MG Gundam Epyon "The Hydra" SNEAK PEEK

Let me start off by saying sorry to those who were patiently waiting for the update,that never came...I thought i will have enough new content for 1 last update before the completion of this kit,but i was wrong.I couldn't show you guys the dragon head like i said i would,because of time.i didn't want to hold up the progress of other parts,so i went to paint the front portion of the head which doesn't need detailing first.And after that i went to mask that part up,so that i can work on the back portion of the head.So when i was finished with the detailing,i didn't take any photos of it because of the ugly maskings.

So to make up for that,I took some photos after applying the decals and panel lines.Now all thats left to do is to spray a layer of clear flat on them and do some final touches,and the model will be done.The only thing i'm worried about is the weather here,it has been raining almost everyday which makes spraying those clear coats tough...Hope you guys are looking forward to this,i should be able to finish this soon.Cheers!

Oh ya,for the name,i was thinking of "Lermaean,the Indestructible".What do you guys think?

MG Gundam Epyon "The Hydra" WIP Part 10

For this 2 week,i was planning to finish everything and get all the remaining parts set for painting.It was very rush,but i was able to finish most of the parts and prime them.So i will be able to start painting them next week.I also found the waterslides for this,which i have been looking for a long time.This is great news because if i wasn't able to find this,i will have to stop work after painting and wait for samual decal or bandai to come out with it.

 Active mode

Non-active mode

I know you guys are eager to know what i have added to the NG Nataku's claw.So lets start off with the beam cannon that i got from some zoids parts.The inner part of the claw was very empty,since there isn't a frame so i wanted to put something in it.I don't really have the time nor the skills to build a frame so i thought of adding a cannon.I attached 2 joints to the cannon,1 for it to be attached to the head and the other is for the neck(Epyon's whip) to attach to it.

Next,i have 2 scratched build thrusters/vents that i placed on the back of the head.I couldn't find suitable thrusters from my collection of gundam parts,so i have to try scratch building them.Luckily it turned out ok,i was worried because i don't have much confidence in my scratch building skills.

Thrusters still need some more work.

I also noticed that the head have a lot of crave areas which i don't really like,so i sanded them flat and give them some edges.I can't really explained why i don't like them but it just look "toyish"to me,but this is just my own personal opinion.I also went to sharpened the claw to make them look more menacing.

I really like the whip parts but it's a challenge to fix them.I have to find a way to separate the "round things" on the sides,so that i can have them painted different colors.I know i can mask them,but round parts are hard to mask.If the sides are even,i can still use blue tack to cover them for painting but its uneven.Luckily,i found an article showing how to do this and that is to cut them out before cementing and put them back after painting.

Nothing much to talk about the wing,its always the same process of puttying and sanding.However,i'm very happy and excited to finally have it ready for painting.

I think i have covered all the stuff i did over the past 2 week.I still need to do some detailing to the head,so i will probably have a short update when that is done next week.I hope you guys liked the overall look of the backpack and thank you for reading.Cheers!

Gundam Epyon "The Hydra" Part 9

After a long break,i'm finally back!I'm so sorry for the long wait,but I definitely needed the break,it not only helped me recharged my "thinking cap" but also my motivation.I feel more refreshed now and ideas just keeps flowing into my head.

I know you guys want to know what i have done this week,so lets get right down to business.I have only started working on epyon after the completion of my MG Kampfer,so a lot of the stuff are still the same as before.The main body is almost done,just the painting of the frame and some parts are left.And now im focusing on the 2 main mods that still needs to be done which are the wing and the backpack.

For the wing,i have added some pla plates which i was having a hard time with before the break because i couldn't think of any designs for them.

A major change that I've made is with the 5th dragon head.I'm now planning to use the claw from 1/100 gundam nataku instead of the head i have "sculpted".I've been thinking,the dragon head may look nice but its just too impractical to a gundam.Gundams are weapons and if i cant make the dragon head into a practical weapon,then what is the point of adding it?However i do need a fifth head so i thought of using the claw from nataku which also looks like a dragon head,and its also a suitable weapon.I just need to make some changes so that it would suit a MG model.

There are several mods that i have made,extending and sharpening the fangs to make it look fiercer.And shortening the length of the claw to fit the backpack.Lastly,i did some mods to the joints for the fangs and the head so that i can paint them separately after cementing.For next week,i will try to make something to replace the white fin,which i don't like.And put a ball joint under the head so that i can join it with the neck.

The mods on the backpack are mostly done,the one thing that is giving me a headache is that i still find a suitable joint for the neck and backpack.I have tried using a pipe,but it looks too plain...Maybe you guys can give me some ideas?

I'm using bluetack for this.Haha:)

Thats all for now,I hope you guys are still excited of this build,and i'm really sorry for the long wait.

Gundam Epyon "The Hydra" Week 4

Wow,1 whole month have passed by so quickly.I wonder if i really can finish this in 3 months,that means i only have 2 months left...I always doubt myself when there is a time limit,i got to change that mentality and enjoy the build to the fullest...Ok,time to stop my whining and lets talk about the progress i've made this week.

Most of you may be wondering how is the wing doing,so lets start from there.The epoxy work on the wing is almost done and i'm currently focusing on cleaning the boomerang spikes up and duplicating them.And for the extra booster,i'll have to wait for the metal thrusters to arrive in order to progress further.The next step for the wing will be to use pla plates to beef it up.

I have also mixed the colors which i want to use,the main color is dark green and dark grey.For the yellow,i'm going to change it to yellow/orange which looks nicer with the green.For the light grey,i'm still thinking whether i want to change it into another color.Finally,i will be using metallic yellow for the eyes and orb.Tell me what you guys think about the color scheme,ok?I'm still a noob at choosing colors:(

I didn't show any pictures of the body that i have detailed up last week,so here is how some of the parts look after priming.

Here is one mod i did this week on the wing.I putty up the part highlighted in black and cut out a portion of the red part.I did this to cover the frame(which is the red part),now there is a clear separation between the red and dark grey part at the side.
This is how it looks before the mod.

 Picture from dalong.

I hope you guys like what i've done so far,and please stay tune for the next update.Cheers!

Gundam Epyon "The Hydra" Week 3

For this week,i've been working solely on the body as i got tired of sanding the wings.Sometimes,its best to change and work on something else,this helps me from getting burnt out.

Basically what i did was the same as my deathscythe hell,drawing the panel lines,adding rivets and pla plates,so i won't talk about those.

I did some modding to the ankle,to make the parts separable even after i cement them together and removing the seam line.How i went about doing so is rather simple and most of you should already know this.After i cement the 2 red parts and removed the seamlines,I drew a wide panel line right in the middle.Make sure the line is deep and use a hobby knife to cut in between the panel line and separating the 2 parts.Now,i can paint the red parts and the inner frame separately.

Most kits' ankle are like this,and if you do not want a panel line in the middle,you can draw 2 parallel panel lines on the sides and cut 1 of those right through to separate the 2 parts.After painting,the panel lines will look like its part of the design and the ugly seamline will be gone.

I wish i got more examples and photos to show,but i kinda got lazy...

The next thing i did is also a mod to clean up the seamline on the claw.First,i cut out the portion that is highlighted in black.Next,cement it onto the other part of the claw and putty the gaps.And the unpleasant seamline is gone.I hope the pictures will explain the steps better than i do...Haha...

And for all the joints,i sanded the black portions down so that they won't rub against other parts and scratch the paints off after painting.Even when the parts aren't touching each other after priming,it is likely that they will after painting because paints will add to the thickness of the surface.

Arm frame(Left),Leg frame top portion(Right)

For additional details,other than the rivets,panel line and pla plate,I added pipes underneath the shoulder to enhance the look of the inner frame.

I was thinking whether i should combine the 2 shenlong weapon and make it into the EW version,or use epyon's sword as the main weapon.What i don't like about the sword is the guard,it looks too small compared to the huge beam.So i went to test fit the fin onto the side of the guard,so as to extend the width and make it look bigger.The fins fit pretty nicely to the side,so i hope after some modifications i can make them movable so that when the beam is not activated,i can close the fins.

I'm going to mod the boomerang from destiny gundam into spikes for the wing.Here is the basic design for it.

I'm sorry for the wordy post,but i hope that some of the mods i explained can be of help to those who are just starting out gunpla.Thats all for now,see you guys on the next update:)

MG Gundam Epyon "The Hydra" WIP Week 1(part 2)

Hmm,i think i've posted the first wip way too early,with only 4 days of work there wasn't much content.So this will be like a part 2 of week 1's wip.

So for the past few days,i've been working on the wing and thinking how i should approach the 5th head.

Lets start off with the wing,the sanding was very tough this time.I don't know why but i just  can't get the shape right,especially the middle part.So i had to put epoxy and sand over and over again,which was kind of disheartening.It still needs more work but this definitely looks better than my first try.And i should also mention that i haven't even started sanding the other wing,so this is definitely going to be a long journey for me...

 I've also started on the other parts of the wing that i want to add.These are still prototypes that i have to refine further.I'm not good at using pla plates for scratch building so these are the parts that worry me most.

For the fifth head,i added some of the epyon's parts to the side of the head to make it look more dragon like and fiercer.And of course i will have to recast the parts later on.The next step would be to add putty to try to blend the head with the twin cannon together so that it will look like 1 whole piece.This should be done by the next update.

I have also started marking out the places on the body that i want to add rivets.And i've also designed panel lines for some parts.I find this model very different from other model.I don't really know how to explain but i had a hard time deciding which parts need more details and which are the parts that i should leave alone.If you have seen my last project,you'll notice that i don't like to add too much because i know if i do that i'll just keep adding and make the whole thing a mess.

Not sure if i should put the "fangs"...

Thats all for now,i hope that this is more interesting than the first post.Cheers guys!!

MG Gundam Deathscythe Hell "The Devil" WIP part 9 (Updated)

This week was terrible...So many things went wrong and I was so frustrated by the amount of work to finish with so little time...According to my plan I need to finish painting everything next week,and that include the diorama,tail and wing.The wing is almost done,it just need some panel lines,but my main concern is the tail which still have a long way until its satisfactory.

There is not much to show this week,just some pictures on the diorama and the tip of the tail which is still work in progress...Sign...
Lets talk how my diorama came into place.As you can see the cracks on the base was done with pla plates but this wasn't my original idea.My idea was to lay cement on the base and when its dry,I can create cracks by knocking it lightly.The problem was the cement did not stick to the base and all just fell off,the reason could be that I added too much water or something else is needed for it to stick.Ya,big fail...Kinda dumb too...

Next,on to the launch pad.I went to cut them into smaller pieces and remove most of the pipes.And i'm quite pleased with the results.Do you guys think I need more damages on them?

There is also the chain scythe that I created from NG deathscythe(s).If i had more time I could have detail them more and make them look cooler.

Tomorrow,I will use dc23's method of adding debris on diorama on this.I will post some photos of that once i'm done and the diorama will be done.Hope you guys like it:)

I guess this will be my first and last competition entry,the time constraint is really stressing me out too much...Now I know why some modelers stay away from competitions...2 more weeks to go!!!

Update
So I have added the debris and going to prime the base now.