As of this writing it is cold and snowy outside, so what better time to build a cold weather mecha.
I already said this is a simple kit that doesn’t have a ton of parts, but here is the proof, in case you still don’t believe me:
This may actually be the simplest High Grade I’ve ever built.
Here is a close-up shot of the beam saber that’s molded into the holding hand:
This is actually a clever solution to a long standing problem. Often times beam sabers and other melee weapons fit loosely in a given model’s hand (usually because they have no way of locking into the holding hand to stay in place). This is one way of eliminating the issue entirely. Of course, this only works because beam sabers are such simple melee weapons (there’s really only one way to hold them). There is one tradeoff, in that you cannot have the GM hold the weapon in its left hand, but in a basic kit like this, I don’t see that as a deal breaker.
Shading
I decided to try something out that I’ve been meaning to practice for a while now - using weathering compound to add shading.
This Youtube video shows you exactly how to do so. I’ve been hesitant to try this technique, out of fear that if I mess it up, the weathering compound will wind up in places I don’t want it to, and I won’t be able to remove it. My hope is that it’ll be okay as long as I have a light touch.
Feet
This was my first attempt at using the shading technique. All in all, I think it came out very well:
Those photos are a little too bright to see the shading on the white piece, but it is there in person, and it is just enough to highlight without overwhelming.
Fun fact - these two pieces here are exactly the same as the ones used on the GM Sniper II:
Here is a comparison shot to verify:
However, the rest of the parts are completely different. Notice how the ankle guard is connected directly to the foot of the GM Sniper, but not on the Cold Districts. Furthermore, notice how the Sniper’s foot contains a ball socket, while the Cold Districts foot contains a ball joint:
Still weirder is the fact that the ball joint is facing to the rear, rather than facing upward. This of course means that the ball socket on the leg faces in the opposite direction:
I’m not really sure if this is supposed to grant better articulation, or if it’s like this for some other technical reason.
Leg
The legs are extremely simple in design. Thankfully the shading gives them a bit more texture. It really helps highlight the curvature of the armor:
Here is the side view:
Originally, I painted that screw-shaped piece on the inside of the ankle guard in gold, but I switched it to silver so that it would match the rest of the detailing.
Side note - I like the cabling that peeks out in the back of the legs, as well as those little red decals directly below. While they’re admittedly hard to see from most angles, they add some much needed detail to the lower half of the body.
Head
This was actually the first thing I put together. Call me silly, but I was excited to assemble my first sort-of-traditional GM head (the head of the GM Sniper II is one of the most unique and unorthodox among GM’s, wht with its aiming visor and whatnot):
The kit comes with decals for the the little red sections, though I decided to paint them instead. Interestingly, it doesn’t include a green decal for the rear camera sensor, so I had to paint that as well. I think this is the first time I’ve had a model with no rear camera sticker (excepting the ones that don’t have a rear camera, like every single Zeon model).
It was tricky to mix the proper shades of red and green. I don’t think I got either of them quite right, but I figured they were close enough.
Gun
I made fun of the machine gun in my intro post, and for that I have to apologize. I implied that it wasn’t sufficiently powerful to stop the invading Zeon strike force, but I don’t think that was actually the problem.
In rewatching the intro of War in the Pocket, I was reminded of the split-second scene in which the bullets from the machine gun start eating through the wall:
I also unintentionally learned that the GM Cold Districts is playable in Gundam Battle Operation 2, where its machine gun is considered to pack quite a punch among early-game units.
So I guess the gun really wasn’t the problem. Maybe the Zeon sneak attack simply threw everyone off guard. Or maybe the pilots just sucked.
Whatever the case, I feel like I can finally appreciate this gun without guilt, as it looks very cool. It is like a Universal Century equivalent to the real life Sten gun from World Word II.
Construction is as simple as it gets - two pieces, plus a third piece for the clip - but there is lots of surface detail:
Here it is after all the painting and detailing:
That red bit below the barrel is the grenade launcher. I’ve seen different illustrations in which it is either red or grey, but I thought the red gave it a nice bit of color.
One thing I love about this gun is its size. It feels like just the right size relative to the GM itself. It is large, but it isn’t comedically large like, say, the Bugu’s gun. It looks like it packs a punch while still being nicely compact.
That’s it for the first batch of parts. Until next time.