mechaCENTRAL

If you are interested to know what is the best built DOM ever amongst the High Grade kits, then read on

Ladies and Gentlemen, please meet the MS-09R-2 a.k.a. Rick DOM II. Nothing really special can be said about the box the kit comes in. The original drawing was made by BEE-CRAFT (also known as Junichi AKUTSU) and all you can see is this:

But believe me — this model, once assembled, is far from a walking kettle with bazooka

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There is no point in repeating myself about this particular kit’s shortcomings as this is the exact copy of 2000 release with some additions and different colouring. By the way, the plastic was still quite fragile even though this kit was made 2 years after the other (or was it really?). Let us concentrate on what is unique about it now that you can actually see it:

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Here we go… Let’s have a look at these assembled but not painted MS-09F Doms. Coming first is the oldest one — released in 2000 — just to remind you :)). I do not know if plastic can age over time, but that is exactly the impression I got while putting both 2000 and 2002 versions together. I already mentioned that some kits’ dark blue molds are somehow more brittle than details of other colours, but in case of these Universal Century models everything seemed to be rather fragile… Go figure. Anyway, this is how its front and rear look like (to view the picture in more detail click on it):

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For those of you who are wondering whether I got my MCSE 2000 upgraded or not — well, there is one more MCSE 2003 on this planet since mid-April

Let me begin my review of various Doms available from BANDAI in 1/144 scale with this 2000/2002 version of UC High Grade MS-09F Domtropen kit, just because it is the oldest I was able to find Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry Everyone for being off-line for so long — I’m trying to catch up with my Microsoft Certification — the upgrade exams 70-292 and 70-296 are due to expire by the end of March 2008 and I am the last MCSE 2000 left on Earth who has not yet taken them So I spend all my time now preparing for these exams, hence the lack of new posts and new mecha being reviewed.

But… I have been secretly putting together all BANDAI’s High Grade versions of Dom I was able to get and soon you will see the review of not just one but five mobile suits! Read the rest of this entry »

Gundam Heads

I have a confession to make: I do not particularly like Gundam heads
Anything that does not look like a Gundam, warrants for more attention just because (IMHO) it requires a little bit more imagination to create it. That does not mean I do not like Gundams, quite contrary — they are usually better built than their opponents, it is just their heads…

Advanced Hazel

And that is why I am reviewing this amazing High Grade 1/144 scale kit from BANDAI (released in 2005)! Advanced Hazel got my attention the moment I saw the picture on the box, and I can assure you — this is the relatively rare case when the model itself looks better than its picture I’ll share my model’s pictures with you in my next post about this kit, for now there are couple of photos of the box itself:

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Well, as I’ve already mentioned, the number of parts is not so great, and the parts themselves are tiny, so a seasoned GUNPLA modeler will probably spend an hour and a half, two hours (maybe?) assembling this mecha. Look at what I got at the end of this lengthy process :

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Thanks to Raidensama, I was able to get this kit from the Gundam 00 Series before New Year.

Gundam 00 and the new mecha

The Union Flag is a “working horse” of AEU (Advanced European Union) military. While it may look like an ugly duckling to some (wait until you change it into fly mode ), I would argue that it is rather elegant comparing to the other mecha in the Series — an interesting break-out from the traditionally followed ways of creating mobile suits for the “bad guys”. Nothing fancy in terms of weaponry, although, its defense rod (a compact rotating shield) is an interesting idea if only it did not touch the shoulder wing…

I guess AEU’s engineers wanted to create a highly maneuverable mobile suit sacrificing to some extent its protection by reducing its weight, hence Union Flag’s slim silhouette — it represents much smaller target in any mode, be it flying or normal (”walking”) one.

What’s in the box?

The box it comes in is surprisingly small for a High Grade kit and more surprises await once you open it, so read on!

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Read my previous post about this kit here

The second part on the Blu Duel Gundam is going to be about the completed model and what it looks like BEFORE it is painted - who knows, may be this is the one kit you were waiting for — the one that does not need paint? Also I am going to share my thoughts on the overall quality of the model — it certainly has lots of “pros” and some “cons”, so read on!

Story

I realised that one thing needs a little bit more attention — it is the story behind this Gundam (here I am going to recap the information you can find at MAHQ).
A tragic tale of a stolen in C.E. 71 Gundam (Gosh! I’ve lost count of “stolen” Gundams already, don’t those story writers have anything more interesting to do than go through the same ideas every time?) that ended up destroyed during a battle with several Kerberos BuCUE Hounds (happened in C.E. 74):

Between these two events it was upgraded with the phase-shift armor. Interestingly enough, unlike the other mecha of the same line, the armor was integrated into its main body (although it is technically possible to remove it from the model). Read the rest of this entry »

Hi Everyone!

Finally I’ve got my hands on this 2006 release of BANDAI’s 1/144 High Grade kit of Blu Duel Gundam - one of the few new mecha introduced in Gundam SEED C.E.73 Stargazer mini-series.

My special thanks go to Morishita Naochika for the very nice illustration featured on the box. Guys, whoever knows this artist personally, please give him my “thumbs up”

BANDAI did a good job (as they continually do with HG kits) in terms of quality of details, although I found that the dark blue molding is made of somewhat brittle plastic - please be careful while cutting it.

The completed model will consist of

• 148 details on 7 runners, including polycaps (you won’t need all of them, because some parts are interchangeable - like palms and beam-sabers in on/off state)
• 20 foil stickers (should you choose to use them).

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