Review: RX78-2 Gundam 1/144 RG
Finally completed my RG… well, I wonder is it I’m putting too high expectation on this kit, I must say I’m actually feeling a little disappointment on this kit rather than the great “WOW” I expect in the beginning… and I’m probably the first person to express disappointment towards this kit, Haha… I will tell you the reason slowly as I review this kit.
In order to feel this kit truly… I decided to go for scratch build. Indeed the idea of having different tone of color plastics to snap together is brilliant, the shinning stickers are awesome too. The inner frame is a master piece and the possibility for putting a core fighter into the kit is mind blowing. So what exactly I would like to complain about?
Well, first, serious nub. Doesn’t matter what the hell BANDAI tell you about the new gate system they introduce, in the end, serious nub marks are everywhere all over the kit and they are so visible. Can we consider this REAL? So do you mean that the 1/1 Gundam in Shizuoka now has nub mark on it too? BANDAI had put a step forward in creating a HG kit with great posing ability, but they had yet forgotten the very simple needs that every Gunpla builders searching for… the reduction in obvious nub marks.
Hmm, I’m a littler surprise that there isn’t any “caution” words in the instruction manual as there are many “fragile” pieces and without handling with extreme care, the whole kit can gone within a second. The detail stickers… well, I didn’t see any difference with the usual one. Yet, I prefer dry transfer decals rather than the sticker provided… it doesn’t look good. Although most of the stickers are precisely cut and sized accordingly, but there are still some where you need to trim them before applying or it will not look nice at all.
My other concerns is towards the inner frame on how long can it last… before you hear the first “cracking” or “snapping” sound… they are so delicate that I don’t think I will dare to pose it often… besides that, the shoulder armor… BANDAI should have done better on the movability of the shoulder armor. This is the only part that is not “MG” at all, the rest is ok.
Hope that the coming Char’s Zaku RG will be better than this RX78-2. Anyway, congratulations to BANDAI for successfully starting a new product line. Expect to see all those famous MS like Freedom, Impulse, Destiny, Wing Gundam and etc to get a RG treatment in coming future. I’m reviewing my RG with the special base by Dengeki Hobby magazine September issue… it’s a very nice stand!
All in all, it’s a reasonable kit and a good job done by BANDAI. Maybe I’m just expecting too much, therefore getting a big disappointment here. But BANDAI really can do better than that… obviously… I think maybe they just want to take care of their other products as well as nub-less will greatly reduce the sales of the sand paper and etc 🙂 Till then, enjoy the gallery and for those who just grabbed this kit, good luck and don’t spoil it!
Report: Gundam Astray Green Frame Close Combat Ver. 1/100 NG
It’s been a long whole month… and finally it is done! Although there are many other things which I wish to do on this kit, but due to many reasons… I’d decided to skip them. Still there are a whole lot of room for improvement, but for now, this is what I had done and hope you guys will like it.
Gundam involved: Gundam Astray Blue Frame Second L 1/100, Gundam Astray Red Frame HG, Gundam Astray Red Frame Custom 1/100 MG, Gundam Astray Red Frame 1/60 PG.
Tools and materials: Pla-plate, gloves, mask, Tamiya Putty White, Tamiya Finishing Abrasive P400, P800 & P2000, Mr, Cement, Tamiya Clear Soft Plastic Beams (round 3mm), Diamond file, 2.5mm Drill, craft knife, cutter, clear plastic sheet.
Paint and etc: Gundam Marker Black & Gold, Gundam Panel Liner Black, Mr. Color Thinner, Masking tape, Mr. Super Clear (semi gloss), Mr White Surfacer 1000, Tamiya Paint Marker X-11 Chrome Silver, Mr. Color Spray Can (Metallic Green, Steel, Light Gray, Black)
For the Red Frame MG and PG, a few pieces of their clear parts were used in order to boost up my kit here, while the base kit is actually the NG 1/100 Blue Frame. And here’s the final product…
First Form…
Second Form…
Here’s a brief introduction towards the modification I’d done. First, the head. Nothing major here except throwing the skirting around the cheek and added a panel line on the side of the head.
Next, the body actually got no major modification, just from change in color scheme. For the shoulder, I would say this is the most obvious changed part throughout the kit. The skirting close to the body is thrown away, follow by the top plate and rear plate. In exchange, the thrusters on the sword were moved here, besides adding some pla-plate and also some extra pieces of plastic to bold up the shoulder.
Nothing major for the arms as well. Just change in color scheme. As for the waist, the only noticeable change will be the shift of the dagger from leg to the waist. Besides that, the black skirting at the back was cut short on both left and right side to accommodate the present of the dagger. The black skirting also modified with extra piping. As for the backpack, you can see from the picture above that I had thrown away the sword supporting part and replaced with the new part I get from Astray Red Frame HG. This will allow smooth movement for the sword when it is attached to the back in Second form.
For the leg… some extra pieces were attached to it to make it look bulker, and I had thrown the existing part below the knee and replaced with silver piping. Other than that, the original hidden dagger under the leg was replaced with beam saber. The front skirting for the ankle was thrown away as well.
Well, last but not least, the sword. Just break it into two separate pieces and that’s it. Refined with some pla-plate and added new joint to allow it to attach to the arms.
Well, I guess I had more or less wrapped up the modification project. Well, you will get a better idea on it if you can compare it with a 1/100 NG Blue Frame, but sadly I’d forgotten to take picture of it before my conversion… sorry for that. Anyway, feel free to browse more pictures in the gallery and till then, I have to take some rest first as I’m not really feeling well these few days… T.T still there are many flaws which you can observe clearly through the pictures, will do my best to work better next time. Meanwhile, hope you guys enjoy some pictures here.
WIP: Gundam Astray Green Frame Close Combat Ver. Part 5
Kinda feel sorry… as my work in progress post actually didn’t really show any “proper” work in progress pictures or steps… well, when my hands are on the Gunpla… I got no extra hand to take the pictures… so sorry for it. All I can do is just try my best to take better picture on the completed kit… and try to elaborate on it. Anyway, arms were completed but still yet to be spray painted as I had run out of Metallic Green Spray Can!! As disastrous as it may seems… but luckily I manage to grab a new can today.
The only thing left now is the back pack and some armaments… looking good to get it done by the end of this month. Hope that I will have enough time during this weekend to try to work out something… as still got no idea on how to modify the back pack. Anyway, when I grab my spray can, I grabbed along this as well…
Haha… something “old” actually… already reviews are everywhere. Anyway, I will only get it done once my this custom made is completed. Really looking forward to build the RG kit. Sorry for no pictures on my custom as I want to save the good things for last… hehe… create some suspense… anyway, I kinda like my work so far. Hope it will “wow” you guys as well. So, till then, take care everyone!
WIP: Gundam Astray Green Frame Close Combat Ver. Part 4
Sigh… due to lack of time to work on this boy… and due to insufficient planning… suddenly realized that not much modification I had done on it so far… OMG!! Anyway, busy with the arms and leg now… hope to get them done by this weekend and move on the the back pack… will try to modify a little bit more on the arms and legs… and also hope that the back pack can “wow” the crowd… sigh… mistake mistake… anyway, here’s a look on the completed parts so far… can say 60-70% completed…
WIP: Gundam Astray Green Frame Close Combat Ver. Part 3
Kinda busy recently… not staying in my house for this month and there’s a lot of stuff to deal with after work and during the weekend as well… sigh… progress is getting slow… anyway, the waist is half done, the shoulder is almost done, arms not yet, leg is in progress… armaments not yet… and backpack not yet… total progress so far is probably around 40% I would say… still a whole lot of sanding to do… so tiring… kinda have an idea how to deal with the armament… but need to test out my idea first to see whether it can be work out or not ^^ anyway… just hope I can get it done by end of this month or early next month as my poor little Avalanche Exia Dash and Red Frame Astray is waiting there for me.
私のガンプラ 