As our third Gauntlet winds down I have a fantastic wrap up from Lupes to share, but first allow me to say a few things:
Big respect and massive thank you to Lupes for heading up another incredible Gauntlet. Anyone who has followed the goings on at GAF over the years will know that with each Gauntlet we have achieved an amazing level of quality with all finishers, and this is no exception. In fact this is my favourite selection of finished kits to date and I find it impossible to pick a favourite. They are all just that good.
Monumental thanks to Fury for the Gundam Schemer Apps .. Amazing work. God tier.
Thank you to our sponsors Hobbylink Japan for your continued support. Show your gratitude by clicking the banner and buying some Gunpla! :)
Thank you to all of the participants in the Gauntlet. Congratulations guys you have officially blown me away.
A special shoutout to Derringer for his Nu comparison topic "The Nuseum" showcasing three generations of Nu Kits. I love a good comparison and Derringer's thread was highly detailed and very interesting to read. Thanks for your contribution to the forum mate!
Finally thank you to all of the members of the Gundam Australia Forum. You are the Australian Gunpla community and it is your participation and enthusiasm that makes GAF a great place to be.
Some links:
Gundam Australia: The Gauntlet 3: Not Just For Show! The MG Nu Ver. Ka
Gundam Australia: Gauntlet Of The Apocalypse: PG Strike Freedom
(RIP GAF 1.0/Sinanju Group Build Project AKA The Gauntlet)
"This ain't nuthin but The E.N.D.
Follow me into the sun and let your soul be free"
Repost from Lupes
The End.
Of the gauntlet, that is!
That’s right folks, the Nu Gundam ver. Ka Gauntlet is now officially OVER! It was a really excellent GB that saw a lot of entries but only seven out of the nineteen entrants (counting only the open and newtype styles as they were the ones who were painting their kits) managed to finish this kit in time for the deadline. There were a few people who came close but finished is finished and I’d be selling the others who pulled through and got everything done in time short if I let others slide on not having their kits totally completed. Like Busterbeam said in one of his posts over at the GAF thread, there was a big difference between this Gauntlet and the one we held for the PG SF. With the Nu GB, everyone came in cold whereas with the PG SF we were all a ways in to the build and we just had to make that one big final push to wrap the kit up. Obviously everyone starting from zero made this a more demanding GB all around but I also think that it makes what people managed to accomplish in the three month time frame all the more impressive.
By now, everyone has seen my own Nu Gundam in Karaba colors. There were only two entries in the Newtype Style, but that’s alright. We’ll get to the other entry in a little bit! This is still one of my favorite builds that I’ve done to date, especially with the Double Funnel set attached, which I still need to snap a few more pictures for before I can update the page with those. Let’s get on to the other excellent entries.
GaiGun of the Gaijin-Gunpla fame finished his kit shortly after me with a nicely executed darker colorscheme using Tamiya’s spraycans. I especially like the bold choice he went with on the psychoframe parts, electing to use a popping candy green that would be shown off in it’s Invoke mode. His entry marked the first of the few to finish up in the Open/Gangnam style category and you can read his excellent writeup of the build as well as look at a gallery of pictures here and here respectively.
Falldog was next with his entry in to the Open style and wow, this build came out extraordinarily clean. I think by now Falldog should be known for how tidy his builds are and the Nu is no exception- all the toned down colors play off each other really well and the grays accentuate the blues and whites just right. The alternate position of the Fin Funnels looks nice too and the addition of Sazabi’s escape pod really makes for an excellent display piece! You can see the full gallery and his thoughts on the kit here.
Wolfman X’s Nu came in with a really solid military feel to it, something that really makes his kit feel unique. The colors almost feel Titan-esque but have their own spin on them that makes it stand out from others. Most of us went with brighter colors or toned down shades of bright colors and this was one of the few that took the dark color route. I also want to point out how well the stock Nu decals work with Wolfman’s colorscheme- I had to use Hi-Nu decals on my own Nu and a few others got custom sheets printed up for their builds so hats off for making them work with this kit! More of his pictures can be seen in his Catapult post over at GAF.
Shaid is up next, and is the only other person to enter and finish up their build in the Newtype field. I really like all the choices he made with this kit ranging from going with the glossy metallic frame and flat armor parts to the very well kept secret of attaching the Commander ReZEL’s wing binders to the Nu’s backpack. Sure, it cuts down on the number of Fin Funnels the kit can have equipped but frankly the choices he made go so well with the Zeta Plus A1 scheme that it hardly matters that the suit isn’t packing all 6 of it’s iconic weapons. Not to mention the paint and work overall on this kit is just plain crispy! Even the photography has a lot of pop to it. While I’d love to see pictures of it with all the armor on, given how much work Shaid put in to the frame I can see why he’d want to show it off. You can see a full gallery of this impressive kit over at his blog!
Khai was the next one across the finish line, wrapping up his build of the Titan’s colored Nu Gundam. It’s a given at this point that pretty much everything looks great in Titans colors and this Nu Gundam is no exception. Khai’s paintwork on this kit is so smooth and fresh that it almost looks like the kit was molded in these colors! The decals he used here really bring the kit to life and his mod work is just crazy! The railgun in place of the hand on the arm, the weapons on the shield, the different weapon in hand and the shoulder mounted bazooka are both top notch additions to the kit and give this a look all it’s own. There’s a full gallery (and I’m sure you can track down WIPs for how he did his mods) right here.
Last but certainly not least, Busterbeam managed to finish his monsterous kit just two minutes to midnight on the last day of the GB. He definitely didn’t disappoint with his entry! The last few models he’s done have had very well executed colorschemes and this is another one for the record books for him if you ask me (he even used his own blood in the paintjob!). The work on the frame is really tight and it’s obvious why he went took some pictures with half the armor off- I’m always impressed by people that can take frame detailing to this level and the next kit I work on after the Stein is done with I’ll give it a shot myself. The really impressive thing he’s done here is the head! No one else in the GB knew what he was doing with this so like Shaid’s ReZEL wings it came as a big surprise to everyone when he unveiled it. Something else I love about BB’s builds is that he always has a really awesome backstory for builds like this which is something I’ve already thought of for my customized Stein. You can read the story and get a good look at this kit by checking out his blog!
This GB was only as hugely successful as it was thanks to all the folks who participated and gave out feedback or got involved in various ways from making banners (I have to give a big thanks especially to fury-s21 for making an entire application that helped a lot of folks get their colorschemes in order before they started painting) and of course the GB wouldn’t have even existed without the kindness of the Gundam Australia Forums and my main man Sonar. GAF is absolutely my gunpla home on the internet outside of this little blog (fun fact: I still need to do a year 4 wrap up post! I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for so long), to the point that apparently there are people out there who think that I’m an Australian, haha. I also have to give a big thanks to HobbyLink Japan for both sponsoring GAF and in turn providing prizes for those who took part in the Gauntlet 2.0. I’m grateful to everyone who took part in this event and helped it become as large as it was and now that this is all wrapped up, we can start getting things together to decide on prizes and the like for the brave few who managed to make it across the finish line! You can keep an eye on the GAF thread for developments in that regard since that’s where everyone involved will be most likely to see it.
Thank you again, everyone!
That’s right folks, the Nu Gundam ver. Ka Gauntlet is now officially OVER! It was a really excellent GB that saw a lot of entries but only seven out of the nineteen entrants (counting only the open and newtype styles as they were the ones who were painting their kits) managed to finish this kit in time for the deadline. There were a few people who came close but finished is finished and I’d be selling the others who pulled through and got everything done in time short if I let others slide on not having their kits totally completed. Like Busterbeam said in one of his posts over at the GAF thread, there was a big difference between this Gauntlet and the one we held for the PG SF. With the Nu GB, everyone came in cold whereas with the PG SF we were all a ways in to the build and we just had to make that one big final push to wrap the kit up. Obviously everyone starting from zero made this a more demanding GB all around but I also think that it makes what people managed to accomplish in the three month time frame all the more impressive.
By now, everyone has seen my own Nu Gundam in Karaba colors. There were only two entries in the Newtype Style, but that’s alright. We’ll get to the other entry in a little bit! This is still one of my favorite builds that I’ve done to date, especially with the Double Funnel set attached, which I still need to snap a few more pictures for before I can update the page with those. Let’s get on to the other excellent entries.
GaiGun of the Gaijin-Gunpla fame finished his kit shortly after me with a nicely executed darker colorscheme using Tamiya’s spraycans. I especially like the bold choice he went with on the psychoframe parts, electing to use a popping candy green that would be shown off in it’s Invoke mode. His entry marked the first of the few to finish up in the Open/Gangnam style category and you can read his excellent writeup of the build as well as look at a gallery of pictures here and here respectively.
Falldog was next with his entry in to the Open style and wow, this build came out extraordinarily clean. I think by now Falldog should be known for how tidy his builds are and the Nu is no exception- all the toned down colors play off each other really well and the grays accentuate the blues and whites just right. The alternate position of the Fin Funnels looks nice too and the addition of Sazabi’s escape pod really makes for an excellent display piece! You can see the full gallery and his thoughts on the kit here.
Wolfman X’s Nu came in with a really solid military feel to it, something that really makes his kit feel unique. The colors almost feel Titan-esque but have their own spin on them that makes it stand out from others. Most of us went with brighter colors or toned down shades of bright colors and this was one of the few that took the dark color route. I also want to point out how well the stock Nu decals work with Wolfman’s colorscheme- I had to use Hi-Nu decals on my own Nu and a few others got custom sheets printed up for their builds so hats off for making them work with this kit! More of his pictures can be seen in his Catapult post over at GAF.
Shaid is up next, and is the only other person to enter and finish up their build in the Newtype field. I really like all the choices he made with this kit ranging from going with the glossy metallic frame and flat armor parts to the very well kept secret of attaching the Commander ReZEL’s wing binders to the Nu’s backpack. Sure, it cuts down on the number of Fin Funnels the kit can have equipped but frankly the choices he made go so well with the Zeta Plus A1 scheme that it hardly matters that the suit isn’t packing all 6 of it’s iconic weapons. Not to mention the paint and work overall on this kit is just plain crispy! Even the photography has a lot of pop to it. While I’d love to see pictures of it with all the armor on, given how much work Shaid put in to the frame I can see why he’d want to show it off. You can see a full gallery of this impressive kit over at his blog!
Khai was the next one across the finish line, wrapping up his build of the Titan’s colored Nu Gundam. It’s a given at this point that pretty much everything looks great in Titans colors and this Nu Gundam is no exception. Khai’s paintwork on this kit is so smooth and fresh that it almost looks like the kit was molded in these colors! The decals he used here really bring the kit to life and his mod work is just crazy! The railgun in place of the hand on the arm, the weapons on the shield, the different weapon in hand and the shoulder mounted bazooka are both top notch additions to the kit and give this a look all it’s own. There’s a full gallery (and I’m sure you can track down WIPs for how he did his mods) right here.
Last but certainly not least, Busterbeam managed to finish his monsterous kit just two minutes to midnight on the last day of the GB. He definitely didn’t disappoint with his entry! The last few models he’s done have had very well executed colorschemes and this is another one for the record books for him if you ask me (he even used his own blood in the paintjob!). The work on the frame is really tight and it’s obvious why he went took some pictures with half the armor off- I’m always impressed by people that can take frame detailing to this level and the next kit I work on after the Stein is done with I’ll give it a shot myself. The really impressive thing he’s done here is the head! No one else in the GB knew what he was doing with this so like Shaid’s ReZEL wings it came as a big surprise to everyone when he unveiled it. Something else I love about BB’s builds is that he always has a really awesome backstory for builds like this which is something I’ve already thought of for my customized Stein. You can read the story and get a good look at this kit by checking out his blog!
This GB was only as hugely successful as it was thanks to all the folks who participated and gave out feedback or got involved in various ways from making banners (I have to give a big thanks especially to fury-s21 for making an entire application that helped a lot of folks get their colorschemes in order before they started painting) and of course the GB wouldn’t have even existed without the kindness of the Gundam Australia Forums and my main man Sonar. GAF is absolutely my gunpla home on the internet outside of this little blog (fun fact: I still need to do a year 4 wrap up post! I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for so long), to the point that apparently there are people out there who think that I’m an Australian, haha. I also have to give a big thanks to HobbyLink Japan for both sponsoring GAF and in turn providing prizes for those who took part in the Gauntlet 2.0. I’m grateful to everyone who took part in this event and helped it become as large as it was and now that this is all wrapped up, we can start getting things together to decide on prizes and the like for the brave few who managed to make it across the finish line! You can keep an eye on the GAF thread for developments in that regard since that’s where everyone involved will be most likely to see it.
Thank you again, everyone!
