Saturday, April 21, 2007
Airbrush Cleaning Brush
Ever since I got my airbrush, I have a problem cleaning the chamber that's located between the paint cup and nozzle.
I'd need something that's resembles a mini baby bottle brush.
I've thought of using eyelash brushes but even they are too big to fit into the chamber.
Recently, I saw a commercial on tv which showed a mini brush that's used for cleaning the spaces in between the teeth and gums.
I think I've seen such stuff in Daiso before, so I went there today to try my luck.
It's called the interdental brush and they come in different sizes, different quantities and with different handles.
Product: Interdental Brush (I-shaped)
Size: SSS (fits into a space of 0.8mm)
(click on images to enlarge)
Pack of four and a carry case.
The brushes.
The carry case.
Interdental brushes.
Bristle heads.
Carry case holds two.
My initial intention of the brush was to use it to scrub the chamber but it turns out that it can also be used to clean parts of the nozzle cap and nozzle.
Cleaning the chamber (the tunnel btw the paint cup and nozzle).
Cleaning the nozzle cap.
Cleaning the nozzle.
You definately can't fit it thru the entire nozzle because the brush diameter is 0.8mm while your nozzles come in sizes of 0.2mm, 0.3mm & 0.5mm.
But you can still use it to scrub the bigger openings.
Can it withstand hobby thinners?
The answer is Yes.
The bristles are so closely knit that they can actually hold thinner. Haha.
Dry.
Soaked.
Labels: Review
posted by Laurens @
12:49 AM
[1]comments
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
HGUC 1/144 Palace-Athene
I'll be joining the mono eye group build in Katoots.
So I guess I'd be unwrapping my Palace-Athene for this one.
Pesky tiny seams that lingers even after the extra thin cement treatment.
Slap on a bit of Mr. Surfacer 500.
Repeat if you can still see the seam emerging from under the paint.
Then sand it down.
Snap fitted.
Scribing some additional panel lines for the head.
Sketch with a pencil first.
Done, using a "big head" pin attached to a pin vise.
Planning to add some plaplates to the groin regions.
Stick a masking tape on it and mark out its shape.
Then draw your design on it.
Testing to see how it looks with the masking tape.
Cut out the masking tape, stick it onto the plaplate and use a pencil to outline the shape.
Cut out the shape and cement them to the intended areas.
Ok lah, simple design which is not too difficult to cut out.
A potential seam when the two chest halves are combined.
Covered it up with a small bit of plaplate.
Progress so far......
That's it for the chest.
The deeper panel lines on the chest are done using the back of the hobby knife so that it'll end up with more of a squarish trench than a V-shaped one.
The arms.
Just the addition of recycled bits of plaplates and some extra panel lines.
I always have a hard time figuring out where and what kinda panel line designs to add.
Lower torso.
Progress so far......
========== TBC ==========
Labels: Work in Progress
posted by Laurens @
12:21 AM
[0]comments
Sunday, March 11, 2007
HG 1/144 Providence Gundam
Gonna be trying out preshading on this kit.
What I'll be doing for a particular color on a particular piece is to paint the entire piece with the color straight from the bottle, then for the inner lighter tone I'd adding white to the original color.
The new work table.
That's gonna be quite a nasty seam.
It'll be quite a bitch to fill and sand.
I'd rather cover it with a small piece of styrene bent to shape.
There it goes.
The pipings under the chest pose the same problems as well.
Looks like I'd have to disguise em as well.
Ok, so now there is some kinda support frame around the pipes.
With these minor mods, the whole chest and its various parts can still be disassembled for easy painting.
Do you have a fetish for freshly primed kits?
Well, I do!!!
All painted/shaded.
Sneak peek.
COMPLETED
Rest of the gallery can be viewed HERE.
posted by Laurens @
11:44 AM
[1]comments
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Photoshoot Setup
I had always wanted to improve my model kit photography skills.
I'd need three light sources, so I recently bought two lamps from yahoo auctions.
With A4 size paper and paper clips, I made diffusers for the two lamps.
Then with my exisiting OEM fluorescent tube and white mahjong paper as background, I set it up as seen below.
(click on images to enlarge)
Playing with White Balance:
I used 3 different white balance modes: Auto, Fluorescent and Manual.
With Diffuser.
From Left to Right:
Auto, Fluorescent, Manual
Without Diffuser.
From Left to Right:
Auto, Fluorescent
Playing with ISO:
I used 3 different sensitivity settings: Auto, 50 and 400.
Used Auto white balance.
From Left to Right:
Auto, 50, 400
Used Fluorescent white balance.
From Left to Right:
Auto, 50, 400
Playing with EV Compensation:
I used 4 different settings: +1.0, +1.3, +1.7, +2.0
From Left to Right:
+1.0, +1.3, +1.7, +2.0
Playing with AE Metering:
It is the Light Metering Range to Determine the Exposure.
There are 3 differnt modes: Multi-segment,Center-weighted and Spot.
From Left to Right:
Multi-segment,Center-weighted,Spot
From Left to Right:
Multi-segment,Center-weighted,Spot
The following pix are PSed with auto color, auto contrast, auto level and had their curves adjusted.
Blitz Gundam
I chose Blitz because black colored kits have the most problems with photography.
Below was edited from a pic with Spot AE metering.
Everything looks detailed & clean and the background is white (except for a couple of little greyish top corners which can be easily cleaned up and parts of the claw might be a bit over-exposed).
Below was edited from a pic with Multi-segment AE metering.
Notice that it is still heavily plagued with shadows.
The background is not entirely white.
The kit's details are kinda dark.
Other pix edited from Spot AE metering pix.
EVA-01
Damn, I have cobwebs on my figurine!!! LOL
Vignet-what?
Ok, I've tried out mybearbrick's tip about vignetting.
The chrome bar you see in some pix is some sorta marker to help me maintain the framing.
It all looks great now.
Multi-segment AE Metering.
From Left to Right:
No Zoom,2X Zoom
Spot AE Metering.
From Left to Right:
No Zoom,2X Zoom
posted by Laurens @
3:35 AM
[3]comments
Thursday, February 22, 2007
[OOB] HG 1/144 Blitz Gundam
Another quick OOB build.
Damn, black would be hard to do panel lines.
I shall be using enamel grey to do panel lining.
Snap fitted.
COMPLETED
Rest of the gallery can be viewed HERE.
posted by Laurens @
1:54 AM
[7]comments
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Ball-Jointed Stand
I saw this figurine stand at Keong's and knew it could be used on gunpla.
This is bought fr a 13" figurine shop @ Shaw Towers(Beach Road).
I guess it was taken out and sold separately from a certain figurine series.
After playing around with the screw at the back, it began to felt loose and lose its grip on the metal wire.
I just love the ball joints for the articulation in the spine.
Its attachment to the base plate can be unscrewed and mounted on some other bases.
Holding up a 1/144 model kit.
Holding up a 1/100 model kit.
I guess I'm gonna have to mod the gripping part since it is loose now.
......to be continued
Labels: Review
posted by Laurens @
2:41 AM
[1]comments
Saturday, February 03, 2007
[OOB] HG 1/144 Mobile Cgue
This shall be my first kit done using my new compressor.
No major mods done, so I guess it can be considered as OOB......Heh Heh.
Gonna be adopting its original color scheme with slight variations (maybe in the form of striped camo).
Snap fitted.
Modded the insides of the shoulders to facilitate easy removal for painting.
I hate stickers for the mono eyes.
So I'm gonna try out something new with a bead and a 'big head' pin.
Hope it doesn't look too hideous.
For the final fitting, I'm gonna push the bead further in so that the pin head doesn't protrude out too much. The pin head is gonna be painted too.
Primed using Mr Base White by airbrushing.
COMPLETED
Rest of the gallery can be viewed HERE.
Labels: Gundam, Work in Progress
posted by Laurens @
12:22 AM
[2]comments