

Introduction:



I've mentioned this before, but back in 2002 or 2003, I stumbled across the Master Grade series of kits while using my family's (then amazingly fast) 56 kb dial-up modem. I worked hard mowing lawns, shoveling driveways, and doing random odd jobs for my neighbors to scrape enough money together to order a few of these kits. I think during the first six months I was able to order three kits: MG RX 78-2 Gundam 1.5 MG Gouf Custom , and MG RGM-79 [G] . I've had a love for the boxy proportions of the kit ever since. When I heard this kit was getting an HG refresh I pre-ordered the model immediately.



Kit Talk:



This kit actually took me a lot longer to build than I initially anticipated. This wasn't due to the design of the model, just the result of a couple of mistakes on my part. The head in particular required three rounds of painting and stripping the paint back off for various reasons.



This kit comes with a variety of weapons. I modified the bazooka by replacing the tip of the barrel with a vernier, and I added a bit of greebling to the scope. Like usual I lost a part; I misplace the targeting module for the net gun; hence it's exclusion from the photoshoot.



The water slide decals came from a number of sources including RG GP01, DX sheets and MG Ball 8th MS team. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a set of number decals to match the iconic shield numbers.



The weathering on this it was a last-minute idea; I wanted a worn but not damaged appearance and I think I achieved that. I applied to thin coats of Vallejo's black wash and then utilized black, grey, and brown for edge details and streaking. It's not the best weathering I've done, but I am still satisfied with the final product.









Photos:















































You can just barely see where I snapped the stock into two pieces in this photo. It's barely 1 mm thick. So be careful when handling yours.











The machine gun is identical to the one included with the recent HG EZ-8. There's a seam running down the top of the gun which was a pain to clean up.







There's a surprising amount of flexibility in the waist, but this also results in a larger than the desired gap.







I really like how the weathering turned out on the chest and skirts.





Beam sabers can be stored inside of the legs, however, these areas need to be painted and this area tends to chip once the cover is on.











Action Poses:









The "run and gun pose" is my favorite from the box.











The shield is mounted on a swivel allowing the GM to pose it in a number of directions.







Coincidentally the MS-07B-3 is also plastered with 07 decals.













The shield's "kickstand" is a nice feature to create temporary cover or bipod for when we get the inevitable Ground Gundam with it's 180mm artillery cannon.

















Here's a good shot of the greebling I added to the scope, complete with a pink lens.









The beam saber is MG sized.