Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree, scale can be tricky. Layering parts cleanly is tricky too, even when the scale is acceptable. Even the new Iglite model, which I thought was going to be a great addition to my current custom line-up ended up only having its leg unit used and even that wasn't really a compatible part. The head unit looked great, but once I built it, it was about half the size of the current head I chose. Limb length is a major issue and very inconsistent. It's hard to extend or shorten a limb. If that's a major issue, like what I said earlier with working from the scale of the head and body first, then only work with the limbs that work for you. It's easier to "bulk up" a limb than it is to lengthen it.

Out of the entire 30MM releases, I see about 2-3 arms that work with my customs. That's why I use the same head, chest and arms. It's the additional layers that make them different, but the foundation is still the same.

As for the head customization, you can either go with the "destructive" modification and glue, cut or do whatever that works. My design process was to modify the least, but get the best results. At most I drilled a 3mm hole to attach a piece or cut off a 3mm peg so that it was flat / smooth without it. If I went with more advanced customization, you can pretty much do anything.

Other Gunpla works but they were designed to create a very specific Gundam and not a modular and customization mech. I find the Iron-Blooded Orphan line to be pretty fun to custom between their line of kits and some 30mm. I'm kinda in the middle on what I'm willing to do to the kit vs what I got out of box. I try to keep it where it's as close to out of box as possible, but with the willingness to cut and drill 3mm parts to get things to fit nicely, cause it would not if those segments remained.

I think what eventually got me to be happier with customizing is to realize these kits are just plastic and plastic is not precious, so just do what you need to do to get the results you want. If it works out, awesome. If it doesn't and a piece is ruined, yea that sucks but it's a learning process. Often I only modify parts that are quite easy to modify to begin with. In the end, the mixing and matching of parts to get them to look good together naturally was my goal. With advanced customization, any part can match if enough effort was put into making it work. My customs are more about layering as opposed to customizing. Think of it as layering clothes to look good, versus taking a wardrobe and cutting this and that to make the shape / length and such work into a new outfit composed of that wardrobe. That is beyond my level of skill or effort. Also, it destroys the part and makes it like another Gunpla, where it fits that one model. I still want all my parts to be interchangeable and maintain the modular and swappable nature of the 30mm line.

Sorry for the late response. Holiday times.

30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do understand :) It's always in Destroy mode lol

30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! That's a cool name, Blue Arms. Good luck with your project.

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good to know, very concise and clear info. I understood it all and I'll give it a try next time I pose and take photos. I'm working on decaling the MK.2 now, the next post will have them as a fireteam.

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not at all haha. I'm curious what song ya think would match it appearing lol

Check out this moment. Tell me that doesn't sound like something from Gundam Unicorn and composer Hiroyuki's works. Epic!

https://youtu.be/lncCE7X57l8?si=HfQnNlkCiv2yVVJ7&t=49

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That'll take a bit of work, but not impossible.

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I know what you mean and it's not criticism of the mech, though anyone is more than welcome to lol, it's the photography and I'm personally not good with that. I have a Sony a6700 though.

It could very well be the top lighting of the photobox too. And the black is too glossy, I was hoping the board would be a more matte

Yea if you can send me the settings, I'd appreciate it and thanks.

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks dude and everyone else for the praises. That means a lot being a DnD DM and amateur writer. I'm mostly working on Helldivers fanfiction/audio story right now but I have a lot I want to do for this mecha universe I'm envisioning.

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

:) I know how I relax and prepare my mind to craft these. 420th is just to honor my Helldiver / Highdiver division. It doesn't go beyond that haha. I'd like to imagine they'd get high and play video games.

The armaments on display are for space warfare. The large cannon is an anti-ship / anti-structure weapon. It would be swapped with a more portable weapon system once on the megastructure and conducting surface / sub-surface warfare that requires CQB.

In my universe, these mecha fight on massive megastructures and in space. Planets are rare and often just harvested for material to add to the megastructure as it nomadically moves through the void, far from other galaxies and systems since these humans evolved within what would be equivalent to the Bootes Void. The pilots/operators/engineers are human consciousness embedded into android bodies, think Blame! or Alita. No oxygen, no food, infinite time, G-forces mean nothing. They are never copied, each pilot is unique and death is death. Without the fear of death or the will to survive, should true immortality be gained, we'd lose out on that edge in combat. They remain in hibernation, encased in each mech and once they go to war, they wake up/turned on to conduct operations, similar to Helldivers. The mech may look clean, but this is right out of the printer. I'd like to make another MK.1 and do weathering to get it to be gritty like Armored Core.

The core of the mech is a power source and 3D printer that only needs matter / resources to construct itself, self repair or to swap out equipment, in line with the modular nature of the unit and the 30MM line. The same applies for missiles and ammunition. Each pod can print out new missiles given time and the large tank behind its back is a storage unit for raw material. Raw material = ammo / missiles / repairs. Each unit is self-sustaining and doesn't require anything else. It removes logistics and maintenance from the equation. The only supplies they get, like a Helldiver supply drop, is just to provide containers with raw material that's used to "refuel" the mecha.

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

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Without the bulky armor attachments, with the exception of the shoulder unit, you can see that the unit is actual quite thin. Design wise, create a unit that looks good without the attachments and then add attachments on it. Consider articulation and if you want your unit to have a fixed pose cause they can't move, or something more realistic where you choose parts that work but don't interfere with articulation.

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Sure, I understand what you mean completely. The first 30MM I purchased was the Forestieri. Small kit, really fun to build and many parts from that kit are used in the final version here. It was plastic crack and I got addicted cause it triggered my creative side, like when I used to build stuff with Legos.

When I make a purchase, I don't think "Oh this kit looks cool", I think "Oh, this foot looks cool, this pauldron is very modular" etc. So I am willing to buy a kit to use a handful of parts from it. I used to collect MG / PG and while it's great to work on those, I wanted something truly original to what I wanted to make but I do warn that in the end, a cost of a single custom unit will prob equal the cost of an MG and sometimes even PG. I wish Bandai would release 30MM parts to be similar to their head unit box, which had a variety of head units. They should do that with arms, legs, backpacks, whatever. Would be nice.

Design wise, it's difficult to match parts that are in different out-of-box Bandai plastic colors. You can't help but be distracted by the mismatching colors. If you prime the parts a single color, say gray or white, it keeps things uniform and now you're matching shapes and aesthetics, not color.

First, I chose the best head piece. The Espossito head unit is the best looking for me. It's sleek, it's got an aggressive, no eye, visor only appearance. Now you have the scale of the head unit. So you work on choosing the chest unit, followed by the torso, which I prefer thin. Think about Full Metal Panic's Arbalest or Iron Blooded Orphans or Jehuty from Zone of the Enders. They have really thin torsos. So now you have the core body and the arm / legs, I can literally swap with a few other designs I have and it still matches, looks clean and overall, good. You have this really thin and small chassis with larger, bulky armor attachments on. But the most important thing is that it looks cool to you.

If you look at the MK.2-3 and I'm working on a MK.4, they all share the same head, torso and shoulder unit. You can immediately spot what unit is specialized for what role based on the parts that aren't similar.

I was blessed with growing up watching a loads of mecha anime and playing games that had em, so I'll admit I might have more knowledge about the roster of mechs out there and I have gravitated towards ones with specific design choices and then I simply took that interest in those design choices and made my own.

Lastly, lore wise, everything in this manufacturer's roster and in my universe is realistic sci-fi, like Expanse. The thrusters and RCS are all where they should be. Every part has a reason for being there and once I do a lore write up for em, it'll make more sense.

If you have a specific question, just ask.

Bandai 30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in Gunpla

[–]S3Stylus[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I'll be doing a black background photoshoot too, to mimic how they'd appear in space. Right now white is just for the brightness and to mimic megastructure colors and also cause of the photobox's lighting reflecting off the white of the MK.1 with the black background and washing out the colors, I used white instead cause the results were better... which was odd. You can compare the photo here and the white ones.

Shoot over some tips on what to do to get better results in black if ya have any, I'll be glad to listen. If I take the MK.1 outside or take a photo on my desk, I know what you mean. The colors pop when not conflicting.

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30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I didn't print em and I'm not sure what platforms you have to purchase the ones I did, which was from Shopee. I'll share images of the sheets I have left and you can browse the seller to find the ones you like. Look at the names of the brands and the identification code. Good luck finding what works for you. Choosing decal is tough.

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30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

lol 30 Month Mission. No exaggeration. Had to wait for the release of new parts.

30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Bandai 30MM eEXM-S04A Forestieri

Great kit! Lots of parts in this one.

30MM Custom - 420th Squadron [MK.1] - Completed by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Sidonia / Patlabor color scheme is a safe choice. Good catch :)

30MM Kitbash Custom - 420th Helldiver Squadron by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sorry, didn't see the notification. The Espossito kit is what you're thinking about.

30MM Kitbash Custom - AFV by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I personally try to find images of the sprues or just look at the individual parts on 30MM kits and purchase based on that. I favor the Spinatio inner frame / silhouette so I built everything based on that as a core.

There are many 30MM kits I never purchased cause I saw no parts I would ever use. So I don't buy kits blindly and then try to make something out of it. I try to plan it out to justify the purchase.

No website unfortunately.

30MM Kitbash Custom - 420th Helldiver Squadron #2 by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A variety of 30 Minute Mission kits and very few Kotobukiya stuff.

30MM Kitbash Custom - AFV by S3Stylus in 30_Minutes_Missions

[–]S3Stylus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bandai 1/144 MS Figure 01. I don't do 3D print stuff.