RGM-96X Jesta

rgm96x
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Alright, I'm going to start with the best as far as I'm concerned. This months Hobby Japan has got a large feature of scratch built 0096 suits and they look good! The Sinanju featured in my U.C.0096 gallery is actually not the MG that a lot of us are building now but actually a scratch built one made months and months ago. If you compare the two side by side (they did this in the magazine) the differences are very slight so I suspect that if future U.C.0096 suits are released they'll look very similar to these scratch built ones.

The one that I was taken the most with was this Jesta. Reminiscent of the RGM-79SP GM Sniper II or the RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom. Take your pic. Except this is not a Sniper unit. On the contrary it’s a regular infantry suit.

Although it was made 10 years after Gundam Mark II (stats in italics) let’s do a comparison of the numbers.

Propulsion: 81200kg vs. 89030kg
Sensor range: 11300m vs. 14200m
Generator: 1930kw vs. 2710kw
Base Weight: 33.4t vs. 24.8t

I know. 10 years but still... When I look at this suit I don’t see a GM. The GM Custom from 0083 was actually comparable in power to Amuro's RX-78-2 just to keep things in perspective. This machine would smoke a Mark II easily in every category.

The thing I like about this suit is that it’s not special. It’s standard for its time. Maybe above average and it’s not overly armed. Grenades, Beam sabers, Beam rifle. But where’s the shield? That’s the only thing I’m concerned about. I'd like it to have a shield. Even the one the GM custom, Quel or Hazel used would be fine. This suit reminds me a lot of those one. It harks back to a time when grunt suits where GOOD and not cannon fodder like what the GM's and Zaku's eventually became. I guess that's just time though. All machines become obsolete eventually.

I also like the fact that this suit isn’t flashy. It's functional and has now become a personal favorite of mine.

MSN-06S Sinanju - Work Log 8 - Shield complaints

The Shield... sorry it just reminds me of one of my favourite TV shows which just ended. If you haven't seen it check it out! It's AWESOME.

OK but about the SINANJU shield... it's less than spectacular imo. One of the great features about the shield is that it houses the double beam axes and the grenade launcher upgrade for the beam rifle. What it doesn't have... is a ****ing handle!

Even some of the cheapest HG kits have that just for the sake of stability but a kit like this doesn't? AND the way that the shield attaches to the forearm is pretty flimsy. It's not a perfect fit and there are no pegs so it's not that secure AND the shield rotates a total of about 3 degrees in either direction. Wow.

OK so you also have the option of attaching it to a lever that drops down from inside the shoulder. Good idea right? Well only if you want the shield to just hang there cause that's all that arm is going to do. It's too heavy to do anything else AND it's isn't stable enough to do anything else. The shield doesn't lock in. It just hangs on it.

Someone who's built this, tell me if I'm doing it wrong or if you had a similar experience. This kit is practically perfect but I expected a bit more. It's actually pretty irritating. Katoki went through all the effort of creating a shield that would allow the beam axes to swivel up and down AND lock into place but if you try to do poses with the beam blades attached... the whole thing just falls down. The weight is off and there isn't enough stability.

Other MG's and even HG grade kits have a hole in the forearm that you can plug the shield into. Insert tab A into slot B. Easy and maneuverable. This one? Nothing like that.

OK. You CAN get the shield to stay in one place and you CAN get some decent poses out of it when it's attached to the forearm and without the beam blades attached... but if you're going to spend all this money on a kit and it's doing some stuff that's shown in magazines and you buy it because you think it's cool... how would you feel after you spent the money and built the kit just to find out that it didn't do the things you thought it would? Irritated right? That how I feel right now.

But in the end... this kit has enough going for it to take a minor gripe like that just that. A minor gripe. It still is leagues ahead of any MG I've ever made and that's a few. It was just SO close to being perfect, especially over something that could have been fixed easily by a premier mecha designer like Hajime.

MSN-06S Sinanju - Work Log 7 - Armour application complete

uc0096
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Very hard session tonight as I could finally start to see the finish line. Last night and today I did the 2nd coat of paint on the leg and waist armour pieces. I decided to push it and just put all the armour on. I have the base colour down so I can get a good idea of what it looks like... and it looks awesome if I do say so myself haha! I am in love with this kit! I should say I'm in love with my kit because of the things I've done to it. The re-colour was a good idea.

But I think it all hit me when I attached the finished wings. Then the true majesty of the kit really struck me. The armour fits together perfectly. It's intricate but not overly complex. This kit was designed with symmetry in mind. There's no distiction between left and right parts until you put the armour on. I was really impressed with that aspect of the design. It would make things a lot easier to make production wise. A couple things become redundant in the process but... it would definitely save on manufacturing time on the whole. This is my first Ver.KA kit so I don't have a frame of comparison but if they're all like this... wow.

Everything is very sturdy. No problem holding poses. It is heavy though, which should be expected from a kit like this. I must say... this kit is a joy. Beautiful in so many aspects. If I had paid for it I'd say it's worth the money. But more importantly... it's worth the time. Beautiful. And the time you put in to it will be rewarded with the time you spend looking at it and the feeling that it gives you. Then you can change the pose and the accesories and feel it all over again haha. I'm just so... impressed!

I'm broken my work method down into stages:

Stage 1 - Washing, priming, 1st coat of paint
Stage 2 - Frame assembly
Stage 3 - Armour application, 2nd coat of paint (not always in that order)
Stage 4 - Detailing, Fine Tuning
Stage 5 - Decaling

I'm almost finished Stage 3. I'm going to do Stages 3-5 at the same time on each individual part. So I have the basic look down but I'm going to work on each part individually now. Feet, legs, waist, body, arms, shoulders, and backpack. The head is already done.

It was quite ambitious of me to think that I could get this all done before work on the 5th. There's no way. But I'm not going to rush it. If the kit looks this good now then it's going to look way better once I get everything the way I want it.

This kit will be my masterpiece so I'm going to give it the time to get it right.

I will not be posting pics of my WIP henceforth, so I'm going to get back into my regular routine of magazine pics and scans. I'm going to start with spreads of other U.C. 0096 suits and then back to the Rasiel/Sefer stuff that I initially wanted to post about before my life got consumed by this kit.

Sticking with the U.C. 0096 theme here is the poster spread from the February issue of Dengeki Hobby. I really hope a Unicorn animation is released eventually. It seems like it would be such a great series!