Gunpla Building Tools

Hello guys, it will be the time to share my tools in building gunpla. In this post I only share about my tools that used for out of box building without any modification just like the reviews I’ve done. The tools are just standard for gunpla builders. But for bootleg gunpla there is a little bit difference. So yeah, we got nipper/sidecutter, hobbyknife/scalpel, sandpaper, superglue and sharpie markers. Everything I used is in the cheap range price. For now I cannot afford such a Tamiya Nipper or Olfa hobbyknife that everybody knows are the best. We can say I used bootleg tools for bootleg gunpla. Does it worth? Check it out.

Nipper

First tools that mostly used is nipper or some people say sidecutter or whatever. Yes, this is not a good one. It’s only about IDR 50.000. it’s not that sharp but it’s enough to cut such a bootleg plastic that kinda hard. Of course I cannot get satisfying result with this nipper. Almost everytime stress mark appears when I remove the nubmarks. But at least I can cut the parts from the runners rather than try to twist the part bare handed. XD

Hobby Knife/Scalpel

Well, hobby kinfe is handy in every situation. We can use it to remove nubmark, make panel lines and so on. I usually use it to remove nubmarks after cut the nubmark using nipper. Of course with that kind of nipper, there is a little bit leftover. So hobby knife will do its job to remove the leftover nubmarks. It also useful to remove excess plastic that we know almost every bootleg kits have. Usually I used it to cut or trim some pegs which can’t be snap in to the hole. Sometimes it is also useful to test our blood color, is it red or green? Yeah, sometimes it successfully stabbed my finger and made me mad.

Sand Paper

Yes, what you see is sandpaper. I only cut a little bit from the sheet and glued it on the ice cream stick. The flat surface on the stick make the sanding better. I used 800 and 1000 grid sandpaper. The 800 is dry sandpaper and the 1000 is wet sandpaper. Yeah, this tool needed to remove unwanted excess plastic that cannot be removed by hobby knife. Sandpaper or sanding stick can be used in the last step of nubmark removal.

Super Glue

Of course, this thing is a must to have by bootleg modeller. Some parts are easily came off and some other have broken peg. So superglue is really useful to connect the parts together. But of course it will leave white spot while drying. But it can be removed by using sandpaper. I’d like to try my friend’s tips to remove seamline using superglue. I’ll post it later if I’ve done.

Sharpie Markers

If you’re wondering why this thing comes up on the list, I usually used it for clear parts. The Gao Gao HG 00 kits are full of clear parts. And the clear parts like condensers usually are not colored. So I used my green sharpie marker to color them. This marker is permanent and also opaque. So the clear part is still transparent if I colored it.

So yeah. Now we already know what I used for building my bootleg kits. And now your turn to share what tools you used for building your kits. :) feel free to comment and see you in the next post