Nekko Basara

Here's a look at Team SRSC's Gunpla. If you've built the HGUC Gundam Ez-8, then you know your way around it.

Forgive me for being dense (and not reading Japanese), but I haven't been able to figure this kit out. Does it include one "base" Ez8 and option parts to build any of the three variants used by the team? It seems like that would leave a ton of unused parts, particularly if you bought three kits to make the whole team.

Also, where does the Ez-ARMS kit fit in? It seems like that kit includes parts that are already included in the Ez-SR kit to begin with.

I did the exact same thing, but mine broke.

Is there any chance of gluing the wing frame in a fixed open or closed position, and just displaying it like that? Alternately, Bluefin does have a parts replacement service if it came from them.

That's just such a bummer. I had the tiny clear eye piece for my Aile Strike get away a few weeks ago and didn't find it for 36 hours. I was so annoyed and disheartened, so I maybe know a little of how you feel.

That gold looks magnificent!

Just finished up the RG GP01Fb, a nice upgrade to the original. Very poor mobility in the ankles, but it hardly matters - this thing was made to fly!

Haha, I think mama will be tagging along precisely until that scene happens. She's a woman on a MISSION!

Sorry if this is a repeat from a few pages back, but the age of majority (the age at which one is legally considered an adult) in Japan is 20. While it's 18 in many countries (including France), there's no "worldwide" law. International Law would be a much easier topic if, well, there were really such a thing as international law ;-)

Bottom line, though - there's no reason to believe Rinko is there, that was just me having a moment. Sorry!

I think I'm mixing myself up. I joked that in the Paris cutscene, Rinko might be travelling with Sei and China because they are (barely) underage... but she wasn't actually there, was she? Now I'm making head-canon without even realizing it!

Is that it? I thought Yuuma gave up Gunpla battle because he got whupped by that cloaked Gundam (which I guess belonged to the kid from Osaka that we just met?) Personally, I felt like his snooty attitude about modelling versus battling was just a front because he was scared.

Of course, I don't even know if the Ioris' store is still open. If Sei and Rinko are in Europe for tournaments, and Takeshi is still globe-trotting to fight Gunpla-crime, they might have shut the place down. I hope the series gives us an update on that.

Yeah, I agree with Marzan, they already covered a little bit of a civil war. Although that doesn't mean it won't continue in some form in the story arc. There has to be some story element to tie to protoculture. They always cover at least a little bit of new protoculture info in the stories.

I don't think Plus involved protoculture. It was just a short OVA series, though.

I felt a little bad that Yuuma wasn't shopping at the Ioris' store when he needed Gunpla supplies.

Oh, I agree that finding a habitable world is a big deal. I just wanted to clarity if "made history with mankind" was being used in the sense of "the first time this has ever happened," because that's demonstrably not the case.

Uh, so was the Vajra planet... else why call it "the Vajra planet"?

Hehe, beat me to it!

It's only been 8 years, Frontier has made history with mankind finding another Earth like planet.

I'm confused by this line - are you suggesting that this was the first time mankind had found an Earth-like planet? Or just that's rare enough to still be an historic event?

I'm thinking of Eden in MacPlus, Rax in M7, and Zola in Dynamite, to name a few habitable planets already known to humanity.

Just finished my customized Arios Gundam. I call it Build ZA Gundam inspired by Zeta Gundam.

Very sexy! The traditional Gundam colors look fresh and exciting on that shape.

So I built the Strike Freedom today and the only parts where you can see the underlying plastic of the frame parts are the elbow joints. Everything else is nicely covered by the armor panels. Other areas where you can see bare plastic after I spray painted the parts on the runners are the track of the lower knee joints and the ball joints on the shoulders. there are some other small parts like the hands that stem from cutting the parts off the runners but they are hardly noticeable.

You should probably go with the richer gold. The more silver color turned out ok and I will see what I can do with the brown lining pen to make the color warmer.

If you need some pictures I can post some if you want.

So there is your assembly report.

I really appreciate the update. I always like to look at pictures of pretty gunpla, but don't go out of your way if posting is a bother.

I have the RG Strike Freedom in-house to study now, but I may put a few kits ahead of it line so that I can fret some more about the gold. Just started the RG GP-01fb, and the RG Justice should also be here any day. And finally, I have this "dark horse" in the shape of Nobunaga's "The Fool" kit... gonna be a lot of painting with that one, I fear.

Damn! I wonder if that interfered with its transformation?

You know that ridge on the biceps has always bugged me. It seems like it was intended to extend too, but was completely forgotten (even by Katoki himself) to be implemented.

I know exactly what you mean. That spot doesn't open in any line art or animation that I've seen, but I certainly wouldn't mind if the PG did it anyways. Alternately, the upper arm could simply extend slightly without exposing any frame, and I don't think even the most obsessive line-art purist could call foul on that.

Yeah, even setting aside Katoki's aesthetic preferences, the mechanics of the Unicorn mean there is a lot more extension of the legs/feet than the arms when changing to Destroy mode, so a well-proportioned Unicorn-mode will always look very leggy after transformation. The only way around that which I can imagine would be to "cheat" with a concealed or off-model extension of the upper arms as well.

Having said that, I still feel that the MG proportions in both modes are a bit too leggy (displeasing to my eyes, if not strictly off-model), and I don't see much difference in this PG.

Seriously. Aside from a lack of decals, I'm not exactly sure how you guys expect it to be much different.

No, you're right, a Unicorn is a Unicorn, and I'm not sure what I expected. But a kit I bought from Japan recently even came with that promo poster we've been seeing, and that made it look soooo sexy. Maybe it's the lack of panel lining and decals that is making this image so bleh.

I did compare the new image to my MG Unicorn, and there are differences. The faceplate on the image looks less sunken, the cheek design appears different, and there are definite differences in the neck guard and how the head sits. So, maybe this is the real PG, but, man, they need to get a nicer example for the promo pics!

Eh, really? I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the only thing about that picture that makes me think *maybe* I'm not looking at a MG Unicorn is the odd reflection of the frame in the left thigh. It even appears to have the janky "all legs" proportions of the MG.

Hopefully just a placeholder image.

The smaller wings are a concession for the stealth attributes the USAF is super hard-on for. Bigger wings present a higher stealth profile, and there isn't much you can do with design to cut it, leaving only expensive stealthy materials to absorb radar, and even those will only do so much. The Navy is less concerned with high passive stealth and more concerned with a usable aircraft, so the 35C has big wings. The Air Force doesn't absolutely need the big wings, so they opted for the higher-stealth tiny-wing variant.

Hmm, I thought that with proper stealth shaping, the physical size of the object was not very important, because you had minimized its reflection in a given aspect (or aspects). It's like looking at a piece of paper - if it's exactly edged-on, you can barely see it, and it doesn't matter much if it's the size of a business card or a poster board (assuming hypothetical paper of the same thickness that doesn't warp). A stealth aircraft is shaped to be as close as possible to the reflective equivalent of that piece of paper in the "eyes" of a radar at the most likely angles of interception, and likewise to confine any necessarily reflective aspects to a few discrete angles. So, the size of the wings shouldn't matter very much to its stealth, unless we're talking specifically about those least-optimal scenarios.

Or... maybe I don't get this at all. Stealth is some pretty hazy stuff.

I found this fairly recent article which details the commonality in the F-35 family:

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/lightning-rod-f-35-fighter-family-capabilities-and-controversies-021922/

In particular, there is an excellent graphic about halfway down that shows the "unique," "cousin," and "common" assemblies. It appears that the wing skinning on each version is unique, but the internal structures are "cousins" between the A and B. The article also mentions that the A has the highest G rating, suggesting it might actually be the most maneuverable variant.

saw the PG Unicorn will have a P-bandai online exclusive. It will be the FAU

http://gundamguy.blogspot.com/2014/10/p-bandai-online-hobby-shop-exclusive-pg.html

That's actually sort of good news, in that it suggests the LED set will be a readily available, normal release. The speculation that the LEDs would be the exclusive had me scared.

I agree on the resemblance of the kids, but I guess it's just a call-out. 'Cuz Reiji in a suit does not compute!

If I can go back to Mr. Sprey's critique of the F-35, something else had been bothering me. He places a lot of emphasis on its (supposed) lack of maneuverability, and ties this directly to its small wings and high wing loading.

Now, I realize that this is a gross oversimplification of the aerodynamics that contribute to maneuverability (if that can even be generalized as a single attribute), but it's not completely invalid. There is a problem even with this argument, however: the F-35C. Because the naval version of the F-35 has considerably greater wing area as well as larger control surfaces, can we safely assume that it had a lower wing loading and correspondingly better performance in attributes like turn radius? And, if this were a true detriment to the "base" F-35 airframe, why wouldn't the Air Force version, the F-35A, use the larger wings?

Going further, what is behind the small wings, anyhow? Mr. Sprey indicates these are a concession to the VTOL design, and looking at the few existing VTOLs I'm inclined to believe that, but why? Surely speed in vertical flight is so low that the drag of larger wings in this direction can't be significant (plus they can serve to trap some air when the craft is low enough for ground effect). Is it mainly about weight?

The best I can figure is that the downsides of the large wings for ANY version of the F-35 would be drag in forward flight/reduced speed, increased weight, more low-level, high-speed turbulence, and (to a minor degree) cost. The benefits would be superior maneuverability (particularly low-speed handling and reduced stall/landing speed), greater range from both higher lift and increased fuel space, and maybe a slightly higher ceiling.

Does that sound right? And, if so, does it make sense that the F-35A is sharing the wing of the F-35B instead of the F-35C? I'd love to hear your thoughts.