Witch From Mercury Model Kits

Gunpla Build - High Grade Darilbalde (Part 1) 2023-07-26

This build ended up being a bit different than usual. For one, I didn’t document the it blow by blow. In fact, I may take a break from doing so for a little while. I realized that my (current) aversion to doing all the prep and staging for pre-build photos was keeping me from building at all. At that point it’s just not worth doing.

Second, I didn’t just prep, but fully assembled all the body parts before doing any painting (I’ll explain why in a bit).

The Parts

The Darilbalde has surprisingly few parts:

That’s not a judgement, just an observation.

No wait, it is kind of a judgement actually. Or maybe more of a concern.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gundam Ilfrith (Part 1) 2023-06-09

It’s time to put on a brave face and dive into this build. First, the runners:

It may not seem like a lot at first glance, but don’t be fooled. The C-Runner in particular is loaded with parts. This is a more detailed model than you might think.

There are a couple of observations I’d like to point out before we get started on the build proper.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gundam Ilfrith 2023-06-04

I’ve been watching Gundam: The Witch From Mercury as it airs. So far I’ve been (mostly) enjoying it, but there is one thing I find surprising: I don’t care much for most of the mobile suit designs.

It’s not that I think they’re bad or anything. They just don’t do much for me (and I have no idea why).

So far the only exception has been the Gundam Ilfrith, from all the way back in the show’s special Prologue episode from last summer:

It’s the only suit in the show that I find appealing (well, that and Aerial, since it looks so much like Ilfrith). Which is why I chose it to be among my first - and maybe one of my only - GWitch kits.