Shield
I really like the design of the original Wing Gundam shield. I like the shape, and I also really like how it open up to reveal its singular Beam Saber:
Much to my disappointment, not only does the Ver Ka shield get rid of the Beam Saber gimmick, but the shape has also changed:
It looks way too much like the nosecone of a ship, which is great when it’s transformed into flight mode, but not so much when using it as an actual shield.
This piece required a lot of work. It’s got two big dry transfers on the front, one of which is warped, and the other which partially scraped away (you can clearly see my corrective paint job on the first X and last 1 in the model number).
But that’s not all. Due to all the different colors of plastic used to make the shield, the inside is a menagerie of color. But it’s supposed to be a single color, so I plopped on a layer of grey:
Yes, I know it’s sloppy, but I think it will look good enough from a distance.
I spoke before about the age of this model, and whether or not that might reflect in the quality of the build. When it comes to the shield, I noticed that there is no peg or anything on the inside of the mount to help keep it secured to the arm.
Beam Saber
Wing Gundam and Wing Zero are the only two mobile suits I can think of that regularly feature curved beam saber blades:
I wish more would though! It’s a cool gimmick.
We get two beam effect parts, despite the fact that it only comes with one handle. Use your spare as you please.
Ammo Clips
The Buster Rifle is equipped with three very obvious ammo cartridges, and according to the Gundam Wiki, that does in fact mean that it can only fire three shots.
It’s a bit of realism that, ironically, feels out of place in a story as over the top as Gundam Wing. But I suppose it was necessary in order to prevent Wing Gundam from feeling too powerful. Imagine if it could pop off Buster Rifle shots as if it had infinite ammo (note: apparently Wing Zero can do that with its Twin Buster Rifle, but let’s ignore that for now).
Still, three shots doesn’t seem like quite enough. It doesn’t really allow for much of a margin of error during an mission. And apparently Katoki felt the same way, since he gave the EW version two clips full of extra ammo:
These can be attached to slots on each arm, which is at once both sensible - it’s really the place they can go - and odd - since they look kind of funny mounted there.
In regards to their construction, there is a seamline running down the side. I was able to remove them easily on one of the two clips, but not the other. Like I said in the preamble, some of the parts on this model just wouldn’t sit flush no matter what I did.
Now about the ammo cartridges. I didn’t like the color they were molded in so I painted them gunmetal and then did a gloss topcoat. I thought that would add a nice bit of contrast when plugged into the Buster Rifle.
Speaking of which …
Buster Rifle
One of the things I love about the EW version of Sandrock is that Katoki made the Heat Shotels so much bigger and more menacing. And it appears that he had the same idea for the Buster Rifle, because holy sh*t is it long:
I’m kind of worried about this. Is the model even going to be able to hold it properly? There’s nothing on the grip - no notches or grooves or anything - that suggests that it has any way of fastening onto the holding hand.
Well, at least it looks great. There’s lots of surface detail that gives it a nice, mechanical look. And I love how angular the scope is.
It also comes with a blue arm guard, which is something the Buster Rifle doesn’t normally have:
Perhaps that is meant to help keep the gun in place.
(Side note - the rifle is the only thing on this entire model where all the decals are exclusively dry transfers)
Feet
These are as simple and basic as you can possibly get:
However, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the white cap that goes on top of the foot is white here instead of cream. That’s because I spraypainted it. It was originally this color on the runner:
Yeah, they’re blue, when they’re supposed to be cream …
Now to be clear, no other parts on the model are this egregiously off-color. But I’m still shocked to see something like this on a Master Grade, even one that’s this old.
Legs
These were in dire need of some decals, since like every other Wing mobile suit, the legs are rather plain and colorless.
A couple of notes:
- You have to do a little bit of painting on the vents around the ankle
- As you can see in the photo below, the knee armor is a hinge that it allows it to flap around freely. I’m not really sure why it’s built that way; it’s common for the knee to slide back and forth on Master Grades, but it’s usually limited in range. Not so here.
Before we move on, I wanted to show you a cross section. It’s wild just how many polycaps it uses:
Skirt Armor
Finally, we get some more color.
And we also have to do some more color correction, as we need to paint in the thrusters on the rear skirts:
Upper Torso
Everything builds up around this cockpit area, where we see our miniature Heero Yuy sitting:
This is where I really started to notice that the plastic was orange instead of dark yellow. Which is ironic, because it actually does look more yellow in the lightbox. But I swear it’s orange!
Around back we get this control arm, presumably to allow the wings to move into the right place when it’s in flight mode:
A few more notes before we move on. First, I had some breakage here. I know that the paint used in some Gundam Markers can damage certain kinds of plastic, and I think that’s what happened to me. I used a chrome marker on the chest-mounted vulcan cannons, and they both split right in half. I just barely managed to glue them in place, but now I’m kind of afraid to open the hatches and deploy them:
Second, whereas most mobile suits have a cockpit hatch that moves up and down, this cockpit opens up by sliding forward:
Head
There’s a polycap inside the head. That’s something not even most High Grades do:
The head has a fairly minor seamline running down the center, but it’s kind of hard to see on account of just how much other detail there is:
This might be my favorite version of either Wing Gundam or Wing Zero’s head, just because of how colorful and intricate it is.
Shoulders
The shoulder armor is made of three colored layers that look a bit like wings or feathers. If you’re wondering how they’re constructed, here you go:
The red bit is made out of two parts, so there is a seamline to remove there if you want.
There’s also a seamline on the blue part, which I didn’t remove, though in retrospect I definitely should have, as the plastic is already starting to separate on both shoulders:
Arms
On most builds, the arms are so simple and plain and boring that I don’t have much to say about them. Not this time!
First, the hands. They’re like a primitive version of the old Real Grade hands. They have a separated moveable thumb and trigger finger, while the rest of the fingers are molded together:
I don’t mind this at all in theory, as that’s more than enough articulation for my purposes. But if you look closely, you’ll notice that - just like the grip on the rifle - there are no holes or pegs or notches in the palm of the hand. That confirms the fact that there is no way for the weapons to plug into the hand and stay in place. Not good!
Next, take a look at the bottom of the arm:
You stick a polycap in there, but it’s not secure, and will slip out quite easily. But this isn’t a design flaw; you just have to add a bit more plastic:
But wait, there’s more. There’s another layer of armor to mount on the wrist, and just like Wing Zero Custom, it contains a camera sensor:
I suppose these are meant to help them aim their respective rifles more easily. It’s a cool idea that I’d like to see on other mobile suits.
Finally, we have the claws:
These look much simpler than the ones on the original Wing Gundam design, but I think I prefer that. The original claws look too much like literal bird’s claws, while these seem a bit more abstract and stylized.
Backpack
The backpack itself - sans the wings - is quite simple:
Though I’m surprised that there are no thrusters. How the heck does this thing generate thrust? Are there supposed to be smaller thrusters embedded between the wings or something?
Wings
I was going to show you, step by step, how all the different parts of the wings come together. But at some point I just stopped taking shots, so my series of photos kind of looks like this:
Nevertheless, here they are:
That red section is sandwiched between the two halves of the wing, and it technically has a seamline (though I’m not sure if anyone would notice).
After this, I should have taken at least two more photos, but I didn’t. Hopefully you can kind of piece together how the rest of the parts attach:
The big “Colonies Liberation Organization” markings are dry transfers, which is a bit of a problem. If you look closely you’ll see that the blue part of the wing is not completely flat; one section is higher than the other. That means you have to apply the decal across not one, but two right angles.
That’s … not easy with a dry transfer, and if you’re like me, you’ll have to add some paint around those right angles to make the marking look contiguous.
Finished
Looking back at the construction, I do think this kit shows its age. It’s not quite as bad as, say, older High Grades from its era, but it’s still worse than pretty much any modern Master Grade you’ll come across.
But now comes the real test - how well is it going to pose? I can already tell the weapons are going to be a problem, but it’s just a question of to what degree. But are there any other surprises in store? Tune in next time to find out.