It’s a very difficult choice, and it’s changed probably many times throughout the years as I watched more series. At introduction, it was Deathscythe Hell Custom. From there, it became Dynames, then the 00 Raiser. The Ground Gundam was in there somewhere, the Unicorn lasted for a long time, and then it was solidly the Gundam Mk. II. But not forever.

I guess what I’m saying is, the GP01 is my favorite Gundam. From the beginning it was a better looking version of the original RX-78-2. One of the unique elements that helps define the GP01 is the antenna on its head crest, giving a nice reminder that it is a machine, and pushing 0083 toward the “Real Robot” side of the scale.

Then once they’re in space, Kou takes the GP01 – not currently configured for space – out for battle and despite his earlier skill gets utterly. Wrecked. The GP01’s sparking remains are recovered and, over the course of a couple days, rebuilt into the GP01-Fb!

The “Fb” designation stands for “Full Burnern”, which is meant to be “Vernian” – a reference to the full complement of fine-control positioning thrusters called verniers that are built into the suit’s new space-worthy limbs. Yay for official, but incorrect, romanization!

So when I sold my first RG GP01-Fb, I figured the replacement deserved some especial attention. My focus was the push the RG color separation further, and add some extra details present in the control art and animation model but not addressed on the kit.

Paints used:

Light gray – Model Masters Light Ghost Gray

Medium gray – Testors Flat Gray

Dark gray – Tamiya XF-63 German Grey

Dark blue – Vallejo Turquoise

Dark red – Tamiya X-7 Red

Black – Model Masters Flat Black

Silver – Model Masters Silver Chrome Trim

Clear Red – Tamiya X-27 Clear Red

Clear Green – Tamiya X-25 Clear Green

Clear Yellow – Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow

Phew!

Unlike the original Core Fighter II, the FF-XII-Fb has a pair of massive fuel tanks, which become the backpack for the GP01-Fb. They swivel for high mobility, with four large thrusters and ten small verniers around the body for zero-G positioning. I wanted to push 0083’s “Top Gun” feel so I added aviation-style navigation lights with chrome and clear colors to the fuselage and fuel tanks: red on the left, green on the right, and a pair of yellow lights on the underside. I also tinted the cockpit for accuracy, and painted the pilot seat and controls inside. Might as well have tiny painted controls for the tiny painted Kou!

My thinking here is that the rebuild process involved a lot of armor reinforcement, particularly against the sort of laser attack that took the GP01 apart. To that end, gray on the limbs and skirts is reinforced plating to deflect and absorb laser attacks, focused around the joints.

A lot of my love for the GP01 comes from that head. Aggressive yet heroic face, great angle on the V-fin, that antenna coming off the top… perfect.



On the original GP01, the rings around the elbow joints are white, similar to the RX-78-2, but the rings on the knees are the same color as the inner frame. I painted all of them medium grey for a more uniform appearance.

I like how the back half of the Core Fighter XII-Fb becomes the backpack here. It’s a bit more elegant than the GP01’s backpack shell over the Core Fighter XII. My original intention was to paint the numerous verniers chrome silver, but reference materials across the board show the thrusters as red.



I used a seal from an EFSF set on the top half of the shield, as the front was pretty bare otherwise.

Somehow, this was the part that took the most work! White. The plastic’s all white. The dark colors work much better in making it feel big and heavy, with multiple structural layers. I’m very pleased with the final result.



The Fb’s feet are somewhat infamously remembered as clown shoes. According to design art, they latch onto the original GP01 like slippers, adding multiple small verniers for extra thrust. Tons of detail is scuplted into the RG version, but left uncolored. They look great with a little paint to bring them out!

All in all, this is a great kit of a great suit, with tons of detail sculpted into every little corner. I hope some of my love for the GP01-Fb shows through in this project. Painting in all of these details, poring over every centimeter of this Gundam… really made me pine for the PG…