What Tools Do I Need to Build Gunpla?

Good news! Gunpla kits don’t need glue to build—no matter how intricate they get, they’re pretty much all snap and push-fit. They all come in mostly accurate colored plastic too, so you don’t have to paint a kit unless you really want to go all out (more on that later). All you need are basic hobby tools: a nipper or side cutter, to cut parts off of the plastic runners, a hobby or x-acto knife, to trim extra sprue pieces or clean up your parts, alongside a file and tweezers to apply stickers. For certain older kits, you might also need a screwdriver to screw some parts together, but this is not a technique used in most kits from the last decade-plus, so you don’t need to worry about it often. You can usually buy a small set of hobby tools that have all these—I’m still using a Tamiya basic tools set, plus a nicer pair of nippers, that I started regularly building model kits with years ago. You’ll probably also want a cutting mat too, so you don’t hack up bits of your kitchen table or something.

If you want to put a little extra time into a kit, you can also “panel line” it—inking in and around the recessed details on parts to add contrast and shading—with Gundam Markers. There are several types of marker, including basic pens, metallic colors, and “flow” markers designed to fill in panel lines like an ink wash, but you can survive with the conveniently available starter packs of three pens: grey, brown, and black. You’ll want to use grey on light-colored parts like white, black on darker or intensely colored parts like blue or red, and brown on yellow and other warm-colored parts, and you need either some cotton swabs, an eraser, or just your own finger tip to soften and clean up a piece when you’ve marked it up. You don’t have to line a kit—it takes some time, but it’s not difficult, and is an easy way to make your kit pop with minimal extra effort. Read more about the process and some tips and tricks here at Gunpla 101.