HGUC 1/144 Gundam GP01Fb — Linkin Park: Unshatter Commemorative Build

With the release of Linkin Park: Unshattered scheduled for 30 September 2026, I decided to commemorate the occasion with a Gunpla build.

The kit I chose was the HGUC 1/144 Gundam GP01Fb.

There is already a personal connection between the GP01Fb and Linkin Park for me, so it felt appropriate to bring this particular mobile suit back onto the workbench for the occasion.

Painting the Runners

After unboxing the kit and unpacking the parts, I started by airbrushing the parts while they were still on their runners.

The entire kit received a base coat of Mr. Hobby Mr. Color No. 2 Gloss Black.

From there, I treated the parts according to their intended colours.

Parts that were meant to be bright were airbrushed with Mr. Hobby Mr. Color No. 107 Character White. I was using the white not simply as a clean base colour, but as part of the weathered appearance I wanted for the finished model.

Parts intended to remain dark were simply left with their Gloss Black base.

For the grey parts, I used Mr. Hobby Mr. Color No. 8 Silver.

I deliberately left the runners containing the older, pre-2000 polycaps unpainted. The polycaps have that familiar rubbery/flexible material, and I was concerned that the paint might not adhere properly and could eventually flake off, potentially causing problems with the joints. In this case, I felt it was better to leave the polycaps in their original condition.

Panel Lining

Once the main colours were established, I moved on to panel lining.

I decided to use different panel-line colours depending on the underlying finish.

For the Character White parts, I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color Pink-Brown.

For the parts that retained their Gloss Black, I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color Light Grey. The lighter wash provided enough contrast against the black to bring out the recessed details.

For the Silver parts, I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color Black, giving the mechanical areas a more conventional dark definition.

After allowing the panel-line accent to dry, I cleaned up the excess using a cotton bud dipped in Tamiya Color Enamel X-20 Thinner.

Assembly

With the painting and panel lining completed, assembly was relatively straightforward.

The older HGUC engineering of the GP01Fb meant that there wasn’t an excessive amount of complexity involved. After the preparation work, it was quite satisfying to simply put the painted parts together and watch the mobile suit take shape.

However, one major piece was deliberately left aside: the shield.

The Linkin Park Markings

After assembly, I applied waterslide decals to the model.

One particularly important marking was the round Linkin Park logo.

Unlike standard Universal Century markings such as EFSF or Anaheim Electronics, this wasn’t the sort of decal I could simply regard as an interchangeable Gundam marking. It was specifically what connected this particular Gunpla to Linkin Park.

Unfortunately, I noticed that the printing on the decal had a tendency to crack or flake.

I therefore decided that protecting it was more important than preserving the original high-gloss finish of the paint.

I sprayed the completed Gunpla with Mr. Hobby Top Coat Semi-Gloss from a spray can. This provided a protective layer over the decals as well as the underlying paintwork.

Ideally, I would have liked to retain the full shine of the original Gloss Black. There was therefore a slight trade-off: some of that gloss was lost under the semi-gloss finish.

Still, I felt that protecting the model as a whole—and particularly the Linkin Park marking—was the more important consideration.

Semi-gloss isn’t a bad finish anyway, and it helped bring the different painted surfaces together.

The Shield — A Thousand Suns

The shield received perhaps the most distinctive treatment of the build.

Rather than using a conventional decal for the design, I decided to recreate the silhouette artwork associated with Linkin Park’s A Thousand Suns using masking tape.

I traced the silhouette onto hobby masking tape and then cut out the shape to create my own paste-on stencil.

The shield itself remained attached to its runner while I worked on it.

I used Mr. Hobby Mr. Color No. 107 Character White to airbrush the areas that were supposed to be white. The areas covered by the tape stencil were protected, allowing the original Gloss Black underneath to remain as the dark portions of the design.

Once the masking tape was removed, the shield revealed the black-and-white silhouette.

I then applied Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color Light Grey to the shield and cleaned up the excess with a cotton bud dipped in Tamiya X-20 Enamel Thinner, just as I had done with the other appropriate parts.

There was one more deliberate decision with the shield: I kept it on the runner until the very end.

While the main Gunpla was being assembled and finished, the shield remained safely attached to its runner. It was the last component I cut out before being assembled onto the main body.

Final Thoughts

This GP01Fb wasn’t intended to be simply another Gunpla build.

It was made as a personal marker for the release of Linkin Park: Unshatter on 30 September 2026.

The build combined several different techniques: airbrushing directly on the runners, colour-specific panel lining, custom masking, waterslide decals and a protective semi-gloss top coat.

The most important details were also the ones that required the most consideration—the Linkin Park round logo and the custom A Thousand Suns-inspired shield design.

I would have liked to keep the Gloss Black completely glossy, but protecting the decals and the overall condition of the model mattered more. A little less shine seemed a worthwhile trade-off.

And finally, after the main body was completed, the custom shield was cut from its runner and attached.

The GP01Fb was finished.

A Gunpla build to mark 30 September 2026—and a small personal tribute to Linkin Park and Unshatter.