mias =-thanks, man! i'm glad that you found them helpful for you...
rainero =-yup! that's very true as i found this out first hand....coz i just broke the 2 smallest drill bits that you see in the pic above....it's also important to note that the smallest drill bits are very sharp so you shouldn't apply too much pressure, i learned this from my very recent experience....
so here's the neck mod tutorial that i promised to do for the pg boards which i would like to share to you guys as well....
we'll do the neck with the 1/144 exia / astraea
this is where i usually cut the joints apart --in the lower (ball) joint... so that the extension will be hidden
and they're separated....
(this step is optional)
then, i make the marks where i'll be drilling the holes on....
* * why drill 2 holes? so that when you turn the neck joint you won't twist out the neck apart.... plus 2 supports are better than one... * *then, i try to find the closest drill bit size (diameter) to the safety pin that we'll be using...
and the drilling begins...it's also important to note to
NOT drill through but only drill half way coz you wouldn't want the safety pins to go through the joints....
then, it's the lower joint's turn...
now, we'll cut the safety pin with a metal cutter....please don't use your plastic side cutters as it's not made for cutting metals.
test-fit the pin...so that you can determine how short you need the pins to be.
and this is all that we need....be careful with the sharp pins' ends...
now we're ready to stick the pins in...
and here's the connection with the lower joint....
and here's the result of the neck mod...
you can also apply some super glue inside the holes and on the pins before you stick the pins in to tighten up the joints together....
this neck mod is very useful for posings and if you feel that you can't even see the neck of your kits....
and i believe, it just looks very proportional and natural for gundams to actually have a neck too....
this is a pretty quick and easy mod as it took only less than hour to do....
i believe this neck mod can be also be applied to any gundam kits that has a neck joint like hg 1/144, 1/100, and mg kits.....but you will probably need a different safety pin size to use to accomodate the grade size and neck joint size of your gundam kits....
thanks, everyone, i hope this tutorial will help you guys out a bit....
and also, here's an update on my astraea....
it's been airbrushed and gloss-coated that's why you see that they're impaled by parts in the pic....
now i'm ready to apply some waterslide decals this week....
as always, thanks for looking...