Nekko Basara

All I can say is that one of my intake pieces escaped the backpack while I was moving the Gundam by car (wrapped up and in a box). I found it, put it back in (didn't have any glue at the time), and when I got it home, it had departed again for parts unknown. Kinda bummed, but you really can't notice it unless you're looking down on the figure.

As far as the chest intakes, I agree - it's not the yellow bits that are loose so much as the white parts that hold them in. But, for me, when one comes out, the other goes with it.

Oh, also the side-to-side waist joint on mine has become loose, and it tends to tilt in the direction of that massive shield.

I want to love the GP01 because I dig the design so much, and they worked dark magic getting all those gimmicks into it. But I feel like its handle-ability is too compromised by all the intricacy to make it fun to play with. It is a badass display piece, though. Looking forward to seeing yours!

P.S. GP01 is still the subject of my favorite (own) Gundam photo:

I owe Sonico an apology. For a long time I thought she was a ripoff created by applying a bicycle pump to Luka Megurine, but I gather that she's actually the older character. My mistake!

Still not my type, though...

Only sometimes...

I started the GP01. Not much to say except that it's kind of irritating the way they direct you to build the intakes one way, then take them apart and flip them around to make the chest vents. I have no idea what Kawamori was thinking for the actual Gundam, and I don't care if it's not Core Fighter II accurate, but I'm leaving them in the chest vent position now.

The flip-able intakes are just not worth the trouble. Mine are loose in either position; I really ought to just glue them in the Gundam configuration - it's such a tiny detail anyhow. Also, not sure if you caught this, but I discovered the hard way that the other yellow intake parts, which end up on the Gundam's back, are also loose, and not for any reason in their case. I strongly suggest a little glue on those.

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Just need those chest vents, the accessories, and... I forget what else.

Oh, I don't dislike the knives on the Strike. They're sexy in a 1990s-style "tactical folder" kind of way. I just think having a pair of folding knives on a giant robot is goofy in the same way Labors carrying enormous revolvers and police batons is goofy. Goofy in the best way.

I approach most of the suits without any knowledge of the source material, so I'm often just going by what I like the look of. For a long time I had this crazy notion that Macross and Gundam were like matter and anti-matter, so as a fan of the former I completely avoided the latter (with the terrible exception of Wing - thanks Toonami!) I only cleared my head of that notion in the past couple of years, and I still haven't seen much. Original Movies (+Char's), WitP, 008th MS team, half of Stardust Memory (bailed), first two episodes of SEED (bailed), and Unicorn. Oh, and Builders Beginning / Build Fighters (crazy for those, go figure). That's it. I love some of it, but I have no great attachment to any suits except the GP01 (because Kawamori and the old toy I had) and the Ez8 (because I adored 08th MS team and I'm a real-life armor nut). So, yeah, most of what I choose to build just comes from what looks cool to me, and probably won't follow the same lines as a true fan. Likewise, the few modifications I make to the appearance might be blasphemous - I dunno.

Aile Strike is looking great! I'm trying to decide between doing that one or the Exia next; they both have a lean, flexible look that I dig (at least without the Striker pack). If you have any opinions one way or the other, I'd love to hear. Can't get over the goofy knives on the Aile - I was a knife maker and collector many moons ago!

I also have a (red) Zaku kicking around, but I haven't been too keen to build it, although yours looks great. I imagine the mold has so many head options so that they could make command and/or Char version with the same mold. Regarding the hoses, I was apprehensive about using their assembly method because I felt it would make cleaning the sprue marks difficult. Did that have you much trouble? Also, how much of a bummer is it that they don't give you an extra drum for the rifle?

One of my least favorite parts of Gunpla is finishing a cool MS and having a whole pile of accessories left to build, so I decided to take a break from the Mk. II itself, and get its gear ready.

Of course, without the completed MS to show off its weapons, a stand-in was needed.

Funny - you can actually see a Hiller flying platform (mockup?) at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA. http://www.hiller.org/flying-platform.shtml. You can even try out a sim of the controls but I was never able to "fly" it without crashing.

Cool!

Last summer I was thrilled to see one at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air & Space Museum; you can see their page for it here. They didn't have any simulator for it, but they did have several other weird vertical flight prototypes.

Grats and happy birthday, Hikuro!

Mike, although I am startled at the informality of the Zeon forces, I am awed by your fine decal work.

Do you suppose we three should spin off some sort of build thread or RG appreciation thread? I feel like we are monopolizing this one, but I don't know if anybody cares.

I believe the vanes you see inside the fan ducts are movable to provide stability/control. Also, if the experience of the Hiller flying platform is anything to go by, a lifting fan arrangement is self-stabilizing to a great (excessive?) degree.

EDIT: Actually, upon closer examination the vanes don't seem to have hinges, but the photo of the one doing a tethered test seems like it might show some control surfaces below the rear fan.

Progress! This thing really is simple for a Real Grade, but that is by no means bad.

New photos added to the album here.

It's not just the future, it's a blast from the past!

I don't really see the need for it on the RG kits, though. The armor already has enough seems and what not, and they have a realistic sort of "if I built a 15m tall robot war machine, it'd look like this" way. Drawing panel lines on an RG kit is sort of like adding a cartoon detail.

Of course, the thing that's great about Gunpla is that everyone can do it however they like! Paint it, don't paint it, draw panel lines, don't draw panel lines, build lots of MS in one scale or build your favorite MS in many different scales, be a fan of RG or be a fan of MG, Gunpla has options for everyone.

I think it can depend on the kit and on taste. I personally felt like the fine panel lines on the RG RX-78-2 had subtle look, but on the GP-01 they were much more pronounced and looked cartoonish.

I also completely agree with your thoughts on how to approach Gunpla. I get very sad when I see a builder disrespect others because they don't paint, don't do weathering, don't build such-and-such scale, etc.The point, to me, is that Gunpla is a game we play against ourselves, so we set our own rules and we define our own "winning" conditions, with the end result being the fun of accomplishing them. A nice straight build can be just as meaningful to the maker and as worthy of praise as the most elaborately modded kitbash. Personally, I came to Gunpla (not long ago) as an alternative to building scale military models, because I no longer have the time, space, or patience to mess with airbrushing and weathering and all that jazz. I just wanted the fun of putting a clean kit together, and it has provided that in spades.

I grabbed another couple of things to semi-answer this. Here is my HGUC RX-79(G) "Ez8" alongside an unpainted RG pilot figure and an old (fancifully painted) model of the Maus, the heaviest true tank to ever move under its own power. I picked the Maus not just for its size, but because it has a commander figure, who looks about in scale with the RG pilot - maybe a tad smaller.

The Maus weighed about 188 metric tons. The Ez8, fully loaded, weighs 71.7. So, my feeling on Luna Titanium is that if it's that light, what happens to a Gundam in a stiff breeze?

Just as a tangent, here is my RX-78-2 demonstrating how screwball size and mass are in the Gundam universe.
These two machines are in the same scale and, according to the Gundam wiki, weight roughly the same amount:

I think I'm just stupidly slow with these kits. And I don't even paint (except for detail parts like the verniers). At least half of my time is spent on panel lining, which I do before assembly (because panel lining a completed kit would just be do tedious that I'd never do it).

I dunno... I'm happy when I'm done, and I get my money's worth, I suppose, but it might be more fun to just get the kit together. The Freedom got to be such a chore by the end that I didn't touch another kit for about three months. To be fair, Kerbal Space Program may also be to blame for the hiatus.

Anyhow, I think the Skygrasper looks neat just for being something that isn't a MS. But I agree that it's overpriced, and I don't have the Aile yet. That goes on my "someday" list.

That is what I would call a solid 3+ months of OCD fuel.

Watcha gonna do first?

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I can't get over how cool the life-size figure's shoes are.

I assume you're asking because it's in the Mk-II's instructions?

Actually, I first encountered it in the GP-01 (which I now know does use the same frame sprue as the Mk-II), and the Freedom has a similar system.

Thanks very much for the translation! I was able to work out how to move/lock it from the pictures, but I was left puzzling over the purpose. "Spreading the moveable range of the legs" seems right to me.

My theory is that in the higher position, the mechanism places the legs more directly under the Gundam's center of gravity and keeps the hip joints well concealed under the skirt armor, but how far the hips rotate forward is limited by where the skirt armor attaches. By dropping the hip joint slightly, the legs can swing a bit further forward before hitting this limit, but the hip joints are slightly more exposed and off-center (I'm not sure if the way the hip joint shifts forward is intentional, or just a side-effect of how the mechanism works). But that's just a guess. I was hoping the instructions were more explicit - oh well!

At any rate, it's quite a hassle to operate once the suit is built, so I'm going to assume that the higher, more-centered position is the default and leave it alone.

By the way, what was that you mentioned about locking the waist swing? Do you think that refers to this mechanism, or is there something that limits the waist from swiveling side-to-side?

Question for the RG fans:

A lot of RG kits have a mechanism that lets you shift the pelvis joint (where the hips attach) slightly lower and further forward. I can't read the Japanese instructions, so... what is that for? Is it to enable slightly more natural kneeling poses? Which is the "normal" position?

Just got my first regular Nendoroid:

By coincidence, so did I:

Health Maintenace Organization Miku!

Wasn't expecting this so soon! Gaijin Gunpla review of Char's Z'Gok:

http://www.gaijin-gunpla.com/2014/07/rg-chars-zgok-review-87-1/

This isn't new or high-end, but prices on these Mylene crossover figures keep going down and down (and they're readily available in the US).

I picked one up, and I really love it for the price. I think the other figures in the line are fairly cheap, too.

Just wanted to mention it for anyone looking for a quick Mylene fix.

Dang, Nekko, I was hoping for an update on your Mk-II!

That's so nice! Not much to show so far, but I have started an album here.

This is a pleasantly simple RG, after the Freedom. Reminds me of the HGUC Ez-8 a little bit.