Stefan's Stuff » Hobby

HGUC Hi Nu Gundam

Stefan Dembowski — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:15:30 +0000

Saw this on Ngee Khiong’s site (great site); It’s the HGUC version of the Hi Nu Gundam. Prior to making the HGUC Nu Gundam and Sazabi, I would not have gotten this, but I’m really impressed by the level of detail and flexibility of the recent HGUC line by Bandai.

When it comes out, I’ll probably just walk down to Image Anime on 30th street and just get it.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

Gunpla model making tip

Stefan Dembowski — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:46:26 +0000

One of the more annoying things about assembling Gundam Models (in this case a MG Kämpfer) is getting the gun to stay in it’s hands.

The hands are meant to look cool, not hold the gun properly. I finally came upon a simple solution: DAP BLUESTIK Reusable Adhesive Putty. It’s the sticky clay like stuff that used to be used in place of thumbtacks. Unlike glue, it is not permanent but holds pretty well.

I used just a bit about the size of the tip of a pen and the gun stays where I put it. It only cost me a couple of dollars and makes life a lot easier.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“I Hate This Part” by the Pussycat Dolls from the “Doll Domination” Album.

Spray painting plastic models

Stefan Dembowski — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:10:11 +0000

Currently painting a plastic model. I’m only doing selected high lights, but I have to be carefull not to put too much on at one time. Rule of thumb: if you think you’re close to putting on too much paint, … Continue reading →

Gundam Expo Japan Limited Gunplas

Stefan Dembowski — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:18:02 +0000

MG Gundam Ver. 2.0 Clear Color Ver.

Saw this on Ngee Khiong’s site: The Gundam Expo 2009 in Hiroshima will have show special versions of several kits.

In this case, this is the MG Gundam Ver. 2.0 in clear plastic. As this version has a fantastic internal frame with a great deal of details (See the review on Dalong.net for images) this should be very cool. I hope to see it on Ebay and maybe pick one up, hopefully at not too great a price.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“No One Lives Forever” by Oingo Boingo from the “Dead Man’s Party” Album.

More PG Astray photos

Stefan Dembowski — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:18:43 +0000

Ngee Khiong posted 39 photos of the upcoming PG Red Frame Astray. I have to say, this is an amazing model.

He also found someone who assembled one an placed it next to a PG RX-78-2.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing, but I did just buy the Blu-ray edition of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

Stefan Dembowski — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:41:04 +0000

Costco sent us a $30 coupon, so I figured I’d get it. After using Photoshop CS2, I find this really does most of what I do now with no problem.

Best of all: it works OK on my 2001Pentium 4 PC. (In an effort to save money, I’m using it until it falls over.) So far, it works very well. I’m able to process RAW images from my D80 without any problems.

As I play around with it, I discover that it has some features that really like. In the Organizer, you can right click and assign a location to an image by right clicking it and selecting ‘Place on a map…’, and then paste the address. It looked it up the address, prompted me for confirmation and added the GPS coordinates to the files I selected. This sounds trivial, but when I upload to Flickr, it automatically place the image correctly on the map. Here are the EXIF Tags it adds:

GPS Latitude : 40 deg 45' 9.00" N GPS Latitude Ref : North GPS Longitude : 73 deg 58' 39.00" W GPS Longitude Ref : West GPS Position : 40 deg 45' 9.00" N, 73 deg 58' 39.00" W

Which, when posted to Flickr, says the photo is in “Taken in Tenderloin, New York“. Odd. The only gotcha I found is when I add GPS to a NEF file, the coordinates did not make it to the JPEG version. Maybe I did something wrong.

It comes with a photo downloader that I’ll be testing too and It has version control so I can see the before and after of an edit. Moe as I play with it.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

Adorama Equipment Rental saves the day

Stefan Dembowski — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:20:56 +0000

Ok, As lots of people know, Photography is a hobby of mine. I also volunteer to cover events for my friends at work. As I always pack my camera, no big deal right?

Except I naturally forgot to pack my flash for an event that had about 300 people scheduled to attend…

After I freaked out for a second, I called Adorama’s Rental Dept on 18th St. and reserved a Nikon SB-800 and a Quantum Turbo Battery as well. It was a little weird renting a flash I own, but the battery pack was a great idea. I ended up shooting close to 150 shots and the battery pack kept up without any problem at all. It’s really nice NOT having to worry about the flash batteries dying unexpectedly.

Next time I need to shoot an event, I’m renting one again.

Related: DXO has updated their DXO Optics Pro to version 5.2 and the results are a lot better. On my old PC, Ver. 5.04 used to take over 5 minutes to just start and had a host of bugs. Ver. 5.2 started right up, properly recognized my 18-200mm lens, and I was off. Seriously, I nearly wrote off DXO as a loss, which would have been a shame as version 4 was great. I think DXO is a good company and I’m glad the software is better.

Edit: I Wish my brother would warn me when he upgrades MY blog software…

Music I’m listening to now:
“Hero/Heroine“, by Boys Like Girls from the “Boys Like Girls“ album. You can see the video here.

Update on the PG Mk II

Stefan Dembowski — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:27:07 +0000

Gundam MkII
Originally uploaded by S.D.

Always meant to update this post where I started to build a PG Mk II. I finished it and posted some images to Flickr, but neglected to update my Blog. Not many photos, but You can see them here on Flickr. It was fun to build and I need to put the decals on to finish.

Music I’m listening to now:
“Pocketful Of Sunshine“, by Natasha Bedingfield from the “Pocketful of Sunshine“ album. You can see the video here.

MG Shin Musha Gundam

Stefan Dembowski — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:45:46 +0000

As many people know, one of my hobbies is assembling Bandai Gundam Models. Over at Ngee Khiong’s blog, he found images from someone who got it and assembled it already.

I have to say, it’s an over the top model, and I Soooooo want one!

I’m resisting on account of my having quite a queue of models to build. Currently I’m working on a a Bandai MG RX-78-2 Gundam. I’m not sure if I’ll paint it, but it should be fun in either case.

Update: Dalong.net has one already. Can’t wait for him to finish it. The images of the Instructions make it look pretty interesting.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

The Ease of getting into Photography

Stefan Dembowski — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:07:54 +0000

As many people know, I carry my camera with me everyday. It’s easy, not too heavy and you never now what or who you will come across in New York City. Since it’s all digital there is no such thing as a wasted shot as you can just delete it. Unlike film cameras, you don’t need to print them either. You can host them on a variety of sited from Flickr (my personal favorite), Smugmug, Pbase or many others. Many people don’t host their images but just keep them on their PC and simply print their best shots.

This is exactly why Digital SLR’s are becoming so popular. At work, several of my co-workers (5 so far and another seriously considering it) are spending the extra cash to get a Digital SLR instead of a point and shoot camera. The initial cost is high, but the camera lasts for years with proper maintenance (Sensor Cleaning).

You have a wide selection of Digital SLR’s too. I have a Nikon D80, but Nikon’s makes the Nikon D60 which is sold at Costco as a package that includes the 18-55mm VR and 55-200mm VR lens for $874 (at this writing). Its’ a good camera, shoots at 10.2 Mega pixels and is like all Nikon cameras, very ergonomic. For variety, Costco also offers a Canon Rebel XSi with a 18-55mm IS Lens for $879 as well. Me, I prefer Nikon as I like the feel and ergonomics of the controls but you really can’t go wrong with any Digital SLR. All of them have a rich feature set.

Over $800 is not cheap but when you take into account that a Digital SLR used to start at over $1,200, it’s coming into a range that people can begin to consider buying one. Often people ask me what camera they should get and I ask them what will they use it for and how often. That’s a key consideration when buying a camera. If you just want an occasional photo for a party or something light and small, use a Point and Shoot. If you want something to give you room to grow, get a DSLR. This will sound Odd but How the camera feels in your hand is also important. When taking photos, you don’t want to be distracted by a camera that feels Odd. That’s why you should always check out the camera in advance before buying.

My brother thought about buying one (he ended up buying one shortly afterwards) and I’ve advised him to do it. He has kids, enjoys taking photos and I think he’ll enjoy his new Nikon D60 too.

At lunch, I go for walks and take my camera with me. At this point, I have at least 3 co-workers who want me to take them and give them tips on taking photos. Should be fun, but I imagine we will look like a bunch of tourists. Next, I have to get them to get a Tripod for shots like this one.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Big Bang Baby” by Stone Temple Pilots from the “Tiny Music…Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop ” Album. Video can be found here.