Overview of 2016

I think I may have fallen in to pattern of 4 or 5 kits a year, I'm probably just getting really slow or just plain lazy. Not that I haven't been busy too, I've started school again this last September and I moved to a different province for that.

Anyway the very first kit of the year that I completed was my take on the Valvrave, a purely theoretical Mass Production Valvrave "Zaku", Which was very much inspired by the Graze from the release of Iron Blooded Orphans.

Mass Production Valvrave "Zaku", January 12th, 2016

The second kit that I completed this year is the HGUC Byarlant Custom, this one is just a straight build with a pretty standard colour scheme with the only alteration being a little bit more white in the mix. This one also turned out surprisingly clean.

HGUC Byarlant Custom, January 20th, 2016

My third kit is a bit of an oddball for me, being that one non Gundam kit that I built this year, a 1/48 Spitfire. My work on it is super basic but I'm still pretty pleased with how it came along.

1/48 Spitfire, August 14th, 2016

My fourth kit of the year was  HG Exia Dark Matter, I suspected that the Exia Dark Matter would look really good in orange, was not disappointed in the results. 

HG Exia Dark Matter, August 18th, 2016 

My fifth kit was the ARX-8 Laevaetein, still can't pronounce that correctly, but I am very pleased with how it turned out. 

ARX-8 Laevaetein, September 6th, 2016

I did finish a sixth kit in the past year an HGUC Anksha Space-Type, but I have evidently been quite lazy in posting it up, and a couple of WIPs in the same boat. I suppose those can wait for next year's overview.

Remember Flauros is fun.

Why Flauros is Fun.

Why Flauros is Fun and why that stupid firing pose is a thing.

The explosive charge that propels a shell is a contributing factor to what we think of as recoil, so removing that does reduce what we think of as recoil.

The way it needs to be thought of is more of a reaction mass, a simple application of Newton's 2nd Law (acceleration of Gravity is negligible)

Reaction Force = Mass of Projectile * Acceleration down the barrel + Mass of Projectile * Acceleration of Gravity

It's more fun to think of in Momentum (Momentum is conserved, and it is treated just like an explosion)
Momentum = Mass * Velocity
Mass of Projectile * Change in Velocity = Mass of Mobile Suit * Final Velocity
This is simplified already with the MS and projectile having an initial velocity of 0 and in space

I guesstimated a 360mm and a shell a meter long as a simple cylinder made of tungsten
0.10179 m^3 * 19.25 g/cm^3 = 1959.4575 kg

Velocity of a rail gun
2520 m/s

Mass of Flauros
29.9 metric tonnes = 29900 kg

(1960 kg * 2520 m/s)/29900 kg = Final Velocity of MS
165.15 m/s = Final Velocity of MS

Assume the cannon fires in less than 0.1 s

Acceleration = Final Velocity of MS / Time
Acceleration = 165.15 m/s / 0.1 s
Acceleration = 1651.5 m/s^2

Thats around 165 gs that's basically a fighter jet crash every time he fires the cannon

Now this number is for in space or in the air and while firing **ONLY** one cannon at a time, so basically without the stuipid firing pose it kills the pilot every time it's fired

And... Thats why the  firing pose is necessary...

More Flauros Fun
Kinetic Energy = 1/2 * Mass of Projectile * Velocity^2
KE = 0.5 * 1960 kg * (2520 m/s)^2
KE = 6223392000 Joules

One Ton of TNT produces 4184000000 Joules in an explosion (spread in all directions)
While a single shell from Flauros represents the explosive force of 1.5 tons of TNT in a single direction.

Completed Kits #18: ARX-8 Laevaetein

This is the 1/60 ARX-8 Laevaetein from Kotobukiya. I built this kit for the 2016 CAMS show, that was quite a while back I've just been very slow taking photos.

I mixed my own orange paint for this and used a basic white colour from Vallejo for armour parts in addition to some Steel for the inner frame parts. At the end of construction I was pleasantly surprised by how solid the kit was and not overtly tight even after paint.

Complted Kits #17: HGBF Exia Dark Matter

So I've just finished this off in the last couple of days, and it's already been sent off to its new home. Really very happy with how this kit turned out and was quite satisfying to build especially after working on that spitfire for so long. As basic as the Exia kit is, I always end up wanting to build another one.

Anyways, I suspected that the Exia Dark Matter would just look really good in orange, I am not at all disappointed.

HGBF Exia Dark Matter WIP #1

Since completing the Spitfire and quite a bit while waiting for better weather to finish it up with, I spent a bit of time working at making a HGBF Exia Dark Matter. I know from having built this basic mould a few times that removing the seams everywhere isn't really all that practical, so i just focused on what i could get done in a reasonable amount of time. So I removed seams in the hips, gun and upper arms, and that was about it.

I actually built this for another friend, so his favourite colour is orange, so what I decided was to pick out a kit that I thought would look really good in orange. So far I'm pretty pleased with my decision to build the Exia Dark Matter.

Completed Kits #16: 1/48 Spitfire

So this isn't exactly the sort of model that typically gets shown around here, nor the sort that I typically build. I haven't built anything resembling a plane without transformation parts in what feels like forever, so it was a pretty refreshing build for me. It's definitely not the best looking Spitfire kit you'll ever see, but nonetheless I'm still pretty pleased with how it turned out.

So this is actually kind of my very first commissioned build, a friend wanted a completed Spitfire kit for personal reasons, and asked me to lend a hand. Anyway it was kind of a fun experience, though I'm probably not going to engage in any further commissioned builds in the future as it just felt like a lot of pressure for something I only see as a hobby.

CAMS 2016

Today I attended a local hobby show, the Capital Area Modellers Society 28th Annual Spring Classic Scale Model Show. It was a lot of fun, I met a lot of different modellers and even a fellow Gunpla Builder.

Just as a point of clarification this HG Sazibi isn't mine, this one belongs to a local Gunpla builder; Patrick. From chatting with him his blog is pretty new but he is intending to keep it going in the future so go check it out here.

Check out these links if you would like to more of the photos of the show:
Facebook Album
Google+ Album

And more information about the show check out their website here:
Capital Area Modellers Society

One of the kits I entered was the HGUC Byarlant Custom that I finished up earlier in the year.

So I've been really, really neglecting my WIP thread as of late I've got a couple kits that I've finished while I was away from civilization for and then a couple that I put a rush on to get finished just for CAMS. So, I still really need to take some better photos for the completed threads too. The other three kits I entered this year were completed much more recently.

1/144 HG Mega Shiki, that I was working on during my work trip, the photo is kind of super washed out. 

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein by Kotobukiya, that I finished up just for the hobby show.

1/144 HGUC Anksha Space Type, I started the WIP for this before the trip but just wrapped it up last night. I was also rather pleased to receive a silver medal for my effort on this kit.