(These images are courtesy of "Hobby Japan." Text has been taken and translated from this source as well, however, certain poetic license has been taken by myself and Ben to insert comments to clarify or further illustrate a point)
Two ways to make a GunPra look more realistic can be found in the processes of weathering (e.g. dirt, rust, scuff marks) and in adding battle damage (e.g. lasers, slashes, bullet holes). This set of tips will introduce to you battle damage using a Dremel tool, and weathering using pastels. The model of choice is the Master Grade Zaku:
If you have read through the main text of this page, you are already familiar with the Dremel tool. While it is certainly not a requirement for model making, it's definitely something you may want to invest in if you truly love model making as it makes sanding, buffing, cutting and altering all medias much easier. Also, these tools are really not that expensive (and lots of generic brands exist--those stateside can try HobbyTown USA, Sears to Home Depot, even Target), and in fact, when working with Gundam Plastics, it's recommendable to use a cheaper variety as the spin of the motor will not be strong enough to melt the plastic!
For the Gunpra's, you will not want to use a too powerful bit as you do not want to accidentally tear through the piece you are working on. In the picture, a cone-shaped grinder attachment is used, but you should use whatever works for you.
When applying battle damage, you don't want to go into it haphazardly, but you need to be thinking of things such as, "What kind of damage would a laser do?" "What would happen if I shoved a Heat Hawk up his..." Make sure to take your time and think it through.
The picture above shows a portion of the shield. We would add damage mostly to the edges as common sense tells us that the edges usually take the most abuse (bumping into buildings and Gundams etc). Therefore, in the after image, the effect I was going after was of "shallow scrapes." BTW: here we are using painted pieces, but you can go ahead and do the damage before painting as well.
It may seem a little overboard, but here is the Zaku with battle damage focused on edge deterioration.
