Gunpla Chronicles 2: The Torso

Preface: When I wrote the first series of Gunpla Chronicles posts, I ended up building the model kit faster than I could write blog entries.  Unfortunately, it happened once again, and the Gundam is complete.  Nevertheless I still plan on detailing the rest of the process.  The only problem is that I don't have photos from the final steps of the build, which means there will be one post without pictures of my own.

The torso gave me all sorts of trouble.  The size of the piece, as well as its location on the model, means that any mistakes will stick out, moreso than any on other part (other than the head).  Suffice to say that it wasn't easy keeping it looking even close to perfect.

The problem is simply that the torso contains more darkly colored pieces than any other part of the Gundam.  Only the most careful cutting and trimming of each piece will ensure that there are no visible sprue marks, and I wasn't nearly careful enough.  When working on the main blue chest plate, I managed to clip way too close to the plastic, to the point where I might have actually cut into it.  I ended up spending a good twenty minutes with several sheets of sandpaper in hopes of smoothing it out.  When I was finished, I wasn't happy with the results, but when I came back later to take pictures I decided it looked better than when I left it.  The sprue marks are still clearly visible, but they are nowhere near as glaring as I thought they were.  Not to mention that the model's arms and shoulder armor should keep this section of the torso hidden most of the time. I suppose there are worse places to have made a mistake.

The torso was also responsible for the most challenging bit of sticker placement up until this point.  The kit comes with shiny gold decals that are meant to be applied to the yellow exhaust grills on the front of the chest.  There is VERY little space in between each plate of the grill, and you are supposed to place a decal on each.  I managed to do it, but not without scraping off some of the gold sheen.  It still delivers the ultimate effect of making the grills shine at the right angle, but I'd seriously like to know how to apply those stickers while leaving them intact.


The Gundam's booster pack came together without fuss.  It was around this time that I started to notice a change in the way I worked.  I was getting both faster and more accurate when clipping off pieces.  I noticed the same change when I got near the end of building the Zaku.  This tells me two things.  First, you can get better at this skill.  Second, you need to do it a lot more than I have to keep it in between builds.

Postscript - It so happens that the RG Gundam kit comes with not two, but four beam saber handles.   It took me until after I finished building it to (sort of) learn why.  If you look at the photo, you'll see that one pair has a small tab jutting out, while the other pair has a small indentation.  The tab allows the first pair to lock into the Gundam's hand, allowing it to stay put during poses.  On the other hand, the indentation allows the second pair to be snapped into the back of the shield for storage (you can also snap the beam rifle into the back of the shield, making it an ingenious little weapon locker).  Having figured this out, I put the tabbed pair into the Gundam's shoulder holsters, and the indendted pair behind the shield.  Still, I question the purpose of two pairs. If the indented pair can't be easily be held, then I wouldn't use them for poses.  And if it stays behind the shield, no one will see them.  I'll have to see if they fit into the model's alternate hand pieces (a closed fist with a small hole through the middle).  Unless they can be held that way, they seem like a pointless exercise.