HowTo: Remove Nip Marks from Clear Gunpla kits

I’ve said it before and I’ll say again, the most annoying part of all clear kits are the nip marks. It leaves an unsightly white-ish are on the part and spoils the whole look of the kit.

Nevertheless, it is not unrecoverable as there are polishing compounds which can be used to clear of those unsightly nip marks. Only problem is, polishing compound is expensive and takes a lot of time. SO, is there a cheaper alternative?

Fortunately, there is. As I’ve shown with my MG Strike Rouge Clear Color Version; toothpaste, cotton bud, polyester cloth and high-grade wet sanding will remove the nip mark. Only setback is that it consumes a lot of time and consistency is tough to reproduce without concentration.

Thus, here’s another faster more economical method to remove those unsightly nip marks from your clear color kits. This works especially well HG kits which have relatively smaller parts and nip marks in more obvious areas.

For the demonstration, I’ll be using the GN Shield Bits for my HG Cherudim Expo Edition.

No, there are two reasons why I choose the GN Shield Bits as the demo part:

1. These GN Shield Bits have the most number of nip marks and they are also the most unsightly nip marks because the gates are rather thick

2. Well, I generally have 9 of it so, all the better if I screw up.

Here’s the rough cut, as you can see the nip marks are still sticking out

Horrible discolouration and on closer inspection the nip marks appear cracked

Now, the excess nip marks have been removed with a cutter but, it is still sticking out slightly

Using a art knife, cut out the slight excess but be careful not to dig into the plastic or hurt yourself. A blade works fine too especially considering how sharp art knives are

The slight excess has been removed, looks much cleaner now. Though, it still is far from complete

Now, using a permanent marker of the same colour, colour over the nip marks

Be careful when choosing a marker, always go for a marker with these criteria:

1. Ink with low reflection rate (if not, the ink shines back light easily and gives away the nip mark)

2. Ink which s translucent (doing so will allow a certain amount of light to pass through looking more natural)

3. A thin tip (preferably 0.5mm and below)

For me, I use a Stabilo 0.3mm marker and it does the job just fine

With the ink applied. Nip marks are less noticeable but ink still reflects light a little

To finish it all off, use a High Grade sandpaper/finishing abrasive. mIne is 2000 Grade sandpaper

Finally, there you are!

I hope my little DIY tip has helped. Feedback and comments would be lovely.

So far, I;ve yet to try clear paint on nip marks but I’ll try it as soon as I can.

Until then,

HAppy Gunpla-ing!