Gunpla from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

This is the page with the IBO plamo kits I've made! Well, at least the Grazes.

Graze Refit Programme

A photo of four Gundam IBO model kits lined up. From left to right: the Hyakuren, a blue-purple mobile suit with heavy armor and chunky legs; the Ryusei-Go (Graze Custom II), an almost-pink mobile suit with a boxy, angular head and a skeletal frame; the (Graze) Schwalbe Custom, a red and brown mobile suit with a skeletal frame and dual pistols; and McGillis' Schwalbe Graze, a blue moble suit with a skeletal frame, large rear boosters, and a dual-bladed weapon attached to its wrist.
All the IBO kits. Sorry Hyakuren, you'll get your own entry at some point.

So the thing about IBO is that although I love the mechanical design in the series generally, there's one design I love more than anything else. The one grunt to rule them all. Maybe my favorite Gundam design of all time. I am, of course, talking about the Graze.

As such, I had three different Graze kits, but they were all fairly... stock. I hadn't really done much to them, using the included stickers and not doing much detailing. But now that I'm more confident doing stuff like that, it's time for an overhaul!

Scattered model kit parts on a cutting mat. They are quite plain and dully reflective from the standard plastic finish.
A bunch of Graze parts before detailing...
Scattered model kit parts on a cutting mat. There is much greater variation in color, with some having only certain areas detailed, and the gun pieces are painted in a very metallic gunmetal color.
...and those parts (mostly) after.

Weapons were redone completely in gunmetal, while inner frame details, thrusters, and pipes were (mostly) done in silver.

Several model kit parts on a cutting mat. They all have yellow-gold metallic details on them.
Lots of Graze parts with gold detailing.
A photo of three Graze optical sensor model kit parts, with a small ring in the center of a sphere painted in gold. Also in the frame is a silver thruster nozzle that has had some sort of black wash applied, and half of a Schwalbe Custom gun.
A close up on the optical sensors, along with some other stuff.

A bunch of stuff has been redone in gold paint, most notably the optical sensors (where they replace fairly unwieldy stickers).

A photo of various Graze shoulder parts, showing thrusters and inset panels with painted details instead of a flat sticker covering everything.
Shoulder detail painting.
A photo of blue armor panels, with small decals (such as white triangular indicators or red warning messages) applied.
Various armor panels with decals added.

Doing the shoulder thrusters in paint (for the Schwalbe Grazes especially) looks so much better than the stickers. I've also added little waterslide decal details to the armor panels, trying not to go overboard (I've also replaced the 'eyes' on the Ryusei-Go with waterslides, which looks incredible).

A photo of five plastic boxes filled with various Graze parts, roughly arranged by the individual model and subassembly. The boxes are in trans flag colors (blue, pink, white, pink, blue from left to right).
All the re-detailed parts, waiting for finishing and reassembly.

All the armor pieces of the Ryusei-Go (Graze Custom II) arranged for matte topcoating. The pieces are attached to tiny crocodile clips on wooden dowels to allow access to large parts of the outer surface of each part at once. These dowels are then inserted into holes in a cardboard box to hold them upright.
Parts for the Ryusei-Go ready to be topcoated.

A photo of the McGillis' Schawlbe Graze, the Schawlbe Custom, and Ryusei-Go models all posed in the air with a large stand. The photo is head-on, with McGillis' Schawlbe facing to the right with its blade extended on a wire, the Schwalbe Custom at the top and brandishing both guns, and the Ryusei-Go facing to the left while aiming its gun and holding its axe.
The final result!

A photo of the three Graze models posed in the air on a big stand, this time viewed from the side. This shows the profile of the guns on the Schwalbe Custom more (including the attached blades/bayonets), as well as the shoulder thrusters on McGillis' Schwalbe and the Ryusei-Go.
I love how dynamic the poses can get.
A photo of the Graze models on a big stand, this time from behind. This shows the rear thrusters on all of them, which are mostly painted in silver.
Redoing all the thrusters was so worth it.

Anyway, time to go through them individually!

EB-06/tc2 Ryusei-Go (Graze Custom II) [HG]

A photo of the high-grade Ryusei-Go (Graze Custom II) model kit, posed in the air on a stand. It is a red-pink mech with sharp, knight-like armor panels (except for the shoulders, which come from a different mech in the fiction of the show) and a skeletal frame. The head has a rectangular aperture for a singular optical sensor, and the left shoulder has a white fleur-de-lis-like symbol on it (the Tekkadan symbol). There are also eyes 'painted' (actually an applied decal) on either side of the head. It is holding a short sawn-off rifle in its right hand, while its left hand is empty (although it has an axe at its side). The instruction manual for the kit is visible in the background.
The Ryusei-Go is SO COOL (they could've made the kit more pink though).
A close-up photo of the open head of the Ryusei-Go model. This reveals the spherical optical sensor that sits further inside the head, behind the rectangular forward window.
The best part of a Graze, the fucked up optical sensor setup.

None of the Grazes I have are really close to a standard, basic Graze. The Ryusei-Go might get the closest, but it still has a bunch of non-standard parts, extra thrusters, and so on. I really like the color palette and the goofy eye decals on the side of the head, but more than anything it's a Graze, and that means it's good. One of my first gunpla kits!

McGillis' EB-05s Schwalbe Graze [HG]

A photo of the high-grade McGillis' Schwalbe Graze model kit, posed in the air on a stand. It is a blue mech with sharp, angular knight-like armor panels and a skeletal frame. The head has two narrow slits for optical sensors, one above the other, and it has thrusters embedded in the knees, shoulders, and on 'arms' on the back of the mobile suit. It has a decal of the Gjallarhorn crest on its left shoulder, and the Fareed family crest on its right. It is holding a rifle, has an axe at its side, and is posed to be 'shooting' its wire blade out (which is perched on another stand to hold it in the air). The instruction manual for the kit is visible in the background.
You can do some REALLY fun dynamic poses with the wireblade.
A close-up photo of the open head of the McGillis' Schwalbe Graze model. This shows the spherical optical sensor behind the two exterior slits, which is pointed upwards at a 45-degree angle (suggesting it uses an internal reflection of the outside view). The cockpit hatch of the mobile suit is also visible, which has a warning sign decal on it.
The Schwalbe Graze has a different fucked up optical setup.

McGillis is an awful character (in a well-written way), but his Schwalbe Graze kinda rules. It has a great mix of blues for the color scheme, and adding crests to the shoulders really brings the 'establishment asshole' look together. Also, blade on a wire.

EB-05c Schwalbe Custom [HG]

A photo of the high-grade Schwalbe Custom model kit, posed in the air on a stand. It is a red and brown mech with sharp, angular knight-like armor panels and a skeletal frame. The head has two narrow slits for optical sensors, one above the other, and it has thrusters embedded in the knees, shoulders, and on 'arms' on the back of the mobile suit. The left shoulder has two white chevron markings on it, and it has a sharp antenna on each side of its head, which have white tips. It is wielding two revolver-like guns, one in each hand, and each one has a long blade attached underneath and extending beyond the barrel. The instruction manual for the kit is visible in the background.
The Cyclase custom's double guns look great.
A photo of the open head of the Schwalbe Custom model. This shows the spherical optical sensor behind the two exterior slits, which is pointed upwards at a 45-degree angle like the head of McGillis' Schwalbe Graze. This photo is taken more zoomed out than the other head photos, which shows the cockpit hatch as well as both shoulders, allowing the left shoulder chevrons and a small triangle on the right shoulder to be clearly seen.
A wider view of the optics, also offering a better look at the shoulders and torso.

So I know nothing about Cyclase Meyer apart from the fact that he looks like a weirdo in a suit, I never played the IBO mobile game, I don't go here. But this is a Graze and it's so sick and it got a model kit so of course I jumped on it. It had so many unused parts on the runners though. Like, wow.