 # Scale Model Challenge 2025

For years I have been painting miniatures as a hobby. I did so as a solitary activity, with only a few miniatures completed. When a colleague of mine, now a friend, discovered we shared many interests like Gundam and other things related to Japan, (both of us are married with a Japanese woman as well), he introduced me to the SIG Plamo (Special Interests Group Plamo). A group of friends from university that share similar interests. This group regularly comes together to paint historic models, Warhammer, Gunpla, airbrushing, build Lego and other fun stuff. They also promote the Gunpla hobby at Animecon. Every year, some members participate in the Scale Model Challenge, the SMC in Veldhoven, Netherlands. This sparked new enthusiasm in me for this hobby again!

They created a special tradition, where they pick a model kit, preferably they can buy directly at the SMC. Then everyone needs to prepare this miniature for next year's SMC, where they present the model. During that year, they do not check each other's progress, so it is a surprise to see what everyone has created after one year. They have created a ship, a tank, an airplane and in 2023, a Velorex from Eduard.

This year will be my first entry, we bought 4 kits of the **HGUC RX-178 Mark II Gundam**, 10 Euro each. Here I will describe my progress.

### 2024
#### October

Cut all parts from the sprue, removed the nubs and sanded the parts. I put each part into a little bag with a tag of the sprue number, so that I can track them later during assembly.
equipment used:
 * Tamiya sanding sponges 400, 600 & 1000
 * Cutter
 * [Fiskars knife](./equipment/fiskars-knife)
