Project UC: New Gundam Unicorn MG releases…?

We take a brief break from the HGUC posts to take a look and ponder something interesting I noticed.

I think most people have seen the scans from the latest issue of the monthly Gundam Ace, which had some of the designs and descriptions for the mobile suits that appear in the series.  Well, while reading it today, I noticed something that I don’t think people picked up on.

That thing would be ガンダムUC計画 or Project UC.    Let’s take a look at this.

First off, the above is the page states in the red box that “New lineups will continue to be released for Bandai Hobby Group’s Project UC“.
The bottom left box then notes that the the 1st stage of the Project UC will be carried out over the 2009 fiscal year, which is April 2009 to March 2010.
OK, so basically this means they’re going to be releasing lots of stuff over the next 10 months until March of next year.

Well… what are they going to release?

Here’s where it gets interesting, they give us a breakdown!

Looking at the above zoom in on the white box and small text above.  The small text says “Bandai Hobby Group will continue to release [UC] items, such as HGUC, S-HCM Pro, MG, and others in the future.  You can especially look  forward to the number of HGUC releases.

Next up is the actual lineup plan!  I am suprised nobody noticed this (I think) as it specifically says what item line and when to expect a release.

Taking a look at the HGUC line, we see the already revealed Kshatriya is scheduled for October.  Following HGUC releases are scheduled for (late?) November, December, January, and March! There is a second December listed between January and March, but I am going to assume that is a typo for February.  Thusly, we’re looking at six HGUC’s by March of next year.

For the S-HCM pro, the already revealed Unicorn Gundam is scheduled for October, with no other releases scheduled.

Even more interesting is that the MG line has 2 kits apparently scheduled!  Unfortunately, by this lineup plan, we’re looking at February and March respectively.  Still, that gives us time to speculate as to what kits are getting the MG treating.  Could it be the Banshee? Full Armor Unicorn?  Or maybe some of the other designs?  I for one, would like to see the ReZEL.  I think the Geara Zulu would be a smart idea for a MG kit, as it’s mostly Zaku to begin with.

And in the lastly row, we simply have ??  with 4 items scheduled from December/January.  Thinking of the available lines, I for one would love to see a PG(!) Unicorn, but the SD line would probably be more likely.  Any thoughts on what they could have lined up?

So, thoughts and/or ideas about this Project UC and upcoming releases?

WiP: HGUC Hi-ν Gundam

So, let’s get the ball rolling. The HGUC Hi-ν Gundam is my first HG kit, and true to the High Grade line, it’s a quick and simple build. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page, HG Kits are 1/144 scale, lack an internal frame and gimmicks (for the most part) that their 1/100 MG brethren have. In general, the idea is that HG kits are aimed and priced for the younger generation, while the more difficult, and higher priced, MG and PG kits are aimed at the older crowd. After building this kit, I’ve formed some of my own conclusions, but I’ll save those for a future post.

So, the kit over all is quite simple, as you see with the following pictures of the torso, arms, and legs.

Simple snap together for the torso with polycaps

With the outer armor attached

The arm and shoulder

With the arms attached, the upper torse is complete

Following the same idea as the arms, outer armor snapped together and done.

Overall, with the lack of an inner frame you see a lot of polycaps standing in for a lot of sections.  Other than that, the outer armor parts are completed molded as one piece (upper arm) or a simple snap together of two pieces with a polycap in between (leg).  The waist is another simple affair, with the back skirt armor unable to move.  The front skirt armor is also one piece, but moves. 

Yep, that’s a waist

The boosters and funnel wings(?) again follow the same snap together and done.  The boosters are all molded in white, and so the color conscious will want to paint the connecting parts a metal part.  I’m lazy, and don’t have a brass color, so I passed on that.  I forgot to take a picture of the Fin Funnels, but the construction was pretty much the same as the MG version.

The shield was nice in that they at least molded snap on parts so you could have the two tone shield.  The weapons, again snap together, unfortunately, get the generic silvery/gray color, and you’ll have to paint them if you want to have it look like the promo pics that Bandai pimped.  The good thing about the color though is you don’t really have the noticable sprue damage that you get from MG weapons.  MG weapons tend to be black, or blue, or that light grey (Zaku weapons, especially) that really makes the damage stand out.  Of course you could always just be careful when putting together the weapons, but like many others, by the time I get to the weapons, I really don’t care and just want to get them over with.  Anyways, too much straying from topic.

Three pieces and you got a shield

Gun, or Bazooka, what’s your pleasure?

And finally, the last thing to to do for putting it all together is panel lining, a must to bring out some of the design elements in the HG kit, followed by really tiny seals.

All lined up and ready to go.

All that’s left is the top coat and we’re good to go.  Next post we’ll look at some final build shots.

HGUC Hi-ν Gundam preview

Just a quick preview post, it finally stopped raining long enough for me to do the top coating on the HGUC Hi-Nu.  Here’s a couple of preview pictures.  I’m planning on doing more photo’s this weekend, but realized that I don’t really have anything to scale with it (Maybe the Turn A, it’s a shorty).  But anyways, enjoy the two preview photos.  The Hi-nu really is a bad ass Gundam, IMO.

The State of the Gunpla Union – 062309

Well, after my short vacation to China, it was right back to work, so I’ve not had time to really get back into the kits.   I have indeed finished up the HGUC Hi-nu kit, but I need to finish trimming off some sprue leftovers from the fin funnels, as well as panel line it.  I’m a little delayed on doing this for a variety of reasons.  The ultimate reason, as always is that work is demanding long hours, and so I’m pretty much coming home and sleeping.  The next reason is that I ended up having one of my wisdom teeth pulled this weekend, so I pretty much slept through the weekend and the pain.  Lastly, and for those in Japan, (Buster and GG for sure) we’re in the rainy season, which makes it pretty much a crappy time to even think about top coating or using anything with sprays.

Anyways, I’m fairly back up to speed, but again no top coating anything for a few more weeks at least.  I’ll finish panel lining this week and get the fairly short WIP and pictures up by the weekend.  I had also been building the Zeta Plus kit off and on, and it’s near done, but this is a kit that screams for panel marking, as the pretty much all off-white design aside from the orange is really bland looking. 

For upcoming projects, I’ve got a few ideas of things I want to do, but need to get past the rainy season before I can start experimenting with spray painting again.  So, until then, most likely going to do snap builds of some kits (do a few more of my army of Zaku’s I guess). 

In non-Gundam news, I managed to go see the new Transformers movie (twice!) over the weekend despite the headache induced from ripping teeth from my jaw, and enjoyed it.  As someone said to me, it’s not the most intellectual movie, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it immensely.  I almost want to look for an Optimus Prime or Jetfire kit, or figure, it’s just that most of the toys out there look like utter crap…  Ah well…

Back to the travel front, having knocked Beijing off my list, I’ve still got to head over to Shanghai, and specifically Hong Kong, but have start looking into trips to Vietnam, Korea  and/or Bangkok.  Figure while I’m here, might as well travel.  The plus side of the crappy economy is that the travel prices have bottomed, so why the hell not.  Any recommendations on places to visit in Asia?

Lastly, some choice shots from my trip to Beijing.  I went to the following places, and had a great time.
Saturday:  Ming’s Tomb, the Great Wall of China, the Palace of Heaven, Sanlitun Bar Street
Sunday: The Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the night market at Wangfujiang.

Back from China

Just a quick post to say I’m back from Beijing.  Bit of a whirlwind trip, but definitely worth it.  Not Gundam related but will post again with some pictures of the trip.  I’m back to work already, so I’ll be jumping on the HGUC Hi-Nu tomorrow I think.  Anyways, here’s a little preview for you.  (Of China that is)

Hi-ν Gundam Gets (again)

Well, here’s my first HGUC kit, and technically my second model of the Hi-nu Gundam… anyways, picked it up on the way home from work before Bic closed tonight, but won’t have time to actually sit down with it till next week. 

Off to  China tomorrow!