I'm pretty proud of myself. I don't have many parts to fix after the first round of primer. Whew! But by fixing the gaps, I have covered up some natural panel lines on the parts, so I have to rescribe them back. I don't do it freehand. What I do is to use two layers of masking tape as a guide before I do the scribing itself.

I also gave the parts a second primer coat, this time using Gunze White Surfacer. Colors applied onto a white surface will look brighter compared to the pretty dark grey primer I used as a base.

After the first round of primer, I checked for visible seamlines on all the parts and lucky me, only about half of the parts needed puttying. Normally I'm pretty rough in my construction so I end up with lots of parts to fix. So I'm pretty happy with only about 50% to do.

Some quick wetsanding is done and more primer will be added tomorrow to make sure I got all the parts fixed. Here's hoping I've cut down the parts by another 50%. On a sidenote, I have exactly 1 week to finish this thing up since I gave myself the deadline of May 24.

To allow the right leg to bend further (and therefore, have a better pose) I did a simple mod to the right leg. I basically cut out an extra section on the back of the right leg. Simple no?

The kit being a no-grade, Bandai cut a lot of corners with the parts with lots of hollow bits. Onward with the trusty epoxy putty and elbow grease + sandpaper. It's actually not too difficult when I wetsand, it's just monotonous.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I'm sharpening the antennae of my Gundam. Which is odd considering how many years I've been modeling Gundam kits. Anyway, after some careful sanding, here's what I got:

The shoulders themselves require a bit more work since I'm basically trying to cover up the hollow insides. A combination of plastic card and epoxy putty is used for them. After the first round of epoxy, there are still noticeable gaps so I added more epoxy. Further sanding after the epoxy is dry seems to solve the problem. We'll see after I prime the whole kit. The female peg joints are there so I can align the shoulders properly to the upper arms of the kit.

Next is to sand down the obvious joint marks then primer. I'm expecting to catch more stuff to fix when I'm done priming...

The latest Gundam series was announced a couple of months ago. The title is a mouthful: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73 Stargazer. It's a 3 episode OVA (of 15 minutes each) set to debut in mid-May 2006. The first kit of the main Gundam from the series was announced too. And now, the production pics have popped up online. It still has the Okawara 'over-design' philosophy going I must say, although I kinda like the 'akimbo' pistols. This minor plus point still doesn't convert me into a Gundam SEED Mecha fan though. Pity.

Well it had to happen sometime but I'm starting to get bored with modeling Gundam. It always happens to me. Now I'm into Macross of all things (AFTER I sold almost all my unbuilt Macross stuff no less). I still need to rush the Destiny Gundam though since I really want to at least join one national competition in this lifetime. :P

The good news is that I'll end up coming back to building Gundams again. Maybe I should do different genre each time. Take turns so to speak. So it's one Gundam, one aircraft, one Mecha, then start with Gundam again.... not a bad idea really.

More work done today. Modified the feet of the Destiny because in the pose I want to give it, the lack of pistons in the feet is very clear. So it's a simple matter of removing the molded 'half' pistons, then adding two plastic rods to the resulting bare area. I intend to wrap metal springs over the rods when I'm done but I'm leaving them out till I'm ready to do final touches.

I figured I need to make the torso bend even more forwards than what my scratchbuilt torso part can allow, so I figured I'd just cut off the male part on the pelvis and re-attach it at an angle. To further reinforce this part, I added some epoxy putty. Test fitting shows the pose is more dynamic now. Nice.