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Sam Li

Inside a Hong Kong shopping centre store that doubles as his hobby room and workshop, Manson Ng is working on an unfinished model kit.
This 250 sq ft (23 square metre) space, crammed full of Gundam plastic models, or “Gunpla”, pigment and tools like airbrushes, is where the 53-year-old hobbyist has spent the past eight years perfecting his model building.
This month, Ng was named champion in the over-21 category of the Gunpla Builders World Cup – an official Gundam model building tournament.
“Heaven will reward you if you put your heart and soul into what you love,” he says.

Ng traces his passion for Gundam model kits back four decades, to when Japanese toy manufacturer Bandai launched the toys, based on a popular anime series, in 1980.
“Gundam has accompanied me through my life,” says Ng who, when in secondary school, would save his pocket money to buy Gunpla.

Ng remains fascinated with both the anime and model building even today – so much so that he has taken part in the Gunpla Builders World Cup four times and even won the regional championship in 2018. His desire to be the best in the world motivated him to keep competing.
This year, Ng chose to build a model from the 1980s. His award-winning work, titled “Fragments of a Star”, was inspired by a story from the anime and featured an added scene that came straight out of Ng’s imagination.
“I think there should be a scene like this in the original anime,” Ng says, adding that his reimagining of the scene was something that he felt would resonate with fans of the series.

The hardest part of building Gunpla, he says, is being creative – it took Ng a year to complete his entry for the competition. “It takes time to perfect the model,” Ng explains. “If I can’t convince myself, it means I can’t win appreciation from others.”
Ng sees Gunpla as more than just model kits – to him, they can be used to create art.
Before Ng became a professional Gunpla builder, he was a cartoonist creating printed comics. The decline of that industry gave him a chance to develop his second career as a model builder.
She moved from California to Hong Kong so she can play an arcade video game
To Ng, being successful does not mean owning properties or cars, it means fulfilling one’s desire for passion, and he does not regret choosing to do what he does.
“I don’t know what else I can do other than building models. As long as I can make a living, I will stick to it,” Ng says.
Ng opened his hobby room eight years ago to sell models and tools. He also offers classes in building models like Gunpla.

Kate Au Yeung, 40, is one of Ng’s students and has been learning to build Gunpla for two years. She was attracted to the hobby by the models’ contrasting colours, and wanted to create something for herself.
She believes that Gunpla builders should not be judged by their gender, and says that women have their own way of building and of seeing them from a different perspective.
“I can put my idea into Gunpla and build it the way I imagined. I can always learn from someone else. It is also a way to explore myself,” she says.

So far, Ng has taught more than 400 students – one of them was also a winner of the Gunpla Builders World Cup. More importantly, he gives model lovers a place where they can make what they see in their imagination a reality.
“People are jealous of me because my job is my hobby,” Ng says. “They think I am really cool.”


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Hong Kong

‘People are jealous of me’: building Gundam models is his job and his hobby – and he loves it

Manson Ng at his store and workshop in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district, where he builds Gundam models, or “Gunpla”, for a living – and for a hobby. Now 53, Ng was the over-21s champion of this year’s Gunpla Builders World Cup. Photo: Sam Li

Ng working on a Gunpla. Photo: Sam Li

Manson Hobby Room, Ng’s store in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Li

“Fragments of a Star” made by Ng. His award-winning work was inspired by a story from the Gundam anime and took him a year to complete. Photo: Sam Li

Ng can trace his passion for Gundam model kits back four decades. Photo: Sam Li

Ng opened his hobby room eight years ago to sell models and tools. Photo: Sam Li

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Greg Abandoned visited this Long March rocket launch site in 2019. Photo: Greg Abandoned

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A virtual set at Vu Orlando. Photo: TNS

George Bobbio is a virtual production operator at Vu Orlando. Photo: TNS

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Monáe, left, and Kathryn Hahn in a scene from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Photo: Netflix via AP

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Lifestyle

Entertainment

Arts & Culture


There is no stopping Manson Ng building Gundam plastic models, or ‘Gunpla’ – he has been making them for 40 years. For the past eight years it’s been his job
Ng, the over-21s champion in this year’s Gunpla Builders World Cup, says people think he is ‘really cool’ for managing to make his hobby his livelihood



Manson Ng’s lifelong hobby is building Gundam models. Eight years ago it became his job too. At the age of 53, he’s just won his category in the 2022 Gunpla Builders World Cup.
