Better late than never. Today I’m finally sharing my Gundam Aerial HG build, a model I picked up as a souvenir in Akihabara, Tokyo, back in 2023 and finished in early 2024. It’s been sitting on the shelf waiting for its moment in the spotlight, and today it’s finally its time. Welcome the Witch from Mercury.
Why the Gundam Aerial?
The Gundam Aerial is the iconic lead mecha from the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury anime series, and in my opinion one of the most striking Gundam designs in years. The clean, almost feminine silhouette set it apart from the boxier, more militaristic Gundam design language. For a Warhammer painter used to grimdark aesthetics, there’s something refreshing about a mecha that looks this elegant. T’au Empire and Aeldari collectors will know.
Stahly’s Gundam Aerial HG 1/144 build
The Gundam Aerial HG build is very beginner-friendly in terms of complexity. Gunpla models are made from coloured plastic and don’t strictly need to be painted. Because HG kits achieve this with fewer parts, though, not all details are always fully colour-separated. HG kits typically includes coloured stickers for those areas, but I preferred to paint them instead. For this I used Gundam Colors by Mr. Hobby for the first time. That wasn’t entirely straightforward, as these are enamel-based and behave quite differently from the acrylic paints you’d use for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures.
Panel lining for depth and definition
To bring out the surface detail and add visual depth, I panel lined the entire model using Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colors. I used grey for the white and light-coloured panels, black for the darker areas, and brown for the yellow parts, where a warmer shadow tone suited the colour better. Aside from the panel lining, I skipped any further painting or weathering, as a clean build felt more in keeping with the vibe of the Witch from Mercury anime.
One of the easiest upgrades you can make to any HG Gundam kit is swapping out the included stickers for waterslide decals, and that’s exactly what I did here. Waterslide decals conform to the surface far more naturally and simply look much nicer. To melt them to the plastic, I applied multiple coats of Microsol decal softener, after that I masked/removed all the clear parts and gave it a topcoat of Mr. Topcoat Premium Flat.
This was a relatively straightforward build compared to my more heavily weathered RG-78-2 in a Gundam Factory exclusive black colourway, but sometimes clean and precise is exactly the right approach. The Gundam Aerial suits a neat, show-accurate finish, and I think the colour correction and panel lining do just enough to elevate it beyond a straight out-of-box build without losing that sleek, elegant quality that makes the design so appealing in the first place. A souvenir from Akihabara that I’m very glad finally made it onto Tale of Painters. More about my Tokyo endeavours in this post, where I put together a list of the best hobby spots in Tokyo you have to see to believe.
Would you like to see more GUNPLA models here on Tale of Painters? Or do you have questions about the techniques used? Then feel free to discuss with me on our friendly hobby Discord server or leave a comment below. Thanks a lot, and happy hobbying!
Tale of Painters is the unofficial Warhammer hobby magazine run by hobbyists like you. Support our work by using the affiliate links from our 🇺🇸 / 🇨🇦 partner stores for your next orders so we can continue to bring you fantastic FREE content every day:
Or support us directly:
