Gunpla Custom Review: Super Fumina (Star Wish, Phase 2)

I finally got around to assembling the final pieces for my custom job on the HGBF Super Fumina, which I call the Star Wish. For this custom the kits I used are:
1. HGBF Super Fumina: the base unit.
2. HGBC Powered Arms Powereder: functional arm vulcans.
3. HGBC Kurenai Weapons: beam rifle and long blade.
4. SDBF Star Winning Gundam: star funnels and beam rifle and blade.

To recap, I started by using my gundam markers to paint the Super Fumina in a colour scheme matching that of her school uniform: blue blazer, red bowtie... since her skirt was already white I let it stay. Also, I was afraid that if I used my gundam markers on that, the flexible plastic would harden or even become brittle. The apron and headdress are even more flexible than polycaps, and it would be a shame to spoil that. I used a Real Touch pink marker to colour Fumina's bike shorts, and my extra-fine tip black marker for the band on the end. I even painted the bottoms of her shoes black, and put my usual gold on the thrusters. Painting allowed me to skip the use of most of the stickers, with the exception of both eyes and one ear.

As further steps I skipped a number of parts. These are the lenses to go over the eyes, the skirt armour under the apron skirt, and the ankle and shoe tongue armour, as video reviews showed them to impede articulation.

Star Wish, Phase 1 featured the bazooka and long rifle/gatling gun combination from the Kurenai Weapons, after also featuring a gatling gun and a missile from the Powered Arms kit for awhile. I replaced these, as well as both beam SMGs, for Phase 2.

I know I could have cemented the star funnels to the backpack if I had wanted to, and that would have let me keep the weapons from the Kurenai pack. I could have also used any of the attachment points that the star funnels already have, due to the way they are designed to combine into Real Mode and Fighter Mode. I figure, though, that there's such a thing as 'too much,' and if Fumina was backheavy to start, there's no way she'd stand with a bazooka and long rifle coming out the tops or bottoms of the funnels. I think she's plenty well-armed as is.

So I pegged the star funnels into the Powered Arms and replaced the original SMG she'd come with with the Star Winning's main weapon. Because of the odd angle at which it sat within the trigger finger hand, I decided to swap that out for a normal holding hand. The peg is small and round, so the rifle spins around easily in its grip, but it's still more natural looking than before. I should also mention that I painted the green and gold on the star funnels instead of using the stickers, because I'm wary about using stickers around folds as well as curved surfaces. I think the gold looks better than the yellow would anyway.

Finally, I cut off the slats on the bottom of the apron skirt, since I knew they could not be used as attachment points for anything but the armour pieces I wasn't using anyway. Lo and behold, my first kitbash custom, the Star Wish Gundam!

What do you think?