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

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.

Loved it ! Very addictive hobby !

Very beautiful and big kit.

I was hesitant at first ordering as my son wanted a perfect grade gundam. This arrived before schedule and was the best gift! Exactly as pictured!

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.

Looks wonderful. Though this 16 year old kit is showing its age in some places. Lacks some of the detailing and conveniences of a more kit.Still comes out looking absolutely awesome. The stickers are a little hard to manage, would recommend getting some water slide decals on it.Still absolutely worth it.

It was amazing my buddy put it together for his birthday it looked great. He had fun putting it together nice model.