Blu Duel Gundam (GAT-X1022) – Assembled

Read my previous post about this kit here

The second part on the Blu Duel Gundam is going to be about the completed model and what it looks like BEFORE it is painted – who knows, may be this is the one kit you were waiting for — the one that does not need paint? Also I am going to share my thoughts on the overall quality of the model — it certainly has lots of “pros” and some “cons”, so read on!

Story

I realised that one thing needs a little bit more attention — it is the story behind this Gundam (here I am going to recap the information you can find at MAHQ).
A tragic tale of a stolen in C.E. 71 Gundam (Gosh! I’ve lost count of “stolen” Gundams already, don’t those story writers have anything more interesting to do than go through the same ideas every time?) that ended up destroyed during a battle with several Kerberos BuCUE Hounds (happened in C.E. 74):

Between these two events it was upgraded with the phase-shift armor. Interestingly enough, unlike the other mecha of the same line, the armor was integrated into its main body (although it is technically possible to remove it from the model). Read more

Blu Duel Gundam (GAT-X1022) – Introduction

Hi Everyone!

Finally I’ve got my hands on this 2006 release of BANDAI’s 1/144 High Grade kit of Blu Duel Gundam – one of the few new mecha introduced in Gundam SEED C.E.73 Stargazer mini-series.

My special thanks go to Morishita Naochika for the very nice illustration featured on the box. Guys, whoever knows this artist personally, please give him my “thumbs up”

BANDAI did a good job (as they continually do with HG kits) in terms of quality of details, although I found that the dark blue molding is made of somewhat brittle plastic – please be careful while cutting it.

The completed model will consist of

• 148 details on 7 runners, including polycaps (you won’t need all of them, because some parts are interchangeable – like palms and beam-sabers in on/off state)
• 20 foil stickers (should you choose to use them).

Read more

Let’s start, shall we?

Hi All!

Thank you for coming.
Before I start publishing some useful posts allow me to introduce myself and basically define the direction this resource is going to be developed in the future.

My name is Andrew. I live in Sydney, Australia. Genuinely interested in plastic modeling, particularly of Gundams and other mecha (hence the name of this site). When I was just starting with them I found myself a bit confused – there are so many Gundams, Zakus, Doms etc. (I happen to come across them BEFORE I saw the anime series… I know, I know shame on me…)

What I was really missing back then is a good resource on these very different model kits. Sure, the pictures on the boxes are great, but nothing beats a couple of close-up photos of a completed model with some (optional, but nevertheless helpful) advise on what to look for while making that particular model.

So I set out to do just that – share my impression of a particular kit with you, warn you about some difficulties (if there is going to be any), let you know beforehand how much sanding and painting is required for making the kit to look good or even great – some kits are quite impressive right out of the box (given you were accurate during the assembly process) while others will take a lot of your time just to put them together.

Anyway, I hope this blog of mine will become a part of your great hobby, which GUNPLA certainly is!