Re: HGUC Zeta Gundam Build-Up review

thanks for the review!

Well, i have the old HG kit as well (unbuilt    :-P ), and i'll probably
start both at the same time once i actually find the HGUC Zeta in Toronto.

BTW, i agree with you that The-O is the best HGUC to date. I LOVE that
thing, it stands in the middle of my display cabinet (it's a china cabinet,
but i digress).
"Heavyarms" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Okay, finished this bad boy (except for some painting.)
>
> Head - Usual set up, front and back half with another peice for the face,
> yellow part for the V-fin, and a red part for the center of the V-fin.
> Stickers are provided for the head cameras.  Nothing special, but the
> sculting is spot-on, a pretty good representation.
>
> Arms - Construction is a little different, if only for the suit's
> non-standard desing.  Shoulder armor is made of four blue peices.  Two
> front/back halves, and two hinged peices, one covering the upper shoulder,
> and one covering the lower shoulder and upper arm.  These peices swing up
> and out.  Stickers are provided for the small yellow striping, but the
> yellow in the shoulder "thruster" will have to be painted.  Shoulders are
> the usual front/back halves with a
> poly-cap for the shoulder joint.  A single hollow peice is provided for
the
> upper arm armor.  Elbow joints are poly-cap with a gray peice to cover the
> joint.  Forearms consist of two gray halves that form the inner part of
the
> arm, plus a three sided blue peice that slips onto the forearm from the
> back.  There is an addition blue peice that attaches to the elbow and
serves
> as elbow armor, these insert into polycaps in the forearm.  One can be
> removed to insert the shield.  Fairly good detailing on the arms.  The
hands
> (BOOO!) are old-school two halves jobs.  One half in gray that forms the
> fingers and thumb, one half in white that serves as the armor for the back
> of the hand and top of the thumb.  Only two hands are provided, fists
only.
> Wrist joints are ball and socket, polycap socket in the fore arm, and ball
> on the back of the gray half of the hand.
>
> Torso - Pretty cool.  The chest portion can flip up or down for the
> transformation, but you have to remove the neck assembly before you can
> flip.  This serves to lock the chest down in MS mode, but can also wear
out
> the neck joint.  The Neck joint is two peices, a yellow flat peice and a
> gray peice that provides the ball for the ball and socket neck joint.  The
> hinges for the chest peice to swing up or down are ABS, with a top and
> bottom half for the chest and two yellow inserts for the chest vents.  The
> cockpit is also hinged, with two gray ABS peices serving as the hing, and
> two red halves front and back that serve as the cockpit.  The hips are
> standard, one hinge for the front skirt armor, two separate peices for the
> side armor, and an immoble rear skirt armor.  The rear skirt has tiny
little
> gray inserts to serve as the thrusters, but these are molded in ABS (as
are
> all of the gray peices) and may be a little difficult to paint.
>
> Legs - Okay, I have mixed feelings about these.  The thighs are standard,
> two halves, plus a socket polycap for the hip joints.  The lower legs are
a
> little different.  Here, Bandai attempted to mold these legs with the
> standard HGUC modeler in mind (non-painter).  They molded the legs with
> separate white and blue parts.  In addition, they needed to include a
> specialized knee joint that can serve the transformation process (i.e.
> double jointed.)  In execution, however, I think it is overly complicated.
> What you basically have is a knee joint that is two halves, left and
right.
> These two halves, once assembled, are sandwiched between two blue halves
> that serve as the blue area around the knee as well as some inner
structure
> for the leg.  This assembly is then sandwiched between the two white
halves
> of the leg.  The end result is an assembly that does not fit together AT
> ALL.
> I had to rubber band these together to get them to "squench" together, and
> I'll still have to putty and sand them to get rid of the seam line.  It
> seems like they didn't take into account the inner blue halves when
> constructing the two outer white halves.  The two blue halves prevent the
> two white peices from fitting together well.  For the small amount of the
> lower leg that is actually blue, I would rather have had a leg that fits
> together
> well, and just had the blue part to paint in.  Back to the model.  The
feet
> are what has become the standard for HGUC kits, two red peices for the
lower
> foot (top and bottom) and a white peice for the top of the foot.  The
heel,
> since it has to collapse for the transformation, is two peices.  A red
lower
> peice and a white upper peice.  The front part of the foot is hinged on
this
> assembly, and the front foot is the peice that actually folds down for
> transformation.  The polycap socket for the ankle is in the "heel"
assembly.
> There are two yellow inserts for each leg, these are for the thrusters on
> the outer leg.  The inner leg thruster will have to be painted (I think
its
> yellow, the old HG kit line art showed them as yellow)  There are separate
> white peices for the knee "armor" and the armor for the back of the lower
> leg.
>
> Thats it for the body, here's the low down on "accessories."
> Backpack.  This isn't really a back pack in the traditional sense, the
parts
> that form the back pack actually serve as the "tail" and the wings for the
> MS in Wave Rider form.  The "tail" of three peices.  Two black peices, and
a
> white peice for the "cockpit" looking thing on top.  You will have to
paint
> the little red area at the bottom, stickers are not privded.  The wings
are
> made from five peices.  There is a red inner peice that forms the little
> wing stub that swings up and out, this is sandwiched between two black
> halves that also swing down and out.  This is again sandwiched between two
> halves that serve as the main housing for the wings when they are
retracted.
> Stickers are not provided for the red striping along the outer edge of the
> wings, so you'll have to paint that, and paint black onto the red
"winglets"
> as well.  These are attached to the body with a U-shaped peices of ABS
with
> two poles on either side that are inserted into polycaps in the wing
> assemblies and tail assemble.
>
> The sheild is three peices.  Two red halves make up the long, skinny
> portion, and a black peice that makes up the rounded portion at the end.
> This attaches to a polycap in the lower arm, and one of the blue elbow
armor
> peices must be removed first to attach the shield.
>
> Weapons.  Zeta comes with three weapons, two beam rifles and a beam saber.
> The standard beam rifle is four parts.  Two parts are the left and right
> halves, and a third part provides the "barrel" and "muzzle."  This peice
can
> extend and retract.  The handle is an ABS peice which can rotate down or
up.
> Not bad, but it isn't quite as long as the gun that came with the HG kit.
> The "Hyper Mega Laucher" is also pretty standard.  The main assembly is
just
> two halves.  There are three grips, one on the bottom and one on either
> side.  The grips are also ABS, and there are hinged blue peices that cover
> the handles when retracted, and act as hand protection when extended.  The
> "muzzle" is also a gray ABS peice.  This gun is HUGE, it stand two inches
> higher than the figure and makes for some cool poses.
> The beam saber is disappointing.  It isn't molded in clear plastic like
most
> recent HGUC kits.  It doesn't even come separate.  The hilt and a third
> "hand" are molded into one peice (think Endless Waltz Atlong), all white,
so
> you'll have to paint the fingers, blade and hilt (which is black, I
> believe.)
>
> Stickers.  I never use them, but I for those who do, I rate a kit on how
> many parts that are not molded in the right color are provided with
> stickers.  I don't take off points for parts that are difficult to be
molded
> separately (like thrusters, eyes, etc.)  This kit is provided with
stickers
> for the eyes, head cameras, and some of the yellow striping on the
shoulders
> and sheild.  However, the thrusters on the shoulders and inner legs must
be
> painted yellow, and the wings will have to be painted with red and black
to
> make them look correct.
>
> In all, the HGUC Zeta is closer to the original design than the old HG
kit.
> I still like the old kit (except for the mint green plastic) so I don't
> really see this kit as a "Godsend."  That being said, this kit is pretty
> good.  There are a few things I don't like about this kit, and a few
things
> that I liked about it.  The only thing that is keeping me from just raving
> about this kit is the fact that it doesn't have any features that just
make
> me say "WOW!"  I don't know if this is limited by the design of the actual
> mobile suit, or what.  I personally feel that the HGUC The O is the gold
> standard by which all HGUC kits should be measured as far as detailing and
> the way the peices are molded and designed to go together.  It is as Zen
as
> a HGUC kit will get.  Sure, the The O is one of my favorite, if not THE
> favorite, MS, but the Zeta is my absolutely my favorite Gundam design.  I
> wasn't quite as impressed with this kit as I was with, say, the Zaku III,
> Quebeley, or even Char's Zaku and the original Gundam.  It is a nice kit,
> though.  Zeta fans won't be disappointed.  HGUC fans may be a little
> disappointed at first, if only because of extremely high expectations
raised
> by other recent HGUC kits, but you should be pleased with the finished
> product.
>
>