Gundam

Gunpla Build - High Grade Shenlong Gundam Final 2022-11-15

These last few days have been wild to say the least. The went something like this:

Thursday, November 10: Finished Shenlong for realsies. At this point I feel that the build was good and clean, but the model itself - mostly the head - looks a bit off.

Saturday, November 12: Took photos. Still believe it was a clean build, and I was able to work around the head, positioning it at different angles so that it looked less derpy. Later on I clean up all of my tools and put the model on the shelf.

Monday, November 14: Took my first real look at the photos from Saturday. Suddenly I now think the head looks perfectly fine. Also, I’m noticing mistakes that I never saw before, most notably some crusty black paint on the left side of the head, as well as some clear coat frosting on the backside. I go into a mini nervous breakdown, as I struggle to understand how, after just a day or two, the model looks so much different than it did before. Why does the head look so different, and why didn’t I notice these mistakes earlier?

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.