A few weeks back I built my first Gunpla kit and having thoroughly enjoyed it, I picked up a few more. Having built four in total now I think it's safe to say that I've found another niche in the building and collecting models to explore that scratches a couple of hobby itches.
Before we get to that though, I'd like to dive quickly into what initially drew me to trying out Gunpla because it was a combination of factors that ended up pulling me in.
Around a month or so ago, Louise Sugden posted a vid up on her YouTube channel Rogue Hobbies about her first Gunpla building experience - I quite like having hobby videos from a few different folks on while I'm at my hobby desk, and this one had me downing tools and paying a bit more attention. "Hmm" I thought "maybe I'll give one of those a try some time" and then I got back on with painting Skaven I think.
A few days later though, I was in my local Hobbycraft store and noticed that they had started to stock some of the Gunpla range, so I had a wee look at a few and then decided that I needed to do a bit more research before I started making any purchases - Gunpla Kits seemed to be pretty good value, but there are such a bewildering array of kits that I wanted to have a bit more of an idea of what was what.
Some Google, YouTube and Facebook searching followed and before long I had an understanding of some the grades of kit (Entry, High, Real and Perfect seem to be the main four now, offering different degrees of complexity, detail and finish) and had begun to form a clearer picture of what I could expect from them in terms of experience, level of detail and any particular gimmicks or foibles that I should look out for.
My birthday falls towards the end of November, and Hobbycraft emailed me a £5 off voucher that weekend so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to grab a kit a little bit cheaper and see how I got on. After a look through what was available, I settled on an Entry Grade RX-78-2 with full weapon set and a couple of evenings later, I cracked open the box and got stuck in to building it.
Despite having some idea of what to expect having researched the kits before I made my purchase, I hadn't expected to find the experience as quite as enjoyable as it turned out to be.
The instructions and the box made it very clear that no tools or glue are needed for the kit and for the most part that was true, but there were a handful of parts that I ended up trimming off the sprue and cleaning up with a sharp scalpel and my indelicate handling of the head vanes necessitated in the need to make some repairs with Tamiya extra thin cement. Aside from this wee slip up though, the kit went together easily and quickly which made for a wonderfully relaxed 45 minutes or so of hobbying with a cracking end result thanks to the pre-coloured parts in the kit.
Before I knew it, I was heading back from Hobbycraft with a second Entry Grade kit in the form of a GAT-X105...
...then grabbing a Gundam Lah...
...and finally ordering an RX-93 V
Now, I should say that I know next to nothing about Gundam in a wider sense, I've purely been enjoying these kits from the perspective of them 'scratching the building itch' which is to say that, sometimes I just want to build something to relax and the nature of the Gunpla Ekits makes them perfect for this because they're self contained projects that look great when finished with no additional effort required (though more can be made, I'll come back to this in a mo!). The Entry Grade ones even more so as they can easily be built in less than an hour, which is perfect for fitting in around other things.
Building these four Gundam has not only given me an appreciation of a hobby I hadn't known existed until very recently, it's also got me looking at some of the more complex High Grade and Real Grade kits as well as thinking about some of the extra steps I can take to push the Entry Grade ones up a notch, such as panel lining them with Gundam Markers to add extra detail.
As I mentioned above, I've no real knowledge of the myriad movies, tv series and by extension mobile suits, so I've mostly been choosing what to build based on availability and what looks cool, though I have recently begun watching Requiem for Vengeance on Netflix and have Witch From Mercury lined up for streaming as well. Both of these have revealed the existence some kits I quite like the look of so I will probably pick them up at some point as well. While writing this post, I've also picked up a couple of other kits, including a second RX-78-2 to build with some of the alternate weapon options.
So would I recommend giving Gunpla a try?
Well, it's not going to be for everyone of course, but if you enjoy the building aspect of hobbying then I think they're definitely worth checking out. Equally, if you like giant armoured walkers you'll probably enjoy them as well. There is a pretty firmly established trend of customising Gunpla kits with paints, weathering, aftermarket parts and decals, so they might also appeal to hobbyists who like to 'super detail' vehicles and machinery too.
With Entry Grade kits costing as little as £10, if you're curious then I'd suggest just grabbing one and giving it a go as your best option - it won't take long to build and in the worst case scenario, if you don't enjoy it, you won't be significantly out of pocket and you won't have lost a large amount of time either.
I think that's about it for this post and probably this year too given the date. As always though, thanks for reading, happy hobbying and with 2025 just around the corner, all the best for the New Year.
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