Thursday, August 25, 2011

MG Shin Musha Gundam Part 14

Even more bling-bling

Shiny stuff keeps coming out with the continuation on MG Shin Musha Gundam's assembly. ^^

Working on the weapon units and putting on the armors for the arms in this posting. I suppose I was more than eager to see the outcome of those components myself, I didn't bother taking pictures of the parts when I was assembling them, so I'll only be showing the completed components this time. ^^;


The "new" Gundam Hammer, an extra weapon for MG Shin Musha Gundam, completed courtesy of all those unused Gundam Hammer parts from MG Gundam RX-78-2 Ver. OYW. ^^


The chain is actually from a necklace I bought from a local souvenir store - just around RM4 if not mistaken.
I wanted something unique and genuinely metallic as the chain to get that special and somewhat exaggerated display for Shin Musha Gundam.


The overall length of chain references the "actual" one used by MG Gundam RX-78-2 Ver. OYW (about 38cm). Some "left overs" from the necklace I bought, separated using a pair of pliers can be seen on the right image. ^^


Shin Musha Gundam's musket "Tanegashima" (種子島)。
All the weapons' (English) names can be found on the box side introduction of the kit, so mentioning them in this review becomes tremendously easy. ^^



All the additional painted parts turned out pretty well. ^^


Katana "Nichirinmaru" (日輪丸)


Unfortunately, the spray painted parts made the Koiguchi (scabbard mouth) pretty tight when the sword is sheathed. ^^; So to avoid the paint from being rubbed off, I have to leave a little bit of gap between the Tsuba (guard) and Koiguchi when sheathing the sword.


An extra part to mount the entire sword.


Comparison with another famous katana from the world of Gundam: "Gerbera Straight" from 1/100 Astray Red Frame. ^^


It's pretty easy to spot who's the more flamboyant design between the two XD


Gerbera Straight seems to be the shinier one, due to its "flat" blade.
Nichirinmaru has a much clearer elevated Shinogi (ridge line), separating the sword's Shinogi-ji (flat section on the front) and Mune (back).


Gerbera Straight has a great looking Hamon (temper line); Nichirinmaru has a simple yet elegant overall shape. Both are very beautiful katanas that look great on their own. ^^


Gerbera Straight is the longer sword between the two. Its longer Tsuka (handle) and larger Kashira (pommel) are the main contributors to the added length. ^^


Separable components for naginata "Denkoumaru" (電光丸).


The completed naginata.


(Left) Like Nichirinmaru, Denkoumaru's elevated shape give the plated blade part a really nice shiny reflection. ^^
(Right) Overall length is 26cm.


Trident "Sankoumaru" (散光丸)


(Left) Shiny reflection on the blade part. ^^
(Right) Overall length is 27cm, making Sankoumaru the longest weapon for Shin Musha Gundam. Denkoumaru does have a longer blade part though.


A gathering of all the weapons for this kit.


Bling-bling-bling-bling... ... XD

Taking off my sunglasses (XD) to introduce the armored arms and shoulder armors:



The completed arms.
Without the gauntlets, they look very much like RX-78-2 Ver. Ka's arms actually.


Elbows' articulation is not affected by the new armors.
As individual components, not yet, I should add. ^^;


The fixed hydraulic pipe sets can still be seen when elbows are bent. ^^


The two segments of the forearm armor are easily detachable, so it's a little annoying to see them keep popping off when the arms are adjusted. ^^; Luckily the upper part is black, so the split isn't too noticeable.
It would be even more unnoticeable when the large gauntlets come on later.


The gauntlets.
A bit simple looking in front, ...


... but there's a whole bunch of interlocking red, white, gold and black parts on the back of the component. ^^


The red connectors from the armor parts that plug into the gauntlets' joint are painted black using normal marker to make them consistent with the joint's color.


both arms


The added armors doesn't obstruct the elbow joint, which is very good. ^^
Hajime Katoki-sensei's designs, which always combine appearance and practically win again. ^^


The front portion of the armor can be tilted downward for a limited degree.


The entire gauntlet can be lifted upward a little bit as well.



The shoulder armors.
The large golden pipes in front and behind the armors are definitely the highlight of this component. ^^


At this point, before the final assembly, the small painted pipes inside the armors can still be seen.



Made up of four interlocking ABS joint parts, the joint between the shoulder armor and the large plate armor have a wide range of articulation for the latter to move in all direction.




The large plate armors for the shoulders.
The largest component on this kit. ^^


All the connectors from the red armor parts that were painted gray before the final assembly blend well with the gray part. ^^


The curvy pipes that intertwine with each other to form to unique look on the plate armors are just so fun to put together. On top of that, everything fit just right. ^^
Very awesome design. ^^


Like the connectors behind the gauntlets, a small lug behind the plate armor is painted black to match the color on the shoulder armor joint.





Bend, slide and rotate however you like for the plate armors. ^^


The connector that is painted black doesn't look out of place now, when the armor is lifted high up like this. ^^

Tremendously fun build experience so far for MG Shin Musha Gundam. ^^ The shiny, fierce looking weapons, the twist and turn of the golden pipes on the plate armors are truly awesome designs that I enjoyed assembling, as well as looking at them when they were completed. ^^

Moving on to the legs and body next. ^^

1 comment:

Chris said...

"Hajime Katoki-sensei's designs, which always combine appearance and practically win again."

lol I can agree to a certain extent, but when talking about practicality, his design doesn't always win *cough*articulation*cough*Unicornver.Ka*ahem*.