The Saber Gundam (1/144 Scale)

I'm finally done after 14 hours within the span of 3 days, excluding waiting for the paint to dry. I was very impatient, so I didn't wait long for it to dry. Oh and I used Revoltech Saber Alter's Excalibur for the essential part :)

Is this what you call kit-bashing? Anyway this is my first time painting and customizing a Gundam, so feel free to criticize, advise, comment on how to improve this Saber Gundam or Gundam modeling in general.

I'm burnt out, so I'm just gonna let the pictures speak for themselves ^_^

The design on the chest armor was almost as frustrating as the waist, but not as much.

I'm somewhat proud of the colouring I did for the torso.

The problematic rear skirt... Now doubles as a shield!

"Ah, Micha dame!"

「ああ、見ちゃだめ！」
"Don't look!"
~Courtesy of Black Waltz from DannyChoo.com

NEW PICTURES (July 2009)

I've done extra work on this Saber Gundam recently on July 26-28, 2009. I bought a semi-gloss Top Coat to make this smoother and maybe more professional. Unfortunately I used too much and some of the colours faded because of the alcohol based Gundam Markers... I salvaged what I could and made it work. Hopefully it works ok.

This time around I used the Caliburn from Saber figma for the Gundam, instead of the Excalibur from Revoltech Saber Alter.

Saber Figma makes an appearance. It's nice to compare to the original. I use more blue on the side skirt, it seems like...

I really love this picture!

Project: Saber Gundam - Day 3

I didn't think I would finish on Day 3. It was also because I work on Saturday, so I didn't think I had time to actually finish this project so quickly. I guess it was also because I'm obsessed with it! At work I kept talking about it like a real otaku, wotta nerd... I wanted to finish this fast.

So now the waist and skirt... what do I do? The two shields I was going to use for the frontal and rear skirt did not match up. It was like trying to fit a circular peg into a square hole. Er, that's actually the problem on the rear skirt.


So got out my glue markers and tried to stick'em. Frontal skirt is fine, well except that it's too long and become her third leg -_- ... Rear skirt, kinda fits into that hole, but I didn't realize there was a problem until I attached the torso to the waist. AAAAARRRRGGGH! It doesn't fit >_<

Project: Saber Gundam - Day 2

Beh... no progress on Day 2, but I did paint some more on their runners so at least they'll be dry for Day 3. Plus I did have a long dinner. It's good dinner so it's worth it, thanks bro! Oh yeah I did paint the skirts and then mutter and swear to myself how hard the waist and skirts are going to be...

Project: Saber Gundam - Day 1

8 hours! 8 hours of painting and clipping and building a Gundam kit! That's 1/3 of a day! Gundam markers ready, first runners and pieces ready, clippers ready, so what else am I missing? Oh that's right... skills... I got none >_<

So I cut out the torso from the runners. It wasn't until 5th or 6th hour in that I realize, I shouldn't have cut them out of the runners... It was easier to paint them while they were on the runners... Baka Robert, baka baka!!

And what is up with these 1/144 Gundam heads?? They're so tiny! The head on the marker seems about the same size. Yeesh!


I noticed the Zeta Gundam shoulders are already blue, so I thought, "Aha! One less thing to paint!" And yep, the blue doesn't match... more painting and waiting for paint to dry.


Finally after approximately 8 hours (excluding drying time), I was done with these pieces.

Project: Saber Gundam - Day 0

So begins my silly little project of creating The Saber Gundam... What the hell brought on this idea of frivolous money spending and time consuming project, you ask? Ok, you didn't really ask, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. It's this awesome looking fanart of a Gundam that's been made to look like Saber.

I kept wishing this was real, that Bandai and Type Moon might make some kind of agreement to make this kit a reality, but no luck. Ok, then maybe I'll wait until someone actually makes a custom kit... Nope. I was disappointed, but the lightbulb turned on in my head: "Why don't I make one?" Such an easy idea on paper, but reality is not as forgiving.

First of all I had to find the right kit to make the base, and without spending so much money. I spent hours on Hobby Search, Hobby Link Japan, and Sakura Media's websites looking for the right kits to buy. I've finally decided on the 3 that I've posted on my blog before.

I bought them at this little Chinese store at Crystal Mall, which is just across Metrotown in Burnaby, BC. I didn't really want to buy it from there since the store owners were kinda rude, but price-wise they were the cheapest. I also bought the markers for the colour from here. The Gundam Seed Destiny markers, which included the blue, yellow, red and white, along with a separate silver marker. I bought the Zeta Gundam from Ages 3 and Up from Metrotown, since the price was the same. This was a week before Day 0.

Day 0 consists of scanning the manuals, setting up which parts are needed, and putting them on two pages, so it's easy to look at instead of looking at three manuals (although I had to do that anyway >_<).

THE manual

So the next day, my life is slowly sucked out by this tiny model kit...

Alter 1/6 Saber - Maid Ver.

This has to be my favourite Saber figure ever! At first I wasn't going to buy it, but there were a lot of things that look so good with this figure... The thigh high stocking, her cute face, short, short skirt and of course that realistic looking mop! Her dress and stockings have a little sparkle and shiny, but hey it looks good to me. Maybe I just like shiny things. Even the box looks good. It's got windows on 2 sides, so you can see her nice bare back. The way her mouth is sculpted is just the best! I can't stop staring at her cute lips ^^. I can't help but take pictures of her pantsu... So cute! But the springs on the mop just sells it for me... Seriously!

Top Secret Gundam Project: MATERIAL GET!

I've finally managed to spend the money to get the materials for my Gundam project last Thursday (September 18, 2008) . It was hard to decide what was the base kit I will be using. I thought I would spend more money to get the best parts, but y'know those kits aren't exactly cheap...

So I finally settled with these 3 kits as the base of my project. All are 1/144 scale since they are cheaper. If I decide it would work as a 1/100 then I'll spend the money, but I'd need to learn how to paint Gundams properly. For now I'll be just using Gundam Markers to paint the parts

The 3 kits I will be destroying:

1. Zeta Gundam - Boy, I wouldn't mind bashing this one. Tried my hands on the old MG kit and I just hated every minute building this Gundam, so I had no sympathy taking apart this thing.
2. Blaze Zaku Phantom - Again, no sympathy for this one. It's just a Zaku, but if it were Lunamaria's Zaku then I would be sadder. I barely need parts of this kit, but they're still essential.
3. BluDuel Gundam - Poor, poor BluDuel... I wish I didn't have to bash this one, but it fits into what I need for my project. I might buy this one again to have a completed BluDuel <3