Bandai

Gunpla Build - High Grade Shenlong Gundam 2022-11-02

After years of slow but steady releases, there are now modern High Grade model kits for all five of the original Gundam Wing protagonist mobile suits.

It started with the High Grade Wing Gundam all the way back in 2013, then Sandrock in 2019, Heavyarms in 2020, and Deathscythe in 2021. Now, in 2022, the set is complete, with the release of the High Grade Shenlong Gundam:

If you’d had told me even five years ago that I’d be excited about the release of this model kit, I wouldn’t believe you. Yet there I was, preordering it back in April, and spending all of September (and later October) wondering when it would ship. I’ve gone from hating (almost) all of these mobile suit designs, to liking them quite a bit. Imagine that!

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gundam Astray Red Frame Inversion (Final) 2022-10-31

The Astray Red Frame Inversion is complete, and I’m curious to see how well it fares in the spotlight. It’s a bit different than the Universal Cenutry models I usually build, both in form and function.

How Does it Look?

All in all, it doesn’t look half bad, though I assert that does look a little confused. At least in this “inverted” color scheme, it looks both skeletal, and muscular, and robotic all at once.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gundam Astray Red Frame Inversion (Part 2) 2022-10-19

Believe it or not, I’m pretty sure the accessories were the hardest part of building the Red Frame Inversion. How do I know this? After taking nearly ten days to finish them all, it took me only two days to finish half of the body. I have a feeling this model is going to be done in short order.

Feet

There’s not much going on here. The feet are made out of a few simple pieces, and they have no articulation.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gundam Astray Red Frame Inversion 2022-10-08

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - when your significant other buys you a model kit, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I had a rough week, she wanted to cheer me up, and she saw this at Target. The price was nice ($22 for a $25 kit), and so it came home with her:

This here is the Gundam Astray Red Frame Inversion, as featured in Gundam Breaker Battlelogue.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gogg (Final) 2022-09-18

For the sake of conversation, let’s say that Home Alone 2022 kicked off my summertime model kits builds, and that this Gogg build is my last (I’m not going to get another kit finished before the end of September, and despite the fact that October can be surprisingly warm in my neck of the woods, I just can’t think of it as summer).

In that case, I’d say that the Gogg was the most pleasant experience of them all, and in addition to being the most pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting much going into it, but I’m impressed with what I got out of it.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gogg (Part 1) 2022-09-11

Alright, let’s take a look at this little Gogg.

But first, a few remarks.

I'm covering the entire build in a single post. There's just not enough going on here to justify stretching it out any further.
I got some new toys at the hobby store, and I'm going to try them out with this build: Granted, it's just two sheets of waterslide decals, but this is the first time I've ever purchased aftermarket decals like this. I purchased these two particular sheets for use on a few particular model kits, none of which are the Gogg. But there are so many of them here that I think I'll use some on the Gogg to spice it up and make it look a bit fancier.
A lot of the photos you'll see here are from before I went back and added weathering. The final build is going to look a little bit different once it's all done.

Now, on to the build:

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gogg 2022-09-04

For this build, I’m going to be tackling the oldest model kit I’ve ever built. It’s HGUC #008, hailing all the way from the year 2000.

It’s a pretty simple model, and it’s a bit on the ugly side, but nevertheless there’s something about it that I find endearing.

It’s also a first in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. Specifically, it is the first amphibious mobile suit ever seen on screen: