Big thanks to Forbidden Planet for selling me this kit. In the time since I last talked about this specific purchase, no, these articles still aren't sponsored.
Aaaaaaand back to Seed Destiny. Yeah, it's been a good few posts since our last foray into the Cosmic Era. Say whatever you will about Seed Destiny (believe me, plenty of people have), but the striking suit designs seem pretty up to speed, which serves my purposes very nicely!
I like how solid the dark metallic grey parts feel in the hand. And as expected for a Master Grade, there's thankfully more than one shade of salmon in the armour parts to give it some variety. Hell, if it wasn't for the box art, I'd say these salmon pinks were actually pretty close to the RG Sazabi's reds.
Body Unit
Not sure how the little figure of Athrun is supposed to be secured in the pilot's seat, but hey, we'll deal with that as long as I'm gentle with the body unit itself until the cockpit hatch is attached.
The first piece of salmon armour is a little awkward to fit, but pushing in the body from above with the armour on the table seemed to work fine. Good thing too, I was worried I hadn't pushed the two halves of the interior together correctly, since they didn't seem to be fitting together completely.
It's cool the way they handle the cockpit opening by having it look like it slides forward, but using a hinge on the underside.
Head Unit
Not sure how both the face and the polycap are supposed to fit in the same part, seeing how the latter doesn't fit flush, causing the face to look angled somewhat. We'll see what happens when the rest of the head comes together. Not gonna lie, though - those blue camera stickers don't look good when they aren't reflective like the eyes are.
Ok, never mind, we're good.
That worked out fine. Apart from the confusion surrounding the polycap and the fact that I almost forgot the white parts and ended up wondering why there was a weird gap below the clear part, but we got there in the end.
Arm Unit
Another set of articulated hands to assemble (goody), but thankfully the middle, ring and little fingers are all one part, so it's so much less tricky this time round.
Fitting the arms on with the shoulders was really awkward. In fact, I'm not even sure if the shoulders are supposed to be on in a completely tight manner.
But anyway, now to see how tall this feller can get.
Leg Unit
Ooh, working pistons on the foot! Very MG Barbatos-esque!
One more step before we can put the basics together...
Waist Unit
For some reason, the holstered sabers are included in this section, and not in the Weapons section. Uh-huh.
And now for the real star attraction.
Back Pack
God, I made an egregious mistake - see in the picture above the grey part sticking out in front? Yeah, that (and the one on the other side) actually face backwards rather than sticking out the front. The stupid thing is that the manual isn't unclear about that, so I don't even have much of an excuse.
There's a pair of silver parts that slide forward and backwards on the inside, visible through two of the slits in the top. The fact that they have to sit loosely was a little obnoxious.
I'm looking forward to when my A5 cutting mat arrives, so I can easily get the dry transfers attached from my desk, but even as it is, I'm quite impressed by this kit. But we've got a little more to do.
Weapons
And now at this point while writing the build diary is when I start waiting for a few days until the aforementioned cutting board arrives so I can get those decals attached. Over to you, me-in-a-few-days-time!
A few aforementioned days later...
Thanks, past me. The cutting mat arrived a day before the estimated date, so I get to start the decal work sooner than expected!
And I suppose there's some transparent stickers in there as well.
If you're wondering how I did the one on the segmented leg armour (since the armour is one of those typical of Master Grades that moves with the leg articulation), what I did was stick it down at the angle I wanted, then ran down the armour seam with my craft knife, making sure not to wrinkle the decal.
All in all, this was a kit that I really grew to like as I built it. Believe me, the salmon pink colour scheme looks so much better out of the box than it does on the front of the box or in static shots. At first, I was kind of hesitant about this one (hoping that I'd get my hands on the Master Grade Providence Gundam), but I'm still glad I have this one. What can I say? I have a soft spot for Gundams with prominent wings.
Stay safe and keep clipping, folks!
The Good
+ Fun mechanical details like the moving armour plates
+ Griffon Beam Blades are a nice gimmick
+ Dry transfers look nice
The Bad
- Salmon pink colour scheme isn't for everyone
- Maybe a tiny bit back-heavy?
Comments
Post a Comment