The document discusses the author's hobby of building Gundam model kits. It provides background on the Gundam series, which began as a manga in 1979. It describes the various grades of Gundam model kits available and notes that while they range from $20 to much higher, online retailers make them more accessible in the US. The author got into Gundam by watching anime shows and YouTube reviews, and has been building kits since age 15, finding it relaxing and a way to customize the models.

1. My Favorite Hobby:
Model Kit Building
By Noah Kaufman

2. Background of The Gundam series
The very first Gundam series was Mobile Suit Gundam, which aired back in 1979, but
it first started off as a manga series, Japanese style cartoon. There has been a total of
29 gundam series and 6 movies.

3. Gundam model kits first started in the 1980s
with the First Grade model (FG) and spread
with to the U.S. in the 1990s.
Then it continued with the High grade (HG),
Real grade (RG), Master grade (MG), No
grade (NG) and Perfect grade (PG).

4. The Sad Truth Of Gunpla
• Buying a Gundam kit is not cheap
• Most cost about $20.00, those are
just HG, but the RG, MG, NG, and
PG cost up to 10 times the amount
of a normal HG
• The most common way to get it is
to order from japan and have it
shipped to you, so it cost even
more
• Luckily, there are better options,
there are model kit websites that
have most of the kits on sale from
japan in the U.S.

5. How I Got Into
Gundam And Model
Kits
I got into gundam by watching the
anime “Gundam Build Fighters
Try” and watching the youtubers
known as Jobbythehong, Mecha
Gaikotsu, and their hilarious figure
reviews.
Image: Hg Build Strike Galaxy
Cosmos (My favorite)

6. When did I Get Into Building
Model Kits
I started building model kits when I was 15
and I mostly build Gundam based kits. So
far I’ve built 15 gundams, 3 booster packs
for the gundams, and 2 non-gundam based
kits.
Left image:
Hg Freedom Gundam revive
From “Mobile Suit Gundam Seed”

7. I was pulled into building and watching gundam, because I loved to build
things when I was 6.
I was introduced to anime when I was 12, and I started to explore the genre.
Eventually I found the gundam series and the concept of building “Gunpla”
as its known.
Image: Star Build Strike Gundam

8. Why Do I Build
These Kits
I find building these kits funny
and relaxing. I make something
awesome and after building it, I
can add my own customizations
to make it even better.
Image: it’s a mix of the Build
Strike and Strike Noir Gundam

9. Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gundam_manga_and_novels#Mobile_Suit_Gun
dam_(Universal_Century)
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/GunDam
http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Gundam_Build_Fighters_Try
MechaGaikotsu: https://www.youtube.com/user/MechaGaikotsu
JobbytheHong: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC70F5cxWj0AeZfbbjJg-eGg