I left this build a couple of days ago with a pieces masked and a good painting session left before calling this kit done. And I have to say, at least for my first complete repaint of a kit, it looks really good — to me and my meager levels quality at least.
I mentioned previously that I do have an in-universe backstory for this configuration of the Red Gundam, which I dubbed as the Red Gundam Type G-3. It’s obviously a reference to the G-3 Gundam with the color scheme. But with the way events played out in Gundam GQuuuuuuX, how could the G-3 Gundam exist?
Following the Battle of Yomagn’tho, Char Aznable left for Earth and abandoned the heavily damaged Red Gundam. But before anyone else can scavenge the crippled mobile suit, Earth Federation engineers quickly swept in and took what was originally theirs. With the help of some disgruntled scientists from the Flanagan Instutute, they reconstructed the Red Gundam in the configuration that won Zeon the One Year War.
To further distance the mobile suit from the attrocities it committed for Zeon as the Red Gundam, the Federation engineers decided to paint it in opposite colors. They still called it the “Red Gundam” as a reminder that this is still the machine that won the One Year War. But given how different it is from its original configuration as the “White Gundam,” they decided to call it the Red Gundam Type G-3, officially making it the third Gundam of the Federation.
Thanks to those aftermarket masking sheets, I was able to properly repaint the bits, which made the whole chore of applying those tapes worth it. It’s also a reminder that I did order the HG Red Gundam Expansion Set, which means I will need to build and paint four more of these in the future. But that’s a problem for future me.
I also flipped the colors on the shield to the usual ones for the G-3 Gundam, and even added a “03” decal to further the visual connection.Overall, I really liked how this repaint turned out and I am now more prepared for other complete repaints. More on those when I finally decide to do them. A fitting end to this year’s #MarchOfRobots.
If the teases in these images aren’t abvious enough, I’ve decided to build the HG White Gundam after this kit. While I’m expecting a more straight forward build, I will still need the help of yet another aftermarket masking sheet for the same level of detail painting work.
