First Gundam

You gotta love the RX-78-2, also known as the First Gundam. As most of the fans can see, this kit is the first Master Grade release for the RX-78-2, not Ver 1.5, not Ver OYW, and certainly not Ver Ka.

Since I am an old man I am no stranger to the original Gundam series. For that reason I find it hard to come to term with the newer Master Grade releases of the RX-78-2.

I have to admit that the newer releases are more detailed and proportioned more heroically (whatever that means). But it just bugs me that they don't look like what I saw on TV.

I usually like to modify my kits. But in this case I decided to leave it alone for the same reason .

One thing I did do is replacing the yellow with gun metal to make it look a bit more grown up (?).

Another thing with the older kits is their details are not as crisp as the new ones. Usually after some moderate sanding you find the panel lines barely visible.

To preserve the details the acrylic paint was greatly thinned down and sprayed on the plastic without any primer. The result was good.

As you can see from the pictures, the blue and red are done in two tones. And actually the white was too. Unfortunate the difference between the two whites are too subtle to show up in these pictures.

There is one more thing I would like to add to this model. That is more panel lines. I am thinking of using a light gray drafting pen to fake some joints and reveals, so it will seem as if it was assembled from more pieces and components.

Anyway, you can find the stock color scheme on the official MG RX-78-2 product page, and decide for yourself which one you like better.