Re: HGUC Zeta Gundam Build-Up review

"Gary Yung" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> thanks for the review!

Thanks for reading it!

> 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.
>

I bought it back in 2000, and finally got around to building it this year.
I spent about 4 or 5 months (off and on) building it.  The WEEK I finish it,
there's an announcement that the HGUC version is coming out this year.
GRRR!  The HG kit, other than that darn puke green plastic, was a nice kit
IMO.  I usualy transer ownership of my old kits to my son's collection (like
my old HG Gundam, that US release "Char's Zaku," the 0080 GP03) once I
upgrade to a HGUC version, but I may keep the Zeta.  A lot of folks complain
about those old HG kits, I think the HG Zeta and ZZ were pretty good.  I
even like the old Gundam and MkII, they just aren't up to modern standards.
I think the old HG Gundam is closer to the original design than the HGUC, it
just doesn't pose as well.
Thanks for reading my review.

> 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).

It will be a while before ANY kit impresses me as much as the The-O did.  My
favorite MS + a GREAT kit = awesome.  Bandai will have to come out with a
HGUC Dom or GP02 to impress me as much.  Really, with everything else that
is available now, those are the only two suits that haven't seen HGUC form
that I really want.

> "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.
> >
> >
>
>