By the time I’m writing this post, some places have already gone to 2024 so here’s to an amazing new year ahead! But it’s still 2023 on my side of the planet, which means this kit is technically my final build for 2023. And that would be the HG Destiny Gundam from 2005 as I kick off my SEED build spree for January.
Coming from my last update, I was able to make significant progress on this kit. I was basically able to complete the main body sans the side hip armors and the weapon racks on the backpack. The legs still needed some black paint but most of the day was spent on the internal sections of the wing binders, which were supposed to be gray according to the instructions. Finally, I also painted the color-inaccurate sections of both its long-range beam cannon and anti-ship beam sword.
Earlier today, I decided to finish the remaining components in under a couple of hours. These include both the side hip armor and shield. Yes, in case anyone’s forgetting, the Destiny Gundam still has a physical shield despite being equipped with beam shield emitters on both hands.
Once those are done, I was finally able to complete this 2005 kit and I can say that I was finally able to give it justice, at least according to my personal standards. I previously mentioned that my approach on how to paint the torso section has prevented me from starting this kit, and now, I can finally cross this one out. I still have the HGCE version in the backlog but I’m pretty sure that would be a much smoother build than this guy.
Speaking of HGCE, as far as SEED kits go, I still quite a few in the backlog. But I do want to note my recent decision to repurchase the really two-decade old HG Aile Strike and Freedom kits. I was able to build the old HG Freedom to a good extent previously so I don’t think that would be a hard challenge. But I can’t say the same with the old HG Aile Strike thanks to the same color-inaccuracies as the Destiny. So, it will be interesting to see which Gundam SEED series kit I will follow up with in January.
