Random bits of a runner I cut out. Here is a better comparison picture.
See how the one in front is mostly smooth with minimal discoloration, that was cut out with Godhand cutters. The one in the back that looks like shit, generic hobby store cutters. 0 cleanup work done with either.
pretty sure all tamiyas are double bladed, while godhands, dspiae, and gundam planet branded nippers are single bladed
Ahhh, that likely explains it. The listing on Amazon called mine a side cutter, but I've often doubted that.
This is what my two nippers look like. Because of the model I'm working on, the only dark material I have handy is ABS that is being used for the inner frame. The normal plastic is all in white, which won't do many people good. But I want to make sure I leave as clean of marks as behind as possible when I move onto my next 3 models, which are all black based.
Tamiya on the left, Mr. Hobby on the right, camera that hates focusing on small foreground objects in both cases.
turtleantGunpla Dadis the best.Registered Userregular
edited January 2021
I bought a like generic tools starter kit years ago and I guess I just lucked into a really good set of nippers in it cause I've used them for literally hundreds of kits at this point and they're still going strong.
They're not godhand level but I need to do pretty minimal cleanup on most plastics (certain purples always seem to be a pain in the ass) and sometimes damn near none on light colors.
Handles say Plato Model 170 shears
turtleant on
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miscellaneousinsanitygrass grows, birds fly, sun shines,and brother, i hurt peopleRegistered Userregular
Ahhh, that likely explains it. The listing on Amazon called mine a side cutter, but I've often doubted that.
'side cutter' actually refers to where the cutting action is happening! compare to end cutting nippers
as far as nip tips go, make sure you have the gate well down into the jaws and use slow, even pressure when you squeeze
if you're doing flush cutting you really should be doing that with the godhand spn-120s or a comparable nipper
i use a tamiya 74123 which is quite good, but i still prefer to do two cuts, leaving a couple mm of plastic and cleaning the nubs with olfa art blades (thus, i have a time consuming workflow)
also to prevent stress, i know there are modelers who make their first cut on the cylindrical part of the runner, but i find that's only rarely necessary depending on the gate and part layout (and you shouldn't be wasting quality nippers for those cuts, i use my tamiya 74093 for anything thick)
fake edit: okay one more bit of Nipper Tech that i will share with y'all in a crude ms painting,
if you've got a gate that looks like this
you can cut it like this
and then like this
+1
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turtleantGunpla Dadis the best.Registered Userregular
petition to change thread title to nip tips
+7
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited January 2021
Every time I have these conversations I get the strong impression I should get godhands or the Gundam Planet nippers, though the latter weren't in stock last time I looked.
Edit: I'm using the Mr. Hobby ones to cut the part from the sprue at the top of the gate (as close to the thick part as I can, but not the thick part itself). I then am snipping flush with the Tamiya MH17D or whatever it is you can see on the previous page. Then I either use my knife to clean it flush, use the 1500 micro-mesh sanding stick to clean it flush, or if it's got a ton of material, I'll use my diamond files to get it flush. I'm trying REALLY hard not to use the rough grit stuff much these days, as seen on previous models where I sanded flat edges round.
All of this is thinking in preparation of the Phenix, which is going to have that damned metallic coating on the armor. So I'm paying super-close attention to every cut and trying to figure out how to minimize it without using sanding things that can scuff the surface.
Since the stress mark is in the middle and sticking out a little then they are cutting by pinching from both sides as opposed to the single blade of a Godhand or Gundam Planet nipper, they do make a much better cut then my $10 hobby store though. I do have some good news about the Phenix though. Did you notice how the white armor on the Unicorn is pretty much all undergated?
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
You most definitely should get a Godhand! They're amazing.
Although I do still use a lesser nipper too - cut off the sprue with a cheap nip, leaving as much of a nub as possible, second cut with the Godhand as close to the surface as possible, clean up with x-acto knife and sanding sticks. Its time consuming, but you end up with a nice smooth surface and minimal stress on the plastic.
Oh brilliant
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Since the stress mark is in the middle and sticking out a little then they are cutting by pinching from both sides as opposed to the single blade of a Godhand or Gundam Planet nipper, they do make a much better cut then my $10 hobby store though. I do have some good news about the Phenix though. Did you notice how the white armor on the Unicorn is pretty much all undergated?
I'm noticing that, but on some conspicuous places there are places where it's not. Notably I just ran across some on the forearms.
@Athenor USAGundamstore nippers are similar to the Gundam Planet and are also single bladed. Basically single bladed means one side is a blade, the other side is an anvil that the blade presses against.
God Hand are best in class for clean cuts, but due to the fact that they use a VERY thin blade that is hardened, they will eventually suffer a brittle break. The only reason I'm not using my Gundam Planet nippers to this day is because my wife has unthinkingly used both pairs to cut wire, and I went with USAGS because of the aforementioned stocking issue.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I'd really love to know the reason and uses for all the nippers in the GodHand official rack picture here. Especially the super big one.
IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
Oh boy oh boy oh boy I finished a thing today! Mind, I only worked on it while I was at the game store anyways...
Gao~
Gai!
Gar!
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg) Backlog Challenge List
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Chipping away, bit by bit by bit...
Who knew, sandwiching psychoframe between standard frame and armor would be a time consuming process?!
I'm also through the really cool green-backed stickers. There's still the double-sided green ones, which I think are how the lower arms are going to work and illuminate properly. But it's still such a wild solution. I don't mind that they are a bit wobbly, I wanted to make sure they stuck properly.
Only one shield to build and the one on the right is finished:
He certainly is a beefier dude than the Gouf, and has way bigger shields.
Corporal Carl on
PSN (PS4-Europe): Carolus-Billius
+14
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Hey, the PG has almost reached parity with the RG!
After spending yesterday compiling all the little fiddly bits, I knew today I'd likely get through at least one arm, if not both. But I did not realize how wrong I was.
I want to stress again that the hands are a PAIN IN THE BUTT... but man, do I appreciate the articulation and pre-molded engineering of them. This time around, I cut the hands free of the runners, then trimmed up all the nubs and such. It worked much better than trying to flush cut from day 1. Amazing what a year of experience brings.
But while the hands were easier... the arms. Oh my god the arms. TNTrooper was not lying about how fiddly these would be to get together. What's most annoying is that I cannot tell if I've got the arms as inserted as they can be... but then there's getting the wires into place!
After what seemed like 30-45 minutes of wrestling, I did manage to get everything buttoned up. I'm not happy with it though - the wires are too exposed for my liking. I need to figure out how to get them to stay put and stay in the channels they are in. And heaven help me, I have no clue if I'm going to disassemble this guy when I go to apply the decals.
But man, does he strike a good pose.
... I am sorely tempted to complete his head now so the two models can look the same for a bit. But on the other hand, I want the perfect grade to gloat. So.
The wire in front is off the guide channel in this one.
For the wire in-between the chest and shoulder you can tuck the excess behind the shoulder joint in the chest
Make sure it also went all the way to the bottom arrow so it doesn't get in the way of the armor.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Yeah, I was super careful to make sure it is in the lower channel there in that pic. I just need to tuck things in better. And yeaaaah, they fell out of the channels a ton while I tried to make sure there was clearance. I'm gonna do a pass of getting everything slotted right going forward, but at least it can stretch its arms above its head!
That psychoframe looks blue in the pics! Is it more green in person?
Very much so, except where the UV lights are directly shining in your eyes. But I have no flipping clue how to get my camera to represent the real colors, especially when it tries to compensate for the low overall ambient light.
I'm currently assembling my first ever Gundam that my friend got me for Xmas, the Barbatos from Iron Blooded Orphans! I honestly haven't seen any Gundam shows since Wing as a kid on Toonami and then 8th MS Team recently so it's making the build more interesting cause apart from box pictures I'm not quite sure what the final product will be.
I took y'alls advice from the holiday thread and assembled the skeleton first and got all those decals applied before starting in on the armor. I got the chest done and the armor panel lined and have started on the head! Panel lining for that will happen later since it looks like I need to take note of what bits are exposed and strip the armor off to do some lining on the skeleton. Kinda looking like I need to do the same to the chest since a lot of grey is still visible and I like my stuff to have that sweet sweet panel lining pop.
This is a much more intricate build than the Pacific Rim figures I was doing and I'm definitely gonna hunt down some familiar Gundam kits if a lot of them are like this. I'm thinking 8th MS Team next since I legit loved that show. I'm also open to suggestions for kits that are just really interesting builds.
Picture tax!
So far I haven't lost or nicked a single decal which I'm weirdly proud of cause those things were a source of constant headaches on my prior builds.
TOGSolid on
+13
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited January 2021
So one thing the Dalong.net pictures showed me is that I could attach the shoulder armor to the arm piece itself. I guess I'm used to models where that fits on the torso side of the joint, but this makes much more sense and is much more snug / less floppy. But now there's a big gap between the shoulder armor and the torso. I swear, it feels like I don't have the arms inserted fully, and I'm so afraid of damaging things.
Thoughts?
Arm fully extended to the side:
Arm fully raised over the head:
Edit: AH! there we go. One more stop, required a lot of pressure, and now I can use the arm to pull out the torso frame properly. Just needed to stop being gentle.
@TOGSolid Just to let you know, the 08th MS Team kits are like... ten or fifteen years older than the Barbados, so the engineering might be a bit less impressive. That said, I made an MG GM Ground Type last year and it was still a good time.
@TOGSolid Just to let you know, the 08th MS Team kits are like... ten or fifteen years older than the Barbados, so the engineering might be a bit less impressive. That said, I made an MG GM Ground Type last year and it was still a good time.
The Ground Gundam and Ground GM did get new HGs in the last couple years though.
@TOGSolid Just to let you know, the 08th MS Team kits are like... ten or fifteen years older than the Barbados, so the engineering might be a bit less impressive. That said, I made an MG GM Ground Type last year and it was still a good time.
I think my buddy did the 8th MS Team kit so I'll have to ask him what it was like. Nothing can be as god awful or ugly as the old Robotech Tomahawk I built so really anything is an improvement on that piece of shit.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a kit that's just super neat to build?
High Grade kits are usually quite a bit less detailed and elaborate than that Barbatos model, with no inner skeleton. I think all the other grades have inner skeletons as a matter of course now though?
@TOGSolid Just to let you know, the 08th MS Team kits are like... ten or fifteen years older than the Barbados, so the engineering might be a bit less impressive. That said, I made an MG GM Ground Type last year and it was still a good time.
I think my buddy did the 8th MS Team kit so I'll have to ask him what it was like. Nothing can be as god awful or ugly as the old Robotech Tomahawk I built so really anything is an improvement on that piece of shit.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a kit that's just super neat to build?
My top recommendations are:
1) MG Astray Red Frame Kai - Great engineering, lots of tricks unique to this kit due to how it uses a lot of the inner frame as outer armor.
2) MG Zaku II 2.0 - Start of modern Gunpla engineering
3) MG RX-78-2 3.0 - The single best example of a highly detailed and color separated master grade. The closest they've done since is the MG Wing Zero Custom EW Ver Ka which JUST came out.
4) RG Sazabi - Great engineering, gimmicks, and in a smaller package.
+3
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
My store just put up a slate of preorders.
On them was this:
... Damnit, Bandai! Give me a ridable war horse in HG, MG, or PG scale! These don't even exist as Zoids, so it is an untapped market.
Oh that Astray Red is fucking COOL LOOKING. I think I know what I'm doing for my next kit, thanks @Heffling !
EDIT: Wait what the fuck, the Wing Zero kit you mentioned has a flight mode? Is that thing a god damn transformer!?!?
there's several gundams with a transforms-into-a-plane gimmick, BUT! Gundam transformations are usually sort of lame compared to your macross valkyries or transformers, especially the Gundam Wing transforming suits which are largely "lay it on its stomach and spread the wings on the backpack out, and attach the shield to cover the head and look like a nose cone" and in my opinion look kinda lame from any angle but above.
They just never draw it from unflattering angles in the show.
the astrays aren't from the anime, they're from a spinoff... manga I think
I have strong opinions about seed, in that I think the suits from the anime are all lame except the basic-ass strike gundam and the bad guy grunt suits, but I know others like them a lot. Personal taste and all.
The astrays definitely make for cool models, either way.
the astrays aren't from the anime, they're from a spinoff... manga I think
I have strong opinions about seed, in that I think the suits from the anime are all lame except the basic-ass strike gundam and the bad guy grunt suits, but I know others like them a lot. Personal taste and all.
The astrays definitely make for cool models, either way.
Well, strictly speaking the basice astray is from SEED. The spinoff stuff is all heavily customized ones or something, right?
Posts
Random bits of a runner I cut out. Here is a better comparison picture.
See how the one in front is mostly smooth with minimal discoloration, that was cut out with Godhand cutters. The one in the back that looks like shit, generic hobby store cutters. 0 cleanup work done with either.
Ahhh, that likely explains it. The listing on Amazon called mine a side cutter, but I've often doubted that.
This is what my two nippers look like. Because of the model I'm working on, the only dark material I have handy is ABS that is being used for the inner frame. The normal plastic is all in white, which won't do many people good. But I want to make sure I leave as clean of marks as behind as possible when I move onto my next 3 models, which are all black based.
Tamiya on the left, Mr. Hobby on the right, camera that hates focusing on small foreground objects in both cases.
They're not godhand level but I need to do pretty minimal cleanup on most plastics (certain purples always seem to be a pain in the ass) and sometimes damn near none on light colors.
Handles say Plato Model 170 shears
as far as nip tips go, make sure you have the gate well down into the jaws and use slow, even pressure when you squeeze
if you're doing flush cutting you really should be doing that with the godhand spn-120s or a comparable nipper
i use a tamiya 74123 which is quite good, but i still prefer to do two cuts, leaving a couple mm of plastic and cleaning the nubs with olfa art blades (thus, i have a time consuming workflow)
also to prevent stress, i know there are modelers who make their first cut on the cylindrical part of the runner, but i find that's only rarely necessary depending on the gate and part layout (and you shouldn't be wasting quality nippers for those cuts, i use my tamiya 74093 for anything thick)
fake edit: okay one more bit of Nipper Tech that i will share with y'all in a crude ms painting,
if you've got a gate that looks like this
you can cut it like this
and then like this
Edit: I'm using the Mr. Hobby ones to cut the part from the sprue at the top of the gate (as close to the thick part as I can, but not the thick part itself). I then am snipping flush with the Tamiya MH17D or whatever it is you can see on the previous page. Then I either use my knife to clean it flush, use the 1500 micro-mesh sanding stick to clean it flush, or if it's got a ton of material, I'll use my diamond files to get it flush. I'm trying REALLY hard not to use the rough grit stuff much these days, as seen on previous models where I sanded flat edges round.
All of this is thinking in preparation of the Phenix, which is going to have that damned metallic coating on the armor. So I'm paying super-close attention to every cut and trying to figure out how to minimize it without using sanding things that can scuff the surface.
Although I do still use a lesser nipper too - cut off the sprue with a cheap nip, leaving as much of a nub as possible, second cut with the Godhand as close to the surface as possible, clean up with x-acto knife and sanding sticks. Its time consuming, but you end up with a nice smooth surface and minimal stress on the plastic.
I'm noticing that, but on some conspicuous places there are places where it's not. Notably I just ran across some on the forearms.
God Hand are best in class for clean cuts, but due to the fact that they use a VERY thin blade that is hardened, they will eventually suffer a brittle break. The only reason I'm not using my Gundam Planet nippers to this day is because my wife has unthinkingly used both pairs to cut wire, and I went with USAGS because of the aforementioned stocking issue.
Gao~
Gai!
Gar!
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
Backlog Challenge List
Who knew, sandwiching psychoframe between standard frame and armor would be a time consuming process?!
I'm also through the really cool green-backed stickers. There's still the double-sided green ones, which I think are how the lower arms are going to work and illuminate properly. But it's still such a wild solution. I don't mind that they are a bit wobbly, I wanted to make sure they stuck properly.
He certainly is a beefier dude than the Gouf, and has way bigger shields.
After spending yesterday compiling all the little fiddly bits, I knew today I'd likely get through at least one arm, if not both. But I did not realize how wrong I was.
I want to stress again that the hands are a PAIN IN THE BUTT... but man, do I appreciate the articulation and pre-molded engineering of them. This time around, I cut the hands free of the runners, then trimmed up all the nubs and such. It worked much better than trying to flush cut from day 1. Amazing what a year of experience brings.
But while the hands were easier... the arms. Oh my god the arms. TNTrooper was not lying about how fiddly these would be to get together. What's most annoying is that I cannot tell if I've got the arms as inserted as they can be... but then there's getting the wires into place!
After what seemed like 30-45 minutes of wrestling, I did manage to get everything buttoned up. I'm not happy with it though - the wires are too exposed for my liking. I need to figure out how to get them to stay put and stay in the channels they are in. And heaven help me, I have no clue if I'm going to disassemble this guy when I go to apply the decals.
But man, does he strike a good pose.
... I am sorely tempted to complete his head now so the two models can look the same for a bit. But on the other hand, I want the perfect grade to gloat. So.
The wire in front is off the guide channel in this one.
For the wire in-between the chest and shoulder you can tuck the excess behind the shoulder joint in the chest
Make sure it also went all the way to the bottom arrow so it doesn't get in the way of the armor.
Very much so, except where the UV lights are directly shining in your eyes. But I have no flipping clue how to get my camera to represent the real colors, especially when it tries to compensate for the low overall ambient light.
I took y'alls advice from the holiday thread and assembled the skeleton first and got all those decals applied before starting in on the armor. I got the chest done and the armor panel lined and have started on the head! Panel lining for that will happen later since it looks like I need to take note of what bits are exposed and strip the armor off to do some lining on the skeleton. Kinda looking like I need to do the same to the chest since a lot of grey is still visible and I like my stuff to have that sweet sweet panel lining pop.
This is a much more intricate build than the Pacific Rim figures I was doing and I'm definitely gonna hunt down some familiar Gundam kits if a lot of them are like this. I'm thinking 8th MS Team next since I legit loved that show. I'm also open to suggestions for kits that are just really interesting builds.
Picture tax!
So far I haven't lost or nicked a single decal which I'm weirdly proud of cause those things were a source of constant headaches on my prior builds.
Thoughts?
Arm fully extended to the side:
Arm fully raised over the head:
Edit: AH! there we go. One more stop, required a lot of pressure, and now I can use the arm to pull out the torso frame properly.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
The Ground Gundam and Ground GM did get new HGs in the last couple years though.
I think my buddy did the 8th MS Team kit so I'll have to ask him what it was like. Nothing can be as god awful or ugly as the old Robotech Tomahawk I built so really anything is an improvement on that piece of shit.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a kit that's just super neat to build?
My top recommendations are:
1) MG Astray Red Frame Kai - Great engineering, lots of tricks unique to this kit due to how it uses a lot of the inner frame as outer armor.
2) MG Zaku II 2.0 - Start of modern Gunpla engineering
3) MG RX-78-2 3.0 - The single best example of a highly detailed and color separated master grade. The closest they've done since is the MG Wing Zero Custom EW Ver Ka which JUST came out.
4) RG Sazabi - Great engineering, gimmicks, and in a smaller package.
On them was this:
... Damnit, Bandai! Give me a ridable war horse in HG, MG, or PG scale! These don't even exist as Zoids, so it is an untapped market.
GIVE ME MY DAMNED CAVALRY!
EDIT: Wait what the fuck, the Wing Zero kit you mentioned has a flight mode? Is that thing a god damn transformer!?!?
there's several gundams with a transforms-into-a-plane gimmick, BUT! Gundam transformations are usually sort of lame compared to your macross valkyries or transformers, especially the Gundam Wing transforming suits which are largely "lay it on its stomach and spread the wings on the backpack out, and attach the shield to cover the head and look like a nose cone" and in my opinion look kinda lame from any angle but above.
They just never draw it from unflattering angles in the show.
@athenor you want this kit.
Also every day that passes makes me think I need to watch Gundam SEED and fully understand all this Strike and Astray business.
I have strong opinions about seed, in that I think the suits from the anime are all lame except the basic-ass strike gundam and the bad guy grunt suits, but I know others like them a lot. Personal taste and all.
The astrays definitely make for cool models, either way.
Well, strictly speaking the basice astray is from SEED. The spinoff stuff is all heavily customized ones or something, right?
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