Gunpla: Reborns is Reborn

One of the reasons I started this blog was so I could post pictures of my Gundam models, yet it's been almost a year since I made my first post on "Mercenary Teacher" and in that time I've hardly shared any of my work. Unacceptable!

A little while ago I tasked myself with updating my 1/144 HG Reborns Gundam. I initially completed Reborns back in 2013, but I did so without any of the little touch-ups that can make a Gunpla really pop. It was recently I decided Reborns deserves a make-over, so I pulled it down off the shelf for what I expected to be a quick job.

That was over two months ago.

Whether it's because I'm ridiculously obsessed with making perfectly straight lines or because my techniques are woefully inefficient, finishing Reborns took me a lot longer than I thought it would. Still, the results speak for themselves, and though I'll be the first to admit it's far from perfect, I'm very pleased with how Reborns turned out.

The photos in this post give a rough idea of the work required for breathing new life into Reborns. First, you can see how it looked when built straight out of the box, with absolutely zero additional work done. Next comes disassembly, so I could tinker with each piece individually. Some parts needed paint to look their best, and for those I used tiny brushes and hobby paint mixed with thinner. Other parts just needed a little ink to make their lines stand out, and in those cases I used a very fine tip black pen. Painting Reborns is by far the biggest reason this project took such a long time. When I was finally satisfied enough to move onto the next step, I took all of the painted pieces and stuck each to a wooden skewer using a dab of putty, then arranged them inside a styrofoam box. I waited a few days for the paint to cure before taking my Gundam outside so I could spray it down with flat matt topcoat, to seal the paint and remove the cheap plastic shine of the model. I reassembled the model once the topcoat had dried, stuck it on a display base, and waited for a clear sunny day to take some good-looking photos.

Even though there were times when working on Reborns I felt like my hobby was becoming more of a chore than a pleasurable past-time, the final product makes everything worthwhile. I'll have to wait until next month before I start a new project, however: I'm going to Japan for winter vacation in a few days, and I need to focus on planning for that!

You can be sure when I return it will be with several new kits in tow.