[Premium] Shin Musha Gundam Papercraft ver. Ette

Shin Musha Gundam papercraft

Designer: Ette

Builder: Forsythia papercraft

Based on the Samurai Motif, Shin Musha Gundam can be seen as a famous upgraded version of the Musha Gundam. The idea of putting an RX-78-2 Gundam in a Samurai Armor turns out to be a great idea. The models look hard on themselves, sturdy and robust (both the Musha Gundam and the Shin Mushan Gundam). 

Musha Gundam and Shin Musha Gundam

Samurai armor on the Shin Musha Gundam is much more detailed than the Musha Gundam with more patterns. The armor is also redesigned with more zigzag lines instead of parallel lines. This design gives us a feeling of an elaborate armor with many pieces putting together (the waist is a typical example). The shoulder plates bend a little to give it a smooth look. Pipes are also added for more curves.

I think It's enough about the Gundam. Now, let's talk about the papercraft. This model is designed by Ette - a famous papercraft designer from Korea. After many premium Gundam Papercrafts have been shared widely on the internet, the Korean Papercraft community decided to shut the door for foreigners. Only Korean (or people who live in Korea) can join their community and get or buy models from Korean designers. You can still find many of Ette's designs on the internet. They were premium models. But after years of being shared without any authority, they can be considered as free models.

I haven't seen any Ette's papercraft in a long time until Forsythia shares his work of this Shin Musha Gundam on Facebook. There're some versions of Shin Musha Papercraft, but I can say that this one is the best of all. 

The model is 50cm tall from head to toe and 77cm tall with weapons included (well, or you can say in a different way that It's 50cm tall with 77cm halberd and spear). This papercraft is designed to be fully articulated, but Forsythia wants a firm and durable model, so he didn't make movable joints. The only moving thing in this build is the head, It can turn right and left (I believe It's because the head is separated from the body so we can put it at any horizontal view that we want). I really want to see him wielding his Katana or posing with the halberd, but this is the best we have.

"What? Are you talking about me?"

Weapons for this Gundam includes a percussion pistol, a 77cm long halberd (freaking long for a papercraft), a Naginata spear and a Katana. These weapons can be stored on the backpack of the Gundam, except for the Katana. It will be attached to the waist. The halberd can be used as the third leg that helps the model stand firmly on the ground with no stand-base needed.

I really like the way he makes the curved blades and the handle of the pistol.  It's designed to hide the paper's edge when gluing pieces together. That design will help the paper model looks so subtle and elegant. But then there's a thing that makes me feel really uncomfortable: the Katana. I know that Ette wants to follow the original design of that Katana. But this one is way too simple indeed. I Believe he can add more details on the pommel, the cord wrap on the handle and the scabbard, but I don't understand why he didn't.  I feel like this Kantana is from Minecraft instead. It doesn't match the rest of the model at all.

Well, If you put that aside, this is a perfect model. There's a thing that I can not forget to mention about this build by Forsythia. Take a look at the shoulders to see if you can find it... Yes, those are real pipes. It was designed to be paper pipes (just like others), but Forsythia replaced them with craft wires. It was very creative and perfectly matches the model. No matter how good you are, you can never make curved pipes without leaving some marks of gluing. So this is a perfect replacement.

Just compare pipes on the shoulders and those are on the legs to see the difference.

There's another thing about this build that I really like: the use of gold decals. I don't know what kind of decal or paper is that, but It's beautiful.

 There're a lot of gold decals was used all over the model.  But the head part gives me the best feeling above all. Those little gold and shiny lines really pop it up. Red armors with gold border lines create the effect of luxury, elegance and royalty. I also like the way he makes curved part of the helmet. Because in my opinion: Gundam's curves are beautiful. 

Here are some more pictures of this Gundam papercraft. At the end of this blog is the information for you if you want to buy it:

In the past, this papercraft is restricted to Korean only. But now you can buy it for 70$. Contact Forsythia (click on his name to get the link) as he is selling this on behalf of Ette himself. I hope you enjoy it.