this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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Mobile Suit Gundam

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A community for any and all things relating to Mobile Suit Gundam. Other giant robot series are welcome too!

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Putting together my first kit, and all similar beginner tip/trick Reddit threads are dead to me ๐Ÿ˜ค So I'd love to get one going here! Any tips/tricks you have to help out??

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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm a beginner but I got some nippers, x-acto knife, multiple grits of sandpaper when I did my first snap build.

I relied on videos like this for just removing the pieces from the runners and making the nub marks less apparent. I basically cut the runners but left the nubs. Then used an x-acto to cut it closer to try and avoid stress marks and then sanded at the end to make it smooth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTGqWeT5mU8

Later on I went back to my snap builds and tried panel lining. I tried Gundam markers and found black is pretty good but gray markers don't come out looking clean. So I got Gundam pour markers (warning don't use on ABS parts since it can cause pieces to crack) and that was a much cleaner experience.

For that I found this video helpful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOmZbU1i90E

There's more advanced stuff I haven't done like panel washing, painting, and so on. But, for a first build I'd take it easy. I still am and haven't even gotten into top coating or water and dry decals yet.