Welcome! Before we start learning about building Gunpla (Gundam Plastic Models), let's first start out with understanding the basics which is Straight Building.
Straight Building (also known as OOTB or Out of the Box Building, Snap Building and other terms I might have missed) is the first step in building Gunpla. It is building your Gunpla according to the manual's instructions. Gunpla with additional details such as paint and other stuff are no longer considered Straight Builds because you are already modifying the Gunpla according to your own design. So what does a Straight Build Gunpla look like?
These are my straight built kits, my Dragon Momoko MG 1/100 Freedom and Daban MG 1/100 Duel. As you can see, there are no other added details to it. No panel lines, no decals, no paint, nothing. Just assembled according to how the manual instructed me how to build it.
"We get it already, why do we need to discuss about this anyway?" Well, the thing is, some builders don't really get it at all. I've seen plenty of builders who were just starting out suddenly start to customize their kits without even mastering the basics. That's simply being too hasty. Taking things slow and mastering the basics first is what leads you to becoming a great Plamo Builder. In mastering the basics, what we want to achieve is to build our Gunpla the cleanest that it can be.
For me and even among veterans, a cleanly built Gunpla outclasses an overly customized one that clearly has ignored the basics. I am annoyed every time I see nub marks, seamlines or flashes (I'll teach you what these terms are later on) on a Gunpla that the builder claims is "finished". I wouldn't really mind if the builder was just starting out or admits that there's still a lot that the builder should learn about, but what annoys me are those builders who claim or see themselves as "veterans" because of their so called "master builds" but clearly have no sense of mastering the basics whatsoever.
"It's not good to jump immediately to advanced or heavy modifications, it's hard since for example you'd like to try out beveling but you'd like to try out making parts for your Gunpla then the outcome would be obvious that the part didn't come from the Gundam (based from my Thunderhorse haha) that's why you should start mastering the basics since you can apply it for more advanced builds.
while for example you know scratch building but your basics are all over the place it can't turn the other way around
To those who think that they're too good that they ignore the basics, I suggest you look for another Gunpla tutorial blog or website because I believe I do not have anything to teach to such people. But for those who are willing to learn and master the basics, I am more than happy to teach you. So go ahead and grab your kit, because in the next tutorial, I'll show you the tools I use for straight building. I'll be using this Daban MG 1/100 Strike Rouge + Ootori for my tutorials.
Thank you for reading this, and let's continue to the next tutorial.
P.S. Here's a link for certain Gunpla Terms that you might have never heard of.
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