Gunpla, Gunpla Everywhere

My latest build and the most recent release in the Real Grade line of 1/144 Gundam kits, the sublime Gundam Epyon from Gundam Wing. And 38 releases in Bandai are just killing it.

Build finished, and just look at that gloriousness. I feel the need to point out there are only 2 stickers used here off of a sheet of many, MANY more, those being under the sensor gem in the chest, and a teeny tiny one on the crotch. Everything else? Just bare plastic snipped and tidied up.

I cannot recommend this kit highly enough if you have a chance to pick it up

I kinda feel Johns pain, as I have brought the entirety of the High Grade Witch From Mercury line. The challenge now is to get the rest of them built before January and the Gundam SEED Freedom kits start to drop…..

Took a gamble on this one as I’ve had the HG 1/144 Gundam Astray Green Frame on back order with HLJ for years at this point, so brought one off of Aliexpress. And honestly? For the price it does the job – It’s clearly a KO but fills the gap for the time being.

An older kit but a fun one. The Gunbarrel Striker Pack made adapted from Gundam SEEDs early show Alliance Mobile Armour is a neat extra, and fully compatible with other Striker Pack-compatible kits.

So I’ve been trying to work on my Gunpla backlog, and I figured I’d go for a pair of Astray Frames, in this case the Blue Frame Second L, and the Gold Frame Amensu Mina. I was a tad apprehensive, especially about the Gold Frame, as I’d heard some horror stories but both were fun builds that left me with a nicely weighty pair of suits for their scale, even if they are somewhat ridiculous (seriously – the Blue Frame’s massive sword? Does triple duty as a fixed minigun emplacement and as the suits flight pack. It’s only other armament is a pair of daggers like those off the Strike, not even a shield. The Gold Frame meanwhile? Oh it just salvages the harpoon launcher arm off of the Blitz Gundam that was cut off it in the anime just prior to it’s destruction, along with a Wolverine-style claw on the other arm, a pair of what can only be described as rapiers, and hooked wings with in-built dart launchers. It does have a very nice gloss finish to the black plastic though…)

Meant to post these a few weeks back after I’d built them – the Entry Grade RX-78-2 (Snow) and the Entry Grade RX-93 Nu-Gundam. Shockingly these are more excellent kits.

The RX-78-2 is no real surprise as I’ve built one before, but this special edition version with it’s crisp silver and shades of icy blue replacing the yellow, red & dark blue of the regular colour scheme is very nice indeed.
The main event though is the Nu-Gundam making it’s debut as the 3rd Entry Grade Gundam kit, and it’s a bit of a stunner. Colour seperation remains excellent, and the Nu even has a set of quite excellent stickers for the shield and left shoulder featuring Amuro Ray’s personal insignia. The only thing the kit is missing is a blade for the main beam sabre (the Nu’s second blade in the forearm is here just a dummy piece), and the suits iconic “wing” of fin-funnel drones. I have the Real Grade Nu Gundam kit in the build pile and it’s tempting to pull it to the front to compare with the EG version (and to see if the beam blades& fin funnels are compatible between the 2…..