Grandpa Gundam

 Anyone can snap-build a kit, but it takes a lot more patience and creativity to produce something truly unique. In whatever I got into, I always found that adding my personal touch to my chosen fandom always brought me greater satisfaction – I built my own tarantula hides (even sold a few), designed Magic decks from scratch, customized my Android tablet to oblivion, and so on. I recently acquired these master grade kits in a trade… 

(left to right: Crossbone ver. Ka, Zeta Gundam, RX78, MK2 Titans Colors)

Me being me, I couldn’t possibly display these built kits on my gundam shelf without first modifying them. Starting with a prebuilt kit has its pros and cons – it is easier to get an idea of what you want your kit to look like when you can see it as a snap-built model rather than pieces stuck to runners, but then there is the added task of taking the kit apart again and prepping it for painting…all the while praying to the plamo gods you don’t break anything. 

I started my remodelling project with my favourite among the four - the RX78. Being the granddaddy of all gundams, I didn’t want to change this kit too much in appearance, but I didn’t want it to look like plain old plastic either. I decided to just paint the internal frame, do some detailing, decals, and then weather the armour a bit. Here is the finished product, complete with LED mod for the eyes:

(..someday i'll get around to hiding those wires >_< )

 

I only spent about a day redoing this model, and it goes to show how a little effort goes a long way. I’m glad the previous owner was able to keep it in such good shape after so many years (I believe this model was released back in 2000). I can only hope my bootlegs look this good after 12 years!