Step Up Your Gunpla: Skirt Armor

Step Up Your Gunpla is a new series of tutorials that Gunpla 101 contributor Nanochi has designed for builders who want to bring more pizazz to their kits. While these steps are shown on non-painted kits of the High Grade series, these same steps can be used on painted kits as well as Master Grade kits. 

Gunpla has improved a LOT over time. New technology means that today’s kits are more accurate, more precise, and more defined than older models.

One issue that a lot of High Grade (and most SD) kits have is that the front skirt armor does not move independently. This can limit some poses you’d want to pull off, or rule out other poses entirely. Heres a simple trick to separate the armor on older Gunpla to make them as flexible as newer model kits are.

For this tutorial, we’ll be working with the HG Sazabi and modifying the front skirt armor, as seen in the corner of these instructions. Normally, you put it as is into another piece that holds it in place, as seen here in step 31. (These are the instructions for the SD Sazabi, but you get the picture!)

Here’s the piece before any modification. You’ll want to confirm that it has these two rounded ball joints attached in the center.

Now, cut those pieces apart with an X-Acto knife. In the center, make gentle cuts down the thinnest part of the connection until the part separates. You don’t want to use nippers as it can put too much stress on the plastic and break.

After you cut the pieces out, they’ll be flat on the inside where they used to be connected. Use some low-grit sandpaper (the kind usually intended for sanding automobiles) to gently sand them down until they are more circular. This will also add some space between the two new parts.

Finally, attach the pieces to the holder just like you would have normally. Even though it’s two pieces now, it should fit as well as it did before.

Continue the rest of the build, and voila, you now have skirt armor that looks better during poses like on the box or show. Now the skirt armor front is just as flexible as the skirt armor in the back.

It’s a simple, one-step process, but it adds a lot of flexibility to your older Gunpla kit. I hope you find it helpful!