[BB Senshi] RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 01, 02, 03

Just hauled in a couple ponies this afternoon.

They definitely don't pop as well as their HGUC counterparts, but they're
still pretty impressive for the BB Senshi line.

 Since I've already got these laid out and everything, I thought I might as well 

run them through the blacklight to compare with their big brothers.

Now you see me...

 ...now you don't.

Unicorn does glow a bit, but not nearly as bright as the Strikes Odaiba Psychoframe.

Rather disappointing after seeing just how spectacular they can get.

Still, gunpla doesn't normally do that in the first place, so that doesn't really take any points away from these guys.

Strikes Odaiba Set green vs Full Armor Unicorn green

I'd been getting questions that I haven't been able to answer since I didn't have the regular releases.
I recently got my hands on the regular HGUC Full Armor Unicorn though, so let's get to it!

GFT Strikes Odaiba green on the left and regular Full Armor green on the right.

It's interesting to note that the standard release's Psychoframe gives a more 

bluish glow when under UV. It also doesn't quite glow as bright as the GFT green.
This is more apparent once the kits have been built as the glow from the 

GFT Psychoframes are still visible even with the lights on (check out my previous post on this).

pros:
-matching psychoframes
-DECALS!! (not quite as good as the new red frame release though)
-white Armed Armor DE is exclusive here
-hyper beam javelin idky everybody is so crazy about
-psychoframe looks better under UV
-special gloss injection on all parts

cons:
-hard to get your hands on
-more expensive
-lack of color separation on Banshee's Armed Armor XC is more obvious
-psychoframe color looks kinda off when not under UV

final verdict: 

If you happen to have a spare blacklight lying around and like to look at shiny things, you might want to save up a little more for the GFT release. It's no doubt a great bang for your buck!

[HG 1/144] RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 01, 02, 03 ver.GFT

 Matching sparkly clear fluorescent green Psycoframe, white pearl gloss injection on Unicorn 

and black metallic gloss injection on Banshee, and cool decals. It's all so majestic! 

The puke gold on Phenex isn't so majestic, but a little paint...actually, a lot of paint fixed that.

 I used Tamiya X-12 for Phenex and a mix of X-12 and X-6 for Banshee's

Armed Armor XC.

While they look totally cool straight out of the box,
you can't fully enjoy it without a black light...
and apparently, we had a black light lying around. HUZZAH!!

You'll notice that Banshee's Armed Armor XC doesn't glow in the following photos.

These were taken much earlier before I had reworked it..

The black parts used stickers and the gold parts had no color separation at all.
For the rework, I used gold paint in place of the stickers and used fluorescent green for the Psychoframe areas.

HG 1/144 WIP- RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 01 02 03 ver.GFT

These are some of the rarest kits I've gotten my hands on, and 

Banshee comes as a set with Unicorn. It doesn't get much better than that!

Pearl gloss injection for the armor, metallic tones in place of the original's gray and blue, and  sparkle clear green Psychoframe. 

Judging by that hue, this is gonna look great under a blacklight. I've definitely got great expectations for this kit.

After working on it for a while, I've noticed that the pearl gloss parts are somewhat translucent.

It gives a subtle illusion that the Psychoframe is glowing even under normal lighting.

Big surprise here. The Strikes Odaiba Set includes decals.
Personally, this has singlehandedly made the premium worth it!

 Banshee gets the same sparkle clear Psychoframe as Unicorn,

and a metallic dark blue.

Y U DO DIS, KATOKI?? It took me over two hours sharpening the v-fins here.

2 of 3. The original golden-orange Psychoframe worked really well against the black,

but I think this green look better when placed beside a matching Unicorn.

To be honest, I was somewhat skeptical of the whole
"painted gold is so much better than puke gold" business.
Having done it firsthand though, I can confidently say, 

"Eyyy. Painted gold is so much better than puke gold!!"

Consequently, progress is much slower than my regular builds since I prefer to

leave the parts to dry for 24-48 hours after painting.

There's no need to worry about stress marks though, and the Unicorn already does

a pretty good job of hiding nubmarks in between seams, so I've got that going for me.

At this point, I'd gone through an entire 10ml jar of X-12 acrylic.
It's a good thing I got all paranoid and bought three jars before starting the build.

 

Delicious decals!!

All decal-ed up. I finally got around to working on the Psychoframe of Banshee's

Armed Armor XC, too. Looks pretty good under normal lighting, 

but I hope it'll fluoresce just as awesome under UV.