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Shenlong Gundam |
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Yes, yet another kit from the Gundam Wing series. This one is seen throughout with an extending dragon-headed flamethrower - interesting looking, and part of the reason I picked up this kit was to find out just how they represented this. It's one of the strong points of the kit, and at the same time, one of its weaknesses. I'm just going to send you to the Gundam Official website for more info on the Gundam itself.
What can I say about this kit that I haven't said already about the others - Like most in this series, it's molded in multiple colors of plastic, often on the same sprue. It has decals on a metallic backing sheet, self-sticking. And its joints - of which this one has a few more than most - are connected by poly caps instead of a direct plastic to plastic joint. It's completely snap-together, and goes together nicely and very quick.
Now, on to the specifics about the model itself.
I've said this about other kits in this series, but I'll say it again here - if you want this to match what's on the box, you've got some painting to do. I had to paint the 'latches" on the chest and the outline of the red plate in yellow, the "heat blade" or energy blade, part of the sensors in the head, and the red in the middle of the crest. I also had to paint the white on the feet (actually painted a camoflage grey, which matches the plastic a little better.) These are not provided as decals, but due to the nicely engraved panel lines, they're easy to paint. The panel lines also make a quick dark wash to bring out the detail easy.
The most irritating part of the "need to paint" group is the dragonhead itself (on the arm.) It's probably the poorest choice of what to paint combined with the color it's molded in I've seen in the series. (Not that it's impossible or all that difficult, just irritating.) It's molded in yellow, and the majority of it is supposed to be white. It's much easier to paint the yellow of the "fangs" over white than paint a large yellow item gloss white. (Flat paint would have worked better, but I thought the gloss would help the panel detailing more.)
Also molded in yellow is the "dragon shield." This should (and does) have a blue surround, also not given as decals. Given that the inside is shown on the box art as blue, I'd think a yellow insert into the blue would work out better. Finally, I chose to paint the green "bolts" (for lack of a better term) on the arm, and the blue bands around the shoulders.
CONSTRUCTION
I can't say anything about the construction of this that I haven't said in my other Gundam reviews. This went together really well, and faster now that I know what to expect - or, more correctly, what to look for in the instructions. I bought this partially out of curiosity on how they were going to do the extending dragonhead flamethrower - it's a nice, neat arrangement, actually, and fits inside the shoulder when not extended. Nice thinking, and not unduly complex. Trim the poly pieces so you don't have a "nub" from the sprue, and you won't have any fit problems.
Decals
Yes, I used some decals - not many, though, primarily the white-on-red pieces (which I wasn't ABOUT to try to paint... red's a pain to cover with white.) The ones I used went on nicely, no problems.
Other observations
With this one (and possibly the Nataku, which I haven't found to build yet) you may wonder if this thing stays on its feet with the arm out. Yep, it does. It's been standing, as pictured, for a while now. Even my psycho cats running into everything can't knock it down! The poly caps are great at keeping things in place - though if you build this with a kid, as I've often recommended as "quality time," the caps may wear a bit thin and loose. Can't speak from experience there....
Recommended, even with the painting pain in the butt.