AMX-009 Dreissen

I kind of like old model kits. They're quaint in thier own way and they have the more interesting designs. Take for example this one: Bandai's 1988 1/144 scale AMX-009 Dreissen from Gundam ZZ. Designed by Yutaka Izubuchi, it's the ultimate evolution of the Dom series of MS and only available in this incarnation.

I know how troublesome Bandai's old kits can be; shitty articulation, massive painting to be done, non-snap-fit construction, but I wasn't complaining. I always liked the design of the Dreissen and this old kit would really test my abilities in airbrushing.



Pleasantly surprising, this was up to Bandai's legendary quality. The parts fit snugly with little reconstrauction work to be done and the mold quality was good, with no pits in the plastic. I also used Gunze's Mr. Base White as a paint primer and this worked exceptionally well, as you can see in the painting on the torso.



I also tried my hand at doing my own custom masking, though this wasn't as good as I hoped for with the letters slightly askew. Glue construction too was weak, with the model breaking apart a few times when it fell to the floor... Still, It's a great, solid classic kit. I'll be getting more from this series. (I apologize for the shittly green-tint pics. Someone pinched my camera.) More here: http://flickr.com/photos/genosider/sets/72157594462892083/

Model number: AMX-009
Code name: Dreissen
Unit type: mass production general purpose mobile suit
Manufacturer: Neo Zeon
Operator: Neo Zeon
First deployment: UC 0088
Accommodation: pilot in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 23.4 meters; head height 22.0 meters
Weight: empty 36.7 metric tons; max gross 66.8 metric tons; mass ratio 1.50
Construction: gundarium alloy on monocoque frame
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 2380 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 2 x 21400 kg, 4 x 9800 kg, 3 x 8600 kg; vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 16
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration 1.61 G
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 13100 meters
Fixed armaments: 2 x 3-barrel beam cannon, power rated at 2.8 MW, mounted in forearms; 3 x tri-blade, melee throwing weapon, stored on racks on backpack, hand-carried in use
Optional hand armaments: beam lancer, power rated at 1.7 MW, powered by rechargeable energy cap, can be combined with beam tomahawk; beam tomahawk, power rated at 0.92 MW, powered by rechargeable energy cap, can be combined with beam lancer

Arsenal: Tri-blades and assorted beam tomahawks and beam saber


Front view:












It's the axe murderer...

The definition of insanity

Well, not to a die-hard gundam fan at least.

Check this out: A Hong Kong company specializing in making optional parts for gunpla is releasing this; a full-scale converison kit for the MG Ex-s Gundam to turn it into the Plan 303E Deep Strike MA variant. Stuffed full of feature, it boasts ABS plastic parts, photo-etch decals, aluminium parts, optical fibres, LEDs... the works. Not to mention a massive stand to hold this monster up. Check out the price too; USD 290 which would put it at near RM 1000, right up in the neighbourhood with the HGUC GP03D.



While this might seem like an example of insane indulgence, One can see that this thing is well, as much as a piece of art as one of those Michaelangelo statues. Check out their site: http://www.g-system-shop.com Holy shit; a cornocupia of the very best in mechanical beauty... I'd like to get one too if buying one would'nt wipe out a month's worth of my salary.

You know that I have voiced my aversion to Gundam Seed kits, but from time to time I am forced to swallow the bitter pill of hypocrisy, or just give leeway to my principles. Currently here in Malaysia, it has never been a better time to be a modeler. We call it the ‘Happy Time’.

The combination of an explosion of collectible hobby shops and the emergence of Gundam to the mainstream has resulted in a massive price drop in Gunpla. Previous prices have now dropped down to Yen price, and if you’re lucky you might find one of even less. That mean previous ones of RM 79.70 or 89.90 can be found for RM 50 or less. Unless you’re stupid enough to go buying for these in department stores. It’s a price war that is going on kids, and that’s the beauty of a market economy. Go to hell communism.

Anyway, this story begins way back before the price war. I was looking for a kit to test out my modeling skills when I stumbled across a kit of the MVF-M11C Murasame from Seed Destiny… It was simple-looking, not too fancy, simple color scheme, being a transformable MS made it a plus too, and it was cheap, (by the standards of that time) so I bought it. (Later, to my chagrin, it would be sold for half the price…)

Review time! Construction-wise, it’s simple and solid, what a modern Bandai kit would expect to offer. It seems that the designer was going for the half-Zeta Gundam half-VF-1 Valkyrie look, because that is what it is. Even in the anime it’s supposed to be quite powerful as Andrew Waltfield makes it his personal suit and a force of 3 was able to take down the Chaos Gundam. Design wise, like many Seed suits it’s simple and unimaginative but it’s plane mode is where it shines. Clever, and I do have to admit, kind of cool. Much fun to be had posing this around. Coloring the thing was kind of poor; this was my first time spray painting and some parts I used too much paint or did a piss-poor job, so it was basically a trial and error/ touch and go thing. Still, it’s not half-bad, and I did learn some lessons that I would use in my next kit.

And here are some mobile suit facts for you!

Model number: MVF-M11C
Code name: Murasame
Unit type: mass production transformable mobile suit
Manufacturer: Morgenroete, Inc
Operator: Orb Union
First deployment: unknown
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 17.82 meters
Weight: max gross weight 46.88 metric tons
Construction: unknown
Powerplant: ultracompact energy battery, power output rating unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments: 2 x M2M5D 12.5mm CIWS, fire-lined, mounted in head; 4 x M2M5D 12.5mm CIWS, mounted on wings, operable only in mobile armor form; Type 70J Kai beam saber, stored on hips, hand-carried in use; Type 72 high-energy beam cannon, mounted on back, operable only in mobile armor form; anti-air missile launcher (4 x Type 66A air-to-air missile "Hayate"); shield, mounted on left arm in mobile suit mode
Optional hand armaments: Type 72 Kai "Ikazuchi" beam rifle, power rating unknown

More pictures can be seen here: http://flickr.com/photos/genosider/sets/72157594462894411/

Arsenal:


Front view:






MA mode:


VS Chaos Gundam. just like the anime!

How giant robots changed my life

I was 7 years old. We were just entering Primary 1 (that’s the 1^st grade for you Americans) and the Pencilbox wars were in full swing…

What was the pencilbox wars, you may ask? Well, as kids, we were always attracted to gimmicks; pencilboxes included. And between the doldrums of class, crying pants-wetters and stupid spelling lessons, we would pretend that our pencilboxes were battlestations or tanks, engaging in maneuvers rivaling the ferocity of the Gulf War. Rubbers became tanks, pencil sharpeners became hurricane emitters, pencils were now ICBMS… Even I was caught up in this madness. Eventually my parents got me one to placate my tantrums, but little did I know it would change my life forever. It was a picture of a robot.

It was a picture of a robot on my pencilbox, to be exact. A white shining metal giant, armed to the teeth with laser cannons and emblazoned with the words ‘Gundam’ on it, it would stay in my psyche for the next few years… Fast forward to my 10^th birthday. This ‘Gundam’ robot had been backburning in my mind now, and since this was the days before the Internet, little means existed for me to find out more about it.

It was around this time I got into plastic modeling. My first affairs were rather sad, misshapen, glue-encrusted things. Obviously, at that age, I had absolutely no idea what I doing. They weren’t cheap too, being the massive plane kits from Revell and Monogram. So it was by no surprise that my parents initially balked when I innocently requested for a Gundam model for my birthday.

But when they did get me one, man, was I blown away by what I saw. Instead of the sad grey the plane kits usually came in, this one was molded in full color… It had loads of weapons and nigh posability, before the week was out I had already worn out its joints. I was hooked. I had to have more! My teenage life was then dedicated into getting into Gundam, finding out more about the myriad series it had, watching the crappy Chinese dubs whenever I could, eking out my pocket money savings to get more kits… which I promptly built crappily. By that time, my encyclopedic knowledge of Gundam made me a minor celebrity among some other like-minded individuals that I managed to get into this genre.

It’s now the 21^st century. By now, I've been doing this for over 10 years. I'm older, still girlfriend-less, and more cynical somewhat... Gundam has grown big, and currently, the world of Gundam is split into two; the ever-enduring Universal Century (UC) and the shitty Gundam Seed franchise. Why did I call Gundam Seed shitty? I’ve got oodles of reasons, but I’ll leave those for another time. As for Gundam models, or Gunpla, as the chic like to call them now, I currently travel three paths; HGUC, vintage, and again shitty Gundam Seed.

Let me tell you about my preferences. I’m kind of an Out Of Box (OOB) fan; I don’t really modify my kits. Also, I’m a 1/144 scale builder. This is where the majority of Gunpla kits reside so the variety is large. Besides, I don’t have the resources to build a MG 1/100 kit. Coming back to the kits, HGUC stands for High Grade Universal Century, which feature classic UC designs done up all with the most advanced model technology Bandai can field. Vintage is those old kits way before the High Grade standard, hard to build, but having a quaint feel to them. And finally the Seed kits. I have mixed feelings for this line. There’s a large pool of kits, but the down side is that the designs are really fucking unimaginative. UC designs are the culmination of the works of some of the industry’s greatest talents, like Kunio Okawara, Yutaka Izubuchi, Mamoru Nagano and God himself, Hajime Katoki, but the Seed MS design are basically cookie cutter copies of themselves; minimalist, flat and spindly. And what the fuck is up with engrish acronyms like ZAKU, GOUF and DOM? Unimaginative idiots.

Still, beggars can’t be choosers and I usually end up buying them, but rarely and only those designs I feel strongly about. Here in Malaysia, Gunpla building is quite big, with a few major contests within a year. I’ve joined the main forum there, Zero-G. There’s a lot of talented people there that can give a pointer to the budding modeler or so, so do pay them a visit.

So as now you can see, Gundam has become a very important part of the fibre of my being. It's something that I can't live without and can't get away from. Problem is, girls don't really like guys who do these types of stuff...