By Gamer By Mistake in Merchandise Review

My first Model Kit! – HG 1/144 Gundam Astaroth

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how I got into a new hobby which was painting Warhammer miniatures, however, with the current pandemic the stores in which I bought the issues are all closed, and since I can’t get new miniatures I was forced to put it on hold for now. Luckily for me, there’s another cool hobby I can get into quite easily, and that is building Gundam Model Kits! But what are Model kits?

Model Kits are basically packs of small pieces of plastic that must be clipped from the runner and then be assembled by you and the result, in this case, will be a scaled model of a Mobile Suit Gundam!

Since I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not I decided to go for a 1/144 model which is usually cheaper. Then, I searched for my favorite Gundam, which is Exia, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find one that could be shipped to Portugal so I settled for HG 1/144 Gundam Astaroth.

However, before I started building I had to make sure that I had all the right tools. For this kind of hobby, a clipper is must to cut the plastic pieces and also an x-act or, preferably, a sanding stick to remove the excess bits of plastic that get stuck in the pieces.

With the right tools in my hands, I could finally start the building process which took me about 2 hours. It could’ve taken me less time but I had to take things apart sometimes for not following the instructions correctly!

Still, Gundam Astaroth looks awesome and it’s perfect to take some really cool shots. What I like the most about this model specifically is the fact that both its arms and legs are different from one another which made the building process more enjoyable since I was always putting together different pieces.

The quality of the plastic also surprised me a lot, for 15,90€ I was expecting a much cheaper quality! Although not everything is perfect, there’s a piece in the head that I can’t touch much since it falls quite easily, the rest seems to stick together nicely. Also, it comes with some stickers which I don’t like that much I might have to paint over the part where they go in the future!

With all things said, I’d I really like the end result and building it was a blast! It reminds me of when I was little and had those Bionicle models! I really hope Gundam Exia gets here fast! If not, I might have to buy another one while I wait, any suggestions?