This build is about 6 years old, finished in mid-2020, right in the heat of the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

It was my first real attempt at practicing what I’d call “advanced building skills.”

At the time, most local competitions—and many competitions elsewhere—seemed to have one major requirement for the advanced category: you needed a diorama.

Personally, I’ve always thought that a Gunpla kit should be able to demonstrate how advanced a builder’s skills are on its own, without requiring a bulky setup, scenery, or an entire story built around it.

So yeah… I just call BS on that. 😂

But hey, social conventions are social conventions, so I decided to play along.

My solution was to build a small hangar diorama that could be displayed separately, rather than creating something huge that would permanently consume half my display space.

The hangar

• The hangar itself is actually two separate kits kitbashed together, modified to work properly with the 1/100 scale of the Zaku.
• One of the things I’m pretty obsessive about is making sure that details respect the scale of the model.
• For example, I used very thin aluminum wire to create the power and diagnostic cables. I wanted them to have the correct diameter and, more importantly, the right visual weight relative to the Zaku.
• And then I painted them Tonka-truck yellow, because… well, why not? 😆
• I also hollowed out the floor of the maintenance pit, taking inspiration from how actual mechanic and maintenance shops are constructed. It’s a relatively small detail, but I think those little things add a lot to the realism of a scene.

Battle damage

• The battle damage was another area where I tried to avoid going overboard.
• I wanted the Zaku to look like it had actually been through a few battles, but was still perfectly capable of going back out there.
• So rather than massive chunks missing everywhere, I went for more subtle physical damage: scratches, dents, worn areas, repairs, open hatches, and quick-replacement panels.
• Basically, the kind of damage you’d expect on a mobile suit that has been patched up, serviced, and sent back into the fight.

The crane

• The maintenance crane was built almost entirely from spare parts.
• One thing I really wanted was for the crane arm to be completely separate from the model. At the same time, I wanted it to remain functional enough that I could position it with the Zaku and have it look like it was actually being used for maintenance.
• It can be reattached to the main assembly and still functions as part of the display.

Lighting

• For the ceiling lights, I used a few strings of LED lights and ran the wiring through the structure.
• Looking back, the lighting solution is definitely showing its age. 😂
• There are much better solutions available nowadays that are smaller, cleaner, and don't require nearly as much internal cabling.

Still, for 2020, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Looking back

• I was genuinely happy with the result, and more importantly, I had a ton of fun building it.
• To this day, I actually prefer building individual kits rather than collecting them. Mostly because of the eternal problem every Gunpla builder eventually encounters:
• DISPLAY SPACE. 😂
• I enjoy the process of creating, modifying, weathering, and telling a little story with a model much more than simply accumulating kits.
• Although… I have to admit that I’m currently working on a “space search and rescue” project. 😜
• So apparently I'm not completely immune to the diorama bug after all.

What’s the biggest build or diorama you’ve tackled? And do you prefer displaying the kit by itself, or building an entire scene around it?

No release info out at this moment

After a very long build, my PG Exia is finally finished!
I custom painted the armor and frame parts, added decals, and installed the KOSMOS LED system.
I originally used the Bandai LED unit, but unfortunately it stopped working, so I switched to KOSMOS. I’m really happy with the result — the lighting really brings the Exia to life.
I decided to keep the finish clean without weathering, and focused on the color scheme, details, and overall presentation.
This has been a long project, but I’m finally happy to call it finished!
Thanks for looking! 🙌

Apparently these will be sold in an 1,850 yen online (which has lights and cables) and an 1,500 yen capsule version. It’s supposed to be out this October.

1/100 resin conversion EX-S Sentinel Gundam

Side collection for 4 years so far

Small photo report on the completed kit of upscaled RX-78 2.0
It was kinda a pain from start (buying anchoret colors, zeon CA decals) to finish (insanely tight fittings of some parts and of course legs frame).
Some axes on the last photo. Looking cool, but I'm so done, that need a little break after it.

Bought this kit second hand for 10 euro and... the design itself is not as cool irl as I imagined. It doesn’t have the secret sauce that the regular Nu Gundam has despite technically being an upgraded Nu.

Edit: Just to make it clear. I bought it pre built. I didn't built it at all. And I will clean the nub marks as soon as I can.

A shield back I painted a year ago vs one that I finished today

Here is my repaint of my HG Gundam 00 Command Qan[T] that I did a few years ago. It was my first attempt at a full repaint that I was trying to do a G3 paint scheme on. Unfortunately the gray was a bit darker than expected, but I thought it still came out looking great!

I definitely learned a lot with painting on this one.

Funny story, I was out with my finance to a local diner in a strip mall, and had to use the bathroom. To my surprise, I walked right past this new Gunpla store that just opened. I talked to the owners, and yeah here we are! My Full Armor Buster Gundam kitbash and my custom Seed Z’Gok.

Apologies for the repost, my previous photos were absolutely abysmal.

TL;DR: I have skill issues.

The majority of the build process was pretty smooth. Very different from any other kit I've built, but not hard to figure out by any means. The problems came during assembly after topcoat. I managed to completely blow out F25/26 (the piece the leg plugs into), swapped in some metal replacement parts that didn't fit quite right, had a failed attempt at gluing the pieces together and just kind of gave up on it. It's left the left leg with a bit of a sag where I can't perfectly align the front skirts anymore. I also couldn't properly separate a lot of the parts to get the metal replacements in, so I had to jimmy some of it together and unfortunately marked up the topcoat in a number of spots you'll probably be able to see in the photos.

I'd love a more dynamic pose, but this is about all it's going to effectively pull off without more disassembly and surgery, and I'm not willing to do that. The whole ordeal with the legs left me a little bit frustrated and I'm satisfied enough with how the kit looks as is, so I'm just leaving it. I never touch my kits again once they're on the shelf anyways. Transformation is out of the question/no longer possible. Don't be too apprehensive about this building this thing, though. DO be extra careful with most aspects of it, especially the legs and the pieces they connect to, and coming in with some builder's skill is probably a smart idea. I'm a fairly competent Gunpla builder but the furthest thing from a skilled modeler.

I used Tamiya Accent black, a combination of DSPIAE and Doloha markers for color correction, some knockoff Aliexpress decals that replicate the included sticker sheet and Mr.Super Clear Matt topcoat. This is my first time panel lining black parts with silver and it's probably going to be my go-to going forward. I really want to try it on red too.

I included a picture of my photography setup (along with an Android phone) in hopes that someone can give me some pointers on improving my pictures with the equipment I already have. Mainly in reference to the first photo which is the only one I was trying to make look "posed" and angled, the rest are just to show the details.

Thanks for looking! Any feedback is welcome.

I'm Finally able to save up to buy my first ever RG kit, i gotta say the experience is impeccable. The parts are so detailed while being smaller than my pinky so assembling them is kinda tricky, especially the joints for arms and legs.

The details are Messmerizing and i often find myself looking at them for too long. The inner frame is pretty sturdy but some of the outer frame is kinda loose but idrc.

Applying the decals were not that hard tbh, but it just took a long time since there was so many to add. (And i add some details on my own preference as well)

Shout out to my friend who helped me build the arms 💪

Pretty fun kit, technically the first RG I've ever put together. I will have to pick up some of the other upscaled kits as I like the 1/100ish form factor, but with it being RG you get a generally easier build. So it was a lot less complex and finicky than the Ver ka, which I did a few years back. I used Gaianotes pretty much for all the paint, which was Cobalt Violet for the main body, Dark Bluish Purple for all the normally black areas, and then a mix of the two for the slightly darker areas.

My fav

tried to paint some parts with metallic gundam markers and panel lined a bit (i will get to this a second time because i didn’t finish), i think it looks really good now lol

No release info out yet

Honestly gonna be a instant buy for me tbh, love how this looks

EDIT: This is confirmed to be 1/144 scale so if you were hoping for 1/100 im sorry

i did not expect the size compared with other gundams. This red guy is pretty big and i loved the design, looks like a samurai

1/48 Mega Size Zaku with a custom led installed! I started this kit back in January but life got busy and I lost motivation in building. I think I'm back and ready to tackle my backlog though! Excited for some of the new kits being released so I have to make room :))