How to make a Gundam portable display case keychain

You painstakingly build, panel-line, and sometimes even paint or customize your Gunpla model… only to place it on a shelf and forget about it. This year, some innovative modelers have found another solution for showing off their builds: Gundam portable display cases.

It’s simple: you take a Pelican 1040 Micro Case—complete with carabiner—stick your HG or RG model inside, and attach it to your keyring or bag. We learned about the trend through YouTuber Mecha Gaikotsu, and he traced it back to TikTok user tiemxoaicodoxink.

Here are the four simple steps you can use to make this trend your own.

Materials

An HG or RG Gunpla
Pelican 1040 Micro Case
1.5 inch Polyurethane foam or Polyethylene foam (read the pros and cons below!)
Chalkboard chalk
Hobby or X-Acto knife (like the one in your Gunpla toolkit)
Optional: Adhesive mounting putty

Instructions

Measure the Model. Confirm that your selected Gunpla fits inside the case. Here, we’ve placed the HG RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Unicorn Mode) inside the Pelican just to make sure. The 1040 Micro Case interior (L×W×D) is 6.5 x 3.87 x 1.75 in (16.5 x 9.8 x 4.4 cm). If your Gunpla is larger than standard size, Pelican also makes a 1050 Micro Case if you need slightly more room, but keep in mind that the bigger you go, the clunkier your keychain will be.
Prepare the Foam. Unless you want the model rattling around, it’s time to secure it with a foam outline. First, cut a piece of thick foam to fit inside the Pelican case. We used polyurethane because it’s cheap but we now realize it is NOT easy to cut. Next time I might use firm polyethylene foam or I might consider splurging on layered Kaizen foam or bi-color shadow foam. I could have also more easily cut it with a specialized hot wire foam cutter, but I am not planning to do this too many more times!
Outline your Gunpla. Next, lay your Gunpla over the foam and draw a chalk outline around it like you’re investigating a tiny crime scene. We used our kids’ sidewalk chalk for this step. If you don’t have chalk, how about using a white colored pencil? We had to wipe the chalk off with a damp paper towel after, so if you want to skip that, you can freehand the outline with your X-acto knife.
Cut out your Outline. Use an X-Acto knife to cut completely through the foam (or partway through it if you’re using bi-color shadow foam). If you’d like to include weapons or accessories, we’ve seen some people cut out spaces for those, too. I found it hard enough to cut the foam enough for the main kit, though. Luckily, since I chose such a thick, puffy foam, it was very forgiving of my jagged edges.
Place your Gunpla. Remove the plastic liner that came in the Pelican case and replace it with your cut foam. Put your Gunpla model inside the foam outline and snap the case shut. If your foam outline is sufficiently snug, your Gunpla will stay in place. Attach the carabiner to your bag of choice so it can join you on your next adventure.

Now you have a portable conversation piece that isn’t doomed to forever collect dust on your shelf. Sure is a handier alternative than the Jarbatos, huh?

Variations

You may have noticed that the Pelican 1040 comes in multiple colors: black, yellow, red, and cyan blue. The case is always clear; the color is actually from a rubbery plastic liner inside the case so if you put foam on top of it, you can no longer see the color. But what if you bought the case in a specific color in order to make your Gunpla kit pop, like I did?

In order to keep this blue backdrop on my all-white HG RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Unicorn Mode), I used adhesive mounting putty—the same kind you use for posters—to attach the Gunpla to the case firmly without damaging the model. It was super easy, much easier than using the foam, and I am surprised this variation on the Gundam display keychain is not more common.

Another option for modding your Pelican case: did you notice that the original TikTok video of this trend featured a two-sided display? This intrepid builder saved the box art and cut it down to size so even if the case flips over, its contents are obvious. I wish we had saved the box for our HG Unicorn Gundam Banshee Norn (Destroy Mode) because when it flips over, you just see the back of the model through the foam outline.