Maksymilian Spaczyński

​Hey everyone, welcome to the definitive and complete final submission for my project! After reviewing the official entry requirements and judging guidelines, I realized that my previous post did not fully meet all the presentation standards needed for a proper evaluation. To ensure everything complies with the competition norms, I put together a full 360 degree turntable video alongside dedicated video footage covering the model from every conceivable side. Nothing is hidden, every profile is displayed with total honesty, and all the micro details are fully visible just as the machine stands on the workbench.

​This entire build has been an unforgettable experience that elevated my skills to a completely new level. Throughout this marathon, I discovered amazing new tools, including my Gaahleri airbrushes and a dedicated workspace setup that allowed me to achieve a standard of precision I had never reached before. Pushing this kit beyond standard boundaries took everything I had. Every step was executed with uncompromising care, from organizing and cataloging hundreds of cut parts on paper plates, to airbrushing intricate metallic cellulose shades across the inner frame using chrome, gunmetal, and custom gold mixes. I completely revamped the color separation by swapping the dull factory navy plastic on the weaponry and backpack for an authentic German Grey, applied vibrant primary colors, set custom waterslide decals onto individual unmounted panels, installed the full LED harness, added photo etched metal parts, and sealed the exterior with my go to GX 114 matte topcoat, which gives the entire surface a gorgeous, velvety satin look instead of a dry, chalky finish.

​I want to extend my sincere gratitude to the contest organizers for creating this platform, for their valuable feedback, and for spotlighting my work on Instagram. A huge thank you to everyone in the community for your constant encouragement, kind comments, and support throughout the journey. Most of all, I want to thank my girlfriend for her incredible patience while I spent nearly an entire month locked in my workshop room dedicating every spare hour to this machine.

​On a deeply personal note, this project served as genuine therapy for me. Managing a health condition that causes severe hand tremors makes high precision modeling an immense challenge, but immersing myself in this kit helped steady my hands, train my motor control, and bring quiet focus to my mind. Taking raw plastic and turning it into an artistic creation full of life and character is something truly special.

​Please take a look at the full 360 degree video and all the detailed close up shots. To all my fellow participants, every single one of you created breathtaking work and it has been an absolute honor competing alongside you. Thank you all for following along, and enjoy the final reveal!

​Additionally, you can find a link below to a shared Google Drive folder containing the majority of the build materials, work in progress photos, and high resolution documentation gathered throughout the entire competition for your review. ​Google Drive Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mvMV6SAoC9bck1oV4ZT5X_tUEyMLoBr4

Hey everyone! Just dropping a quick bonus update because I had so many great photos of the finished build that they simply could not all fit into the previous grand finale post. Here is an extra gallery showcasing more angles, close-up details, and additional perspectives of the completed machine. Hope you all enjoy this extra look at the final piece. Warm greetings to everyone, and thank you once again for all the love and support!

​Hey everyone, welcome to the twelfth and final update of this project! The build is officially complete, the final photoshoot is in the books, and I am beyond proud to present the culmination of this incredible journey.

​First and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the contest organizers for putting together such an inspiring competition, for the feedback, and for the amazing highlight on their Instagram page. A huge thank you to everyone who commented, interacted, and supported me throughout this journey, because your encouragement kept my fire burning. Most importantly, I want to thank my incredible girlfriend, who patiently put up with my near total absence for almost an entire month while I was locked away in my workshop, obsessively painting, clear coating, and refining every single millimeter of this model.

​This project pushed me to redefine what a Perfect Grade can truly be, and the workflow was an absolute marathon. Looking back at the entire process, here is how the journey unfolded from start to finish:

​First, I cut out every single part from the runners and organized them onto labeled paper plates marked with runner letters and part ranges. Next, I meticulously cleaned every nub mark with precision nippers and hobby blades, followed by thoroughly washing every single plastic component to remove any mold release residue. Once the parts were dry, I planned out my color separation and spent several intense days airbrushing the entire skeleton using cellulose lacquer metallic shades. I then assembled the heavy metallic inner frame. From there, I primed the remaining armor components using pink primer for the warm red and yellow parts and gray primer for the rest. I completely repainted the armor, swapping the cheap factory dark navy color on the backpack and weapons for a rich German Grey, capturing that classic anime aesthetic while keeping the realistic combat presence intact. I applied custom waterslide decals directly onto the isolated armor pieces without pre-assembling them to avoid any plastic stress. Finally, I sealed every piece individually with a satin topcoat, detailed the kit with photo-etched metal parts and metallic stickers, wired the full internal LED system, assembled the complete machine, and conducted the final photoshoot.

​This project demanded a massive financial investment between the new paints, primers, topcoats, a brand new airbrush, and a replacement spray booth. At the end of the day, model making is far more than just spending money. Building a model feels like a genuine act of artistic creation where we breathe life, personality, and soul into raw plastic, constantly expanding our creative limits.

​On a deeply personal note, this build served as a powerful form of therapy for me. Due to my health condition, I often struggle with severe hand tremors, but the extreme focus and discipline required by Gunpla helped steady my hands and train my motor control. Pouring myself into this kit was truly healing for both my body and mind.

​To all my fellow builders in this competition: you are all true winners. Browsing through your incredible entries has been an absolute joy, and the level of talent on display here is breathtaking. Thank you all for an unforgettable experience, good luck to everyone, and keep creating masterpieces!

Hey everyone, time for Update #11! My brand new spray booth finally arrived and I set it up directly in my room to test its exhaust power and see how well it handles fumes. As always, a quick reminder to everyone in the hobby to prioritize your safety and never skip wearing a proper respirator mask. Once everything was ready, I jumped straight into the clear coating stage. For this build I used Mr. Color GX 114, which is my absolute go to topcoat because it delivers a gorgeous, silky satin finish. It never looks dry or chalky like some harsh flat coats do, remaining pleasant to the touch while giving the armor an ultra premium look.

​Of course, the session was not without some unexpected drama. While I was spraying, a fly flew right onto a freshly coated white armor piece and got clear coated on the spot. In my panic to remove the insect immediately, I ended up completely smudging the wet coat, which meant having to strip and redo a few pieces. Every single part was mounted individually on skewers and treated with careful mist coats first to build up that immaculate finish, making this an extraordinarily time consuming process. The last two weeks of working on this kit have been utterly overwhelming, exhausting, and intense, but as I write these words I can officially say that the build is completely finished. Stay tuned, because later today I will be dropping the grand reveal post with the final photos of the completed build!

Hey everyone, time for Update #10! Honestly there is nothing drastically new to report on the surface because I am still completely buried under the waterslide decal marathon. The sheer number of markings included with this Perfect Grade is absolutely massive, so placing, aligning, and setting every single tiny decal properly is eating up an enormous amount of time. At this pace, finishing all these decals will likely take up almost all the remaining time I have until the contest deadline. Once this marathon is finally behind me, the only things left on my checklist will be applying the metallic accent stickers, sealing the armor panels with the final matte coat, posing the model, and taking the final showcase photos. It requires a tremendous amount of patience, but watching each individual armor piece gain that ultra realistic technical look makes every single second worth it. Thank you all so much for following along with this journey, and stay tuned because the finish line is in sight!

Hey everyone, time for Update #9! The entire inner frame is officially fully assembled, and the final result is absolutely breathtaking. Please take a look at the photos to see it in all its glory. Practically every single element you see here was completely repainted from scratch. I used a rich metallic palette including chrome, gunmetal, meteorite iron, and my own custom mixes of silver and gold to create a subtle, elegant gold tone that blends beautifully with the heavy metal shades. I also installed the complete LED system, which you can see fully lit up in the photos. This is my very first Perfect Grade kit, and as the name implies, I wanted it to be truly perfect from top to bottom. Seeing it all come together made me literally jump for joy because it turned out even better than I dreamed.

Now for the final stretch. My next step is applying the waterslide decals directly onto the individual armor panels. I decided to do this without test-fitting them onto the frame first, because I really do not want to risk snapping or damaging any painted parts when taking them back off later. After the decals are done, I will topcoat each part individually with a matte lacquer, assemble the entire kit, conduct the final photoshoot, and wrap up this amazing project.

This journey has been such an incredible adventure for me. Taking part in this competition turned out to be deeply meaningful and transformative. With a lot of recent life stress, heavy responsibilities, and challenges in my personal life, I probably never would have found the time or energy to tackle a Perfect Grade on my own. This contest gave me the exact spark of motivation I needed, and it showed me once again just how deeply I love model building and how important this hobby is to my life. Thank you all so much for your support, and see you at the grand final!

Hey everyone, time for Update #8! Once the paint was completely dry I jumped straight into panel lining, and to be completely honest it turned out to be the absolute worst and most frustrating stage of the entire build. I am always open to testing different modeling techniques, but scribing is something I have tried three separate times and I just completely hate it and cannot get the hang of it. I much prefer doing traditional panel lining and meticulously cleaning up the excess, although on some parts the liner was spreading so awkwardly that it drove me crazy. I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color for this process and I want to address all the skeptics right away. If you apply it on isolated individual parts before assembly there is absolutely zero chance of the plastic cracking. That is a total myth, period. Nobody can convince me that a single detached part will split unless it is already under stress or snap-fitted into another piece.

Of course I ran into a couple of minor mishaps along the way. During painting I accidentally touched the wet paint on one part, and when I tried to sand it down to smooth it out I ended up stripping it down to the bare plastic without primer. On another yellow part I applied the panel liner but really did not like how it looked, so when I tried to wipe it off I accidentally pulled off some of the underlying paint. My perfectionism simply would not allow me to leave those parts looking sub-par, especially since the corresponding symmetrical piece would look uneven next to it. I decided to start fresh with those components. I dropped them into a jar filled with isopropyl alcohol overnight. The next day I took them out and scrubbed them clean with an old toothbrush. The alcohol stripped away every single layer including the panel liner, the cellulose paint, and the primer. I then washed the parts with soap under running water to eliminate all alcohol traces and odors. After that I reapplied the primer, repainted the parts, completed the panel lining, and everything looked flawless.

On top of all that, I have officially started assembling the inner frame. I am sharing a small sneak peek here with you, and in the next post you will see the absolute culmination of this stage with the fully assembled inner frame. Stay tuned because the next update is going to be truly incredible!

Hey everyone, time for a quick update after a little bit of time! I have been moving forward with the painting process and just finished priming all the non-metallic parts, since I never apply primer underneath metallic shades. I used two different primer tones for this step, gray and pink. The pink primer went under all the red and yellow components because it provides an incredible base for warmth and vibrancy. The gray primer was applied to the parts that originally came in that dark navy gray plastic, such as the backpack and the weapons, because the raw plastic color honestly looked very cheap to me. I am planning to repaint those using a clean shade similar to German Grey instead. Speaking of colors, I already did a test run on the shield with the new red, and you can see in the photos just how extremely saturated and intense it looks. In the coming days I will be diving into the rest of the main color spraying. After that, all that remains will be the panel lining, applying the water slide decals, clear coating every single individual piece, assembling the entire model, installing the LEDs, and taking the final showcase photos for my official entry. The workflow is getting smoother every day. I also wanted to take a moment to say that I have been browsing through so many of your projects here, and I am truly blown away by the quality of work everyone is bringing to the table. Wishing you all the best with your builds, and stay tuned for the next steps!

​Hey everyone, time for Update #6! I actually did not plan to post this update so quickly, but due to a technical glitch, my previous post got duplicated and I was unable to delete it. So instead of letting it go to waste, I am editing it into the next update that I originally planned to share a bit later. I have a massive milestone to share because almost the entire inner frame is now completely painted. I also had some extra help this time from our new little assistant, the Red Comet himself, who has been watching over the workspace, so please show him some love because he did his best to keep me company during these endless sessions. To give you an idea of the scale of this project, I have easily spent over one hundred hours of pure work on this model up to this point between all the cutting and painting. The number of days this project has completely absorbed is honestly unbelievable. I am incredibly determined to bring this vision to life and I am putting my absolute heart and soul into every single piece, so I truly hope you all enjoy how it is coming together. If you are curious about any specific color shades, the exact paints I used, or anything else at all, please let me know in the comments and I will gladly list everything for you. Thank you all for the support and stay tuned for the next steps!

Hey everyone, time for Update #5! I am posting this update quite sooner than expected because after that long day of airbrushing I just could not fall asleep at all. The adrenaline from working on this project was keeping me wide awake so I decided to make the most of the night and tackle the miniatures. I have uploaded photos of all the completed figures along with a look at my workspace so I really hope you enjoy them. For these tiny figures I used highly diluted acrylic paints applied with fine brushes. In some places the details were so incredibly microscopic that I had to use pins and toothpicks to get the paint exactly where it belonged. It went fairly smoothly overall but waiting for each tiny layer to dry properly meant that this process took me almost the entire night. Sometimes that is just what you have to do for the love of the hobby. The kit includes four miniatures in total. We have the main protagonist Amuro Ray standing up, the legendary Sayla Mass who is Char's sister, a sitting pilot version inside the Gundam cockpit, and another sitting pilot figure inside the Core Fighter which is the iconic transforming aircraft from the Gundam universe. It is going to look amazing when the cockpit hatches open up and you can see the painted pilot sitting inside. I am personally very happy with how they turned out. I will be applying a premium matte varnish to them later on when I lacquer the main armor pieces. Let me know what you think of them!