[50kUNICORN] HGUC Unicorn Gundam Unit 02 Banshee

I didn't think I'd make it this far! My motivation to work on Gunpla has been pretty weak this year with the Hobby Zaku II and the RX-78-2 Head Display being my only significant work, all in the early months of 2017. Nevetheless, here I am, at the end of ZakuAurelius' 50k Unicorn Contest with something to show! If you have the time, please stay awhile and listen (actually, you're going to need to read it. Maybe I'll read it out sometime).

Preamble

The year is 2015. Summer comes to a close and my brother is nearing the end of his time at home. We decide to finally break out the massive HGUC dual kit from Gundam Front Tokyo. I'll spare the details here, since you can read (a lot more) about it in the "Special Review" we did. The point is, as I am reviewing the "Strikes Odaiba" Banshee Norn, I had a thought -- can I make the novel version of the Banshee? Ever since I saw GoodGuyDan's 1/48 Banshee Head Ver. Ka Final Battle, I've always wanted to find a way to make this version of the Banshee (without breaking the bank on the actual kit). Since I had a Banshee with a green Psychoframe, I decided to try it out.

Modified "Strikes Odaiba" Banshee Norn

Unfotunately, the Banshee Norn does not include all the parts to make up the novel version -- it would require parts from the Strikes Odaiba FA Unicorn kit in order to complete the look. I reverted the kit back to the Banshee Norn and stopped thinking about it.
A year or so later, I started gaining interest in doing a custom job using a regular production Banshee. After doing some research (on dalong.net, of course), I come to find that the original HGUC Banshee (Destroy Mode) actually includes all the pieces I need to create what I am looking for. If I was too lazy, I could throw a pretty penny at the FA Unicorn for the green Psychoframe, or I could paint the existing gold for the look I wanted. I purchased the HGUC Banshee kit and threw it in the sea of backlogged projects.
That is until August 2017, when ZakuAurelius announced the contest. Rather than trying to think of a new project specifically for the contest, I took this opportunity to just get one of my backlogged projects done.

Background
I am currently in the middle of reading the translated novels on baka-tsuki (it's been a struggle to strain my eyes on a regular screen), but I am not at a point where I have enough knowledge to say anything about the Banshee and how the novel differs from the OVA. However, there are some key differences in the suit design that can be easily pointed out.

Scans from baka-tsuki (link above)

In the novel, the Banshee was simply a second Unicorn Gundam, colored black with a different V-fin. There was no gold collar, no Banshee Norn, no Armed Armor VN, BS, or DE. Simply a Black Unicorn with the Beam Magnum and standard shield.

Scans from baka-tsuki (link above)

The suit is the second Unicorn Gundam unit built along side the original. As it was stationed at the Augusta Research Lab on earth, the Banshee was optimized for atmospheric combat. Without spoiling too much of the story the suit is eventually assigned to Riddhe Marcenas, where, through a series of struggles with Banagher Links, awakens his (true) Newtype powers and turns the Banshee's psycho frame green (okay, that might be a little too simplistic).

Quick Review
Like all Destroy Mode variants, the build feels flimsy with certain parts that come off effortlessly, the ankles feel weak, and the neck joint is loose. Despite these issues, the main attraction is the stunning exposed psychoframe scattered throughout the kit. Unfortunately, the gold psychoframed Banshee is not clear like Unicorn's red and green frames -- this leaves the non-final battle version Banshees not very desirable in my eyes. It's a good thing I prefer the Unicorn Mode over Destroy Mode.
For more detailed opinions about Destroy Mode, please check out the "Strikes Odaiba" review!

"Mid-transformation" posted on Instagram

One aspect of the straight build I was happy to experience was mixing parts between a friend's Unicorn Mode with my Destroy Mode. Through this I was able to compare which parts were compatible, and which were not. A part of me was hoping most, if not all, outer armor pieces were the same -- the only difference would be the psycho frame, expanding the inner frame to "explode" the Unicorn Mode. Unfortunately, that was not the case (if that were the case, this kit would be some engineering genius). At least the joints used were all the same -- I ended up using the gray joints of the Unicorn mode instead of the gold polycaps included in Destroy Mode. That way, the joints would not be as distracting when the psycho frame was painted green.

Contest Build
Because this was a relatively straight forward paint job, with little customization, even in the paint job itself, I disassembled each part and painted pieces according to their color in plastic. The major exception was the gold psycho frame which would eventually be green. Other than the psycho frame, the other major colors were dark blue, gray, and black. Each of these were painted Tamiya's Dark Mica Blue, Tamiya Gunmetal, and Rustoleum Gloss Black (with a coat of Tamiya Clear Pearl) respectively. Both Gloss Black and Dark Mica Blue were sprayed on via spray cans and the Gunmetal was applied using a brush. For the green psycho frame, I attempted to spray Gloss Black, Silver with spray cans and eventually spray clear green with an air brush, but there were two issues: The spray cans leave quite a thick coat which was no good for psycho frame pieces that required a certain clearance for regular armor pieces to attach over. The other issue was the lack of air brush -- I was also unable to borrow a friend's air brush setup, so I ended up hand painting the clear green, leaving an even thicker coat of paint on these pieces.

After weeks of meticulously planning out the painting process, I scapped the plan and painted like I've done in the past.

I ended up ditching the spray silver and gloss black and opted for lightly priming followed by hand painted silver. This gave me more control over how much paint I was putting on these parts, giving me results closer to my desired results. I think I will need to purchase an airbrush soon -- in order to get the results I want, I'm going to need to upgrade my tools.
Once the pieces were painted to a satisfactory level, I re-assembled the parts, painted in certain extra details, applied decals, and moved on. Of all the details I struggled the most on was the gold detailing in the legs. Each leg has eight parts that are supposed to be detailed with gold foil stickers. On the "Strikes Odaiba" Banshee Norn, I painted all gold detailing with clear yellow backed with silver. This time, in order to save time, I used Tamiya's Gold Leaf to paint in these details. All red detailing also use Gold Leaf before the Tamiya Clear Red is added.

I was originally going to use silver for the piping, but I wanted something that would pop more as an accent color.

While the beginning of the build I treated the painting process with care, September (and October) ended up being some of the busiest days -- a majority of the paint job was done in the last two weeks, rushing the process. Fortunately, I was not met with any major muck-ups with the spray cans.

Photography
Normally I don't talk much about my photography -- I just shot with a Canon point and shoot with a few lamps and a light box made from cardboard and tracing paper (referencing an online tutorial). More recently, I upgraded to a DSLR (second hand Nikon D3100 with a 35mm f/1.8 prime lens). Shooting with it for a year, I am still learning a lot of the functions, tapping into the full potential this entry level DSLR has to offer.
One of those learning points I only recently came upon recently is shooting in RAW (and editing with Adobe Lightroom). Photos were pretty good while shooting in JPEG (the above photos), but the amount of control in post with RAW is ridiculous! I don't know how I've been able to allow myself to shoot with JPEG for over a year before switching. I'm not sure I could ever go back!

These past eight weeks (in between all the chaos and busy-ness of work and other responsibilities) has been a fun process, fumbling with paint, learning more about photography, and just diving head-first into two of my favorite hobbies. Now that this project is finished, I should probably go back and finish Persona 5 (definitely before Monster Hunter World releases...).

That's it from me. Thanks for reading this far (at least skipping through the pretty pictures). Until next time, may your cuts be clean and sandpaper rough! Best of luck in your next endeavor.

Custom: RX-78-2 Gundam Head Display Stand

Preamble

Hong Kong: a city of a past memory. It had been sixteen years since I visited the hometown of my parents. Back then, the United Kingdom had just turned Hong Kong over to China, most of my extended family still lived in the city, and my family would visit on average once every two years -- it was my playground. The last time in that fragrant harbor, Gundam was the last thing on my mind -- my flavor of obsession was Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! 

The view from Victoria Peak (not from the tourist balcony)

Though Hong Kong is still a familiar place, much has changed -- cousins growing up and moving away, the gradual disintegration of the Cantonese speaking community, and the inevitable gentrification as old buildings are destroyed for new ones. Even the popular hobby shops have changed! Many of the stores that used to sell scale models have shifted to the demand of airsoft guns and military gear. 

Searching from store to store, I had a hard time finding interesting hobby stores. The big stores chains sold kits I could now easily find in America (thanks to Bluefin and Amazon), and the more exclusive kits were priced too high. It wasn't until the latter half of my time in Hong Kong where something finally caught my eye.

While shopping for photography equipment in Sham Shui Po (深水埗), my uncle, who had known about my desire for Gunpla, showed me to a street in this area that sold nothing but toys. I found my hobby shops -- anything from holes in the wall with piles of kits to the ceiling to something a little more "class." But one thing was certain -- these places were down to sell a variety of kits regardless of origin. There was something...magical about this place.

"something...magical"

The kit I am showcasing in this article is one of the kits I picked up in Sham Shui Po. It is not a Bandai kit, nor is it necessarily a knock off. Nevertheless, Intellectual Property was stolen in the production of this kit. I would not normally purchase these kits, but for 50 HKD (about 6.50 USD), how could I refuse? I present to you the DX Hobby 1/48 RX-78-2 Head Display Stand. 

Out of Box Thoughts

Head Displays were, from what I can tell, originated in 2010 with the Dengeki Hobby bonus 1/48 scale Unicorn Head Display. Other head displays would pop up, like the Sinanju, Banshee, Build Burning, and G-Self (Zeta too?), but overall, it the collection of head display kits was pretty limited. A Chinese company (assumed) decided to play into the recent head displays and make their own based on the RX-78-2 Ver.Ka kit.

Like most head displays, very little color separation exists. These kits are typically produced in monochrome on one or two runners. I was happy to see this kit includes a clear runner for the stand mount and the eyes. It has potential for LED installation!

Unfortunately, like most knock-off kits, the quality of the mold was nowhere on the level of Bandai's kits. Gates were large, flashing was obvious, and pieces would be slightly misaligned. A lot of sanding and cutting was required. If I was anal about the sculpt, I probably would have applied putty to smooth out certain parts too. Overall quality, despite its knock-off status,  was okay -- nothing was outrageously frustrating.

My favorite part of the kit is the fact that the head camera was designed to be removable. This allows for easy LED placement to light up the eyes and the front and back head cameras. For my kit, the front piece of the head camera has a little bit of a clearance issue, but it helps keep the piece from slipping out too easily too.

The worst part of the kit is the beam saber mounting method. Ovals are provided for a friction fit with the ability for a custom position The problem is the underside is not covered, so if one were to view the back, the underside is exposed (refer to image later in the article). It might not be an issue from the front, but even from the side, this exposed underside is clear. The other issue with the Beam Sabers is the position. Typically, the beam sabers are positioned farther apart -- closer to the ends of the torso. It might look a little strange without the shoulders on this head display, but the current positions are not much better. If I wanted to spend more time customizing this head display, the beam saber positions would be the first issue I'd tackle.

...but I'm too lazy, so I immediately jumped into painting and detailing the head display. 

Custom Process

You got an idea of what the final product looks like in the title image, but here it is without the text from the front.

I started with the red portions of the head -- the face is separated between the red and white parts, making the paint job quite easy. Same with the crest with the rest of the V-fin. I used a spraycan of RustOleum Gloss Enamel to quickly paint the parts.

With the inside of the head and the vents, I hand-painted the locations using Tamiya Flat Black acrylic and Gundam Marker Real Touch gray for the panel lines. And with the yellow on the head vulcans, I used a spray can of Tamiya Polycarbonate paint (after masking off the rest of the head).

For the clear sections, I used Tamiya Clear Red acrylic and Mr. Color clear yellow, hand painting the parts. Decals were generic ones from Bandai's MG Unicorn wet application decals. Once the details were set, I top coated with a spray can of Mr. Hobby Top Coat a friend had passed on to me after seeing the problems I was having with Krylon Clear Acrylic.

For the torso, I started off by spraying the underside with RustOleum Flat Black Enamel. From there, I proceeded to spray the same Polycarbonate yellow on the top side. Once the yellow dried, I masked off the neck area to spray the rest a Tamiya French Blue, once again with a spray can. Details around the neck and on the upper "vents" (if you can call those bumps that) were done with Tamiya Gunmetal and Gundam Real Touch Markers. 

I wanted to also put some decal details on the chest, but the Unicorn did not have any generic labels like EFSF and quickly finding decals for RX-78-2 was either hard or costly. Looking through my limited selection of decals, I came across my recently procured sheet of gold decals, which I will eventually use on my Banshee Head Display. Because of the story of the Banshee, the suit has EFSF labels, whereas the Unicorn does not. This turns out to be a great situation -- I can experiment with the gold decals (see what the quality is) and I get a gold decal as an eye-catching detail on a blue background!

The decal was actually pretty tall -- the bottom half of the EFSF had "Earth Federation Space Force" spelled out. I cut the bottom half off for the initial use, but to not let that part go to waste, I found another use for it (as seen in the image below).

I thought the end result was pretty good, but this head display does not come without faults. As you can see on the image from the back (above), the yellow has quite a few blemishes. This was from the flat black sprayed on the underside -- I didn't bother cleaning up the top side before adding the yellow. I knew it would happen, but I disregarded anyway. There are additional blemishes that are harder to find, like tints of yellow and red on the head, and some spots on the yellow neck (closer to the base of the head. I tried my best to hide most of them, but for personal use, this is good enough. With the amount of projects in queue, I'd rather count this as a finished product rather than slaving away at perfection.

On display: HGUC REVIVE RX-78-2 Gundam

As for the actual use of this 1/48 scale bust, I have no intention of using it as a display base. Instead I plan on eventually implementing this piece onto a book end. I'm not sure when that will happen, but when it does, it'll be displayed proudly holding up my collection of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (and maybe Thunderbolt too).

That's it for now. This was supposed to be a quick weekend project as I waited for my brother to finish Persona 5, but I ended up working on the details well past his completion of the game. I think I'll go back to stealing hearts now. Until next time, may your cuts be clean!

[JAN17GroupBuild] Hobby Zaku (Thunderbolt Ver.)

Submission Album | Original Reddit Post

Kicking Off
At the beginning of 2017, /u/soximent takes the lead in organizing a group build on /r/gunpla. At the time I was in the middle of two projects -- both of which I had to put on hold for different reasons (I'm sure I'll get back to them soon). Since I had a Zaku II from the Big Gun kit (for yet another project), I decided it would be a good place to use what would have been an extra suit.

Concept
While snap building this kit on an impromptu Twitch stream, I thought about what I could aim for in this kit (partially aloud to the 2-5 person audience). Two ideas stood above the rest,

• Char's Zaku (Thunderbolt Ver.) -- since Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt is only based on the Universal Century, rather than part of the main canon, I started wondering what Char's Zaku would look like in Thunderbolt's version of the Universal Century. 
• To start, Char would pilot a regular Zaku II, as opposed to the High Mobility (or Psycho) Zaku.
• From there, the idea pretty much stopped at a recolor: Nothing really stuck out to me.
• Hobby Zaku -- What if the Thunderbolt series continues its story to UC 0093? What would a Hobby Hizack look like? I don't want to re-imagine Quess Paraya, but thinking about a civilian use Zaku in this alternative Universal Century would be interesting.

 

Needless to say, I chose the Hobby Zaku concept. I started thinking about General Aviation, trainer aircraft, and the like. Though I would try to stick with the color scheme of the Hobby Hizack, I also thought about what kind of twist I could put into the kit.
Let it be known that the reason had nothing to do with the fact that I would not have to work on any weapons.

Background: Hobby Hizack
The Hobby Hizack first appears in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Coutnerattack as a...well...hobby vehicle. By 0093, the Hizack had become an obsolete war machine, so it was stripped of its weapons and sold for civilian use.

In the movie, we can see Quess pilot the Hobby Hizack like an acrobat in front of many military brass, including Char himself. If only this spawned choreographed mobile suit demonstrations like the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels. That might be an idea for a future project (no! no! no! you have too many half-finished projects!).

The Build
Soon after the Twitch stream, I started thinking about how I should paint the kit -- what parts should be true to the Hobby Hizack, what parts would be left to my interpretation, and what parts would remain closer to "Thunderbolt Ver." Looking at the back of the Hobby Hizack, I noticed the backpack was colored generally blue. I decided to start there.

To keep the color scheme interesting, I did not follow the color scheme of the Hizack (which involves coloring the whole back blue with little to no color separation). Instead, I painted the parts involving the thrusters, among other details, Tamiya's Gunmetal. The Thrusters, instead of the gray/red look, I went for the Thunderbolt gold and red by spraying the inside with gloss red from RustOleum, and painting Mr. Color Gold on the exterior. After removing as much seam line as possible, I finished off by spraying the tank flat white and detailing the stem/connection point a combination of gold and gunmetal. Once the piece of generally dried, I thought the test was successful and proceeded to the rest of the kit.

One part I am proud of (and, as you will see, sad for) is the shoulder-mounted armor plate. The red and yellow stripe is not perfect (like most things on this build), but the way it turned out conceptually had me excited to finish the rest of the build. If I had more time on the kit, I probably would have tried to add a similar yellow and red stripe spanning length of the opposite leg.

After priming the piece, I painted a spot with Tamiya polycarbonate yellow. With the thin layer of yellow dried, I masked and sprayed the gloss red stripe then masked and sprayed the rest gloss blue.

Other than the shoulder, most of the painting went smoothly. Other than the calves and spiked shoulder, no glue was used to remove seam lines. Because of this painting involved spraying ro hand painting parts separately, making the job easier.
The major issue in this phase ended up being the arms. Because the parts are generally two half-shells, color separation involved masking. Not only are the seam lines highly visible, the paint job is well under par. Needless to say, I'm not proud of that work.

Thinking about the shoulder...

Like most Gunpla kits, the Zaku II (Thunderbolt Ver.) lacks the essential play option of hands. For a suit that will not be carrying any weapons, I wanted the open hand option. None were provided -- not even the open left hand for carrying a rifle stock was provided. To remedy the issue, I purchased the Jigen Knuckles (Round), shaved down the top until I could crudely fit the Zaku armor plate on top of the hands, and painted the piece white and gunmetal. Despite some flaws, I was pretty happy with the result.
Furthermore, most Zaku kits will include a pink sticker for the monoeye. It looks cheap, it is cheap. I hate it. To fix this, I used a set of lens stickers from CJ Hobby that a friend had given me. Backed with a silver sticker cut to size, I painted the surface of the sticker with a tiny bit of Tamiya clear red to get the final product.

Crunch Time! The Final Days
From straight build to the previous photo, I took a little over a week. It took me until maybe 2 days before the end of the month to figure out what I wanted to do with the shoulder. I liked the spikes, but it wasn't very "Hobby-Hizack-like." To compromise, I cut off the side spikes and left the top spike for the final result.

While I was letting the shoulder dry as best as possible, I took out some leftover decals and stickers from various kits and started adding some minor details to the kit. Unfortunately, some stickers are very obvious on gloss surfaces.

At this point, I was not completely satisfied, but I was finished -- time was up. January had come to a close.

Faults
With the build time frame set to one month (not to mention my sloppy craftsmanship), many mistakes were made. A lot of the detail work could have been tighter, some scratches and fingerprints in the paint could have been avoided, but the biggest faults of this build lie in two locations: the shoulder armor and the right foot.

The right foot had since been repainted, so the final photographs will not show the mistake. However, if you look at some of the WIP photos, you will notice a strange looking right foot with what looks like mustard (I'll let you find it). I wanted to add a little color separation to the foot to imitate the white/red recessed tip of the Hobby Hizack. Instead of white or red, I wanted to add a little more yellow to the kit, so I masked off the top part and sprayed the polycarbonate yellow, the same yellow used on the armor stripe. The blue reacted to this paint and started warping, causing the foot to look like it had stepped in a puddle of mustard instead of a yellow soled shoe. To remedy the foot, a day before the due date, I scraped off and sanded the piece and repainted it. If you look closely, the right foot does not have the same defining edge of the left foot. The gloss blue had glazed over any detail that used to exist.
As for the shoulder armor, the piece looked pretty satisfactory on the first try. However, I wanted to add a gloss top coat before adding a wetslide decal (the 'GG'). Unfortunately, despite weeks of letting the paint dry, the RustOleum gloss enamel lifted the gloss blue enamel right up. I should have foreseen this, but in a lapse of judgement, I ruined a perfectly OK paint job. Unfortunately, with time running out, I was not able to repair this issue and decided to put the decal on anyway. In certain photos, the shoulder does not look so bad, but in the right light, you can see the full extent of the damage.

Going Back
I considered going back and "completing" the suit by cleaning up some of the paint (re-doing the shoulder) and adding in some panel lining, but I decided to just keep the suit the way it was. It is a suit completed within a month, it was the suit that I submitted to r/gunpla. I'm sure there will be other group builds and custom projects I'll be working on soon enough.

Thanks for reading! Until next time, may your cuts be clean and sandpaper rough.

Quick Review: Gundam Local Type

Preamble
As my friend was on his way back from Hong Kong, he asked me if I wanted anything from that fragrant harbor. I told him I wanted nothing more than the local flavor of Gunpla. He, the Pokémon fan that he is, did not know where to begin. Fortunately, with a little street smarts from his cousin, my friend was able to pick up something...local.
Driving said friend from the airport, I immediately got my hands on this kit. If I put the kit together within that week, it would have been the fastest turnout for me from kit release day to assembled kit. Unfortunately, I got hung up on other responsibilities and ended up building nothing. At least I found the time now!

Background
Gundam Local Type comes from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin's Mobile Suit Discovery, a collection of mobile suits you probably haven't heard of. Similar to past Mobile Suit Variations, MSD serves to tell the expanded story of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin through mobile suits that would have existed in the same timeline. In the case of Local Type, it was the predecessor to multiple suits such as Aqua GM, Underwater Gundam, and Gundam Ground Type. Please refer to the flowchart below for exactly how they're related.

Source

Basically, Local Type is Ground Type before it was cool mass produced for the One Year War. At least that is what Sunrise/Bandai want us to believe in the new interpretation of the story.

Thoughts
As a fan of the Ground Type Gundam, there are aspects of this pseudo-predecessor I find interesting while also finding aspects I despise. If I were to choose between MSD and 08th MS Team mobile suit designs, I would, without a doubt fall back on the 1996 mobile suit designs. Obviously there is quite a bit of bias between growing up in the 90s and being a fan of the OVA. Nevertheless, the Local Type has its merits.

One of the biggest improvements from its 08th MS Team counterparts is the articulation. Though the HGUC kits were okay, they definitely had their limitations in poses and sturdiness. The Local Type has many of the issues engineered out specifically in the shoulders and the ankles. Unfortunately, the ankles are not perfect - the guards are molded into the legs. While Gound Type and all the GM variants typically have a hinged ankle guard, this design keeps the guards static with the rest of the leg. Maybe this is the largest non-issue, but for me, the ankles do not look right when they are always in the "up" position.

Size comparison to the HGUC REVIVE RX-78-2 Gundam

Aesthetically, I am quite happy with most of the design decisions. The white and blue with the hint of yellow reminds me of the Patlabor color scheme. The fact that this suit is considered the "Local Type" furthers the idea that these suits were used as domestic forces. All I need now are EFPD decals (Earth Federation Police Department?)
The overly white sections of the suit are broken up with line details and accent colors via stickers. These clear stickers, seem to be one of the defining features of this line of kits. Like Real Grades and Ver. Ka kits, HG The Origin will seem to always have a decal set to further enhance the kit. I personally do not like the idea of using these stickers, however, these clear stickers seem to do the job. I just wish Bandai either included water slide decals or sold them separately. It would be nice to have the option.

The accessories included with this kit are a re-imagined 100mm Machine Gun, a Federation Small Shield, and a pair of beam sabers. These two modern interpretations of the standard ground war equipment give a fresh look while maintaining their old roots. The beam sabers can be mounted directly on the arm or at the tip of the shield. Nothing too fantastic in those designs.

Overall, the suit is well made and looks great. I was, at first, slightly put off by the amount of white in the suit, but with the accents of gray via stickers, the suit looks a lot better. Basically, with a little work, this suit has the potential to be amazing.

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Housekeeping
Hey readers, it seems the common theme of this year has been apology after apology for delays. I guess the hobby life was never an easy one for a working man. I have not touched paints in months and so many of the kits I've been excited for simply do not get purchased. However, I have not given up on making time for this hobby! There are a few projects still on my mind and I will hopefully allot enough time to get to them before 2016 ends.
In the mean time, I finally made the photography upgrade I've needed since..well, since I started a decade ago. With a friend's upgrade to the Nikon D7100, I had the privilege to buy her slightly used predecessor, the Nikon D3100.

Left: Nikon D3100 Right: Canon Powershot SX150

In the photo set above, I tried to carry on the joke that the Local Type is the Gundam of hipsters. Reclaimed wood and lame filters aside, I attempted to shoot in natural light rather than the sterile setting of a light box. I hope to continue to experiment with this DSLR and see what interesting shots I can get with my Gunpla (along with whatever else I shoot). There's still a lot to learn about the Nikon so I hope to be able to share my progress as I continue both hobbies. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you here in the next one!

Quick Review: The Knight in Purple

    click here for the full album

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Before this upgrade, I thought the Gundam Kimaris was a terrible looking suit. But with the reveal of this high mobility version known as Kimaris Trooper, I hated it even more. That was until I watched the series again while at sea with my shipmates. If I remember correctly, this alternative to the Kimaris is revealed in Season 1 Episode 23, when Gaelio Bauduin of Gjallarhorn swoops in and attempts to save Carta Issue from certain death. This scene showed me that the Trooper version of this suit has some great ideas going for it.

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Whenever I build these Iron Blooded Orphan (IBO) kits, I always have to remind myself that these kits were designed to be super cheap. This allows me not to compare to the High Grade Thunderbolt Line or any of the Origin kits; the two lines of kits that are trying to break the barrier of High Grade, and Real Grade. That being said, this is one of my favorite High Grade Gundam IBO kits I have built so far.

Although I was fairly impressed with this kit, it is not perfect. The boosters on the backpack are not mounted very well in the vertical position, the waist core joint is not covered very well, which is typical of IBO kits, the weapons, like most high grade kits are made up of one to three pieces, and the weight distribution forces the kit to fall on its back all the time. Now, of all of these, I would say the worst of these is the weight distribution. This was so apparent that the kit includes a nice four piece clear stand to compensate.

Surprisingly, the part I thought would be the downfall of this kit actually gives it a unique charm that is not just a gimmick that replaces great engineering. I am talking about the shin guard boosters that make the suit look like a perpetually leaping, lance wielding, Centaur. This feature combined with the large back skirt make this suit one of the most unique suits in the show.

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This kit is a pretty solid build, and straight out of the box with nothing more than a pair of snippers and/or a hobby knife, this kit will look great on your shelf. The only thing it’s missing right out of the box is Carta’s Graze Ritter dying the arms of the Kimaris Trooper. I think I might have to get my hands on one of those.

On that note, thank you for making it this far down the page, and remember to either click here, or scroll back to the top of the page to find out more information as to how you can win in our 100kTY contest we are holding this month! There is less than two days left until we close the submission box, so don’t forget to submit your awesome works or just enter the giveaway!

Quick Review: G-Lucifer

Disclaimer: I got new lights for photography! Thanks to Morgenroete Munitions' project (unrelated to gunpla), I now have a pair of spare 2ft T5 fluorescent tube housings at my disposal. Though I welcome bright even lighting that is not fixed to the ceiling, I know the following photo set is quite washed out, I am still trying to figure out the best way to utilize these lights. Please bear with me!

Preamble
Over the summer, I wanted to participate in Bandai's 2016 Mid-Year Campaign with the chance to win the HGBF Neon Beargguy 3000. To enter, I followed the same procedure as I did with the 2016 New Year Campaign: Orchestrate a group purchase with friends using Model Grade. Though their free shipping parameters are harder to achieve, they are liberal on Campaign ticket distribution (unlike some companies).
Though our group of friends ended up with no Beargguy 3000 (or any other prizes), Model Grade had a 50% price cut on all Gundam G no Reconguista kits at the time. My purchase of the G-Lucifer and Space Backpack at half price made me feel like a winner.

Background
For an unpopular show, Tomino and gang spent quite a bit of time on some of the suit's backstories. The G-Lucifer is one of those suits. It is a peculiar suit from the G-IT Laboratory that is quickly comandeered by Manny and Noredo.

G-Lucifer's debut in episode 21 starring Noredo Nug

The Laboratory designed this suit specifically to wield the skirt funnels - massive detachable beam weapons that can be controlled remotely. It is quite a shame that this suit, along with many others introduced in the latter half of Gundam G no Reconguista, will probably never see any more action.

Thoughts
Starting the build, the first amazing design choice is the head: the mono-eye is a separate piece of plastic instead of a pink sticker! I know of few HG kits (probably none) that would have this. For that small piece of pink plastic, this kit is already looks promising!

The same kind of color separation is seen in the chest and legs with bits of colors showing through the outer plastic. With the exception of the skirt funnels, I am quite pleased with the amount of color separation throughout the kit.

On top of the color separation, this suit is considered one of the few suits with a feminine body shape. I do not know how I feel about the current pool of feminine mobile suits, but this one is definitely catches my eye over many of the previous suits, especially with the skirt funnels.

Because the suit's focus is those skirt funnels, the kit does not include conventional weapons, which may be a problem for some. For me, however, I could care less for G Reco rifles: they're generally generic and altogether lame. Instead, the kit includes some large effects parts and stands.

Despite not having a conventional rifle, the G-Lucifer still has beam sabers. The interesting part about these sabers are how they're held - on the left hip. Unfortunately, because of their awkward position, they also happen to be pretty loose.

A major flaw in G-Lucifer's design resides with the arms. Despite having a slot in the shoulder that may suggest a high range of motion, the plastic of the upper arm restricts movement of the shoulder joints by a significant amount. Pair up with the fact that the joining joint to the torso is loose, the arms tend to fall off while attempting to pose the suit - it's range of motion is pretty bad.
The other issue I found was the feet. Because they are designed to fold up, they do not hold up the rest of the suit as easily as conventional suits do. It is a minor issue since the kit includes a stand for the suit, but it is something that may cause concern for someone looking to display the G-Lucifer standing.

On the contrary, the skirt funnels can serve as a crutch.

Despite having some flaws, the suit can look stunning right out of the box (especially with the included stands). Personally I was hesitant to purchase any more kits from the HG G no Reconguista line because of how poorly designed the G-Self was. However, the G-Lucifer seems to be a better design all around, and for that I am happy to say I would suggest this kit to anyone looking for a unique design.