1/100 HG V2 Assault Buster Gundam

Heres a historical item that i felt like throwing up here, my HG 1/100 V2 Assault Buster Gundam, from V Gundam. its been quite a few months since ive built anything, so i decided that once i got some free time over the summer id build something special. i decided to build Another V2 AB. i had originally built one as one of my first Gunpla way back in 2001. frankly, it turned out like crap, and i felt bad considering its by far my favorite Gundam design from any series.

my first problem was actually finding one, considering this model is over 16 years old. i searched around online and ended up paying around 30% more than MSRP. i placed the order, and started working on it once i got back from Uzbekistan. this is actually two kits combined together, you need to buy the V2 Assault and V2 Buster, and mount all the weapons on one of the V2's, leaving you with an extra, vanilla V2. Bandai hasnt released a newer version since the original HG in 1993, so its definitely dated compared to other models here. in fact, its pretty safe to say that this is the oldest model posted here. id love to see bandai give us a proper MG of it, instead of playing around with MSV's and SEED.

ok, on to the actual model. this model was supposed to be able to transform, but i thoroughly disabled that to keep at least some structural integrity. i painted about half, it required quite a bit of paint (especially blue) to be color accurate, far more than modern kits. i decided just to paint all the blue so all the colors matched. also did some of the gold on the shoulders and smaller details all over the body. this was easier said than done, because the V series uses "true system injection", where multiple colors are molded on a single part. this means masking, LOTS of masking. especially on that large, colorful shield, which was originally molded in all white. i did some slight modifications as well, i removed some parts of the shoulder's transformation, and added some polystyrene to fill in the gaps. i also added some "stairs" meant for model railroads to the large Minovsky Drives on the back, so it looks like there are vents there. im pretty happy with how those turned out. the decals are custom made waterslides that i bought from a designer in Hong Kong. Samueldecals.com produces a wide variety of decals for far more gundam kits than bandai does, and they are pretty cheap too. they all went on nicely, though some have felt there are too many (its nickname is Nascar Gundam :), but i like it.

overall it was an interesting build, took a good week to finish. i really wouldnt recommend it to anyone besides an experienced fan of the design, its just too old to take seriously. its pretty much a immovable statue with all that armor on, but it looks great and is incredibly unique. i really hope Bandai gets around to making a MG, or even better a PG. the next project im planning is the 1/100 Gundam Double X, which is the only other main Gundam (along with the V2) that doesnt have a proper MG.