The Gustav Karl has nine runners:
Which exactly the same number of runners as its partner in chonk, the High Grade Messer:
Coincidence? Probably, yeah. But I still it might suggest a similar level of size, detail, and engineering complexity.
Seamlines and Detailing
Technically speaking, I guess the model does have quite a few seamlines, but most of them aren’t all that easy to see, and could easily be left alone. However, if you still choose to do something about them, be warned that the plastic on this kit seems to be very not-scratch-resistant. Take your time, be gentle, and only sand the places you need to.
In terms of color correction, there’s not much to be done, as the kit is fairly color accurate out of the box. There are some white pieces with vents in them, which you can color in black (or a very dark grey), and the insides of all the thrusters are supposed to be white (which is quite an interesting color choice). Beyond that, there are some incidental panel lines and markings that you can color in (or not) as you see fit.
Weapons
We’re not working with much here:
The Jegan Beam Rifle is an interesting one. Aside from the fact that it looks like it has the magazine of ballistic firearm, it has some weird dimensions. It feels too big for the Jegan, but also too small for the Gustav Karl. I’ll give it a go, but if I’m not feeling it I won’t hesitate to pull out the System Weapon Kits and see if I can cobble together something that’s a more appropriate size.
Shield
This is a very plain shield, but I kind of like that. If there was a ton of detail on the back side, I’d feel awfully compelled to paint it all in. But that’s not the case here, so I’m saved from my worst tendencies:
The EFF logo you see is a waterslide decal. Many High Grades of Feddie mobile suits come with at least a small sheet of marking decals, but alas, that’s not the case with this one. If you want it to have some markings or numbers or something, you’ll have to scrounge them up for yourself.
Lastly, you’ll notice that it has two different control arms of two different sizes, just like on the Jesta. One is for when the shield is at rest, and the other is for when it is deployed for use.
Head
There are quite a few things to note here:
- There’s some nice surface detail behind the red visor, including the Gustav Karl’s monoeye camera
- There’s a color correcting sticker for the blue colored tip of the antenna. These kinds of stickers are always a pain, but I’d rather have them than not
- The head has a sort of blue faceplate in the front, and thankfully this is its own separate part. You won’t have to paint it or use a sticker
- The seamlines running along the sides of the head aren’t terrible, but I tried (and mostly) failed to erase them anyway
I like the look of this a lot. It’s the same basic head design we see on the Jegan and Jesta, but in this case it looks so squat and scrunched, like a bulldog or something. There’s something about it that’s extra mean.
Upper Torso
In both looks and construction, this is like a GM or Jegan body on a grander scale.
The one thing that’s kind of different is that the backpack looks like it’s built into the body, rather than being a detachable component:
That red bit on the left is where the shield attaches, and it looks an awful lot like the beam saber holster on the Nu Gundam:
I doubt this is a coincidence.
Lower Torso
The rear skirt is one of the thickest I’ve ever seen. It’s so big that it’s on a hinge so that it can move up and down.
On the sides, we have two fold out skirts that house the beam sabers:
One problem with these side skirts is that they aren’t very secure. Those little hatches are liable to pop off the skirt, and the skirt itself is liable to pop off the body. You’ll have to be careful while posing.
Feet
These are pretty standard Earth Federation feet. Lots of nice detail on the bottom, and sadly, no articulation at the toe.
Legs
By far the biggest, chonkiest, and most impressive part of the build:
I mean, sure, part of the reason they’re impressive is their sheer size, but that’s not the only thing. They did a great job with minimizing seamlines. The only really bad one is in the inner frame around the knee:
But that’s only visible when the knee is bent all the way, so most of the time you’re never doing to see it.
Now let’s take a look at a side profile:
Here the leg looks very short and squat. There’s no possible way the knee is going to bend like this. But don’t worry - the inner frame extends out like this:
I don’t recall seeing this gimmick on any other model, but it’s a great idea that more bulky mobile suits ought to adopt.
Lastly, I want to highlight the sheer amount of thrusters on each leg:
I mean, you are going to need all that thrust to move this sucker around.
I want to point out that some of these thrusters attach in a manner similar to the old Zaku III, where they just barely clip onto the inner wall of the leg. But for whatever reason these seem to be a tighter fit so far, and I haven’t needed to glue them.
I just love how much is going on here. The size, the detail, the engineering. It’s fantastic.
Arms
The arms are asymmetrical, on account of one of them being loaded with grenades:
Speaking of which, the grenades are color separated, which is an extremely pleasant surprise:
Size Comparisons with the Messer
I’ll do a full size comparison between the Gustav Karl and the Messer during the photoshoot, but before we get to that, I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the differences between the two models.
Spoiler alert - while the Messer is technically bigger, it’s not by much. It’s only a hair taller, and only slightly bulkier, but by and large the two stand toe to toe with one another.
And yet, if you just looked some of the individual components of each kit, you couldn’t really tell. For example, while the Gustav Karl has a normal sized beam saber handle, the Messer’s looks like it’s the size of an Advil Liquigel:
And the difference in size between their Beam Rifles is significant:
Similarly, the Gustav Karl has normal sized hands, while the Messer’s are larger than a Master Grade:
And then there’s the fact that the Messer’s joints use extra long, extra reinforced pegs, while the Gustav Karl mostly uses standard polycaps (give or take a few extra large ball joints).
When I first built the Messer, I thought the big hands and the big joints were all necessary due its size, but the Gustav Karl proves that that’s just not the case. It turns out you can make a big bulky mobile suit using many of the same basic components of a standard High Grade.
Which brings me to a question - why is the Messer so different? It is all a stylistic choice, or is there really something about the design that requires extra sturdy joints for reinforcement (in which case I’d still chalk up the large hands and weapons as being stylistic choices)
Or maybe I’m thinking of this the wrong way. Maybe the Gustav Karl is the “wrong” one. Maybe it shouldn’t use standard polycaps, and I’m going to find out in the future that the whole thing eventually collapses under its own weight.
This is all just speculation of course, but I can’t help but wonder what drives certain engineering decisions.
Conclusion
This was a good build, though not without its problems. Or to be more specific, I was not without my problems. One of my old habits came back, where I was so excited to see the final result that I moved a little too fast and a little too sloppy. As a result, I:
- Dropped one of the ankle guards on the floor and stepped on it, breaking it in half. I glued it back together and painted it, and I don’t think it will be glaringly obvious in photos, but it still happened
- Forgot to remove the seamlines in the back of the foot
- Almost forgot the panel line the bottoms of the feet
To be fair, none of these were egregious problems, and I managed to fix most of them, but I ought to be more careful going forward.
Additional thoughts
- I was going to add some shading and weathering to this build, but once it was done I decided I actually liked it better with a clean look. Hopefully you’ll agree when you see it.
- This is my third Gundam Unicorn High Grade, and all three have been great looking, well engineered models. That’s a very good thing considering I have at least a few more Unicorn kits on the backlog.