~ This is a contributed review by David Bauer ~
minor editing by Gundam_Base

Model Specifications

Capsule
After seeing pictures of the upcoming Master Grade Re-Gz I began to wonder about all of the neat features that Bandai would incorporate into their newest kit. In the middle of my model building fantasies I went to my local anime store and to my surprise found the 1/144 Re-Gz. I figured this would tide me over until the MG version hit the market, it would also give me a good idea as to how the kit would be presented in the way of gimmicks and accessories.

This is not the best of kits. Articulation of the upper body is rather poor. Due to its design the kit has a flimsy feel to it. Parts fit leaves something to be desired, but is far from being bad. Bottom line is to take your time building this kit and you will have a worthy display model.

Kit Details
In General
The Re-Gz has a very aerodynamic look to it that appealed to me the first time I saw it. It has more sleek curves and fewer panel lines than we have come to expect from a gundam. The colors are also softer and less conflicting than the regular red, white, blue and yellow.

The kit is a simple affair parts wise. It is made up of only three sprues, a small sprue of poly caps and a few stickers. Like all Char’s Counterattack kits a small bag containing 5 small screws is also included to secure the kits major assemblies. I found only one was really necessary. The box proudly proclaims this as a "system injection" kit. This is a plus as most parts are broken down along their respective colors and greatly assists in painting later on. (Believe me, it will need it!)

Head Unit
The head is made up of five parts including the poly-cap. I liked the delicate molding on the twin antennas. There was a little flash on them, but nothing to worry about. The raised details around the eyes are sharply molded and well defined. Even given their small size they are very easy to paint. The visor that fits over the eyes is a separate molded piece. Once again it makes painting hassle free. The head uses the regular "A" poly cap, No ball and socket here. This really limits head motion. Care must be taken when assembling the two halves that make up the head. They do not fit well. A little extra model cement in the seam and a small rubber band fixed this right up

Body Unit
Not much to say about the upper body. It’s just two halves, a front and a back. No waist here my friends (darn!) The two flaps that hang over the sides of the hips are supposed to contain two grenades that are represented in the kit. I hope the MG kit allows these to be removed. The instruction shows the launcher as being pose able. The attachment points are plastic to plastic so I wouldn’t recommend it, as it would wear out the joint. (Mine were so tight I couldn’t move them if I wanted to!)

The armored flaps on the front waist are hinged so they will not interfere with leg motion. However, the attachment points are little "nubs" that are far too small to hold them in place. I found they were constantly falling off. I replaced them with a small piece of styrene rod and that solved the problem.

The chest is a separate assembly made up of a front and a back. This is the only area I would suggest using the kit-supplied screws, as the attachment points are thin and weak. Once assembled, the screw leaves a rather large entry hole in the back. Bandai provided plugs for all the other screw points, but not this one - strange. Either way a small piece of styrene rod fills it in with out too much trouble.

All of the important details on the chest are molded separate - Cool! These parts can be painted separately and added later on.

The attachment points for the legs to the hips are peg to poly cap. They should have used the good old ball and socket here. Still they move around pretty well.

The back has two booster units and a large "cockpit fin" sandwiched in-between them. Each booster unit is made up of two halves an exhaust nozzle and a cap that fits over the top.

The booster halves are pretty rough. There is a large seam that runs down the center, as the fit is not so great. No big deal, a little sanding and careful gluing solved this I know that Bandai will make the nozzles pose able in the MG. I would also like to see the interior workings of each booster unit in the MG kit. These would be pretty impressive! It is highly likely will, as Bandai has never made a MG kit to my knowledge without it

Arm Units
The arms are a mixed bag; in some cases they can pose quite well and in others seemed restricted. The lower arm is made of three parts. The ends of the poly-caps are too long and must be shaved down. Other wise they will interfere with the arms closing properly. Over the lower arm fits a twin grenade launcher. I hope these can be positioned and the grenades removed in the Master Grade!

The upper arms suffer from the same poly-cap problem as the lower arms. The same treatment can be applied to solve this problem The upper arm is trapped between the two shoulder pad halves along with an armored flap that runs the length of the upper arm on the outside. There really isn’t much more to say.

Once the arms are completed the poly caps are clearly visible (grrrrrrr!) However they fit snug in the arms and there are no gaps so it’s not that bad.

The hands are unfortunately the worst parts of the kit. They are designed and assembled much the same way a MG hand is. A trigger finger, three bunched fingers and the two hand pieces, a left and a right half with an attached thumb.

First of all the assembled hands are weak. The pins used to hold the fingers in place and to give them motion are extremely small. The holes the pegs fit into are very close to the end of the hand so the plastic is quite thin. Too much rough treatment and I imagine they would break.

The second problem is the base of trigger finger; it is too long and interferes with kit holding its weapons.

The last problem is that the thumb is too fat and again keeps the kit from holding its weapons properly. Reducing the thumbs diameter with a little sandpaper will correct this and solve most of the interference of the trigger finger. Part of the problem with the hand holding its weapons are do to the weapons themselves…but more on that later.

Leg Units
The upper legs are made up of five pieces (and that includes two poly caps and screw! -not a whole lot of parts!) The upper leg is attached to the lower leg at the knee by a peg inserted into a poly-cap plug! This is bad as the lower legs are quite heavy and overtime could loosen up and slide off. I’m still working on a way to correct this.

The lower legs are actually quite nice. The detail molded into the leg is crisp. The legs themselves are simple two-piece affairs. All other details are attached to the completed assembly. Like the chest, they are all molded in color.

The last of the kits screws are used at this point. Bandai provides plastic plugs to fill in the hole that the screws leave behind.

An area that deserves recognition is the armored covers that are hinged over the feet. They swing out to make way for the foot to bend forward. Do to this design the kits foot can bend forward farther than most and allows the kit to do some amazing poses.

The feet are well designed and are made up of four pieces. Even these parts are broken down by color. There is nice detail on the bottom of the foot.

Much to my surprise, once the legs were completed they move very well!

Weapons & Accessories
This kit wears standard Gundam attire. A beam rifle, beam saber and shield. The design of the kits weapons work against poseability. The rifle is rather long and its stock and clip are always getting in the way of the chest. Combine this with the loose hands and trying to get the kit to hold its weapons can be quite frustrating. Another odd thing is that there is no trigger guard on the rifle. This would have solved all of the trouble with the hand holding the gun. It would have given the finger a place to go and would have relieved the hand from stress.

The shield and beam saber suffer from a common problem. The handles are to thin. The kit's hands have a tough time gripping them. The shield is a single piece and is too heavy for hands to deal with.

The beam saber is a neat design. It looks more like a medieval sword than a beam weapon.

The Good
Facial detail is great!

The legs are very poseable - kneeling, sitting and crouching are all possible

The parts breakdown is very painter friendly. Once the major assemblies are completed painting is a breeze.

It’s tall sleek design. Proportions are well done. It looks graceful just standing there.

The Bad
The hands!!!! I really can’t find anything redeeming about them. They are just plain terrible. They can be fixed, but not without some creative thought and a fair amount of effort.

The front armored flaps should have been done correctly. They must be fixed or they will be sitting at Re-Gz’s feet instead of hanging from its waist.

The beam rifles strange design.

No waist.

A lack of ball and socket joint, using these could have, a lot of articulation issues.

The kit feels strangely fragile.

In Closing
Despite the troubles this kit gave me I still really like the finished result. I suppose this is one of those "You get what you put into it" situations. The hands are the only part that would require a fair amount of work to fix. The rest are problems that someone with even limited modeling experience could handle.

I must say that this guy looks pretty impressive when completed. There is something arrogant about its design that I find fascinating. If you are a fan of 1/144 kits and think you can handle the challenge, by all means have a crack at it! This kit really has me primed and ready for the MG to be released. Then we will finally have a kit that truly does the Re-Gz justice !

~ This is a contributed review by David Bauer ~

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