I built the MG Qan[T] in 2013, almost seven years ago, just right before I kind of hit my stride in building Gunpla. This was the first kit where I started to paint the internals a piece at a time as opposed to painting the whole limb assembled, mainly due to the way the build incorporates various clear green pieces into the frame. At the time, I thought this was an extremely tedious process and a one off thing, but it’s become the standard for all of my builds since that day.
As a kind of “passing of the torch”, I actually recycled some parts from the 2013 Qan[T] build into this Fullsaber. In particular, I used the old GN Drive and glued it together, since that is the only thing supporting the weight of the backpack.
Three generations of the same MS, the Qan[T] I built in 2013, the RG Fullsaber in 2018, and finally the MG Fullsaber in 2020
Painting
Since I started painting Gundams all the way back in 2006, I’ve been pretty obsessed with getting the “Gundam Blue” correct. To me, this is a rich, deep colour that is teeters on the edge of blue and purple. If there was a single word to describe this blue, it’d royalty.
Having struggled for many years and tryinng various forumlas to get something I actually liked, it wasn’t until I switched over to lacquer paint that I finally found what I was looking for. There’s just something about the pigments in lacquers that are somehow way more vibrant that the acrylic counterparts. The RG and MG Fullsabers above both use a similar Cobalt Blue + Fluro pink combo, yet you can clearly see the difference between the acrylic and lacquer versions respectively.
Due to this kit being kinda old and having ABS parts for the frame, I decided to use Gaianotes Starbright Iron + Black instead of my usual SMS Stainless Steel combo, just to give that paint on the frame a bit of extra durability.
White – Base coat Mr Color 306 FS36270, followed by Mr Color GX Cool White for shading
Blue – Base coat Mr Color AEUG MS Blue + Cobalt Blue + tiny bit of purple + bit of Fluro Pink. White added for shading, then original colour used to postshade/blend
Yellow – Base coat Mr Color Orange, starter white highlight, light coat of Orange Yellow (80%) + Yellow (20%). White added for shading.
Frame/Weapons Grey – Base coat Gaianotes Neutral Grey V. Neutral Grey IV used for highlights, finally Neutral Grey V used for some slight blending / post shading on edges.
Red – Base coat Shine Red. Yellow and white added for highlights.
Metallics – Gaianotes Starbright Iron + bit of Gaianotes EX Black
