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RX-78-2 Gundam Version One Year War 0079 |
| Series | UC0079 |
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| Title | RX-78-2 Gundam Version One Year War 0079 | |
| Release Date | March 2005 | |
| Suggested Price (JPY) | 3,200 | |
| No. of Parts | 9 runners + 1 polycaps + 1 dry transfer decal + 1 wet transfer decal + 1 sticker + 2 screws + 1 colored instruction booklet | |
| Plastic Color | Beige White, Yellow, Pink, Light Blue, clear red, clear, dark gray | |
| Grade | MG | |
| Scale | 1/100 | |
| My Rating | Excellent | |
| Model Status | Completed (2006-06-04) | |
| Production Roll-Out# | #22 |
Comment
This
is another version of RX-78-2 Gundam with its color scheme taken from a PS2 game, Gundam One
Year War. This is not a minor upgrade of RX-78 but a complete re-design.
It comes with a superbly flexible inner frame, cover over by precisely molded armor. The final product can bend and pose in just about any position you might imagine. The inner frame comes with a leg skeleton that never before seen. A normal G-Gundam action frame require to build the skeleton piece by piece and this kit comes with 2 piece of leg skeleton that does not require assembly and use straight out of the runner.
Another great improvement to be noted is the movable hip joint that slot forward and backward for a great kneeling position. The kit comes with tons of panel lines in ultra fine details. Moreover, the provided decals are aplenty, with both dry and wet transfer, matching the number provided by the previously release Version Ka.
The manual is another improvement where it is not the normal MG manual but designed in a "Dummy" proof way with simple to follow step-by-step instruction guide. No Japanese is required to comprehend the instruction.
This is an extremely easy kit and I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a good MG starter kit. The plastic is not glossy and can be built without painting.
This kit is purchased from Mongkok, HK.
Construction Process
I believe many people are put off from the modeling hobby with the reason of being busy
or not willing to put in the required effort to get a model done. As time goes by, I have
less and less time to focus on modeling.
I have tried from not painting (MG Shinning Gundam) to painting from the runner (Building MG, The Express Way). Painting from runner is definitely fast but then MG does comes in color and that technique is pointless for building kit in their original color scheme. I tried that with a MG God Gundam that way but the experiment is not going well. It is hard to differentiate which part is painted and which is not.
I am doing a little experiment over here again. The main objective of building this is to find a method to further cut down the time required for building a Gunpla. I choose this kit because this is easy to build.
This is a no-glue, no-sand and no paint kit. The construction process are summarize in 4 easy steps.
- Cut
- Snap Together
- Drawn Panel Line
- Apply Decals
All parts are cut using a cutter and a blade where extreme care is taken not to stress the plastic. The nips are chip off / leveled with a blade when necessary. Sometimes the nips is stressed and showing a different color. I patch it with a little bit of Gundam Marker. The panel lines are drawn using Gundam Real Touch Marker and the excess are rubbed off with an eraser.
These steps took me about 7 to 8 hours to complete (technically a full day) and this Gundam is ready to roll out.
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| Contents of the box. | Special runner that house the latest leg skeleton. | Fingers are cut off to increase articulations. |
But wait! Should I stop here?
I could if I wanted to. The model looks quite ok but if I stopped here, I will get myself another MG Shinning Gundam and I will be nagged by the plastic shine for the rest of my life.
The question here is can I do more without painting?
I am curious to know so I fired up my airbrush and coat the kit with a layer of flat (Mixture of Clear: Flat Base, 2:1). For those who do not have an airbrush, one can purchase Gunze Top Coat (flat) for the same effect. The flat coat works well in cutting out the plastic shine. Moreover, it should protect the decals from the next detailing process that I am going to do. The coating does leave a very nice gritty texture on the plastic surface.
Next, I applied oil wash to the kit. I use gray mixture thinned with Zippo lighter fuel.
Base on my experience on 1/144 HGUC Gouf Custom, oil wash on a flat coating cannot be easily removed. I am betting on this paint nature to give it some good weathering. I applied the thinned oil mixture to the model and then wait till it is safe to touch in about 5 minutes. Another clean cotton bud dipped with thinner, is use to rubbed off the inner area (armor highlight). Since oil is hard to be removed on flat surface, the residue left over do create some sort of weathering.
Oil with Zippo fuel dry fast and it does not react with your lacquer top coat. This way it is basically dummy proof. Any screw up can be rubbed off with some Zippo fuel on a cotton bud.
Next, dry brushing is applied on the model to accentuate its armor highlight and then rain marks and rust are applied using a brush.
The following are the part photos before weathering are applied as a before and after comparison. It looks ok but I think it is so much cooler with the weathering done.
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Conclusion
This construction technique heavily rely on new MG, which has superb part precision
and coloring thus it might not able to apply for an earlier release model kit. This
demonstrate that airbrushing is not necessary to make a Gunpla looks good. Moreover,
building a Gunpla this way only take about 2 days or less to complete.
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Document Date : 2006-06-09 |
Responses to this page:
nice work.but i prefer your zaku 1.well, you right, i always struggling to find some time to do modeling.
Very nice build without painting! Great guide for those newbie who scare to paint!
btw, the special leg skeleton is actually not new. It is taken from RX-78-2 ver.1.5.
If u check the sprue carefully, u can see the word "RX-78-2 ver.1.5"!
I love the althentic look of this gundam unlike others.
RX-78-2, Thx for the comment. I stand corrected. :-)
wow!!
nice weathering right there!