By Loran
Okay, technically speaking, I’m still not done with this kit, so this won’t count as a full-blown review. What do you expect, I’ve never done a Master Grade this way before! All I really have left are the two sets of spare energy canisters for the Buster Rifle to complete. If I may go off on a bit of a tangent here, I love the idea of extra rounds for the Wing Gundam’s Buster Rifle. It always bugged me that it only had three rounds and that was it in the TV show. It’s not like it fired it very often, but still.
On the topic of the Buster Rifle, holy crap this thing is huge, bigger than the one on the regular Wing and maybe even bigger than Wing Zero’s. Unfortunately, that can work against it. Back when this kit was made, slots in the hands for weapons weren’t standard, so there’s nothing really holding the gun in place. You just have to get lucky with the fingers.
The canisters inside the gun were a pain to make, too, because there’s nothing you can really rest them on while painting. Also, because they’re cylinders, sanding them can be very tedious. It’s hard to get a good grip on them. And to make things worse, I get to make six more. Greeeaaaat.
I’ve come to notice that I really need to clean up the paint on this thing. It’s one of the problems I have with having to use my bedroom to build kits in the fall/winter months instead of my basement. The lighting isn’t very good, so paint can come out sort of splotchy without me noticing until I put it under better light.
Thanks to the transformation, the feet get some pretty nice joints that really help it with the “episode title” pose. However, all the joints there can kinda get mashed together just because of how many there are.
The Wings hold up pretty well, thanks to ABS friction joints. I’m worried they’ll get floppy over time, but the way they are right now, they can actually stay in a position.
One thing I was really worried about was the shield. I don’t like it when shields use wrap-around friction connections, namely when I’m actually painting the kit. However, it actually works pretty well here and hasn’t scratched any paint (yet), although I still do need to add some topcoat.
I’m not sure how I feel about the shield’s design, though. I always liked the look of the original, how it could double as the cockpit of a fighter for bird mode. I also liked how the beam saber stored away. Here it just feels like any other beam saber storage system. This is probably one of my least favorite parts of the design.
Once I have everything completed, I’ll cover the Bird Mode.
So far, I’m enjoying this kit, but I won’t be giving all of my final thoughts until I have everything done, panel lined and the decals applied. Once the extra canisters are done, I’ll probably let it sit before I get decals, then start on Epyon. I’m rambling. Remember to come for FPNYC for your Master Grade needs~!
