RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0 (Part 5)

Finally, the path of Gunpla comes to an end.

Below are pictures of the final, painted and coated RX-78-2.

The top coating really gave the model an awesome matte finish. The white parts of the model have a look and feel similar to a Mac keyboard, actually.

Amuro Ray's workaholic, negligent, and ultimately insane father would be proud...

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0 (Part 4)

Techniques

Some readers may be interested in Gunpla, and might have some questions.

"What spray paints do you recommend?"

"Is there an advantage to using a top coat?"

"How much time does a model take to build?"

Those are all great questions. What you're going to want to do is get comfortable cursing. When dealing with hundreds of small, fragile plastic pieces, as well as several different cans of spray paint and coating, something will go wrong. That's natural, but you need to be prepared. Therefore, I recommend preparing a good salvo of curses. You'll want to go with the most guttural sounding ones with the least syllables. You should preferably use ones with vowels such as "u" and "o", and ending in either hard "k" or blunt "nt." sounds. When that knee joint snaps, and it will, you're going to need to be able to curse immediately, loudly and properly. Don't force it - just say what comes out naturally. The problem you encounter will help you choose. For example, a string of curses following a slowly building, frustrating issue (such as a stuck part) will differ greatly from a sudden, surprising shattering of a piece. Below are some real life examples that I encountered personally.

Example 1

I put the neck piece under the head, but didn't tuck the connecting pieces properly, so I had to take it off and start over. The neck was stuck on too tight, however, so I took a pair of pliers and tried to pull it off... when suddenly *SNAP*!

"Oh f*ck!!! F*CK!!"

Example 2

The arms have several pieces of armor on them, including a small piece above the elbow. I placed it on the left arm, but it didn't fit right, so I took it on and off a few times and then it just crumbled into a bunch of pieces...

"You've got to be f*cking kidding ME!!!!!"

I hope this helps. The hobby can seem overwhelming at first, but with a little guidance, there's nothing to be afraid of.

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0 (Part 3)

Assembly

The bulk of the construction is the assembly of the parts. I've probably over-emphasized the amount of parts , but the majority of them aren't even visible as they are covered by the armor plates. Bandai did a good job replicating the actual framework of a "real" Gundam as much as possible, and it shows.

Below is the chest chassis, with tiny pistons that move in and out when the arms move. Nice detail, totally unable to be seen on the completed model.

This is the chest with the armor on. Note the small sumi-ire (inking) on the neck armor.

"Right Arm of the Giant"

Here we have the legs - one without the armor on, revealing the mechanics underneath.

These are all the completed parts, freshly top coated and awaiting final assembly.

There were some mishaps throughout the assembly process. Those will be documented later.

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0 (Part 2)

I originally had the crazy idea to cut out every piece and paint it individually. When I saw that many of the pieces were small enough for me to be able to inhale, that idea went out the window.

I decided to just spray paint the entire runner and worry about any after-cutting touching up later.

Here is a picture before I started. The runner and I were very nervous; it was both our first time.

The spray painting began in the garage. As I was spraying, I noticed bumps appearing on the shield and realized that dust was collecting on the pieces. I looked up at the light, and to my horror, saw all kinds of dust particles floating around. The garage was out - too much dust. I took the paint off with thinner and took it outside to try again.

I set everything up, aimed the spray can and started spraying. The wind promptly blew all the paint in my face, and not on the runner. I had no choice but to do the painting in my apartment. Needless to say, my apartment stunk of spray paint for two days, and I'm certain I suffered brain damage. At what price, this Gundam?

Here we have some runners drying throughout the apartment. You get very creative when paint fumes are eroding your brain cells.

Here is the styrofoam I used to keep the paint from going everywhere.

And that was painting!

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0

The massive undertaking - the MG 1/100 Gundam RX-78-2.

For this model, I opted to paint, ink, and top coat. However, those are all things that take place after several long, long steps.

Before you can even worry about painting, etc., you have to deal with the sheer volume of plastic pieces that make up a Master Grade Gunpla kit:

Imagine opening a box to find an insurmountable amount of plastic... as if a plastic god had exploded its majesty into a cardboard box, in five colors...

Tackling such a challenge requires proper tools. The amount of tools I assembled would suggest I was actually building something useful, like an appliance or a piece of furniture, instead of a plastic model kit of a fictional robot.

Armed with these implements, I am the devil, come to do the devil's work.

To be continued.

0 Gundam (Type A.C.D.) Part 2

...and here is Part 2.

The contents of the box look something like this:

Since this is 1/144, the pieces are pretty tiny. The red piece below is part of the head. Someone at the plastic Gundam factory must think its easy to put an eye sticker on something smaller than the size of your fingernail...

Here's the torso... Those clipping marks are not beautiful.

This is the work area. I feel the can of Super Dry makes the whole experience authentic. I almost felt like a Japanese salaryman coming home from a hard day of work, relaxing with a beer and a Gundam... and maybe Terry Ito on the TV and a pack of Mild Sevens.

After a few days of on and off work, here are the results:

My apartment smelled like plastic for a few days during the whole process. I wonder if any studies have done on the health concerns of Gunpla...

0 Gundam (Type A.C.D.) Part 1

Well, it's time for a little Gunpla action. This will be my first play by play Gunpla post, so if the photos don't look good, or it's not interesting... mea culpa.

This model is the 0 Gundam (Type A.C.D.) 1/144 HG (ありがとう、ゆり!)

Tools

Since I won't be painting or inking this one, I only needed two things:

Results will be posted soon!