As some may have noticed from my Twitter feed, I've now completed my Reborns Gundam kit - haven't painted it but still looks great. The quality and poseability of the kits has come a long way since the early Gundam Wing kits I once tinkered with.

Although I've only ever had a mild interest in Gundam, having watched some of Gundam Wing as well as the kits, I've recently had them on the mind a bit more than normal. A few months back I picked up a copy of Hobby Japan from the Japan Centre in London as it caught my eye and also came with the 1/144 XN Raiser conversion kit. Seeing the Gundam 00 kits in the magazine and attending the Gundam panel at Alcon 2009 inspired me to rediscover that interest in Gundam.

Having invested in some decent tools both from Gundamnation and whilst I was out in Japan, I was ready to go - except I didn't have any space to bring back a Gundam as well from Japan! Luckily I had an 'instant gratification' moment at Animeleague Club London and bought the 1/144 HG Reborns Gundam - I've liked this particular Gundam since I saw it in Hobby Japan.

A week after buying it and it's fully built. Using good tools has really helped eliminate sprue marks and I'd recommend making the investment if you wish to build Gundam kits yourself. I'd go with the basic rule of thumb of spending the same on tools as you would on the kit.

Luckily I'm not going to have too many kits, since I don't have a lot of time for building and I haven't got too much room to display them. However, I have ordered myself the 1/144 00 Raiser + GN Sword III kit, which when combined with the XN Raiser conversion kit should be quite impressive. I look forward to sharing it with you when I build it!