Say Konnichiwa to Asuka! *
Discussion
It’s always a good idea as a modeller, to occasionally step out of your ‘comfort zone,’ and tackle something a little different from your usual subject. Well while researching an aircraft kit I was building I came across www.swannysmodels.com and while browsing that, noticed he had an ‘Odd Stuff’ section and – hang on a minute! That model’s hardly wearing any clothes!
Here’s the link: http://www.swannysmodels.com/Beerbabe.html
Knowing nothing about anime figures he pretty much learnt as he went along. As I was getting a bit jaded with the usual aircraft and cars I decided to give it a bash too and have now been building figures for a couple of years but still feel I have much to learn.
There are three ‘divisions’ of anime resin kits. Premiere league as you might call it are the original kits, produced by the original manufacturers for the Japanese market only and at quite a high price ($100 up). Outside Japan, you won’t see one. Hobby Link Japan sometimes import them but at a much-inflated price. You could also use Yahoo! Japan Auctions but you’ll need a computer with Japanese fonts loaded, and of course also be able to read them. There are agents who will do it for you but at a price of course.
So you go to Division 2 - a recaster. These are people who will buy the original kit and copy it. The best ones are based in the Far East such as E2046 in Hong Kong, the best-known one and this where I get most of mine these days. They have even taken built vinyl figures and converted them to kits, and have just started producing some original designs. Other quality recasters include Hobbyfan and Animebox. Typical price, $30-70.
Division 3 – and below! – are the Thai recasters. Avoid these at all costs – prices are between $5 and $30 but the quality of both the resin and the casting is pretty awful. There are a couple that aren’t bad but you might have to put up with some rubbish before you discover them and some of the worst kits are just about unbuildable. A redeeming feature though, is that they allow you to practice and make mistakes without ruining something expensive. My first couple of kits came from Thailand and cost $7 each – this when you could get nearly $2 to the £.
Anyway here is my latest kit and it’s an E2046 one. It’s the third I’ve built but the first I can say I’m totally happy with.
Asuka appears in an awful Japanese anime sci-fi series in which she pilots a giant bio-mechanical humanoid robot to fight off aliens (where would Japanese telly be without their robots?). Her outfit is called a plugsuit and when she gets it on, she presses a button on the wristband and all the air is sucked out thus hugging itself to the contours of her trim little body. This is to ensure they get lots of male viewers who then go out and buy all the merchandise, such as this kit!
Scale is 1/8, this and 1/6 are the most popular sizes although these figures can come anywhere between 1/10 and 1/3. Used Halfords, Tamiya and Humbrol acrylics, mostly airbrushed. The main suit colour was some cellulose I've had lying around in the garage for years.
Decals for the suit numbers and eyes were designed on computer and laser printed onto clear decal paper.
Last few pics are of the previous one I completed. This shows Asuka in an off-duty moment catching up on some light reading, but being the arrogant conceited brat she is, her first task is to look at the house journal to see if she gets a mention this month.
Again 1/8 scale, this kit was an awful Thai recast so needed much extra work and a ton of filler to bring it up to stamdard. The house journals were designed from scratch but the manga she is holding was scanned from a real one. It's there to hide two of her fingers which broke off during construction!
Again the eyes were decals. You can buy these but I prefer to do my own.
Another new one to follow any day.
Here’s the link: http://www.swannysmodels.com/Beerbabe.html
Knowing nothing about anime figures he pretty much learnt as he went along. As I was getting a bit jaded with the usual aircraft and cars I decided to give it a bash too and have now been building figures for a couple of years but still feel I have much to learn.
There are three ‘divisions’ of anime resin kits. Premiere league as you might call it are the original kits, produced by the original manufacturers for the Japanese market only and at quite a high price ($100 up). Outside Japan, you won’t see one. Hobby Link Japan sometimes import them but at a much-inflated price. You could also use Yahoo! Japan Auctions but you’ll need a computer with Japanese fonts loaded, and of course also be able to read them. There are agents who will do it for you but at a price of course.
So you go to Division 2 - a recaster. These are people who will buy the original kit and copy it. The best ones are based in the Far East such as E2046 in Hong Kong, the best-known one and this where I get most of mine these days. They have even taken built vinyl figures and converted them to kits, and have just started producing some original designs. Other quality recasters include Hobbyfan and Animebox. Typical price, $30-70.
Division 3 – and below! – are the Thai recasters. Avoid these at all costs – prices are between $5 and $30 but the quality of both the resin and the casting is pretty awful. There are a couple that aren’t bad but you might have to put up with some rubbish before you discover them and some of the worst kits are just about unbuildable. A redeeming feature though, is that they allow you to practice and make mistakes without ruining something expensive. My first couple of kits came from Thailand and cost $7 each – this when you could get nearly $2 to the £.
Anyway here is my latest kit and it’s an E2046 one. It’s the third I’ve built but the first I can say I’m totally happy with.
Asuka appears in an awful Japanese anime sci-fi series in which she pilots a giant bio-mechanical humanoid robot to fight off aliens (where would Japanese telly be without their robots?). Her outfit is called a plugsuit and when she gets it on, she presses a button on the wristband and all the air is sucked out thus hugging itself to the contours of her trim little body. This is to ensure they get lots of male viewers who then go out and buy all the merchandise, such as this kit!
Scale is 1/8, this and 1/6 are the most popular sizes although these figures can come anywhere between 1/10 and 1/3. Used Halfords, Tamiya and Humbrol acrylics, mostly airbrushed. The main suit colour was some cellulose I've had lying around in the garage for years.
Decals for the suit numbers and eyes were designed on computer and laser printed onto clear decal paper.
Last few pics are of the previous one I completed. This shows Asuka in an off-duty moment catching up on some light reading, but being the arrogant conceited brat she is, her first task is to look at the house journal to see if she gets a mention this month.
Again 1/8 scale, this kit was an awful Thai recast so needed much extra work and a ton of filler to bring it up to stamdard. The house journals were designed from scratch but the manga she is holding was scanned from a real one. It's there to hide two of her fingers which broke off during construction!
Again the eyes were decals. You can buy these but I prefer to do my own.
Another new one to follow any day.
- That’s Japanese for hello. If I were writing this in the morning it would be ‘ohayo.’
Edited by Evangelion on Sunday 22 January 18:57
tim-b said:
Ha ha, good stuff!
Only comment is the mouth detail is lost in the pics of the 1st doll, might just be the photos though.
Omoshiroii desu, ganbatte kudasai! (^_^)
The mouth is there it just didn't show up in the pix. Flash does that sometimes.Only comment is the mouth detail is lost in the pics of the 1st doll, might just be the photos though.
Omoshiroii desu, ganbatte kudasai! (^_^)
By the way we don't call them dolls.
"Omoshiroii desu, ganbatte kudasai?" Sorry, my Japanese isn't up to that! I only know the odd word (very odd, some of them).
Evangelion said:
Asuka appears in an awful Japanese anime sci-fi series in which she pilots a giant bio-mechanical humanoid robot to fight off aliens (where would Japanese telly be without their robots?).
Eva is an awful series? Strange choice of username, then.And the Angels are not aliens...
I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before. I'm impressed at the skill that has gone into painting them.
How do you do the very fine lines on the bodysuit in the first one?
I used to live building kits but haven't done so in a long time. I have a new kit to build at home but due to work haven't had time to start it yet.
I can't help but ask, but what are these 'extreme' models you talk about (or is this something that should be avoided?).
How do you do the very fine lines on the bodysuit in the first one?
I used to live building kits but haven't done so in a long time. I have a new kit to build at home but due to work haven't had time to start it yet.
I can't help but ask, but what are these 'extreme' models you talk about (or is this something that should be avoided?).
Evangelion said:
The mouth is there it just didn't show up in the pix. Flash does that sometimes.
Thought that might be the case.O/T: 'Omoshiroi' means interesting or amusing, 'ganbatte' has several meanings (like many Japanese words), including 'good luck' and 'try harder', but in this context could be interpreted as 'keep up the good work'. Just one of many reasons why it's such a hard language to learn! Another one you probably know already is 'otaku', if you don't, google it!
So many questions guys!
uriel: It was the first name I thought of. And I know the Angels are not actually aliens, but it was easier than a long-winded explanation that wouldn't interest most PHers anyway.
bob1179: The lines on the suit are done with a Gundam Marker. It's intended for panel lines on robots and is ideal for this. Works well on car and aircraft kits too! Extreme models, you don't want to know! I'm sure most PHers wouldn't! If you must, type 'mizuho kit' into eBay and go into 'international sellers' - you'll soon find the strange ones from China, particularly the one with the big boobs (and I mean BIG). I'm not going to post the link!
tim-b: 'Otaku' was one of the first words I learnt! (after 'hentai').
Here's one I just finished; it's Asuka's colleague Rei (I can't call her a friend as they don't actually like each other). The outfit is called a 'yukata' - ie a more informal version of the kimono - it tends to be worn by younger people and in brighter colours.
This is my second attempt to paint it! I was a bit too ambitious previously, so this time decided to go for something simpler and chose the same chocolate brown colour as on my first go but it was looking a bit plain and I didn’t trust my freehand-painting abilities to produce flowers/reeds/etc.
Then on the E2046 Forum I noticed someone else's kit on which he'd used fake tattoos – you know, the ones you stick on, wet the backing paper and peel it off. So I did a search on eBay and a couple of days later was the proud owner of a sheet of little butterflies. And I’m happy to say they all went on perfectly first time. Of course you have to remember they work the opposite way to a waterslide decal in that they are mirror images – fortunately only one of them ended up 180 degrees out!
Paint is Halfords Plastic Primer as with all my figures, except the cream for the obi (the thing that ties round the middle with the big bow at the back), which used an old car paint spray I had lying around in the garage; it kept working just long enough to finish the job! The wood base was an old electrical junction box; Ive got loads of these and they make brilliant for bases. It was painted with a couple more of my old spray cans. These two had nearly stopped working in that they were spitting horribly, but gave just the effect I needed.
And I was chuffed to bits when I posted it on the E2046 Forum, and it won Gallery of the day!
Back to boring old aeroplanes for the next month or two.
uriel: It was the first name I thought of. And I know the Angels are not actually aliens, but it was easier than a long-winded explanation that wouldn't interest most PHers anyway.
bob1179: The lines on the suit are done with a Gundam Marker. It's intended for panel lines on robots and is ideal for this. Works well on car and aircraft kits too! Extreme models, you don't want to know! I'm sure most PHers wouldn't! If you must, type 'mizuho kit' into eBay and go into 'international sellers' - you'll soon find the strange ones from China, particularly the one with the big boobs (and I mean BIG). I'm not going to post the link!
tim-b: 'Otaku' was one of the first words I learnt! (after 'hentai').
Here's one I just finished; it's Asuka's colleague Rei (I can't call her a friend as they don't actually like each other). The outfit is called a 'yukata' - ie a more informal version of the kimono - it tends to be worn by younger people and in brighter colours.
This is my second attempt to paint it! I was a bit too ambitious previously, so this time decided to go for something simpler and chose the same chocolate brown colour as on my first go but it was looking a bit plain and I didn’t trust my freehand-painting abilities to produce flowers/reeds/etc.
Then on the E2046 Forum I noticed someone else's kit on which he'd used fake tattoos – you know, the ones you stick on, wet the backing paper and peel it off. So I did a search on eBay and a couple of days later was the proud owner of a sheet of little butterflies. And I’m happy to say they all went on perfectly first time. Of course you have to remember they work the opposite way to a waterslide decal in that they are mirror images – fortunately only one of them ended up 180 degrees out!
Paint is Halfords Plastic Primer as with all my figures, except the cream for the obi (the thing that ties round the middle with the big bow at the back), which used an old car paint spray I had lying around in the garage; it kept working just long enough to finish the job! The wood base was an old electrical junction box; Ive got loads of these and they make brilliant for bases. It was painted with a couple more of my old spray cans. These two had nearly stopped working in that they were spitting horribly, but gave just the effect I needed.
And I was chuffed to bits when I posted it on the E2046 Forum, and it won Gallery of the day!
Back to boring old aeroplanes for the next month or two.
Nice kits OP.
To the shocked people: this is absolutely nothing - I visited Tokyo a week ago and went into some dedicated Anime shops ('comic books' rather than models or DVD's) and to put it bluntly, there was quite a lot of what can only be described as cartoon peodaphilia, and the most extreme (anime) porn you could imagine. Even weirder, the shop was full of 'respectable' looking business men in suits on their way home from work, and they were openly reading them on the subway!
A strange (but very interesting) part of their culture, for sure.
To the shocked people: this is absolutely nothing - I visited Tokyo a week ago and went into some dedicated Anime shops ('comic books' rather than models or DVD's) and to put it bluntly, there was quite a lot of what can only be described as cartoon peodaphilia, and the most extreme (anime) porn you could imagine. Even weirder, the shop was full of 'respectable' looking business men in suits on their way home from work, and they were openly reading them on the subway!
A strange (but very interesting) part of their culture, for sure.
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