Bandai Hobby Gundam Seed Astray Red Frame 1/60 Perfect Grade Model Kit

I got this as a birthday gift for my husband. He loved it, built it in 2 days. Great build!

The Perfect Grade Gundam model kit is a tour de force in the world of Gunpla, setting a new standard for excellence in design, construction, and presentation. Whether you're a seasoned modeler seeking a challenge or a newcomer eager to dive into the world of Gundam, this kit offers an unparalleled experience that is as rewarding as it is enjoyable. With its meticulous detailing, superb articulation, and stunning final presentation, the Perfect Grade Gundam earns its rightful place as a crown jewel in any Gunpla collection

I love these perfect grade kits. The red astray has been my favorite so far. I started with the wing zero and then build the rx-78 and then the evangelion unit-01. So this is my fourth and most expensive so far. Let me start by saying the finished product is incredible. It is very impressive on my desk. Building it was actually quite fun. It was very forgiving when you slightly make a mistake. I am working on the strike freedom now which is very delicate and unforgiving. It is also very sturdy. The directions for this are lightyears ahead of the older perfect grades i have built. The only problem i had was with the decals. This is the first set that had a LARGE amount of decals to apply. The water slide decals are super easy to use. I have had practice with a few ver.ka master grades to get used to it. Now the dry press decals were horrendous. It was so difficult to cut them out and take them down. If you cut one out and drop it it is very hard to tell which side is which. I really wish they gave you duplicates of each sheet. Having one of each of the 300 tiny decals which you have to fit into tiny tiny spots without mistake is very painstaking and nerve wracking. I bought extra sets of decals on ebay to replace the few i messed up. I highly recommend doing so it you are a perfectionist. The ones i found were a large sheet of waterslides that were duplicates of all the decals waterslide and dry press. Overall great build and very rewarding. I wish the strike freedom was as easy.

I have built several Gundam model kits, including a few of the perfect grades. This one is well worth the price. A nice middle ground price wise (as amazon has it on discount rather often.). The frame is very solid, moves smoothly and holds position very well. The outside detail pieces fit well and look sharp. With a heavy frame and the addition of foam pads to the feet it is possible to set up this kit in many different stances without the need for a stand. Plenty of detail stickers let you add some nice fine touches that really flesh out the look.As for the difficulty, no perfect grade should be done without a little experience behind you, but this one is not very hard compared to some of the older ones. It took me around 10 hours to complete, so depending on experience that number may change.My only real complaint against the model kit is that the hip design has two different settings whether you have the sheath attached or not. The locking system used to set which of the two settings you use is very weak and tends to slip when setting up the model into a pose.

Having built a few Pefect Grade (PG) kits I can tell you that this is one of the best.This is a no frills (besides a giant chrome katana) kit. No giant wings, no weapons everywhere. However the kit has amazing detail; both the normal PG inner frame that comes with all the newer PGs and the fantastic astray armor bits. The head lights up like all PGs (batteries not included) and the detail here is amazing.Pros:1. For those who like Gundam Seed but like a simple look (like the strike with no attachments).2. The Best looking gundam head of any kit I've seen.3. KATANA. Gundam sized katana. You will love the assembly of this weapon!4. Could be painted to represent any of the initial Astray variants (red, blue, green, gold, mirage)Cons:Few parts break easy. I've broken the shield attachment which was really disappointing as the shield is amazing.The light up eye is in the center of the head, this makes it light weird. I fixed this by painting black inside the head and then chroming the inside.Colors: the red color of the frame and armor pieces are boring. This kit needs to be painted. I recommend a titanium finish for the red armor and a darker red frame to really bring out some life in the colorset.Dispite the fact that the Red Astray wasn't in a major gundam series this is a fantastic kit. Buy this if you are a seed fan, the manga fan, a gunpla PG fan or if you just love the non-winged simple gundams.

This thing is faaaaantaatic I can't begin to tell how good this pg kit really is because it's the first i ever built and it's the first gunpla I ever built lol. So if your worried that if this one is to hard no it's not the instructions are perfectly portrayed and "shows you which part goes where and which way around" if I may use wizartars words in his review on this kit as well the only real confusing thing and it's not the kit or the really the instruction manuals fault but be very attentive with the led unit it's VERY particular on how you want to build it so it works right I got it wrong too...and didn't look back on it like 3 years after built the kit lol. However I redid it so it's good now. One thing I do say well a couple things the V fin doesn't tab in too well glue that, and since I had it for 3 years the polycaps have gotten a little loose dare I say but that's because I couldn't help get it into poses loooool. But all in all "the red frame puts the perfect in perfect grade" as said again by wizartars video but when you do get it don't rush the kit and get it done quickly "you rush him and get him done sooner but why do that, savor and enjoy every moment" 2-old-for-toys said those words in wizartars review as well (He was in the video too it's a 3 parter do watch it) oh and I did break his little like knee thing that is on the table but that was me being dumb and not careful and snaped it but that won't happen if you grab it properly.