Evangelion Unit-08a [Completed & Post-Assembly Review] - Bandai Real Grade Plastic Model Kit

 Another straight-out-of-the-box build of an EVA Unit is now complete, with the Bandai Real Grade 1/144 scale Evangelion Unit-08a finally fully-assembled with some additional work along the lines of the application of foil stickers, third party water decals, as well as selected top-coating, and panel-lining. Absolutely no re-painting was done on any of the parts seeing that the majority of the kit was covered in pink and white parts that had an excellent matte finish to them. So much so that they looked like painted parts, and not just the plain molded plastic they actually are.

 If pushed to chose what I would do differently than just a straight-out-of-the-box build, perhaps I would've re-painted the yellow parts with lacquer paint. Of all parts, those were the ones that look the most plasticky and toy-like. But in the end I did not go down that path because in the overall scheme of things, the yellow parts didn't look too bad, mostly because there wasn't that many of them.

 There is, however, one thing that's non-negotiable in a straight-out-of-the-box build. And that is to replace the subpar sticker decals with third party water decals. The former always ends up looking horrible in the final build. It's the least you could do to ensure best results for a non-painted build.

 While the Evangelion Unit-08a scale model kit had also included other standard weapons such as the palette knifes and the 209mm Assault Rifle, I decided against showing any of them here as the EVA Unit-08a is mostly associated with using a pistol (weapon not provided) as well as the sniper rifle (see photos immediately above this paragraph). At least that's what I remember seeing from the Neon Genesis Evangelion  3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time anime movie.

 Now the clear transparent base that you see the Evangelion Unit-08a attached to wasn't provided together with the kit. In fact no base displays were provided together with the kit. As such, what you see in the photos is actually a display base kit called Action Base 6 [Clear Color] that's sold separately by Bandai Spirits. It's a display base that's worth getting for use with Bandai's Real Grade Evangelion scale model kits. But because the action base wasn't made specifically for these kits, the fitting between the base's peg and the hole at the back of the EVA Unit isn't perfect. In fact, it's a bit loose. That being said, it's an acceptable compromise seeing that the base has a small footprint, which is always a good thing if you are a collector for whom display space is at a premium.

 Below is the 'Completed & Post-Assembly Review' video of the Real Grade Evangelion Unit-08a scale model kit that can also be found on my YouTube Channel i.e. FourEyedMonster Miniatures.

 As I work on more and more Gunpla, I have come to depend on a paint strategy that comprises a mixture of painting and top-coating rather than a straight-out-of-the-box-build. I didn't apply that strategy here because the majority of the model kit already looked pretty good unpainted. But in the future, especially for the Real Grade kit of the Evangelion Unit-02, it is likely that I'll apply the aforementioned strategy because EVA Unit-02 is mostly in red, and parts with in-mold red color tends to look extremely plasticky and toy-like. To avoid that, I'll have to finally paint a Real Grade Evangelion scale model kit. But that is in the future. For now, this is another project done and dusted. Let me just revel in that, and wish you dear reader, to be well and happy!