Iron Blooded Orphans Model Kits

Gunpla Chronicles 7 Side Story Part 2 2016-11-19

I love hobbies. They’re fun, fulfilling, and sometimes you can even learn something from them. But there’s a dark side to them as well - namely, not all hobbies are easy to get into. Imagine you’re a newbie to some hobby. You ask the world a simple question - “What do I need to get started?” In my experience, the answers you’ll get back can be summed up as follows:

You’re going to need This, That, and the Other Thing at the very least. All told, it will only cost you around <insert price that’s somewhere between $200 and $3000, and is only achievable if you buy everything off of Ebay and Craigslist, otherwise it will cost double>.

I’d also recommend a Thingamabob, though as a beginner you might be able to do without it. I get one from my local specialty store for cheap, and I’m going to assume you have exactly this kind of store in your neighborhood, despite the fact that I have no idea where you leave.

Lastly, please do not cheap out and get something of lesser quality. You will *not* have a good experience, and you will never come to genuinely appreciate the hobby. If you’re going to do it, do it right or don’t bother.

This kind of response drives me up the wall. It assumes that everyone lives in the same place and has access to the same resources. It fails to understand that newbies are reluctant to drop a lot of money on something they aren’t even sure they’ll stick with (mostly because the person giving the advice fails to understand that someone might find the prices they quote to be expensive).

Gunpla Chronicles 7 Side Story - IBO Arms 2016-11-16

There are many aspects of Gunpla that I have yet to dip my toes into. Take painting, for instance. Or waterslide decals. And of course there are accessory packs. In the case of the latter category, I know that there are packs of weapons and other gimmicks you can buy to add some extra pizzazz to a model. I also know that there are both official and unofficial products. But beyond that, I couldn’t tell you who makes what, or where to find any of it.

In any case, a few months ago when I was scouring the local Barnes and Noble for model kits in the clearance rack, I found this box in the model kit section.

I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but after staring at it long enough, over multiple trips to the store, I realized it was an accessory pack of some sort. When there ended up being only one left on the shelf, I grabbed it out of some misplaced sense of fear that I wouldn’t see it again.

Gunpla Chronicles 7 - Final 2016-11-10

The Gundam Astaroth is complete. Let’s take a looksie.

While the Astaroth may not appear in the Iron Blooded Orphans TV show, this mobile suit most definitely comes from the IBO universe. The frame is the spitting image of the Gundam Barbatos’, and it is highly exposed in a number of areas. This is partly due to stylistic decisions - just about every unit in IBO exposes some of its frame - and partly due to the fact that the Gundams in this setting are very old, often incomplete, and in the case of the Astaroth, equipped with the wrong armor. Naturally there are going to be some unintended gaps.

Gunpla Chronicles 7 - Part 4 2016-11-09

Painting is complete. It went almost as poorly as when I painted the Kampfer, but this time I managed to salvage it.

The first problem: The Testor’s paint caused the Sharpie markers to bled out too. This is mind numbingly frustrating. It means that out of three types of markers (Gundam Markers, Sharpie and Pigma), only the latter manages not to become runny. I don’t understand what this paint is made out of. Acid maybe?

The good news is that I monitored the pieces as they dried, and was able to often wipe away the runoff. I also found that a pencil eraser did a pretty good job or removing the runoff without stripping away all the paint. Interestingly enough, there were a few parts that actually looked nice and weathered due to the bleeding effect, so I left those alone.

As for the Krylon high gloss paint, it worked great on the frame. Nice and even and shiny. The same cannot be said for the Demolition Knife and the rifle. They both have a bit of an uneven coat, with occasional bumps and smudges (on the sword, said smudges contain my fingerprints). This leads me to believe that my problems with this paint are due to saturation levels. Too much paint (or too little) leads to poor results. I guess I’d have to experiment with it some more to find the right “touch” so to speak, but I’m not sure if I want to risk potentially ruining a model in the process.

I ended up scratching off some of the pain on the Knife, to give it a nicked up, worn-out look. I kind of like it; anyone who cooks knows that knives and other kitchen equipment never remain immaculate, so why would this sword?

While I may have salvaged the painting of this model, I’m still worried that I had to do it in the first place. At this point, I’m running out of options for topcoat. I still have to try out Krylon’s matte paint to see how it fares, but if that doesn’t work, I may be forced to order Tamiya paints, the cost (and speed of delivery) of which greatly concerns me.

Side Thoughts

I used a paper bowl (lined with paper towels) to spray many of these pieces. I’d simply lay them down in the bowl and let ‘er rip with the paint. My original reason for doing this is to conserve paint; I thought I wouldn’t have to move the spray can around as much, and would use less as a result. I don’t know if my theory held up, but the results were good.

Gunpla Chronicles 7 - Part 3 2016-11-07

With the frame complete, I now turn to preparing the armor.

As I mentioned before, I’m planning on using two different kinds of spray paint on this model. That means the armor has to be painted before I attach it to the frame. In order to keep the pieces from getting lost or mixed up, I’m working on each section one at a time, and putting its putting that section’s pieces in a labeled, resealable bag.

I actually got all of the sections prepared before writing this post, though they are not painted or assembled. Instead of analysis, the rest of this post is going to be wild speculation as we examine loose pieces. If that doesn’t sound very exciting, I don’t blame you, and suggest you stop reading here.

Gunpla Chronicles 7 - Part 1 2016-11-02

Before we begin, let’s unbox this sucker. While I don’t have any photos of it right now, the box itself is the shortest of any kit I’ve built.

Here are the runners. There are only seven, which is the smallest runner count of any kit I’ve ever built (I’m not counting the Panda’gguy, since that would be cheating).

Here’s the instruction booklet, which has the fewest pages of any … you get the idea, right?

Gunpla Chronicles 7 2016-11-01

I can explain, I swear.

I know I just got done building not one, but two models, and a Panda’gguy. I also know that I considered taking a break back in September.

Long story short, I learned that Barnes and Noble was doing a clearance event, and that Gundam model kits might be one of the many things they mark down. I went online to look at prices and availability, when I stumbled upon the HG Gundam Astaroth from Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans. It looked cool as heck, and the price was cheaper than I’ve ever seen for a High Grade kit (13 bucks, though online it can be found for a ten spot). I felt like I couldn’t pass it up.