1/100 MG Strike Launcher / Sword

This is the 1/100 scale Master Grade Strike Gundam with the Launcher / Sword pack. This is not the first Strike master Grade I've built (my third actually), but it is far and away my favorite. The other two Strikes were the Aile and Rouge Aile version. Both of those come with a large launcher base and the Aile pack making them simply striking, but this kit has so many more options. The Strike Gundam in this kit is identical to the normal Strike MG. The difference comes shows with the Launcher and Sword packs. It took me longer to assemble all the bits and pieces of the weapons than the mobile suit itself. It comes with a flight stand identical to several other MG kits. I know it's the same as the 1/100 MG Wing Zero Custom's stand. The detail on this kit is what you would expect from the Master Grade series. It is simply superb. The number of parts in this kit is impressive. It was definitely one of the larger Master Grade boxes I've ever received. It comes with a combination of standard sticker markings and the better quality rub transfer type. All the larger markings are rub. Some of the larger areas of plastic show some swirling in the mold which is a little unusual for a Master Grade. This is most noticeable on the red shield panel and some of the launcher pieces. I don't remember how long it took me to complete this kit, but it was almost a week of evenings. This kit, as pictured, was completed with no paint outside of the panel detail pulled out with very fine Gundam markers of several colors. This will be a striking (pun intended) addition to your Gundam collection. I have no real complaints.

1/100 MG RX-78-5 Gundam G05

 

My first review is for a kit I might not have purchased had it not been for my brother. Now it is one of my favorite 1/100 Master Grade kits.

My brother had a pleasant experience with this kit, loved the result, and recommended it to me. I usually purchase and build the main character mobile suits, not what I believe to be support suits. I am glad that I made an exception.

This is the 1/100 scale Master Grade RX-78-5 Gundam G05 E.F.S.F. Prototype Mobile Suit of Space Battle Use. As with all Master Grade kits, the part count and detail are impressive. The kit comes on 13 plastic trees including the poly caps and transparent red weapon tree. Unlike most Master Grades this kit actually includes some small screws. The parts release is amazing and the color parts have almost no mold swirling. The assembly was very straight forward, albeit time consuming thanks in no small part to the massive 90mm gatling gun. The ammo belt for the gun is assembled from over 30 different pieces and a wide flat belt of wire. All the optional parts and weapons actually took me as long to assemble as the main mobile suit.

There are optional shoulder units, optional forearm units, a beam rifle, gatling gun, shield, 2 beam sabers, and 2 optional pieces on the backpack that appear to be power packs. The RX-78-5 has the same articulation as one would expect from the Master Grade series. This looks stunning and I keep it displayed on the same shelf as a MG GP-01. I personally think the GP-01 looks slightly better, but this kit holds its own.

The negatives that I encountered were few and pretty small. The sticker sheet has clear detail, but the surrounding area is a bit large on some of the smaller labels. This is noticeable on the cockpit decal on the left side of the torso. The rub transfers on mine were a little brittle. I have only had similar issues with one other kit. Usually the rub transfers are easy to use and gorgeous. The instructions called for trimming the gatling cable to 155mm. This left the cable a little long and the square modules were a little loose. This was easily corrected. In their defense I would prefer they tell us to leave it too long than make it too short. With all the optional parts attached the articulation suffers, but I don’t play with my mobile suits. I only change their poses every few months.

I assembled this kit as I do almost all of my Gundam kits. The parts were left in their original molded colors. Details and panel lines are detailed individually. On this kit I used a fine black gundam marker to pull out panel detail on all colored parts and the larger, deeper details on the white parts. A fine grey gundam marker was used for the panel lines on the white parts as I personally feel that black panel lines on a 1/100 white part just look too heavy.

In all this is one of the more impressive Master Grade kits I have. Not bad for a model I would not have spent my money on if my brother hadn’t been really happy with his.