For my birthday this year, I decided to tackle both the Full armor Gundam and its Last Session Version from Gundam Thunderbolt. While I like the FA-78 both with and without armor, I figured there’d be no hassle free way to switch between the two forms, so I just built both!

When I first began painting, I was deeply inspired by @Saintism’s builds and his Full Armor Gundam build was practically everywhere on the internet (even spotted being used to sell 3rd party waterslides!). This build was my attempt at replicating his shading technique as closely as possible and even using his black paint mix. I’ve always enjoyed how seamlessly his shading blends into his painting job, while also accentuating his builds and this attempt was the closest I feel like I’ve gotten to emulating his style!

While I love the Full armor look of the FA-78, it is quite bulky and has trouble supporting the weight of some weaponry included in the kit. The twin beam rifle in addition to the shields are particularly hard to hold up, hence the need for a stand to help support the kit’s weight. Since the Last Session version does not have armor it is quite articulate, though it requires some weathering work to make the battle damage look convincing (decals for battle damage? C’mon Bandai!). I tried my best to capture both beasts together in photos, but admittedly it was a bit difficult to capture them in frame.

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Build Details

PROS:

• Looks great detail wise both with and without armor
• Lots of gimmicks to play around with
• Armor isn’t prone to falling off (though it may scratch paint if removed!)
• Comes with several types of hands for posing plus great debris parts (last session ver)!

• Difficult to hold up all the weight of the Full Armor equipment
• Last session battle damage is shown through decals?
• Vinyl covers are neat but easy to mess up

Paints Used:

• Dark Blue: 60% Blue FS15050+20% colbalt blue+ 20%wine red+few drops of black. Added white for highlights
• Orange: Base coat of Orange, then add white for preshade. Then 70% Orange Yellow + 30% Yellow with drops of white added for highlight
• White: 80% intermediate blue+20%white preshade followed by Gaia steel white
• Red: Black preshade then 50%Wine red+50% Gaia bright red. Added yellow for post shade
• Dark Grey: At first used 60% gaia neutral gray 3 40%+ dark seagrey (mr color 331) but was too light. Added 50% gaia flat black to to that mix
• Black: Gaia flat black 80%+ Gaia neutral grey III 20%. Then flat black 60%+ Neutral grey III 40% to highlight
• Tamiya TS 100, Bright gun metal