the whole process. You should always top coat the model before panel lining and applying decals not only to protect the paint coat but to give a nice smooth surface where to apply them. And this is what I’ve done wrong. You see matt top coat has a rough texture, where a gloss coat has a smooth one, and believe me matt coat is not appropriate as a base for lines, weathering and decals.
I’ve talked about this in my own blog, but check this picture:
but they came out like that because the surface is not smooth.
http://picasaweb.google.com/hboleto/InfiniteJustice1100/photo#5171970594325794722
I’ve painted those lines straight you can believe me
Boleto-san?! Nice to see you around! ;D
Look who he is !! \o Been a while since I last caught you around. As you can see I’ve been having problems hehe (well probably not because that link doesn’t work anymore, changed the name for obvious reasons
)
Nicely done! Haven’t gotten around to building mine yet and it probably won’t happen for awhile now since I gave up mine just to let a customer have it so he wouldn’t have to wait too long for us to restock -_-” Kinda regretting it now though after seeing those sweet pics :/ Ah wells, I’m suspecting I would never find enough time to get it done anyhow, good thing there’s always your pics to oogle at xD
Wooo.. the light-saber part is really awesome! How come got 2 different heads? interchangeable? O.o
@Nakano: Yeah right and you never cheated ^^. I’m glad you liked to silver part of the bazooka.
@ravhin: I tried to get a rapidograph but after seeing its price at “papelaria fernandes” almost had a heart attack, 23€ for a technical pen? WTF?! I rather buy 20 gundam markers. Since I don’t have any experience in painting the kits I can’t really comment about when to apply the top coat. One of the advantages of not painting your kits is that you don’t have to worry about paint falling off after a long time even if you applied loads of top coat
.
@shino: it probably was the best thing to do, since you weren’t building it it’s always best “giving” it to someone who’ll build it. Thankfully gundams are not like figures because they’re almost always being made unlike figures which a limited time of sales.
@Prim3: Actually its two heads in one, it’s part of the transformation process, check Dalong website (dalong.net) and see what I mean, the only thing that comes in pairs is the V-Fin. The V-Fin comes in normal (opened) and can be closed to make the Unicorn or you can use the fixed Unicorn that doesn’t open which I prefer more.
@Belela-san: Aha I know what you are saying. You must see something like this as a long term investment, if you take care of the pens they last a long time and all you have to day is buy the refills which are much cheaper. I’m still trying to figure out what works best for me and I have plans for more experiments in other kits with different methods. After that I may come to some conclusion, let’s say somewhere in the end of the year hehe.
Nice pics. Really love the beam saber effect XD.
Cheating or not, the light sabers made me smile because it just looks cool.
Woah! gotta love your photo shoots! nice one
Thanks choo23 ^^
Great photos!
I havn’t built a kit in a while, but I want a MG Unicorn….but I think I’ll have to pass =/
Really nice work on the Unicorn, love the details it has. The photos with the edited beam sabers look a lil weird, must be the subtle lense flare? o_O
What grade is unicorn gundam? Did you use any tools for detailing? If so, what did you use? What camera did you use to take pictures?
@Okadashi: I think the title of the post is self explanatory XD. Tools for detailing…well I didn’t make any details on it although I always use two tools to help me make the panel lines which are the engraver and the design knife. Although I want to get a scribing tool and a P-450 Scriber which help a lot to make the panel lines deeper before you ink them. As for the camera I used the Sony Alpha 100.
First of all great pics! I swore to myself that I wouldn’t buy another Gundam, but this looks too good to pass up.
Muito bom!
Apesar do preço eu estou sinceramente a pensar comprar 1, desde a 1º vez que vi o Unicorn que me apaixonei por ele XD
Btw, tu não pintas-te nada pois não?Foi so painel line, certo?
O unicorn parece-me daqueles que mesmo não pintado fica tão bem como um pintado.
Isso tem é decals a mais, ou é impressão minha?
(dsc, ter escrito em Português, mas tou um bocado sem paciência para escrever em inglês :\)
@Archidelic: Ele ainda leva mais decals, eu é q me aborreci de por mais, colocar estes normais é muito chato. Só fiz mesmo as panel lines e pintei algumas zonas a prata com um gundam marker plated silver.
Before I buy this one, I really want to know how the destroy mode works, do you need to reattach each different parts or just transform itself from the normal mode?
Thanks
@Wannabuy: You don’t need to reattach each piece but it’s better to remove every piece and transform them just to be safe them reattach them.
gratz on your unicorn…looks awesome!!
its MG 1/100..am i rite?
about those tiny sticker…do them come together with the box..and the yellow color on the V-fin, does it comes together?
thanks
@snakesolidus: MG are always 1/100 no more no less. Stickers and dry transfer decals always come with MG.
Used to be 1/100. To soon to be released Musha, is unscaled, as it measures about 18cm while to be 1/100 it had to be around 22cm.
Don’t know where did you get that from but all Master Grade kits are 1/100 and Musha is no exception, all info I have on him says that he’s 1/100. It would be stupid of Bandai to make a non-scale Master Grade
Most places assume Musha is 1/100 because indeed every other MG is 1/100 but if you read the Japanese in some articles posted in Dengeki Hobby you see that the size is 18cm while it should be over 22cm. That said I also saw other “official” publicity stating that it was 1/100, so either they changed it and scaled it properly or they are trying to fool ppl. I’ll wait for it to come out and see for myself if it’s on scale or not.
I think it’s still a bit to early to talk about its size, sometimes developers like to exaggerate a bit on gundam sizes in gundam games. What I think is that Musha will probably have one of these sizes:
1- Is the size of Zeta Gundam
2- Is the size of Unicorn
Which will it be we can only wait ^^
I am definitely interested in buying this kit, however, I have only worked on one model kit before and that was the STAR GAZER Gundam HG. I usually buy Fix Figuration Gundams or HCM Pro since they come detailed and pre-painted. My question is, if I were to buy Gundam Markers, clip the pieces and smoothen them out, will it look as good as yours or will I need to do something else? I figured as long as I cut out the pieces added the decals and used the black marker for the outlining it would be good to go. Please let me know if this will work or if paint or other materials are needed. Also, if you don’t mind, could you please let me know what type of Gundam Markers you purchased and where I can get them? Thanks~
Hi Tekkaman,
Well you’d be surprised if I told you that I don’t paint my kits? Well I don’t, the only thing I do is cut the pieces, “sand” them and build, then I use a black fine tip gundam marker to make the panel lines. Sometimes I use markers to hide the cut marks but that only works with markers that are appropriate for certain series. What you say is true and you’d be doing the same thing as me, of course if you painted your kits with gundam color sprays or other sprays used to paint gundam kits it would look even better. I’ll probably start painting with sprays in a near future. To buy gundam markers online I would choose hlj.com but there are other stores of course but I only buy online through hlj.com
Hey Belela-san,
Thanks for the response. I’ll be ordering my kit tomorrow. I can’t wait to get started on it. I’ll let you know how it goes when I get it. Take care, and again awesome job on the kit and I love the pics.
Wow, nice… I plan on getting this soon, but I’m not sure about some stuff.
1) Would it look better with paint?
2) How does it transform?
3) Where did you buy it? How much?
If you answer, thx…
Hey ndru 98,
Well it sure would look better with paint they always do ^_^. The transformation is something you have to figure for yourself or just read the manual. I bought mine at hlj.com but there are loads of stores that sell anime goodies that have gunpla or maybe not.
Ah, cool, thx for replying. Haha… Im asian.. trying to find the cheapest price XD
Hey dude, I got my Unicorn, but then, Im no good at painting, and I wanna do this, IF possible. http://www.picspay.com/uploads/ngeekhiong/main/UnicornColor_02.jpg
Any idea how to make it?
Hum…I have no experience with painting but I can try and explain. The blue decals you see are impossible to make unless you buy some sort of blue decals versions which I’ve never seen before XD, for the psycho frame it’s not that simple to make it “transparent” if you painted it, you can only do that if you have an airbrush with a very thin paint, most of the painted Unicorns I’ve seen the psycho frame is either painted in a metallic color or it’s left alone.
To achieve that effect you can paint the parts using clear colors, but you will have to take care of the color as it will “mix” with the red, or you can cast new parts on clear plastic and then just use clear blue on top, which is what I believe, was used on that unicorn.
The decals may be custom made. It’s just a matter of getting a printer capable of it (alps printers for example) and making the design on some program like photoshop.
Its photoshopped XD
That’s an easier solution yes !
LOL, no, but I was just saying, its photoshopped, but any ideas on how to DO it. Or is it just not possible :/
See post #46. It is possible but not easy, since you will need to cast new parts.
Casting new parts, as in making my own? How would I do that??
check these links:
http://www.hobbycast.net/video.htm
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/jw_vac.htm
OMG, I would die trying to do that D: . *sigh* I’ll just paint it and build it normal…
is that gundam a model u built cause it looks too sturdy to be model, and how much is it to get one now?
The title of the post clearly indicates that it’s a gundam model kit. The price can vary a lot depending on where you’re buying it, it can go from 50€ to 80€.
this model kit to look great needs painting, all that pink insted of red in the frame is one of worst things bandai did in a kit, red plastic must be very expensive in japan lol
great job! one note, however, the gray square that switches that’s on the unicorn’s shoulder’s is supposed to be almost vertical, not the way it is in the pictures you have taken.
again, great job all around and just fyi, if you did not know already, the shield can be mounted on the backpack with similar mechanics to the rifle and bazooka ^_^
ant1ph0n