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RX-77-2 Guncannon |
| Series | UC0079 |
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| Title | RX-77-2 Guncannon | |
| Release Date | May 1999 | |
| Suggested Price (JPY) | 800 | |
| No. of Parts | 66 + polycaps + stickers | |
| Plastic Color | Red, dark green, white, yellow | |
| Grade | HGUC | |
| Scale | 1/144 | |
| My Rating | Very Good | |
| Model Status | Completed (2002-10-12) | |
| Production Roll-Out# | #14 |
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Comment
I got this kit with my other HGUC Zugock during the 10% discount period in Malaysia
around end May to early June 2002. I always have the preference towards expendable mech as I
believe Bandai will put in extra effort into unpopular kit owing to marketing reason. I was
and still am not wrong. If you can stomach the design, this is one great model to build.
The usual HG or HGUC kit requires some form of painting but this kit that looks good as it is, which is rare in the HGUC line. I think the credit should go to its simplistic design.
The first impression I got from this kit is that it looks like a “tin man” baseball player. The design is round and simple. Articulation in overall is as good as any other HGUC kit where the arm has good movement however leg is unremarkable as being limited by the skirt armor. The completed kit could not crouch without minor modification (Please refer to construction note). The noteworthy feature in this area lies on its waist. The waist has a flexible connecting rod, from the hip to the torso, that employ the use of polycaps to enable the waist to move at about 30 degrees backward beside the standard rotational movement.
Panel lines are few and the overall detail is bland and unimpressive. The only notable panel lines are the deep creases on the arms, legs and the chest. Good details on the feet and the jet pack but a great waste since both are not obviously display.
Packaging
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Weapons, Gimmicks and Accessories
The extra pair of hand is for the laying down firing position as seen in the anime. |
Construction Note
Basic model construction applies here. Normally, I did assemblies in phases, which is
sub-assembling, paint and then repeat the process again from inner to outer section. This
time, I am trying a different approach. I did a full assembly before painting it. The reason
here is that I am airbrushing instead of hand brushing and setting up for airbrushing is
tedious. I will like to minimize the number of airbrushing trips by doing it in batch.
I only glue parts that I am sure I will not take it disassemble later and leave the rest unglue. This ensures that parts could be taken apart safely for painting. From experience, Bandai kits are extremely hard to be taken apart once the parts snap together. The job will be easier if the stubs are thinned by cutting it diagonally.
Once the kit is fully assembled, the model is inspected and planned the painting process. There are 2 problems detected on this kit. Firstly, the model could not crouch. Secondly the placement for the shoulder cannon is a bit tight and the paint might scrape off.
For problem number 1, I found an opportunity to do a minor modification to improve the articulation by cutting the connector between the 2 front skirt armors. As a result, this kit could crouch nicely. For problem number 2, I pull out my trust worthy metal files and sand the surface inside of the cannon placement for about a millimeter.
The sections of it are taken apart for sanding, puttying and then prep for painting.
The biggest complain on this kit is the fragile scope handle on the beam rifle. I broke mine. Just be careful when handling it.
The vents on the chest and the sensor on the hips are hand brushed with yellow. The internal pieces such as the gray joints at the elbow, shoulder and the knee are brush with neutral gray. A layer of clear gloss is put on to protect the paint from scraping.
The rest are given a layer of dark gray as primer. I tried to do pre-shading on this kit but failed horribly. I use neutral gray instead of white for armor highlight. The result is too subtle to make a difference. I tried to salvage the situation by switching to flat red for armor highlight. The layer of flat red turned out to be red brown in color. I gave up at this point and go ahead to laid a layer of red (red : clear, 1 : 1) for the base color. The end result is maroon instead of bright red.
The weapons and the feet are airbrushed (medium blue : neutral gray, 1: 1) but the pre-shading effect are covered up. The head is airbrushed with flat white.
Finally, the paint is coated with a layer of clear coat mixes with small amount of flat base to give a satin finish (clear : flat base, 9 : 1).
In brief
This kit is a direct scale down version of MG counterpart, which in overall a good kit
to build but lack details that hamper it from being outstanding. If you already have the
RX-78 Gundam, this is one kit you should not miss.
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Document Date : 2002-10-15 Last Modified : 2006-07-17 |
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