Gundam Model Grades

[LOLZILLA]

This should probably go into the questions and comments area but I feel I will get a quicker response posting this here...

Can anyone tell me what the order is from lowest to highest quaility for the Gundam model kits. Like High Grade, Master Grade, Perfect Grade, and so on. and also which ones are crappy and not really worth buying. :oh Thanks in advance :laugh

[Mazrim]

Dude, good question! I need to get more gundams. My library is pathetic at the moment. Still 2 more days til my MG Gouf Custom arrives.

Alright so the grades are as follows: From worst to best

1) 1/144 -- Cheapest models to buy and don't look to great without series paint/panel drawing and minimal movement. Needs both clue and paint.

2) HG 1/144 -- Not too expensive and it comes molded in color. Doesn't need glue or paint but it will make the model look a lot better. I really like these because they are best bang for buck I find. You can have an entire army of them in no time. Also great way to practice painting and panel line drawing on them. Easily my favourite to get.

3)1/100 (HG versions) -- These are just bigger versions of the HG 1/144 but usually with better colour. Pretty easy to make and good sized. Doesn't need glue or paint but again both will make it look a lot better.

4) MG 1/100 -- These are the Master Grade models. Pricey but well worth it. Excellent movement, doesn't need paint since it's such a high quality piece. Use glue if you want to fill in the seems. Add paint if you want to make it look better but it doesn't need it.

5) PG 1/60 -- These are the highest type of model you can have. I only have one and it's a bitch to put together. It's HUGE with a lot of work involved to place it together. If you decide to get a Perfect Grade, I'd glue it and paint it just to get the most out of it. They look amazing when built and painted. Be warned though, they are extremely expensive so only do painting if you're confident in your skill.

I'm probably missing a few grades but those are the major ones. If you want to really get into the building I'd invest in an air brush. If not then try to use the specialised spray paint cans. A lot of people feel that it's a mistake to do use the paint cans but you can (with practice) get a pretty nice looking model. I prefer the paintcans because it's in expensive and I've seen some pretty amazing models completed with just paintcans. So if someone else can do it, so can you. Add panel lines obviously which is actually a lot easier than you expect. Just remember to seal the model after you're done with the panel lines otherwise they smudge.


Now which to get? hg1/144 calamity or forbidden?!

Hopes this helps.

[LOLZILLA]

Thanks many many thimes Maz. I've been thinking of doing some ebaying but I didn't know what to look for.

Just to point out there is a Wing Zero Custome Perfect Grade for $150 on there right now :( i wish i had money like that to blow:(

[Mazrim]

Yeah. All of the perfect grades are over 120 dollars though. They are HUGE and all come with an incredible internal structure. You have to attach the armor to the internal skeleton of the frame. It's pretty amazing. They have incredible movement. So you can pose the hell out of them. I'll give you a few links to some places you can get some models from...

www.hlj.com <-- directly from japan, importing it is sorta expensive but their library is HUGE and sometimes it's less expensive than buying it from the U.S.

http://matrixcollectibles.site.yahoo.com/gundammodels.html <<---- From New York. I heard that it's a pretty good place to get models too. I haven't personally shopped there myself though.

If you live in Canada and are in Toronto, Ontario. I recommend going to the pacific mall. It has at least 5+ different models stores with a huge supply of gundams. Only problem there is they gouge you on the prices.

[mpthread]

Also when buying the models go for the newer series such as seed, seed destiny, wing, X. The reason why is the older the series the worse the model is such as the ones from F90 or others. I bought one of these and it is just horible, nothing stays on and when you put in one piece another falls off. But if you have some money stick with master grades they should average about 30-40 for most mobile suits. The bigger they are the more exspensive (Sazabi, Ex-S and so on)

As for where to buy stick with online, stores will always gouge you on prices and sometimes charge you double. Here are a few sites I go to and the price for the Master Grade GP02 for comparison

www.hlj.com $38.66
http://www.animetoxic.com/ $44
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/$48.99- A $5 flat shipping rate for anywhere in the US
http://www.robotoys.com/ Didnt have it
http://www.toy-wave.com/ $30.70

also to get some good pics of the models I go to www.ehobbyland.com

[Mazrim]

mpthread, dude that last website is excellent. Thanks, I've added it to my bookmarks. Yeah, what he mentioned is extremely sound advice. The older models are really crummy. I'd go for the newer ones. Meh. I need more though. So very many more.

[darksage78]

Actually the store "Yim Ha" in Market Village had a basically 1/2 off sale on SEED HG 1/100 models awhile back. Everything was like $19 plus tax.

[Malice]

Mazrim, you're a bit off. Any size B-Club is uber quality. They are 1/144, 1/100, and 1/60.

[Mazrim]

I'm always talking about the bandai ones though. You're right though. The b-club ones are all of incredible quality regardless of size and they are incredible expensive. Still, the quality is beyond a doubt incredbile.

[Mindless]

I'd order my stuff from HLJ. They are very reliable. Me and my dad have ordered stuff from there before. Took about 1½ week to get the package from Japan to Sweden. Very small shipping cost (actually, shipping from Japan to Sweden was cheaper than a package sent inside Sweden.... sad).

I've been thinking about buying some stuff. But right now I got too many other plastic model's to make so I don't have time. :P

EDIT: I have a question too. Do these kit's come painted?

[Mazrim]

Mindless, which shipping service did you use when you ordered from HLJ?
I'm just waiting for a few things to get restocked and I'm gonna grab more models. If only one of those models was Adriana Lima.

[Mindless]

Hm... It was quite long ago we ordered. I think we ordered stuff for about 15000 Yen, that's about a 1000 SEK (the currency in Sweden). But the shipping went for around, 3500 Yen for the whole package I think. And we ordered 5 kits. So that's quite cheap I think. I don't think we used SAL as shipping, that much I know.

I've been thinking about buying a MG Freedom and a MG Strike Rouge, but the question I have is if the kits are painted or not. (meaning, is the plastic dyed or do you have to paint it yourself?)

On a side note: It surely looks dyed.

[Chillin]

All MGs are molded in color, there is no need to paint them though you might want to for added effect. Doing panel lines is always a plus as well. IF you want to paint I wouldn't really recommend painting the MG or PG kits if you are only just starting or only have a few models under your belt. The MG Freedom is great btw.

[Mindless]

Chillin. Don't worry about me painting wrong. I've won many minor-modelling (building plastics, not body modelling *duh*) contests in my town. :P

But then I got it confirmed that they are infact dyed so you don't have to paint. Thanks alot. And while browsing trough the HLJ homepage, I took a small peek at the ZZ Gundam and thought: "Man, that one was quite cool, better watch the whole anime." (I've only seen 10 episodes). So I decided to start watching it, despite it beeing a joke in the beginning. But when I enter my "Anime" folder, and click into the "Gundam" folder and into the "Gundam ZZ" folder and is about to start the 10th episode, my computer freezes, for no reason at all.

Been trying to solve it but nothing seems to work. Man, what a pain computers can be. :notrust

[Chillin]

For my FAZZ MG, it had no internal detail what so ever. I guess you can say the internal detail was the ZZ Gundam underneath the armor.

[Mindless]

Hehe. I meant the exterior. It looked quite cool on the outside I think (both the FAZZ and the normal ZZ). :P

[Malice]

Mazrim- B-Club are Bandai.
Mindless- HLJ shipping is fine where you are, but if you're in the U.S., it has taken up to 4 weeks for one of my orders. Yes, it was in stock.

[Tanon]

Chill, if you have a digi-cam or something, could you take some pics of some of your models? I'd be interested in looking at them.

[Mazrim]

You're kidding. I thought B-club was a different company. I didn't know they were part of Bandai.

Chillin' has it on the money yet again. You don't need to paint the MGs or PGs. I just painted my PG to kick it up a notch. *shrugs*

Mindless, you must have used their EMS. Nice. I've been tempted to use the cheaper one at times but they have a pretty big delay on them.

Anyway, I find the most important thing to add to any model is the panel lines. It really sets the model apart when you add them.

[Chillin]

I don't have a digi-cam but I'll try to get something up. Doing panel lines does make a world of difference, especially on the head. Two MGs that I would recommend getting are the Qubeley MKII and the Rick Dias especially if you liked those designs in the shows. They look awesome and just a little panel lining on the fingers and you are good to go (you don't even have to do that to make them look awesome). The Rick Dias also doesn't use a sticker for eyes which is a big plus, less work for me

[Mazrim]

Hot damn. Those both are amazing models Chillin. Thanks for the recommendation.

Panel lines are were the money is at. If you don't paint. I'd recommend adding panel lines. They really does make a world of a difference.

[Mindless]

HLJ is offering a nifty thing. The "Gundam Marker". It's a ink (black ink) pencil that has a very fine... uhm... tip? Don't know what you call it, im not that good at english.

Anyway. Im going to order myself a Master Grade Freedom (1/100) from HLJ this week I think. Will go for around 5000 Yen wich is about 370SEK, meaning, not very much.

[Mazrim]

I've never used the offical gundam panel line markers. I just use the architecture drafting pencils and erasers. They have at least 20 different size tips and that way if you muck it up, you can just eraise it. Just gotta buy a sealing finish after you're done with the panels to make sure they don't smudge. I'll give it a shot at some point though. Thanks for the tip.

ADDITION:

http://www.starshipmodeler.com

Check this website out. Go to their gundam section, which us under their 'mecha' section. It's basically a review of some of the models that they have made. It shows some pretty good picture of before, after and during the entire building process. Some good info too. Their reviews are pretty decent as well.

[LOLZILLA]

haha sadly I have to admit that I am fairly new to modeling. One day I was at a comic book convention in my little dinky town and I saw some Gundam model kits for $1.50. I was like whoah what a great price. gotta buy that. Then I spend like an hour putting both together, and then I felt a little disappointed. They are of the lowest lever you mentioned in your first post Maz, 1/144. Then whe I was done I at least tried putting them into kool stances, but in the process I broke a hand or two, a leg, and I think someones arm lol. I just stuffed them into the boxes and put the boxes on display instead. They are Mobile Sumo and Mobile Flat from Turn A Gundam. I didnt even know what Turn A gundam was at that time =P I was a nub

[Chillin]

:laugh awesome story, as with many things, you'll get better over time, but for now stick to the 1/144 HG and maybe a couple good 1/100 HG though I can't think of many good 1/100 HGs off the top of my head. You may just want to jump into MGs though. They offer you the best bang for your buck.

[Mindless]

I've had a change of heart. Freedom can go screw itself! Hyaku-Shiki here we come!

(The golden MS from Zeta (?) and from Double Zeta)

So cool! Just have to buy it!

For some reason, I've become a total Zeta-fan. The gundams in it are just perfect.

[Chillin]

I do like the MG Hyaku Shiki, it is way better than that piece of crap Zeta MG. If you ever buy a Zeta MG make sure it is either the C1 Zeta Plus or the A1 Zeta Plus. On the other hand if you do want the original Zeta I suggest the PG, but that thing costs boatloads and is one of the harder PGs to put together.

[Mazrim]

I'm ordering a 1/144 HG Force impulse and some gundam seed destiny markers. I'll let ya know how it turns out.
At least I finished my gouf custom.

Just as a warning for those interesting in getting the gouf custom. That gatling gun/shield on his left arm is pretty heavy for that side. It's a pain in the butt to get the balance right without him tipping over. I should have read the warnings about it. Oh well.

[mpthread]

cmon thats comon sense, if the model has an oversized weapon it will almost always be off balance. Except Perfect Grades