HG Gundam Astray Red Frame [Flight Unit]

I have always loved the Red Frame Astray since the MG kit came out a couple of years ago, a mobile suit with katanas? What's not to love? I'm usually not the biggest fan of HG kits but I could not pass this kit up. Even the box art alone was worth the $25 I spent on this kit. 

As always from bandai the instructions are beautiful. I wish I read Japanese because I'm sure the description on the mobile suit and kit is great.

Also as expected from bandai the pieces of the kit are beautiful and extremely detailed.

Even the decals provided with the kit are incredibly printed and detailed.

I'm really excited to build this kit and will probably start dry fitting it sometime this week. Stay tuned for some updates on the build.

Overall a pretty sweet kit, it was a lot of fun to build just like any gunpla and the finished product looks amazing. 

I did have a couple figment issues and a few complaints with bandai on this kit. First, a lot of the pieces had the the sprue attachments on 2 planes of the actual piece instead of just having one contact point. It wasn't too big of a problem just kind of a pain when it came to sanding the nubs down. 

My only other complaint with the kit was the way the mobile suits waist ornaments fit together, they used 1 standard ball joint with a peg extension, normally I've never had a problem with this but on this kit the female end of the connector was too deep in the waist making for a very difficult fit that falls apart during any movement or posing. 

I took these photos before I panel lined and built the flight pack, I will post the completely finished photos soon. Happy building!

Tamiya Mazda Rx7 Cabriolet

Started a kit I have had in my closet for a couple years. I will be building this kit to look exactly like the convertible I used to own. 

Got the body all fitted up and sanding the body lines. (I will not be building the model with this much stance)

Painted the chassis and interior, also started the eduard photo etch seat belts.

The wheels that the kit came with weren't the wheels that my rx7 came with from the factory so I found some BBS mesh wheels in a Revell Camaro kit I had laying around. Decent looking wheel with great detail but it needed a little more depth, did a wash with tamiya X-19 Smoke. 

Original wheel on the left, wheel with a wash on the right. I think the wash really improved the overall look off the wheel.

Got the body all primed up using Tamiya fine grey can primer. I glued the hood on before I primed because I'm not building the motor. Thought it would be okay but but I noticed that the primer filled the gaps between the fenders and the hood., lesson learned for next time.

Still have some sanding to do on the rear bumper, thought I had the panel lines out but primer revealed I didn't.

After much frustration and gluing my fingers together too many times to count, the interior is done. Didn't do the best job of keeping the glue hidden but it's ok, this build is for getting back into modeling. I'm not trying to take home a trophy with this one. 

Decals Tamiya provided for the gauge cluster come with US (mph) and international (km/ph). I wish they would have provided decals for the stereo and idiot cluster. Well the interior is done until I get more paint for the AC control knobs

Got the wheels fitted up the best I could, not too happy with how it sits but overall it's coming together nicely. Just need to wait for a warm day so I can lay the paint on the body and begin that process.