1/60 Strike Freedom 'Lightning Edition' (Pictures inside!)

Sounds like I nice kit, I think it should weigh what about three pounds when done?  If I had one I would be scared to work on all the LEDS in the kit. 35 doller custom fee dang, lucky here in the US dont have to pay anything. Looking forward to pics.

Yeah, well, Sweden adds a 25% (of the item price) fee on the package if it passes through the customs.

Expensive package = massive extra-fee on the package. Sucks, but you just have to live with it. It dosen't have to be checked by the customs, but the chance is small.

And I decided on the paint now. I decided to go with the standard color scheme for it for various reasons. One being I don't have the black and grey paints I needed to do it in the color scheme I wanted to, and I felt after looking at the kit that it will look awsome just by putting it together without painting.

Ok, I got some scans from the manual so you get an idea what it looks like.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2582/frontpage8ek.jpg

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2043/runners010iy.jpg

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/6491/runners026en.jpg

Here's some pictures from the 'putting it together'-part.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2114/page010li.jpg

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/3447/page027mv.jpg

I'll update with more pictures later.

Finally some pictures. I've had a problem getting hold of a camera, but finally I got hold of one.

First a little comment on my work so far. I've put together the head along with both arms and the wings.

The arms posed no real problem to build more than the fact that I ran out of paint when I had only the shoulder left to paint, so I had to go out of town and stock up on some paint, and this time it should last a while longer.

Then to the wings.

The wings was a whole other story. I put it all together loosely just to get a good idea of how it would look before painting and if there was anything I could improve at the build (reinforce something, etc.). I couldn't find anything that would pose a problem so I just took it apart again and went outside in the garage and painted the stuff. The next day after they had dried up properly, I started putting it together, and everything went smoothly, untill I was going to position the wings a bit better. Then I heard a loud *snap*, and I thought, "This isn't happening...", but it really was. I shook the wings a bit in my hand and I heard something rattling inside of the wing.

This was only the beginning of my problems with the wings. Since I figured that the pins that held a sort polycap in place had broken off, I started taking apart the wings again. You twisted on the wings on a cylinder to then later position them. I think you'll get the idea once you see the pictures.

Anyway. As I was taking off one of the four wings (I gently turned/twisted the wing back and forth in order to get it off this cylinder), I again heard this *snapping* sound. And again, I said to myself that this couldn't be true. By this time I was almost pulling hair of my head. I though "Did I pay $150 for a model that is supposed to break when I put it together?". Went on to the other wing... *snap*, the other... *snap*.

Then I took apart each wing, and did what the following image (is supposed to) illustrate.

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/5741/changeofplans3jy.jpg

1. All the four black pins around the circle had broken right off. They actually intended that a 1 square millimeter pin would hold these 30cm wings in place?

2. I put alot of glue where the pins had been, and around the ring where the cylindrical polycap was supposed to be.

3. I pressed down the polycap where it was supposed to be and left it overnight to dry.

4. I assembled the wing (with more glue on the opposite part that held the polycap down between the former pins) and prayed that it wouldn't break again.

And my prayers were answered. The wings didn't break. In fact, they were a million times more stabile than with thoes old pins. My advice to people who plan to build this kit: Put alot of glue around that part when you do put it together if you don't want to experience the same thing I did.

Anyway.

Here are the pictures. Hope you like the result. I'll update with more pictures during the weekend. Got the remaining parts for an arm to paint and both the legs.

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/2264/dscn23432km.jpg

Yes, that is how big they are in my hand, and I have quite big hands.

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6215/dscn23446os.jpg

Wings folded out next to the Nu Gundam. Again, no joke on the size here. (the aluminium colored gundam is roughly 27cm tall.)

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/194/dscn23458py.jpg

Wings folded in next to the Nu Gundam. Still, they are alot bigger.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3717/dscn23464xa.jpg

Wings completely folded in.

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/1944/dscn23479ky.jpg

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/4232/dscn23490qq.jpg

More pictures. Joined the lower body together with the upper body now.

Back view with wings attached.

Side view with wings attached.

Front view with wings folded out.

Front view with wings folded in.

More to come soon.

Hi, Im planning to buy this model but I have a question, it's mandatory use painting on this particular model, or is enough with the colored pieces?. Thanks

No gundam model has to be painted, but I still believe they should be painted. For this particular model, I really think it's up to you. The molds are very nice, probably the best I've seen (this kit came out about two months ago, so it's brand new), so you don't really have to paint it.

But I'd spend the extra hours and paint the model. I see no fun in just putting it together in a couple of hours.

Thanks for your quick answer. I have another one if you dont mind, I live in Peru, so I have to buy it from a reliable  website, I want to know if you could recommend me a website to buy this model from.I have this one: http://www.action-hq.com/cgi-bin/action-hq/oth003135.html

Thanks again

Alex