I'm around 7 months into (finally) really getting into mecha as a genre and seeing Gundam (started from IBO to UC 0079 > CCA and onwards to alternative universes) and 5 months into Gunpla.

Never really thought I'd get into Gunpla, always was aware of it as I do get figures from shows I really like and i do like 3D printing figures etc on the side but after finishing the MG Sazabi Ver.Ka recently I think the hobby has really got me hooked.

Big fan of the MG line, details, gimmicks and shelf presence is just right.
HG's feel too small and ''toy like'' to my taste but I can appreciate them. RG's i feel like would break apart from my terminally shaky hands and PG's I don't even have room for.

Death by a 1000 nub marks. I built all of these with really basic nippers i got with my 3d printers and then just cleaned (when i could be bothered to) with a knife or a file but I think I'll finally invest in a good pair of single edge nippers and a glass file to save me the headache and hours of time.

Barbatos: My first kit, hand painted the inner frame gun metal and detailed up all the pistons and piping as well as the weapons, really love this kit and the unit was my ''first love''. Panel lined and added the sticker decals and precisely cut out the outlines of the ones that go on darker plastic, wish they were water slides. Some parts did end up breaking such as the hip joints which i 3D printed replacement parts and the left shoulder c clip which i just put some blue tack on. Might buy the metal replacements from ebay for it when i finally finish the kit.
This guy cant hold on to his mace to save his life, it stays on fine when you get it but man getting it on is ass.

Nu Gundam: Second kit, Ver.Ka was a small challenge at first but was fun to build overall. I really like the fully articulating hands but they are incredibly loose, could not hold to the rifle without it drooping badly. Ended up adding some nail glue on some of the joint parts to tighten them up which seemed to work out fine even if they're still a bit loose. No panel lining or decals yet as I plan to paint the navy blue to black when i finally get my paint booth finished.

Sazabi: Huge, he barely fits next to my Nu but man is he cool. As i didn't have the ''proper'' tools to deal with nub marks when building him, it took me ages to carefully cut and sand the nub marks out. I might eventually paint him as I don't necessarily like one of the shades of red on the kit but I'm kinda stressing disassembling such a huge build.
Has some weird limiting factors in articulation, one of the box art poses where hes walking forward is near impossible to recreate because of the ball joint hips. The shield connector is actually just bad, it cannot hold on to the shield's weight and size in almost any other pose except the basic standing pose. The shoulder armor connectors also are frustrating, just like with the Nu, one of them stays put a bit better than the other and its frustrating to pose. Same hand issues as the Nu as well.

Calibarn: I really love the look of the Calibarn. I think i saw the mobile suit unit before i ever saw WFM and fell in love. I wish it was at 1/100, i really want it to be an MG...
I like how sturdy it feels and thanks to it's size i can have it on my desk next to my monitors. I've seen some custom LED setups on this kit that look insane (the HGEX one) and I can't even imagine the amount of precision it took to customize a unit this small with so many LED's.
I've heard Bandai has been really skimping out on releasing MG's recently but i really hope this is one of the kits to maybe eventually get an MG release, or even a basic 1/100 one like the Aerial.

RX-78-2: Cute ugly guy i found at a random hobby shop i went to never expecting to ever see a single gunpla kit in person in Finland. Was cheap so i got it for the novelty.

A few beginner questions:
It seems like the weird shoulder armor connectors and the fully articulated hands on the Ver.Ka kits are usual pain points on any kit that has them, how have you guys dealt with them if at all. Also, since the Nu and Sazabi can house led units i was thinking about getting two as the stickers/waterslide eye cameras dont really look great unlike the ones on Barbatos and Calibarn, I've heard the bandai ones are bad so i should look into getting 3rd party ones. Which specific ones are the best or is there a custom DIY alternative i could look into?
About disassembling for painting:
How do you safely disassemble a kit? I've 3D printed a part separator and it's worked fine for rectifying mistakes during builds but it still doesn't feel quite right trying to pry out tight connections in some parts such as legs. Especially for painting, how much do you disassemble the kit (obviously depending on the paint job itself) fully? Only the armor? Enough that the inner frame is exposed but not everything?

Would love some general tips for beginners or any secret or interesting tricks as well and I'd like to hear your stories on how you got into gunpla, I'd love to make some new friends in this hobby!