WiP: PG 00 Raiser #00

We’ve got to start somewhere, so lets start right with the box.  I’m sure you’ve all seen pictures around the net, and while the box looks pretty huge, it is actually much more compact than I was expecting.  Not to say that it’s small, just much more compact.

So here’s the box with the stand.

Comparin with a regular HGUC box, you can get the idea that the stand is the same size as an HGUC box.

Comparing it with an MG Zaku II box, one of the compact ones.

Now here’s the real comparison, you can see now that the 00 Raiser box ends up being shorter than the PG Astray box.

The PG Astray box is also taller, but the 00 Raiser box is wider.

An English description, that actually makes sense.

Opening it up we find that the two boxes are seperated for the respective models.

For a total of 50 plus runners.

Which will lead to a lot of plastic bags to throw away.

The intruction manual is in full color, with the usual bits and pieces of info.

But the most interesting part is the full genealogy chart of the 0 Gundam

Quite amazing to see how they trace all the designs from the show, manga, variants, and so on.

So overall the PG 00 Raiser comes much more compact than expected, but there is still 50+ runners waiting to be snipped. Next up I’ll be starting the WiP from the Raiser itself.

Upcoming posts for December

OK, well here’s my plans for posting in December.  Now ust to to do it in a timely manner (and in December!)

Again, the mysterious MG, which is really nothing special.  Just got to take the pictures.

Some Extra Finish Vs Extra Finish Fun

Something that showed up that I totally forgot about…

And of course, what will end up happening first…

On an unrelated note, it’s Christmas time again, so that means going off to Disney but that’s the closest thing you’ll get to that “Christmas” feeling in Japan.  Sounds a bit jaded and sad, but somewhat true…  Anyways, one thing that was good it was always fun to take pictures, and I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of the DSLR.  Here’s some of the shots that I took.  Got a ways to go, but I’m working on it.

Candlelight Reflections

McDuck’s Store!

 Neat water shooting things

Tree at American Waterfront

Around the Venice themed area

 Usd a 5 second exposure on this shot

The big tree in the middleof the harbor

Yet more trees

 

HGUC Gunderm Ver. G30th + EX Gundam Trailer (Gundam Expo Full Color Finish Version)

Continuing on with the Extra Finish Version love this week, and my second look at an HGUC Gundam Ver. G30th kit this month. Next up is the Gundam Expo only limited kit HGUC Gundam Ver. G30th + EX Gundam Trailer Full Color Finish version. Now that is a mouthful. First off, let me just say, this is probably the best looking Extra Finish kit I’ve seen to date. The colors on both the Gundam and the trailer all come off really nice and burnished, and being mainly darker colors all around, gate sprue damage doesn’t stand out as much as it does on say the Zaku II or the Hyaku-shiki. This gives it more of an “adult look” for lack of a better term, than your regular version does.

As for the build, it’s another G30 kit, my third to date, so there is nothing new there. The trailer is also a quick build, but a perfect fit for the Gundam, and again the extra finish looks really nice on it. There’s not much else to say about this particular version other than that it looks fantastic. I would definitely consider it in an MG size if they released one and minimized on gate sprue damage. Unfortunately a bit pricy of a kit, but if you can track one down it’s well worth it and highly recommended due to the coloring.

As always, pictures speak louder than words, so please enjoy the gallery.

HGUC Zaku II (Char’s Use Extra Finish Version)

The Extra Finish Version of Char’s Zaku II was one of the limited kits that was sold at the Gundam Expo held in August, along with it’s bigger brother the MG version.  Well, it was only 2,000 yen, so I figured what the heck.  Overall, it’s a Zaku, so you all know what you’re getting, but this was my first time building it in the HGUC scale.  Overall impressions are well… it’s a Zaku!  What more can you say? 

Actually, there’s a quite a bit you can say.  The Zaku in the HG line is one of the oldest kits out there, so it obviously doesn’t stand up to it’s MG kit, or even some of the later HGUC kits that have come out which feature better design in hiding seams and gate sprue damage.  The HGUC kit is also further limited by having basically no waist movement, so don’t expect it to twist around to shoot something behind it, over even to the left or right of it so much.   Also, I actually had a few pieces that simply didn’t fit well, most notably on the lower right leg armor, where it simply leaves a slight, but noticable gap.  Other than that, the proportions of the monoeye and visor(?) area feels a little off to me, the eye is much bigger than you see in MG kits, so in that sense I find it a little disconcerting. 

Colorwise, the extra finish is beautiful, and fits my image of Char’s Zaku much better than the closer to pink rather than red coloring it always gets.  The downside?  Unfortunately, the extra finish as we’ve learned from kits such as the Hyaku-Shiki, is a double edged sword, meaning you’re going to have nice gate damage that isn’t the same color as the finish.  While the Hyaku-Shiki’s runners and build itself was designed to hide such damage or at least keep it to a minimum, the Zaku II kit here doesn’t get the same luxury.   The good thing is it’s a smaller kit, so perhaps it’s not so noticable from a distance, or from the angle you take the photo.  Still, this is one area that I’d like to see Bandai step up to the plate on.  If they’re going to go through the trouble of charging twice or more for the regular kit just to have the extra finish, then I’d like to see them go the extra mile and either redesign the runners with sprue gate damage in mind, or better yet, go to an all undergate solution.  When snipping off pieces, sanding and design knifes just don’t cut it since you’ll end up taking the finish off around the sprue area.  Still, overall the damage doesn’t detract from the kit that bad.

Wrapping up, the build only took about an hour to do, again the good thing about simple HGUC kits, coupled with the fact that you can’t do much sprue gate cleaning due to losing surrounding finish.  Also, I refrained from panel lining as I’ve noticed in the past that Gundam Panel Line markers seemed to “rub” off the finish when doing another kit.  So is it a kit to get?  If you like coloring and the finish, and don’t min some detracting gate damage on the lages and shoulder areas, then yes, just realize that it is still “Just Another Zaku” so there’s nothing new in that area.

As for the pictures, again, it’s a Zaku, so I really didn’t take a lot, but you’ll see it again in an upcoming post again the good old RX-78-2.

Front

Side

Back

Side again

Area where the damage stands out.

Still, the Zaku can juke with the best of them

What does he come across…?

To be continued…

The State of the Gunpla Union – 112409

So, it’s been a while, but quite a few things to catch up on. 

First off, November itself has flown by, that may be due to just a variety of things, from finally finishing up the Kshatriya, as well as some other HG kits that I’ll be posting about, to pretty much being engrossed by Modern Warfare 2.  Actually, consider it a miracle that I managed to finish other kits since MW2 dropped.  But also, November & December are full of hard to resist releases from both the gunpla and gaming industries, along with all the little things in between.  Let’s see, HG Unicorn (2 kits), MG Qubeley, PG 00 Raiser, Dengeki Hobby with Unicorn stand, Gundam Fair & Lucky draw @ 7-11 on the Gundam related side, and Bayonetta, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, FFXIII on the gaming side.  Throw in the wife’s birthday this month, and yet another planned trip to the Tokyo Disney Resort, and my wallet has thrown in the towel and decided to hibernate until next spring.   

Of course, I don’t mean that I got all of the above, I’ve actually passed on the HGUC Unicorn kits simply because there is really no rush, and well, MW2 will tide me over till FFXIII and then some.  But yes, budgeting has reared its ugly head and I’ve instead decided to catch up on the backlog and do some of the smaller kits until the PG 00 Raiser drops.  As for the rest of my backlog, I’m sizing it up now, and I might flip a few kits on Yahoo Auctions simply because I might not end up building some of them.  You could maybe say my fire is cooling off, not out, but definitely cooling off…  I’m pretty sure the wife is happy with that! I’d actually be happy to put a list up of what I’m considering selling from my backlog, but the only problem is that shipping abroad costs quite a bit of money, and unfortunately the strong yen makes it less advantageous to all of you, so call it guilt, but I’m not going to stoop to pimping regular kits on my blog.  

Anyways, the next posts are scheduled to go up once a day until Sunday or so which should cover 3 kits that I’ve built over the last couple of weeks.  One of the kits is an MG, which I had actually planned to do a WiP for, but unfortunately had a brain fart, as I formatted my memory card that had the pictures on it, thinking that I had already transferred them to my computer.  Needless to say I was pretty upset with myself.  I’m halfway through with the kit, so will end up doing just the final shots.  I will be much more careful on double-checking the pictures from now on though!  From next week I should have my 00 Raiser and will be doing my own WiP of that.  I’m actually planning on going in reverse for that, starting with the weapons, going to the Raiser, finishing up with 00 itself.  

Upcoming posts: 

HGUC Char’s Zaku II (Extra Finish Version) 

HGUC Gundam G30th + EX Trailer (Full Color Finish Version) 

HGUC Extra Finish Battle

MG ???????

Lastly, a quick photo dump of a couple of things.

First off, taken today, finally got to see my first complete PG 00 Raiser in the flesh (in the plastic) while I was out and *ahem* between meetings.

Also, in Akiba a few weeks ago I saw the completed Kshatriya that was done by Asobit’s Gundam Meister blogger (who is no longer with them it seems).  His metallic color was done via airbrush, and ended up being quite darker and more muted than mine. 

They also had a bad-ass diorama with a Unicorn.  I wonder if the Unicorn was a scratch build since the HG version still hadn’t been sent around at the time.  This is something I’d like to try posing with an HG Unicorn if I get one down the line. 

Lastly, non-Gundam, but as people may have seen at Ngee’s blog, they are pimping the Macross Frontier movie pretty heavily, as I saw today on the train.  Will be going to see it this weekend if I have the time.

 Anyways, there’s a of stuff out this month and next month that’s going to keep me occupied, but I’ll try and pass on the picture love all of you the best that I can.  What are you guys looking forward from the large amount of November/December releases?

Upcoming posts

Having let the Kshatriya WiP (final) post brew for a week, I’ll be updating over the next week with some kits I finished up over the last week.  In particular: