The Gundams A Go-Go Thread

[buddho]

Mar 13, 2024 17:29:22 GMT -5 mz3 said:

BUILD IT!!!

Yes yes.... please do!🤓

[Real G]

…I’m about to…

[dupes]

Mar 13, 2024 13:58:43 GMT -5 Real G said:

The distractions keep coming in the mail:







When this kit was first announced, I was crushed that it was one of those P Bandai on-line exclusives, and that we here in the US could not get it.  But thankfully Bandai has decided that taking our money was not so bad after all, and set up US on-line access to these kits.

So why the jubilation over an odd-looking mobile suit with a weirdly long proboscis?  Because this was one of the early MSV (Mobile Suit Variation) designs penned by the original creator Kunio Okawara.  I became a huge fan of these MSVs the moment I saw them back in the early 1980s.  They took the original TV show designs and gave them a more distinctly military look, which sounds silly today, but I feel was instrumental in the evolution of the "Real Robot" genre in Japanese anime.  Plus I also love anything Zaku, which the Gouf was based on.  And my favorite character from the original TV show was Ramba Ral, who piloted a Gouf.

I must have been so excited that I fell asleep on the instructions last night and left a nice, big crease.     Too much excitement no doubt.  So anyway, the kit is based on the 1/100 scale Master Grade Zaku 2.0, which is what MZ3 built in his awesome thread.  The Prototype Gouf uses most of the Zaku's underpinnings with new exterior armor parts.  I like the overall design, but two areas I am thinking of tinkering with are the backpack and left arm.  The Prototype Gouf has a normal arm without the 5x 75mm gun "fingers" of the standard Gouf.  I am thinking of making something "in between", like an add-on pack or something.

"A Gouf without finger machine guns is not a Gouf, boy!

Not a Gouf!"

I'm glad to see this kit being so highly recommended...I have one on the way from P-Bandai. 😬

[Real G]

Dupes,

You get a gold star for exhibiting excellence in Mobile Suit kit choice!  



So here is what's in the box.

First the common parts from Bandai's excellent Zaku 2.0.



Then the bits from the Gouf 2.0.





And finally the new parts for the Prototype Gouf.



Some runners are duplicated, but in different colors to achieve the correct mix-n-match.

[dupes]

Mmmmmm...tasty! The plastic looks a lot less orange and a lot more tan than the box art suggests.

[Real G]

Mar 14, 2024 22:49:44 GMT -5 dupes said:

Mmmmmm...tasty! The plastic looks a lot less orange and a lot more tan than the box art suggests.

Dupes,

My camera phone goes all over the place with color whenever I shoot something on my building mat.  I think the green confuses the sensor.  Anyway, the sand color is kind of like RLM-79, the desert yellow used on the Luftwaffe's Afrika Corps planes.

I got some low-intensity work done last night, just cleaning up the exterior armor pieces.  There are so many "not for use" parts and identical parts in two colors that I decided to get the correct parts off the trees.



I am having second thoughts about the tan paint scheme, as there are on-line photos of the Gundam Origins HGUC Prototype Gouf in fetching green:

[lyle]

Soooo many opportunities to lose stuff!

[dupes]

Ooooooh...the green is nice!

[mz3]

Why won't bandai release a gouf custom already?!?! It's baffling the way they release kits.

[dupes]

Mar 16, 2024 9:18:49 GMT -5 mz3 said:

Why won't bandai release a gouf custom already?!?! It's baffling the way they release kits.

Are you looking for HG or MG? There are kits out there!

kingshobby.com/store/master-grade-ms-07b-3-gouf-custom-bandai-100567

[mz3]

2.0. I should have put that in there. I have both the old mg and the hg. The hg has been ready for paint for about a year and the mg I've been slowly modifying over the same time frame.

[Real G]

Bandai is probably too busy with their current series to bother giving us old fans stuff we want. Back in the late 1990s through the early 2000s it was raining UC MG kits.

Now it’s all Pee Bandai.

I have been patiently waiting for a 2.0 Zaku based Desert Type Zaku, which is my favorite MSV design. And if they did the Prototype Dom and Tropical Test Type Dom, I would be so happy. Another fan favorite yet to see daylight is a MG Hygog from 0080. And while I’m daydreaming, I’d also like to see MGs of the Xeku Eins, Zaku III Custom, and Zeta Plus 2.0.

[Real G]

Mar 15, 2024 13:02:03 GMT -5 lyle said:

Soooo many opportunities to lose stuff!

Such is the price to pay when building Gundam type kits.

It is actually more efficient to get all the parts off the trees and organize them by sections, i.e. head, body, arms, legs, weapons, etc.  The reason is that the major parts need to be test fit, to see where paint needs to go and where it does not need to go.  A coat of paint can interfere with fit or operation of the joints.

[dupes]

Mar 15, 2024 12:56:40 GMT -5 Real G said:

Mar 14, 2024 22:49:44 GMT -5 dupes said:

Mmmmmm...tasty! The plastic looks a lot less orange and a lot more tan than the box art suggests.

Dupes,

My camera phone goes all over the place with color whenever I shoot something on my building mat.  I think the green confuses the sensor.  Anyway, the sand color is kind of like RLM-79, the desert yellow used on the Luftwaffe's Afrika Corps planes.

Mine does exactly the same thing! All over the place with the wrong color background.

I just got my March P-Bandai box in a few days ago - this was in there. I'm liking how the kit looks already.

[Real G]

So what else came in the box Dupes?  Nosy minds want to know!

[dupes]

Let's see...that box had a white-only entry grade RX-78 (to facilitate painting!). I got the Gundam Base HG Mk II - I really like that scheme. The other kit was my last missing piece of my MG Tallgeese collection - the Fluegel EW. Egads that thing is hot.

[Real G]

Okay let's build!       I finally got my taxes done, so it's free sailing from now on.  Plus it's hobby day at the Krab Kave (aka my house) on Saturday!

Looking at the Proto Gouf, I wonder why it doesn't have any thrusters?  I know the MS-06J land combat type Zaku lacked foot thrusters, but it has them on the backpack.  I noticed the Proto Gouf's backpack has what looks like plugs where the Zaku's engines would have been.  Oh well, I'm being like those nerds that argue over minutiae that no one else notices of cares about.  Like the kids who asked Tim Allen's character in Galaxy Quest about some technical inconsistency in an episode.

[406 Silverado]

Apr 5, 2024 18:33:14 GMT -5 Real G said:

Okay let's build!       I finally got my taxes done, so it's free sailing from now on.  Plus it's hobby day at the Krab Kave (aka my house) on Saturday!

Looking at the Proto Gouf, I wonder why it doesn't have any thrusters?  I know the MS-06J land combat type Zaku lacked foot thrusters, but it has them on the backpack.  I noticed the Proto Gouf's backpack has what looks like plugs where the Zaku's engines would have been.  Oh well, I'm being like those nerds that argue over minutiae that no one else notices of cares about.  Like the kids who asked Tim Allen's character in Galaxy Quest about some technical inconsistency in an episode.

 Heck YEAH!!! Let's GO!! 

I feel pretty much the same way with my builds and the smaller details. I'm a stickler for getting things as right as I can get 'em. Looking forward to watching things get underway.