RG Astraea "R3"

This build is a combination of the P-Bandai RG Exia R3 kit and the P-Bandai Astraea parts set. The Astraea and Exia are two of my favorite Gundam designs and the RG versions of both suits have leave a stronger impression than the MG or 3rd party options out there. This build was the first RG I’ve finished in quite some time and really reminded me of what I love about the grade and scale and really energized me to work through more of those kits in my backlog, too! This kit had it’s fair share of struggles due to paint chipping but I made sure to repair things properly and in the end, I wound up with a model I’m very fond of. DelphiDecals were used to break up the largely single-color paintjob and add visual interest throughout the kit. The combination of Exia and Astraea parts worked wonderfully together to create a kit with a very distinct appearance.

The rear view of this kit really highlights all the work that went in to making this kit “pop” properly. RG kits have so much part separation that one should always be prepared to draw it out. I tried to use as many “p-bandai” parts as I could on this section by using the Exia R3’s skirt with the Astraea’s GN Drive housing. These from behind pictures are strong contenders for my favorite pictures I took of this build.

RG kits aren’t lacking for surface detail in the slightest and to bring all of that out, I had to do a fair amount of masking on the chest, head, shoulders and weapons. A flat finish for the body of the MS with glossy metallic paint used on the GN condensers adds even more pop to those sections of the build. The Astraea cockpit hatch, shoulders and front skirting provide ample detail to grab the viewers attention. DelphiDecals markings for the Exia R3 and Astraea Type-F add extra detail that ties everything together wonderfully.

I stuck with the standard Exia R3 loadout for this kit’s armaments, but I did paint the Astraea’s shield since I like the square aesthetic it has compared to the Exia’s shield. It goes with the rest of the choices I made for this kit well! I masked off sections of the middle of the GN blade to bring out more of the detail present on that part and used a couple different shades of grey to add some variety to the GN Long Rifle too. The GN Sword Kai and Long Rifle are really unique weapons and putting the effort in to them makes this simple loadout look outstanding.