Question on Master Grade Gundam kits...

roughly top off my head MG is around 15-20+ cm while PG would be 30-40+ cm...
by the way MG is 1/100 scale and PG is 1/60 scale

FYI



* courtesy of dalong.net

Thanks dj898! Nice pics- do you enjoy assembling the Gundams? Do you paint or leave as-is?

The MG Zaku is about 18cm foot to antenna, the PG Zaku is 31cm high. But, mechs come in different sizes. The MG Sazabi is about 26cm tall (it's a huge mech). And there is a HGUC (1:144) the O which is about 19cm.

armorman wrote:

Thanks dj898! Nice pics- do you enjoy assembling the Gundams? Do you paint or leave as-is?

I paint 'em coz after putting and sanding you have no option but to paint.
See my other thread for some of MG and PG kits I've done. :D
I usually paint in heavy shadow though there are Gundam modellers who prefer the clean just-rolled-out look...

www. dalong.net is run by a guy who does pre-assembly - that is just snap-fit the parts as per instruction and simple lining with virtually no paint. It is good source of information for MG/PG/HGUC kits when you are looking for the next model to purchase. (Shame it's in Korean and translation will get you very weird result. Half of time it doesn't make sense at all.)

p.s. if you are ever sick of 1/144, 1/100, 1/60 small scale Gundam models there're few 1/24 and 1/12 scale models done by Bandai which will go nicely with 1/24 auto models... :p

kylwell wrote:

The MG Zaku is about 18cm foot to antenna, the PG Zaku is 31cm high. But, mechs come in different sizes. The MG Sazabi is about 26cm tall (it's a huge mech). And there is a HGUC (1:144) the O which is about 19cm.

and there're HGUC Zeong and Psycho Gundam...




and here are The-O and Ex-S both in HGUC.




probably the biggest HGUC kit would be that Psycho Gundam. It's even bigger than MG kits...
Wonder how big would it be IF Bandai decided to release it in MG 1/100 as they did MG Zeong...

Not all Mech builders like the clean look.

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/contest/kit_08.htm

http://www.codyscoop.com/models/mecha

It's all about preference.

Personally, I like MG kit's better than the others since (to me) they have better proportions and details.

So far, I've only been building clean kits. Filling seams, sanding, priming and painting. But on the two models I ordered this time, I decided to add some damage/weathering. So far, it's been a learning experience. Haven't really gotten that far because of school getting in the way but it's going foward.

Anyway.

I'd get some MG models for starters, and my advice is: Build the model you think of as 'expendable' first to try things out and see what works and what dosen't work.

Ditto to pretty much what everyone had said.  Holy cow you guys actually take measurements??!!  n in metric system?!!!

Anyways, if you want to minimize sanding or EVEN painting, aside from PG kits, there are three MG (all are 1/100 in scale) kits that might work out better, RX-79[G], RX-79[G]Ez-8, and the GM which pretty much shares most of the parts.  All the armor pieces are slide-molded in one piece so there is no seams to be filled.

Aside from that, smaller HGUC kits make a quick and fun build yet still carrying really good fitment and pretty good details.  the line also features a lot of the never been released mechs, from the one year war, 0080, 0083, Zeta, Sentinels, all having a vast increase in quality as opposed to the older kits released for those anime series.

You guys have been invaluable! I ordered my first MG Zundam, a Zeta-Plus, due to arrive in the next couple of days. I used to do a few of the 1/144 Gundams in the past. I'm looking forwards to the increased detail, larger size and getting creative on the painting and display aspects. I'v already got some lineart scanned and playing with some color variations. What I'd like to do is my own decals. The ones that I remember were not all that great. Anyways, thanks for all the feedback and I'll post some pics when I get it done!
regards,
armorman

Oh kul another Zeta fan.  Did any of you by any chance check out the 2005 remastered movie for Z Gundam?  it was simply incredible, with half of the scenes all redone and the difference was obvious even though they tried hard to blend those in with scenes from the original series.  That's pretty much why they released ver 2.0 for the zeta and mkII I'd assume.

One caution on the Zeta kits though, try do all sub-assembly first before overall painting.  some of the small parts get hard to fit well if you lay a coat of paint on them.  They made the kit with really little tolerance to make it have a really nice transformation.

I hope you ordered the ver 2.0 of Zeta coz ver 1.0 Zeta has the horrible transformation system. Bandai fxied that in ZetaPlus A1/C1 and in ver 2.0...

I built ver 1.0 previously and wasn't happy with it so I modified and basically ditched the wings.. :p

Zeta Kai

before you say yes it's influenced by FSS...

dj898 wrote:

before you say yes it's influenced by FSS...

Actually it came from the design of Heavy Metal L-Gaim.  If you had seen it, that suit in there has features that was taken by the Zeta ( a lot of them) and Hyaku-shiki.  Even the character designs are so similar it almost felt ridiculous.

archangel571 wrote:

Actually it came from the design of Heavy Metal L-Gaim.  If you had seen it, that suit in there has features that was taken by the Zeta ( a lot of them) and Hyaku-shiki.  Even the character designs are so similar it almost felt ridiculous.

but wasn't Nagano did L-Gaim as well as FSS and also designed couple of mechas for Zeta?

I also pray you bought the v2.0 because the v1.0 just sucks. It feels like it's going to fall apart any second. The wings are held up by some small and brittle joints, the transformation is... no, lets not talk about that. It's just horrible. I almost broke the model as I tried transforming it.

dj898 wrote:

archangel571 wrote: Actually it came from the design of Heavy Metal L-Gaim.  If you had seen it, that suit in there has features that was taken by the Zeta ( a lot of them) and Hyaku-shiki.  Even the character designs are so similar it almost felt ridiculous. but wasn't Nagano did L-Gaim as well as FSS and also designed couple of mechas for Zeta?

That's very true, but the chronological order is that L-Gaim came out in 84, with Zeta in 85, and FSS started in 86.  Comparing to the first two, FSS saw really big design changes, romanticizing the suits even through the looks, which is what actually made it really kul of a TON of mangas to read.  But you are right, they are from the same guy, so the basic elements are all there.

I got the ver 2.0- but I'm not too worried about the transformation part- I'm going to build them in a pose and create dio's for each. The Zeta is going to be hanging from a clif-face over looking lava. One arm is going to be blown off. At least that is the plan...

I'd get ver 1.0 for that or even better ask around whether anyone has ver 1.0 to dump... :D

I usually do diorama with battle damaged MS when I get some half finished or badly built models from friends of mine... Though I'm yet to try battle damaged 1/60 scale PG kits... (let's hope my kid won't knock over any of my PG models.)

have ver 1 [=P], but noooot dumping.  Ver 2.0 is gonna cost me like two newer Tamiya F-1 cars...  Grrrr... why are the newer kits so high on price??

archangel571 wrote:

... Did any of you by any chance check out the 2005 remastered movie for Z Gundam?  ... One caution on the Zeta kits though, try do all sub-assembly first before overall painting.  some of the small parts get hard to fit well if you lay a coat of paint on them.  They made the kit with really little tolerance to make it have a really nice transformation.

I've seen entire Zeta TV series when it aired and also watched the part 1 of movie release...
the re-done scenes were very nice indeed but it also highlighted the difference between the old footage and the newer ones they've done...

imho it's best not transform Zeta kit especially with the ver 1.0 unless you don't mind get it chipp'd and possibly break pins... Might as well get the another kit and build it as Waverider form... :p
Although my Zeta Kai can be transformed into WR mode - I did twice - but it's hack of a lot more fiddly due to the amount of modification and I'm not willing to test the strength of some of parts scratch built...:(