Model Specifications

Capsule
This kit was purchased on a 'I-haven't-seen-this-before' impulse. When I saw it, I thought it was cool and retro, not to mention I was really looking for something good after building the not-too-satisfying Sandrock Custom.

This small kit has excellent parts fit and the design is commendable. It looks great and the nifty new waist gimmick works well. For it's price and scale, it is well worth the money. The best HG kit to date i my books (hopefully it will be outdone by the RX-78)! Highly recommended.

Kit Details
In General
I think the GM just begs to be made into a good 1/144 scale kit. Because of it's simple design it translates well into a HG kit. I find that some mechs are a little too complicated in design for smaller scales such that their details can't be nicely molded... so additional modifications are required to make the kit decently presentable. Wit it's simple, blocky lines and colors, the GM looks remarkably good even without paint (although I'm gonna paint this baby!)

Parts are molded on two runners - one in an off-white, almost 'blue-ish' (sp?) color and one runner with red, yellow, gray and translucent green parts. I thought the off-white looked strange but it actually looks pretty cool on the unpainted, completed model.

Head Unit
Simple 3 piece affair: font and back pieces with the translucent gren visor sandwiched in-between. What? No Polycap? Nah... the neck is molded in the polycap material so that there's still a good joint to the head.

I like the visor very much. There are 2 raised lines molded on the inside so that they appear as internal detail when viewed from the outside - simple design idea but maximum effect.

The translucent green piece also portrudes through the 'sensor-vent' above the visor... another nice touch. I'm really glad they didn't go with those shiny stickers this time! On the head are also 2 molded vulcan cannons. While I'm not familiar with HGUC kits, I think the molding on the cannons (and the rest of the kit) is very crisp and well-done.

Body Unit
The boxy design really appeals to me. It's executed very well and really makes this mech look good in a retro kinda way. Upper body is molded in red with 2 yellow vents and mid-torso is molded in the off-white plastic. Oh... there's also an extra off-white piece for the neck area so no painting is required if you don't paint your kits.

Lower torso has 4 armor flaps - the rear piece is fixed but the other 3 are movable. However, the front piece is one part attached via polycap which doesn't allow for much hip movement. I'm glad though that Bandai did not simply mold the front armor as a non-movable part to save costs. As a result of this front armor, don't expect the mech to do any fantastic leg-raises anytime soon... hip poseability is limited (I'd estimate to about 50 degrees...).

The cool gimmick is how the upper and lower torsos attach to each other. Bandai has included a new type of joint which I am quite excited about. The lower torso has a long rod extending upwards - and this attaches to a polycap in the upper torso which allows for the upper portion to be extended slightly. While extended, the joint allows for lateral movement which makes for some nice poses. The whole rod-polycap assembly is covered up with an additional 'floating' cover which is hidden when the 2 halves are not-extended. Complicated, check out this little animation I did to show the movement.

I am excited about this joint because it can be nicely incorporated into other areas effectively - so perhaps Bandai designers will have it in mind for other HGUC and MG kits.

Arm Units
I like the arm units. The upper arm reminds me of MG kits - albeit simplified somewhat - it features a one-piece sleeve that slides over a rod so no seam-lines are visible. There are still seam-lines at the shoulder and fore-arm, but it's nice to see that some effort has been made to eliminate them where possible (more about that later).

The fore-arms also feature polycaps which allow for the shield to be attached - on either arm.

I particularly like the fact that the elbow polycaps are covered by plastic pieces. To me, visible polycap joints are just awful and they can't be easily painted either.

Four hands are included: for the right hand there is a gun-grip (with extended index finger) and a fist; for the left hand we again have the fist and an open hand. The open hand impressed me - basically because it is molded in a very dynamic pose and features good detail. The gun-rip right hand was also a nice touch as they could have gone cheap and just used a gun-grip for that. Again, I must say that the design and molding for the hands are very well-done.

Leg Units
Legs are simple, with hardly any panel-lines - but this lack of detail actually adds to the overall look of the GM rather than retract from it. I've often felt that panel-lines sometimes don't look too good on 1/144 kits basically because their size makes some lines appear a little too 'thick' for realism.

There is good poseability in the ankles and knees. The double jointed knees give about 90 degrees of movement. As mentioned earlier, the hip movement is restricted by the front armor plate, but the legs can be 'split' pretty well... almost about 60 degrees apart if you wanted to.

Under the foot there is nice molded detail too.

Weapons & Accessories
Not too many weapons - just the saber, gun and shield... but they have been done well. The saber comes (as in most HG kits) with and without the blade extended. It is molded in off-white so painting will be necessary.

The shield features nice details on the inside. It has seperate pieces for the red external and the yellow 'star' so no painting is needed if ya don't want to. What's nice about the shield is that it's been designed to really be poseable. Not only does it store on the fore-arm, it also stores on the backpack and fits into the fists. In addition, the joints on the shield allow it to be posed in different ways. On several kits (even at an MG level), shields can be cool attachments that look good but get in the way of movement - this is *not* the case here. In fact, this is the first shield I think I really like. I even managed to pull off a pose I've often wanted - where the mech looks through the hole on the shield and fires with his gun from the side... I suppose this how the shield will probably be used in real combat - but try to do *that* with your other kits.

The gun is is another area where the designers have shown effort to reduce seam-lines - although most of the gun is still a left-side-right-side affair, the finished product actually hides the seams pretty well. I'm impressed.

The Good
Good molding! Details are crisp and nice.

New waist joint works for me! I like it.

Shield is cool and it allows for a variety of poses.

Molded visor makes the kit so much better than using stickers! I hate the lame mono-eye stickers on the zeon kits.

Effort to reduce visible seam-lines is commendable and I am very pleased. Even where there are seams the fit is very good.

Hands are very nicely molded.

Overall look is cool in a retro-way.

The Bad
Well, the forward motion of the hips is limited but that's made up for by the other cool bits.

A few other weapons would be cool but I'm sure they're being reserved for more GM variation and more consumer dollars. <grin>

hmmm... that's it I think - I like this kit very much.

In Closing
After building the Sandrock Custom, this kit was a pleasure to build. As I compare the two HG kits, I am amazed at how far the design and production of these kits has come. This smaller HG kit has almost as many parts, but it is so designed and manufactured so much better - and for a fraction of the price too!

Overall, it's a nifty kit and it worries me - because it means I will certainly be buying more 1/144 kits from now on... especially the ones that come after the GM.

Go get it!

Check out the gallery for more pics.
You can also check out some of my ramblings on the upcoming HGUC Gundam RX-78-2 based on this kit.

Send questions or comments to gunbase@hotmail.com.