My Gundam - nicer pictures

After I got back from the karaoke session very early Saturday morn, I was still too awake to sleep so I pulled out my DSLR and took some pictures of the Gundam I made with some help from my sifu and Bernard from the M Workshop.

So I'm finally done preping the pictures and here are nicer pictures as promised.

Front views




Detail shots of the feet.



Detail shots of the gun.



Back shots


Top shots



The separate pieces of this model were painstakingly and carefully cut out, filed and sandpapered before they were put together, putty put in the cracks and then further filed down. The pieces were than primed before a black undercoat was airbrushed on before the two shades of blue were added. The metallic looking bits were dry-brushed with metallic ink.

You can see that I made several mistakes on the model.

1) I was told by my sifu to make sure I airbrushed the black paint on the inside of he model, not just the outside. As you can see, I failed to listen to his advice so instead of getting the illusion of shadow on the inside of the model, I get ugly red which is the actual colour of the body of this model was suppose to have.

2) I didn't airbrush the base colour well enough as some of the red of the plastic under the paint still manages to show up.

3) I didn't sandpaper parts of this model well enough and if you look closer at the pictures legs, you can see fine scratches on the plastic where it should be completely smooth.

4) I didn't putty and sand some of the cracks well enough. The most glaringly obvious one is once again on the legs. If you look at the pictures of the back of the legs and compare the legs, you can tell that there is an obvious crack on the left leg (model left, picture right). I didn't use enough putty.

The rest of the model is more or less okay. I'm quite pleased with this model even though I know it has a few mistakes. I learnt more about art and painting than I've ever learnt and I enjoyed that. I also really enjoyed working with my hands. It was not easy making this model at all and I spent weeks and weeks on it and my shoulder and back would hurt from too much bending over and filing at times but it was all worth it as in the end, this model is definitely the most beautiful one I've ever made to date.

Right, that's it for me. I'll probably make an entry on Guizhou next, hopefully sometime tomorrow.

cheers =)

Karaoke-ing

(photo of us at the K-Box, taken with my Sony Ericsson K700i)

Last night, I finally experienced what so many people in the world have come to enjoy all over the world since the 80s. That is, getting high on alcohol and singing loudly into a mic in an enclosed room accompanied by friends while watching an MTV with minus one music blasting over the speakers. Yup, it's karaoke, a form of music entertainment that become popular in Singapore quite some time ago and something I've never really tried.

I'm not even sure why I've never really tried it. My uncle was big into karaoke and he tried to get my entire family into it on two occasions years ago and although I gamely tried to sing 500 Miles at his home, no one else was interested and that was about the extent of my experience. I don't even consider it a proper karaoke experience, just felt like a sing-a-long at a campfire.

Earlier in the week, a few of my colleagues asked me if I wanted to join them at a karaoke session at K-Box at Paradiz Centre. It is one of the bigger, if not the biggest, karaoke chain in Singapore I believe. Well, at least even I have heard of K-Box. Since I had never been to one and also because it was Lee Cheng, who had just quit, who asked me to go, I agreed. So after work, eight of us made our way to K-Box. We were going to eat at the foodcourt nearby but the constant and heavy rain all day yesterday ensured that traffic down the PIE was impossible and by the time we got there we only had time to buy takeaway. So we decided to grab some Prosperity Burgers from McDonald's, which are quite sinfully yummy if I might add and headed into K-Box.

Pix of the Prosperity Burgers (courtesy of McDonald's Singapore)

Initially, I was really a bit shy as while I know most of the songs that were sung last night, I didn't know any of the songs well and even though my colleagues urged me to pick a song, I held back. But by the time Pooch persuaded me to sing the Beatles Let it be with her, the gin tonic had already made it's way through my system so after Faye Wong's 執迷不悔, Lee Cheng quite easily conned me into picking a Stefanie Sun Yanzi song to sing. She said she was going to help me sing 我要的幸福 but she cheated and I ended up singing it mostly by myself.... grrrr. =) Although, the others complained that I was too soft, I think I was quite loud =D, at least I sounded loud to myself. =) Whatever the case, even though I did a piss poor job at singing the song, I did enjoy it immensely. Even though I didn't pick another song to sing last night I still had fun listening to the others who all sang rather well and with great enthusiasm. The evening ended on a high with me joining in the chorus, rocker action and all, to S.H.E.'s Superstar.

I really had a blast last night and if they invite me to another karaoke session, I'll say yes. Meanwhile, I'll have to drag out my Stefanie Sun karaoke MTV collection and learn to sing more than just 我要的幸福. I think I have a Mavis Hee (许美静) karaoke MTV dvd somewhere and I have tons of cds too.

I'll end off this entry with these words...卡拉永远OK. It's the title of an Alan Tam song which I feel is quite appropriate for an entry on karaoke.

cheers

My Gundam

I'm at work =D now but have a little time to spare as I wait for things to happen before I get busy again. So thought I'll post up a little something.

I check out YTSL's blog Webs of Significance quite often. It's a good read and is updated quite often and if you've never been there, I encourage you guys to go check it out.

Anyway, the whole point of this is that she put a pix of her Hello Kitty collection in today's entry and that has inspired =D me to put pix of my Gundam model online.


(These were taken using my crappy cell phone camera under low light. I didn't own a digital camera when I took these pictures. I'll shoot better pictures soon and put them up.)

About a year or two ago, I found a place in Singapore that taught people how to make cool Gundam models and other miniature models. I have been putting Gundam and EVA models together and hand painting some of them for many years but none of them look as good as the ones on display. I've always wanted to learn how to do them that way when I chanced upon M Workshop in Sunshine Plaza. I read about them in one of the forums while looking for information on toy shops that taught one how to make models at a reasonable price and I made a trip down, talked to Bernard the owner of the shop and liked it tons so I signed up.

The guys at the M Workshop are very nice and very helpful, although they can be strict about modeling and cleaning the equipment and rightly so. I learnt a lot there because they'll really tell you what they think of your work instead of pretending that it is really good when privately they think it is crap. After I finished my model, I actually started on a second one but unfortunately, I quit my relatively cushy job back then and my new job made it impossible to continue. I still hope to one day buy an airbrush and compressor, although I may need to take a refresher course.

They also used to have an advance course and a diorama course which I think could be really fun to learn but I'm not sure if they are still running those classes. The guys at the M Workshop mostly do military stuff although they do have several Gundams. I'm not sure if they still teach those Gundam classes but if you live in Singapore and you're interested in learning how to make models, go check them out.

cheers

Rocky, Becks and La La Land...

Today's been a funny day for football news. First I learnt that Sylvester Stallone will be making an appearance at Goodison Park before the match against Reading. That's just weird. =)

Well, I guess while Stallone may not be much of a football player, at least his Rocky had a lot of spunk and heart. I think after the last two losses and the dismal performance against Rovers in the FA Cup, they're going to need some of that Rocky spirit if they are to delivery that knockout punch they seem to be lacking. I know there have been a lot of grumbling among the fans and they want to see David Moyes go and I like Moyes, I think he's done a lot with very little and Everton is in much better shape than they were these past few years. But I really am beginning to think that, while probably not now, but sometime in the future, a change maybe good as Everton is seldom exciting these days, even when they win.

Then I hear from ESPN (later confirmed by several news reports) that David Beckham aka Becks will be signing for the LA Galaxy. So that's it, no more Bend it like Beckham for us in Asia since we get virtually no coverage of the MLS here. Not that I really care, unless the standard has really improved, the last time I watched MLS matches, they were pretty boring. This kinda sucks. I'm not a huge Becks fan but I still rather like him and felt that Steve McClaren should have kept him in the England squad. England's failure to reach the finals of the World Cup was really a team failure and if anything Beckham to me was England's best peforming player.

Right, that's it for tonight. =)

Guizhou - entry 12

Well, it looks like I'm going to have a rather busy two weeks for sure and may even be busy into the middle of Feb depending on the situation at work. However, I really don't want to get too far behind on my posts on Guizhou as I'm having fun with it and also because I'm thinking of also posting up photos on Suzhou, The Bottle Tree Park in Singapore and some of my portfolio from 7 years ago, which still contains IMHO my best work to date.

So anyway, just so I can keep the momentum going, here it is... the Maling River Gorge (Malinghe Xiagu).

After our stroll in the park, we made our way over to the Malinghe Gorge where we were face with a 700-step walk down and a 500-step climb back up to the entrance of the park. Sounds tiring doesn't it? =) But let me say, it is well worth the hike.

The Malinghe Gorge is located in the northeast of Xingyi County and is about 15km long. According to our Guiyang guide, this small canyon is also known as "a beautiful scar on earth" and I have to say, whoever first used that phrase to describe the Malinghe Gorge got it right. It is a beautiful canyon. The Malinghe River flows swiftly through the gorge as over 100 small waterfalls cascade down the sides of the steep walls covered with vegetation. There is even one waterfall at the gorge where you can step behind the curtain of water and be baptised by it's fine spray. I can just imagine how much more magnificent this place would look during or just after the wet season.

Check out these pictures.

On the way down


At the base of the gorge.


Views from the base of the gorge.



On the way to the steps back up. You can cross the suspension bridge and walk on the other side of the gorge but we didn't have the opportunity to do that as time did not permit it.








At the cascade with the pathway behind the curtain of water.





Signboards at the entrance of the park


Signboards during the hike


Signboard at the end of the hike back up. This is actually an advertisment but is of interest to us as it has photos of the Malinghe Gorge and Wanfenglin.



LC also shot some nice photos of the Malinghe Gorge. Please check them out too.

On the way down.


View at the base of the gorge.


Suspension bridge


Views on the way to the steps back up.


View from behind the waterfall.


View from the base of the steps back up to the bus.


View from the steps back up.


The wooden steps back up to the top of the gorge are only temporary. If you look carefully, you'll notice that they've cleared a huge area of vegetation by the side of the steps. This is where they will build an escalator or elevator, I'm not too sure, that will bring future visitors to the gorge back to the top without having to go through the exhausting 500-step climb back to the top.

Right, that's it for the Malinhe Gorge. It's not the end of the 2nd day yet though. The guides arranged for us to go to a fruit market after our trip to the gorge. I don't have photos of the location but LC took a couple of shots. I'll talk about that in the next post because I'm going to have to go crash out now as I have to be up in 3 hours.... yikes... didn't realise it was so late. =)

enjoy

One Last Dance （茶舞） - Update

(image courtesy of movieXclusive)

It's going to be a short and simple post today. Had a long day at work and will go to bed soon.

Thought you guys might be interested in a few new links for One Last Dance. Mediacorp Ch5's website has interviews with Francis Ng, Ti Lung and a page devoted to the Gala Premiere at Vivocity. Click here, here and here.

The Gala Premiere page isn't that interesting unless you want to see pictures of Francis Ng, Ti Lung and a couple of Singapore celebrities. The most interesting thing about the page is the interview with Singaporean filmmaker Royston Tan who directed 15 and 4:30. I've not seen either but would like to see both someday. Will probably get 4:30 soon. Royston Tan talks about his upcoming projects in that page. He mentions the use of an all female cast in his next film which is scheduled to begin production in March and he also mentions that he has plans to turn his documentary Sin Sai Hong, which is about a Chinese opera troupe, in Singapore into a film.

Not sure if I can catch this film anytime soon, busy month, but will try and then will probably let you guys know what I think.

Right, that is it from me.

Good night. :)