Dark Duel's Gunpla thread

[Dark Duel]

Oh LORD in heaven yes. That beam rifle/bazooka combo is the absolute devil to pose with, because it's not just such a heavy bugger, but it's so massive.
Anyway, I took yet another couple pics of the Sinanju Kai today.
This time, going to the opposite extreme with a pure CQC configuration - although you can really see there the beam cannon and four missiles on the shield, below the two beam tomahawks.
And here is a rear view that showcases a modification I made to the backpack. Because the Sinanju didn't have enough of those already

Finally, here is the Sinanju Kai again, but this time, he's not alone anymore...he's posed next to his buddy, the RX-0-2[K] Banshee Custom. In Destroy Mode, of course.
By the way, that big ole' shield is almost as much of a PITA to pose as the Sinanju's Bazooka-Rifle. On top of that, the Unicorn itself is ten times more of a PITA to pose than the Sinanju.
The most annoying part though is the backpack beam saber holders, which actually don't hold the beam sabers very securely *is annoyed at this*.

NOTE: Excuse the crap picture quality, but due to not owning a decent camera, I'm having to do these with a cellphone cam

[Dark Duel]

Ahem.
I've been doing a little work in 1/144 today, specifically on this amazing piece of awesome.

Specifically, I got ahold of a second pair of Amazing Weapon Binders, because I wanted to do this configuration. I figured I could put them together and pop 'em right on the legs, right?

WRONG.
In fact, the Amazing Weapon Binders can't be attached to the leg without some modification, because the long peg on the part that attaches to the backpack is too long, and the short one too loose. So it needs some slight modification.
So this is what I did. I took the outer part of the leg, and I drilled a small hole, which I widened until the long peg on the aforementioned backpack attachment could be slid in all the way.
It actually fits perfectly, and it's nice and tight in there.
Bottom line, that part can now be attached, and it holds.
this is the end result.
Thoughts?

[valkyriepilot]

Wow, you're right, looks like they didn't give this one much thought. A very small adjustment to the peg diameter (no more than a millimeter) would've made the difference.

On hindsight though, you could've used blu-tac instead, a small amount placed on the short peg woulda saved you the trouble of all that drilling.

[Dark Duel]

Okay, so I picked up the HG Build Burning Gundam today - haven't built the kit itself yet. But the "fire punch" effect parts? The bad news is, the longer parts that flare off the "fist" center part are horribly loose and fall off at the drop of a hat.

The good news?
TOTALLY. WORTH. IT. ANYWAY!
*insert usual excuse about crappy photo quality due to lack of a decent camera*

[SpideyWing]

The world needs more pictures of Double God (Burning) Finger; thank you for adding to them.

[Dark Duel]

Well, that was one of my favorite scenes in the series anyway - I have that exact clip in my iTunes video library, and regularly rewatch it.
Anyhoo, ever since the AGE-2DB turned up, waaaay back when, I have been toying with the idea of a UC-fied version of that base mech, simply because DB is like an AU Gundam cousin to one of my all-time favorite UC mech ever, the ORX-005 Gaplant. I even nicknamed the thing "Gaplant Gundam".
When Lightning Gundam turned up, I got the idea to use parts from it.

I no longer have pics of that, but my first essay was a simple part swap, using the head and legs of Lightning Gundam, as a proof-of-concept to see how it looks. The final version will also use Lightning's arms and legs, with possibly a couple of other modifications to the backpack and some other things.
I wasn't terribly happy with how it turned out, but I was mostly satisfied - except that the Lightning's legs fold in the opposite direction from AGE-2's, so the result looked a little awkward.
Then about a week ago, I had an idea: "What if I could mount the Lightning's lower legs to the AGE-2's upper legs?"
So this past week-end, I worked on that. It still has the original DB arms for now, and like I said is a straight-build "proof of concept" - the final product will have additional modifications, including an as-yet undetermined color scheme.

Anyway, first thing I tried was a straight part swap, with terrible results: Because of the way they're designed, it left a huge gap in the lower leg below the "knee". Some slight modifications were thus required, but overall, I am much happier with the result..
Thoughts? Comments?

[Dark Duel]

Wow, it's been a while. Anyway, the "Lightning DB" project is on hold for now until I decide on a paint job, and there's one or two other little things that are still pending on that one.
In the interim, something else I've been working on.
It's not quite complete either, but I thought I'd snap a pic of what I have so far

[Dark Duel]

So the latest kit of mine to get built is a kinda-sorta mod of the Hi-v Vrabe. It's visually not all that different from the original except I changed its colors and in addition to that shield-booster, which I mounted to its back, I gave it the Hi-v's original shield as well.
The main thing I did was give it six separately articulated funnels, which the HG kit doesn't normally have.
HERE'S A PIC, with my usual apologies due lack of a decent camera to take it with.