I have always been picky at certain things, and kits being accurate to the original lineart (anime designs) is one of them. I love Bandai's Gunpla kits, but I have always wanted to have kits that are accurate or close to the original designs.
Bandai always redesigns many parts like shoulders, feet, etc. I have tried to correct these things to my liking, but I either end up damaging the kit, or sand and cut so much that I do think scratchbuilding is the only way to get it done.
When I say scratchbuilding, I mean full scratchbuilding. It's the only option I have, unless Bandai decides to make kits the way I wish they would make them (pffbt! HAHAHAHAHAHA! 
).
I can relate completely. I'm very rarely excited about a Bandai release any more because I've become too cynical about the results... And a desire to fit the lineart, and a complete lack of faith that Bandai will
ever do this, is exactly what motivates my work on the 1:100 Zaku Kai...
I want to make my builds just like the lineart or at least "refined". I know that a lot of designs are flawed. I mainly want to focus on 1/144 scale, but soon move to 1/100.
Initially my plan was to do my
Zaku Kai in 1:144... But I ultimately went with 1:100 and I think it was absolutely the correct decision. I think, particularly being somewhat inexperienced at scratch-building, it's very important to work in a larger scale.
Basically, let's suppose anything you ever do is going to be half a millimeter off... That means when you center a part to see if it's symmetrical, you're half a millimeter off, when you measure it to see if the curvature is right, you're half a millimeter off, etc... These small errors compound. Now, if you're dealing with a part that's 6mm wide as opposed to 10mm wide, these errors are all the more significant because your part is smaller. It's for this reason that I believe it's a lot easier to work in a larger scale. You can make the same magnitude of error and it will be less significant than if you'd been working small.
What's the easiest way to full scratchbuild? Using plastic sheets? Clay?
I'm always grappling with this one myself. As far as I can tell it really depends on the part. For instance, boxy parts I usually plan out on graph paper, then copy the pattern to styrene sheet, cut it out, and assemble it. (I did this with the Zaku chest and backpack, as well as the Scopedog parachute pack...) In some cases it's easier to leave a few faces out and then just fill them in with epoxy putty or polyester putty, instead of using plate for every single face... For curvy parts I usually set up a series of cross-sections and fill in the gaps between them with epoxy putty. For "solids of revolution" (i.e. parts that could be produced on a lathe) I usually create a template to turn uncured polyester putty about an axis, and then spin the axis on a drill press or Dremel to smooth it out afterward... (I don't have an actual lathe...)
Another angle I'm constantly grappling with, is how much planning is sufficient, and how much is too much. For the Zaku I spent a lot of time refining the 3-D design before building anything. On other projects I simply roughed out the design on graph paper and started building as soon as I could. It seems the trick is to be precise
enough when you finally get around to building that you don't have to do it again - but past a certain point, being precise in your
plans stops being useful, because you're limited in how precisely you can build and measure, and at a certain point I think the whole process just breaks down to eyeballing the thing to see if it
looks right, and tweaking it if it's not...
For materials - I mostly use 1mm styrene plate (thick enough to be reasonably rigid, thin enough to be relatively easy to cut precisely and mitre-join if necessary), various useful sizes of styrene strip, rod, and specialized shapes, epoxy putty (Aves is very good stuff), and polyester putty (Bondo, for instance)
I'm a big fan of the scratchbuild manual you mentioned - the tough thing about that book is that he makes it all look so
easy... Like building the Zaku head three or four different ways, and they all come out
perfect - and we don't see all of the however many hours it took him to actually do all that. Fabulously inspiring all the same.
You've got to talk to Bawoo and see if he has photos and information about his various builds that he can share. He built a 1:100 Hi-Zack that was my favorite example I'd use whenever I needed to convince someone of the virtues of polyester putty... (It was a vintage kit build, but with extensive modifications for looks) He also scratch-built a 1:100 Hazel conversion set, which was one of the first Hazel kits out there, I believe... His site's been down for ages but he's been hanging around here lately, so maybe if you ask nicely he can give you some information on what he did, and how...
I mentioned before that I think different parts often call for different techniques - for this reason, I think I could help you better if you were to ask about a
specific part you want to build. I could tell you about different ways I would approach it. I'm still working out the best way to approach these things myself, as evidenced by the difficulties I face in building Zaku parts... So I wouldn't always have one answer "that's how I'd do it" - because if I tried it myself I might find it didn't work out, and go back and try another approach... but I'd have some ideas, I guess. :)
Show Posts
