Blog

  • stedi Water-Based Panel Liner Quick Review

    This is my quick review of the stedi water-based panel liner based on my Bandai MG Sazabi Ver Ka [Special Coating] experience.

    The “stedi” branded hobby tools (and more specifically, gunpla tools) and supplies have started appearing in my social feeds earlier this year (or perhaps it was last year). At first, it was their glass files, panel line scribers, nippers and what not.

    In essence, stedi offers a variety of the same product categories that Dispae, Ray Studio, Tamiya, Sujiborido and whatever brand produces but at lower price points. My impression is they are positioning themselves as the budget, but still quality brand option brand did everything hobby tools and supplies.

    None of their products have caught my eyes until I saw their water-based panel liners! A product line that promises to deliver the same result of enamel-based panel liners like the Tamiya options with zero risk of plastic cracking, little odor and the same ease of use and cleanup. Not to mention, fluorescence colour options outside the standard shades of brown, grey and black that glow under UV light!

    Here’s stedi’s marketing slide on the panel liners:

    stedi panel liner marketing
    stedi’s marketing points: “Use directly”, “Clean with water” and “Convenient to use”.
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  • Japan Post Overseas Parcel Guide 2025

    This is a quick guide on how to ship things overseas using Japan Parcel based on experience from our recent travel in Japan.

    This is purely a reference for anyone traveling in Japan and are interested in sending things like plastic models (large and relatively light in weight) home via Japan Post.

    How I packed Japan Post's largest carton box with gunpla's.
    How I packed Japan Post’s largest carton box full of gunpla’s.
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  • [Build Completed] HG 1/144 Murasame Kai

    HG 1/144 Murasame Kai

    This is part show case and part retrospective build log of my completed build of the Bandai Gundam HG 1/144 Murasame Kai gunpla model kit. It is also my second ever painted model kit and the second build of the year right after my Momo Haro Haropla!

    HG 1/144 Murasame Kai
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  • Airbrush Cleaning Notes

    This is a collection of airbrush cleaning tips and tricks that I have picked up over time.

    I will split them into sections of easy (do regularly) to more complicated (periodic maintenance).

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  • [Build Completed] Haropla Momo Haro

    Completed around June this year, this was my first painted kit after a year or so of watching and feeling inspired by the frosted snow videos on YouTube and finally having the space and time to give airbrushing a try 😇

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  • Printing with the Fujifilm Instax Share SP2 Printer

    This is a quick look at using the Fujifilm Instax Share SP2 Printer and my experience with it.

    The Fujifilm Instax Share SP2 Printer, film and some photos I took.
    The Fujifilm Instax Share SP2 Printer, film and some photos I took.
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  • A Novice’s Thoughts On Photography & The Fujifilm X-T1

    A Novice’s Thoughts On Photography & The Fujifilm X-T1

    This is a post of my thoughts on the Fujifilm X-T1 camera and my photography journey as a photography novice . It is not exactly a review but if you are new to photography like me and are considering buying into the Fujifilm camera systems, especially the X-T1 then perhaps this could provide you with some insight. No promise!

    The Fujifilm X-T1
    The Fujifilm X-T1

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  • Analysing Google Analytics for Android: Quick Notes on Setup and Configuration File

    GA for Android

    There is an official Google Analytics SDK for Android. Google provides plenty of documentations and examples on setting things up and getting GA going. A lot of these information are spread across different pages and places so for Android GA new comers or someone who hasn’t used GA for awhile (me), it can be confusing to get data start showing on the Analytics reporting pages.

    Here are some quick notes on using (and not using) the JSON configuration file.

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  • Qt Iconic Woes

    Recently I was working on a new desktop app for my new favorite game Overwatch. I got to the stage where I decided to add application icons to it.

    After going through the trouble of creating the icon and adding it into the project, I compiled and had the new icon working on Windows pretty quick. Next, I moved to my Macbook and tested the new icon there as well but for the love of god the new icon would not show! Even after a new qmake, clean and rebuild…

    Turns out I had to completely remove the app package itself then do another rebuild and voila! it’s there!

    Timmmm from stackoverflow also had the same issue and discovered the same solution a few years ago.

  • DBConnect

    Hello all, it’s been a while.

    Today I am releasing DBConnect, another simple useful utility alongside with UUIDer. It has been quite a handy tool for myself at work so I’d like to share it. I wished there was something like that when I did my database unit in uni last year!

    DBConnect is a simple GUI application that allows users to quickly connect and create(SQLite) different types of databases and run queries on them.

    You can check it out and download a copy for Windows over at Infinity Box Studios. MacOS builds are not provided at the moment, but you can easily install Qt and build it yourself.

    Source and binary is also available on GitHub. The application was developed using Qt5.3.1, and is required to build the application. Everything’s released under the BSD 3-Clause license at the moment.