Noob Builds Gundam is an ongoing series in which a near-total Gunpla novice builds kits, takes pictures, and writes about the experience.
Normally a blog series like this would start at 01; yet we’re kicking things off today at 00. It’s NBG01 Minus One, if you will.
So why exactly is that, other than to make a cheap Godzilla reference?
Going forward, Noob Builds Gundam posts will be build reviews, covering the build process and giving an opinion on the completed kit. This post is an introduction. As a way of setting the table for the series to follow, this introduction covers my tools and gives you a full view of my (in)experience. It’s a recollection of what brought us to this point, and a statement of intent for the future.
So whilst this post sets the scene for the series to come, it’s not necessarily representative of the content to follow – hence NBG00.
That’s why we’re at where we’re at. And with that order of business taken care of, let’s get into it…
My First Gunpla Tools
As a Gundam noob, I decided to start my journey with an all-in-one starter kit from stockist Gunpla UK.
The EG Gunpla Introduction Kit includes one random Entry Grade kit and a box of tools including:
- Nippers
- Straight tweezers
- Angled tweezers
- Hobby knife (with extra blades)
- Metal file
- Glass file
- Sanding stick
- A cloth
- A storage box
The entry grade kit I received was the 1/144 RX-93 Nu Gundam.
I might be new to this, but £20 for all that seems like incredibly good value to me. If you’re interested, you too can buy the EG Gunpla Introduction Kit here. That’s a non-sponsored link, by the way – but Gunpla UK, hit me up if you want to talk about it!
Getting Back Into It
Just because I’m a Gunpla noob, it doesn’t mean I’m completely new to press-fit model building.
It’ll become more apparent as this blog grows, but I was a big fan of Tomy’s Zoids 2 line during its brief moment in the sun back in the mid-1990s.
From Slither to Zoidzilla, Zoids presented a step up from Lego to something closer to model kits. Even so, as a kid I was breaking parts off the runners by hand, doing no clean up, and whacking stickers on haphazardly in order to get to the “monster machines that stalk the Earth” bit of the play pattern sooner.
It was still all a valuable experience.
The Zoids anime passed me by completely – the lore behind the post-2000 toys is an unknown world to me.
Gundam Wing, on the other hand, became my entry point to the premiere sci-fi anime series.
Yet to teenage Joe, it was just a very cool mecha show. I knew about the model kits, but at the time they were nowhere near as accessible in the UK as they are today. It wasn’t until I was much older – on my honeymoon at 33 years old – that I finally gave in to curiosity and picked up SD Deathscythe from a hobby ship in Florence, Italy.
That build was a lot of fun, and I soon followed it up with another SD kit (RX-0 Unicorn Gundam Destroy Mode), several Kabaya Transformers kits, a Flame Toys Shattered Glass Optimus Prime kit…
And then, just as I was getting some momentum, life got in the way.
A combination of moving into a house renovation project and a high-demand job both obliterated my time for hobbies. After three years of having no proper space to really unpack and do anything, in 2024 I finally got a home office space in which I could start, slowly but surely, to work on personal projects again.
Finding Focus
The “Noob Builds Gundam” label isn’t just about experience – although I certainly don’t have enough of that to be anything other than a noob. It’s also about mindset.
As an adult with unmedicated ADHD it’s difficult to focus on something for too long. I will get into something with white hot intensity for two to three months before losing all interest and falling into something else. Eventually I’ll come back to the original interest, but it means that developing practical skills can take a long time.
The thing is, I actively want to develop modelling skills. I want to put the hours in and enjoy creating something very cool with my own hands. So I need to find ways to adapt.
The Noob Builds Gundam series will document this progress. And as the process encompasses multiple interests (modelling, photography, blogging) that should hopefully help me maintain interest in at least one aspect of the series in the low times. If it doesn’t? Then the series will still be here on the internet to help me get up to speed when I eventually come back.
And if I can make some fantastic model kits of spectacular sci-fi robots along the way, then even better.
Next up in Noob Builds Gundam: EG GAT-X105 Strike Gundam
