The time has come...

I started this guy a long time ago. About 9 months. Early-Mid December 2010 is when I first got him and first did the unboxing ceremony with all my PG's present, saluting what would be their new leader. The most advanced, newest and most majestic Perfect Grade amongst them... The one called "Strike Freedom". That time in my life and now seem like polar opposites. So much can change in less than a year! Complete life upheaval in my case. And these poor guys were taken along for the ride. Caught in the great Tohoku earthquake, beaten and battered by tsunami waves, never mind the regular rigors of international transport across half the planet...

But they survived.  WE survived.  The family is all together again.  So as it began... so shall it end! Honour Guard!!! Salute!!!

Mark II.  My first PG ever.  Bought him in my first year in Japan so he's a Chiba/Tokyo kid through and through.  This guy has had the **** kicked out of him over the years but he's still standing and still looking good!  I've always been so proud of him.

Zeta. Hand was lost to the Great Tohoku Earthquake of this year. But he made it home basically in one piece but a bit broken.  Had to do some repair work to get him to this stage.  Bought him during my 2nd stage in Japan and finished him in my 3rd.  Started in Kasugai, Saitama - finished in Matsusaka, Mie.

Red was in the most amount of pieces but he's almost completely intact minus some minor breakage in the ankle area.  Bought in the place that would become my 2nd home in Japan, Nagoya - Aichi at Bic Camera during the "heyday" of my time in Gunpla.  4th stage of my life in Japan.

Strike.  Almost as good as the day I first bought him.  He's been waiting a long time for "Big Bro" to arrive.  Bought in Matsusaka, Mie and finished there.  He's the country boy or 田舎物 (inakamono) of the group.  He would get an upgrade later when his twin brother Red stepped into the picture.

The Throne.  Made for he that I would acquire during my 5th and final life in Japan or my 2nd life in Nagoya.  Completed during the transitional phase back into Canadian life.

Indeed... The Gauntlet has finally come to it's conclusion...  Time truly does wait for no man.  All of these mechs mirror parts of my lives.  I can see my whole time in Japan by looking at each of them.  8 years worth of experience and memories.  It's not just about building robots for me...  It's about the memories associated with them... so I just want to take this time right now to thank all the participants of this group build for helping me forge new memories in my new/old home.

One day left!  ONWARD!!!

Triumvirate

This is the project I'm looking forward to the most.  It will more than likely be my first diarama and the project that I pour all of my cumulative modelling skills into.

I want to make a "name" for myself with this one. 

Test shots.

It's still a long way down the road but I can't tell you how happy I am to have all three of them together at last.

Models featured: Musha Mk.II, Mk.II Titans, Mk.II Titans ver. 2.0.

Musha MK II WIP 6 - Enter MG MK II Ver. 2.0

Nothing more can be done until these two are re-united with their older brother back in the motherland.

Eco-Pla Mk.II - Gallery

Big plans for this guy.  This is the "Silver Fist" version, using the HG ANA Gundam's hands.  Weapons and backpack were donated temporarily to the GM Quel.  Full gallery is here.

Perhaps my new favourite 1/144.  When I'm done with it I'm sure it WILL be my favourite 1/144.

Musha MK II WIP 5 - Assembly Complete

And now for the hard part...

Musha MK II WIP 4 - Torso

Surprisingly simple. Two overlapping parts for the front armour with is very unusual. I thought there must have been some mistake or that it was an extra part from the original Mk-II but it's there for a reason. Gave me some great ideas for when I paint this. 

As I've been assembling it my painting ideas have changed with each step. Truly a work in progress physically and mentally.

Musha MK II WIP 3 - G-Panel Armour Parts

Exactly what it says in the title plus tachi, saya head and feet. Props to Gaigun for letting us all know that it is NOT a katana technically.  I cut out all the G-panel armour parts and sanded the nubs down. I added a couple extra gold parts from D-panel to use up all the armour parts I cut from G-panel.

Not using the knife as much for this.  During my MGIJ WIP I noticed that some of the edges didn't look that great where I used the knife (too much of a distinction between nub removal area and the rest of the plastic) but I should have a better result using my sanding file.  Because I'm going to be painting it, it should come out more smoothly in the end.  The knife is good when you aren't going to be painting and you can just use your thumbnail to blend the colour in.  Ghetto way I know but that's how I roll.  Trying to keep costs down.

Was originally thinking to paint before assembly but... I want to get a feel for what it looks like assembled and then make the colour call then.  Part separation, and then on with the painting!

Musha MK II WIP 2 - Frame Painting

I'll let the pics speak for themselves. You can probably guess what I did.

Musha MK II WIP 1 - Frame

Done with the basic frame.  Will probably disassemble and prime tomorrow.  Yes I'm painting the frame first before armour application.  Love this ver.2 frame.  Even in comparison to other frames it's good and I think the Musha version has a simpler torso than the regular Mark 2 and the ver 2.  More details on this later.  Here it is pictured wth the 1/100 F-91 helmet that I'm currently modding.

This is as far as I've gotten so far.  There actually aren't that many parts.  If I continue at this pace, I suspect I'll be done with the full assembly by this time next week if not sooner.  There's more stuff to post about between now and then however but that's for another time.

Musha Mark 2 - Get

Yeah we all knew this was coming. I've picked up a lot of kits this month and I still have one more to get for a project that I think only ASM and Gaigun know about (I mentioned it in passing when we met a couple of weeks back). That and one more Macross kit.

After that... I think I'm done. I can't imagine anything that I really want coming out for the next little while. The only thing that would bring me back to the table is HGUC Delta Plus and Jesta. That's it. And I have a long time before the Delta Plus is going to see the light of day. Probably the fall. And Jesta... who knows about that. There's a long time between now and then.

So that's it guys. Sorry but no new kits for me for some time. No more distractions. Just making models from now on. Not buying anymore. Well two more but there's no rush to get those so I'm just going to shop around and look at prices.

Now this Musha... I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it entirely. Build it first and then let it sit and I'll let some ideas marinate in my mind for a while and then take some action on it.

I'm not sure what project I should be working on right now as I'm making good progress on my MGIJ and the 1/100 F-91. I don't know. I'll probably be switching off between projects in the next couple weeks but I guarantee there will be a lot of WIP related things coming up soon.

All that aside... I'm so ready to sink my teeth into this thing. This is the Gundam I've basically been waiting for ever since I found what a Gundam was.

The Black Samurai Gundam. Everything I ever wanted in a MS. Not to mention that it's based off of my favourite Gundam ever.

This would be a great project for me to retire on. But I'm never going to retire. I think we all know that.

Do you think there will be Musha Gundam Mark II "Sengoku no Jin" Box set?

Soon!	73 (61%)
Not anytime soon.	46 (38%)

So basically you're all telling me to wait...  Which is probably not such a bad idea...  Damn that's going to be hard though.  I really want to buy it on Day 1.

MG Shin Musha Gundam was released in June 2008 and the Sengoku no Jin box set came out in March 2009.

That's a long time to wait and I'm not good at waiting.  Gonna have to mull this one over.

Not to mention the Japanese motif stickers...  The jury is still out on that one though.  Damn it can't leave things up to fate.  The thing I'm waiting for may never come and even if it does it could be crap!  F it.  I'm going for it.  Stick to the game plan. 

MG Musha Gundam Mark II Special Decals?!

According to Ngee Khiong the China release of the kit comes with these special decals.

You mean I can't get these in Japan? On first glance I felt a bit disappointed but after thinking about it... Do I really want a flower print Gundam?

Actually... I think I might. It reminds of one of my favourite planes from Ace Combat 5.

You know... I can imagine what most of you are thinking? Really? Flowers on your war machine? Yes I know. I feel the same way but there's just something about the contrast. And I like purple...

I wonder if I'd use the decals if I could actually get my hands on them. I actually think I would to be honest with you. It doesn't look that great here but with the right paint, I think this could kick my Musha Mark II project up from "impressive" to "epic".

I doubt I'll be able to get my hands on them but... in this day and age is there anything that you can't buy on the internet? And we are talking about China here. In a country of 1.3 billion people surely a couple people must be selling them.

Anyway what do you think? Are flower/leaf prints on your Gundam acceptable? Would you want that?

MG Musha Gundam Mark II

... I don't think I'll be able to wait for the "Sengoku no Jin" box set, should it ever be realized. Which, apparently, not only do most of you think it's going to be created but that it's going to be coming soon, according to my poll.

Soon! 57 (62%)

Not anytime soon. 34 (37%)

I haven't been this excited about a model... ever. I really don't think I've ever wanted one model so badly.

I can wait for this though... I have a feeling that after this it'll take a lot to impress me and I may not buy another MG for some time.

I will NEVER quit Gunpla.

Not if they keep releasing stuff like this.

I have been waiting for this!!!

MG Musha Gundam Mk. II - Will be based on MG Gundam Mk. II Ver. 2.0 from the text. May release, 6,300 Yen (inclusive of tax).

Also:
MG Wing Gundam
HG 1/144 God Gundam - May release, price TBA.
HG 1/144 Double Zeta Gundam - June release, price TBA.
HG 1/144 Astraea Type F - April release, 1,890 Yen (inclusive of tax).
HG 1/144 1 Gundam - May release, 1,890 Yen (inclusive of tax).
HG 1/144 Avalanche Exia - June release, price TBA.
HG 1/144 X Gundam
G.F.F. Metal Composite O Gundam (Type A.C.D)

All jacked from Ngee

There is a high chance of me picking up all of these eventually. I want all of them. If the Astraea comes with all these weapons then I'm in for sure.



But the real kicker for me... No question...

Actually there is one question. Will they eventually come out with a premium box set with display for this eventually? and can I wait that long...

Extremely stoked about this. Extremely.

Testing out different light sources.

Using my Mark 2 to test out some different lighting combinations. I didn't use a flash but I used different combinations of 3 different light sources.

In the end I settled on natural sunlight.

If sunlight wasn't an option I'd go for the one just above this picture. I like a bit of shadow in my pictures to provide some depth. It does make the details a bit more difficult to see but I like the added 'drama' haha I didn't edit these photos at all for the record. Only a bit of cropping.

Which one do you prefer?

These are just the options I have here in Canada. I think I can take better shots back in Japan but the problem with that is... my apartment is terrible when it comes to natural sunlight. I mean... it's really bad.

As far as other modellers go, I've always liked the way lupes does his photos. What do you think?

Love at first sight. MG Gundam Mark 2 ver.1

Now that I'm back home and spending some time fixing up my old models, I feel it's important to talk about the Mark 2 in detail before I go on.

Mark 2 was the first MG that I ever bought. I think that was just over 10 years ago, when I was in university.

I remember thinking, I like the colour (Titans) and I like the weapons. Quite simple. Shield, rifle and bazooka.


After assembly I noticed that it was superior in almost every aspect to any of the other models I had. Before I came to Japan I only had two MG's. Mark 2 and FAZZ. And we all know there's not really that much you can do with the FAZZ.

I know a lot of people out there could care less about the Mark 2 and their reasons are valid. It's plain, it's not really that special, too bulky, etc. All true. But those are some of the reasons why I like it.

I liked it even more once I started learning more about Gundam.

MAHQ says that the Mark 2 is based loosely on the RX-78 design. Aethetically and armament wise I'd agree. The Mark 2 was a technological breakthrough in many ways. Starting with the moveable frame construction and the 360 panaramic display cockpit. Both innovations became the standards in future MS production.

For more on moveable frame technology, click here.

Let's not forget that the Mark 2 was a prototype that that was slated for mass production. Only 3 units were made. This is one of the things I like about the Mark 2. It was unique but it wasn't at the same time, innovative but not. It wasn't a straight prototype like the RX-78-2 but it certainly wasn't a mass produced unit like the GM. Not many MS fall into this category.

If you think of mass production, the slim/simple armament is a good thing. I mean it doesn't even have built in vulcans. It is simply a frame. That's it. No stock weapons, AT ALL.

Are the core of the Mark 2 is base MS technology at work. Innovative design with a variety of applications.

I'd say that the Mark 2 frame didn't really get it's day in the sun because it got out classed quickly but the next generation of transforming MS, but even still I have to give the Mark 2 the credit it deserves.

What they really should have done was have the 3 Mark 2 units come out with different weapons loadouts, or different configurations or something to really sell the versatility of the suit. Like Strike Gundam's, Striker packs or something. It'd be the perfect testbed for something like that, but instead they went with the Hazel for that, but I won't speak on that because;

1. Because I don't know much about it

2. Because it should have been the Mark 2 dammit!

3. The Hazel is actually based of the GM Quel.

The official succesor to the original Gundam was the Mark 2. It should have been played up more!

Zeta, ZZ, Nu, Unicorn - all decendants of Amuro's RX-78. But try mentioning the Mark 2 in the same breath as those MS and it feels like it doesn't fit and that's not right.

In the end the Mark 2 didn't carve it's name in history as much as it's successors or predecessor. It that aspect it is lackluster and perhaps even sub-par. Regardless, I will always love and stand beside the Mark 2 for a 1000 other reasons.

I make this blog post in defence of it and to preface what will follow.

All images from Dalong's scans of the MG Mark 2 v.1 and v.2.0 manuals.

My question to all of you is; What is your favourite MS and why? You don't have to go into as much detail as I did obviously but I am curious as to what of you will say and your reasons.