This is my first foray into the world of Master Grade 00 suits. I decided to pick the Qan[T] first to practice, as it’s probably my least favourite out of Setsuna’s Mobile Suits, and also because I thought I would be a simple build, coming in a small box and all.

Construction

Don’t be fooled by the small box the kit comes in. Top notch engineering means there’s an abundance of small parts to work with, but not all of them have to be painted due to being not visible or used in a critical joint. On the upside, there are zero seamlines to fix.

The kit comes with 2 massive runners of clear green parts. These seem a bit more brittle than the normal type of plastic, so care must be taken when cutting them off the sprues, especially the GN Sword bits, which can easily snap.

Some of the clear green parts are built into the legs and arms, so I tried a different approach to the build and decided to paint the internal parts separately then assemble after painting as opposed to the other way around. This was so I wouldn’t have to mask the clear green parts during painting or topcoating.

Posability

The 00 Qan[T] has quite a few posing gimmicks. The chest opens and closes depending on the position of the shoulders, and can also rotate to the left and right a few degrees. There’s also a double jointed wrist, allowing the suit to do nice stabbing poses with it’s GN Sword V.

The shield bits can also combine with the GN Sword V to form a gigantic Buster Sword, however this becomes too heavy for the kit to hold and requires the small included action base to help balance the sword.

The one failing of this kit is that the GN Shield is pretty top heavy, weighing down the kit to it’s left side. The kit has no trouble standing up, but I find it does tend to sag a bit on an action base.

Unfortunately I’ve had quite a fair bit of trouble with my build like the side skirts continuously falling off, GN bits falling off the shield. As such I’ve decided to stop trying to pose the kit other than a few basic poses.

Painting

This was my first attempt at painting a 00 Gundam suit, so finding the right shade of blue was a bit tricky. Here’s what I used:

Blue – Blue base, followed by white preshade, followed by a coat of Cobalt Blue + Sky Blue + Bright Blue + Fluro pink. Finally white was added to the mixture (until it looked almost too bright/faded) and sprayed for highlights. ‘Almost’ happy with the blue although I wished I used a bit more Cobalt Blue in the mixture.

White – Neutral Grey + Navy Blue + White base, followed by pure White

Red – Red Madder + Black base, followed by white preshade, followed by a coat of Red Madder, finally Red Madder + White for highlights.

Yellow – Orange yellow base, followed by white preshade, followed by a coat of Orange Yellow + Yellow, finally added White to the mixture for highlights.

Grey – Neutral Gray (80%) + Black (20%) base, Grey FS for shading.

Official Bandai decals were used for the kit, although the recommended markings are quite sparse. The decal sheet gives you double the markings just in case you break/misplace them, so technically you could build 2 Qan[T]’s off once sheet.

Summary

+ Clear green parts add a very unique look

+ Excellent posability

– GN Shield makes the kit sag to the left

– Side skirts a bit fiddly and tend to fall off

Gallery