A 40k gamer delves into Gunpla...

So, after many months of ogling Gunpla models in various places, I stumbled on a crazy cheap stash of them while on honeymoon in Taiwan. At about a third of the price of the kits in M'sia, I couldn't possibly resist, and loaded up on 3 of them and some nifty tools for general modelling.

This building is the one you want.

There are about half a dozen shops like this one on the 4th floor. So. Much. Plastic...

Truth be told, I gave a Gunpla set a try something like 4 years ago, but never got round to finishing it, as that was when my other armies were taking shape. Since I'm more or less happy with the state of my armies with very little expansion planned, I figured now is a good time to have some fun modelling something different...



I'm trying to take a systematic approach to this, in contrast to my earlier efforts. I figured I'd start with relatively simple models first and work my way up from there. In Gunpla terms, I'd start with HG (High Grade) kits first and after a few of those, try the RG (Real Grade) kits. Also, I'm going to restrict my endeavours to the 1/144th scale. Small enough to proxy as Broadsides, big enough to have some reasonable detail, I reckon.

There's plenty of variety in the kits, so I needed to narrow things down a bit, by following a set of criteria:

1. Start with the relatively simple models first, so none of the mad uber-suits with ludicrous amounts of sticky-outy bits like Strike Freedom or Justice or Providence;
2. I like lots of dakka. So suits with lotsa guns and missiles, please.
3. If the model is cool enough, based on the few Gundam series that I've watched, ignore rules 1 and 2. 

With that in mind, here are my choices:

Gun!

Moar gun!

Refer to Rule #3 above

I started with the Gouf Custom. Construction of these things is actually really simple and straightforward. The instructions are nice and clear, and there's actually no need for any glue at all. The moulding is also of excellent quality, with barely any mould lines for me to file away. However, I intended to inflict the best of my modelling kung fu from 40k-land on them, so I dabbed on a little glue in places where I felt the need to make a joint particularly secure or seamless. 

A couple of hours later... 

Almost there. I'll admit, the Gouf Custom is a model from a Gundam series that I've never watched, nor do I intend to. So perhaps I'm missing a bit of context when I look at it and think to myself: "Baby blue is a stupid colour for a war machine." As such, I decided on a new colour scheme...

Well, what colour were you expecting? Anyway, at the time of writing, I'm just getting started on the brushwork. Stay tuned, will post pics of progress...