Build
I bought no “new” tools for this build, but I did create some. I bought a fresh pack of cuticle care sticks, and glued strips of sandpaper to each of them. My hope was that they would give me a greater sense of control and precision when sanding. So far they are working, but they definitely require a gentle hand and a bit of patience, otherwise they are just as prone to oversanding as anything else.
Patience
Speaking of patience, I am going to try and have some during this build. At this point, I like the Zeta Gundam, but I still don’t love it, so I don’t feel the same sense of urgency that I did in years past to build the kit as quickly as possible. To give you an example, in my first building session I sat down for thirty minutes and managed to trim, sand, and assemble just three pieces. And I felt satisfied with my progress.
Observations
I can’t shake the feeling that the kit’s transformation feature is going to lead to a tricky build. My past models all had runners labeled A through H, but I think this is the first one with a runner labeled I. The decal guide is also extremely cramped and hard to read.
Color Confusion
The upper half of the Zeta’s body is mostly colored blue, but there aren’t that many blue pieces in the set. Meanwhile, there’s a runner full of grey pieces that is almost as large as the box. Makes me wonder how this suit will come together.
Mistakes
I sanded down the inside of a piece for the left foot a bit too much on Day 1. This is what taught me to use less pressure with the sanding sticks.
I cut into a piece in the torso and took off a small chunk of plastic. It looks like the mistake will be hard to see on the finished model, and it’s the only error of this kind that I made so far, so I’m not really crying over it.
I lost just two small stickers. Not bad.
Current Progress
As of this post, both legs are complete, and a tiny bit of the torso is underway. Again, this is much slower progress than I made with my past builds, but the mistakes have been so few and far between that I think it will be worth it.
Photo Gallery
You can see all photos for this round of work on Google Plus.