Eday Ver.Ed in Riyadh: A “Modelling Philosophy” Workshop with a Hong Kong Professional

A guest from Hong Kong

In November 2025 the club welcomed Eday Ver.Ed, known among hobbyists as Eddy, to Riyadh. A GBWC champion, model designer and competition judge from Hong Kong, he is one of Asia’s leading professionals and the author of the Ver.Ed Anthology book series on creative Gunpla customisation.

His workshop was the first technical workshop dedicated to Gunpla building in Saudi Arabia, as the club and Eddy announced together. His visit was also our first practical step toward our goal: to be a cultural bridge between Saudi Arabia, Japan and the world, and to bring professionals’ expertise directly to hobbyists in the Kingdom.

Eddy’s week in Riyadh

Date	Event
10 November 2025	The club announced Eddy’s visit (club announcement), and Eddy thanked the club for organising it (his post)
During the visit	He visited the 33-metre Grendizer statue, a Guinness record holder, and described it as a childhood dream come true (post)
18 November 2025	He led the Modelling Philosophy 101 workshop for club members (club recap)
19 November 2025	He said goodbye to Riyadh with a thank-you message to the city, its people and the club (post)

The workshop: the philosophy of modelling

The workshop was not about tools or techniques, since that information is available to everyone today. Eddy focused on questions that are rarely asked:

• What is creativity?
• How does creativity work?
• How do we turn a creative idea into a finished model?

Rather than lecturing, he started from the participants’ own ideas and broke down with them the “formula” behind a custom build. He later explained the idea in a detailed post that included feedback from the Saudi participants.

The workshop had three stages:

1. Concepts: from philosophy and building an idea to colour balance and precise detailing, including how to choose the right details and balance a piece.
2. Demonstration: Eddy applied design “formulas” to parts in front of us, from simple shapes to complex ideas (clip).
3. Hands-on practice: each participant picked a random part and built a specific shape from it using the concepts they had learned (clip).

Our main takeaway: creativity starts with observation.

The Ver.Ed Anthology books

The club’s library holds volumes one and two, and the workshop was a chance to get to know the new third volume that completes the trilogy (clip):

Ver.Ed Anthology Vol. 03
Pages	304
Photos	Over 1,200
Content	Six custom designs from alternate Gundam universes

Eddy also gave the club an exclusive collector’s card, a limited edition released only in Hong Kong.

A two-way artistic exchange

We wanted to return the gift with some of our members’ own art:

• Thamer gave Eddy prints of his photography (post).
• Phisal, a Saudi manga artist who took part in ACGHK 2025 in Hong Kong, gave him his art book (post).

Support from Asia

The club has always had local support and support from Japan. For this workshop we also received sponsorship from hobbyist communities in Singapore and Taiwan (clip).

What the visit left with us

Members described the workshop as a real brainstorming session. Many said it changed how they see creativity and encouraged them to try new things in their builds.

For his part, Eddy wrote that the participants’ enthusiasm and eagerness to learn exceeded his expectations. One thing that surprised him most was that there are women in Saudi Arabia who build Gunpla.

Most importantly, the visit proved that hosting professionals from outside the Kingdom is possible, and that our community is ready for it. We are still applying what we learned and returning to the Ver.Ed Anthology books.

Thank you, Eddy

We thank Eddy for coming to Riyadh and for sharing his knowledge, passion and generous gifts with our members. We look forward to his next visit, and to hosting more professionals from Japan and around the world.

• Eddy’s website and books: ver-ed.com
• His Instagram: @eday_ver.ed
• The club’s Instagram: @saudi.mecha.robot