My Gunpla Building Tools
As requested by moemoekyun, ill show you guys all the secret tools i use for building and painting my gunpla ^^
Lets start with my building tools:
Tamiya Basic Tool Set, and a hobby knife. Impressed so far? Well, theres more 😛
Included in the set: side cutter, tweezers, file, craft knife, flat (+) and (-) screw driver.
Cutter for cutting. Tweezers for small parts and decals. File for nub work and weathering/battle damage. Craft knife for nubs and crafts? Screw driver for screwing 😛
My clean up tools:
(p1000, p800, and p320 grit) Sandpaper, coarse and fine compound, and a cloth.
Different grit sandpaper for better sanding results. Compound for that oh so smooth finish!
My modding tools:
Two different Tamiya scribers(i think the bottom one is Tamiya too, i forgot)
Wasnt sure how they worked so i got two ^^;; The top on is good for straight lines and can cut deep with only a few swipes, and the bottom one allows more freedom in details. I also have some pla plates and sticks of incense, no need to photo that right?
My painting tools:
Secrets revealed! lets take a closer look.
Fat markers, real touch markers, and a weather marker.
The fat markers are Gold, Silver, Gray, and Metallic Green(GM04,05,12, and 18). The real touch markers are Black, Brown, and Yellow (GM406,407, and 409). The weather marker is Gray(GM21) The weather marker is nice but can be very light so i dont use it much anymore since i discovered other weather techniques.
I think the black real touch marker is my most used marker.
Fine marker, Graphite pencil, and colorless blender
Black fine tip marker for panel lining(GM01). The one with the blue tape on it is out of ink. After i sand parts and use compound, i use that marker to help get rid of the excess compound suck between panel lines and such lol The graphite pencil i only used with WZC so far, helps add a nice silver shine. The bad news is a matte coat is required when using this because it smudges off really easily. The colorless blender is almost like a marker remover, helps blend/erase mistakes depending on how you use it. I won this in a raffle in an art class years ago and dont really use if often with my kits. ^^
Lastly is my secret weapon!
Rubbing alcohol is my best friend.
I use this a lot(no im not an alcoholic) lol along with a small tin tray and cotton swabs. For clean up, painting, weathering, and applying on my cuts when i mess up with the hobby knife XD After i panel line, i use this to help smooth the lines. With painting i use it to get a blended look with the gundam markers.
Well, there you have it! I dont think i left anything out but these are all my tools, not what you expected right? I have a very limited amount of tools for my gunpla. Thus the “think outside the box” approach is how i work ^_^
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Rock Lee's Lotus 
You have a vast array tools, as I only had gunpla cutter, nail clipper, scissors, fine grade metal file and… a bottle of Mr. Cement… Orz
Not forgetting, my trusty Art Line dual nib CD marker pen…
man, i have a good amount compared to what you had. you could say, taken for granted? ^^;;; it just doesnt seem like much when trying to do customization lol XD
i have a bottle of cement glue too and using different markers is a good alternative to the expensive gundam ones that die out fast. mines dried up after only using it on Exia and parts of WZC, not cool!
Im so book marking this for reference if i ever start Gunpla!!
glad it could be of use! go start gunpla-ing! need moar mecha musume!! ^^
thanks for show us ^__^
lol no problem dude, curiosity satisfied!
Hooray, compound users unite. XDDD I use nail filers instead of an actual file haha – not very cost-effective. Maybe after all my nail filers run out, I’ll get a file. XD
Nice selection of Gundam Markers! All I have are Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold and Silver and my panel lining marker. xDDD I heard that rubbing alcohol is very useful, but I have yet to invest in one lol. ^^; That colourless blender looks interesting.
lets all rub together!! …compound that is 😛 how do the nail files work out? i kinda wanted to try those lol you have the essential marker colors! i choose the ones for detailing first XD
rubbing alcohol is great and super cheap, like less than a dollar for a bottle ^^ actually the colorless blender works a bit like the alcohol. both effective in different situations.
looks like i had more tools than i thought ^^;;;;
“lets all rub together!! “, that sounds… rather odd…
LoL XD
LOL, are you having dirty thoughts? ^_^
@heathorn: LOL XD
Wow! That’s a hell lot more “weapons” than me!
i guess since i do a few mods my “weapon” list is bigger lol i always imagine the average gumpla builder with tons of markers, sandpaper, putty and drills ^^; reality sets in!
so the only think missed from me are tons of gundam marker ^^;;
do you not using spray cans or bottles paint ??
lol you are almost set, just a few markers for details ^^
nope, never tried spray cans or bottled paints with gunpla! what you see here is pretty much all i used on my kits so far.
is this a fate
lol we are craft knife twins! Eva fan must have this kind of progressive knife 😛
Thx for sharing your tools and secret weapons ^_^
For me, I have:
-regular scissors
-nail clipper
-manicure scissors (the one with the bending tip)
-cutter
-sandpaper
-pinvise
-scriber
and my secret weapon is: lighter + screwdriver >.<
i really wanna get a pinvise too! very useful for modding, you do some impressive work with those tools ^^
yea pinvise is nice, it’s easy to use and effective.
Those basic tools seems handy!
What’s the difference between the fat markers and those real touch markers?
the basic tool set is great, has everything i need to get building at affordable price too!
hmm not sure how to describe them but the fat gundam markers you have to shake and they dry as a layer of paint on the kit. the real touch markers have a soft brush tip and its more of an ink then paint, they are for touch ups and weathering, haha sorry i suck a descriptions ^^;;
Oh, very nice to see what tools you use! ^^
i thought i had very little tools, but after the responses i see im pretty well equipped lol
Wow! You look pro, unlike me. Darn, I don’t even have a proper tool. Sigh… I used a pair of paper-scissors only.
Are those Gundam markers any different from those normal ones? My Gundam look darn raw. Probably, I can source for these stuff and see what I could do ’bout them. Seem like I can learn a lot from you in this area 😉
Btw, would the sand paper cause any micro scratch on other surface? I’m quite concern too.
Hope you don’t mind me asking so many questions. I started this figures and gundam stuff 4 months ago I think. I’m still a layman here 😉
haha im not very pro, i actually just got back into building kits a few months ago too! im really glad to hear your taking more of an interest in it!
most of these markers will dry on plastic, i think that is the main difference from normal ones. i heard you can use a pigment liner pen for panel lining and that works too as a cheaper alternative. there is also a trick of using a rubber eraser to clean up if youve made mistakes.
the sand paper will leave scratch marks on the surface. normally you work your way from the lower number grit(rough) to the higher number(fine) to minimize the appearance of scratches. thats where the polishing compound comes into play. it will give the surface back its smooth look and even make it shiny lol
I wanted to have a nail from pg 00 raiser, which is connected from the light bulb which is connected to head part of 00raiser.
My email is peaceloveasia_75@hotmail.com
not sure i can help you there ^^;
Hi, I’m planning to stock up on some paints/markers but I have no idea which ones are the bare essentials… You seem to have a great grasp of which markers one should always have but I wanna ask, what’s the Metallic Green marker for? 🙂 Is it for the eyes of the Gundams? What do you think of the technique of painting silver, and then coating it with clear green? 🙂 Would this achieve the same or better result? 🙂 Also, which Gundam marker code would you recommend for the red & blue that is common on Gundams? I figure I should have a couple for nubs. 🙂
hey ShadowWind thanks for stopping by ^^
you should know in advance that these markers usually dont give a pretty finish when coloring a large areas, in those cases sprays are best! well i used fine point for panel lining, pigment marker can be a cheap alternative and sometimes i use Real Touch marker also because i like the messy results.
the fat color makers; the ones you have to shake, are good for touch ups like you mention with the nubs and painting small parts. i think basic red is GM07 and blue is GM06. i still need to get those also lol
Real Touch is excellent for touch up/ shading and weathering but not necessary. you have to get used to them.
the Metallic green is for the sensors on gundams and the eyes. i havent seen a clear green marker before. on clear parts ive seen people do one coat of silver on the back of the piece and one light coat of metallic green on the front, it gives nice results! best of luck to you, experiment and have fun ^_^
[…] My Gunpla Building Tools December 2009 30 comments […]
Whoa! Thats it…Only those Gundam markers?… No Airbrush or Spraycan? Man you’re unbelievable…You got a michael angelos hand to end your gunpla paintjob. wow! Really impress to know you can do many paintstyle with using few tools! GENIUS
hey Bridge! this comment made my day 😀 thanks for the compliments!
there is still much more room for improvement and more experimentation to be done! in the future i want to incorporate some hand painting and top coating for a nicer finish in my builds ^^