Im done with my first day at my new job and here I am with a spanking new Shoot of my Gathering Rei figure! Ive already posted the review of the matching Asuka back in February and hope youll enjoy these pictures as much as the other ones.Hit the jump and check out the adult Version of our favorite red eyed,blue haired,bandage wearing babe!

Rei is based on a genuine Shunya Yamashita Design in contrast to Asuka whos only inspired by Yamashitas Art Style.Reflect,the dude behind the sculpting, did an awesome job and i generally like his works like the Yamato Poison or Kaiyodo Cammy I own.This is like all Gathering works a pre-painted Garagekit and differs in two points from the Yamato Rei PVC.Most noticeable is that the GK Rei comes bandaged as any Fetishist Rei Fan wants ^^.The fact thats shes cast-off in the chest area isnt as obvious but very neat done via a magnetic feature.Paintjob and Detail are truly superb like expected of a Gathering Figure.

I went a bit overboard with the props this time but ive had some time and lots of bandages flying around.One thing lead to the other

Ive been kinda unhappy with the lighting of my last shoots.I cant really tell whats the problem but i know somethings wrong ^^

The Giving back some Love Banner Program is still active and I hope some more people will participate

Im glad to announce that ive left the Stoneage recently and dont carve my Anime watchlist into stone anymore.If you feel like watching my List you can do it here . Feel free to send me friend requests.We could watch some Stone-Age Anime on my Stone-Age Computer in my Cave together.Dont forget to drag some girls you KO`ed with your club along with you.Thats called manners ;D

Interesting Fact:

My hot female neighbour was drunk and singing while i was writing this

Ive finally found some time to take quality pictures of my Asuka Gathering figure!If you are a regular reader you probably recall the hard time Ive had deciding if they are worth the money or not.Ive listened to your comments and decided for the E2046 figures.Was it worth the money?

I had a weird feeling in my stomach after i preordered the Gathering set.I just spent ALOT of money on figures…I could have slapped myself in the face for such a dumb decision.The feeling started to slowly fade the more I looked at the promo pictures E2046 released from time to time.When I opened the box at the customs office for inspection i knew in an instant that i wont regret my decision.Resinkits allow an amount of detail i havent seen before and E2046s Paintjob is cunning.I finally know why James orders there frequently.Pictures dont do them justice!

The Ori boys that designed the Asuka Kit can be proud of their work.It must be pretty hard to design a figure that has to match a figure by a collaboration of famous artists (designer aswell as sculptor).Shunya Yamashita has a pretty unqiue artstyle and I dont wanna know how hard it is to mimick it.The Design might not be a real Yamashita Design but the next best thing to a real one.Luscious,sexy and stunning

I love both figures and they easily reached the top spot!

Lighting sucked in this one ^^;

The following shots are taken for Gordons Pleasure ^_^

Cover your eyes if you cant stand female eyes^^

Her left pupil is kinda too big?

The castoff process is pretty nice.I wish all figures would have a magnetic castoff feature

I was finally able to pick up my most expensive order ever from customs today! They hold the poor girls hostage for a mere 14 days before sending me a notice.The Package arrived 3 days after shipping in Germany and the rest of the two weeks were spent in several custom bureaus.I have no idea what they did but whatever it was it did take quite some time.I had to pay a hostage fee of 53,90 and they were mine!

Who hides in that mysterious box?Find out after the Jump!

Buying these girls was one of the most difficult decisions in my figure collector life.I always loved Yamatos PVC rendition of the Yamashita Rei Design garagekit and I preordered the re-release when I heard about it.E2046 presented their Ori project shortly after I preordered Rei.They designed a matching Asuka and a pretty cool base to go with them.I fell in love with both and here is where the dilemma began.I have to thanks all the commenters that gave me advice and encouraged me to spend the money on E2046s Gathering Girls.It was a hard decision but it was worth every penny! Im simply astounded by the figures!

Im gonna review the figures as soon as possible.Im right now back in school to certify in the Manual Lymphatic Drainage and its one heck of a course! 2 x 2 weeks 10 hours a day.Next week is reserved for learning and ill have a month free time after that.I hope to take some shots this weekend but I cant promise.Youll have to live with these few shots until then

They arrived save and with no broken parts thanks to E2046s gentle packaging

Ignore the dirty floor ^^;

Automode of my camera sucks

The Poll in my Sidebar showed clearly that alot of people would like to try themselves at a Garagekit but are afraid to mess it up.Theres usually some pretty money involved but these days are your lucky days! GK Shop E2046 has a special promotion running with several kits for 9.90$ and 20% off of all other Garagekits!

Who cares if you mess the kit up if you bought it for 9.90$?

Theres a limited quantity of each kit avaiable and they sell like sliced bread due to the very low price.They Update the List with figures all throughout the day and they also put some of the Out of Stock figures back in stock!Be sure to check the Site several times! I didnt manage to catch the Meg or Saber tough :/

The Promotion runs until November the 22nd

Happy Hunting!

The last time i visited  my favorite bookstore they had the September 08 Issue of the Dengeki Daioh Magazine on Sale and i was tempted to get it.I usually wouldnt pick up something like this tough since i cant understand a word and can only guess whats going on.I found out a short time later that the Dengeki Daioh serializes alot of Series that im watching right now/Im reading translated and i decided to pick up one issue for fun.Hey after all there are still the extras i can have fun with if it turns out to be boring!

I had to take the Train to Düsseldorf to pick one up and thought why shouldnt i take some pics along the way to show a bit about the Japanese parts of Düsseldorf.

Check out the pictures and some infos after the Jump!

Düsseldorf (デュッセルドルフin Japanese) is the capital of the german state NorthRhineWestphalia (NRW) and a neigbouring city of my little hometown of 56000 citizens.Düsseldorf itself has a population of 582000 citizens with 19% of it beeing foreigners.The high percentage is due to the excellent transportation system of Düsseldorf including an International Airport ,wich is the third largest in Germany with 16 million passengers a year, and a strong healthy international economy.Among those foreigners are about 7681 japanese making it the largest japanese community in germany and the third largest in europe.Since most of them are leading personalities staying for a short amount of time theres need for a proper education of their children.Thats why the city established an International Japanese School and several Kindergarden that those kids are ready for the harsh japanese schoolife after they return.

Even though most of them leave for their motherland sooner or later they had a big of influence on the city be it economical or cultural.Theres for example the Eko Haus offering Japanese,Calligraphy ,Ikebana classes along with Events like the tea ceremony aswell as buddhist events.You can enjoy the Silence in the Japanese Garden in the Nordpark(1 2) or go for a round of shopping on the Immermannstreet.One of the biggest and most popular events in the area is the Japanday with its japanese fireworks wich i attended this year(I was only able to take some poor pictures before the rain started tough).

So much for the pretty talk ^_^

The bookstore that sells the Dengeki Daioh is located close to the Immermann street with its various Japanese Shops and Restaurants.Thats why i only took pictures of those places.If theres an interest in the other places i mentioned drop a comment and ill try to take some pictures if possible.Most shopowners dont like people running around with cameras taking pictures of their shops(i asked at first and they acted like i was a spy) thats why most of these pictures were taken the Ninja way and didnt turn out too well.I always wonder how Danny is able to take all those pictures in the shops/restaurants…Either hes famous enough that they let him or hes a better Ninja than me…

Alot of those pictures were pure crap and i didnt use them at all.Keep in mind that there are a lot more Japanese Shops/Restaurants than the few in those Images!

I start my trip on the small station of my hometown

The S-Bahn arrives!

This is one of the trains with neater interior.13 minutes and im in Düsseldorf!

Leaving the station

A Look at the Immermannstreet

Some Girls checking out the windows of the first bookstore

Whos residing the the German-Japanese Center?The Japanese General Consulate!

And of course the Hotel Nikko!

Mitsukoshi is basically a shop that sells local goods to japanese Tourists.It exists in various places in the world selling the countries specialities.It usually located next to a japanese frequented Hotel (like Nikko) or the like

Eating at the Benkay will cost you a foot and a leg.They have a SushiBar,Teppanyaki and even offer Tatami rooms for your delight.

JALPAK-Organizing your whole Japantrip or just your flight and railticket

One of our old Streetcars rolling by…

Japanese Cleaner-Notice my Ninja Finger

The Nippon-Kan will cost you only a leg

This time its a woman checking out the second bookstore.

*Activating Hyper Mega Ninja Skill*

*Entering shop*

Okay im a scaredy cat and just took pictures in the not personell observed back part of the shop.Usually alot of noisy brats hang out here making trouble.Somehow NONE of them was there! They store Artbooks,Mangas,Figures in this part of the shop.You can also buy some convienience products there tough!

Tons of ridiculous priced Artbooks and cheap Mangas i cant read!

Some figures and Gashapons…Dont even dare to ask for the price <.<

Even more Gashapons,Sounddrops and Tradingcards…If you wonder whats written in the red font: If you open the Boxes youll have to buy them !!! Those Kids are really an awful bunch!Destroying,Opening and scribbling on stuff.I wasnt that rude that age.It was even that bad that they had to install surveillance cams….. >.<

If im no wrong you can rent japanese Media here.Can you spot the Pikachu?

*Entering Korean Grocery Store*

*Loading Ninja Skills*

I once again have no guts and only photographed crackers…

…and Instant Noodles.My favorites are Shin Ram Yun.How about you?

Okay i prefer this grocery store over the Japanese one next to it.It is much more organized and also has everything the Japanese one has.

I always wondered why they sell silent water like Volvic in those Asian Stores.I know that they use it for cooking tea but you can buy that water anywhere…No need to buy it overpriced there…Weird!

Finally the third bookshop! They sell lots of Otaku Goods like Megamis,Dengekis and even figures!Small shop no chance for ninja pics ^^ Just picking up the Dengeki Daioh

Getting hungry…Dropping by the Bakery My Heart.The Poster Girl is cute <3

My Lunch and Dessert! I have a sweet tooth! So what? Eating and checking out the Dengeki ^_^

Am i the only one smelling something fishy when looking at this Karaoke Bar?

Walking by my favorite Restaurant! The Naniwa is delicious until the last gulp!Ill try to take some pics inside the next time im there!

Walking back to the station.Mainly Restaurants on this side of the street…

Todays Lunch is Schnitzel Japanese Style with MisoSoup. Yum!

Entering the Station

Waiting for the train

A last look into the setting sun right before entering the train

And here ends my little trip to Düsseldorf! Theres alot more to see and if your ever in the area be sure to contact me and well eat some Ramen!I really like how the Japanese Culture and lifestyle has blended into our everyday life over here. Are there any Japanese communities in your region?Did they blend it well or do they cook their own soup (haha horrible pun)

The sad thing is even tough there are that many japanese hotties in the area i somehow dont meet them outside ;-P

Im in a pinch right now…I wrote about my Preorders in my last post and and how i adore the Creators Labo Rei Ayanami after a Shunya Yamashita Design.I preordered her in an instant when i heard about her re-release since i knew from reviews that Yamato actually did a good job on her.The Dilemma im in is actually James fault for posting his Reviews on several figures from E2046s Gathering line.They are basically already painted Garagekits…There is one thing that bugs me about Yamatos PVC Rei: She doesnt come with the Bandages the Kit comes with (and well she isnt castoff ^^;;;). I always had an Eye on their Gathering Rei but didnt want to cash out that much money.

Well whats Rei without Asuka?It just feels wrong right?Thats why E2046 decided to turn Asuka into a ORI figure that seems to be after another Yamashita Design i didnt know of.They are offering her as a Gathering figure as well…

You know im a total sucker for Yamashita Designs and well i wouldnt mind a castoffable Asuka either…You can check them both out here.Thats some mighty cash they want for both of them but as far as ive seen across the blogosphere the gathering figures are worth every penny.

I wonder if i should cancel my PVC Preorder of Rei and go for both?They restock them in January and i guess id have some sparemoney from chritsmas by then….I have a bad feeling spending that much money tough…

That E2046 is constantly sending me  newsletters with Pics of both of em doesnt help either…

The Creators Labo Rei is the cheaper alternative for sure but it would be stupid if i order the Gathering figures later tough. ARGH! IM IN DESPAIR!

Image from Moe Imouto

Okay,okay i admit that i took my time and didnt update the blog the last few days…I wasnt totally lazy tough and worked a bit on my Kit.Its nothing major but ill show you did this time how to pin your kit.

Hit the Jump and get started!

After you sanded your Kit properly and got rid of all the flash you should mock assemble the kit to look for potential gaps to fix before youll start to paint it.You basically drill holes into her torso and limbs,stick a pin (in my case a cut off nail) inside those and youre ready to go.Sounds very easy huh?It is!

I recommend to check out these Tutorials since they are way better done:

Codys Tutorial

M_candys Tutorial below:

Note that i skipped the washing part.Im going to do that right before i start to paint.

So what will you need?

• A Drill (It doesnt matter if its a Dremel or a handdrill both works and you probably have one or the other at home)
• Pins (In my case Ikea Nails leftovers from my last shelf.)
• A plier to cut the nails (once again probably at home)

Thats it!

We want to drill the holes in a way that they are more or less on the same location on both pieces.Take a look at both and check if theres something like a mark where to drill.If theres nothing like that just do it freestyle or mark it with a pen if youre the more acurate type.When you start drilling with a dremel,like me,be careful to not apply to much pressure or you might end up on drilling through the piece.It happened to me and i had to fix the hole with some putty :/

I drilled holes into both parts and ill have to fit the pin now.Notice that i used paperclips in the images but those turned out to be too weak and i ended up using nails.The steps remain the same tough.

Thats it! Just repeat that with every big piece of the figure and youre done with the pinning.I said that is easy!

Instead of the paper clips i used these Ikea nails and their doing their job just fine.

You can see my mock assembled figure in the very first picture.Youll see the parts that need some puttying due to gaps now pretty clearly and start to fix them.I tried that a few days ago but failed pretty bad.Thats why im writing another post about that topic in the next days.

Ill show you how i fixed the hole i drilled into Narus leg though.I just smeared some putty onto her leg and made sure that enough of it was pushed into the hole in her leg.

I gave the Putty a day to dry and sanded off all the excess putty.Dont sand to hard otherwise youll sand away too much.TADA!! As good as new

Some Commenters suggested that my Progress Posts should feature a “How to” section to encourage other people to try themselves on Kits.Ill try to do these as good as i can but please keep in mind that im a total newbie and that there are probably alot better Tutorials out there.Ill try to link to them if possible.

Lets get started after the Jump!

The first thing youll have to do is pick a Kit you want to build.Id recommend a 1/8 Kit because they are neither too big nor too small and wont burn a too big hole into your wallet.Keep in mind that figures with regular clothes will be easier too paint than babes in fancy clothes /swimsuits.Those usually need alot more work on the paintjob due to alot of details/shading of skintone.

I didnt follow that advice and picked a girl in swimsuit and thatll require alot skintone shading and masking with tape later.

You decided on your Kit,ordered it and its finally on your doorstep.First thing youll have to do now is to check out if the Kit is alright (Resin breaks quite easy) and check if no part is missing.Youll usually get a sheet of paper with content and directions with it.

Content and alot of things i dont understand ^^;;

Alright there are no missing pieces and everythings in great condition.We can start with the first step of the Kit preparation: Removing Flash and Sanding.

This Video by M_candy was what encouraged me to start building a kit

Check out her YouTube Account for more Tutorials!

Another Site featuring great Video Tutorials is GamraBaenre and this Video deals with the Sanding process

If youre looking for a great complete Building Tutorial i recommend you to check out Cody Kwoks Site.

Okay now lets get back to my humble how to ^^

Youll need the following things to get started:

• A Plier (You probably have one lying around somewhere so you dont need to spend cash on it)
• A Bowl of water (Once again for free)
• A Hobby Knife (Ive seen these around the net for 6-7€)
• Wet Sanding Paper (different grids,about 80 cent a piece)
• A breathing Mask (paid around 3 € in a hardware store)

You probably wonder about the last two items.Were going to sand the figure wet because itll make the sanding alot smoother and reduces the resindust alot.The dust is the reason for the mask because resin is pretty toxic and you dont want to breath that stuff in.

You probably noticed that the Kit is still pretty rough in certain parts and that there are pieces of resin around the more delicate parts.Those unnecassary pieces are called flash and come from the molding process.The better the quality of the kit the less youll have to deal with these kind of things but youll never get rid of this completely.The flash may prevent the parts from fitting or just look ugly.Well have to get rid of this anyway.

Flash around a delicate piece

You can start of by removing the flash with the plier but be careful to not go to close to the actual part.The force applied through the plier could damage the main part.Im going to show the process with with Naru`s left arm.

Ahh...My lovely fingers^^

You can see the flash clearly and were going to remove it with sanding paper.I start off with a low grid of 180.Wet the paper in the bowl and sand the flash until its nearly gone.

Its nearly gone but the surface is still rough

Its looking already alot better but were still not satisfied and grab a piece of sanding paper with a higher grid (800 in my case).This time you go over the whole arm and smooth the surface.Youll reduce the general roughness and seamlines with this.Be sure that you dont apply too much pressure.

Nice and smooth

Continue until the piece is nice and smooth and do this with all the kits parts.This is essential  for the fitting and overall look of the kit.It wont look good with a rough surface even if your paintjob is superb.

I sanded all big pieces tonight

If you wondered how you look in 50 years now is your chance ^^

The Dust from sanding 9 pieces

Im going to continue with the rest of my kit like this.Im not too sure about how to handle the clear resin parts tough.I fear that itll turn milky if i sand it the usual way.Has anybody some hints?

I just picked up my parcel from E2046 from the postoffice.It originally arrived on Thursday but i wasnt at home at that time.I couldnt pick it up on Friday due to a german holiday.Im finally able to hold it in my hands!

Pics and thoughts after the Jump

The Boys over at E2046 sure know how to pack their parcels that nothing breaks.The Kit arrived in perfect condition and was secured by several layers of bubblewrap.The first thing i noticed was the fact that Resin has quite a strong smell.Its nothing bad but youll have to get used to it.As far as my newbie eyes can judge the kit is of good quality with hardly any flash or seamlines.Im glad that i wont have to sand too much of it.Ill have to get out and get some of my missing tools and then ill start with this sucker.Ill be posting about my (failing?) progress in the near future.

Bubblewrap...

and even more bubblewrap

I didnt unpack the small parts yet im afarid to loose them

Close up of her big parts