Tomm Hulett

My efforts with Zirius have allowed me to level up.
#gunpla #plamo

Trailer: Wart

Adult me: “Why does Wart have a casino?”

Trailer: so many Ninjis

Lizard brain: “They haunt the dreams of Power Players!”

This is incredible and proves the World of Nintendo was always in our hearts

As the weird kid who was so bored by baseball that he brought the SMB3 manual to a dodger’s game to read THIS IS BONKERS

Found a way to secure the flechettes

Did you learn NOTHING by the end!?

Oh wait. I get it.

Raw version of the final shot that I used

The glow is too strong here and makes the rising cyclone look like a downward dragon punch

I liked the dramatic backlighting but it didn’t tie into the back crystals or the ribbon

An attempt to focus light on Zirius’ back crystals, ends up looking like heaven rays

I got impatient and made some bad calls so the hooks didn’t work out. I did find a solution for the photos and have a fix curing now. I hope!

Lastly, finding the right lighting angle. That glow is a gel nail curing lamp pen!

Anyway. I think my madness paid off. Enjoy Gundam Zirius
🧵fin

Holding the flat ribbon up next to Zirius to estimate the needed shape.

30 seconds in boiling water and it’s mine to command. What’s good for the saber is good for the crystalline flechette ribbon.

Another view of the curved ribbon to show the twist

Two ringed-shards on a craft mat. These are from the shield points. These were key to my attaching method. These were the final step. These were the only part I screwed up.

This is used for some expert tech that ISN’T this. But look at that pretty color.

This process ended up making the ribbon pliable. Perfect. Now I needed a method to reshape it and boiling water worked like a charm!

Lastly, I intended to use these rungs to attach it to Zirius…
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Again trying to find the right fit. Ultimately didn’t go with this piece here.

The final ribbon! Just flat! We gotta figure out how to finsh this without breaking it and wasting weeks of meticulous work.

Jar of sprue glue. NOBODY online has actual ratios just “adjust for your desired consistency” not helpful. But at least the glittery plastic makes for the prettiest glue ever.

Painting the rear side of the ribbon with my concoction didn’t just strengthen it - it made it pliable!?

Once constructed, the structure was rigid and I worried, brittle. So I needed to reinforce it. Enter Sprue Glue. Plastic cement doesn’t adhere, it melts. So if you cut up pieces of the runner (sprue) and dump them into cement you have a nice mortar mixture the color and composition of your model.
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Shards glued together in a single straight-ish line to serve as a primary support structure.

Final checking - is this long enough to wrap an HG gundam?

Bag of additional pieces ready for placement along the support.

Finding where each piece A) fit and B) looked good was a long process. Since you only get one shot with each shard, this was stressful. Don’t see the slab, see the statue inside it.

With random-shaped crystals this was a measure a million times, glue once scenario.

I laid down a structural center first with less aesthetic pieces so I could test for length. I wanted this to wrap around Zirius like a ribbon.
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A page from the manga showing crystal flechette attack

Chiseling frozen plastic with a hammer and screwdriver. The bag is to catch shards as they attempt to launch across my garage. I didn’t lose any!

Bag of plastic flechettes

Small glued sections of crystal structure assembled on craft mat

Gundam Zirius only has one major battle so far, and it summons thousands of little shards/feathers in a cyclone attack.

…and I have several unused sparkly pieces and their runners have flat plastic labels and if I freeze those and chisel them *I* will have a bag of shard feathers…
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Pieces of Short Rangle rifle after I sawed them

Gluing the rifle components together with tamiya cement, then clamping so they lock in place to set

I ordered a Tamiya crafting saw. Ultimately I might make a few different cuts if I had it to do over again but I’m happy with the result. This was kind of kitbash 101 the pieces are so intended for this…

I went and looked at the manga for pose inspiration and realized something…
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The many pieces of the beam rifle laid out on a crafting mat. This is REALLY complex for a High Grade weapon.

The assembled beam rifle on a crafting mat. This is long range mode, which is the way the kit is designed.

Schematic drawing from the Gundam Eight manga showing both firing modes. At time of posting neither version has actually appeared in the manga.

My modified pieces assembled pre-glue for planning the short range mod, placed next to long range for comparison

But Zirius’ rifle also has 2 modes, short and long range. I only need the barrel for my future project and look how naturally the pieces fit together!

Bilbo said and why not? Why shouldn’t we have a version of each mode?

It was so natural I suspect they intended this as a transforming aspect
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2 beam saber blades, curved after being dunked in hot water

The raw version of the flying attack image

The raw version of the post-x-strike image

So when I saw this kit’s design I instantly conceived a repaint idea (for sometime in the future!) and ordered 2 of him.

Which means I had many pieces - primarily weapons - that that future project won’t need. In fact I could use them as mods for THIS kit. I started simple with the beam saber
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Half-full storage tray with cells chock-full of gunpla pieces. All this is just the inner frame!?

Holy Real Grade Batman! I may have found the limits of this organization system…

Assembled gunpla pieces setting after a topcoat. There are a lot and it’s crowded.

Additinal gunpla pieces setting after a topcoat pass. My method is 2 light coats at a time, and this process takes place before weathering then again afterward. Zirius killed an entire can of semi-gloss.

The first thing I noticed was the sheer number of pieces! Zirius has a Light Armor mode and a Full Armor mode. The former is essentially a fancier inner frame, and the latter is all the craziness.

But topcoating all that ised up all my clips I had to do it over 2 days. Killed an entire can.
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Zirius on patrol with rifle in short range mode. Its head is turning slightly as if perceiving a threat

Dramatic attack pose as Zirius has converted rifle to long range mode

Zirius flying forward with sabers drawn for attack. The bend of the beams implies motion

Zirius has delivered an x-strike and is leaning back as if withdrawing to create distance from the target.

I’ve been holding off on him until I could pour several techniques into him to do “my Gundam” justice.

Nicely for Gundam Eight this is my eighth build (I started counting with 0).

The number 25 is also significant to its pilot, Naomi, and 2+5 is 7. Yes my build order now has secret significance.
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Zirius descends for battle with short-range beam rifle and engulfed in crystalline flechettes

A bold hero pose of Gundam Zirius armed with long range rifle and shield

Gundam Zirius falling backward behind shield while returning fire at long range

Gunpla box converted into a collectable card for album purposes. The sequential number in the corner is gold rather than silver, indicating this is a modified kit. I’m a designer I designed a system this is fun for me.

So it’s finally time to reveal my build and some kitbash mods of Gundam Zirius, from Gundam Eight. (More + progress shots in replies)

This manga was announced just after I built my trial #gunpla so I feel a special affinity for it as I experienced it in realtime with #gundam veterans.
#plamo
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Opa!!!

I will defend this on grounds of every Greek place I know has bomb ass fries.
- your friend in California

You know Studio khara…
It’s only a matter of time until fans subtitle the Eva short so you might as well provide official subs..

And it’s only a matter of time before someone uses AI to dub it into English so you might as well call Tiffany Grant…

Prepping the final mods and photos for the Builder’s Note contest deadline but a sneak peek #gunpla

But seriously I tried to warn Bob with "the version of SH2 you were afraid Bloober would make"

No cause these are games that copy NES Castlevania mechanics (and sometimes HUD), they're just faster.

Fastlevanias.

my9games.com

It's not my fault there's no more portable market for games that only one journalist cares about to workshop terminology

I really resent that @jparish.bsky.social accidentally-and-not-factually coins the term "Metroidvania" for all time, but try as I might literally nobody is picking up "Fastlevania" from me

(Ninja Gaiden, Batman NES, etc)

“I enjoy this… #gunpla but I’m not gonna be doing extreme stuff like melting spare plastic into colored cement…”

#plamo #gundam

I want to stress I regularly use "rad" in official work communication.

Living the dream.