I love model cars, planes and Gundams, but i was nervous about doing a MG for a long time. I went on Amazon one day and saw this item was 10 cheaper then usual. So I purchased it. Here is the finished product after 4 days of construction.

I didn't realize that MG was a difficulty category when I purchased it, and it was the toughest level. My son was up for the challenge and loved it. The gundam looks awesome!

Absolutely stunning model. Beautiful in all respects.

Here's the major horrible flaw.

The model breaks almost by looking at it. I'm not saying pieces fall off and you have to put them back on, the joints literally disintegrate.

It's been together for an hour at most, the hands have fallen apart, the head is now powder. I hope I just got a bad kit, I don't know who to call to get this problem addresses and feedback is appreciated.

No I haven't painted it, the most I've tried is panel lining with a gundam marker however as soon as I touch this thing it just breaks down at a molecular level. It was BEAUTIFUL for that hour though!!!!

An Awesome MG, but not for beginners.

The MG Gundam Red Astray Kai is an awesome looking kit, but it's a pain in the butt to not only build as well as pose.
I highly recommend you use the stand that comes with this kit. Before you consider buying this kit get some experience with standard HG's or MG's this kit is quite advanced in terms of construction and lead me to confusion due to it's design several times.
This gundam is not easy to build and is defiantly takes a slightly higher skill level to build.

*Contents
This kit came ahead of time, but the box was slightly bent. Not a big deal though.
It's Box is MASSIVE and is reminiscent to more recent MG boxes.
There are an abundance of runners of red,grey, white the three main colors here.
With a large instruction booklet that led me to become confused several times due to unclear placement of parts.
As well as Stickers, dry apply decals, and rub on decals.

*Articulation
This kit has decent articulation, but due to it's small feet can bet very had to pose without a back support. The stiffness of the arms and legs white articulation is there they do not specifically turn to well. So poses I've had are a bit simpler. Still due my own inexperience with posing gunpla someone with more experience could probably work something out. The head sadly is a bit limited too, but has basic left right movement.

*Accessories & Gimmicks
The kit comes with SWORDS! As well as a laser bow.
It's comes with two giant Katanas, and a giant blade similar to it's brother kit the Blue Astray.
The kit is very modular with it's sword and jet pack and can be set up in all sorts of cool variations. Such as a bow, a sword, and wings. This kit also comes with a Gatling gun, from the blue frame and can actually be used with the red sword if you'd prefer a gun instead of a bow. Also two daggers from the blue frame as well. So more swords!

*Detailing & Painting
Painting is somewhat required for some parts like the finders and neck pieces, but these are minor and Out of Box building works fine here too.Panel Lining and Decaling is overwhelming here. With paneling opportunities to that of the 1/100 No Grade HG line from the 90's. It's defiantly a big task. I used Grey, Brown, and black fine tip Gundam Markers for the panel lining. I only applied the stickers and rub on's due to my lack of experience. But if you've successfully built a Ver. Ka with decals then you'll be right at home here.

*Negatives
One of the BIGGEST issues with this kit are the Nubs. Not because the kit is mainly red, but because there are nubs UNDER the parts as in not connected to the runners/trees. Meaning to get certain parts to come together I had to denub more then usual. This made building confusing. As I had to make sure 100% that no nubs were on the inside before putting together two parts. I've never seen a kit have these inside nubs and while the kit in the end is great this is my only big complaint.

*Conclusions
This Kit took about two to three days to complete with taking breaks and then finally decaling.
I give this kit a high rating due to the quality and design it's appealing and complex.
It's a awesome looking kit, but suffers from some minor articulation errors built into the design as well as odd nub placement.
Though if you have the experience and love the astray design defiantly get this kit.

When it comes to Gunpla, this one's undeniably super cool. It comes with a 1/144 scale bandai brand stand. Yes, this is a 1/100 model. The stand is to support the Sword! The Jetpack/Gunbow/GiantSword is a heavy piece, and your model will not be able to do much of any posing with it without this free stand. Trust me. It comes with two Katanas, and they look truly metal in person. None of that fakey gunmetal gray nonsense, they look like freshly polished steel. Its ability to pose is some of the best I've seen in MG models, when not using the aforementioned giant sword.

It does have some problems. The shoulder armor tends to be very loose, as does the V fin on the head. The thumbs fit somewhat poorly into the hands, one small incident when arming it with a sword, or it falling over with an item in hand, and that thumb is liable to plop out and onto the floor. It'll pop back in, but be forever loose. The fingers are also not painted white on top like in the picture, but are red entirely. It's a small thing that actually still looks good, but hey. False advertising.

On the other hand, the method of head construction is most likely the best I've seen. Pretty much no risk of damaging the face, unlike some other models. Overall it's a great build, legitimately a contender for my favorite when it comes to building, and still among my favorites for the end model. It has some issues once it's built, but it's also a kickass looking mobile suit. If I could give partial stars, I'd go 4.5, but the issues it has sadly makes me round down instead of up.