The great thing about scale modeling, more so in the terms of gunpla and science fiction, is that you really can do whatever you want with it. Paint it realistically? Great! Want to do something out of the box? Equally as great!

Gunpla is freedom is, as overused as the term is, great!

My experiences 

My beginnings in the world of customizing gunpla started in 2018 and a golden hand-painted haro.  Adored with thick brushstrokes of Testors metallic gold. It was not primed, nor did I wait between layers to dry. Paint pooling did occur.

(One thing you’ll notice in this blog is my mass hoarding of painted haros like I’m Smaug on a mountain of gold)

The fascination with custom painting gunpla grew from there. It was like I cracked open pandora’s box! I can turn this into that? With just a bit of paint? Absolute game-changer for me and for a lot of people in this hobby. I started out with simple hand-painting on a rattle can primer, which was incredibly fun, to working with materials I would have never have thought to use. Things such as aquarium gravel and hot glue (things I will write about in future blogs)

But all the glittered was not gold in the beginning. I remember, quite unfondly, the negativity that occurred. A Pink Sinanju. A custom paint job very close to my heart. 

I was met with comments of “ugly” and “untalented”. A personal favorite of mine is that “it ruined the hobby for them”. To that I say, in the most offensive way possible, good I hope it did. Our community has no room for that nor should it be welcomed. I wish the group moderators stepped up on that end, but it didn’t stop me. It shouldn’t stop anyone in this hobby.

Go for it!

It’s difficult for beginners to feel comfortable in any hobby with comments such as above. It’s degrading and demoralizing. Yes, it’s something that happens to everyone but it doesn’t need to. It’s one thing to do a “Hey have you tried (so and so)” compared to the profane negativity some builders have seen. So for anyone, especially new builders, wanting to try something new artwise with their Gundams, go for it! It might be difficult to ignore unwanted comments but it is worth it.

For those worried about mess-ups, don’t. Most mistakes are fixable and if you want to try something, try it on a cheap kit. It’s better to have to toss an 8 dollar haro than a 45 dollar MG (Master Grade). I speak of this from prior experience. Most experienced builders can speak of this from experience.

To quote Bob Ross, “We don’t make mistakes. We just have happy accidents.”

So in another word, mistakes happen. Accidents happen. It shouldn’t hamper your artistic explorations into the hobby. So paint that kit you want to paint. Do the thing!

I’ll be putting out some how-to posts in the near future.

Happy Tuesdays and best of hobbying,

-J