I don’t have a quippy intro for this one. Let’s just get this wrapped up.
Shoulders
I am happy to report that all of the dry rub decals on the shoulders went on without (much) issue. The only problem is that there are a few tiny wrinkles in the “F” on the right shoulder. I didn’t dare try and smooth them out, lest I accidentally scrape the decal off, and thankfully it’s only noticeable from very close up, under the very specific lighting.
Look at those decals! I absolutely adore the font on the “F91” markings. I want to say they look like numbers on an old school race car, though I can’t find any car with numbering that’s actually similar. I did look up “1980’s race cars Japan”, and found some that are vaguely reminiscent:
The “9” in particular also looks a lot like the design in this search result for “1970’s number fonts”:
All I know for certain is that it is emanates a strong “retro futuristic” vibe, and I am here for it.
In terms of the construction, there are two orange vents that you have to insert, and then you place a white cap on top. Both pieces have to be inserted in a specific way, otherwise neither of them will fit.
By far the trickiest bit was dealing with the feathery shoulder wings. These are supposed to be white around the edges, which means we have to paint them. I just used a white pour-type Gundam Marker along the edge, and then painted the rest of it black (mainly to hide any white paint that bled down the side):
They all came out far better than I thought they would.
Once they’re all painted up, you then have to hook them up to a pair of very tiny hinges. This is an extremely delicate operation. The hinges themselves are small and fragile, but so are the wings. I came extremely close to breaking one in half: in fact, I was certain it did break in half until I realized it was simply bent (luckily, it bent right back into place).
You also need to place the wings in a precise order, on a precise side of the hinge, and all facing the same direction:
You can choose to either tuck them away, or pull them out:
The Wheels Fall Off Part 3: Thumbprints
I touched the left shoulder before it was dry, which created a big old fingerprint smudge. Thankfully it went away by simply applying another coat of paint. I consider myself lucky that it actually worked.
Comparison to the High Grade F91
On the Master Grade, the “F91” markings are dry rub decals, and that’s that.
On the High Grade, the markings are instead etched right into the plastic (though it does come with stickers too).
I could debate the pros and cons of each approach, but it doesn’t really matter. The High Grade version looks worse by default because the sizes of the markings are wrong:
As the Master Grade model so effectively demonstrate, the “F91” markings are supposed to be big, both tall and wide. Check out this closeup:
The “91” marking is wider than the heat vent that sits below it, and it almost covers the tallest part of the shoulder from top to bottom.
Now look at the High Grade:
There’s a lot of blank space above and below the numbers, and they’re clearly not as wide as the heat vent. And it’s the same story for the “F” on the other shoulder. The High Grade’s markings lack the big, bold look that they’re supposed to have. They’re just kind of … there.
Aside from that, the exterior detailing on the HG shoulders is perfectly fine, and the rest of its proportions look fine too. But those tiny markings undermine the whole thing. (I honestly never noticed how bad they were until now, but once you’ve seen it you can’t unsee it).
Before we move on, we should also compare the feather gimmick. Due to its size, the High Grade model doesn’t have the fold-out wings. Instead, it uses a simple parts swap gimmick:
All things considered, they part-swap feathers don’t look half bad.
Head
This kit comes with two different heads. One is what you might call the “standard” version. It has a parts-swappable face so you can choose whether not to keep the F91’s face mask on, or whether to reveal its creepy Gundam nose.
The other head is a “2-in-1” job, where you have the both the creepy Gundam face and the face mask. That way you can toggle between either look without having to swap parts.
I started off trying to build the standard head. As you can see, it’s a pretty straightforward pile of pieces:
But it doesn’t really matter, because I ruined the whole damn thing.
It started off with the head vulcans. They’re the two very tiny pieces in the center of that photo, and they plug into this U-shaped piece of inner frame:
But you can’t just plug them in from the side. No, you have to insert them from the back and push them forward. That’s a bit of a problem, because it’s an extremely tight fit, and the only place you can apply any force is on the tiny little barrel of the vulcan. You can imagine what finally happened:
Frustrating? Yes, like you wouldn’t believe. And yet I’m not going to beat myself up over it. This is one instance where I’m going to blame the accident on bad design. These head vulcan pieces are smaller than most of the parts that come with Real Grade kits. To put something this small and fragile in a Master Grade - and to then require them to be placed under so much pressure for the purposes of assembly - is irresponsible. If that’s your plan, you need to go back and think of something else.
Now here’s the kicker - Bandai did go back and think of something else. Here are all the parts for the second head:
The two vulcans are the farthest left, isolated from the rest of the parts. Even though they’re not photographed at a flattering angle, you can still tell that they’re at the very least thicker than the other ones. And when it comes time for assembly, they simply plug in from the inside:
You’d have to go out of your way to cause these things to break. All in all, it is a better, safer design. If I were Bandai, I would have tried to do something like this for both heads. But I’m not Bandai, and I guess I just have to consider myself lucky that the one kit in which I completely ruined the head is also the one kit that happens to include a spare.
In regards to the assembly of the second head, it involves a whole lot of hinges. You start with the creepy Gundam face, placing the two halves of the face mask in front of it:
Then, after attaching more of the surrounding armor, you attach the sides of the head on yet another set of hinges:
Use Some Glue
The V-Fin is made out of two extremely thin pieces of yellow plastic that very loosely plug into the red crest. My advice is to super glue them in place, or they will fall out.Then you just close them all up, and voila!
Now you might be wondering how all these hinges work to achieve the gimmick. Very simply, the two halves of the face mask are attached to double hinges. So they start out like this:
But can then move back like this:
You have to apply a bit of pressure to really tuck them back in there, but if you do it right, you should be able to close the head all the way back up:
You're Doing it Wrong
Note that the head is not supposed to look like this:
If it does, it means you need to push the face mask pieces further back.
A lot of people dislike this head because of the seam line running down the face mask, but I think it’s perfect, because it’s supposed to be there. After all, if the mask is supposed to split in two, you wouldn’t expect it to be seamless, would you?
But hey, don’t take my word for it - here is some promotional artwork in which the artist went out of their way to showcase the line down the face mask:
Sorry folks, but it’s real, and it’s official. Of course, everyone is still entitled to their personal preferences, but this is another reminder that sometimes people are purists about things for the most arbitrary reasons. That is, how many people are truly bothered by seam lines, and how many are bothered because they think they’re supposed to be?
Comparison to the High Grade F91
I am thinking right now of a certain psychological phenomenon. I’m not sure if it has a name, but I’ve experienced it many times. It’s when you realize that something is horribly, horribly wrong, but your brain immediately steps in and essentially forces you to stop thinking about it (I assume that it’s some sort of powerful defensive/coping mechanism).
It’s not quite the same as saying something is off, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s more like:
Hey, that thing over there is off …
**** brain kicks in *** …
… I have no strong feelings about it”.
You know what’s wrong, but your brain sort of shuts off your ability to acknowledge it, which makes you stop thinking about it, which ultimately stops you from worrying.
Meanwhile, your brain is still (subconsciously) processing the event. By the time the spell wears off, and the weight of the situation hits you, you’ll be able to handle it with your rational brain instead of your emotional one (which, again, is quite the defensive mechanism).
This is exactly how I’m feeling right now in regards to the High Grade’s head. Look at that V-Fin:
Ladies and gentlemen, that’s not yellow. That’s orange. Even the GIMP color picker agrees:
I knew this back when I built it, but my brain swooped in and kept me from processing it, so I went on for years thinking nothing of it. But now that I’m looking at it next to the Master Grade head, the spell is broken, and I find the orange V-Fin deeply weird and unsettling.
What makes this extra weird is that the parts for the High Grade V-Fin come on their own separate (orange) runner. This isn’t a case where Bandai tried to save money by consolidating a bunch of yellow and orange pieces onto a single orange runner to save costs. Rather, this is a case where a single runner has two pieces that are supposed to be yellow, but were instead molded in orange.
I’m sure there’s a reason for doing this, but hell if I can figure it out.
And it isn’t just the color that’s a problem. While the High Grade V-Fin is roughly the correct shape, and all the prongs are at the correct angles, they’re also of a roughly uniform width, rather than tapering to a fine point.
I think this is a big deal. There’s a reason why most Gundams have different V-Fins. Any change to the size, shape, color, etc gives the entire head a different kind of look. With such thick prongs (and with those little safety tabs that I forgot to snip off), the High Grade head looks like a safe, kid-friendly interpretation of the real thing.
I’ll also point out that the vents in the face mask are completely straight on the HG, instead of being at an angle. That too is inaccurate, and small of a change as it may be, it does noticeably alter the overall look of the head.
And that’s a shame, because everything else about it is pretty good! It’s the right size and shape, and all the other details are in all the right places:
But I just can’t look at it next to the Master Grade and think “yes, this is a correct interpretation”.
Conclusion
After six build posts, and nearly as many mistakes, the Master Grade Gundam F91 is finally assembled. Yet it feels like there is still so much more to do. In addition to pictures and poses, I have a few more comparisons to make with the High Grade, as well as some musings on the Master Grade line, and whether it has a place in my future plans. Hold on tight, stay tuned to this channel, and we’ll see what else this build has in store.