This's my entry for bakuc 2008. A dio using Bandai's 1/35 UC HardGraph Zaku Head.

Will tell the sotry later, photo first:



Overall view of the dio






The "leng lui" on one of the elevator, seems like her bag gave way, and she dropped everything. She is now busy talking to someone at lower ground, asking them to help her pick up her stuff.

Honestly, after i painted the figures, i realised how bad i m in handpainting. This is the ugliest woman i've ever seen. :P








These two techician were working on the Zaku head, performing some test. Suddenly the Head just raised and turned. Both of them were shocked, and one even couldn't hold his controller and left it hanging in the air.




These two "ham Sup" (Horny) technicians were laughing and looking at the controller screen; for they r the ones that use the Zaku camera lens to peep the girl. However, they didn't realised a higher rank officer were just behind them and was pretty angry with their misbehaviour.





The Zaku head.



I m an engine freak! always love these kind of small, especially somehow "low-tech" feel.

Design in this way, where the Zaku head could be elevated for maintainence purposes. Spent quite some time at the inner details, but basically 70% of them couldn't be seen.



Left side of the body, can't see much cause block by the platform beside it.



Front part of the right side of the body.





This is another part i personally like very much; but might not even been seen. i do it for self satisfaction. Use an old alarm clock's gear to make.






er.... random pictures; forgot why i wanna take photo of this angle oledi :P

Ah..... This is the air cond duct....... found a very nice material, which make building this so easy. ^_^




Over view with lights.







Side of the controller, and the inner part of the platform. Wanted red actually, but salah put onto the green light. :P







The controller. Mostly optical fibre, use red and green light. The screen is actually a photo of the girls buttock. kinda fail, cause the color really dull on transparent film. might want re-do it.





There r also optical fibre on the elevator controller. but seems like the light is a little weak.

The zaku light.



I love this picture! it really gives me the feeling of a zaku lens! Too bad i compressed it too much. in higher res, it's preety cool!



This is accident, i bought those cheap christmas tree, and the optical fibre in it r really bad quality. i later only realise the lights r from some optical fibre that's broken. light leak from there. However, i think it's kinda cool effect hence didn't change it.




The cockpit, chopped half liao......




Title tag. Find is quite funny in japanese; it's like those typical jap comic of some old horny grown-ups.,

So basically i think the story shouldn't be too hard to guess:

it's this girl, driving her elevator and pass by a \unit of zaku. suddenly her bag broke, and all her document fell and flying all over the place. while busy, the zaku behind her suddenlt rise, and camera was on! There were these two horny technician, using the zaku, "highest technology" at that time to peep the girls panty. However, they didn't realise an officer was watching them...............................

of course, when they were punished and asked to submit report, "quality Check!" would be first excuse come into mind.......


**************************************************************************

Been working for this dio for 6 months; and i had learned so many things in gunpla. However, i thing i really learned is, the power of companionship. Having join this KL yuim cha gang really helped me so much in modelling, and living life as well. Modelling used to be a very lonely hobby to me, but now it's totally different.

I thought of wanting to talk a little about technic and such, but i realise what i mentioned above is the most important thing i'd learned thru out these few months.

Special thanks to:

Z3r0717: Half way working on this, i got burned out and wanted to quit but thanks for your encouragement! thanks, else i wouldn't have even finish this!

Zero1st: Thanks bro, for the zeta stand. and u gave it to me free somemore! that save me RM10! of course also save me hours of SB two identical stand! :wave:

Tkting: dun know should thank u or curse u. ask anything, after explanation, sure he ll add, "very easy one...." and the next minute, i realise i was sucked into an inferno of building things i never thought of doing. Also thanks for the LED tips.

Klay: wa this really GePo fella, hang around my workshop the most. He the professor really gimme tons of input and help shape whatever i have to post today. Thanks professor Q! :wave:

And also all the KL yum cha gang, u guys really make gunpla has a new dimension of joy to me!

Ha ha it's quite a hallmark moment here i know. but what i wanna say is, i really benefited so much from this making modeling a more "social" hobby than a "loner" hobby ^_^
:wave:

S.U.P.E.R.B. :P

Ray,
well done. The story line is quite complete except for the girl. If you did not explain the broken strap, I thought she was just a messy engineer.

Might be too late but showing some of the paper falling down the elevator and she hanging on to the strap may be useful. I think the other only important thing to look out for is whether the facial expression is correct for the figures. I guess its quite difficult to mod the figures too but the surprised engineer's pose is not dramatic enough. You could try opening up his fingers and putting one hand to cover part of his face like in a real shocked expression. He shouldn't be standing straight too. More like leaning backwards with one leg behind.
Just my 2cts to an otherwise awesome build.

Thanks for showing us. I need to pick your brains on the LED next time!

finally... from a local modeler, a non fighting gundam scene that make sense... love the engines and mechanical parts... but RAY, maybe it's just me, should those engine have more bare steel colour instead of powder coated effect?

I am speechless.
It is just too good!

I know I have that kit in the stash but it'll never turn out that good, its fantastic, it just looks so right. :D :D :D :D :D

Thank so much for your kind words!

I always enjoy the feedback in this forum, very sharp and always point out things that many didn't in other forum.

CK: thanks so much. actually this is first kit i learn to "manipulate" figures, and i still suck at it! changing the poseture, cutting limbs, shadowing, washing etc have already half way killing me. not only i have problem changing expression, i even have problem painting the eyes and such. But i will keep in mind, and believe will do better next time! (wa..... open fingers..... my current skill........ :wacko: )

Going to add the falling paper part. now only can think of using fishing line, from the top (ceiling) of the glass case, so the paper will be "hanging", and still can move a bit. what say u? will the swinging makes it look unfinished?

As for the LED, i learn from Tkting one. from changing to use a dry battery to ways of holding wire, resistor, etc almost all from him one :P

Koo: thanks for the suggestion. actually i m trying to build one with a more anime/comic/cartoon finishing. that's why only extremely light shading, no weathering at all. a more traditional Gundam kit coloring.

try to do something where normal gundam modelers will lay eyes on.

hope can make more gunpla modelers venture into dio. coz i found that the general gunpla modelers have this impression of diorama is for military only.

Holy P: thanks ^_^

A very ambitious dio overall Rayloke. It is packed with lots of fine details in a fairly well composed setting. The addition of the LED lights should get you top marks for special effects.

I wouldn't worry too much about painting expressions on faces. Its probably one of the toughest for even most experienced figure painters. As for showing some of your hard work in detailing certain hidden areas of your dios, there are several ways in which most dio modellers do to "force" or direct the viewer to look at these hidden gems. Some of the ways include having figures or their faces looking at the details, paint the area in a more outstanding colors, have signboards around the area, place the detailed area in an elevated place, add additional details (i.e. rubbish, debris, etc), etc. Basically its is something that will make the viewer curious to spend more time looking at it.

Like Loo I didn't fully catch the storyline involving the Lady engineer. It may be just me only as I'm sure viewers looking at the dio up close and personal rather than a photo may get a better understanding of the dio. For me its because when I look at your frontal view what caught my eye first was the Zaku especially if you have the light on.

Its not easy translating an action scene into a dio because all dios are essentially static. Your storyline is interesting coz you have the 2 engineers using the Zaku's lens to peek at the Lady engineer but since a dio is a moment frozen in time. We only see the 2 engineers now being suprised at the Zaku's head turning. Without the benefit of the lady engineer bottom appearing clearly on the main screen where the officers are the storyline of the lady engineer gets diluted slightly.

Please don't get me wrong. It is a very good dio as it stands especially the excellent details you have put in. I'm sure it will do very, very well at Bakuc. In fact I like the storyline. However, to help the storyline a bit I would have put the crane with the Lady engineer pointing inwards just to the side and above the Zaku head. This will put the Lady engineer jsut above the Zaku head and the 2 cheeky engineers and between them and the officers at the main console. That way the viewer will be directed to the centre of the dio rather then focusing more on the left of the dio, as the Lady engineer is the highest point of the dio. I would also have moved the officers and the main console at an angle rather than parallel to the wall, so that the viewer will have a better frontal view of what the officers are looking at the main console screen. Sorry just my very loooong 2 cts. :) :D

All in all its a very well done dio and I'm very sure it will do very, very well at Bakuc. Thanks for sharing this with us and Best of luck.

Dear ah Ray .... I thinks ha .. the lady should bend down an pick up some paper while holding some in hand over the chest .. to show she covering the front but forgot the back .. mini skirt! ...

hehehe ... pardon me for the "drity little mind of mind" hehehehe i'm might be that "good color" men!!

yeah dude.. this dio seriously has some pro touch in it as i can see the differences in the effort need to complete for this build than your earlier build that mainly focused on basic completion needs like paint finishing, clean construction, seam line and such alike.. this completed build has one "personel touch" in it, when i 1st saw it.

well done!!! :lol:

Ray,
I would have put the one hand holding on to the strap of the bag and the other end of the bag should drape over the platform. This end can be long and if the bag flap is slightly ajar, you can use this strap and paste falling paper along it to simulate movement. I would avoid using fish lines as at this scale you can see it and the illussion is destroyed.


My other comment is, I think the supervisor shud be on a higher platform to give him some authority.


Cheers

sorry for the late reply, just got back last night.

ck]/b]: thanks for the tips, as for the positions and such, am afraid might not have time to re do it. but i m very keen in what u said, not quite understand though, so i "stick" the edge of the paper on bag to simulate movement? let me visualise that further, coz i afraid it might looks like it's "sticking" on to the bag......... mebbe i should roll some of the papers so they looks more "falling"?

[B]klay: heheheh pal, thanks. also thanks so much for your input and suggestion when i was working on this kit.

honeymic: it's definitely hard for me to re do another figure now due to the dateline of the compy coz i m not good at it and will take too much time liao.....

btw, i purposely didn't paint the panty and position the girl in such a way so can have more imagination for the viewers le :P

beachbum: thanks, having such kind words from a master like u is an honor to me!

yeah, i m having difficulty in telling stories! i read comics, and i draw some myself too, but the japanese type; which the time frame if compared to western comic like DC's or marvel's, the time frame for each box is much shorter. so it's quite a struggle to me to present such a relatively long time frame shot in one scene.

the intention of th focus point sequence for the viewers should be:

1.(middle) the zaku head, with the brightest light. main attention grabber, also should be where the points of judging should come from, mainly. viewers: " hmmm, there's a zaku head, and the lens is lit... what it's doing/looking?"

2. (left) the girl. viewers:" ?" (this time, the focusing time sould be very short, cause nobody understand what's going on)

3.(Right) the control panel, where there r also light but less dominent (fibre optic). at this moment, the viewers "should" kinda understand the story. "ah...... i c, up-skirt...."

4. (back to left) focus on the girl. and due to the angle, the viewers "should" pend to the left side of the dio, trying to see the panty themselves (hehehehehe :P at least all those i have shown them the real thing) where the left side is also the angle where they can see the internal frame i scratch built.

5. (if viewers still interested....) the background, the surprised engineers in the middle etc etc

This's just my intention, please kindly point out stuff that i overlooked or planned wrongly. i m still new in dio and am exploring lots of thing. though it might be impossible for me to make any drastic changes for this one, but i can learn for future projects.

yeah will take your advice...... now am planning to add more details on the dio, like a bikini poster (for all the ham sup uncles :P ) and such. also thinking of adding some details in the middle of the wall. will add a small fan at theback of the vent, with 2 stripes of plastics at the outlet so people can see there's air coming out from the air cond duct.

2 questons:

1.do u guys think the "air movement" thing will distract the diorama?

2. any recommendation for the material used for the stripes? thinking of cutting from those really cheap plastic bag, cause i need it to be very light weight.

I wouldn't worry too much about the story telling as mentioned earlier you have done a good job on your dio Rayloke.

If it helps you in future dios, once you have decided the story and the pieces move them around and see which position tells the story best. You will find even a simple thing like shifting the position of a figure or a table can change dramatically how a viewer sees your dio. Once I've decided the storyline I usually move the pieces around until I find one overall position that best tells the story before I stick anything down.

I'm no expert but a few tricks to I've learnt from making many mistakes are:

1. Most of us have eyes that have been trained to view things from left to right partly because the way we write and read and I suppose for some being right handed as well. Realizing this helps to form the flow of the story
2. The main story doesn't always have to be in the center of the dio in fact sometimes having it to one side helps.
3. Its ok to have a few side stories but the main story should always be emphasized by forcing the viewer to focus more on it (i.e. more colorful, most of the figures are looking at it, angle of the roads, walls focus towards it, the largest object on the dio, etc.)
4. A quick look at any dio and a viewer should know what is the main story or event happening making him/her interested to look closer to see all the other details.
5. Finally its sometimes hard for us to judge our own dios coz we know the story already. Best to get an independent opinion during the planning part where we are still moving the pieces. Good sources for a 2nd opinion are other modelers, wives, girlfriends, friends, parents, etc.

I usually get my Home Ministry to have a look and ask her if she understands what is going on without me telling her anything. If she can figure out the general story I know I'm on the right track. :D

All the best and I look forward to seeing more dios from you.

yeah! asking someone with totally no modelling experience to "read" to decide the position is good idea!

i ask some of my modeling friends to read the dio during planning stage; i think it's their experience in plastic model makes it easier for them to understand the dio, which, i think is the main thing i still have doubts in the story telling.......

Thanks man, next time i will ask my landlord to "read" the dio, and see whether he understand what's going on or not.

Good idea! thanks man!

P/S: wonder when is the dio workshop........... will ask kirin later today..... ^_^

Hey rayloke,
what a nice setup u did!!! it definitely a eye catcher especially all the light on!!!
Every detail u pun on is really amazing!!!
btw, for story wise at first glance i really dunno what's happening. better to get a clearer monitor view showing the 'target object' to make ppl understand better.
last but not least... i still feel that for a working area it need more weathering although working on new machine!!

thanks for the kind words RX!

yeah, am editing the photo, tuning up the colors. cause when i print on the transparent film, the color become really dull........ still working on it!

thanks again tai kor! ^_^

OK, I have stopped modelling for years and very out of it. So, here are some of my "normal" observations but please, you'd have to take them with a pinch of salt, though as this might make some/a lot of people angry :P

1) The floors
Normally, in a workshop, the floors would not be polished until squeaky clean because it is not a showroom. So, when I looked at the dio for the first time, the floors caught my attention and I started to look at things stuck to the smooth black floor. For example, the heavy machinery supporting the Zaku head have wire mesh which is crooked as if it was stuck there as an after thought. And then I could not help but look at the machinery more closely and discovered a lot of them were cut at uneven heights to match to a smooth floor. This showed a lot of flaws. It would be better to have the floor cut into squares and the machinery put into the holes. Also, I have gone to a few mechanical areas/factories, and they look "busy" i.e. floor markings and some dirt/oil around the corners. And usually, these factories have grey painted floors.

2) The Platforms
The first problem then leads me to the platform where the Lady's bag strap broke. In a normal machine, if it was meant to be hinged there, the base/hinge is missing. The same can be said for the two technician's platform. Because for a moving or inspection platform, there much be some base for it to anchor to so that it can pivot or go up and down.

3) The walls
The upside down chicken feet beams on the left looks unfinished. Perhaps another beam across the wall to make it feel more in place with the background. Again, they looked too clean. And there are not enough power outlet/pipes connecting to any machineries.

4) Zaku head
Whether its a factory model or a used one, it looked too clean. Perhaps some oil smudges on a panel (like when a mechanic is working on a car) or bits of cables hanging loose or even connected to a read-out panel would make it look more convincing.

5) Figure: The Lady
On first glance, her map looked weird. I cant place my finger on it but it looked so wrong. And because she dropped some papers, maybe she should be holding some messy pages to show shes been collecting them. Then, the same hand would be also holding onto the railing with her bending at the waist a bit (for the joke to the technicians). Perhaps this is important as the whole dio is to focus on her and then as mentioned, lead the ey from left to right where the punchline is.

6) Figure: The Technician and his controller
If I were holding that device and got surprised, my hands would have an instant reflex. I would not be pointing to the Laptop screen. Instead, I could be leading towards the railing with both hands trying to catch the device (even if its attached).

7) Figure: The Technician and his notebook
Again, he would be shocked and lying on hit butt (with one feet dangling on the platform). And his hands, I suppose, one could be holding to the railing for support while the other to clamp on to his Laptop as it if could fall off anytime. But for both railings, it would be nice to have another bar as they both look very unsafe. Looking at his colleague's dangling device coolly is not cool.

8) Figure: The High Ranked Officer
His body language is showing that he is enjoying the joke as well. But since this is a contest for Gundam figures, a lot of fans would recognise this figure and therefore, gives the impression that the modeller just painted him up and stuck him there. Not understanding the joke, this would then lead the person to scrutinise the rest of the figures, with the question, "Are all these stock figures (out from the box) same as that fat guy?"So, he would have to be modified and greatly exaggerated, like still holding his hands to his waist but bending forward a bit with his neck stretching out. A bit red face as well.

9) Figure: The screen technician in orange
He is either pointing at the screen (at the Lady's buttocks) or punching at the screen's lower border. If he is having fun, he could be touching (for exaggeration) the screen (buttocks) and also laughing so hard that he is holding his stomach and bending forward with his legs losing it.

10) Figure: The other technician
He would be also laughing so hard since both of them are in on the joke. A good joke tends to make a laughing person lose control momentarily. So, he could be also bending forwards a bit, one hand holding his stomach while the other can still grasp onto his colleague for support. Same goes for his legs.

11) Electronics
I won't say much about the electronics except that its too bright and it might distract the viewer enough to lose sight of the joke on the whole thing. But yeah, have to change the screen to show the Lady's butt or even an X-ray (With bones?) version of it.

But nevertheless, this dio is a very good idea. And because of it, I also want to have that Zaku head..... :D

I like it very much.It definately has the comic feel.As for the storyline I did get an tiny hint of it but wasnt sure exactly what was going on.
I love the little details also, all around this one is a winner. ^_^

Mr Engineer: Thanks for spending your time to look at the project, ad thanks for the detailed comment.

yeah, i agree, your type of comment might make people angry, IF, i were a so-called master in plastic modeling. but, i m not, still no where near it, so all comments are well appreciated ^_^ heheheheh

for the color and finishing, this is purposely done that way. this time, since i m submitting to a "Gundam" competition, i m doing the whole thing in a more carton-ish way n not the military style that seeks for realistic finishing. hence, not much of weathring, no oil stain and such, but everything is clean, bright colored, and pastel finished (just a little pre shading to enhance shadow.

The black floor.................. i think i failed miseribly on this one; because it is not a floor! This supposed to be a cross section dio, and what i presented is some where like 17 meter high up in the air......... :(

As for the cut off line for the cross section on the zaku, yeah, it's no that aligned to the base. this is my bad, still lack experience in planning and executing ideas. my calculation wasn't accurate enough, so when i cut the mechanic parts and wanna glued onto the base(the black floor as u mentioned) then only i realised there r some extra spaces here n there. if i pushed everything down to bottom, i have to sacrifice the upper part of the body. Finally i make a decision, to maintain the top as compact n as close to my initial design as possible; hence the bottom's become not even(not a straight line)

as for making a hole n let the body sink a little into it, tried it and to my opinion, it makes the base looks even more like a floor, thus gave up that idea.

as for the figures...... it is mainly due to my skill level isn't up to my creative level :P when fantasizing, got big ideas, but when do that time, struggle like hell. changing simple pose already giving me hell............ but with more kits in the future, think i will improve. For now, i gotta tolerate the amatuerish work myself :P

The angry higher rank: oh........ why i didn't think of this?? red colored face!!!!! simple as changing the color will definitely helps to tell the story!!!! very comic too. Thanks for the suggestion! learned something today! will try using water color to see how it turns out first!

Electronics: for the optic fibre, in photo might be bright, but in real they r just right (according to viewers' responses). but the zaku lens/camera, might not be too bright in photo, but in real, yes, it is. In fact, some commented the details and finishing of the head looks better when i off the light. haizz............... actually testing it now (wont change the LED cause too troublesome) by adding another resistor to lower the brightness.

Again thanks so much! i m already so happy when i know there r people really look at my kit closely! will improve on my next project!

^_^



Enghui:Thanks you thank you. will definitely improve in the future!

dude.. don be too critical with ur work..
considering this is one of ur major SB work and covering so many new sections like led, fiber optic, garage/plant style dio, and even an ensemble of staff/crew figures to create a small storyline.. i think u've been doing really good.. don say fail la..

but ur main idea to bring the cut section to everyone (even wt the obvious cut/cross of the moveable platform) still didn't work to most viewer :rolleyes:
but no sweat, then time must do a better type of dio lor :D

bro, thanks for the encouragement! still learning...............still asking..............still wondering............. professor did help me a lot! heheheh


how's yours? cant wait to see it on thursday night man! :P

PHEEEEEWIT!!!!

BAKUC 2008 MALAYSIA CHAMPION!!!!!!

Hey, how come I can miss this post.. May be I saw it every day when I went to your workshop.

and....

Congratulation!!!!!

BAKUC MALAYSIA 2008 CHAMPION!!!!

congratulations brother, I've been there this afternoon, ur work is the most outstanding among all.

Ray,

Chalk up one more accolade! Congrats MAN!

thanks guys, i got really lucky this year. ^_^

Kirin: hey bro, thanks so much for your help n companionship during the time of total chaos! u did help me n us (the GB) a lot! ^_^

CONGRATULATION BRO!!! again :P

Congratulation Ray, and good luck in HK.

Entau

Now only I know u build gundam, thought u build cars only...congrats to u too.

thanks....actually i built gundam 1st then only shift to cars, then gundam again, i think its time to shift back to cars :P

thanks guys....... heheh entau now does more cars than gundam.........

im late.. again.. CONGRATES BOSS.. opps the new judge for bakuc 2009 :lol:

No problem man, any time any day. :lol:

Woops, looks like the three winner from our forum are here,

Congratulation again to Ray, Klay and Entau!!!!