YunYunFan Garage Kit Guide

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YunYunFan's Garage Kit Guide

So you want to start painting garage kits and you have no idea what to do or how hard it'll be. This will just be a simple guide to get you started.

Where to get Garage Kits

Original Kits Wonfes Yahoo Auctions JP

Re-casts GK-M https://www.shop2000.com.tw/GK-M they're the best recast site. Pretty good customer service, very fast at recasting kits, and you'd have to prepay pre-orders

e2046 https://www.e2046.com/figure.php they're pretty mediocre. slow to recast kits, may be a recast of a recast. If you buy one kit from them and shipped, you don't have to prepay pre-orders.

aliexpress it's pretty much gambling. I did get a kit once and it's ok.

Tools

Making garage kits might seem to be an insurmountable task. But it's easier and cheaper than you think, as long as you don't buy the wrong things. I'll divide the tools into three different categories and whether or not they're optional.

Necessary Sanding tools

Sandpaper 600 and 1200 grit a whole pack of 5 sheets should last you 3-4 kits or more.

Files (round + flat ) mostly used tool, get the best ones you can get like Grobet . clean the files with a brass brush.

Nippers get a decent/cheap one, not that important.

Tweezers get one good one. I use a brass tweezer.

optional sanding tools

dremel with sanding attachment good to have for those big tabs that you're too lazy to file

sanding sponges a nice alternative to sandpaper, can also be used with the Mr.Polisher PRO (Hobby Tool) if you're too lazy to use files.

Putty

Epoxy Putty most used putty, used to fill in gaps and even sculpt new pieces.

Tamiya basic putty quick and easy to use for filling small holes.

Cyanon (white superglue) hard to find outside of japan, good alternative to basic putty

Light curing putty optional, expensive, never used it. super fast curing.

Pinning tools

brass rods at least two sizes, a big fat 1.5mm rod and a smaller one at around 0.8mm. Use pliers or your nippers to cut them.

drill bits 0.1 mm larger than whatever rods you use.

drill/ pin vise you can use either or. I just use a handheld cordless drill, just to sure that the chuck can handle small drill bits.

Glues/putty

museum putty good putty to hold pieces in place temporarily, but can be used in the final product.

UHU glue nice glue for holding things in place where superglue can't

Superglue used for just about everything.

Epoxy glue nice alternative to UHU glue, but i prefer UHU glue.

Painting tools Airbrush absolutely necessary. it's a lot easier than brushing by hand. Get at least mid range $100 dollar airbrush such as GSI creos or Iwata. And also get the cleaning kit (in order to take apart the airbrush nozzle etc). Some people go crazy with a separate airbrush for enamel and lacquer, and 0.3mm and 0.5 needle for small detail and large coverage. But a 0.3mm airbrush is all you need, if you clean it well.

Compressor get the cheapest one possible, possibly with a tank. you're not going to use more than 30 psi.

Brushes since you're using an airbrush for most of the big stuff, use brushes for the small stuff. get at least one size 0 brush, the cheap disposable synthetic ones for general use.

Eye Painting brush. GodHand get kamifude fine point, medium or long. I prefer long to get easier lines, and short for fine details. God hand have nice handles Other brands: get kolinsky sable size 4/0, preferrably with a large handle.

Tamiya Paint Stirrer absolutely necessary

G-06br Finish Master Ultra Fine R get at least 2 of them

Painting clips get as many as necessary (around 30)

paints

There are three types of paints: Acrylic water based, Enamels and Lacquer. If you have a painting booth, get lacquers, otherwise use acrylics. Why choose one over the other? lacquers are better since you have more colors to choose from, shinier finish, and doesn't clog. Cost wise they're about the same so why choose the inferior product? but whether you want to choose lacquer or acrylic you need enamels, which i'll explain in the painting section.

Paint brands I've tried: Tamiya Acrylic : ok 7/10, not many colors to choose from since they're mostly focused on model kits for tanks Tamiya Enamels: 9/10. no complaints except no magenta Mr.Color: 9/10, can pretty much do everything with just this one brand Gaianotes: 9/10, pretty good, but hard to find, very similar to mr.color in terms of quality

now for specifically what to get:

Primers: Mr. Surfacer 1500 white. emphasis on the white color. Although it's not a "PRIMER", it's pretty much the same thing since it stick to just about everything and leaves the surface somewhat rough. Absolutely necessary and get at least 2-3 bottles.

Thinners: Mr. Levelling Thinner 400. Get at least two bottles, you use this for everything including other brands of lacquer paint. Also get a can of cheaper lacquer thinner from the big box store for cleaning shit up. Lighter fuel - like ronsonol for thinning enamel paints

Paints: white mr. color - get at least 5 bottles. 1 bottle is enough for 1 kit. magenta (get 2 bottles, one bottle can lasts many 4-6 kits) yellow (get 2 bottles) cyan (get 2 bottles) black (get 1 bottle)

Clear Finishes: GX100 (get 3 bottles min) GX114 matte (get 3 bottles min)

this is all the paints you need for 99% of all your colors since you'll be mixing them. Why am I telling you to get a lot of bottles? since Mr. Hobby only restocks every 2-3 months and you might not get them.

Skin paints: Tamiya Flesh (avoid) Lascivus 6/10 (pretty mid, but easy to use, one bottle lasts 2-3 kits.).

Clear skin Paints: gaianotes 059 + 060 (hard to get but not impossible, i got mine off robotkai, 2 bottles of each would easily last you 10-15 kits or more) gaianotes clear 50ml bottle (used to dilute the clear paints, alternatively use gx100). gaianotes 041 + 042 (easy to get, but harder to mix right vs 059/060) modo m-214, m-211, m-212 (easy to get off ebay, never tried it though) model kasten c-12 (impossible to get outside of japan, forget it).

Metallic paints: matte metallic - mr.hobby or gaianotes mirror metallic - alclad black base + chrome

Enamel Paints: Orange - 2 bottles white - get 3-4 bottles, (roughly 0.5 botttle/kit) blue- 1 bottle red - 1 bottle yellow - 1 bottle black - 1 bottle magenta - I still haven't got it yet, but get humbrol/testors

what about acrylics/shitcrylics? all I've tried is tamiya and ammo paint, they're ok.

Cleaning chemicals tools

dishsoap isopropyl alcohol