GUNPLA: The Unexpected Hobby

In the world of Gunpla, I was kinda like J.R.R. Tolkien's character Bilbo Baggins of "The Hobbit".  At first, like Bilbo (minus the big hairy feet), I wasn't totally sold on the idea of Gunpla as Bilbo wasn't enthusiastic to join the adventure of reclaiming the Lonely Mountain with Gandalf, Thorin and his band of dwarves.  Similar to Bilbo, who was happy living his simple life in the Shire, I was content with the hobbies that currently occupied my time and didn't think I had room for another.  But just like Bilbo who became a willing participant as the adventure progressed, I found myself hooked after my first "real" build.  The rest as they say is history.

My first build was in February 2014 (which pretty much makes me a newbie) and it came in the form of a NG (No Grade) 1/100 scale Hail Buster Gundam.  I picked up this kit at a recycle shop during a trip to Japan.  The "build" was really for my son who was the Gundam fan in the family.  I grew up watching and admiring Voltes V and Mazinger Z which totally reveals my age (I'm 39) and didn't watch my first Gundam series until just this year. (I know, shoot me, HAHA!)  I built another kit before heading back home, this time a HG (High Grade) 1/144 scale Gundam Age-1 Normal.  At that point, I was hooked and became the second Gundam fan in the family.  I bought a few more kits before heading home since kits are so much cheaper in Japan than anywhere else. (Makes sense since Gundams are from Japan)
 

I didn't feel that my Gunpla skills were good enough to tackle a MG (Master Grade) kit (I brought home a MG GAT-X105 Aile Strike Gundam) yet so I built another HG kit, this time the XXG-01W Wing Gundam, to gain confidence.

The next challenge came in the form of a RG (Real Grade) Gundam Mk-II Titans kit.  I just loved the amount of detail this kit had along with the build challenges it presented.  I could have been discouraged and stopped Gunpla altogether but the difficulty (which was also mentally stimulating) only made me a bigger fan.  Each build gave me confidence and that confidence finally convinced me to take on my first MG build.

I don't know why I didn't just start building the MG Aile Strike I already had (maybe I had bigger plans for it, don't really know) but my first MG build came in the form of the Shin Musha Gundam.  I even dabbled in a little spray painting (gold accents and matte black finish) with this kit which was nerve-wracking to say the least.

With my confidence growing, I attempted my first full paint build on a HG MSN-06S Sinanju.  To be honest, I messed up on this one.  I was trying to replicate the look of the titanium finish version but was ignorant to the multi step painting process to achieve this desired effect.  The result, just a redder, less plastic looking Sinanju.  I wouldn't consider this build a fail however as I gained valuable knowledge through this experience which I will take to my next build.    

To date, I have a total of eight built kits (one of them is a custom paint build which I will publish in a separate post), one W.I.P. (Work In Progress) and a backlog of nine kits.  Needless to say, I'm no longer a hesitant traveler on this adventure we call Gunpla but rather a willing participant who will continue on this journey as far as my imagination (and wallet) can take me.  Till my next post.  Thanks, everyone!