Impulse Gundam V2: Chest 1

Being that I've already made a version of the Impulse, I figured that making this version somehow more detailed would be a worthwhile order, so I've been doing just that whilst starting the chest flyer (really just the chest since the flyer includes the head and arms). That and trying to get through the legs of the Nightingale + marathon training are killing the time.

Impulse Gundam v2: Head 2

Tried to get back to the Nightingale, but the legs are kicking my arse, so back to the Impulse's head. Haven't gotten the notch behind the rear headcam, but it's close. As I'm sure bandai will release an MG Sword Impulse and MG Blast Impluse, I'll just modify the Sword and Blast silhouettes accordingly.

Impulse Gundam v2: Head 1

Getting stuck on the Nightingale's legs so I figured I'd pass some time gussying up the old Impulse from the old HG based mesh to a nice cleaner one based on a new plastic MG that came out a few days back, redrawn of course by good old BEE-CRAFT. I might be able to reuse some of what I had, but I'm really thinking that this will mostly be a complete redo as it's much slimmer than the old one. --the start of the head as always...

Nightingale: AMBAC booster 2

Life is catching up to me so updates are slim. Also trying to get some textures down on a bunch of machines I left high and dry. The boosters are "there" but they should probably be considered placeholders. I'm not done with them and it's difficult to get things right considering the shape and the pics I've used. I'm thinking that the full scale will probably be realized best when the model is completed. For now, this is the booster set.

Nightingale: AMBAC booster 1

Took some time to figure out how to start this one, but finally just taking the plunge because I'm tired of just thinking about it.

Apsalus: Stage 3

Taking a rest from the Nightingale as it's giving me a headache...Trying to fill in the gap that serves as the hump in the back of this MA.

Nightingale: Arms

Hmmm.... in a way. They're definitely over sized so I'll have to scale them back. Needs some extra detail under the triceps for the hydraulics.

Nightingale: Body 6

Still swiping at it. The side skirt might be ok, but the tail looks a bit too thick near the section that "attaches" to the body.

Nightingale: Body 5

Notice that I'm going quite slow compared to what I usually do. I thought that perhaps I could substitute a modified Qubeley tail binder for that of the Nightingale, but they just don't mesh at all, so I started from scratch on the Nightingale's tail binder.

Nightingale: Body 4

Call me dumb, but until the last few links I received in the comments I never knew the Nightingale had "sub-arms" under the skirt. So that set me back a bit. Still working on getting that "big arse". Still parts of the model that I'm unable to get details on (under some parts of the armor, etc) but it's progressing...

Nightingale: Body 3

Yowza, still going. Getting through the crotch rocket for the waist section but doing a poorly so far. Feels like I'm coming down with another cough/cold. ugh.

Nightingale: Body 2

This one's going to take more than what's there now to be finished. Needs more panel lining and stuff under the hood. Thus far slightly modified Neue Ziel and Zaku 2F2 parts are substituted where I am unable to identify specific areas of detail from the Nightingale pics I've found.

Nightingale: Body 1

Neo Zeon bodies always give me trouble, and this one isn't much different. Basing this body off of one I saw on flickr that gamera baenre gave a link to.

Nightingale: Head 2

Mmmm, not going quite like I planned, but getting there. I'll have to make the head a little longer length-wise than I have at the moment and indent some parts of the head, not to mention fix that giant fin.

Nightingale: Head 1

Giving the Nightingale the old "college try". Not sure how this will turn out, but trying a bunch of things out to take the sting out of it. I started off by making an outline of a Xeku Eins helmet and then stretching it to make the rear section of the head whilst redoing a section of an early version of the Neue Ziel's head as well. The innards are played by the Zaku2F2 thus far just to get it going... Starting it out of course...

Hi Nu: Bazooka

Trying to get my head around the Nightingale and realized I hadn't gotten the Bazooka for the Hi Nu. Should look kind of close. Basically a modified version of previous bazookas for other machines.

Hi Nu: Shield

Not too bad. Pretty much just the sheild with a bit of splitting and some extra polys here and there. Not sure if I'm going to surface it the way the MG is surfaced or the B-Club version is surfaced (or VP). Haven't decided yet. The bits still look like their attached to a magical block of some sort. I don't remember making that. I guess it's that time of the year to do a zeon/neo-zeon suit so I'll probably give the Nightingale a shot and see where it takes me.

Hi Nu: Beam Rifle 2

ah... it's kind of there. I suppose I could work on the barrel section a bit more just to iron out that ugly, weird flat piece that seems to be "sitting there". Besides that, and a few bmp maps, I can live with it for now.

Hi Nu: Beam Rifle 1

Basically taking a bunch of parts from other beam rifles and changing them a bit to fit the role. Otherwise, tubes and whatnot are being reshaped into the main body. I little round for a beam rifle, but...

Hi Nu: Fin Funnel + Dock 2

I guess they're also called "bits". Anyway, I messed up in the rigging or something because it looks like the bits are gripping to the docking arms instead of the little terminals on the dock. A bit strange but it shouldn't be a big prob to repair.

Hi Nu: Fin Funnel + Dock 1

Actually just working on the dock at the moment. The fin funnels I don't think will cause much in the way of problems as they seem fairly straight forward. The dock is somewhat tricky however.

Hi Nu: Boosters / Fuel Tanks

I made the stabilizer/booster based on the size of the opening in the backpack, but it might be a bit too small. I'll give it a check once I get going with the Fin Funnel dock.

Hi Nu: Legs 2

I modified an early version of the S-Gundam's foot mesh to build the front section of the Hi Nu's foot and an early version of the Legend's heel to build the heel section of the Hi Nu's. I generally tend to save meshes in stages so that if something happens I can return to an earlier stage and redo something I did wrong. Another result is the high usability of the earlier mesh saves. What exists should be acceptable. Some parts on the rest of the body are now obviously scaled badly so I'll have to get to them.

Hi Nu: Legs 1

I "cheated" a lot on this one. I borrowed parts from very early versions of the Gundam MARK II (MKII), ZZ Gundam, GM Command and Freedom and modified them a bit to get a lot of this done. Thus much of this is approximated to a higher degree than the rest of the Hi Nu. No choice though since references are slim pickings. So the legs might look a little off. No feet yet as I have yet to figure those out.

Hi Nu: Arms

Interestingly, the Vicious Project version of the Hi Nu seems to have longer forearms than the one redesigned by Yutaka Izubuchi. What made it a bit easier is that the forarms were also fairly straight forward on the VP version, eliminating some of the "roundish" areas that are usually the bane of my existence.

Hi Nu: Waist 2

Whew! I guessed on a lot of stuff behind the skirt armor. Pics that I've seen show some of it but it's a bit difficult to see since it's sometimes either too dark to see or all the same color. So a few liberties there and other places. Hopefully the finished product looks ok.

Hi Nu: Waist 1

Well, the waist is coming along but not quite as quickly as I've been able to do in the past. Trying to make it look as "busy" as the body is a bit difficult even after looking at a bunch of pictures of the VP version. So thus far what you see is the result of heavy guessing.

Hi Nu: Body 2

Can't believe it, it's still going! I missed some parts that might be indented a bit too much into the frame and the armor is still amiss. But things are going well.

Hi Nu: Body 1

Trying to follow the images I've seen of the Vicious project Hi-Nu (from Gamera Baenre's site, etc), for which the gundam MKII's body was very helpful as a jumpoff point. Kind of iffy looking and I'm sure there will be some stretch marks but so far it's going ok.

Hi Nu: Head 4

4th iteration and still trying to iron out the kinks. Got problems in the vents and remnants of the MG style in the face that I should try to get rid of.

Hi-Nu: Head 3

Haven't abandoned it. I elongated the helmet section and removed the extended chin to assist with the look. Still working on it. Also, today seems to have been quite a day for pageviews as the blog has had double the visitors of a usual day! Thanks to you 20 people! ;D