First off, let’s begin with a picture of the runners. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a pile of parts quite this large:
I’m pretty sure this has quite a few more pieces than even the Real Grade Tallgeese. I’ve seen people online joke about how Real Grades are becoming “mini Master Grades”, and they weren’t kidding.
Anyway, let’s start off on the right foot and build the weapons.
Shield
First, the parts, just in case you’re curious:
Visually, the shield definitely looks like it’s related to the Wing Zero’s, and as it turns out, they’re also assembled in a similar manner:
Each one is made out of a top and bottom half joined together. In the case of the Wing Zero, it’s so that the tip of the shield can extend out. In the case of the Wing Gundam, it’s so that the shield can split across the middle to reveal the beam saber:
This is a very cool gimmick, but be warned that it’s a tight fit. You have to push the beam saber in all the way when storing it, and the shield only opens up so far when trying to get it out (my advice, if you have large fingers, is to use some sort of tool to pull it out. I’m not sure what will happen to the hinge if you try and push it beyond its normal range).
Furthermore, you kind of have to push up and in in order to close the shield all the way back up, otherwise the bottom half will start to sag and dangle.
Let’s get back to the visual design. Here it is next to Wing Zero’s shield:
And here it is compared to the shield of the Master Grade Wing Proto Zero, which I think it looks even more similar to:
Yet despite the similarities, I think the Wing Gundam shield looks the best among the three. For one, it actually looks like a shield, rather than a plane fuselage in disguise. For another, the colors are much nicer and cleaner looking. You have two neutral colors (white and grey), a whole bunch of bright, cherry red, with a hint of green down at the bottom (which just so happens to be the perfect compliment to the red). On the Wing Zero shields, the big yellow sections just throw the whole color palette off.
Beam Saber
You can see it in the pile of parts above. It looks more like a Star Wars lightsaber than almost ever single beam saber I’ve come across, and I am A-okay with that.
Buster Rifle
I hate to say it, but this is the first time I ever noticed that the Buster Rifle is equipped with these super cool energy canisters:
In my defense, the Real Grade version of the gun does a much better job at making them stand out, making them a darker color and giving them some shiny decals.
Anyway, let’s start from the top. The build was, on a whole, easy and breezy. I mean, you can pretty much figure out how it assembles just by looking at the pieces:
In fact, arguably the most difficult part of the build was applying those decals onto the canisters. You see, each can attaches to the gun via a “lock and key”-shaped connection. That means they only go on one way:
If you want the decals to face outward like they’re supposed to, your best bet is to apply them (at least partially) while the canister is set in place:
Once that’s taken care of, the rest comes together without issue. There aren’t too many decals, nor is there much need for extra detailing. The craziest thing I did was paint the darker grey parts with a clear gloss coat, which ended up looking amazing once it was all assembled:
This rifle is way cooler than I ever gave it credit for. It looks intimidating, yet it also feels a bit rough and experimental (as it should, since this was the first gun in the After Colony timeline to try and pack this much firepower into such a small space).
Also, I love the ridiculously long “Coloneis Liberation Organization …” decal running along both sides of the barrel. It’s something that only exists on the Real Grade, and it’s too ridiculous to hate.
Sadly, I ended up losing a piece here. It’s a dark grey vent/grill that goes on the back:
The good news is that this may very well be the most inconsequential piece in the entire kit. Think about it - if I didn’t tell you it was missing, and assuming you weren’t already familiar with how it looks, would you even realize anything was amiss?
Conclusion
These weapons look great and were a lot of fun to build. They give me good vibes for the rest of the model.
Other Thoughts
- The kit comes with clear green pieces for both the tip of the shield, and the scope on the gun, but it also gives you green decals you can apply on top of them. I’m honestly not sure why you’d do that, as the clear green looks much better, but you do have the option.
- The back of the gun can extend ever so slightly out. I’m guessing this is somehow useful during when transformed into Bird Mode:
