Astray Red

Astray Red
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Astray Red. The first model that I inked. Yeah. After having almost twenty of them. I inked everything. Even things I didn't have to. Things that no one would see. Things that would be covered up later. Yeah I wasted a lot of time doing that actually. But it looked friggin sweet after all that work. After this model I decided that I would never make another model and just leave it as a straight build. I'd at least line it. I went back and re-lined my PG rx178.2 during this build process and I was so happy I did. All that time and his potential... Only now have I started to unlock it. Terrible

Astray was great fun and it was my first time cataloguing the build process. The sword and scabbard are just plain white and do NOT do the model justice if you leave it that way. I decided that I would make the sword and scabbard look better and thus... for the first time in 10 years... painted my model. And boy am I glad I did. A whole new world opened up to me. Now I see all these older models in a new light... Thanks to the Red Astay.

The models posability is shocking. It is just amazing... especially when compared to his Blue brother. Without doubt one of the coolest models I have, and the one that I'm most proud of. This model brought me deeper into the world of Gundam modelling. After so many you'd think I'd be in deep enough... but no actually. I realize now that I'm only now just beginning to scratch the surface.

The Gerbera Straight is really the corner piece of the model. Without it, it's a great kit by all standards but with it, it just pushes it into the 'superior' category. You'll see this kit in advertising being used as an example of a 'cool Japanese toy'. It's in a class all by itself. Surpassing the Gundam brand and escaping from the realm of models entirely. It's become a symbol of Japanese pop culture, combining a 30 year old animation, 16th century Japanese history with a 26th century Sci-Fi storyline but made for today's audience.

As for my Red Astray... I'll never be able to fully articulate my joy at seeing him completed. It's the joy that one can only achieve after putting in hours and hours of meticulous work, slowly coming together over the course of months. This model taught me patience. This model taught me tenacity. The model taught me diligence.

This model changed my life.