pronounced Double Oh Quanta, for those not in the know. my very first experiment into doing major repaints on gunpla AND my first experiment with waterslide decals. a double first! i finished this kit back in august of last year. the black was done with tamiya spray, the green with gunpla markers, and the whole thing was hit at the end with a mr. hobby matte clear coat. i think i also used sharpie on the clear parts to dye them green.
i actually have the MG qan[t] in my collection already - i bought it prebuilt back in the days when i thought i wouldn't like building gunpla (LOOK AT ME NOW, 2021 LOCKON!! LOOK AT ME NOW!!!!) - and so i picked up the HG from my local hobby store mainly just so i could actually build a qan[t] for myself. the build ended up being fine, if predictably a little dated. kind of the same deal as the danazine with its over-reliance on polycaps.
when it comes to the paintjob, overall, while i'm very pleased with the color choices i used, i definitely had a lot of room to grow with my spraypainting skills. i particularly had a lot of trouble with the black parts around the sword, as you can see by all the bubbles, and i completely forgot to use masking tape on all the clear green parts before i hit them with the matte topcoat, so they all got fogged up. not terrible, certainly, but definitely a mistake i won't make again. as a wise blue hedgehog once said, "Live And Learn"...!
the waterslide decals worked out a lot better for my very first time using them. very pleased with those, especially after the topcoat. i remember them being a bit of a hassle back then, but i've also improved a lot on doing those since i built this kit. it's nice to be able to look back and realize how much i've gotten better at gunpla!
also, because i feel it cannot be overstated, the qan[t]'s sword is fucking gigantic and it's really funny to me.
check this out
![Qan[T] looking up in awe at its massive beam sword.](https://i.imgur.com/ijV0xvT.jpeg)