So I finished this model a few weeks ago. Struggled with the airbrushing and wasn’t fond of the result. After a while I came around on it. Still idk why my black gloss coat got so bumpy but meh, gotta go practice some more on spoons.
Recently I posted this on r/Gunpla over on reddit only for the post to get removed by the mods. They always let mech plamo in before. I asked for clarification and the mod swears the this isn’t a mech. Anyone have any thoughts on that. I’m pretty sure it meets the def of mech. Noun; Large piloted combat robot.
One could argue a mech is more humanoid. I'm not sure what's robotic about your model as I'm not too well versed in GITS, but it clearly look more like an attack helicopter, rather than what most would consider a mech. In any case, the consensus here seems to be as long as the model is mecha/anime related, it's fine. We don't exactly have an abundance of content here to be super granular with what's allowed. I actually asked the question a few weeks ago:
Fair enough. The whole robotic abdomen and targeting always screamed mech to me but I get how it’s debatable. Anyway glad lemmy is being more lenient.
On the paint, yeah it was orange peel. It was hobby mio pre thinned gloss black lacquer paint. I’ve used it before with much better results. I tend to use 18-20 psi on mat paints and drop the psi to about 15-16 for gloss and metallic. I usually paint in smaller sections so I think my distance management might have been off. That or I tried to build up the color too fast but I know with gloss and metallic you want to lay down wetter coats of paint
I've used used Hobby Mio paints before without issue. Like you're suspecting, it sounds like your coats aren't thick enough, which is usually the case with the orange peel effect. There isn't enough paint on the piece for it to level out, causing the little dimples. Try practicing on a couple more spoons and you'll be fine :).
While the difference between a mecha and a helicopter might be obvious, I think the dividing line where they meet is quite fuzzy and then context and intent start to matter.
Do is it need to be humanoid to be mecha? I don't know. But does that mean a Guntank isn't a mecha, since it has no legs or arms? I think most people would agree that the Megazord is a mecha, but are it's component Zords not mecha as well because they are dinosauroid or animaloid or trainoid?
Our community is small enough that we don't need to gatekeep which plastic model robots are allowed to be posted, especially when non-gundam are still in the minority. I've also not seen anyone complain so far. Feel free to DM me if you have opinions you don't want to air publicly.
That’s awesome to hear! So far I’ve been liking this community much more than the r/Gunpla. Much more understanding imo.
As far as the distinction between mech and vehicle I 100% agree with your point on intent. Either way I normally wouldn’t care; it’s plastic sci-fi models, but I didn’t like how confident the mod team was about this kit NOT being a mech. Like if they were like “hey this is debatably mech so we’re removing it” I’d not complain. Meh, there I go with showing my pedantry. Lol
The other posters already said some of what I wanted to say so I won't repeat.
But if I'm being em akshually pedantic, plamo (plastic models) would've been the more open comes name, IMO. but that would be all sorts of plastic models, including the more "traditional" ones like cars, tanks etc.
I'm always amazed at people that took their time painting their models so yours get a thumbs up for me since I've never tried painting my models before.