Gundam F91 Model Kits

Gunpla Build - Master Grade Gundam F91 (Intro Part 1) 2022-06-19

Okay, let’s do a deep(er) dive on the F91 and give this mobile suit the respect it deserves.

The Rise of SNRI

We can’t talk about the F91 without talking about the people who made it. The Strategic Naval Research Institute (AKA SNRI) was formed in the UC 0093, and was an attempt at revitalizing the Earth Federation’s then-stagnant Research & Development efforts. They did so by consolidating their multiple research labs into a single, focused entity, and then giving them a certain degree of autonomy (and a whole lot more money).

I’ve seen a number of explanations for why SNRI was created. The most common and plausible reason is that the Federation realized the mistake they made in giving Anaheim Electronics a near monopoly on mobile suit technology. Anaheim could (and did) build mecha for anyone who paid them, including the enemies of the Federation. It’s kind of hard to have a technological edge on your opponent when the latest and greatest tech is being sold to both of you at the same time.

Gunpla Build - Master Grade Gundam F91 2022-06-18

I recently hinted at my desire to build the Master Grade Gundam F91.

As I said then, I don’t really think the F91 works at the 1/144th scale. I, mean, technically it does work - it has all its weapons, gimmicks, etc. The problem is that at that size, it is much too fragile, and certain details are almost impossible to paint.

Also, I’m 99% sure the designers had to screw with the shape of the body to get some of the gimmicks to work, so it also doesn’t quite look right.

But what about a Master Grade version? My hunch is at that size, and with that level of detail, Bandai should have no trouble capturing the F91 in all its glory. Granted, it’s still not going to be huge, being a miniature mobile suit and all, but it should be big enough to get the job done.

As luck would have it, the 2.0 Master Grade kit was recently in stock online. And for reasons I won’t go into, I was told to buy myself my own Father’s Day gift.

Happy Father’s Day to me 😁:

Gunpla Chronicles - Revival 2 2019-03-29

You might be wondering why I have three model kit posts in a row. Normally this might be because I had the posts queued up for months, and just happened to publish them all during the course of a week. This time, however, I actually built all three in the span of a week. The family was out of town, and I missed them so much that I needed something to keep my mind off them. For seven nights (and two weekend days) in a row, all I did was sit in the basement and sling plastic and paint. It was intense, stressful, and yet still extremely fun. I doubt I will do anything like this again any time soon, but I have no regrets.

For our second Gundam kit, I saved the best for last, with the Gundam F91 (from the film of the same name). While the movie itself is extremely mixed in quality, the mobile suit is nothing but aces. I thought it was cool before seeing the film, but after watching it the F91 rose to the tippy top, becoming one of my favorite Gundam designs of all time.