Gunpla: The RMS-106 Hi-Zack in Master Grade

 

It's been 6ish years since I started modelling and writing about Gunpla on a frequent basis on this blog. It's never been a regular thing, but it always was a thing, especially if we count the 30 Minutes Missions stuff. And as with Transformers of late, I find myself a little bored. So, I thought, fuck it, try a cheap Master Grade as a change of pace. Inflation has meant that the value proposition has actually started to change in relation to the newest High Grades, and hopefully the larger scale makes for a different build experience. Was it? And was it any good? Ummmm.... Well, let me waffle about the design a bit before talking about the actual model.

I gave a reasonable summary of the Hi-Zack way back when I talked about the HG, and my opinion hasn't changed much in the time since. There's no compelling in universe reason why the Federation and especially the Titans, should be using this machine, and doubly so in these colours. I do like the Hi-Zack though, and for much the same reasons as I like the GM III. It looks like an aggressively overbuilt bombtruck of a thing, a design upgraded and upgunned beyond it's original specifications. I find it's flaws interesting, and it's daft place in the canon to be compelling. It's space fascism repackaged and upgraded for a new generation to fight. Possibly the most self-reverential choice a sequel could make at the time, in what would become typical for the franchise. Every Gundam series gets it's Zaku clone in it's starter kit, it's scènes à faire. And those that don't have actual Zakus instead. The Hi-Zack is the first from that template. It's just that it's got a lot of the same components. It's machine gun is literally the same as the old one, maybe not the best choice TBH, but it's been modernised with a new sensor. The heat hawk returns, but bigger, and the leg missile pods have been upgraded and moved to a waist mount. More Freddie design elements have came in via a beam rifle, beam saber, chest vents, and a forearm shield with storage for energy packs. This also leads to the most baffling thing about the Hi-Zack, it's inability to wield two beam weapons at once. That really should not have been a problem, and there's been various attempts to smooth that one out over the years, with a lot more GMs and such carrying machine guns, a better pre-production version, etc. But you have options there. There are circumstances where you don't want beam weapons, a big axe has the advantage of being a big axe, and so on.

Now, I built this kit over several weeks. Its big, fancy, and probably not worth rushing. I'd build a limb or two over a week, as while not necessarily intricate, it was time-consuming. If only due to it's bulk. As such, I've been rather back & forth and up & down with this kit, as I encountered the bits that have aged poorly. And made some dumbass mistakes. This has a 2004 copyright and feels like a big polycap High Grade, with some very HG flaws. I did not expect stickers to colour correct the toes, the right plastic colour for it is right there. Nor a waterslide decal for the monoeye. I was not pleased to see the axe was moulded in one colour only, but at least its an ignorable grey. The plastic in general is prone to cut marks, being suspiciously similar to older HGs, and I had trouble with basically everywhere. Maybe I should swallow my pride and try sanding sticks?  Moving onto the more luxurious elements worthy of the title Mastergrade: the distinctive yellow cabling. These are made with rubbery bits, with individual plastic rings, and are generally a ball ache. I lost two rings because I am a muppet, but even if there were spares, these are inherently a nuisance to prepare. Meanwhile, the articulated fingers are nice, but have the inevitable issue with actually holding things. On the positive side, I did like how the legs go together, and the accessory count, even with that there's some awkwardness with the implementation. If you want to stow the axe for example, you have to use the missile pods, while the machine gun lacks a spare drum, but the beam rifle has three energy packs. It's not bad. And it's entirely possible for a kit to be rough around the edges and still be fun, especially if it's got a lotta guns. See the Zaku I. But this honestly this was more tiresome than therapeutic a lot of the time. The kit, much like the Hi-Zack itself, is simply outdated.

Having completed the kit, and still not having found the missing rings, I opted for a weathering job to downplay my mistakes, like an actual glue mishap on the left hand. I also painted the monoeye, which moves incidentally.  Normally this is the point where I start to feel better about a troubled project, but then realised another component had gone astray, and I wasn't having a great day in the first place. Its was a bit of cabling for the upper thigh, and not immediately obvious, but another annoyance atop of a series of annoyances. Soooo, I don't think I'm a fan of Mastergrades, at least of this vintage. Not for relaxation or therapeutic purposes.

That's a downer.

Gunpla: The MSA-003 Nemo (HG)

 

In my apparent quest to revisit every Zeta Gundam design, I now present the Nemo. In my defence, this was not a conscious choice, and seems to be a reflection of what Bandai ships to my part of the world. 

The Nemo is a relatively obscure mobile suit, despite being only the second/third "good guy" grunt in the franchise. Technically. Kinda. Speaking in narrative terms, if not absolute terms. Depending on how you feel about the Rick Dias and such. Zeta was the first proper Gundam sequel, and the franchise tropes hadn't quite solidified yet. Functionally, it was an off-brand GM, built to outperform the contemporary Hizack and GM II. As such, the Nemo gets the basics right. Its the classical sword & board style of a Federation mobile suit; no stupid gimmicks, just solid design with newer tech. Its origins are possibly more interesting than the suit itself. It was made by Anaheim Electronics for the painfully named Anti Earth Union Group, AEUG, the protagonist faction of Zeta. Shady arms dealers amongst other things, Anaheim was a duplicitous conglomerate known for selling weapons to both sides in any given conflict. This was a habit that made the Universal Century tangibly worse, even if it was to be a net good in the Nemo's case. Said mobile suit is described as having various zeon-style design traits despite its appearance, a side-effect of Anaheim buying up expertise and arms companies after the One Year War ended. As well as other shady goings-on too messy to go into here. While performing well enough, and having a few spin-offs, the Nemo basically disappeared after Zeta. With the Titans gone, and AEUG absorbed back into the Federation, the Nemo was somewhat redundant. You don't need, really, a knock-off GM when you have the real thing. It effectively married back into the GM lineage, and wasn’t heard from again until Gundam Unicorn presented the act of prolonged fanwank that was the Torrington Base battle. Which prompted this kit.

 

My honest reaction when opening the box was a decidedly unfiltered "oh you mother-fucker". There is an utter indictment of a sticker sheet. Nothing I haven't seen before, or should be surprised by, but this is exactly the sort of thing that makes a gunpla unfun. The worst example are those shoulder vents which need five, I repeat, five (5) each. Either mould them in black, or just don't bother at that point. The leg thrusters need four each too. There is no red in this kit, that's all stickers. And why is there a yellow sticker for the head when we have a tiny sprue already in that colour? What budget cut or executive oversight mandated this? And its got a lot of polycaps too, should that be a deal-breaker.

So, the Barzam is looking pretty incredible right now. But does the Nemo do anything well? In fairness most things when not involving stickers. There's a frankly excessive 7 hands included with this kit, and the fundamentals are sound. The backpack thrusters are colour separated to an extent, and balljointed, for example. Stickers aside, its a decent kit for it's time, and compares well to more-modern grunts.  It's got a fairly involved construction too, not a full inner frame, but there's more going on than it looks. The sad thing is, while the Nemo would have been a fantastic candidate for the Leo/30MM style of construction, its not gonna get that treatment as this kit is good enough, even with the stickers. 

I gave this my standard weathering job, and used silver paint behind the visor. There's some interesting detail there. It turned out OK, but I think I’ll take a break from Zeta.

Gunpla: The NRX-044 Asshimar (HG)

 

Went it comes to transforming mecha, Gundam often feels a bit under-commited to the idea. Its something that's been there from day one with the Core Fighter concept, but entire series omit the feature, or otherwise relegate it to a gimmick. This often manifests in the mecha design itself, such machines usually having a trio of overlapping flaws. Often they don't turn into anything recognisable. Often the end result looks more like robot yoga. And when it doesn't? The transformation is not really achievable at the preferred 1/144 scale without some form of disassembly or cheating. The Asshimar is a rare exception to all that, both conceptually, and as a model kit.

Yes, the Asshimar is another Titans machine, and thus the usual comments about suspiciously zeonic designs and expensive prototypes apply, but I have to admit that they were onto something here. As a series, Zeta Gundam features a significant number of transformable suits, some more credible than others, and the yellow cyclops here does approach verisimilitude. Its not got any gimmickry beyond the transformation, and it is modestly-but-effectively armed with a big beam rifle. The lack of a melee weapon is unusual, but we see it punching things a lot, which is cool. It's bulky and top heavy due to its other form, and has Macross style thruster feet. The silhouette is rather different from the VF-1, and there's no obvious aircraft bits, but the comparison is unavoidable. But if you're gonna copy, copy from the best. Its a design I’m predisposed to like, and I did have the 1/200 scale HCM Pro version for a time. Of course, Ive been discussing this model in total seriousness so far, and not mentioned what it turns into. Purposefully. It's called a Mobile Armour, but we all know what it is. Its a bloody UFO. it's not an especially aerodynamic example of a UFO, and nor does it have obvious control surfaces, but I want to restate how snake belly low the bar is for these things. These are made for space combat usually, or just utterly disregard aerodynamics. The Asshimar at least adds curves and compresses it's form while appealing to my sense of whimsy.

 

As a kit from 2005, excuse me for a moment while I turn to dust, this HG model is part of the merchandising push for the Zeta Gundam compilation movies, and ends up feeling curiously old and modern at the same time. Its a polycap build, with a modest sticker sheet labelled with Japanese characters rather than numbers. There is a flight stand present, a huge boon for something that flies, although its a proprietary example that you literally screw together. Said stand also features dedicated storage for loose accessories, a quite luxurious touch in this context. The transformation is almost perfectly executed, with lots of tabs to secure things, although you may wish to pop an arm off for convenience. The monoeye is a foil sticker, but its placed behind a transparent panel which makes for a nice effect. Colour separation/accuracy is pretty good too, although this is one of those designs that has multi-coloured thrusters. Posability and articulation is where we see a notable but understandable weakness though. While decent-if-unexceptional in most areas, the transformation prevents waist rotation, and that’s a bit of a shame, but its not immediately clear how to better in a HG. I mean, when they made the closely-related Anksha in 2012 by retooling this kit, they fixed that, but it became a partsformer in the process. A shame, as the Anskha has more going on, but I digress. Otherwise? Its more or less on point for 2005 era kit, although the closed fists required glue for some reason.

I ended up doing another basic weathering job on this one, opting to paint in thruster details by hand. There I opted for a dark grey and metal combo as I strongly feel gundam mecha designers make life too difficult for themselves and everyone else by using more colour than that on a glorified nozzle. The kit takes paint pretty well actually, I had a violet that was ideal, and the dark grey came in handy elsewhere. I did manage to mess up one of the stickers though, but see if you can see where it should be. After that, a drybrush/wash weathering followed.


All in all? A good kit that turned out OK. And it can also do this.

I’m sorry.

Gunpla: The RMS-154 Barzam (HG)

 

Eh. Its been a while since I've done one of these. This post is a sequel of sorts to one of my earliest gunpla articles, featuring the Hizack. At the time, I pointed out how that machine made no sense in context of Titans faction, and the Barzam is much the same. I find it to be kinda fascinating. Appearing late in Zeta Gundam, its visual design screams villain, as a tall monoeye machine with unusual proportions. OK, fine, the Titans were very much mask off by that point, long-long before, but I've often felt the Titans-made mobile suits were too zeonic in appearance, even if our subject goes in new directions. While supposedly derived from the Gundam Mrk-II, the Barzam has almost no family resemblance, and bar a few details it might as well be a completely new machine. This is noteworthy as while the GM family is a lot more complex than it looks, those are usually just a headswap away from being a Gundam. Which has actually happened more than a few times, in either direction. Ancillary media has dedicated much time to explaining or fixing the Barzam, usually making it more like the Mrk-II, and also throwing in ties to other Titans mobile suits. The instructions point out you can switch backpacks with that model incidentally. That's a lot of retcons, ink and plastic spent on what amounts to a late-war grunt. While the Barzam is usually regarded as a capable machine, it didn't get fielded soon enough to really matter. Because if the Titans liked anything more than warcrimes, it was spending obscene amounts of money and time on prototypes. Like I said, too zeonic.

As a 2017 kit, the Barzam is quite modern and nicely designed, if still having the occasional polycap in there. Its exposed internal frame and general weirdness make for an interesting build. Colour separation is good, you could add red to the thrusters but life's too short, and the sticker sheet is very inoffensive. Its used for sensors and the occasional red detail, often in recessed areas, so that’s okay. I mean, they used three different plastic colours for the codpiece, for heaven's sake. An effort was made, but they did hollow out the trim on the buttplate. Its also somewhat big. Not super-big or anything, but even if we ignore the frill, its on the tall/wide side for a High Grade.

 

 

One thing that confused me at first was the gun. I'd assumed that the gun would sit flush with the arm, possibly having a connector piece, but no, it just floats there, held by a long handle. The shoulder connection is nice, but the whole affair feels somehow wrong in a way that I can't quite put into words...

Once I had this together, I went in to paint a few details, before weathering it, and applying the sensor stickers. I don't think the weathering comes across well in the photos, its rather subtle. It turned out OK though.


All-in-all, this is a pretty decent gunpla with an odd look. That odd look is both a strength and a weakness, but if you want a weird grunt, I doubt the Barzam will disappoint.

The Mecha Hack: Four More Chassis Things

Something I enjoy about the Mecha Hack is how easy it is to, well, Hack. I've been able to produce no end of material because of this, a lot being used in my RPG group. Today's article is much the same, based on concepts I brainstormed in preparation for a new campaign. I don't think I'll end up using these, as I'm currently favouring a different concept, but maybe you can get use out of them? What follows is a bunch of Gundam style grunts, designed to replace the stock 4 chassis, in a smaller scale conflict. Like Zeta...

The Cannoneer Chassis

Inspiration: RGC-83 GM Cannon II, GN-005 Gundam Virtue

The thing about the Titan chassis is that it's very defensive. That's not a complaint, just an observation. Sometimes though, you might want something more proactive, hence this. The Cannoneer is intended as a durable fire platform, stopping short of the Colossus and its transformation gimmick. It has a different gimmick instead, allowing a player to shed armour for agility. This makes it look like something of a good-all-rounder, but its more about long-range stuff.

CANNONEER CHASSIS

HIT DIE D10 DAMAGE DIE D6 REACTOR DIE D6

STARTING HP
1d10 + 5

WEAPONS AND ARMOUR
All weapons and armour.

LEVELLING UP
Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Presence and System. At levels 3, 6, & 9, gain a new module.

STARTING EQUIPMENT
Comlink, Heavy Armour (5AP), Small Shield (2AP), Machete (Light Melee Weapon), and Assault Rifle (Light Ranged Weapon).

DESIGN FEATURES

TWIN SHOULDER CANNONS: As an attack action, test Power. If you succeed, deal 2d6 damage, divided as you choose between enemies at far or distant range. Roll your reactor die.

PURGE ARMOUR: As a use action, spend all/any remaining AP & discard your Twin Shoulder Cannons to gain a + 2 bonus to mobility. This lasts until the end of the combat, and the equipment is restored at the next full rest. 

 

The Corax Chassis

Inspiration: OZ-12SMS Taurus

Going slightly more specific for our first Gundam Wing reference of the day, the Corax is a Scout replacement. These are perhaps slightly toned down from the Taurus, these has the virtue of an easy flight mode, and a better damage die than the regular Scout. This means its more about speed than sneaking, but doesn't have to spend a whole turn on the wind-up for an attack. The AI function is intended to suggest a technically competent, but dumb as a sack of hammers robot brain, which is quite representative of the show.

CORAX CHASSIS

HIT DIE D6 DAMAGE DIE D8 REACTOR DIE D6

STARTING HP
1d6 + 3

WEAPONS AND ARMOUR
Light weapons, heavy ranged, & light armour.

LEVELLING UP
Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Mobility and System. At levels 3, 6, & 9, gain a new module.

STARTING EQUIPMENT
Comlink, Light Armour (3AP) & Beam Rifle (Light Ranged Weapon).

DESIGN FEATURES

FLIGHT FORM: As a use action, transform. While transformed, you ignore difficult terrain, can move two range bands with one move action, but may not use melee weapons. Return to normal with a use action.

DRONE AI: Your machine can be programmed and/or instructed remotely to act in combat, as fully functional drone. While doing so your mecha has no pilot type, Power: 10, Mobility: 10, System: 5, Presence: 2, and the same HP/AP. Triggering or cancelling this ability requires a Use action.

The Mock Chassis

Inspiration: RMS-106 Hi-Zack 

OK, this is an example of an idea running away with me, and I'm not sure where to take it next. As I have commented before, the Hizack is something that makes no sense in context. It's a machine objectively worse than everything else the Federation had en-mass at the time, it looks like Zeon made it, and its operated by an organisation with "Fuck Zeon" tattoos. I first thought if it as a low cost grunt with thematic flaws, and then came the inspiration. Its an aggressor for war games. Its a false flag unit. A, wait for it, Mecha of Disguise. So, this chassis has the start of a subterfuge mechanic, that I never quite finished. I also added a damage die mechanic to represent the Hizacks power issues. This could actually benefit such a player's cover story, pulling a few punches and so on. Mechanically, this fills the role of a Striker, my logic being that a conman would need a good eye and fast mouth, and that sort of thing is System and Presence.

I realise that I may have put more thought into this than Sunrise did.

MOCK CHASSIS

HIT DIE D8 DAMAGE DIE D6* REACTOR DIE D6

STARTING HP
1d8 + 4

WEAPONS AND ARMOUR
All weapons and armour.

LEVELLING UP
Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Presence and System. At levels 3, 6, & 9, gain a new module.

STARTING EQUIPMENT
Comlink, Light Armour (3AP), Small Shield (2AP), Heat Axe (Light Melee Weapon) and Autocannon (Light Ranged Weapon).

DESIGN FEATURES

REPURPOSED AGGRESSOR UNIT: You may reconfigure this machine so it resembles a different mecha with relative ease. You also reroll 20s when attempting to maintain that cover, infiltrate enemy installations and general subterfuge, assuming your disguise is credible.

OBSOLETE POWER CONDUITS: As a use action, change your damage die to one of the following 3 settings. A: your damage die is d8 for melee, but d4 for ranged. B: your damage for is d4 for melee, but d8 for ranged. C: reset your damage die to normal. This effect lasts until changed or the end of the battle.

The Trooper Chassis

Inspiration: The OZ-06MS Leo

As you may have observed, I kinda love the Leo. The poor, cannon fodder unit seemingly made from eggshell and dynamite. The only time this ever did well was when a big name piloted one, so I'm gonna use that as a justification to make this a Brawler analogue. Leos are very much my platonic ideal of a Grunt unit; it's entirely utilitarian in design, it comes in broadly sensible colours, and it's got a big selection of kit. As such, the focus here is adaptability and the stereotypically Russian approach to war materiel. Modules become easily swapped in the manner of missiles on jet fighters, or SEEDs various backpacks. You may wish to create a curated module list for that purpose. Meanwhile if, sorry, when these fall in combat, they can just get a new machine, no trouble.

TROOPER CHASSIS

HIT DIE D6 DAMAGE DIE D8 REACTOR DIE D6

STARTING HP
1d6 + 3

WEAPONS AND ARMOUR
All weapons and armour.

LEVELLING UP
Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Power and Mobility. At levels 3, 6, & 9, gain a new module.

STARTING EQUIPMENT
Comlink, Light Armour (3AP), Round Shield (2AP), Beam Saber(Light Melee Weapon) and Drum Machinegun (Light Ranged Weapon).

DESIGN FEATURES

SURVIVABLE AND DISPOSABLE: If you are reduced to 0 HP, do not roll on the chart. Instead apply the "eject" result, and receive an identical replacement machine when there's a gap in the fighting.

FLEXIBLE MISSION HARDPOINTS: During Downtime, you may swap out any/all of your modules for the next mission, subject to GM approval. The module(s) listed on your character sheet are considered your default load-out.

If you do use these rules, do let me know how it turns out.

Gunpla: The RMS-117 Galbaldy β (HGUC)

As you are likely to have noticed, Bandai is fond of merchandising its Gundam Franchise on a scale worthy of Star Wars. Big names come first, and there is a tendency to skip villains, but everything gets done sooner or later. The Galbaldy Beta is an example of this. Its part of the highly regarded series Zeta Gundam, and appeared in a fairly important early scene. However, its screen time otherwise was short, and Zeta had a glut of designs, and it seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. This 2018 kit is probably the most attention it's ever gotten. 

 

 

As a project, I was initially bemused by its large number of sprues. The Galbaldy is not an especially big or complex suit, its basically a Zeon-looking chap with a sword/gun/saber combo, so this puzzled me. The excessive sprue count seems to have been in aid of a double-dip on the mould, namely the Build Divers Galbaldy Rebake. This is actually great for colour separation, but he kit feels more complex than it needs to be. The ab joint is good example, as it adds maybe 5 degrees of movement before popping out, which is a real shame as there's a second balljoint in there for this purpose. Similarly, you do get opening beam saber storage in the shoulders, but its purely decorative, with the actual weapons being too long to fit. There's also a removable chest panel for the cockpit, but there's nowt underneath. Finally, you only get 3 stickers for this, 2 being perfectly acceptable, but then there's the monoeye. If it had just gone on a flat piece, it would have been fine, but some bright spark moulded the monoeye in too, so it doesn't sit right. Basically, they could have gone simpler for any/all of those areas and ended up with a better kit. Or tried harder and maybe increase the price by 15%.

None of this to suggest its bad kit, mind you. The Galbaldy Beta has that "good grunt" vibe, and went together with no issue at all. Take care with the ab joint, and you've got a perfectly posable dude. Its got a nice gun, a couple of beam sabres, and a collapsing shield. Aside from the somewhat Char colours, its the platonic idea of a grunt, or possibly an elite mook. The story behind the design is interesting too, essentially being a link between the Gelgoog, Gyan and Rick Dias, which makes sense when you look at the details.

 

 

If I'm honest, this was ever so slightly unsatisfying to me as a project. Its not that its bad, far from it. Its that its good, but could so easily have been great. And there's not much finishing it needs, other than fixing the monoeye, which looks more trouble than its worth. I think I'd rather have a kit with obvious but understandable flaws, rather than one that was 90% good, and 10% questionable design choice. Its like a film that's good apart from one or two scenes that could have so easily have been cut. Maybe the Rebake is more up my alley?

Gunpla: The RX-121-1 Gundam TR-1 [Hazel Custom]

A key appeal of Gundam is a kind of Military-Industrial Techno-Porn. Its all about giant robots being treated with a level of seriousness otherwise found in model railways and armchair historians. Or maybe its more like reading one of those technical manuals they write for Star Trek. Gundam universes tend to be pretty good at treating their robots with consistent realism, or the appearance thereof. Probably the pinnacle of this is the manga/photo-comic/design-series Advance Of Zeta, an in-between series set just before Zeta Gundam. This features a bewildering number of prototypes and variants, some of which are named for the rabbits from Watership Down, AKA that cartoon/novel that traumatises British kids every bank holiday. Today's subject is the Gundam TR-1 [Hazel Custom], which as far as I can figure is a is a weird case of things coming full circle, design-wise.

This iteration of the Hazel, as mentioned there's many variants, is immediately notable for detail and chonk. It's got a fairly intricate design for a high grade, and this is largely achieved by plastic colours, with stickers being used in acceptable places like sensors and badges. This is nice. Said detail comes from the extensive upgrades the Hazel featured, bulging out from an otherwise slender frame, adding serious girth below the belt. It's a GM that got upgraded so much it became a Gundam again, like an attempt by computer enthusiasts to turbocharge an office PC into a bitcoin rig. While proportioned like a man wearing half a robot costume. The bottom half, mainly. For reference, here's a picture of the base machine, the GM Quel, as drawn by the same artist. 

This gives the Hazel what can only be called "a look", but not a bad one. The third thing you notice though are the assorted little details that have not been colour separated, and TBH, the original mecha designer was clearly self-indulgent in this area. No, we need not red finger tips. Nor thrusters in more than one contrasting colour. Said colour should also be burnt metal. Life is too damn short for such things. Even without that it's an involved build, with plenty in the way of seam lines and inconvenient places to cut parts from their runners. While certainly pleasing to the eye just assembled and stickers applied, paint would be mandatory for Hazel fans to do those details and hide a few sins. I am aware of the hypocrisy of saying all this after the Zaku 2 incident. Possibly this design is better suited to a larger price bracket, but being too ambitious is hardly a sin.

I'm much happier with the range of motion, though. There's double-jointed elbows, shoulders that tilt forward, and dramatic bends in the legs. The rest of the articulation is decent, and while nothing is exceptional, everything seems to be there and solid. Accessories certainly aren't bad either. The rifle comes with spare clips, if purely decorative ones, and while you get only the one beam saber, there's a dedicated hand for it. There is, surprisingly, two different shields. The logic behind this is seemingly one of Advance's technological "missing links" between regular mobile suits and the more unusual Titans prototypes, giving us a disposable shield with a rocket engine. Well, I say logic. Strapping a fuel canister to something that catches bullets seems somehow unsound to me. It is possible to mount this on the backpack though, so no harm done.

The tone of the write up is admittedly flippant at times, but don't let that fool you into thinking that I don't respect this model. I'm no expert, but I think Bandai brought its A game to this at the time, being great for 2005,  whichs adds up to pretty good for now. That said, I would not recommend this for a beginner, or for someone like myself whom wants a more casual time. I'm just not fond of fiddly detail at this scale. However, I'd like to come back to this when I'm confident that I can do it justice.

Gunpla: The HGUC Hizack

OK, lets see if I can make a regular go of this, or if I'll just loose interest as time goes on. 

I think I'll start with my most recently completed work, the RSM-106 Hizack. It's from Zeta Gundam, the first Gundam sequel, is which is about a less apocalyptic, but dirtier war. Basically, after the Federation beat Zeon, it got into some really bad habits, and the sequel follows a rebellion against it, the Anti Earth Union Group (AEUG). The thing about the Hizack is that there is basically no justification for it that works in-universe. I could be wrong, there was retcons, but still. The Hizack is a modernised version of the Zaku 2, with the same colours. Fair enough, if it was a Zeon spinoff, or even the AEUG, fielding it. Even with Zeon gone, there should be loads of Zakus knocking about for rebels to use. Trouble is, it's the Federation antagonists using this, and more specifically, The Titans. Yes, the famously elitist, Earth-first, fuck-Zeon, Titans special forces group use this thing. Seriously, guys, does this not get confusing? Does friendly fire not happen? I mean, the regular Federation forces at least paint the things blue, FFS. And what's more, isn't this thing technically obsolete versus the GM series you already have? Those can at least carry two beam weapons at once. It's not like you captured these, and went "waste not, want not". That happens in war a lot. No, somebody in the Federation decided to make thier own, seemingly leaving the design unmodified, and then gave the most Zeonic version to the guys specifically about killing Zeon stragglers. Was this a dark joke? The only credible explanation is that Sunrise/Bandai realised the Zaku 2 was a popular design, and wanted another, BUT also refused to let it be heroic.

Either that, or someone asked the Titans "Are we the baddies?" and they gave the hardest yes they could. 

Anyways. Actually putting it together was quite simple, although this probably has more to do with its "2000" stamp on the runners, than any deliberate design choice. It's mainly matter of joining two parts to form a body part, very easy, but this produces many longitudinal seams, with articulation being basic to solid. I also found the process of separating parts from the sprue to be a consistent ball-ache, with unavoidable stubs appearing in obvious places like the top of the head. The golden tubes were also unfun, being made of a rubbery plastic you have to bend, so maybe a bit of glue, there. On the plus side, the Hizack easily benefited from several basic touch-up techniques, being my first test subject for a Gundam Marker. That, and a Nuln Oil wash for the cables, really brought things to life. Mephiston Red was also used to finish the gunsight, and stickers for the monoeye was applied, although not the feet as I felt it was unnecessary. Yeah, I could paint some bits of the feet and backpack, but picking out those details would undermine the military green. I probably need to go back and do the star on that shield though. 

Despite my posing of it, its not actually possible for the Hizack to make use of the side handle on its machine gun. This would require some cutting of the component, and that's a bit of a shame, as otherwise the posability of the kit isn't bad. Certainly does “imposing grunt” well enough, and I'm possibly answering my own question with that. Also, I suppose he'd do well with a beam saber. If he came with one...

Generally, I'm pleased with how it turned out, but I'm disappointed with with the lack of weapon options, and was a little tetchy during assembly.