I got the skirts assembled and attached to the waist. My pan mix of dark purple turned out nicely and seems to blend well with the cutouts in the knee guards. I added some more dark gray on the back of the ankle guards, as well as the feet pads. Not too much, and just enough outline of the original color. This is only the start of this late addition, but I'm keeping it limited to those outlined panels. I spent the rest of my time tonight. sorting and trimming through the organized chaos of the Crossbone's arms. The shoulder joints and the elbows are assembled, and the pile of hands are ready to get the knuckle grinding started. I already have most of the dark gray details I want to paint filled in. I'm impressed by how small and precise some of these parts are to the miniaturized nature of the Mobile Suit itself.
I have and started a thread for them here: Gundam GFRAME Thread I think they’re great for someone who doesn’t have much time to build Gunpla and their quality is impressive for trading figures.
have to admit, that looks satisfyingly rugged. probably costs the earth, though... - EDIT - (checks EBAY) Indeddie-Doo, cost's the effin' planet, all right...
Exactly! Its why I hate ordering pbandai! Makes no sense to paying $40+ for an HG that costs $20 or less.
Not a bad collection of offerings that overall aren't actually badly priced all things considered. Red Leo, RG Z'Gok, Second V, and the wings of light for RG Destiny, for only a little over $100 shipped. *cough* That offer from last time? Still open.
Scheduled for Thursday, arrived today! The final boss of "Sentinel" is here. The box it came in was a little crumpled more than usual, resulting in a dented corner of this glorious box art, but the contents inside are just fine. I'm debating if I will go ahead and start on this after I'm done with the Crossbone. What do you think Nemo? ...typical response from the MS-X54F2.
The following have been secured: RG Z'gok Mass Production HGUC Second V HGAC Leo S RG Destiny Wings of Light The last one tickles me because I've had the RG Destiny for so long and now I can finally get the option parts I thought I'd never obtain. Even comes with its own Action Base 2. Only problem is I lost the base adapter that came with RG Destiny ages ago so I'm not sure how I'm going to get the Destiny airborne... EDIT: Damnit, now I'm seriously considering the Messer F02 and F02 Commander/Naked. Maybe next month but I bought a BRAND NEW CAR this month so dropping $120 on MORE gunpla maybe wasn't the smartest...but it's a Leo in a cape. It's so freaking pretentious (and I had the two Geminass units) I needed it.
Ouch. I had a look at instructions scans, and it's not even a standard part. Maybe you can use the U-shaped crotch-holders instead from a standard Action Base 2?
I have the widest "U" cradle on a sparkle red action base under mine just to keep it standing. The crotch armor is just too wide for a reliable fit, trying to get the bastard airborne will cause the suit to topple over because of the large backpack. One of my biggest gripes about Real Grades is that they don't normally include stand mounts or even consideration for using Bandai's own stands. Nobody's going to fucking care if there's a tiny hole in the crotch like virtually every High Grade ever.
While I do get why certain kits of larger size would require a dedicated stand adapter, I don't understand who almost every Real Grades needs a specialized stand adapter part only meant to be used with one specific kit, and didn't even bother including extras. With exceptions such as the Sazabi or Nu Gundam (Or any of the larger Real Grades), most Real Grades didn't really weigh much and a simple 3mm stand peg-hole like those seen in current High-Grades would've done just fine to allow action base compactibility.
I'll have to dig out the Moon Gundam's base for that, then, and experiment. It took a long while for Real Grades to really iron out all the kinks and being a little too obsessed with full coverage detail is just one of the problems. Granted, the biggest solution was, ironically, throwing out the pre-built inner frame the line was originally created around and becoming just miniaturized Master Grades.
I was actually looking at a five pack on Amazon of these aftermarket base stands for 1:144 kits. https://www.amazon.com/MY-MIRONEY-A...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HBSFRM0SXWZWMCXN6Z8A Aside for the Nu Gundam which gets the "A" base from the Double Fin Funnel set, and leftover packed in Action bases I'm not using from the Infinitism Grendizer I ruined (...bad cement job, lost parts, cracked parts, etc) going to my Clear Parts version of it, and Sazabi which I got its own Action Base for, I need to put the rest of my Real Grades on bases because I'm tired of the Gold Frame Amatsu falling on its back every day on a glass shelf. I don't need them flying around on base stands, I just want them upright and steady and these bases look like just what I need.
And he has legs now! I'm kind of glad that I'm pretty sure I'll never intentionally be working on this mold again. Kind of getting sick of it after building these two back-to-back. Plus I'm much more of a 1/100 guy than 1/144. I just hope the next time I visit the Gundam Base, there isn't yet another recolor/remold of this as an exclusive. Because it'll be 'FML' then.
Working my way through the arms, I have just a few bits left to do for the shoulders. What I started with this morning with a partially built pair of elbows, biceps, and shoulders. Knocked out the hand grind this afternoon but didn't photograph it. I thought I would paint the knuckles, but then decided not to since it's the only way I'm preserving some part of my original plan to not go crazy on this one. They are detailed with panel line accent and ink instead. I did end up undercoating the shoulder armor in my two-tone style with the detailed panels that correspond with the similar ones on the outside. The forearms are very interesting. I never built any iteration of the Crossbone until this one and I don't think any of them have a swiveling forearm like this. The Beam Shield generators are unencumbered at any angle. The way these double as beam spikes as well as shield, I get the sense this is what inspired the retcon for the F90's F-Pack. These came first, but then they designed what would be their prototype. I stopped for the night after getting the larger portions of the shoulder armor together. As I said, I just have the smaller corner bits to finish. Painting the stripe that runs across the middle matches up with the gray molded sections of the forearms.
More progress yesterday. Just need to mask a few more areas on the two shells and I’ll be done. The outer armor bits also need some details hand painted and I will be done with this batch of parts.
