Gane's Diner Updated 12/15/11

[Gane]

1/144 GN-011 Gundam Zabanya

[/center]


Technical Details: Scale Size:

Height: 18 meters 12.5 cm
Weight: 86.8 tons
Armaments: GN Pistols, GN Holster Bit, GN Rifle Bits, GN Missile Pods

Prologue
Produced by Bandai for the recently released Gundam 00 movie (also DVD and Blu-ray). It depicts the Mobile Suit in the small scale of 1/144.

Although there's hardly an accurate illustration of the whole Gundam available other than a few pictures also available in the manual. This kit is not quite newbie friendly as the Qan [T] of the same scale but not as frustrating as the Harute. With serious dedication to build it accurately, you can achieve a decent finish.

As with the other Gundam 00 - Awakening of the Trailblazer kits, the Zabanya is a combination of the 1st and 2nd Season versions of the mechs piloted by their respective Gundam Meisters.


Box Cover

First thing you’ll notice is the different take on the HG Gundam 00 line, the box is mostly in white white the Gundam Zabanya in action pose firing it's Beam Rifles. On one side depicts the Gundams' specific color, in this case different shades of green.


Parts

Luckily most parts in green are molded in the correct color although you will need to paint the shoulder armors and a couple of small panels located on the in-sides of both left and right shins which are both in white plastic. The panels don't have stickers to cover them so you can either cut them into size of paint it, I preferred the latter. Unlike the Harute, Zabanya parts are crisply detailed as the Qan [T], and works well with the capillary action panel lining.







The Gundam

As with the Harute I suggest to not combine the GN Holster Bits with the Gundam until final fitting since these parts are too heavy and will most likely loosen the polycaps before you finish the kit. Study the manual before starting because you will need to paint a lot of parts on this kit and the included sticker will not help. On my part, I didn't notice the grey parts on the top of the GN Holster Bits which suggests Zabanya has 10 GN Pistol Bits which you don't really have other than the two supplied in the box. I was planning to make the extra rifles and some more holsters, but budget wasn't on my side...

The Green parts on the arms and shoulders have grey stickers, but the shoulder armors have white exposed plastics that it would be best to paint these parts rather than applying stickers.

Gundam Zabanya is the shortest Gundam in the Celestial Beings gang, but the firepower he packs makes him dangerous in the battlefield.

Using the orb details I printed for the Qan [T], it gives additional equality for the group having been designed with the orbs on their arms. As with the Harute, I didn't get the right purple hue for the clear parts because it is tricky to work with Wipe and Shine for tinting over clear enamel paints.


I think this is how he looks in storage... before launch...


Shot based on the box cover pose...


Taking cover with the armored gun bits


Flight mode... based in a shot from the movie... the head can't reach this angle so I used clay which I should have noticed to be visible in this shot... LOL


The Bad

The polycaps and the locks for the GN Holster Bits located on his butt pack doesn't help much. In time these parts will take its toll on the polycaps thus I had suggested not to install them until the last minute.

8 of the Holster Bits are molded in twos thus you onlu have 2 individual holsters you can pose independently on the Display stand if you also have the Cherudim.


Conclusion

For new Gundam modelers this kit is a moderately easy build. You can not have the satisfaction of an out of the box finish without painting parts of this kit. Gundam Zabanya can stand on his feet without toppling since his center of gravity can handle the positioning of the GN Holster Bits.

If you have the patience, You can make a few more holsters and rifles to depict on of the scenes in the movie.

Up Next is the RG MS-06S Zaku II... Completed before a day after the New Year but I still plan on applying Wipe and Shine to keep the stickers in place and make it "ehem" shine... and as before, Raphael will take a back seat again...

Seravee 2 blew up my glue gn last night, luckily the fuse didn't bail on me and I still got power back on... it was a last resort since the Tamiya cement and epoxy putties are not sticking on the Bandai plastic long enough to have some work added...

[Gane]

Real Grade 02 1/144 MS-06S Zaku II

Note:

Most of the text is recycled due to the similarities I found repetitive during build observation.

Thank You

First off, this model kit is a feat of engineering due to the size/scale and difficulty Bandai has done to recreate the MS-06S Zaku II in the 1/144 scale with the details from the MG/PG kits... Unless Bandai is going to build a 1:1 scale display of this Mobile Suit, it is safe to say that this is accurate to most Zaku II versions in MG and PG piloted by Char Aznable.

This is by far the most number of tiny parts in a Gundam kit in the 1/144 scale to date where all of it goes to the mech alone. At 290 parts count (296 with 6 unused), you will have to deal with tiny parts with minute details that will come to as tiny as pin point recesses.

As with the RX-78-2, I DO 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

Okay Bandai didn’t come out with a clear version of the RX-78-2 “yet”, but we are graced with the best counterpart of the series. The main mobile suit of the antagonist Char Aznable.

The cover sports the MS-06S Zaku II facing down and what seems like the smaller CG or a professionally built kit standing imitating the RX-78-2 box cover.

Inside, you get 9 plastic runners for the 296 parts (6 of which are extras), the MG-esque manual, a sticker set and a flyer for the Gundam Expo 2010 in Hong Kong (I’m not quite sure). However the version I got from Great Toys Greenhills include the display stand similar to the ones included in the new kits depicting the 1:1 RX-78-2, but this one has the name of the kit molded on the top bottom right corner. I suppose this is not a permanent freebie since it is most likely tied to the Gundam Expo, and the stand/platform is not included in the parts picture in the box nor in the review made by Dalong or any other sites.

Unlike the RG RX-78-2 there are hardly any flashes in this kit visible, but you can still feel their pointy ends which you can remove… This may be depend on the batch included in my kit but Bandai did addressed this flash thingy on this kit.

Applying the stickers for the RG RX-78-2, I realized the difficulty of applying waterslide decals is in itself a feat. And the RG MS-06S Zaku II has the same amount of difficulty with the stickers which I hope will stay put longer than your average sticker.


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 their complexity of the mold and the strain in the plastic.

Another Warning... The finished product should be placed in a secure location, to avoid falling off the shelf, 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 pop off. In this case, the nose exhaust can pop off if handled incorrectly.

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. If this is your first RG kit be aware of the critical part Dalong pointed out in his review of the RG RX-78-2, but otherwise you should already know how to handle the section. They don’t share the same AMSJ, but some details needed are in the same locations i.e. moving external armor plates.

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. Some AMSJ parts have to be rotated so make sure this is in the proper position because there are some details not specified clearly in the manual.


Panel Details

Ok, the "pleasure and excitement in building a mobile suit" is getting really old. I’d probably have the pleasure and excitement if this was a REAL Mobile Suit and not a model kit I’m building. Bwahahahaha!!!

Paneling on this kit with the minute details engraved in the plastic surface is a breeze BUT I paneled the parts while they were on the sprue trees. This avoided the need for a thorough cleaning since removing extra paint from the wash is done by individual part. The sprue connections are almost invisible if removed properly and there's hardly a need to paint over the parts so far. But since some armors are molded in separate parts and colors you are faced with the dilemma of whether to apply panels or not, you can achieve this by painting the ends with a marker. When this parts are combined, a minute panel line will be visible.

Unlike the RX-78-2, most of the recessed details are crisp and can withstand the clean-up for panel wash although some rivet holes need to be retouched by a really pointy pencil or the finest marker tip.


The Mobile Suit

Unlike the RX-78-2 most 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. They had corrected some design errors on the first RG kit that the aforementioned parts are now secured in place.

This kit is tight, I’ve been moving and removing parts since I started and none of which have yet to show any sign of getting loose, although the shield and shoulder spike armor have loose parts for smoother movement and removal.

Upon closer inspection here's what you can expect from the material:[/center]
- Crisp minute details engraved including the panel lines,
- For the most parts, you may not need to paint anything. 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 especially if you’re keen on painting Char’s standing figure...

So here's a short list of what to avoid:

- Don’t combine the sections until after the final fitting, this will ensure the tightness in the joints specially if you’re the one who tends to remove them during build (like I am, luckily they made it really tight),
- If possible don’t do dry fitting, this kit only needs a good cleaning of extra sprues once removed from the tree,
- The side and top of the back skirts tend to pop off easily when moving the legs so be careful,
- In removing the pipe inserts, make sure the end is pointing up and you start popping them off the sprue tree from the bottom up. This will ensure that the removed inserts will not get lost when you remove the last part.
- You have 6 extra parts for the pipe inserts for the leg section, BUT you DON’T have extras for the ones in it’s head so be careful not to lose any of those,
- Before installing the pipe inserts on the leg section press the two ends together to make sure it’s fastened firmly on both ends, otherwise the spring will look awkward,
- Some stickers don’t look correct when applied so do your best judgment on what looks aesthetically right.

Points of interest during build



These are the last things I observed upon taking the pictures which you may wonder why so few… this is due to the fact that the included clear plastic sticker sheet is rigid enough to pop off sooner or later just like the RG RX-78-2s.

A. The nose vent tip, this part tends to pop off so it would be wise to put a finger over this and the back of the head where the pipe inserts meet when working with the head. Once the head is in place it will not budged but be aware of it’s tendency to pop off when handled improperly.

B. The base of the cones are easy to panel wash via capillary action, but tends to be removed easily during clean up, so either do a pencil touch-up or watch where you rub off excess wash.

C. As I expected, the stickers already gone bad due to handling. There’s two way to solve this though. One is to get the water slide decals and the other is cutting the silver/chrome part in the sticker sheet before applying the remaining sticker detail and paint over it with your preferred metallic paint.

D. The skirts tend to pop off a lot and they seem to be shallow. There’s nothing you can do about it but to take not every time you move his legs for a pose.

E. As mentioned before, press the ends together (making sure it’s secured in your hands) to make sure the spring is properly inserted otherwise you’ll notice large gaps between the pipe inserts.

F. The wrist cover is not intended to be glued in place because you will need to remove it every time you change hands, but I believe gluing it in place will not affect the palms’ overall articulation. It’s really up to your discretion.

Conclusion

Do I need to say more? For first timers this will probably take as long to build as the RG RX-78-2. If you’ve built the RG RX-78-2 then this should be a breeze. Just don’t rush your build and you will have pleasure and excitement building a mobile suit.

If you didn’t have pleasure and excitement building the RG RX-78-2, then avoid this kit… LOL

I wish Bandai will do the entire PG line in RG… That’d be awesome…

For the pics, after noticing hopw easy the stickers can rub off the chrome and loose their position, I opted to limit the handling to avoid further damage... sorry...

[xentar]

Great review bro.. You made me order the RG Zaku at HLJ gunpla sale.. ;D

[Gane]

Jan 31, 2011 22:21:44 GMT 8 xentar said:

Great review bro.. You made me order the RG Zaku at HLJ gunpla sale.. ;D

Glad to be of service... and enjoy the pleasure and excitement building in building a mobile suit... that is really getting old... LOL

I'm on hiatus because of Cough and Colds and spraying on the kits or blowing them away is a big problem... LOL

[Gane]

For personal and future reference I'm changing my present nick to my other monicker Gane.

It has been pointed out a million times the need to change nicks for different memberships online, but I didn't heed the warning. When it come to necessity, one must make a dire move to even if it's against ones principles specially when it encompasses personal security.

One monicker I regret is stuck in the worldwide wed because I didn't expect it would be uber important to control what I share.

Anyway, not that it matters to your existence, thank you for reading...

[raps]

Gotta love Zabanya's GN bits... so many stuff it can do... Nicely build on your RG lines too... you seem to be enjoying this line... Aile Strike Gundam RG will be out soon...

[Gane]

Yeah I'm already psyched in getting the RG Aile Strike that I'm passing on getting One Piece Going Merry and Thousand Sunny already.

It's just that for a tiny kit it has lots of details that even 1/100 NG and HG kits don't have. Plus I don't have to worry where I will store them because of their sizes... specially if I have to move someday...

If Bandai is going to get another series for the next MG line I think they should continue with the rest of the 00 line... I'm already planning on getting the MG O Raiser...

[Gane]

No updates but I just want to share this to those who like to light up their Gundams using LEDs you see in celphones like I do because it doesn't eat as much battery as a regular bulb and doesn't occupy too much space as a regular LED...

It's no easy job because you can burn the LED before you can even get connected to a wire specially if the soldering gun is too hot...

Enjoy...

gundamguy.blogspot.com/2011/05/nomoken-3rd-edition-installing-leds-in.html

[Gane]

"I limited the number of pictures of this review not because I got lazy, but because of the fact that the kit has been long overdue in arriving in Philippine soil and hundreds and thousand of photos are already available in different photo reviews online.

I am made this review for those who want to know the model kit in plain English for them to judge whether to get it or not. I made the review as a guide so as not to lose the reader's enthusiasm on building kits in this line without going into too much detail which is the job of the manual.

Thank You and enjoy reading."

Real Grade 03 1/144 Aile Strike Gundam

O.M.N.I. Enforcer Mobile Suit GAT-X105 Aile Strike Gundam

Armaments: Beam Saber, Beam Rifle, Armor Schneider Blades and Shield[/center][/b]

Prologue

The third in the series of the Real Grade (Excitement Embodied) line of 1/144 scale model kits. Other than having to see the same explanation about the kit giving you pleasure and excitement in building a mobile suit, everything else is new. But why repeat that on every box of the Real Grade line? We didn’t see that in the other grades… And again, it’s not really exciting but it is a pleasure to see when finished.




Box Cover

Bandai maintained the style on the box design with the CG head of the mobile suit with the same font used for the name as the rest of the line. Unlike the different iterations of the Gundam model kits in different scales, this Aile Strike doesn’t have any visible logo or anything that pertains to where or what anime series the mobile suit came from but surely it is mentioned in the Japanese text printed all over the manual.


Parts

By comparison to the previous RG kits, the Aile Strike sports a lot of raised and engraved panel lines and details that are very crisp and can handle wash panel lining better. A good handle on a piece of paper towel should leave the panels cleanly applied, if you’re lucky you can even get it as thin as you can.
However, it still feels like it has the least number of parts from the rest of the RG line, probably because of the big chunks of plastic on the Aile Striker. Having said that, this is the fastest RG build I did.
I don’t know if it was a standard freebie in all the RG Aile Strike kits but I did get a RG tweezer, which I hardly used during build because it just got handy during sticker application.







The Gundam

It was an easy build in comparison to the rest of the RG line before it with the Zaku as the most time consuming. If you want to try this line of model kits, go for the Aile Strike Gundam.

Articulation wise, Aile Strike Gundam has all the available joints to make him pose those shown in the anime and all the photo reviews you can find online. The biggest difference I can mention is the additional panel movements on the front and back of the shin (lower leg) and instead of having a moving panel on the bicep area it was moved on the fore arms. The thigh still has moving panel covers as the rest of the line but the Aile Strike Gundam’s thigh have a hollow space visible on the sides when these panels are moved.

With a slight mod on the wing flaps and the parts it will affect when moved, you can get movable wing flaps which is fastened to the wings so much you can’t pull it off without applying force.






The Good

Just like the rest of the RG kits, this model kit is chockfull of details and tiny parts that need attention during build to avoid losing them. Easier and faster build straight out of the box.

As I mentioned in the RG Zaku review, it's easier to panel line these kits when they are still on the runners/sprue tree to avoid unnecessary loosening of the joints and wayward wash going into crevices you don't want it to...


The Bad

The Aile Strike Gundam is back heavy when you have the Aile Striker installed plus the joints are a bit loose compared to the previous RG kits which doesn’t help much when you want to pose it without any stand. Some parts don’t stick very well specially on the Aile Striker’s wing section so you may want to glue it in or place a piece of paper for a tight fit. Somebody must have told Bandai that the ball joint for the head is a little snug on the other RG kits so this time it’s too loose, not so much that it will pop off but you constantly need to adjust the head.




Conclusion

For new Real Grade Gundam modelers, this kit is an easy build and should have been the first in the line because of the ease and straight forward construction. Coming from a very popular anime series that spawned a lot of model kits from different scales and grades, this iteration will not disappoint but will probably not excite you unless that’s your thing…

I don’t know if Bandai would be brazen enough to spawn the Sword and Launcher Strike in different boxes of the same kit, but personally, I’d rather they come out with an RG Sky Grasper with the Striker Weapon Set instead of filling the RG series with too many Aile Strike Gundams.

All in all I give this RG Kit a good 4.5 out of 5...

[Gane]

Note: Due to the availability of clearer pictures of this model online I will only include what I deem necessary... you're a big boy/girl now you can do a Google search...

Real Grade 05 1/144 Freedom Gundam


Z.A.F.T. Mobile Suit ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam

Armaments: "Lacerta" Beam Saber, "Lupus" Beam Rifle, Armor Shield, "Xiphias" Rail Guns and "Balaena" Plasma Beam Cannon (thanks to MAHQ for some names, because I can't translate the Japanese in the manual)





Box Cover

Bandai maintained the style on the box design with the CG head of the mobile suit with the same font used for the name as the rest of the line. Just like the RG Aile Strike Gundam model kit, the Freedom Gundam box doesn’t have any visible logo or anything that pertains to where or what anime series the mobile suit came from but surely it is mentioned in the Japanese text printed all over the manual although the faction where the Gundam belongs is printed below its name.


Parts

The Freedom sports a lot of raised and engraved panel lines and details that are very crisp. A good handle on a piece of paper towel should leave the panels cleanly applied, if you’re lucky you can even get it as thin as you can. I opted to not panel line this time... and with the stickers installed it's a little too late for that anyway.
It's seven pieces more parts than the RG Aile Strike but looking inside and during construction you'd think there's more than that, probably because of the big chunks of plastic on the Aile Striker while the Freedom has more internal parts hidden. Having said that, this is the second fastest RG build I did.


The Gundam

Second to the Aile Strike Gundam, I'd recommend this for easy build. BUT, once finished this Gundam requires a good handling because it is back heavy and a stand would definitely be required.

Articulation wise, Freedom Gundam has all the available joints to make him pose those shown in the anime and all the photo reviews you can find online. The additional panel movements on the front and back of the shin (lower leg) and the back of the forearm are there. The thigh still has moving panel covers as the rest of the line but the Freedom’s front shin have the interiors visible when these knee armor move.

The Freedom tends to have some parts popping off like that on it's forearms, but if you're applying cement this wouldn't be a problem. Making him pose in a certain way will be a little challenge specially on the wings but if you've done the Aile Strike then this is nothing... The more moving armors a Gundam has, the more stuff you have to check out before finishing any pose.







The Good

Just like the rest of the RG kits, this model kit is chockfull of details and tiny parts that need attention during build to avoid losing them. Easier and faster build straight out of the box. Lots of extra stickers you can use on other 144s as in "Pimp my Gundam". Obviously, Bandai has improved the detailing on this kit over the RX-78-2 and the Zaku. The engraved and raised panel lines should tidy up your need to panel line kits until you get to the next Gundam you want to build.


The Bad

The Freedom Gundam is back heavy in any scale including the RG even with the stiffer joint on the legs compared to the RG Aile Strike kit it doesn’t help much when you want to pose it without any stand. Somebody must have told Bandai that the ball joint for the head is a too loose on the RG Aile Strike kit so this time they actually remedied the situation. The pegs are not are snug as previous RG kits so you may encounter some popping open during build.

Bandai put the limit on the amount of bronze and silver chrome stickers, and they didn't include a single gold either to any part of the Freedom. You'll notice this when during build the first sticker you apply will be when you get to the arms which is the second to the last part of the main Gundams body to finish before the head. After applying the eye stickers, the rest are applied after everything has been put together, yes even the weapons.

My main gripe is the white face plate armor. It was probably a good idea in planning but the plastic couldn't handle thinness on the grills. My copy actually broke to two parts, my only consolation is that the grill didn't break into smaller/tinier pieces that applying cement wouldn't repair. So let this be a caution to those who want to build this RG Freedom, take extra precaution on removing the face plate.




Conclusion

For new Real Grade Gundam modelers, this kit is an easy build and should have been the first in the line because of the ease and straight forward construction. Coming from a very popular anime series that spawned a lot of model kits from different scales and grades, this iteration will not disappoint but will never excite you unless you have that kinky side…

The Freedom Gundam... I got this one since I didn't have one from before and even though I prefer the Strike Freedom, this is good enough. Although the build was easy, the final product is quite fragile and that bit of situation with the face plate, so I wouldn't recommend this to new modelers who haven't built anything intricate as the RG Aile Strike or other RG kits.

As this review is partially a rehash of the Aile Strike review (yes I got lazy, LOL), I included the notes I made before about the possible RG kits that Bandai might produce. And so...

I don’t know if Bandai would be brazen enough to spawn the different attachments for this mobile suit in different boxes of the same kit. Personally, I’d rather they come out with an RG Sky Grasper with the different weapon attachments instead of filling the RG series with too many Aile Strike Gundams.

Amen. Bandai actually came out with a color variant and will be coming out with the RG Sky Grasper next year to compliment the RG Aile Strike... so booya!