As you may or may not know,
HobbyWave was instrumental in bringing the BAKUC to North America. Not only that, but they continue to sponsor the BAKUC through their contributions, site administration, and prize donation. As a Gunpla modeler, I'd like to thank them for that, right off the bat.
Up until recently,
HobbyWave has carried an extensive line of Bandai kits--with most of these being Gundam kits. There's also been other little hidden gems in there, like the
Cowboy Bebop "Swordfish", but carrying Gundam kits--from every product line--has been
HobbyWave's strongest motivation.
Within the last few weeks--and after months of paperwork--
HobbyWave has added another significant (and Gundam-related) vendor to their website:
Mr. Hobby!
Why is this a big deal? Because there's a lot of us out there that don't have local access to a lot of the supplies offered by Mr. Hobby. Let's go through the product range--and believe me, there's probably something in there that you need (all of these can be found on the
HobbyWave website under the
Modeling Supplies category):
PAINTSHere you not only have your bottles of paint, but also your paint thinners (there's several sub-categories here). There's a lot of folks out there that swear by
Mr. Leveling Thinner, so I'd highly recommend picking some up. Also, please note the "Gundam Color" sub-category. If you're serious about getting your color just right, this is the easiest way to go.
DISPLAY BASESMost of these are from Bandai, but they did add a "Mr. Display Base" to the line-up. Simple and clean--may meet a need you didn't know you had.
GRINDING/FINISHINGSandpapers and polishing cloth. Again, if you've got no hobby store close by, you've got options now. And if you're going to be using metallic colors going for that "cold steel" look, you really do need to polish it out.
VANCE PROJECTI'll admit that this one I'm a little fuzzy about. The "Mr. Figure Starter Set" is designed to allow you to sculpt out a design--and provides all the tools necessary to do so. They also have casting block sets available, and I'm told that the mold-making liquid will be arriving in approximately one month! After that, create a sculpt, and cast copies to your heart's content (or at least till the mold wears out).
CEMENTGlue/cement for all your adhesion needs. If you don't have transparent glue, you should really snag some for airplane canopies, car windows, etc.
PHOTO ETCHINGI'm not sure this is a Mr. Hobby product, but I can tell you--from experience--that photo etch (commonly referred to as "PE") comes in handy for giving very thin raised details to surfaces.
COMPOUNDRubbing compounds for filling in small surface imperfections and getting them ready to polish.
SURFACERHere, you'll find the line of Mr. Surfacer products. These are
primers, which help your paint stick better. To airbrush (or hand-paint them), you'll want to add some Mr. Retarder or Mr. Leveling Thinner. To create a cast texture, just dab them on with a brush. They can be cleaned/smoothed on the surface of a model using 91% isopropyl alcohol. They also work great for filling in small gaps. The smaller the number (500), the more thick it is. The higher the number (1200), the more fine it is. Go forth and prime!
PUTTYThe first step to "serious" modeling (going beyond snapping) is filling your seams. To fill seams, you need putty. I've got a bottle of Mr. Dissolved Putty sitting on my workbench, and I'm pretty anxious to give it a whirl!
PAINT/DRY BOOTHSAs much fun as it would be to just airbrush in the middle of a room, that's really not a smart idea. It's also not a great idea to just leave your freshly painted parts on the center of your desk, just waiting to get hit with debris or an errant hand. Here's some options to address both of those needs.
PART CLIPSWhether you need clamps to hold two parts together while the cement dries or just some elevated clips to keep track of parts (or let their paint dry), here's some options.
WEATHERING PASTELSEver wondered how folks get that fine dust appearance when weathering their models? A lot of them use pastels. And here they are, in neat little assortments.
AIR BRUSHES & COMPRESSORSReady to make the leap from hand-painting to air brushing?
HobbyWave carries a complete assortment of Mr. Hobby products to help you along.
PLASITC MODELING BRUSHESFor hand-painters and detailers, alike. I haven't used them, but I will be purchasing some in the near future--I definitely want to take that
Mr. Brush Round 000 for a spin on washes and detail painting.
AUTOMATIC SANDERS/POLISHERSDon't like the feel of sandpaper against your skin? Love the idea of a sanding gadget? Here's your solution.
AUTOMATIC ROUTERSMore aggressive than sandpaper or polishers, here's the tools (and accessories) to change the very contours of a model, should you so desire. They're also great for cleaning up resin or gutting the inside of a model out!
SPRAYSFrom your spray Mr. Surfacer ("surface primer") to your gloss and flat clear coats... Here you are!
GUNDAM MARKERSNot ready to make the switch from bare plastic to hand or airbrushing, here's another solution. Paint markers where the colors are specifically based on Gundam models. These are available in
sets (i.e. "Zeta", "SEED", etc.), or individually. I've got some Mr. Hobby literature lying around here with some tips on using these to improve your Gundam models. I'll try to get that posted shortly.
MASKINGAvailable in
liquid or
solid, this is how you take a paint scheme to the next level.
And that's about it. This is pretty exciting stuff. Even my local hobby stores don't carry a lot of this stuff. In the future, look for new product announcements from HobbyWave to be posted here.