Everything I know about modding/SBing - Part 1

 

 Hey guys .... I haven't been able to post blog these days as I was busy during the months of October. I do apologize about it. Long Story short, I have to do 12 hour shifts last month and those shifts left me exhausted that I just can't bring myself to blog.

Basically,one of the member of MechaLounge sent me a PM, asking some questions about Modding/Sbing so I thought it would be nice to make a thread that every one can have a look if they anybody want to refine or start modding/SBing

DISCLAIMER - I am in no way a master in SBing or modding, there are so many others out there who can literally rape with me the amount of beautiful words they do. I believe in sharing and I want to bring out the best in everybody and help everybody in anyway I can. MAny Thanks!!!

1.0 Concept

Basically, the most common question I get and I see around on the forums is this - '' How do u Scrach build something ? '' or '' How do u mod? '' or  '' How do I learn modding? ''

and my reply those kind of question is this -
''' The only option to do it is to learn by looking at how other people works and getting the general ideas and finally getting your own concept, and start working on yourself which at that stage, you can specifically ask how to change a specific part ...
We all learn to do this ...
Browse through the various threads and see how each person works
There are some basic-need-to-know stuffs about SBing and modding in the tutorials sections too ....
Above all, What you will need is - your concept, a good eye to catch what other peoples have done, and no fear ... ''

Not to mention one crucial thing Aulon pointed out - '' The Idea '' ..
The Idea is the most important, IMO, only by knowing your idea, you will know what you want, and only by knowing what you want, you can narrow down your search ( if you got stuck ) and start building.

And that is no joke-  It's all about knowing what you want to mod. Ask questions of yourself. Like " is this part necessary here? " "Maybe I can remove it and put something better there? " or just finding a style you like.

and also, when people ask ' how do u SB something '' , All I can reply is -

'' You're asking a very very very broad question mate ....
I have been in this hobby since 2007 .. there is no such ''specific'' tutorials such as '' How to SB Something''

We all have to learn from other people's wip and see how they make them ...
BUT what you can find is some basic ''how to '' ( ''dos and don'ts'' ) tutorials that can help you SB ...
and SBing also require your initial concept/designs .....   ''

As you can see, the answers are quite similiar and everything goes back to the important thing, ' idea/design/concept'

2.0 Cutting pla-plate/Poly stryene

The other kind of question Which I see quite often is '' How do u cut pla plate ''  or a follow up to that '' How do u cut it identically/neatly? '' ...

here are some tutorials about pla plate cutting....

http://forum.zerogunz.com/viewtopic.php?p=88355&sid=a4a3e7479fdc2bf0b71887044b13c581

http://heathorn.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/plaplate-cutting/

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/cj_scribe.htm

For cutting identical pieces, the most effective weapon is ''Double Tape.

Another method is to use kamm's method; to drop a very very small droplet of glue right in the middle of the piece you want to duplicate, then glue it toa plate, wait for it dry, cut the shape along the edges of the first piece, and after cutting, check if both pieces are identical, sand if needed and just drive a hobby knive down the seam in the middle, slowly does it as you only want to cut it open by cutting away the glue.

I couldn't find too much about tutorials on that topic but when it comes to research and references, you know me ... so will keep searching...

3.0 MG-fying, improving articulation etc.

Another Kind of question which I also see from time to time is the usual  ''' How do u improve this part's articulation '' or in a whole '' How do u go about MG-fying a old kit '' -

I'm not sure if this can be universal but i make up my own set of things to look out for if you want to mg-fied a kit -
1. mobility of the arms (that included the shoulders)
2. mobility of the neck
3. moblility of the waist
4. mobility of the skirts
5. mobility of the legs ( included the knee joints, ankels and thighs too)
6. extra details
There are alot of example out there... and even my own works are done by researching and reading about what I want to do, what i can do with my current skill level, and never forget to checkout the other great guys' works...

for mobility of the arms specificilly, you can check out my own wips... or you can check out this site .. That is my VERY first WIP that I studied to get a MG elbow... This is also what i refer to.. You can get a general idea from that ...

I learned a thing or two from here too
another one of Derringer's works that I believe is helpful this should help too
i did my reserch from here too
This DSHC is one of my '' have to go look and learn '' piece.
Same goes for this Freedom if I need to do more research

Nowaday, too many MGs are coming out true BUT there are still some people who enjoy improving OLD kits ... ( LIKE me ) so this is for those who enjoy making old HG and NG kits into a beautifully articulated one .. ( so please refrain from dropping comments like '' what's the point when there are many MGs out there, blah blah blah ).

Okie, its already long enough for the first part and some paper work came up (im at work now) so I will stop here. In part 2, I talk more about Tools, and Accessories so Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

P.S, If I missed anything that should have been included in this post, please do tell me. Thanks.