Real Grades

Finally Bandai has given an amazing series of kits to those that either can't afford, or don't have the space to collect, Perfect Grades. The answer is the Real Grade series. Available for under $50 these amazing little 1/144 scale kits will keep you coming back for more. In fact, after a few were added to my local collection many of my previously impressive Master Grades ended up being boxed and stored.
The first Real Grade build review is coming soon. If you are unfamiliar with this series, just wait. Amazement is around the corner.

Gundam Model Building: Adding Detail With Gundam Markers

Once you are comfortable with the basics, or if you already have a history with traditional plastic models, then you can easily up the ante on your Gundam models by adding a little paint. This article will touch on the finer points of adding detail the easy way.

Gundam kits have some very unique color palettes. Due to this you can wander your local hobby shop for hours trying to find just the right paint. When you are just trying to add detail to a kit you plan to keep mostly unpainted this can be a quite frustrating. Fear not because Bandai has you covered.

Gundam Markers are available in most of the traditional Gundam colors and in a variety of sized tips. These are perfect for adding detail, or painting the contrasting colors on a 1/144 scale kit that are all molded together. Bandai has a basic set of 6 markers that includes a large gunmetal marker for weapon detail as well as the red, white, yellow, and blue that you will need to pull detail out of the 1/144 and HG 1/100 scale kits. The Master Grades and Perfect Grades are molded in more separate pieces and need less paint to look incredible. The 6^th marker is a black fine point. It is good for general detail, but isn’t small enough to add panel line detail without a great deal of work. More on adding panel detail in a moment.

When you build some of the less detailed kits you will encounter something that is molded in a single, or incorrect, color for simplicity’s sake. The perfect examples are the 1/100 No Grade Red Frame Astray that has an almost entirely chrome sword and the 1/144 HG Bawoo that is striking in detail for its scale, but horribly lacking in fine yellow details. The large logo on the shield that can be seen in the attached image was molded with the shield and thus dark green. A little masking tape and a few quick cuts with the ever handy hobby knife and the shield was ready for two coats from the yellow Gundam Marker. You can see the result.

Panel line detail is the easiest way to increase the visual appeal of your kit. Gone is a large lump of flat looking plastic replaced by a display model that draws the eye from one detail to the next. There is an image of a 1/100 MG GP01 that is bare plastic save the added panel line detail. It is truly striking. To easily add panel lines you need to get the very fine tip Gundam Markers. You can do great things with only a black marker for this purpose, but if you want to bring you’re a game then you should also buy grey and maybe a brown. Use the brown or grey to add panel detail on white areas and the black to add detail to the color areas. If only black is used the panels tend to appear too heavy and distracting.

If you make a mistake while adding panel detail or you feel the line is too bold then fear not. Grab a standard pencil eraser and remove the error. It’s that easy. It is very difficult to make an error bad enough to destroy your expensive kit. Gone are the days of plastic models that are destroyed beyond repair by too much overspray or the wrong combination of paints and cement.

These kits make it very easy to move to the next level without having to practice the skills on blank parts or a scrap kit. The novice can quickly become a master of these intermediate techniques and be happy with the result for years to come.

Gundam Model Building: Basic Tools

So you want to build a Mobile Suit Gundam model but you don’t know where to start. You have come to the right place. This article will explain the basic tools needed to get you started.

Unlike traditional plastic models Bandai’s line of Mobile Suit Gundam kits do not require cements or much paint to create a stunning display piece. You will need some basic tools that are, almost entirely, available at your nearest hobby shop or big box retailer. For an introduction to the kits themselves please read the article: What is Gunpla?
 

Gundam kits are entirely of a snap or screw together design. There are no incredibly toxic cements or solvents required. All you really need to get started is a way to remove the pieces from the parts tree, a way to clean the rough edges left, and the screwdrivers needed for assembly of some more advanced kits.

To remove the parts you will need a pair of side cutters. Hobby shops will have a good selection of these available. Side cutters are designed to get close to the part and remove it from the tree quickly, easily, and without any damage. They are specifically designed for this purpose. Some advice: spend the extra to get a good set of cutters. Much like a set of mechanic’s tools you will get what you pay for. The cheaper cutters will do the job, but will misalign and dull quite quickly. Due to the nature of a Gundam model some of the Master Grades and all of the Perfect Grades have thousands of parts. A few extra dollars at the beginning will allow for the enjoyment of far more kits. If you do not have a hobby shop near you can use a set of small wire cutter pliers available at any big box retailer’s hardware department or any auto parts store. These are not quite as easy to use. Modeler’s side cutters are spring loaded to an always open position while wire cutters are not. They will do the same job, but at a cost of twice the effort. The wire cutters should only be used as a last resort.

For parts cleanup you have several options. The preferred method is to use a sanding stick or sand paper to gently remove the little nub that remains on the part from the tree. Sanding sticks are available for under a dollar at the local hobby shop and are the perfect tool. If you must use sandpaper then please choose a very fine grit. The extra patience will produce a far better looking kit.

You will need a hobby knife. These are available in many brands and have several different blade shapes and options. You will be able to use this tool to remove large nubs left by the cutters, place very small sticker type decals, and cut the rub transfer decals from the sheet. This is probably the most versatile tool in the modeler’s toolbox.

If you are building a 1/200 scale, 1/144 scale, or non Master Grade 1/100 scale kit these tools should be all you need. If, however, you are building a Master Grade or any 1/60 scale kit there are 3 additional items you will need to add to the shopping list.

You will need a small set of screwdrivers. Master Grades and Perfect Grades assemble many of their frame components using small screws. These screws are always Phillips head so you may not need the full set. These screwdrivers are available in any hobby shop, hardware department, and some auto parts stores.

Lastly, these advanced kits sometimes include rub transfer markings. These need to be cut from the sheet using the ever handy hobby knife, held in place on the model, and rubbed with a tool to transfer the marking. There are many different techniques for accomplishing this task. The one that seems to be the easiest is to remove the marking from the sheet, hold it in place with cellophane tape, and rub it with a rounded object like the end of a paint brush. You already have a hobby knife on the list and you probably already have a roll of cellophane tape. You don’t need a paintbrush per say, so search your home for a suitable replacement before buying a brush that may never see paint.

That is the entire basic list. With these few tools you will be able to create complete Mobile Suit Gundam display that will make you proud and your friends jealous.

Gunpla?

Gunpla may be an unfamiliar word, but in some circles it is as devoutly followed as some religions. Gunpla is the term used to refer to the hobby of collecting and assembling a series of model kits from a Japanese company called Bandai that are based upon the many animated series and films of Mobile Suit Gundam. Mobile Suit Gundam is a multi-title series of anime that first aired in 1979 and has been going strong for the last 31 years. These kits are almost exclusively of the mobile suits themselves featuring a large variety of sizes, colors, and designs. These kits are primarily snap together and molded in the correct colors and are, as a result, perfect for the beginner. In just a few short hours a novice can have a display piece that looks incredible with little to no traditional model building supplies. As experience and confidence grows, application of traditional model building paint and assembly skills can result in a piece of unbelievable quality that can classify in many ways as a work of art. The line itself is designed to grow with the builder's skills and comfort starting with easily snapped together and pre-painted Fast Grade kits and culminating with the huge Perfect Grades. Perfect Grade kits are made of thousands of individual parts and usually feature LED lighting effects requiring great care, patience, and skill. Over the years the Gunpla hobby has, in many ways, eclipsed the original source materiel of the anime. It is rare to find a hobby that anyone with interest can have something of which to be truly proud. Most model kit based hobbies require years of patience and practice before they truly begin to pay off, but Gunpla grows with the builder supplying a sense of accomplishment lacking in the early years of others. Gunpla is like a sunny day or a good potato chip. One is never enough.

1/100 MG Strike Launcher / Sword

This is the 1/100 scale Master Grade Strike Gundam with the Launcher / Sword pack. This is not the first Strike master Grade I've built (my third actually), but it is far and away my favorite. The other two Strikes were the Aile and Rouge Aile version. Both of those come with a large launcher base and the Aile pack making them simply striking, but this kit has so many more options. The Strike Gundam in this kit is identical to the normal Strike MG. The difference comes shows with the Launcher and Sword packs. It took me longer to assemble all the bits and pieces of the weapons than the mobile suit itself. It comes with a flight stand identical to several other MG kits. I know it's the same as the 1/100 MG Wing Zero Custom's stand. The detail on this kit is what you would expect from the Master Grade series. It is simply superb. The number of parts in this kit is impressive. It was definitely one of the larger Master Grade boxes I've ever received. It comes with a combination of standard sticker markings and the better quality rub transfer type. All the larger markings are rub. Some of the larger areas of plastic show some swirling in the mold which is a little unusual for a Master Grade. This is most noticeable on the red shield panel and some of the launcher pieces. I don't remember how long it took me to complete this kit, but it was almost a week of evenings. This kit, as pictured, was completed with no paint outside of the panel detail pulled out with very fine Gundam markers of several colors. This will be a striking (pun intended) addition to your Gundam collection. I have no real complaints.

Increasing Your Gundam Collection The Easy Way

Since I know as well as any of you how hard it can be some times to locate just the right kit I have started adding links at the bottom of my posts that will link directly to the exact item I have reviewed for sale on Amazon. If you like what you see and can't get the kit at your local hobby shop then you can get it from Amazon with just a simple click. I hope you all find this useful.

1/144 HG GN-002 Gundam Dynames

It used to be that you couldn’t have a nice little Gunpla collection on a budget. While it’s true that a perfect grade costs half of an average car payment, the lesser expensive kits have become far more impressive over the years. While I still consider the 1/144 no grade and 1/200 first grade kits to be toys more than static display pieces, I now have an entire shelf of 1/144 high grade kits. These little HGs are very impressive when you consider the size of the mobile suit and small price.

This is the 1/144 GN-002 Gundam Dynames from the Gundam 00 series. This little kit has but 3 full color parts trees, a soft rubber tree for the flexible shoulder GN strips, and a tree of the usual poly caps. The construction is as you would expect. The instructions, while all Japanese, are easy to follow. The normal module construction is utilized. The quality of the plastic is what you would expect from any Bandai kit below a Master Grade. There is some minor swirling in the color of the larger flat pieces, such as the armor plates on the shoulders, but it isn’t bad. To obtain the detail that places this kit on par with the 1/100 No Grade and High Grade kits some of the parts are very small. Fortunately, this kit relies on plastic molding color rather than stickers for most of the details. This allows for a much better end result than even some of the No Grade 1/100 kits that I have assembled.

I assembled this just calling out the panel lines and details with a fine black and fine grey Gundam Marker. I used the black on all color parts and the grey on all the white parts. The assembly was easy and didn’t take more than an hour or so. This kit is a great way to get started in the hobby or an inexpensive way to add to your collection.

Over all, for the value and finished product I don’t have any real issues with this kit. The small things that caught my attention escaped harsh criticism solely due to it being a 1/144 HG kit. If some of the same eccentricities were found on a Master Grade I would have an entire paragraph of fit and finish or detail issues, but this is not a Master Grade. In fact this kit was less than 1/3 the price of the average Master Grade. It is ¾ the size and ½ as impressive. All this adds up to being an excellent value. These newer HG kits have opened my collection to a much lower priced segment. These are welcome in my collection any time.