Gundam Aerial

I am, at best, a casual Gunpla fan. I enjoy building a model here and there, but I build them straight out of the box with maybe only the basic amount of panel lining. I think I am more about the process of assembly than having some ultra custom painted display piece. And even then, I tend to only pick up kits of characters from shows I like. And last year, I really got into Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.

Thus, I bought and built the HG Gundam Aerial, the “hero” mech of the show.

Now, i’m not going into a step-by-step review of the build, nor am I going to compare it to other builds. The build was fine, and was your typical HG Gundam kit. Parts are molded in color with Bandai’s signature multi-color sprues. There are some decals, and some option parts that let you build it one way or another. The build starts with the head, then torso, legs, arms and then armaments. It looks good.

This is Aerial straight out of the box. There are varaint decals to show when the Aerial has reached a score of Permet 6 – basically, a powered up mode. In the show, these panels light up at that time, and in the kit the translucent panels have either black or metallic red detailes stickers that go on the back of the parts. There are red eyes as well, but I liked the green better, so there you go. The stickers are your standard adhesive type, not water-slide.

The various Bit Stave parts combine to form the Shield that can be attached to the arm, or on the back.

The gun can be stored on the back, as well as handles for the two beam sabers.

Articulation is GREAT. The lightness of the model kit format aids in posing.

Two beam saber blades are included that can be held in the hands. There are no variant hands at this kit level.

The Beam Rifle can be held in the hand, and there is an energy attachment for that as well.

As mentioned above, the Bit Stave parts can be disassembled and then re-attached on the Gundam Aerial as additional armor.

The two long grey parts attach to the Beam Rifle to form the Long Barrel Beam Rifle.

Here’s Gundam Aerial with all the Bit Stave attached, which I think is called “Bit on form”.

Here’s the Aerial with some light panel-lining. I don’t have patience for much more than that.

I need to get better at trimming my sprues and sanding a little, but overall I am happy with the build!