My First Gunpla - Process Photos

My first gunpla!

When I decided to try out the gunpla hobby, I knew I wanted to work on SD kits (at least to start), due to my nostalgic memories of SD Gundam toys I had as a kid. I began by shopping around for a few kits I liked, based solely on aesthetics, as I wasn't super-familiar at the time with the overall Gundam franchise (I had seen only Gundam Wing and bits of a few other series). I ultimately landed on the SD EX-Standard Gundam Deathscythe Hell EW as my first kit. Next I did a lot of research and picked up a set of basic supplies - an airbrush and compressor, acrylic paints, cans of primer, hobby tools, etc. 

The learning process was extremely challenging. Due to all the mistakes and repainted pieces (I re-bought the kit I think four times), as well as several months-long discouragement-fueled breaks, it took me nine months to finish the kit. But finish I did, and ultimately I was thrilled with the results, realizing, after learning a lot, that I was capable of putting together a pretty nice-looking model. Finishing this kit gave me the confidence I needed to move forward with the hobby. 

Read on to see my first building process or click here to jump to the finished kit!

First time unpacking the kit and cleaning the pieces. I would later learn to do this after removing them from the runners. 

Sanding and initial assembly.

Test build.

Seeing how more experienced builders customized their kits, I wanted to try filling in some of the gaps in the backs of the legs and shoulder fins with modeling cement. It worked ok, but ultimately created a mess and was something I decided not to pursue much after this. 

My first time spraying. I used a styrofoam block to hold my pieces, though this left little bits all over my room, so I soon upgraded to dedicated hobby parts holders. I also didn't think to line my spray booth, so it instantly made a mess all over. Though the spray can primer went on reasonably well, my first time airbrushing paint was a disaster, as you can see from the above photo. It would take me some time to get the hang of it. 

Shot of a couple before and after pieces - the bottom set is from the first time I tried working on these pieces. The top set is after I re-bought the kit and tried again. 

First time masking. 

Another re-do, this time on the legs. 

So much masking!!

The results were not great. Lots of ragged edges and paint leaking through. 

My first gloss top coat. I really struggled with getting it to go on smoothly, rather than the pebbly texture you can see here. 

After taking a few months off in frustration, I finally picked the kit up again, starting from scratch on many of the pieces. This time though, I made real progress and came away with some very nice clean pieces. At last! 

As a side note, you'll notice starting here that I made a few minor tweaks to the default color scheme, starting with the head cameras. 

The finished scythe. I added some of my own details, some of which looked ok, others felt a bit like overkill. I didn't like the two pegs that stick out from the sides of the head behind the blade, so I clipped them off, sanded them down, and painted over. The green was a little dull, as I didn't have a brighter pigment in the initial acrylic set I bought. 

The near-finished kit! I managed to push through and get the whole model painted, detailed, and top coated with a (relatively) smooth gloss coat. One of the most important things I learned on this kit was the reverse wash technique, which you can see I used on both the eyes and cheek vents in the final photo. After this I panel lined, sprayed a final flat coat, and assembled. 

Check out the final kit here!