RX-0 Unicorn Gundam

[Vermin_King]

Consider me daunted ...

[Dented Rick]

I finally got all the parts for the Gundam Nadleeh/Akwos and will be tackling it as soon as I have the money to print it out. It's almost as many parts as yours.


Cool Beans awesome build. Im not a fan of Gundam, but I love Mecha and Robots

[lrm1960]

More progress on the Unicorn Gundam:

More fiddley bits added to the shoulders


The last little pieces added


Finally, shoulders finished and added to torso/head assembly


Next will be the waist.
Lee

[lrm1960]

Finally some progress on the waist:
First pictures are of the main support "box" that everything is attached to. I reinforced all the inside faces with 0.5mm board for rigidity.

next comes the hip joints. again the inside of the box is reinforced with board and a portion of an old pencil was used to strengthen the hip pivots.

This is the entire main support structure for the waist and upper legs will look like, it is not glued together yet.

Here is the main support "boxes" for the upper legs and hip joint, again reinforced with 0.5mm board.

Here is a closer look at the hip joint socket and pivot.

Finally the assembled main structure for the waist/upper legs.

Next will be to add all the bits of armor and shielding to the waist.

Lee

[robinhood]

if you dont mind me asking how do you keep you lines so clean and crisp? i just started doing this and seem to have many problems . wondering if you could share some advise ?
Thanks

[lrm1960]

Originally Posted by robinhood

if you dont mind me asking how do you keep you lines so clean and crisp? i just started doing this and seem to have many problems . wondering if you could share some advise ?
Thanks

robinhood - I don't know that I have any real secrets or tricks to my building, and I am by no means an expert builder, I have only been building paper models for less than a year. There are lots of builders on this forum that have much more experience and build models that just amaze me. All I can say is to be very precise in your cutting. I use a combination of scissors and knifes and try and cut as straight and even as possible. I pre-score and pre-fold all fold lines, and am very careful to line up edges as I glue. I usually only glue one tab at a time and use a pair of flat tip tweezers to "burnish" to joint, this helps square up the corners. I edge color with markers after a part is glued, this helps cover up some imperfections in the joint. I use 120g paper, which is lighter than a lot of people use, but I usually use 0.5mm board to reinforce the larger areas to cut down on the waviness. I don't just laminate the parts to the cardstock, I cut the cardstock to fit each individual side of the part and glue them in as I am building the part. It can be quite time consuming. I am not a very quick builder, and I have found that taking your time helps with my builds, when I rush I get sloppy. Also, the more you build the better you get. I don't know if any of this helps, I'm sure that a lot of the other forum members could give you some advice and tricks, just ask.

Lee

[robinhood]

ok cool thanks soo much , i never thought about tweezers , i just started building these things though the seem very complex they are quite fun . i started with the unicorn but moved to a large model on sinanju. looks ok but needs more precision when gluing. oh well guess practice makes perfect lol . thanks again for the advise, hopefully gonna make wing zero

http://images.wikia.com/deadliestfic...-morishita.jpg

[robinhood]

lrm
what can i say you have inspired me to create that unicorn . i have done some of the things you have told me always scoring my folds clean crisp cut lines . also i have used the exacto knife to apply gglue to some of the smaller tabs for gluing . but i am stuggling with the design of this model . some of the pieces look like they need to have tabs added ? is this the case. Also does 27 and 28 repeat twice ? one for under the neck and next to the face ? the instuctions do not seem to be step by step. i do apoligize for being a little green.
i do apreciate the help you gave me before and just wondering if you have anymore to share
Thanks again

[lrm1960]

Originally Posted by robinhood

lrm
what can i say you have inspired me to create that unicorn . i have done some of the things you have told me always scoring my folds clean crisp cut lines . also i have used the exacto knife to apply gglue to some of the smaller tabs for gluing . but i am stuggling with the design of this model . some of the pieces look like they need to have tabs added ? is this the case. Also does 27 and 28 repeat twice ? one for under the neck and next to the face ? the instuctions do not seem to be step by step. i do apoligize for being a little green.
i do apreciate the help you gave me before and just wondering if you have anymore to share
Thanks again

robinhood,
You are correct, there are a few issues with the parts and instructions for the head. A number of parts could use some tabs, especially parts 27, 28, 34 and 36. I didn't add tabs on my build, I just glued the edges as a butt joints - not the easiest thing to do, if I were to do it again I would probably make some tabs even though they would be very small tabs and might also be difficult. The instructions do have a mistake, they mislabel parts 27 and 28. Parts 27 and 28 should be next to the face, the parts identified on the instructions as 27 & 28 should be parts 16. I also discovered that a number of parts are not identified on the instructions: parts 16 (which I talked about above), parts 21 & 22 (they sit on top of parts 27 & 28 on the side of the face), parts 25, 26, 29 & 30 (the small red parts, the placement is apparent in the finished pictures, you just have to figure out which side they fit best on), parts 31 (they fit right beside the face between the face and parts 27 & 28, I put a slight curve into these parts) and parts 32 & 33 (these sit on top of parts 5 & 6 on either side of the head). Stick with the build, I can say with what I have already built that the head is by far the most difficult part, and the instructions do seem to be more complete on the next components. Once you get to the next components, I do have a couple suggestions that will prevent you from making the same mistakes I made. You mentioned that you used your e-xacto knife to apply glue. While that works, you need to continually clean off your blade if you need to cut something. I use a sewing needle or plain straight pin to apply glue in small areas, and simple wood toothpicks to apply glue to the bigger tabs (I use round toothpicks, but flat would work also). One last thing I do to make crisp fold lines, I mentioned that I pre-fold all the fold lines; when I pre-fold I use the flat tip tweezers to "burnish" the fold and then unfold, this seems to make the folds as tight as they can be. If you don't have flat tip tweezers, you could use your fingers/fingernails to do the same. Again, keep at the build and don't get discouraged, once you get the head done it will get easier, at least until you get to the point where I am. I can not say how easy the arms and legs will be.

Lee

[robinhood]

once again i thank you for the knowledge i have begun using a pin to apply glue also the tweezers def. make a HUGE difference . they seem to help the seams lock better than just letting the glue dry . as far as the other parts i struggled with the head so i moved onto the hands . and all i can say it OMG .lol the hands have a lot or articulations and the joints and so small no bigger than a grain of rice . but the movement is fantastic. the build so far on the arms seems to be ok i havent really gotten to far into it as i only have a couple of the fingers done each seemed to take about an hour to cut form and glue. i am still kinda jumping around in the build as i have not gotten to the store yet to purchase some thicker paper/cardstock. i think i am going to print out on that rather than reinforce with it might be a little easier/less time . i will get some pics up on what i have so far . not tyhe best but better than my attempt at sinanju lol what a mess but it is standing on its own accorde gotta say not bad for my first attempt lol