Here it is folks, the final product.
Overall Observations
I spent this entire build documenting mistakes and making observations on proportions, color separation, and other details. And yet when all is said and done, none of it matters any more.
After past builds I often had to convince myself that a mistake wasn’t visible. This time they truly are impossible to see (save for the damage on the rifle, but that’s ok). Furthermore while I made complaints before about the legs being too long, or there being too many colors, I can’t look at the finished Wing Zero and say to myself that it doesn’t look really freaking cool. There is something about the addition of the thrusters and weapons that give it a different edge and a different attitude.
Pros
- The kit is very sturdy from an “Is there a chance that I might cause a piece to snap and break?“” perspective. I’ve pulled the legs and arms from their sockets a few times, but those area easy to plug back in. The important thing is that everything moves, twists and bends exactly the way I expect them to, without too much (or too little) resistence.
- On a related note, nothing ever feels like it is going to pop off while attepting a pose. Most pieces feel like they are snugly locked into place.
- The model is well balanced. Even with those big thrusters on its back, the Wing Zero won’t topple when performing any sort of basic pose.
- All the joints are holding up very well. None of them are sagging under the weight of the model, even when holding the fairly large, fairly heavy Buster Rifle.
Cons
The fact that all the pieces fit snugly can also be a cause for concern. When trying to separate two pieces - the shield from the wrist, for instance, or when removing the model from the stand - I find myself fearful of the amount of pressure I end up applying, worrying that it will cause something to break. I’m glad for the stability, but I also need some sort of clue that I’m not doing it wrong.
I’ve seen multiple methods of attaching a weapon to a manipulator, but the Wing Zero’s takes the cake for being the weirdest. There’s a notch on the inside of the Buster Rifle’s grip, which then plugs into a small ridge of plastic on the inside of the palm. I’ve take a photo, as it is the best way I can think of to describe it. When you get it locked in it does a good job at keeping the gun in place, but getting to that point requires deft fingers.
- The shoulder armor can be positioned in a number of different ways, but this has a habit of causing it to sag occasionally.
- The stand that is included with the kit immediately showed its limitations. It can only plug into the back of the model, and it doesn’t allow you to angle it up or down. I took a few photos in which the Wing Zero is propped up on a Real Action Base, which made a huge difference.
Neo Bird Mode
My first transforming Gundam was the Real Grade Zeta, which I never got to transform after I broke its leg joint. I was hesitant to try a transformation with the Wing Zero, but after spending the afternoon photographing it, I felt confident enough in the build quality to give it a go.
The instructions for transforming the model are incredibly complicated looking. It isn’t easy to illustrate various motions in 3d space, but the book does its best job. You just have to look at it very closely and take it slow. I found that none of the parts demonstrated too much resistance, and all told it ended up being a fairly easy process.
The thing about the Neo Bird Mode is that it looks best from certain angles, namely any that are above the model. Once you start looking at the sides or the bottom, the illusion begins to break. The transformation does an OK job at hiding the head, but the arms and torso are just left out for all to see, and the legs don’t do quite as good a job as the Zeta Gundam’s at hiding their original purpose.
Still, from those top angles it does look kinda cool.
Other Observations
- A few of the pictures in my final photo gallery are not exactly final. As I was putting on the finishing touches, I discovered that I made a number of mistakes, which took me over thirty minutes to rectify. Most of them boiled down to putting pieces on updside down or out of alignment, though I also completely missed the piece that goes around the model’s neck.
- Now that I completed my first Master Grade, I don’t feel as if it was significantly more difficult than other builds. The most appreciable difference is that it feels as if there were ever so slightly more little details to keep track of, which explains all the mistakes I described in the previous bullet point.
- The curved beam saber blades don’t actually curve quite as much as I thought they would, and actually look fairly decent. I tried to slap in some red blades from a Real Grade kit, but they won’t plug into the handle.
Final Conclusion
I have a lot of gripes with this kit, but at the end of the day it is sturdy, and it looks better than it has any right to. It isn’t enough to make me a true believer in the Wing Zero as a concept - or in Gundam Wing in general - but I am now a believer in this design.
I’ve got a fairly large gallery of pictures here for you to check out. My next post is going to be a little surprise. Perhaps you could call it a little post OVA bonus feature …
