Plamo: 30 Minute Missions Portanova (Yellow)

I eventually brought another, and no, I didn't time myself this time. Yes, it's the Portanova. The Zaku 2 to the Alto's GM. Or possibly the Desert Zaku, given colours. And yes, this one is also a great kit.

In the name of modularity, the Portanova goes together in a largely identical fashion to the Alto. Brilliantly, in other words. Be mindful of the feet, I managed to mark one, but that was my fault. A Portanova does favour slightly bulkier and rounded parts versus the Alto's skinny angles, but you'll notice the B joint sprue is the same, so the only barrier is colour. This also means that posability is in exactly the same goldilocks zone as the Alto, just with subtle differences arising from external design. Most notably, the chest/ab joint has more freedom, but with a regrettable tendency to pop out in the extremes. Another modest variation is Roy Roy storage, this kit not having a dedicated butt port, although there's more ports on the back in general. Meanwhile, the swordhilt remains a weakness, but this version is squared towards the top, so it's easier to wedge in place. Also, I need to get better at photoing these things, the mustard yellow was a wee issue.

While obviously a Zeon inspired kit, the Portanova does manage to have its own character. The armour plates on the legs for example meet and separate with movement, suggesting that a standing pose is more resistant to attack. Similarly, while the gun looks rather sci-fi, an angled slot on the forearm accepts its stock for a more stable firing pose. Its more hightech up close than the monoeye might suggest. Another thing that struck me while assembling this was a kind of 3rd hand orkiness. The discs and hemispheres put me in mind of tankbusta boms and mekboy gubbins, something which I'm sure is entirely coincidental. Both the Orkz of WH40K and the Zeonic factions of Gundam draw on German military motifs, so it's not a surprise that a not-Zaku might be like this. This of course prompted some experimentation. Due to the scale difference, its not especially practical to give this Ork weapons, but I did find this old knife from a Frame arms model. Bit of filing later, and the stabber fits.

I opted to use a Gundam Marker this time for detailing, which generally produced good results. The calves however defied both marker and inkwash, the detail being rather soft. Mephiston Red and Nuln Oil was used to tart up the Roy Roy. I also got a weapon set at roughly to same time as this kit, but I decided to drop it from this article. Its the case that half of it was for the Alto, and I broke the other half. I didn't want that to colour this write up on the Portanova unduly, hence its omission. I'll come back to that, and other option kits, in a future article.

To reiterate: very much worth your time.

Plamo: The Last Gorkanaut (Warhammer 40,000)

Thinking about it, this was an early mental health project, wasn't it? Twas May 2018, and I was in need of something, anything really, to distract myself creatively. So I went for a Warhammer 40,000 model which I hadn't done before, and fit my obvious biases. As you will probably guess, I have loads of Ork walkers, but I'd put off the Gorkanaut/Morkanaut kit on cost/performance grounds. I'm not going to go into great detail regarding the assembly and painting, it was some time ago and I didn't record much of the process. I did however take some passable photos, so, easy blog article! 

The primary metallics are, IIRC, based on a brown undercoat, followed by successive drybrushing, followed by a custom inkwash to dirty things. The guns started out with a shinier first coat, and a different inkwash, the intent being that these should stand out a bit more. No Ork would willing clean a machine, but guns would be made of different alloy, and burn off some of the crap while overheating. On that subject, experienced WH40K players will note some non-standard parts from other kits, as I feel that building any ork unit without some conversion to be missing the point. Especially when it's Deathskulls, which the blue should give away. One touch I was especially proud of at the time was the big red eye. This was a "self-adhesive gem" from a craft store, and I followed an online guide, to great success. I declined to add crew, as I felt this was unnecessary for a Deff Dread on steroids, and wasn't in the mood for painting green skin at the time. I consider myself to be pretty good, and fast, with metals, but given the choice, I'll skip infantry as I haven't found a quick and effective way. 

The Gorkanaut/Morkanaut is pretty typical example of how Games Workshop used to produce vehicle kits of this size. There's opening doors for a modest interior, separate assemblies for each limb, and parts for two variant robots. If you are so inclined and sufficiently skilful, you could trim some tabs for a more dynamic pose, or magnetise it so you choose a variant on the fly. I opted against either option, but left the door open to change variant later if I felt the need. The Last Gorkanaut is currently optimised for easy transport, with each arm and some of the smaller guns being detachable.

Why is it The Last Gorkanaut? Well, I was gonna call it Beergutz, then its debut battle happened. It was the last model standing, so I allowed myself a bit of pride.

Gunpla: The Gundam Astaroth (IBO HG)

A thought occurs, I should probably do a Gundam for a gunpla article at some point.... OK, Gundam Astaroth. then. 

I probably should give Iron-Blooded Orphans a go at some point. It's on Netflix, so it's not like there's any real barrier. Except its got a reputation for being excessively bleak, and that's not what I'm doing this for. My gunpla habit is meant to be one of relaxation and self-care, so an anime about child soldiers, with themes of fustian pacts, is not of much interest. Then again, it turns out this is from a spin-off manga, so watching the show wouldn't be nessecary, but my relecutance stands. I mention this for context. I have no prior connection to this particular Gundam, and its named for a baron of hell. I do hope that it doesn't turn out that this one squishes kittens for money, or something similarly edgelord. With that in mind, I picked up this kit for the following reasons.

1) 'twas cheap.
2) It was asymmetrical.
3) It came with a stupidly large anime sword, CALLED A DEMOLITIONS KNIFE, and a big oven-mitt to help hold it.
4) It's blue, and blue is lucky. WAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!

Anyways, let's talk robot skeletons, or more properly, Mobile/Gundam Frames. These are something that gunpla modellers can have a bit of a fetish about, such things being considered a mark of quality. Seriously, people love the Master Grades and so on for letting you build a Gundam with no armour, but lots of pistons. The Iron-Blooded Orphans line is notable for doing that sort of thing at 1/144 scale, its a gimmick of the setting, and Atas here is a beneficiary of that. You build it up bones first, and then plate the armour on top. This makes for a fun build, especially as the Astaroth has unique parts for each limb. While I have applied stickers and Gundam Marker, and it looks great, I almost want to go skin it and inkwash the whole thing, just to make the mechanics pop. As it stands, this approach does make the Astaroth look malnourished from some angles, but this does mean that articulation is largely unhindered and number of the joints is high. Sure, it could have a toe joint or summat, but the Gundam Astaroth moves exactly as well as you'd expect something like it to move. Correction: there is a toe joint, my mistake. It does not cheat by having swing out shoulders or trick hips either, it's just got a good range of motion. And while I've not had opportunity to try, customisation and parts swapping with other Gundams should be easy. 

So, we're looking at a kit that goes together well, my cackhandedness aside, looks great with basic techniques, and poses like a boss. What does it do wrong? Well, a sword longer than the robot is tall is a little impractical. I know, who would have thought it? You have to disassemble the left hand, then fiddle with the over-hand, and finally use the side handle in the right to get the suit to hold it properly. You may wish to apply the joint tightening hack of your choice, but it's not unexpected, and not actually an unreasonable failing. I would however comment that the vast sea of white plastic does make things look extremely plain, and some of the stickers aren't great. I didn't actually start to like the look of things until I went back, weeks later, the panel line all THAT. There are also two alternate weapons, a much tinier knife, which I have misplaced, and an assault rifle. These are perfectly OK, but lack the storage option the sword has. 

Gundam Astaroth probably benefited from me writing this up shortly after I'd done 2 much older kits, but it is good. Makes me want to pick up a few more from the line, TBH.

Plamo: 30 Minute Missions Alto (Dark Grey) & Long Range Sniper (Dark Gray) Armor Set

Yes, yes, I know. 30 Minute Missions is not gunpla. Its Plamo. I am already going off topic. But its a Bandai robot kit of comparable size and complexity to a High Grade, so sue me.

Anyways. 30 Minute Missions has been on my radar for a while, as I became aware of it while looking into gunpla. The concept is one of a fast build robot kit, one achievable in 30 minutes, and a highly customisable one. There are at time of writing only 2 main robot types, but many colours, upgrade sprues, variants, and all have compatibility with similarly modular Gundam kits. There is no supporting fiction that I can determine, which depending on where you stand, can be a good thing or bad thing. These guys seem to be grunts, with the focus of this review resembling a night combat GM series mobile Suit. Personally, I like that you can make your own story, and there isn't any baggage. So, one Sunday, I chanced on these in a local nerd shop, got home, did my chores, and finally got out my clippers and went to work.

My time: 1 hour 21 minutes.

<sigh>

This is probably not a reflection on the kit. I never consciously rush anything, and I was taking the time to cut cleanly as I went. A "practised" build time would logically be much faster, if only for how the plastic runners are laid out. Components are grouped together and numbered in such a way that each bodypart can be assembled quickly. It's the elegant sort of simple, offering few surprises but no annoyance. There's even a precut sheet of transparent stickers for squadron numbers, happily more than even I would need in my acts of clumsiness. The only change I would make would be to the lower legs, which ended up suffering the only obvious cutmarks, but your mileage may vary on that one. Regardless of how long it takes you to complete though, the Alto is something special. Articulation is largely ideal, as well as it being a looker as far as generic mecha plebs go. The 3mm expansion ports can be a downer, but posability is at that point where asking for more seems honestly unreasonable. I'm just gonna let the pictures speak for me now. 

The one weakness of this kit is in the area of accessories. You get a submachine gun looking blaster, plus a "Roy Roy", a tiny spider drone that stores on the butt. These are perfectly serviceable-to-good in the Alto's mitts. The sword-hilt/knuckleduster is not. Its a round peg in a square hole, and sits quite loosely. It also looks odd by itself, and so, without realising you could add a blade from another kit later, I added a spare beam effect with a dab of glue, and 'Ard Coat to thicken the handle. My Alto now has increased resemblance to a GM, although possibly one that has seen the knife from Cobra. This leads us to the matter of customising.

I chose the Dark Grey Alto purely on its colours, but like I said, there are others and expansion kits. I also picked up the Sniper Armour kit at the same time, for much the same reason. This featured mainly an alternative face, shield, and armour. I quickly realised this was too much grey, but common paints like Citadel Chaos Black spraypaint sorted that right out. I'd recommend that you pick a sprue with a colour that contrasts well with the two main colours of the kit, if you don't wish to mess with paint. The additional parts do however change the character of the kit, without hampering it's advantages, which is nice. Additional paints used include Citadel Macragge Blue and Soulstone Blue for lenses/sensors, and Vallejo Game Ink Black for the head. I ended up using Nuln Oil rather than Gundam Marker to detail things, partially as an experiment, but also because I didn't think going for an anime look would necessarily work on plastic this dark. The effect varies from subtle to dirty.

In brief: I've had to stop myself on three separate occasions from buying more.

Gunpla: The Mobile Suit Mobile Flat (Turn-A Gundam)

The FLAT-L06D FLAT. Simply, "the Flat", for obvious reasons. Also known as the "High heels" for obvious reasons. Sometimes called the "Flaty Flaty Flat Flat", but only by me. This unusual mecha originates from the Turn-A Gundam series circa 1999, and was designed by the recently departed Syd Mead, of Blade Runner fame. Turn-A was a series that invites lengthy digression, because it was so far removed from its own franchise. Part of this is obviously Mead's robot designs, but also due to its alternate War of the Worlds vibe, and the fact that while Yoshiyuki "kill 'em all" Tomino was back directing, he'd beaten his depression. I didn't get on the resulting anime, it would appear many people don't, but I've got huge respect for Turn-A. Because it tried to something new, and compared to the Gundam series on either side of it, that's a big thing. What does any of this mean for the Flat? Well, it means that it's part of very select and obscure group by the standards of the franchise. Turn-A had only a modest model line of, what? 7ish? Kits at the time, which is astonishingly small by Gundam standards, and subsequent additions seem thin on the ground. At the time of writing, this "ungraded" kit is seemingly the only merchandise of this Mobile Suit. And its twenty years old, if seemingly still in production.

Now, the "ungraded" bit is probably the most important part of this discussion. It implies that Bandai isn't bringing its A game to a kit, and that's certainly true here. The Flat is characterised by thin plastic, a low parts count, ill-fitting parts, and questionable colour choices. That said, what ultimately lifts it above those weaknesses, is its execution of the Flexible Ladder Actuator Technology and odd proportions of the suit. The Flat is supposed to have a white inner frame, with blackish armour plates on top, and the kit captures this well. There is an insane number of panel lines on the white components, plus a good few on the black, making for an attractive model if you put the effort in. I would however say the detail is is a little soft in places, defying both marker and inkwash techniques. Maybe I need more practice? Mind you, while the limbs perhaps have too many good opportunities for panel lines, the torso is cast mainly in orange when it's the only segment with 3 colours on the go. Hence my attempts at painting this thing, which I'm not happy with, and may come back to later. The stickers also suck, and dropped off within a day of application.

So, visually it's flawed but unexpectedly good in places. And speaking of unexpected goodness, there's the articulation, the unusual construction granting a very pleasing range of motion. The Flat ends up living up to its technobabble acronym, but that's mainly as a function of its transformation, as it contorts like a yoga enthusiast into a "re-entry mode". Its not gonna win any awards for disguise value or function, the whole fundamental weirdness of things helps. There is only modest partsforming involved too, requiring only the removal of the heel segments, which is entirely acceptable at this scale. It does also manage to have an accessory and dedicated hand, the "box beam rifle". Regrettably, it does not fold up or otherwise store, but it's there. So, looks odd, poses unexpectedly well, transforms, has a gun. That's something.

All in all? It's a case of mecha design overcoming a cheap kit. Not as appealing or as well-engineered as the Hizack, but I like the results more. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but it met my needs as a therapeutic modelling project. 

Gunpla: The HGUC Hizack

OK, lets see if I can make a regular go of this, or if I'll just loose interest as time goes on. 

I think I'll start with my most recently completed work, the RSM-106 Hizack. It's from Zeta Gundam, the first Gundam sequel, is which is about a less apocalyptic, but dirtier war. Basically, after the Federation beat Zeon, it got into some really bad habits, and the sequel follows a rebellion against it, the Anti Earth Union Group (AEUG). The thing about the Hizack is that there is basically no justification for it that works in-universe. I could be wrong, there was retcons, but still. The Hizack is a modernised version of the Zaku 2, with the same colours. Fair enough, if it was a Zeon spinoff, or even the AEUG, fielding it. Even with Zeon gone, there should be loads of Zakus knocking about for rebels to use. Trouble is, it's the Federation antagonists using this, and more specifically, The Titans. Yes, the famously elitist, Earth-first, fuck-Zeon, Titans special forces group use this thing. Seriously, guys, does this not get confusing? Does friendly fire not happen? I mean, the regular Federation forces at least paint the things blue, FFS. And what's more, isn't this thing technically obsolete versus the GM series you already have? Those can at least carry two beam weapons at once. It's not like you captured these, and went "waste not, want not". That happens in war a lot. No, somebody in the Federation decided to make thier own, seemingly leaving the design unmodified, and then gave the most Zeonic version to the guys specifically about killing Zeon stragglers. Was this a dark joke? The only credible explanation is that Sunrise/Bandai realised the Zaku 2 was a popular design, and wanted another, BUT also refused to let it be heroic.

Either that, or someone asked the Titans "Are we the baddies?" and they gave the hardest yes they could. 

Anyways. Actually putting it together was quite simple, although this probably has more to do with its "2000" stamp on the runners, than any deliberate design choice. It's mainly matter of joining two parts to form a body part, very easy, but this produces many longitudinal seams, with articulation being basic to solid. I also found the process of separating parts from the sprue to be a consistent ball-ache, with unavoidable stubs appearing in obvious places like the top of the head. The golden tubes were also unfun, being made of a rubbery plastic you have to bend, so maybe a bit of glue, there. On the plus side, the Hizack easily benefited from several basic touch-up techniques, being my first test subject for a Gundam Marker. That, and a Nuln Oil wash for the cables, really brought things to life. Mephiston Red was also used to finish the gunsight, and stickers for the monoeye was applied, although not the feet as I felt it was unnecessary. Yeah, I could paint some bits of the feet and backpack, but picking out those details would undermine the military green. I probably need to go back and do the star on that shield though. 

Despite my posing of it, its not actually possible for the Hizack to make use of the side handle on its machine gun. This would require some cutting of the component, and that's a bit of a shame, as otherwise the posability of the kit isn't bad. Certainly does “imposing grunt” well enough, and I'm possibly answering my own question with that. Also, I suppose he'd do well with a beam saber. If he came with one...

Generally, I'm pleased with how it turned out, but I'm disappointed with with the lack of weapon options, and was a little tetchy during assembly.

Return to Gunpla: a ramble ral

So, for a couple of months now, I've been building lots of model kits lately. To be more specific: Gunpla. Gunpla is the generic term for plastic models based on the Gundam franchise, hence the name, which is basically the Japanese equivalent to Star Wars. Its got giant robots, and largely functions as a sprawling war drama, and its been going 40 odd years now, so I'm gonna gloss over a few things here. The major difference between a Gunpla kit and a western model like the Warhammer 40k stuff I do, is that you get a functioning action figure at the end, and paint is optional. Gunpla scales in complexity and price, although these days its not difficult to find examples for a tenner or so. Why am I doing this? Stress and anxiety management via creative outlets. And playing/modelling 40K has shifted into the “non-fun” category. So, after occasional purchases over the last few years, I find myself building robots, and justifying it as a form of self-care.

Well, I tried jigsaws, and that didn't work.

I've mostly done the “serious” Gundam stuff, so far . The so-called High Grade Universal Century line, which gets you a mobile suit of reasonable complexity and accuracy of about 5 inches in height. But I also did an “Iron-Blooded Orphans” with its internal frame, and then a “Build Diver”. The assorted "build" series are quite interesting to me, as these are all about model-making, rather than warfare. On first impression, I'd say this was a pleasant change of pace, and right up my street. Gundam media has a certain tendency toward long-winded bleakness, and wangsty teenage protagonists, so having a lighter toned spin-off doesn't hurt. Also, model kits were of course the original Gundam merchandise, so it's actually a surprise it took the company that owns Gundam, Bandai, so long to do something like this. On the other hand, it is dropping any pretence of artistic merit. What made Gundam important in the first place was the GRIMDARK war drama stuff with giant mecha, so going "hey cool robot model!“ is missing the point by a country mile, even if this has appeal been in the Gundam DNA since day 1. The assorted Build series are transparently model adverts, but as a Transformers fan boy, I'm not necessarily hostile towards this. What I do notice though, is how Build represents a convenient way for Bandai to reuse moulds, in a manner not dissimilar to the Transformers Combiner Wars and the Generations line in general. That said, I've not engaged with any form of Gundam media since about 2009, much less anime in general. So, I've not seen the series I mention, I just read around, so don't consider me an authority. That may change, as there is an official Gundam youtube channel, but I have a low tolerance for certain “problematic” tropes in anime, so maybe not.

Anyways.

I might blog more on this topic, (as opposed to tweeting,) might not. But here's what you came for, LOW QUALITY MECHA PHOTOGRAPHY!