My First Gunpla: RX-79(G) VS MS-06J

Submitted By: Kjasi

I’ve been a fan of Gundam ever since I saw Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network years ago. I’ve slowly been making my way through the series, watching Gundam, Zeta, SEED, SEED Destiny, 00, Unicorn, and others. I also collected Hobby Japans, because I loved the look of the Gundam model kits being posted in there. During this time, I collected a model kit here or there, but never even opened their plastic. This all changed after I watched Gunpla Builders Beginning G in late February.

I’m not sure what happened, but something in that show called out to me. Shortly afterwards, I started burrowing through the internet trying to find as much information as I could. Somehow, I stumbled upon hobbylink.tv and watched a good chunk of it, before I couldn’t stand it anymore! I dug out my old kits, looked through them, and decided to put one or two of them together.

I started with my HG 08th MS Team edition Gundam(G) VS Zaku II J. It was a pretty old kit, but in hindsight, it was the forerunner of the recent Starter’s kits. I managed to find some tools of my dad’s and I used them to snip, cut, sand and assembled my first Gunpla. I started with the Zaku, because it looked like fun. As I was working on him, and quickly realized that I would need to do something to enhance the panel lines, so I grabbed a 0.3 Copic Marker I had left over from school, and started to use them on the panel lines. I was quite pleased with the results, so I finished it up, learning a lot in the process. (Imagine my surprise when I saw that Syd uses the same markers!)

Before starting with the Gundam(G), I managed to get some actual Gunpla tools. (Bought the Tamiya basic tool kit) I noticed the difference almost right away, and the Gundam ended up looking much better because of it!

Looking back at it, I absolutely loved building and assembling that model kit. So much, in fact, that I dove right into building an SD Wing Zero Gundam that I got one Christmas. My God Gundam is next, but I’m going to try painting/airbrushing that kit, so I’ll have the skills to tackle my MG RX-78-2 OYW kit.
I look forwards to sharing more of my experiences with hobbylink.tv and HLJ!