Kit Information :
Scale : 1/144
Grade : HGUC
Made by : Bandai
Completed : June 2011
Box Art :
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RX-0 Unicorn Gundam - The 'Blu-nicorn'
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Been a while since I did any Gunpla in 1/144 scale (last 1/144 build was the Marasai back in 2008) so I decided to make a return to the scale with one of the newer kits from the Unicorn anime. I also wanted to get a hold of the 1/48 Unicorn head display (which I will be building for an upcoming project) so I grabbed the Unicorn Gundam that came with the head display that I wanted.
I settled on the 'Unicorn-mode' style for two reasons. One is that I have the Master Grade kit sitting in the pile to do and the other is that the HGUC versions come in either Unicorn or Destroy Mode and the store I purchased it from only had the Unicorn mode.
To be honest, I find Unicorn mode to be boring. It is predominately white (only white and grey are the two main colors of the kit) so first thing to do was to paint it in another color. The kit went together well and I was suprised in how much detail has been put into this kit considering it is just a 1/144 High Grade (not Real Grade). Once it was together, I thought of heaps of ways to make it look different but settled on using some Alclad Chrome and Clear Blue to turn it from the Unicorn to the 'Blu-nicorn'.
Painting was very straight forward, primed, black enamel, Alclad Chrome, and finally the Clear Blue. Panel lines were done with enamel silver mixed with lighter fluid and decals were used from the Bandai aftermarket water slide set for this kit.
The base consists of an old electronic board that I pulled out of an ancient digital camera that I first got about 12 years ago. I grabbed some pliers and proceeded to pull bits and pieces off it and mess up the edges. I then took some styrene tubes, rods and beams and proceeded to glue them underneath so that they stuck out of the edges to show that it was a piece of debris that is floating in space. It was painted with grey and steel, then weathered heavily with brown and black pastels after adding some small decals to it.
The final part was to attach the kit to the base and that was achieved by using some aluminium rod glued to the mounting point between the legs (newer Bandai kits have a mounting point if you choose to use one of their Action Bases) and then through the base , glued and then bent in a shape that supported the rod and kit better.
All up it was a good build and it provided a good challenge as it was to be built as OOB only so I can enter it in the BMKWC in July. Many times throughout the build, I needed to stop myself from adding extra parts and scratchbuilding. I have a couple more High Grade kits sitting around, so I might need to get cracking on some of those soon.