Post by Gane on Aug 15, 2010 15:25:38 GMT 8
As you can tell I ran out of good Subject for my Gundam Enthusiasm so enjoy...
I wasn't really up to showing what I've got stored since I rarely do builds since I don't have enough space to display them in the first place. My TV top can hold the Human Alliance figures safely for now but a Gundam would be out of place...
I'm not quite technical so I will just go about how I see the model kit as a modeler. I don't do external modding so fat chance you'll here about it in any future reviews and builds, but I do internal moddings specially on HG and No Scale 1/100 kits. For those who may seen the eye and gun lite for Force Impulse Gundam and the mood light in Gundam Exia (my first time to see and use a mood light LED)... I've been lighting up Gundams and other Sci-fi kits since mid 1990s... ;D
For my first post however I will be reviewing the 1/144 Real Grade RX-78-2 which I suppose a lot of GT members already have or not... you have to be patient with me for this one because my camera phone needs charging so I wasn't able to take any pictures, but I will post them as soon as I can which is probably sometime this week.
Please bear with me for the inconvenience... of reading the whole thing... LOL ;D
First off, this model kit is a feat of engineering due to the size/scale and difficulty Bandai has done to recreate the RX-78-2 in the 1/144 scale with the details from the 1:1 display and internals of a MG/PG kit...
This is by far the most number of tiny parts in a Gundam of this scale where all of it goes to the mech alone. At 268 parts count, you will have to deal with tiny parts with minute details that will come to as tiny as pin point recess.
A little warning though, I will NOT recommend this to newbies or those who have not built a MG, Tamiya, Hasegawa and Dragon (brand) models for the slight complexity in build. But if you insist, just make sure you have a cloth on the floor or table to catch wayward parts flying off your fingers, sprue tree or your nipper (not your Mom's btw)...
The box... and everything in it
If this is what Bandai use as the standard for the future of Real Grade series then Thank You... It really present the kit in a very elegant manner, like you're carrying the ferrari of 1/144 kits in your hands and not just a regular kit of it's scale.
The cover sports the 1:1 RX-78-2 facing down and either the finished model or the prototype standing. Gone is the typical Gundam Art of the "er" Gundam in one of it's signature posing.
Inside, you get the 10 plastic runners for the 268 parts (more or less), the MG-esque manual, a decal set and a flyer for the Gundam Unicorn. Although other suppliers might get this or a different set of additional goodies, who knows...
You will get the feeling that this kit is not going to be a fast build due to the number of tiny parts, but will probably enjoy it along the way.
I don't care much about the decal sheet though, I sure hope Bandai comes out with the waterslide decals for this kit since stickers have the tendency to come off when the glue dries off (you know what I mean, specially if you deal with Zoids).
The Model kit and Manual
MG and PG kits have all the details Bandai can put into them since the canvas is big enough for those details, but to put them in this scale is something else. Rivet holes are minute and are not as visible at first glance, you have to really inspect the material. Moving parts for the thigh and knees are usually avoided on this scale because of the their complexity of the mold and the strain in the plastic.
Another Warning... The finished product should be placed in a secure location, falling off the shelf to be specific, due to the number of tiny parts that can be frustrating to find. Although some parts lock in place, I will suggest glue for the most parts that don't have mobility because during my built some of them pops off.
The Advanced MS Joint is a variation of the System Injection 21, wherein they combine 2 or more molds to finish 1 parts tree. SI21 was created to use colored plastic for their specific parts while the rest of that particular part is of different color, the idea of having more colors molded in 1 particular part was promising but was too expensive to produce. Somehow they used the technology to make a parts tree with different colored sections for new series Gundams. I believe the Advance MS Joint was first used on the Evnagelion kits arms. The main difference is that it was more like the version used for Sgt. Keroro kits but covered with rubber sleeves. This time around the Advanced MS Joint is like stamped on to the other tree for completion.
I do suggest loosening the Advanced MS Joint when you remove it from the parts tree (sprue) to avoid having to force them into submission later in the build. The critical part Dalong pointed out in his review is important, the thigh inner frame's plastic can indeed snap off because this part of the AMSJ is tight and I don't know if it can hold on even if the leg section is finished. So just a heads up on that...
The one thing you can't ignore is the manual. Unlike your HG kits where you can glance at the parts and go from there... this time you will need to look at it most of the time like what you do with your MG/PG manual. It's really specific so just follow the manual for the rest of the build.
What I've been through so far
I just finished the first half of the manual dealing with the lower part of RX-78-2 and it was indeed a "pleasure and excitement in building a mobile suit."
I was wondering if I can do "clean up" on this kit without touching the minute details engraved in the plastic surface. They are very tiny and very shallow, so the question of having to sand the parts is something I will have to concern myself with later on... The sprue connections are almost invisible if removed properly and there's hardly a need to paint over the parts so far.
I am also wondering how to apply the panel linings to the faint details... this is going to be a really fine (because it's tiny) build...
The Update
I was doing my typical dry fitting and in retrospect maybe I shouldn't have. The kit have a mixture of fitting situations which is because some parts cannot replicate some gimmicks in the MG and PG kits without a few hitch. In some parts there are no loose fitting specially those parts that don't really have articulation involved. Some parts have loose fit that they can be obvious in the way you pose the finished figure considering that they don't have extra anchor to the inner frame or some other armor panel. Some parts are neither tight nor loose because of the way the kit is designed to replicate some gimmicks from MG and PG scales, this is common on the 4 skirt panels and shoulder armor.
Chances are you will either want to have this parts left alone or glued in place depending on your personal preference. These parts are held tight in place, but if it's common in your place to have the figures knocked off the display and to the floor, I would suggest gluing to avoid the nasty "where'd that part go?" situation.
Upon closer inspection here's what you can expect from the material:
- Crisp details in minute engraved way including panel lines,
- Mold halves flashes are visible so they can sometimes be mistaken as panel lines, the clean up of these flashes should be done with care to avoid removing engraved and raised details,
- Minute raised plastics can be mistaken for details by those who are not aware of RX-78-2 surface details,
- For the most parts, you may not need to paint the plastic surfaces. Panel lining is a must to show off those minute details and Mr. Surfacer should be a sufficient finish though,
- For super detailing you may want to use a lighted magnifying glass or you can get those goggles used by watch repair men or jewelers...
Here's what you have to look out for when working on the Real Grade RX-78-2... This is the dry fitting I did and as you can see I haven't installed his "V" antenna (I forgot the right term) to make sure I don't destroy it in it's pristine pointy shape... As I mentioned, in retrospect I shouldn't have dry fitted this kit as I always do with all the kits I built since 2004, the horrors I will have to live with just to pry some of the parts off from their position, specially the head which is very tight...
So here's a short list:
A. When placing the front panel of his visor (front of helmet) the guns/cannons will keep you from putting it in place so make sure you don't apply anything on it. In my case this should be one of the difficult parts to remove for final build. The eyes are made of clear plastic so you either apply the gold decals or just paint over the black areas, I know what I will do on my kit... the only thing is I can't take pictures of it because my camera phone cannot handle the minute details without sacrificing quality.
B. The shoulder armor is held in place by the inner frame, that's all. So far they are not really affected in any articulation situations so they rarely pop off. This however is slightly loose so you may or may not want to glue this in place.
C. The front and back skirts are held tight in place by the inner frame and a very loose ball socket on the crotch, they are affected by extreme articulation situations that the front skirts pop off. The skirts themselves however are slightly loose so you may or may not want to glue them in place.
D. The fingers all have articulated knuckles on the first joint closest to the palm so you will really appreciate the engineering they made on this kit. They are held in place at the palm by a slightly loose ball joint so you may have the same situation as that of the MG kit fingers, but not to worry, his weapons have small tabs to lock them in place in the palm...
E. The back of the arm has loose armor. It doesn't fall off but they do move away from the inner frame in some articulation positioning which you can push in if it happens. Those round thingies however need special notice, they are all held tight in place but they will pop off when you accidentally drop this figure... the manual tells you to look for tiny details in putting them in place, but the simplest trick is to look out for the indentation in the inner frame part and use that to guide the straight bar on the white round thingy...
F. The back of the thigh has loose armor. It doesn't fall off yet but they are not as tightly connected to the inner frame as the front section. The only thing you have to be careful for is the inner frame during construction. I loosen the Advanced MS Joint upon removing them from the parts tree but this particular upper thigh section can show stress in the plastic unless you handle it carefully. When the armor is applied, I hope that section will hold it's place and not place unwanted stress on the plastic.
G. Inside this section where the leg connects to the foot, the manual will tell you to put parts H4 and H5 in place. If you are gluing them then don't mind the next couple of sentences. But if you are not going to glue these halves together I found out that this part should be done last, just before you connect the foot in place. This way these parts don't fall off during build time since the plug tabs are not as tight as they should.
Lastly, the gold decals you must apply on the inside of the knees and "siko" (for editing, I forgot the correct word...) can be replaced by painting with gold leaf or your preferred metallics (I like Testors, but the metallics line are hard to come by locally) so it will be permanent and will not peel off in the future... you can also get the gold/silver markers from any school supply store, they can be applied using paint brush preferably #0 - #00 and enamel paint thinner (I have yet to try using lighter fluid on it though...). I wouldn't recommend the Gundam Decal though because all the silver parts are grey and it's almost as if it was the replica of the clear sticker sheet included in the kit, anyway I passed on getting the decal in SM Megamall for such reason and also the price was way too high for a less than impressive decal set.
Panel Lining
Most panel lines are clear and crisp, but beware the shallow and tiny indentations... a fine Gundam Marker will help a bit but I preferred the capillary method... I just realized that I needed to add some more photos.
Sorry no action shots, Hi-Nu GPB Color is giving me a hard time finishing so I couldn't sneak in a few shots... I'll update if needed though...
Gane's Diner
I wasn't really up to showing what I've got stored since I rarely do builds since I don't have enough space to display them in the first place. My TV top can hold the Human Alliance figures safely for now but a Gundam would be out of place...
I'm not quite technical so I will just go about how I see the model kit as a modeler. I don't do external modding so fat chance you'll here about it in any future reviews and builds, but I do internal moddings specially on HG and No Scale 1/100 kits. For those who may seen the eye and gun lite for Force Impulse Gundam and the mood light in Gundam Exia (my first time to see and use a mood light LED)... I've been lighting up Gundams and other Sci-fi kits since mid 1990s... ;D
For my first post however I will be reviewing the 1/144 Real Grade RX-78-2 which I suppose a lot of GT members already have or not... you have to be patient with me for this one because my camera phone needs charging so I wasn't able to take any pictures, but I will post them as soon as I can which is probably sometime this week.
Please bear with me for the inconvenience... of reading the whole thing... LOL ;D
Real Grade 1/144 RX-78-2
First off, this model kit is a feat of engineering due to the size/scale and difficulty Bandai has done to recreate the RX-78-2 in the 1/144 scale with the details from the 1:1 display and internals of a MG/PG kit...
This is by far the most number of tiny parts in a Gundam of this scale where all of it goes to the mech alone. At 268 parts count, you will have to deal with tiny parts with minute details that will come to as tiny as pin point recess.
A little warning though, I will NOT recommend this to newbies or those who have not built a MG, Tamiya, Hasegawa and Dragon (brand) models for the slight complexity in build. But if you insist, just make sure you have a cloth on the floor or table to catch wayward parts flying off your fingers, sprue tree or your nipper (not your Mom's btw)...
The box... and everything in it
If this is what Bandai use as the standard for the future of Real Grade series then Thank You... It really present the kit in a very elegant manner, like you're carrying the ferrari of 1/144 kits in your hands and not just a regular kit of it's scale.
The cover sports the 1:1 RX-78-2 facing down and either the finished model or the prototype standing. Gone is the typical Gundam Art of the "er" Gundam in one of it's signature posing.
Inside, you get the 10 plastic runners for the 268 parts (more or less), the MG-esque manual, a decal set and a flyer for the Gundam Unicorn. Although other suppliers might get this or a different set of additional goodies, who knows...
You will get the feeling that this kit is not going to be a fast build due to the number of tiny parts, but will probably enjoy it along the way.
I don't care much about the decal sheet though, I sure hope Bandai comes out with the waterslide decals for this kit since stickers have the tendency to come off when the glue dries off (you know what I mean, specially if you deal with Zoids).
The Model kit and Manual
MG and PG kits have all the details Bandai can put into them since the canvas is big enough for those details, but to put them in this scale is something else. Rivet holes are minute and are not as visible at first glance, you have to really inspect the material. Moving parts for the thigh and knees are usually avoided on this scale because of the their complexity of the mold and the strain in the plastic.
Another Warning... The finished product should be placed in a secure location, falling off the shelf to be specific, due to the number of tiny parts that can be frustrating to find. Although some parts lock in place, I will suggest glue for the most parts that don't have mobility because during my built some of them pops off.
The Advanced MS Joint is a variation of the System Injection 21, wherein they combine 2 or more molds to finish 1 parts tree. SI21 was created to use colored plastic for their specific parts while the rest of that particular part is of different color, the idea of having more colors molded in 1 particular part was promising but was too expensive to produce. Somehow they used the technology to make a parts tree with different colored sections for new series Gundams. I believe the Advance MS Joint was first used on the Evnagelion kits arms. The main difference is that it was more like the version used for Sgt. Keroro kits but covered with rubber sleeves. This time around the Advanced MS Joint is like stamped on to the other tree for completion.
I do suggest loosening the Advanced MS Joint when you remove it from the parts tree (sprue) to avoid having to force them into submission later in the build. The critical part Dalong pointed out in his review is important, the thigh inner frame's plastic can indeed snap off because this part of the AMSJ is tight and I don't know if it can hold on even if the leg section is finished. So just a heads up on that...
The one thing you can't ignore is the manual. Unlike your HG kits where you can glance at the parts and go from there... this time you will need to look at it most of the time like what you do with your MG/PG manual. It's really specific so just follow the manual for the rest of the build.
What I've been through so far
I just finished the first half of the manual dealing with the lower part of RX-78-2 and it was indeed a "pleasure and excitement in building a mobile suit."
I was wondering if I can do "clean up" on this kit without touching the minute details engraved in the plastic surface. They are very tiny and very shallow, so the question of having to sand the parts is something I will have to concern myself with later on... The sprue connections are almost invisible if removed properly and there's hardly a need to paint over the parts so far.
I am also wondering how to apply the panel linings to the faint details... this is going to be a really fine (because it's tiny) build...
The Update
I was doing my typical dry fitting and in retrospect maybe I shouldn't have. The kit have a mixture of fitting situations which is because some parts cannot replicate some gimmicks in the MG and PG kits without a few hitch. In some parts there are no loose fitting specially those parts that don't really have articulation involved. Some parts have loose fit that they can be obvious in the way you pose the finished figure considering that they don't have extra anchor to the inner frame or some other armor panel. Some parts are neither tight nor loose because of the way the kit is designed to replicate some gimmicks from MG and PG scales, this is common on the 4 skirt panels and shoulder armor.
Chances are you will either want to have this parts left alone or glued in place depending on your personal preference. These parts are held tight in place, but if it's common in your place to have the figures knocked off the display and to the floor, I would suggest gluing to avoid the nasty "where'd that part go?" situation.
Upon closer inspection here's what you can expect from the material:
- Crisp details in minute engraved way including panel lines,
- Mold halves flashes are visible so they can sometimes be mistaken as panel lines, the clean up of these flashes should be done with care to avoid removing engraved and raised details,
- Minute raised plastics can be mistaken for details by those who are not aware of RX-78-2 surface details,
- For the most parts, you may not need to paint the plastic surfaces. Panel lining is a must to show off those minute details and Mr. Surfacer should be a sufficient finish though,
- For super detailing you may want to use a lighted magnifying glass or you can get those goggles used by watch repair men or jewelers...
Here's what you have to look out for when working on the Real Grade RX-78-2... This is the dry fitting I did and as you can see I haven't installed his "V" antenna (I forgot the right term) to make sure I don't destroy it in it's pristine pointy shape... As I mentioned, in retrospect I shouldn't have dry fitted this kit as I always do with all the kits I built since 2004, the horrors I will have to live with just to pry some of the parts off from their position, specially the head which is very tight...
So here's a short list:
A. When placing the front panel of his visor (front of helmet) the guns/cannons will keep you from putting it in place so make sure you don't apply anything on it. In my case this should be one of the difficult parts to remove for final build. The eyes are made of clear plastic so you either apply the gold decals or just paint over the black areas, I know what I will do on my kit... the only thing is I can't take pictures of it because my camera phone cannot handle the minute details without sacrificing quality.
B. The shoulder armor is held in place by the inner frame, that's all. So far they are not really affected in any articulation situations so they rarely pop off. This however is slightly loose so you may or may not want to glue this in place.
C. The front and back skirts are held tight in place by the inner frame and a very loose ball socket on the crotch, they are affected by extreme articulation situations that the front skirts pop off. The skirts themselves however are slightly loose so you may or may not want to glue them in place.
D. The fingers all have articulated knuckles on the first joint closest to the palm so you will really appreciate the engineering they made on this kit. They are held in place at the palm by a slightly loose ball joint so you may have the same situation as that of the MG kit fingers, but not to worry, his weapons have small tabs to lock them in place in the palm...
E. The back of the arm has loose armor. It doesn't fall off but they do move away from the inner frame in some articulation positioning which you can push in if it happens. Those round thingies however need special notice, they are all held tight in place but they will pop off when you accidentally drop this figure... the manual tells you to look for tiny details in putting them in place, but the simplest trick is to look out for the indentation in the inner frame part and use that to guide the straight bar on the white round thingy...
F. The back of the thigh has loose armor. It doesn't fall off yet but they are not as tightly connected to the inner frame as the front section. The only thing you have to be careful for is the inner frame during construction. I loosen the Advanced MS Joint upon removing them from the parts tree but this particular upper thigh section can show stress in the plastic unless you handle it carefully. When the armor is applied, I hope that section will hold it's place and not place unwanted stress on the plastic.
G. Inside this section where the leg connects to the foot, the manual will tell you to put parts H4 and H5 in place. If you are gluing them then don't mind the next couple of sentences. But if you are not going to glue these halves together I found out that this part should be done last, just before you connect the foot in place. This way these parts don't fall off during build time since the plug tabs are not as tight as they should.
Lastly, the gold decals you must apply on the inside of the knees and "siko" (for editing, I forgot the correct word...) can be replaced by painting with gold leaf or your preferred metallics (I like Testors, but the metallics line are hard to come by locally) so it will be permanent and will not peel off in the future... you can also get the gold/silver markers from any school supply store, they can be applied using paint brush preferably #0 - #00 and enamel paint thinner (I have yet to try using lighter fluid on it though...). I wouldn't recommend the Gundam Decal though because all the silver parts are grey and it's almost as if it was the replica of the clear sticker sheet included in the kit, anyway I passed on getting the decal in SM Megamall for such reason and also the price was way too high for a less than impressive decal set.
Panel Lining
Most panel lines are clear and crisp, but beware the shallow and tiny indentations... a fine Gundam Marker will help a bit but I preferred the capillary method... I just realized that I needed to add some more photos.
I wonder why they did not include the javelin and the spiked ball and chain... one long stick, spiked ball and chain link it won't take an extra sprue tree or time just to add them in the package doesn't it?
Sorry no action shots, Hi-Nu GPB Color is giving me a hard time finishing so I couldn't sneak in a few shots... I'll update if needed though...
the top where the head should be are the parts where the "eyes" are located through the clear colored plastic before they got lost... Lost are the moving armor panel to keep his revolver in and so I also lost the revolver... 
;D
Although I can repair the tiny damage with stretched sprue... it is still a bad idea I could have saved when I was doing the fitting... The left head cannon (near the eyes) popped off when I removed the helmet section, and it's so tiny I couldn't find it.
