1/100 MG RGM-79C GM Kai Space Type (Snap Fit)

I began building this model over a month ago and finally finished it to my satisfaction after many intrusions from the real world stealing my time. My cat has undergone two of his six weeks of recovery after his knee surgery. He's doing well!

It really needs to be said that the Master Grade GM Kai is a fantastic kit, one I found shockingly underrated. The price is very low on these kits (~$30 - 35) since they're older but they definitely do not lack quality. The design of the MS is excellent, a perfectly convincing update to the original GM that is still aesthetically in line with classic suits. I have grown to love the clean, understated design which isn't afraid of leaving areas bare, especially on those curving shins. There's just the right amount of complexity and detail to make it not feel retro.

The only real criticism I can field is that its articulation is rather low in the ankles, making dynamic poses almost impossible. The ball joint that the shins pop into is just fine, it allows for a huge range of motion, but unfortunately it's handicapped by the large ankle guards. That said, it looks gorgeous just standing there, it's far more menacing than the 0079 GM ever was. 

There's a good composition in the look of the GM Kai. It's pleasantly asymmetrical with a single beam saber on its back as well as a delicate antenna on the head. It's quintessentially Gundam and serves as a great example for what I like so much about the design vocabulary of mobile suits. The colors are very bright but such a restricted palette (light green, dark green, red, gray) that they feel in harmony with each other. The light green of the body will most likely be toned down a bit when I paint it, in person it's very green.

Here you can really see the limitation of the ankle guards which make pulling the toe upwards rather difficult. The rest of the joints are solid and have good range, each leg has two screws and numerous sliding pistons which make for another feature I enjoy a lot - underneath all that simple armor is some mechanical and visual complexity. The back side of the shield, for example, has a great deal of embellishment including space for both beam sabers, a nice contrast to the calm and flat red face.

The arms have double elbows which give the hands great range. You can actually pose him pulling the saber off his back with ease. Again, get used to the upright pose!

The back has some nicely contrasting detail, I'm a big fan of the quad thrusters but unfortunately the two on the left side aren't as snug as they should be and they tend to droop, ruining the symmetry of the jets. Maybe when I'm done I'll glue them in place to avoid the issue. The rear part of the suit's waist opens up and accommodates a gun rack that can store the disassembled rifle. Also note that the rifle has a couple types of barrels and magazines so you can customize it. I happen to like the look of the extra-long rifle.

What makes this such a fantastic kit for the low price is the unusual detail like the fabric tubing behind the knees. You get a single tube of rigid fabric piping which you cut to 4 x 13mm and slide on to a plastic piece. They don't move at all so you don't have to worry about them getting messed up, however the process of cutting and placing them can be frustrating as they lose their tube shape a bit and flare out if you mess with them too much. It adds a really attractive detail that I appreciate for the price.

I've still got the Earth type in my storage which is almost identical save color, weapons, and a few minor details. I'm more excited to build it now than I was before, this is a kit I definitely recommend as a quality build (if you're okay with limited posability).

Zaku F2 EFSF - My first airbrush project

So the deadline for the r/Gunpla group build is already more than a week gone, but that never stopped me in college (hiyooo). I had a lot of set backs - my cat developed a limp and was diagnosed with a rare, slipping kneecap that you usually only see in small dogs and he now needs surgery. That has eaten up a lot of my time (and all of my money) so the progress has been slow. That said, I finally finished painting every piece of this kit and snapped it together. The feeling of putting on the last piece or two and getting a good look at it was incredibly satisfying. I am used to the plastic sheen of my MGs that are still unpainted, to see the matte colors with all the pre-shading is awesome. Models really are meant to be painted, the kit no longer looks like a toy.

This was my first time painting a Gunpla kit so I was less concerned with getting every little detail perfect and more concerned with understanding the fundamentals. There are places I'm not fully satisfied with which I will describe, but overall I think I learned more than I ever imagined on this first build. I feel very confident now in my abilities to mix paint, clean my airbrush, and apply it properly. I learned to control my compressor to get a finer spray, I learned not to overtighten the cap because then the nozzle gets stuck, and I learned that you should always paint your model with very good lighting!

The bits of him that are black are straight 'Midnight Blue' on top of black. It was kind of ridiculous painting the top coat of 'blue' because it was so dark I literally could not distinguish it. When I paint the MG of this kit, I'll definitely add a small amount of blue and maybe a touch of white in. I do like the contrast that the black creates but I really liked the blue I saw in example photos.

For the gray parts, I shot 'Engine Gray' on top of black and am now a huge fan of the color. It's a brown-leaning gray and this is very good because the entire model leans brown - even the white paint has a touch of 'Sail Color,' a medium beige. It creates what visual artists call color harmony because it has a similar shade to the rest of the model. It looks a little jarring in these photos because it's a bit glossy, but the matte topcoat should make it sit back beautifully when I'm done.

I am by far most pleased with the outcome of the thrusters on the back, they're almost 100% pristine and I really like the look of that Nazi red in there, the slight tint of orange again adds some color harmony to the model and makes the red less jarring. I wish I'd have photographed it, but my technique was to take a small ball of mounting putty - the same I use to stick stuff on skewers - and gently pressed it in and evened it out so that the lip of the thruster was still showing. After I was done, I pried it out with a skewer (you can still see tiny remnants in the left thruster) and was blown away. It's the easiest masking technique ever, I highly recommend it.

The smoky effect created by pre-shading is unbeatable, I elected to make my kit very subtle but even with as little undercoat showing as there is, the effect is still very apparent. Another reason the 'Midnight Blue' paint disappointed me is because its value (darkness) was almost identical to the black, making no significant light-to-dark gradient. The bicep of the arm on the right of this photo shows some proper pre-shading, I like it with the brown underneath because it almost simulates dust or sand that has collected on the suit. Maybe I could push this with some pastel weathering.

I am oddly pleased by the hands. They're not very special but they're just so clean and sharp. Maybe it's just because it's a recognizably human form, but I had a wonderful time painting them. At every step it was exciting, they're so detailed, even down to the little holes in the palm of the hand that nobody ever sees.

I am very proud of the legs, I think they have the ideal amount of shading. When I learned to paint in college I found that the hardest part is knowing when to stop. You can easily muck up good work by putting too much paint on a canvas, and in the exact same way, you can ruin all your hard pre-shading work by putting too much paint on.Think of it this way - you can always put more paint on the kit, but you can't take off what you've already put on. Work slow, use a very, very low pressure, and stop maybe a hair before you think you've painted enough. Investigate your work in good lighting and go back to finish it as you see fit, just make damn sure you don't put too much paint on there.

Here's a couple photos of work I didn't include last time:

Gray bits drying.

Masked off the mono eye, cut it out with a hobby knife...

...sprayed it...

...and bam! It's not perfect but again, I wasn't trifling with little details. The idea was largely successful, looks great on the final kit, and luckily will not need to be replicated on the MG.

So I've still got panel lines and decals to do. I bought the waterslide decals from Bandai for this kit so they should look very sharp. Stay tuned!

Beginner's Guide - My Tools

I've seen a lot of videos, articles, and blogs suggesting the best ways to build Gunpla. I really can't give singular credit to any source, but I have drawn off of many sources in my own model adventure. The most important thing you should always remember when working on your kits is that these are works of art, they're plastic sculptures, and as such they deserve your very best effort. Under no circumstances should you ever rush a model. Always try your hardest on each and every piece to clean them up to your satisfaction, do not skimp on this step.

I view the initial snap fit and construction as the foundation upon which the rest of the model has to be built. Any flaws here will show in your final product and can end up making you feel like you just wasted weeks of time, materials, and money. The inverse is also true - putting the right amount of effort in shows, people notice it, and the feeling of satisfaction is more than enough to make you feel like your time and money was well spent. So try your hardest, take breaks, and do not try to finish the kit you're working on solely to start the next one. It's tempting, but do your kits and your skills some justice; you only build them once but you will have them for the rest of your life.

The first step to building a good model is getting the right tools.

Cutting mat

This is really the most basic tool. There are times when you simply must lay a piece flat and trim with a knife. This can leave really unsightly gouging in your work surface which is not ideal and is especially upsetting when it's a nice table. Invest in an affordable cutting mat that's a decent size. It's also a very good surface to keep all of your pieces on as you work and most double as a ruler for when master grade kits occasionally ask you to trim pieces to a certain length. I also collect all of my nub trimmings and shavings on my mat by sweeping them together with a flat file. When I'm done, I dump them in the trash and my work space is clean as a whistle. Don't deny the cutting mat, use it to your advantage.

My Tool: X-ACTO self healing cutting mat (12" x 18")

Side cutters

While the mat is the most basic, cutters are the most crucial. A decent pair of side cutters can make building a model many folds easier. What you're specifically looking for is a 'side cutter for plastic.' It looks like a delicate wire cutter but what makes it special is that it's completely flat on one side of the cutting head. This allows you to be very precise in your cutting because you know exactly where the blade is going down. You push your cutters very snug up to the piece during clean up and you can sometimes cut so close you don't even need to go to your craft knife. It speeds up the process, it's gentle on plastic, and in the end will provide you with a much higher quality model. I use a Tamiya side cutter for small, delicate work and a Xuron side cutter for larger work, such as cutting pieces off the plastic tree initially.

My Tool: Tamiya side cutter (from the Tamiya Basic Set) & Xuron 410 Micro Shear Flush Cutter

Craft knife

A craft knife is your first defense against unsightly remnants of the plastic sprue that the modeling community refers to as nubs or flash. Modelers allow for a small amount of flash to remain on the piece because cutting too close with side cutters can occasionally damage the surface and tends to stress the plastic too hard, leaving ugly white marks that you can't remove without paint. I go in with my thumb reinforcing the back of my blade and gently push through several times until there is very little remaining flash, in the same kind of method as shaving the bark off a piece of wood.

Take care to avoid the very common (and very nasty) mistake of surface gouging in which you cut too deep when trying to remove a nub. It's always better to leave more than you need to later sand it down than getting too aggressive with the knife early on and ruining a piece. Fixing this requires putty and paint, its best to just avoid it. I don't use X-ACTO blades for my knife, I use a retractable, snap off hobby knife. I like it because it allows you to hold very close to the blade, it allows you to choose blade length, and you can easily resharpen the blade by just snapping the top segment off.

My Tool: Tamiya retractable craft knife (from the Tamiya Basic Tool Set) or a 'Light Duty Snap-Off Knife' works as well

Metal file set

When I first got back into Gunpla a few months ago, I only had one small metal file with very little tooth. I thought it worked great, it was gentle and slow, but I really was missing out. I invested in a $9 set of three flat files from Tamiya and it totally changed the speed at which I build. They're fairly thick tools, dark metal that feel a bit heavy, but it only takes a handful of swipes over a nub until it's ground down just right.

A flat file is incredibly efficient at keeping the angle of the surface you're sanding - what I mean by this is that other methods of sanding that have you come from numerous angles can shave down a side of the model that is supposed to be flat but instead has an odd, rounded corner or uneven surface to it. With a flat file, you just lay it on the surface you want to work and then gently pull or push across the surface in a singular direction, keeping the initial angle. Going back and forth can contribute to the rounded edges and loss of flatness because you rock your wrist (changing the angle) and shave it off unevenly. Keep a locked wrist, only go in one direction, don't use much pressure. Files leave a very rough surface which is fine because it will be cleaned up later by sanding pads.

My Tool: Tamiya Basic File Set (includes three various shapes of files) and Tamiya mini file (from the Tamiya Basic Set)

Sanding pads

Often overlooked, sanding pads are what separate your model from being good and being great. You want them for the obvious reason of cleaning up the mess your flat file leaves behind as far as smoothness is concerned. It's best to have a few grits of sanding pads - one that is less rough than your flat file but still fairly rough and one or a few of varying smoothness. Pads are better than paper because you can get a grip on them, they conform to the shape better, and they last a lot longer than paper. You can always glue sandpaper to sponges but the pre-made stuff is really nice quality and will last through many models.

With your finest grade sanding pad (1500 - 2000 grit), you can buff the plastic in small circles which has a couple beneficial effects - it reduces highlights on the surface of the model which tends to look less 'plastic' and it also aids in removing or reducing the unsightly effects of Bandai's injection molds which can leave an odd, uneven, whirled pattern on the surface.

My Tool: Alpha Abrasives sanding sponges for models, but you can look for 3M sanding pads from Superfine to Microfine, or look for Revell sanding pads (smaller ones in picture)

Model cement


And here you thought Gunpla required no glue! This is actually a bit deceptive because the glue doubles as a seam filler, often times taking the place of putty altogether. Kits often come with weapons which don't even attempt to hide seam lines - with your trusty glue bottle, brush a fairly thick coat of glue on the inside of both pieces, slap them together, let them dry for 24 hours, then sand down. Once you sand all the glue goop off, you'll be shocked to see that the piece has essentially welded together and left no trace of a seam.

My Tool: Mr. Cement Deluxe Economy Bottle (40ml)


Tweezers

Perhaps the least crucial of all, tweezers can make your life much easier when working on small stuff or applying decals. Sanding tiny pieces, such as the mono eye ring on a 1/144 Zaku F2, can be made a lot easier with a fancy pair of reverse tweezers. They always hold tight, so you only push them together to fit a piece in and they do the rest of the work. Good idea to have some, but not absolutely necessary. I'd suggest eventually picking them up though, you'll find a use and they're not that expensive.

My Tool: Generic reverse tweezer (search online or ask at a store) and Tamiya regular tweezers (from the Tamiya Basic Tool Set)

Masking tape

Tape is truly most useful as a system for identifying plastic sprues. It can be quite bothersome to have to search through a bunch of plastic trees to find the tiny letter in whichever unpredictable corner it happens to be in. To solve this headache, I now put a small flag of tape on the side of each sprue and label it with a permanent marker, A, B, C, etc. You'll be shocked how this little step can speed up your process.

My Tool: Generic roll of white masking tape

Permanent markers

As mentioned above, they're useful for marking off the tape so you can easily identify sprues, but colored Sharpies also make incredible tools for coloring transparent plastic like a Zaku's mono eye. Test them out on the clear part of the tree and use whichever color suits your fancy.

My Tool: Sharpie color set - make sure to find something with a magenta or pink color as most Zakus need it! Green is also a very common color.

HGUC Zaku II F2 EFSF - First attempt ever at The Max Technique

I finally tried my hand at what is most commonly known as 'The Max Technique,' it's the common style of leaving edges and panel lines darker than the center of the form. This creates some contrast with the edges that gives a nice effect and somehow ends up making them look more like giant robots. It almost represents a minor form of weathering, as if there are areas that have had their color stripped away by wind and weather.

I am quite satisfied with the results I got. Since the model is only a 1/144 scale, it's a bit difficult to really emphasize small areas, my brush, even at its lowest and finest pressure, just covers too much area. So I opted for an extremely subtle gradation on most pieces. This is the rear skirt armor and you can see that on the edges there is a slight shift in shade. This is the medium brown undercoat I painted each of these with, once it was covered with white it did a great job of blending in. The brown actually looks attractive in areas where it shows through, almost like dusty sand has accumulated.

I was at the hobby store and picked up a nice muted red off the shelf. The name was 'German Aircraft WWII,' so I affectionately refer to it as 'Nazi Red.' It's actually quite beautiful, it's slightly darker than pure red and ever so slightly orangey. It's a lot less harsh than the Gundam Red I have, to me it was an ideal choice for the insides of the thrusters. I contemplated gold or silver thrusters but I want to try to build this true to the original design.

These particular pieces show off the gradation very well. They are such simple forms that painting them properly was extremely easy. To paint so fine, I reduced my compressor's PSI to around 20 so that my working pressure dropped quite low, maybe down to 5 or 10. I barely pulled back on the trigger of my brush so that there was a very light, very fine mist of paint coming out. I worked from the center outwards and after I was done I'd pull my brush very far back, release a lot of paint, and twist the piece quickly. This final coat evened out the gradient so that the pieces appeared to be entirely white, not white with brown peeking through.

So now I've just got to do the gray and midnight blue shading on the other half of the kit and then it's on to detailing and finishing. I can't wait to see how it looks once it's all together, it's so tempting to do a test fit but I really want to finish it all before I put in the effort. Stay tuned for more!

Mr. Super Booth

I finally got some photos of my setup with my new paint exhaust system from Mr. Hobby. It's a fantastic solution for anyone who has a cramped apartment space with very few windows. I can't work out on my patio (it's very small) so I have to work indoors and crack windows. This easily fits into my window sill and makes next to no noise when on.

The booth runs around $200 so when I first got it, I admit I was disappointed. It seemed so flimsy! As I assembled it, however, it became obvious that it was only 'flimsy' because it was as minimal as it could get while still being effective. It's light, small, holds itself up well, and doesn't feel cheap at all once you're working with it. The fan is about as loud as a hair dryer on low or a small fan, it can be turned on and off with a flip switch.

It has a very sturdy rubber hose that attaches to a small exhaust port on the fan. It goes on and off easily but won't come off by simply pulling on it. In my opinion it is rather high quality, it snaps into place and holds its shape well. You can pull on it to make it longer (that's what she said) or you can scrunch it down so it's small for storage. You can see the feet of the fan sitting quite a ways back on my window sill. I have never felt like this was going to tip over or fall off, it holds its weight perfectly. Again, everything is just as stripped down as it can be.

It's getting to be winter here in Denver and the temperatures are dropping. Mr. Super Booth allows me to work inside because you only need to crack the window slightly so you can fit the mouth outside. That was a separate purchase which I highly recommend. It's only 2 or 3 inches tall so you can get away with a nearly closed window.

I'm 100% certain you can build your own booth for much cheaper than this option, but the quality speaks for itself. It's a really top-notch painting solution for cramped spaces and it saves you the hassle of worrying if you're going to put the wrong fan in or have some kind of fume fire. It has a changeable filter sheet that came with replacements so you don't have to worry. If you're lacking a traditional studio and live in a smaller space like I do, I really recommend it. Set up is easy, clean up is easy, storage is simple and small, what else do I need?

Reddit Group Build - 1/144 Zaku II F2 E.F.S.F.

I picked up this HG Zaku II F2 for the r/Gunpla Zaku II Group Build on September 27th which means I was already 4 weeks in when I got the kit. I tried to work quickly but have run into some roadblocks. Here's a log of my work so far:

Here's the box art. It's a fairly slim kit with fewer sprues than an average MG.

Here's my snap fit of the torso as well as the paints I picked up - sail color, super white, midnight blue, and engine gray.

I then disassembled the kit in preparation for painting and kept the pieces segregated by color (cue Ali G saying that's racialism!). This was very useful when I started to putting them on stakes because I was able to group them by color.

Then I gave them a few hours overnight to soak in some soapy water and let them dry that afternoon. This is supposed to help release particles from the surface so it takes paint better. Not sure how necessary this is, but it doesn't seem like it hurt at all. I've also seen it suggested that you use alcohol and a Q-tip to swab each piece before painting. Works nice for an SD but it would get pretty nightmarish on larger kits.

Here's the shipment my airbrush and compressor combo came in. I use an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS and an Iwata Smart Jet compressor. I've really enjoyed it since I've had it, the quality is unbelievable and it provides great control of paint flow with a dual action trigger (i.e. you can control airflow by pressing down, paint flow by pulling back). The compressor runs very quietly and shuts off when it's not in use. Cleaning the airbrush is tremendously easy and takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes.

Here are photos of my first attempt using the brush. I mixed Mr. Surfacer 1200 at a 1:1 ratio with thinner and poured it into my cup. I tested it on a piece of paper and it worked great. Each piece is stuck on a bamboo skewer with a bit of mounting putty. This worked well, but I recommend using smaller pieces of styrofoam so you can more easily manage the pieces. It also makes putting wet pieces back a lot easier as you won't touch other ones that are drying.

Here was my first set up. I was using a totally ineffective cardboard box and stupidly put my compressor on a chair. At the kind advice of a forum goer on MAC, I now spray with it on the ground. Here you can see I did a pretty good job on some pieces (like the backpack) but others such as the foot were undersprayed. You only get better by making mistakes! I went back later and resprayed the unfinished pieces.

And today, in spite of some sickness, I went forward with my first pre-shading step - the undercoat! I picked out Brown FS30219, what a charming name. It's a nice middle toned milk-and-coffee color which compliments the sandy white of the kit very well.

2:1 thinner to paint ratio, mixed up about 25ml and only ended up using half. I'm saving the rest for my 1/100 MG version of this kit.

I think they turned out fantastic, the coat is very even and delicate, I love the color so much I almost want to keep it this way. 

Mmm, semi-gloss.

So I'm going to let them dry for a day and then get cracking on the rest tomorrow. I am not confident I will make the Halloween deadline but I will finish this as soon as I can. I'll keep you updated.

1/100 MG Zaku II 2.0 Snap Build

I've finally gotten around to finishing my Zaku II 2.0 MG! I had a really good time with this kit, Bandai did some smart design on this classic MS. The model has a fully detailed inner frame that is easily comparable to a Perfect Grade - the legs have numerous sliding pistons and layered pieces of internal mechanics, the mono eye swivels from side to side in the visor as the head shifts left and right, and the pilot's cockpit can be shifted internally with a switch underneath the backpack. By the time you slap the outer armor on it, the weight is noticeably heavy which is good because the final product feels very solid, not fragile at all.

The raw plastic that comes in the kit is gorgeous, it almost has a porcelain finish when you buff it making this a great candidate for anyone who doesn't want to paint. One of the biggest reliefs was how easily the tubing was constructed. It came mounted on a little rubber pipe so you snip each one off and can sand them all at once while they remain on the skewer. Then you slide them on to a hollow metal spring which gives a touch of realism that is much appreciated.

The mono eye was colored using a magenta Sharpie. It catches the light very well and I actually prefer the muted pink over the harsh magenta they show as an example in the instruction booklet. I should also mention that the hands on this kit are very impressive, each finger has one knuckle and one ball and socket joint so you can pose them almost any way you want. The palms have a very convenient ridge you can mount weapons in to so they are held tightly. Older kits like the Zaku I in the background lack this feature and tend to hold their weapons very loosely, limiting poses and making them look a little dumpy.

You can see really well in this photo that the head dome on the Zaku II has been rounded out significantly compared to the Gouf. It's not immediately obvious, but a lot of the proportions of this kit have changed to be a bit truer to the 70's design. I personally love it, this is the quintessential Gundam aesthetic. The panel lines are tastefully sparse, the MS has a robust, stocky anatomy that makes it look like it could take a beating (or dole one out!) and it really looks like a machine of war and not a robot superhero.

This is one of those rare model kits where there is literally nothing to critique. I love the attention to detail that's in this kit, easily the highest quality MG I've yet to build. Now if they'd only do a Zaku I 2.0...

Mobile Suit Philosophy

Do people, like myself, spend time imagining what it would be like if Gundam robots were actually present on the streets of our cities? Are you sure you're not limiting yourself to the images that were offered in the animated series? One of the reasons that I fell in love with Gundam was that it excites me to imagine what it would be like if these machines actually existed, and I worry that other fans may be losing out...

                                                                                                           Hajime Katoki 

Hajime Katoki is one of the most well-regarded mecha designers, known for his infamously detailed "Ver. Ka" designs. Many years ago I found a website that had a compilation of realistic images he made using Gundams and I've finally found them again. They appear to be a series of promotional postcards for Gundam Fix, an art book that Katoki put out some time ago.

In my own vision, Mobile Suits transcend their roots as an animated show and become something bigger, a far reaching concept like the elves of fantasy lore. While it was originally a cartoon, I think this was actually a limiting factor to how much the creators were able to flesh the story out. The appeal of cartoons revolves around children who can be easily overwhelmed by excessively complex stories. There is an adult veneer to most Gundam shows, some more than others, but it always seemed that they only existed to reel kids in with bright colors and action-packed robot fights in order to sell them toys. I recognize the irony in my love for Gundam models as I complain about the commercialization of the TV show, but I feel justified in the fact that I first discovered them before I knew anything about the animated series.

I remember watching Toonami on Cartoon Network when I'd get home from school. They had a usually predictable lineup of Japanese shows: Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and for a long time Gundam Wing. Even at so young of an age I could feel something about the show I didn't like. Too much fantasy and melodrama. Even the designs of the suits didn't appeal to me, they seemed too garish and colorful. The pilots were stereotypically whiny teenagers who could somehow perform superhero robot moves (dodging thousands of missiles, constantly explosive action) with nothing but two joysticks and some pedals.

The only series I can really say I enjoyed was The 08th MS Team. It was a retelling of the original One Year War from the Mobile Suit: Gundam series but it took place in the jungles of Asia. It featured a squad of individual soldiers who had limitations and lacked the expertise of other pilots. Their equipment was believable, at one point an RX-79(G) loses its head and has it replaced with a GM head. They set up an ambush against some Zeon soldiers who have been harassing a town and on the first shot they actually miss! It's a big deal, too, because it gives their position away. They even use a hand-launched RPG to shoot the unarmored area under the Zaku skirt to incapacitate it. The battle doesn't immediately turn into mobile suits flying at each other with swords and axes, there aren't volleys of hundreds of missiles. It actually turns into a lesson about the horrors of having to kill people in war.

I like the idea that Gundams, like their pilots, are limited in their capabilities. They represent something between a super advanced jet airplane and a heavily armored tank. Their size puts them at a disadvantage; they're easily spotted, fairly slow to move, and are a huge investment. Losing a single MS would mean many billions of dollars in destroyed technology, they'd do everything in their power to minimize the risk of confrontation. Your best bet would be hiding, spotting them enemy, then attacking from range without their knowledge. This makes me think they'd probably not survive excessive battle damage. A single direct hit with a large missile (say the RX-78's 380mm bazooka) could severely incapacitate the machine. It could break their relatively unarmored joints, it could destroy critical systems for keeping balance or moving, and the trauma the pilot suffers in falling almost 50 feet to the ground would be nothing short of a car wreck. You could break bones with that kind of force!

For this reason, they would rarely if ever have the amount of damage that some modelers portray on them. I can forgive minor pock marks from small weapons fire and maybe even some soot from explosions, but when people show deep beam saber cuts across the head, huge, gaping craters from explosives, or paint weathering across the whole kit that looks like it was dragged behind a car, I have a hard time suspending my disbelief. I admire the skill it takes to create that damage, but have you ever seen an operational jet that's in such bad condition? Even a tank? There might be a few examples of rickety machines after huge battles or towards the end of the war as resources get scarce, but they would take damn fine care of those machines and only the best of the best would pilot them. A mobile suit melee would be historic, there would be only a handful of such events.

The advantage of an MS in combat is that they could reorient large weapons, like artillery, very quickly. Take the Zaku's ubiquitous 120mm machine gun for example. Wikipedia states:

Heavy mortars are typically between 120- and 300-mm caliber... a 120 mm mortar bomb has about the same explosive capability as a 155 mm artillery shell.

For reference, here is a video of a 155mm GPS guided artillery round:





Mobile suits are essentially a vehicle to shrink large weapons down to a normal size so it can be moved and fired at speed. They transform the standard artillery shell into a rapid fire machine gun that can be very accurately aimed. Close combat would probably be out of the question unless it was a last resort, even a few sprays from a 120mm machine gun could cause dangerous levels of damage. But how would a Mobile Suit reload a weapon? Maybe a computer system would take over and automatically go through the delicate motions necessary to reload such a massive gun.

Defenses against conventional ground forces like walls or fences could be kicked down, stepped over, or stepped on, tanks could be blown away like leaves, and ground forces could probably be spotted by the numerous cameras on mobile suits. However, I honestly don't know if I could see mobile suits walking around cities to defend them. Their intense weight would rupture asphalt and cement with their every step, ruining roads, knocking out power lines, and potentially even collapsing sewer and water systems. The empty weight of a Zaku II is 130,000 lbs, more than three times the maximum allowed load of semi trucks in the US. You can easily imagine how much force they'd put down after landing from flying. This makes me think their main use would be invasion of enemy cities or perimeter defense of friendly cities. They'd probably have special city patrol MS units that are equipped to fly great distances, they'd maybe even be small enough and light enough that they could walk through streets without causing such destruction.

Keeping in mind that the original Gundam timeline takes place a couple hundred years in the future (around 2250), I am assuming that they'd no longer use chemically fueled rockets and they'd have found energy sources that can power a Mobile Suit easily such as a miniature fusion generator. I can believe almost everything except for the grace of these giants. I don't think they could flip around like 40 foot tall Bruce Lees, but I do think they could walk, run, and fly very efficiently.

Gundam models, or Gunpla as it's called, appeal to me as scaled down replicas of these concepts. The 'design vocabulary' used in the Gundam universe is very appealing to me - the design of legs, feet, armor, weapons and so on are very solid. They have a similar flavor that penetrates most models in the Universal Century timeline. I think most of the kits have a very inspired look and would almost be like bragging rights for forces that have them. Even a dozen mobile suits would be more dangerous than a nuclear weapon, but to have a bright blue machine like a Gouf with its aggressive shoulders and angry look would both inspire those who are on its side and terrify those who aren't.