Gunpla Chronicles - The 17th MS Build - Weapons

Let’s get this build started! Here are all the runners:

We have ten runners total, though some are extremely small. It will, as always, be interesting to see how this relatively small pile of pieces becomes a full fledged model kit.

Let us begin the build with the weapons and accessories. The Gundam Ground Type has a lot of them, so we have a lot of (pun intended) ground to cover here.

Machine Gun

This is a standard Gundam machine gun with a grip and a swing out stock.

I feel like I have built this exact kind many times over. This is usually the kind of weapon I use to take a few pictures, then put away in a box forever. However, the Gundam Ground Type makes frequent use of the machine gun throughout The 08th MS Team OVA. In fact, the show may make the best (only?) case for this style of machine gun being an effective mobile suit weapon. The animators did a great job of portraying the ordinance coming out of the gun as being more than capable of shredding Zeon mobile suits to pieces.

I made the mistake of painting the gun, then trying to panel line on the dry paint using my brand new panel-lining pen. It ended up getting clogged up with paint and stopped working, and in my attempts to fix it I ended up ruining it. I had to switch to my old pen (which I kept as a backup) for the remainder of the build. It worked fine, but the tip was a bit misshapen, making it harder to fill in some of the smaller lines. Anyway, this is not the first time I screwed up a marking pen like this, and I do not know what it will take for me to stop doing it.

Anyway, since the pen was not working, I switched to panel lining this gun with paint and a fine tipped brush. This is always harder than I tell myself it will be, and sure enough the paint spilled out of the panels and onto the rest of the gun, staining it and messing up the color. I had to repaint the whole thing, and then panel lined only a few choice spots. As a result of applying too many coats, the paint looks a bit crusty and thick. From a distance it seems fine, and I am sure most people will not be able to tell, but I will.

Moving on, let us do our first comparison to the EZ-8:

As expected, they look very similar, though they are not identical. The trigger in particular is entirely different, meaning this cannot possibly be from the same mold. Interesting …

Beam Rifle

Here is the Beam Rifle … sorta.

That hand grip piece in the middle is a replacement part, as I some how lost the original part that goes there. Eventually I ended up breaking the replacement too, so here it is after that:

And here it is as compared to the EZ-8’s:

Now you can see what the original part is supposed to look like. Honestly, I don’t mind the fact that it is gone. In fact I like it better that way. I’m not sure what that piece is supposed to be - I do not think it is an energy pack (that, I believe, is right behind it), and it is too oddly shaped to be a grip. All I do know is that without it, the Beam Rifle looks a lot more like a true long rifle.

Secondly, these weapons once again look extremely similar, but are not identical. The EZ8’s rifle has a beg in the grip to help it hold on, which is missing on the Ground Type. On top of that, the body is slightly different in proportion, and the muzzle has a different shape.

Shield

How about the shields?

Quite a bit different. The EZ-8’s has an extra layer of armor plating, while the Ground Type looks to have a slightly taller handle. Seeing them side by side is quite revealing. It very much looks as if they literally took a piece of metal and welded it on top of EZ-8’s original shield.

You may notice that the “08” on the Ground Type shield is a bit chipped. That was not intentional, but looking at it now, I kinda like it. It certainly fits the “beaten and weathered” look I was aiming for.

Another difference between these shields is that the Ground Type’s shield can be propped up on a bipod:

My only guess here is that perhaps they hadn’t come up with the tech for this when the EZ-8 kit was released?

Backpack

Technically the Ground Type does not have a backpack so much as a frame that can hold a backpack (or other accessories). Regardless, the fact is that this “frame” connects directly to the back - and has rocket boosters strapped to it - so for the sake of consistency let’s just call it a backpack.

There are two sets of clamps at the top and bottom of the piece that can fold out and extend, in order to hold onto whatever accessory you attach. For some reason the bottom clamps sometimes refuse to move. I have to be extremely careful with them for fear that I might break something. I have not a clue as to what is introducing this resistance, since it only occurs intermittently. Sometimes the clamps instead move around smoothly and easily.

Time for another comparison shot:

Each one has some detailing that the other one lacks. Curious …

180mm cannon

We cannot make any comparisons here, since this weapon is exclusive to the Ground Type. This stupid gun has been a Holy Grail for me. I once bought an accessory pack containing the Smooth Bore Gun from Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans just so that I could pretend it was a 180mm cannon, as if I was a child pretending one toy was instead the one I actually wanted. Yeah, I am kinda obsessed with this thing. This is the weapon that defines the Gundam Ground Type. Back in the day, before shows like Gundam Thunderbolt and Gundam Unicorn started introducing excessively large weapons, this 180 cannon was one of the biggest portable boomsticks equipped on any mobile suit. In my mind it made the Ground Type that much more of a threat on the battlefield. Anyway, here it is.

Now I finally have it, and it is quite an impressive piece of kit.

There is some nice detail across the length of the gun. The ammo clip can pop out, and there is a flip out grip on the other side.

The other cool feature of this cannon is that it comes apart in order to fit into the Ground Type’s weapon rack.

I always get a little bit nervous taking it apart, as some of the components only detach after applying a good deal of force. It makes me fear that I may break something.

Painting this gun was fairly easy. I painted the entire cannon black, and to mimic the artwork on the front of the box, I painted the tip of the barrel a slightly bluish color on the outside, and orange on the inside, to make it look like it is hot from a recently fired shell.

Weapon Rack

Surprisingly, this was the hardest part of the build. The parts that make up the weapon Rack fit together extremely tightly. You have to assemble the pieces in a very specific and exacting order, otherwise it will not come together. Specifically, you have to connect the two hinged doors to one of the sidewall pieces, then attach the other sidewall. The fact that everything fits so tightly also meant that it took a great deal of pressure to get all the parts to snap in place. It constantly felt like something was going to break (actually, I did break a tab that fits the sidewall into the back wall, but this was a case in which it fit so flat and flush that super glue fixed it perfectly. No one will be the wiser).

When all is said and done, it looks pretty cool. The door hinges have a lot of friction to them, so they do not flap around loosely. There is also a lot of detail inside that you can panel line should you so choose.

When I first bought this kit, I assumed that the pack could hold all the Ground Type’s weaponry. This is not actually true. It can fit the disassembled 180mm cannon, and that is it. At first, this disappointed me, but after building it I understand how impossible it would be to get everything in there. As big as the pack is, the cannon parts are also quite large. In fact, now I consider it a miracle that the cannon fits! Quite a little wonder of engineering we have here.

Weathering

As you can hopefully tell from the photos, I tried to add a lot of weathering effects to some of these parts. I once saw someone on reddit joke that this is the best kit to try to practice weathering on. The Ground Type is supposed to look bruised, beaten and dirty; no matter what you do, no one can say it looks wrong.

That being said, it was easier said than done. It is not easy to make all the scratches look “natural” and unpredictable. There are a lot of spots that I wish I could go back and redo. I also feel like they could use some more dirt and grime, in addition to paint chips and head scoring.

Comparison to EZ-8

I am absolutely shocked by this, but none of the accessories between these two kits are identical. Every single one of them has at least one tiny, minor difference. I feel like this is the one time where Bandai could have gotten away with reusing the old molds without bothering anyone. Why go through all the extra work? My guess is that the molds were made for other kits (like the GM Ground Type that was released just before it).

Conclusion

That is it for weapons and accessories. I did not photograph the beam sabers, since they are the same as usual. All told, the Ground Type has quite the arsenal, as it should. Next up, we look at the body parts.