random thoughts on blogger, twitter and facebook

Just some random thoughts on blogger, twitter and Facebook guys. I do not claim expertise in these social networking sites and blogging, heck I think I am not even a year old member of both twitter and Facebook and have been blogging since November 2009 only. But I do have some insights that could be helpful to some newer bloggers, twitters, Facebook mainstays out there.

my New avatar and twitter, well I have used quite a lot of avatars since starting my blog. But it is only recently that I have started to actually design my own though. I envy Toymaker's and Bmecha's avatars, it is very unique and they have been using it for a while now. 

The sudden change in avatar is primarily because of twitter yesterday. As I was looking for good twitters to follow, I found some really cool looking avatars that stood out of the bunch. I then designed an avatar that would also look good even when it is very very small already ( important specially in twitter ).

My new avatar is yellow and black and is obviously based on the color scheme of my Kampfer. I added a bushy goatee as I sometimes forget to trim mine in real life. I also designed it to have a frown and a smirk at the same time ( close friends knows why ). I like my new avatar, even though it says nothing about my hobby, it pretty much shows my personality in a glance.

Facebook, I manage a couple of Facebook pages and have my own personal account. As most of you know by now, my wife uses my account for playing some Fb games even though she has her own account ( I wonder why? ). I am a bit active at our Mech Arts Community group page and a few fellow modelers and Gunpla enthusiasts like Gundam Guy is active in our community page as well.

As much as I have fun with interacting at our MAC Fb page, I feel I kinda neglected my own DC23 mech arts artist / fan page. Most modelers have this fan page stuff, just copied mine from Kenny ( Toymaker ). I am now starting to visit my own page more often these days, post a few photos once in a while and answer inquiries if there are some. It is easier to manage yourself than a community after all.

Blogger, Blogger is NOT free! This is important coz as much as I enjoy blogging, I felt it was kinda unfair that I thought it was a free service. However since last month, I could NO longer upload photos in my blogger account. Once you've reached the 1 GB quota for photos, you have to pay a premium for continuing to use it. Good thing I have a Pro Photobucket account, I now upload photos, even banners through this account.

SO, if you blog and upload photos as much as I do, be ready to pay a premium or have a Pro Photobucket or Pro Flicker account at hand. Heck, I have a Pro Photobucket account coz I also have exceeded the FREE quota in Photobucket. hehe, I guess I do blog too much. 

Anyways, thanks for dropping by! Til' next post guys! :)

Dry Brushing video tutorial by TheGhostofZeon

Scott Taylor aka TheGhostofZeon or RedComet in other forums graciously posted the links of this nice tutorial at our MAC forums. Scott is one of the most " sharing " experienced modeler in the Gunpla community as he makes it a point to do some nice tutorials during the building of his kits.



Making tutorials is a bit of a hassle for anyone, you have to slow down a bit to make sure you've put the process into photos or videos as clearly as possible. I always have my deepest respect for people who find time to share their techniques and even trade secrets to others as I learned all my techniques from the more experienced modelers like FichtenFoo and Toymaker myself.



I am more of a " wash " guy as you've noticed in my builds as I find dry brushing a bit more tedious. Dry brushing like washes if done correctly should yield topnotch results. However if done without much practice, your kit could look like an old die cast toy, ugly. Scott showed both in photos and in video how to do dry brushing the right way. Now here are the links...

Scott Taylor aka TheGhostofZeon website - dry brushing photo tutorial by TheGhostofZeon

Thanks for dropping by! hoped you liked this tutorial by Scott! XD

G-SHOT - 2nd round elimination

I just finished casting my votes for the top entries of the 2nd round! My fellow judges Derringer and Gaijin Gunpla has also casted their votes in all five categories. Only Adam Sonar the creator of Gundam Australia Forums and Gundam Guy has not casted their votes, but for sure we will be announcing the winners by February 5 ( Saturday )!



We will then select the winners of each category from the top entries of round 1 and round 2. All 5 judges should agree on a winner from all the top entries from both rounds. This is a contest of both modeling and photography skills, thus the winner has the best kit with the best photo after all is said and done. Good luck again to all the participants!



It was an honor for me to have been a judge in this online " World Championships "! Lots of amazing, jaw dropping entries that made some of my builds look so amateur. We had the opportunity to judge almost 600 entries from almost 200 modelers from all over the world in the past few weeks. It was a daunting task to say the least but it was a very rewarding experience to have been part of this great event.



Saying that this contest was so inspiring is an understatement. Lots of little known new modelers with great potential and skills. Hope to see those guys a little bit more. Anyways, the winners should be announced at Gundam Guy very very soon, so stay tuned! :)

MAC concept MECHA GB is heating up!

FORGET Gundams! Our MAC concept MECHA Group Build is really starting to heat up! There are at least 10 work in progress threads in the WIP section for this GB, to think that the GB was only announced a few days ago! I guess we all secretly needed a break from Gundams OR creating your own robot from scrap parts is just so fun!



Don't get left behind guys! I say you join with the fun of creating this robots / mecha from scraps! Here is the link to our MAC forums WIP section...

Mech Arts Community WIP section

bitBOTs 001: WIP - initial assembly

This is my first in my bitBOTs series and my entry for our MAC concept MECHA GB. Just a quick assembly of some parts I found around my work area. My daughters had fun watching me while I was assembling this little guy.



My bitBOTs will just be a series of small mono eye robots made from bits and pieces of stuff. Nothing fancy and complicated with this series. The objective is simple, try to make them as cute and durable as I can. I want my bitBOTs very playable, so I will try to make the joints very strong.



I will use Epoxy for gluing the parts and will let it cure for a day before priming. Now here are some photos of this very quick build...

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you join our concept MECHA GB! :)

HY2M Air Shock Battle 1/12 Beam Saber - review

I got this cool Gundam toy a few days ago and wanted to post photos the moment I opened the old box. HY2M stands for Hyper Hybrid Model and this is a 1/12 Air Shock Battle Beam Saber released way back 2008. I think based on the box, this is compatible with the huge HY2M 1/12 Gundam replica sold for 3,400 USD at Bandai Hobby Shop.



Obviously I can only afford the beam saber and I love this toy / replica so much. When you turn on the beam saber it vibrates and releases a nice start up sound. It then releases some humming sounds whenever it is idle and it also turns off when unplayed for a minute or so.



The beam saber has motion sensors that releases different kinds of swooshing sounds depending on your movement. Try pretending that you are a Gundam and pull the beam saber from your back, the sound is really cool and it even has some vibrations.



Their are two red switches on the hilt, the first one releases more swooshing sound effects and the other one is way cooler as it releases some Amuro phrases! A red light around the tip area also lights up as you play with the beam saber. The speakers is at the bottom of the beam saber and it releases not so loud sound,  I mean the sound effects could be louder and flashier.



Anyways, never mind the kiddie lights and sound effects, the toy / replica looks soooo stunning on my computer desk. This is a must have for any Gundam fan as it is not that expensive at 1,400 Php. Now here are some photos...

HY2M 1/12 Gundam photos from Gunpla Concepts

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next post! :)

my BLOG just got bigger!

In the vain attempt to maintain the status of my blog as the runaway no.1 Gundam site in the Philippines, I came up with another page. LOL... Narcissistic mode and kidding aside, I enjoyed my photography session of my Nobell Gundam so much and thought of giving it it's own gallery.



Obviously I snap fit a lot of kits specially in between finished ( painted ) builds. Snap fitting Gunpla remains my favorite part of this hobby and it keeps me from burning out from heavy modifications, painting, commission works and diorama making.



I am also starting to really get comfortable with my mediocre photography skills. I hated photography back in college as I think it is a hobby for rich people. People get better than other people coz they have a gazillion kinds of lenses and have the best SLR camera body amongst his peers.



However, I am starting to enjoy photography with my point and shoot Canon camera these days. My gallery photos are getting better ( I think ) even though I have been using the same camera since I started this blog ( 2009 ). It's not the camera... its just a friggin' tool, though I plan to get a SLR this year. lol



I think setting up my REVIEWs page would make me improve my photography even with unpainted straight builds. I hope to give you better photo reviews in the future. Reviews with less talk as I suck in writing and with tons of nice straight build photos.



Hope you'll liked my new page? It won't be as useful as my Tutorials page, but hope to bring good content in there in the future. Til' next post guys! :)

Beauty and the Beast!

click image to enlarge

I am currently using this photo as my wallpaper and I love it! My best yet simplest wallpaper I think. Icons on the desktop are very visible and I just like how the O is trying not to fume while the Nobell Gundam is trying to find a comfortable sitting position.



Thanks for dropping by! til' next post! :)

the Princess of my collection!

I just finished snap fitting the princess of my collection! It took me around almost an hour to snap fit this and almost an hour to play with it and take photos. I had a blast building this kit as it is my first time to actually snap fit a girl Gundam. This kit is perfect as a relax build as it does not even have a single visible seam line. Such a beautiful kit engineering and design wise.



The color separation is almost perfect! only the red band around the left thigh needs painting and as usual the sensors and eyes. The articulation is almost MG like and the joints are like RG internals. No lousy poly caps as joints thus I think I will have hours of fun playing with this without worrying if the joints would loosen up.



It is almost as tall as a 1/144 Tieren, though it is so thin and sexy it feels and looks so small. I had a blast posing and taking photos of this kit and I only uploaded half of my photos, anyways here they are...

Did I mention the kit is small???

Pseudo internals? almost Real Grade internals? great stuff from Bandai!

Extra hands for the God Gundam? for the pose in the photos...

Extra parts aside from the base...

My princess with my Beargguy...

My princess and the fat King of my collection...

Hope you liked the photos and if you are not convinced that this is worth 900 Php for it's size, Go take a look at the photos again and reconsider. I highly recommend this kit so much as it is very well engineered and the design ( being a girl ) is very very refreshing.

If you are a collector, this is a must have and if you are a modeler... this is a must have also as it does not have ANY visible seam line and is perfect in between commission works or big projects. This kit is definitely the princess of my collection ( unpainted kits ).

Thanks for dropping by! Til' next post guys! :)